Life Lessons from Literature: Wisdom from 100 Classic Works

by Joseph Piercy

What can we learn from reading books? This book poses this broad question by examining the works of some of the greatest writers in history and from around the world and the life lessons we can all learn from them

‘I read a book one day and my whole life was changed’ ... So confesses the narrator of Orhan Pamuk’s novel The New Life . But what can we learn from reading books? Life Lessons from Literature poses this broad question by examining the works of some of the greatest writers in history.

In it, we can draw wisdom from Charles Dickens’ views on poverty and wealth; draw comfort from ideas about love from Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. Yet books are about much more than just romance and money. Through careful examination of over one hundred classic works of world literature, life lessons are also drawn from themes such as conflict and oppression, identity and psychology , showing how literature enriches and informs our understanding of ourselves and the wider world around us.

From Brazil to Japan, the Americas to Africa; from Victor Hugo to Mark Twain and Chinua Achebe to Haruki Murakami, you will find literature from around the world in this gem of a book, in which the plots may differ but the themes and the lessons they have to teach us are entirely universal .

Life Lessons from Literature is a must for all bibliophiles, providing a concise and highly accessible bucket list of must-read books that teaches us so many fundamental truths and broadens our minds .

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books

192 pages, Hardcover

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Annette Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Life Lessons from Literature by Joseph Piercy looks at a list of 100 classic works of literature and asks what are the lessons we can learn from each. The list is broken down into five broad categories- love and relationships, people and society, oppression and conflict , psychology and identity and history and memory and includes books from authors like Charles Dickens, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood , Vladimir Nabokov and Salman Rushdie, and while many of the books discussed will be familiar to readers, I also found several that I now want to read.
This is an interesting idea in principle, and I could see this as a book to dip in and out of, but I have to say I found the treatment of the books to be very superficial, there was no real depth to the analysis , and the majority of the discussion for each book was a plot synopsis which was a little disappointing,
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

[Rick Rapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting premise for a book. It goes through each selection and gives a brief synopsis, then moral, then a bit more extended explanation for the work. I've read more than half of these and found the insights to be pretty spot on. This is not the kind of book you can just sit down and read cover to cover. It's best enjoyed in bite-sized chunks. Definitely worth checking out.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️: 3.5
It was such a lovely journey through this book exploring great classics. Will definitely add a few to my TBR.

[Jolijn Verhoeven · Rating 3 out of 5]

ik had meer verwacht

[Amy Strella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely little book that explores some of literatures greatest novels. The book is divided into sections: Love and Relationships, People and Society, Oppression and Conflict, Psychology and Identity, and History and Memory. Each section gives a quick synopsis, a succinct life lesson, and then a brief review of the book, often including interesting facts about the author or the publication of the book. This is a fun way to fill your TBR list with some of the world's most important and impactful novels.

[Róisin (somethingarosie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life Lessons from Literature is any book lover’s dream. Consisting of a brief synopsis of each book it mentions, and the lesson(s) that can be learned from that book, I added several books to my TBR after reading this! Depending on the book, the reader is given context to the publication, learning the history of the writing and the author. So many interesting books I hadn’t heard of before! My only critique is that one or two of the book synopses had minor spoilers. Granted, I’ll probably have those long forgotten when I read those books.

5⭐️

[Cari Mayhew · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, my main incentive in reading non-fiction is to learn and to find use in what I learn. But unfortunately, it struck me that few people would find this book useful. I know literature students like to read things like the Cliff Notes series where it explains the themes etc that are in classic works of literature. But because the tome tries to cover so many novels, the detail on each is way to brief to be useful for this purpose.

And similarly, It's not particularly good at conveying the life lessons referred to compared with actually reading the novels yourself and being open to what they can teach you.

That said, this book is very well written, and the team behind the content excel at writing concise synopses, never seeming to go over 4 sentences long.

Out of the 100 novels discussed in the book, I had either read or was already aware of about two thirds of them.

The book divides the classical novels detailed into a handful of categories, but you could argue that some of the novels could fall into more than one category.

I enjoyed reading it, The author's opinions were clearly laid out, and there was no jargon to worry about.

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Piercy selects over a 100 classic literary pieces of fiction which he posits offer the possibility of learning life lessons, where stories may differ, particularly as it covers global literature, but the points of learning can be universal. He structures his work around the themes of Love and Relationships, People and Society, Oppression and Conflict, Psychology and Identity, and History and Memory. The specifics of a piece of fiction here is necessarily concise and simplified, necessary since this is a relatively short piece of work, this has its advantages, such as the range of fiction covered, but its problems too. However, it may be that a book here may snag the interest of the reader, who if looking for more indepth information, can opt to seek it out from other sources available.

Literary fiction covered includes Jane Eyre, where the life lessons identified are 'In matters of the heart people often fail to see what is best for them. Money cannot buy happiness, and vengeance does not conquer torment and pain.', this is followed by a brief look at what the book is about. Other works covered include The Bell Jar, David Copperfield, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Brave New World, Remains of the Day, and Lord of the Flies. American fiction includes Beloved, The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Color Purple, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Great Gatsby. Others books include Anna Karenina, Les Miserables, Love in the Time of Cholera, Lolita, The God of Small Things, and Midnight's Children.

I can see this book being used to arouse sufficient curiosity to want to read one of the novels identified, and there may be a myriad of reasons as to why a a specific choice is made. This may include the following, I can see some readers seeing this as useful push to motivate reading a book they may have previously seen as too high brow, knew nothing of previously, and for identifying fiction for specific life lessons they are interested in. Of course, I am but touching the tip of the iceberg here, and provided the caveats are heeded, I think this book could serve many a purpose for readers, including building on their normal reading repertoire. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covering 5 different themes; Love and Relationships, People and Society, Oppression and Conflict, Psychology and Identity, History and Memory this book uses classic literature from all over the world to offer advise to the modern day reader.

Each book mentioned gets a brief synopsis and some context to its publication and author however the lessons are not always that clear. As a book to recommend others and help you choose what classic to read next its fantastic I'm just not entirely sure it lives up to its title. This book did however reminded me of some classics I've previously read and loved and has caused me to add so many more books to my TBR.

"It is often said that truly great literature acts as a mirror to society, reflecting its attitudes and manners, philosophies, polotics and people at a particular time. ...the social and cultural context of a work of literature has a direct influence on its narrative perspective. ... Literature, however, is a construct of language, and in seeking to describe the world it does so selectively, amplifying some objects of the social world it seeks to elucidate often at the expense of others it reduces or neglects."

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The premise of it is to introduce the reader to 100 books that they may want to read. They are broken down into several key themes which the author introduces before including the books in that chapter. Some of the 100 books are known classics (Pride & Prejudice, Midnight’s Children, Catch 22, etc) while others are less well known.

The author has chosen well in the books written about & there are a few I am interested in reading, based upon his suggestions. I really enjoyed how each book is surmised, particularly liking the life lesson one can take from the book. I’ve seen other reviews wishing that the descriptions of each book were longer, but for me they were just right. The author has written these descriptions in a logical, interesting, accessible way. The descriptions are not highbrow like some other books of this type you might read. I would recommend this book.

Thank you to the author, publishers & NetGalley for this arc.

[Els · Rating 4 out of 5]

Levenslessen uit de literatuur. Wijsheid uit 100 klassieke werken. Door: Joseph Piercy.

Ik lees jaarlijks meer dan 100 boeken, soms zelfs het dubbele en toch is dat niet genoeg. Er verschijnt wekelijks zo veel goeds en dan heb ik het nog niet over die 1000den klassiekers die er door de eeuwen heen al verschenen zijn. Dat valt niet bij te lezen.

En dan verschijnt er: Levenslessen uit de literatuur. Piercy vat daarin niet alleen klassiekers samen hij legt ook per boek uit welke wijze les je ervan kan leren. Geregeld geeft hij door een Wist je dat? wat extra informatie over het onderwerp van het boek, de tijdsgeest of waar de schrijver zijn inspiratie haalde. ‘Zijn’ inspiratie, want ja: het overgrote deel van de besproken werken is geschreven door mannen. Klein minpuntje dat Piercy zelf ook aanhaalt in zijn inleiding.

Voor de rest ben ik fan van dit boek en raad ik het iedereen aan; grote en minder grote boekenverslinders. Ook ideaal om onder de kerstboom te leggen.

[Unbridled Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a gift from a dear friend, who, like me, majored in English Literature in college and appreciates the transformative power of words and the ways in which novels make the world more accessible.

The book is divided into five categories (such as love and relationships or history and memory) and the author shares 20 different books in each category with a synopsis and why it is a powerful read. I especially liked that Piercy was also transparent about the complexity of the language, subject matter and also talks about the form each author uses. I added a lot of new titles to my TBR list.

I would recommend this book to all bibliophiles or for anyone constantly struggling with "I don't know what to read." You will absolutely discover new titles and authors to your arsenal so you can constantly allow books to stir your imagination and view the world through different sets of eyes.

[Samantha (A Dream of Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life Lessons from Literature by Joseph Piercy is a fascinating book which I’ve been dipping in and out of over the last couple of weeks. It’s absolutely jam packed full of insights into a whole range of different types of novels from around the world.

Piercy’s aim is to ‘highlight how we can enrich our understanding of the world and life through engaging with classical works of literature’. The book is divided into themes such as love and relationships, people and society and history and memory. This makes it easy to turn to a relevant section and find a selection of titles to explore.

The novels chosen are quite diverse and there were a few that I wasn’t particularly familiar with. I’ve added several to my list such as Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima which sounded intriguing. I was also happy to see a lot of my all-time favourites featured, such as Les Miserables and Great Expectations.

This is a great addition to any bibliophile’s bookshelves and one that I will continue to enjoy and learn from.

[Michelle G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC review; I got this through NetGalley.

This is a very simple book divided into 5 chapters, each with a different theme, where the author summarizes some of the greatest works of literature and draws life lessons from each one.

The summaries and life lessons are not deep, but they're okay. Some of them piqued my interest in a few of the books I haven't read and I added them to my TBR.

Overall, an okay book about some of the things we can learn about literary masterpieces. I see that this book could help people decide if they want to read some of these classics or not, and that can be useful.

[Meghan Albizo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave a star for the few books I was either surprised by or added to a need to read list.

In The Introduction the author addresses the lack of diversity and inclusion of many titles found on typical “Best Book” lists. I should have stopped there and in hindsight it seems like an excuse.

The wisdoms gained from each section was everything from cheesy things you’d glint from a cover to just uninspiring.

[Chris Chanona · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable, if simplistic, romp through literature. I had read many of the books discussed so I probably am not the intended audience. Would be useful for a student or someone who wants recommendations on what literature to read. It also gives an assessment of the difficulty of some of the novels named.

[Pieter-Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een leuk overzicht van 100 literaire werken uit de geschiedenis. De auteur neigt iets te veel naar werken uit de Angelsaksische cultuur terwijl op de achterflap gepretenteerd wordt van Brazilië tot Japan, van Amerika tot Afrika en alles daartussenin te bespreken. Een gemiste kans.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've only read a few novels from the ones discussed in this work, but I now have more I'd like to read. I enjoyed the ideas this author took from the novels that are included.

[Rebekah Theilen · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a while there arises a need to condense your list of aspirations. For me, reading a book about 100 classics became the next best thing to reading them.

[Johnnysbookreviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lessons from classics. There is one one lesson from each book, but each book contains multiple lessons. A book I'll always come back too.

[Grace McGuinness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This helped alot! Better than I expected.

[Bojan Avramovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Citajuci sam saznao za brojne interesantne knjige za koje nisam znao a koje sam ostavio u kategoriji- want to read

[GONZA · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt that this book was rather superficial, both in its summaries of some of the masterpieces of world literature and in the "lesson" the author deduces from it.

Mi é sembrato che questo libro fosse piuttosto superficiale, sia per i riassunti di alcuni capolavori della letteratura mondiale, sia per la "lezione" che ne deduce l'autore.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

[Matthieu Wegh · Rating 4 out of 5]

? Via de nieuwe aanwinsten van mijn bieb; Levenslessen uit de literatuur (vertaald); #Levenskunst; Over literatuur
🤔Ik lees graag boeken over literatuur en deze titel sprak me daardoor aan. Interessant boek met veel bekende literaire romans waarvan ik er nog maar een paar gelezen heb. Voldoende inspiratie weer dus😉
MW9/8/25