“Jane Eyre”. It was the first classical literature I have ever willingly read (and it’s a separate story of how that happen). Before it I was on “only sci-fi/fantasy/adventure” train. I vehemently denied any notion of classical/old books ability to invoke something in me. I was very young in my head for far too long. I’ve read “Jane Eyre” sitting at work, people were doing their things around me, but I was not there, not with them, I was somewhere else, I was melting by the fire of old language I never knew could be so palpable. In the end “Jane Eyre” did not change my warped perception too much, I did not jump suddenly to read all the classical literature I skipped in school, but it made me a better person. At least I stopped being so damn arrogant about “old ways”.

My personal favorite in that category is “Atlas Shrugged”! As I… very liked this book when I read it, I will admit that. BUT… I did read it as a science fiction adventure drama, not knowing or even suspecting it have all this real-world stuff attached to its author. For sci-fi it was incredible thought provoker all the way to the finish. At the time of reading I genuinely thought that its “wrongness” was the goal to provide a platform for discussion… eh…