One plus one.

Many people seem to be reluctant to read classics - they are afraid the book might turn out to be hard-to-digest or they find it too long (think Russian classics or Joyce's Ulysses...). Yet, here are two classics everyone should read and I assure you they will be easy to read - and enjoy.

1. Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms

This wartime novel by the cultic author is extremely entertaining - my personal favourite is Rinaldi but the other characters and their thoughts are beautiful, thought provoking and witty as well. No wonder Hemingway is beloved all over the world thanks to this masterpiece, amongst others. Of course there were movie adaptations, too (the more famous one with Gary Cooper) and many consider this book an all-time favourite. It might not be a good choice for a casual beachside day, but it surely is a wonderful choice to read when the snow is falling outside.

2. Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights

I don't think I exaggerate when I say this is the most famous work by a Brontë sister and it's uncanny that this is Emily's only novel. Again, I recommend it for lazy winter days when you have nothing else to do, especially because the characters and the astonishingly exciting writing will bewitch you so much you won't be able to put it down. One of the strange yet excellently working things about this book is the way the story is told - first, you have Lockwood, who is somehow the frame of it but he only has a minor role when it comes to the actual events - more than most of the time it's Ellen Dean who tells us what happened (and sometimes even her tells us what someone else told her) and this is what Lockwood is interpreting to us, readers. Yet, it's not only not confusing but it's quite simply phenomenal.