Issue #45: Old books that still hold up and are not Wuthering Heights
Read a Lot series, part 1 of 4
HELLO, READER!
I’m back with your regularly scheduled Coffee Breaks, and I’m kicking things off with a March mini-series that will mostly focus on reading—what I’m reading, what you should read (and why), how reading can make you a better writer, and in today’s case, the “classics” and “required reading” you get to skip.
I’m skipping any introduction (other than what you just read) and jumping straight to the “let’s shit on Wuthering Heights” part, because it’s timely and relevant—but also because of THIS:
‘“T’ maister nobbut just buried, and Sabbath nut oe’red, und t’ sahnd uh’t gospel still ‘i yer lugs, and yah darr be laiking! shame on ye! sit ye dahn, ill childer! they's good books eneugh if yell read 'em: sit ye dahn, and think uh yer sowls!'
Yup. That's on p. 18.
I don’t know about you, but in my little corner of the internet, I’ve already seen four think pieces about director Emerald Fennell’s latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 180-year-old novel, and they all basically say the same thing:
It sucks.
Full disclosure, I have not seen this movie and probably won’t, nor have I read the aforementioned think pieces, because… well, I didn’t feel like it. I also don’t think “sucking” should be judged by an adaptation’s faithfulness to its source material, and generally find such arguments boring AF.
What’s weird is that I randomly started rereading Wuthering Heights late last year, having no idea this movie was about to come out. I remembered it being dreamy, fervent, moody, and dark; I remembered my own wild, brooding, poisonous-but-irresistible Heathcliffs; I remembered it cleaving me in two.
But I was like, 21 at the time, so I wanted to see how (and if) it would hold up today.
…it did not.
This might be because I still have the same dime-store paperback edition I bought 26-odd years ago, which was published in 1981. (It cost $3.95, kill me now.)
Surely subsequent editions have done something about Joseph’s dialogue…
If Aw wur yah, maister, Aw'd just slam t boards i’ their faces all on 'em, gentle and simplel Never a day ut yah're off, but yon cat uh Linton comes sneaking hither; and Miss Nelly shoo's a fine lass! shoo sits watching for ye i’ t’ kitchen; and as yah're in at one door, he's aht t' other; und, then, wer grand lady goes a coorting uf hor side! It's bonny behaviour, lurking amang t' fields, after twelve ut’ night, wi’ that fahl, flaysome divil uf a gipsy, Heathcliff!
(it helps if you read it out loud?)
But even if the publishers have cleaned it up, modernized some of the more quaint linguistic conventions—there are LOTS of commas in Brontë’s prose, for example, just way too many commas—time has not been kind to Wuthering Heights.
For one, the central relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, which in my early 20s felt like a dangerous, sexy whirlwind set against the darkly alluring and mysterious moors, now just feels like two shitty people doing shitty things and treating everyone in their lives shittily. In the rain. 😅
Learning about Emily Brontë’s sheltered, lonely life doesn’t help, either—but for many modern readers, it’s the dated language and funky punctuation that will do you in. Reading with 2026 eyes, Wuthering Heights feels remote and inaccessible.
My verdict? Skip it. Better recommendations at the bottom of this email.
Next time, we’re going to talk about a famous piece of writing advice, and then I’m gonna take it apart and put it back together again. Any guesses what it is?
Some old-as-dirt books that are worth reading in 2026, in no particular order:
- Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)
Sad (not scary); poses questions about our responsibility for the things we create, weirdly relevant, beautiful. Time has only made that shit better.
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)
Scary and short; absolutely holds up and is worth reading if you’re a horror fan; it’s a classic for a reason. One of the best opening passages of all time. (And it’s not THAT scary.)
- My Àntonia by Willa Cather (1918)
A love letter to a magnetic main character; gorgeous pastoral prose; frontier life; vivid and captivating.
- Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
This is one of the better / more fun Christie novels if you’ve been curious about her work. And it’s got a (pretty famous) twist!
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)
The prototype for crumbling gothic mansions, which as you know is my kryptonite.
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
Here’s a book that’s largely written in dialect but the dialect doesn’t push you away. There’s an excellent audiobook narrated by Ruby Dee, which I recommend.
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899)
19th Century New Orleans; a woman who eschews the duties of wife- and motherhood in favor of solitude and self-fulfillment (including sex). Very controversial in its time; considered a proto-feminist work. Lyrical and rhythmic.
- Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (1961)
Technically not as old as others on the list, but one of my personal faves. Black humor, absurdist satire, WWII. It’s weird AF and funny—but it’ll also freakin gut you.
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955)
Inside the mind of a sociopath; an antihero you’re really NOT rooting for but also can’t get enough of; some of the most wild and detailed descriptions of murders I’ve ever read. I’ve only ever listened to the Ripley audiobooks because the narrator really nails it.
Have you read any of these? Any old books you love that aren’t on my list?