Candy vs Miss Marjoribanks: Which Should You Read?

Candy Terry Southern · 1964 ★★★★☆ 3.9 224 pages · ≈ 4 h 09 m · Moderate

“"I've read many books," said Professor Mephesto, with an odd finality, wearily flattening his hands on the podium, addressing the seventy-six sophomores who sat in easy reverence, immortalizing his every phrase with their pads and pens, and now, as always, giving him the confidence to slowly, artfully dramatize his words, to pause, shrug, frown, gaze abstractly at the ceiling, allow a wan wistful”

Banned upon its initial publication, the now-classic Candy is a romp of a story about the impossibly sweet Candy Christian, a wide-eyed, luscious, all-American girl. Candy -- a satire of Voltaire's Candide -- chronicles…

Miss Marjoribanks Margaret Oliphant · 1866 ★★★★☆ 3.8 546 pages · ≈ 10 h 07 m · Challenging

When Dr. Marjoribanks’s wife dies, his teenage daughter makes it her purpose in life “to be a comfort to dear papa.” At least, Lucilla thinks, ten years of such devotion might suffice, by which time she might have begun…