These 12 Classics Ruled the Charts Last Year. Here's What I Love—and What I'd Skip

If looking purely at numbers, Pride and Prejudice is by far my favorite book. I've now read it 22 times—most recently in honor of Jane Austen's 250th birthday. One of the most enduring works in English literature holds multitudes behind the facade of a romantic comedy. Austen's seminal novel somehow packs a punch on every possible theme. Love and marriage, manners and social class, women's rights, the confusing (sometimes pitiable) state of the male brain...though she published the novel in 1813, much of Austen's insights are stunningly relevant in the 21st century. Oh, and if you're wondering, I'm team 2005 adaptation with Keira Knightley.

ICYMI, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein has been making waves. As someone who doesn't usually gravitate towards film and television, I was surprised by how affected I felt after watching. But if you're planning to skip the book in favor of the film—don't. Though del Toro took creative liberties with the script, I promise the book is no less moving. If anything, diving into the depths of the creature's suffering will only break you more. I've read this twice and been struck in the heart every time.

If Wuthering Heights only flew onto your radar because of Emerald Fennell's upcoming adaptation, may I humbly recommend the source material? Where Austen was vivacious and playful, the Brontë sisters were gothic in the extremes—deaths, secret wives, lonely moores—but still managed to deliver some of the most romantic lines ever. Example: "Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!" Swoon. That line alone made me want to pardon Heathcliff. Brontë's most enduring work is a tragic story about love and loss as lovers grasp across a social divide, anchored by a boiling quest for vengeance.

The Odessey has been on my TBR for a while, but Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation has helped bump it up on the priority list. Homer's classic tells the tale of the Greek hero Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he journeys home from the Trojan War. The decade-long journey will throw monsters, gods, shipwrecks and battles into his path.

Admittedly, I say I'm skipping for now because my book club just voted to read Anna Karenina, which clocks in 300 more pages than Dostoevsky's novel. It's not a skip of distaste but rather...intimidation. There's plenty of talk about how difficult it is to get through these authors, and I just haven't yet acquired the guts. That's not to say the premise isn't intriguing. Crime and Punishment is the story of Raskolnikov, a poor student who commits murder and ultimately must reckon with his actions. I'm not saying I'll never read it...I'm just not reading it next year, probably.