Classic literature that’s also very readable.

Submitted by MinxyMyrnaMinkoff t3_10poffz in books

I am currently reading Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald and I’m surprised by how contemporary it feels, it’s really a psycho-sexual mystery, more like The Silent Patient than a century-old novel with weighty themes.

So, I thought I’d make a post on the most “readable” classic literature. That way we can all impress our friends by dropping fancy names, while enjoying a beach-read-in-disguise! Here’s what I came up with:

-Far from the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy. This book is a Norah Ephron movie in literal sheep’s clothing. It’s a romcom, right down to the meet-cutes.

-Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. This classic novel is over 300-years-old but it’s also basically Island of the Blue Dolphins with 100% more anxiety about elusive cannibals.

-The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde. This readable classic could be a Seth Rogan movie, it’s even got a Danny McBride-type who just sits around and insults his friends all day.

-Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. It’s super short with tons of sharks. It’s like Jaws, if the old alcoholic didn’t let the other two guys come on the boat with him, which is to say: it’s like Jaws but better.

Anyone else have leads on fancy old books that are actually easy, fun reads?

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HoneyBolt91 t1_j6lq814 wrote

I felt like The Count of Monte Cristo was an enjoyable, easy read.

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Previous_Injury_8664 t1_j6mvyaq wrote

Yes, I think it needs to be remembered that a lot of older literature was written for the average person to read. I can see people reading something like Monte Cristo today and gossiping about what the next installment will bring.

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SnooPickles8608 t1_j6ll1cj wrote

The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

Love when a classic feels so relevant to today’s world.

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FearlessFlyerMile t1_j6mu38n wrote

r/bookclub is reading this in the first half of February! I'm hoping to join in and finally read it.

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vivahermione t1_j6nvoha wrote

OMG yes! That book changed my life as a young girl. It opened up my sense of what was possible for women.

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heck-ward t1_j6ob60s wrote

I remember in my AP English class everyone said she was selfish

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Mittttzy t1_j6locz9 wrote

Short stories by Gogol and Dostoyevsky

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OnlyFlannyFlanFlans t1_j6lr4af wrote

I was surprised how modern a lot of Dostoyevski seemed. Take out the long names, and so much of his prose is quippy enough to fit right in with contemporary lit.

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SillyObjectives t1_j6nwtcp wrote

Surprisingly agree on Dostoyevsky but haven’t read any Gogol- it’s on the to do list haha

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Mittttzy t1_j6obgds wrote

Nice! Two of his stories I really enjoyed are A Terrible Vengeance and Nevsky Prospekt.

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duckfat01 t1_j6mzo3p wrote

I think we forget that classics become classics because people enjoy reading them! They aren't just academic tomes chosen by professors to uplift and frustrate scholars. For example, I love Dickens's sense of humour and his skill with words. (Charles, not Emily, with a nod to William Styron).

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Lizard_kingdom_x001 t1_j6nwqgs wrote

And also they have enduring themes that transcend the time period. Or they have a theme/plot that is directly related to a significant historical event

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Timely-Huckleberry73 t1_j6ls6b6 wrote

I think crime and punishment is very readable and feels surprisingly modern, although it depends on the translation. I find the Constance Garnett translation very readable but not the p&v translation.

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SillyObjectives t1_j6nx52i wrote

Translation matters a ton and I had a great audiobook version but I haven’t been able to find it again!

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jerbear3 t1_j6ozm0r wrote

I've tried the P&V translations of both Crime & Punishment and Notes From Underground and just could not get through them. I wonder what makes them so difficult compared to others?

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Timely-Huckleberry73 t1_j6pdrxg wrote

Apparently some people really like the p&v translations. They are supposed to be a very faithful and direct translation from Russian. However, I think this results in a text that reads very unnaturally in English. Constance Garnett on the other hand is criticized by some for taking too many liberties with the text. I prefer her method though because it reads so naturally and feels like it was written in English in the first place.

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Lefty1992 t1_j6lyktu wrote

Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll and Hyde, Rebecca, Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Anthony Trollope and Wilkie Collins' novels are long, but easy to read.

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Em367 t1_j6pe3sg wrote

Also Bram Stoker's Dracula. I though I would find it silly because it was old, turns out it is actually pretty chilling and engaging, just as a modern novel.

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New-Rip4617 t1_j6mvhpm wrote

I second anything by Robert Louis Stevenson (especially his short stories) and Trollope!!! Trollope is so much more readable than Dickens in my opinion

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Y_Brennan t1_j6llgcx wrote

Most of them are pretty readable imo. Some more than others. Everything Robert Louis Stevenson is pretty good. Jane Eyre is fantastic.

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GroundbreakingWing48 t1_j6lna5u wrote

The French stuff. Dumas. Hugo. Verne. Seriously, there’s a reason why they’ve all been adapted a million times. Fair warning - if you read Les Miserables, save yourself 1000 pages and read the abridged version.

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steampunkunicorn01 t1_j6mhms7 wrote

But then you'll miss out on the history of the Parisian sewer system

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ConcernedMoralist t1_j6ozfi5 wrote

Idk I think the cultural context, what the people were wearing, what they were dancing to, what they were gossiping about, what certain things were like is akin to a time machine, and I loved reading them.

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steampunkunicorn01 t1_j6pca88 wrote

Same, there is so much more to a story than just the barebones plot. Getting not only the little details that would otherwise be skipped, but also an insight into the author's thoughts (Les Mis is more essay than book, so it does the latter especially well) makes for feeling like one has entered into that time

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LizzyWednesday t1_j6p10av wrote

Maybe it's me, but I like those kinds of "extraneous" chapters, like the whale anatomy chapters in Moby Dick or the 8 million "Still Knitting" chapters in A Tale of Two Cities.

For the record, I did read an abridged version of Les Mis and felt like a lot was missing/inaccurate, which I found extremely frustrating. Reading the full-length version was much more comfortable. *shrugs*

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BitPoet t1_j6n596g wrote

I love the long version. Details of the strategy and horrors of Waterloo are a great way of introducing a character.

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KansaisDorayaki t1_j6n4hp8 wrote

I don't know about Dumas but Hugo it's not really entry level. Story is good but you have chapters of boring stuff in between (like the sewer system).

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GroundbreakingWing48 t1_j6pgzqy wrote

Hunchback of Notre Dame was pretty easy. The abridged Les Mis I read in 9th grade, so it can’t be that hard/bad. The key to the French literature is that there’s a bit of everything. Action! Adventure! Romance! Revenge! Sewer thieves!

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ZeMastor t1_j6lpaht wrote

>Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe. This classic novel is over300-years-old but it’s also basically Island of the Blue Dolphins with100% more anxiety about elusive cannibals. <

but minus Blue Dolphins and plus main character owning a plantation run by slave labor, going off on a trip to buy more slaves, selling a child into indentured servitude, random animal cruelty, gets some company after rescuing a native but never bothers to learn the man's real name, encounters a group of shipwrecked Spaniards and lies to them about rescue, leaving them on the island for years after he's rescued and gets back to England.

(I read the book and its sequel recently and was shocked at what a d-bag Crusoe really is.)

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lillykat25 t1_j6m5gqg wrote

I recently finished Madam Bovary and that was really easy to read. I’m not sure how old a novel has to be to be considered classic instead of modern classic, but The Haunting of Hill House, The Bell Jar and Gone With the Wind are all ready easy to read as well.

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js4873 t1_j6neugy wrote

There’s a moment where Bovary just screams at her kid. And that felt so modern in terms of PPD and stuff. I loved that book even tho it broke my heart too

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[deleted] t1_j6mbv9o wrote

Gone with the Wind - when I was a teen, I picked it up intending to just skim the first couple of pages, and was hooked by the first paragraph. Really engaging and interesting. Madame Bovary I found a little harder to read, but definitely worth the effort.

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0629847 t1_j6od4iu wrote

Haunting of Hill House and The Bell Jar are two of my favourites. I was never a huge fan of classics when I had to read them in school but The Bell Jar changed that for me for sure.

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bronte26 t1_j6mt861 wrote

I think that is the definition of a classic - a book with great writing that is still relevant and resonates today.

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CozyCat_1 t1_j6ls46t wrote

These aren’t as old but the catcher in the rye and Daphne du maurier are easier to understand

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rene76 t1_j6m8rrq wrote

The Decameron

Guy de Maupassant's short stories

More modern: The Good Soldier Schweik / Three Man in a Boat

And I'm from Poland so Trilogy by H. Sienkiewicz (think The Three Musketeers but much better)

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New-Rip4617 t1_j6mv7ch wrote

I second the Decameron. I was tempted to put Canterbury Tales in translation on my list. You wouldn’t think how amazingly entertaining medieval stories can be!

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SillyObjectives t1_j6nwycr wrote

THE DECAMERON - I completely forgot how obsessed I was with this book in high school yesss (wow I sound like a cool person 🙈)

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rene76 t1_j6o08wg wrote

If you enjoyed Decameron check autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. XVI century Italy, art, murders (Cellini was quite hot tempered) and romances with both man and woman (homosexual ones of course only hinted). Fascinating book.

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AnybodySeeMyKeys t1_j6ms3b3 wrote

I think anything by Jane Austen remains remarkably readable today.

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Ulk_Sne t1_j6lxcw3 wrote

Alexandre Dumas should be top of the list. His works fits exactly the type.

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wasabi_weasel t1_j6m39ot wrote

William Somerset Maugham is very readable. Clear and lucid writing that’s still complex and poetic.

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Economy_Ingenuity_76 t1_j6lypfm wrote

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

Lolita - Nabokov

Grapes of wrath - steinbeck

Anything by Toni Morrison

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Jane Eyre - Bronte

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ColdSpringHarbor t1_j6ml2pl wrote

Lolita??? Easy to read???

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AgentOk2053 t1_j6morxd wrote

There’s an annotated version.

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ColdSpringHarbor t1_j6mxz50 wrote

To be "easy to read" you shouldn't need a guide...

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AgentOk2053 t1_j6mysgh wrote

Sure, but the annotations make it easy. And there’s nothing wrong with having a little help.

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SillyObjectives t1_j6nxflu wrote

I find East of Eden more readable than Grapes of Wrath but otherwise agree. Just re read Rebecca a year or two back and was reminded of how much I like it

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HappyLeading8756 t1_j6m1e85 wrote

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Tenant of Windfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

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Sweet-Nose-3213 t1_j6lljmo wrote

1984 By George Orwell

Couldn’t be more relevant in modern society!

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HoneyBolt91 t1_j6lq4fp wrote

Recently re-read that one and was astonished at how different it was from when I read it in h8gh school. I didn't care for it then, but I got a lot more out of it the second time around.

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Bookanista t1_j6lso88 wrote

Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, Roughing It or The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain. All of these are extremely funny books despite being written 150+ years ago.

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LizzyWednesday t1_j6p07c0 wrote

Totally random, but despite the fact that Pickwick Papers is Anne Shirley's comfort book in Anne of the Island, and I was obsessed with the Anne books in my early teens, I have never actually read it. (I've read A Tale of Two Cities, and half-assed an abridged version of Great Expectations, not to mention having read A Christmas Carol which is short enough that I could probably read it aloud to/with my daughter to see how familiar she is with the story.)

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Bookanista t1_j6pcm8x wrote

I’m not a huge Dickens fan in general but I adored this book.

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LizzyWednesday t1_j6ph6ir wrote

I went through a phase in upper elementary school/middle school where "only Classics" was kinda my motto, so I gravitated towards Dickens because the complicated syntax made me feel smarter.

I'll absolutely have to read Pickwick, though.

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Late-Project-1441 t1_j6m7sm5 wrote

Slaughterhouse Five takes such a simple way of delivering its material as does most of Kurt Vonnegut’s work

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sjets3 t1_j6mgzvx wrote

Came to say anything by Vonnegut

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Trario t1_j6o9b7a wrote

Not really classic litterature, most of his books were written fifty or less years ago...

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mooimafish33 t1_j6p73p2 wrote

What makes a book classic? Just time? Not trying to argue just curious.

I feel Vonnegut is as important, highly regarded, and influential as many other classics.

I also feel like Lonesome Dove could be considered a classic, but it is less than 40 years old.

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iwasjusttwittering t1_j6p62ah wrote

Breakfast of Champions actually turns 50 this year, so it's about to be a 50-50 split.

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steampunkunicorn01 t1_j6miavj wrote

Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (Dumas got paid by the line, which had an interesting effect on the work, mainly giving it a modern readability due to the dialogue-heavy scenes and comedic situations the characters constantly found themselves in)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (the first written of her novels, it is definitely the most like YA, but in a definitely good way. The characters are relatable (you may not ever meet a Lady Catherine from Pride and Prejudice, but everyone knows a John Thorpe in their lives) and the satire is relatable. Just change out gothic romances for YA or crime thrillers, gigs for sport cars, and Bath for London or New York and the satire still holds up)

Don Quixote by Cervantes (absolutely hilarious, with scenes that feel straight out of Monty Python or a Terry Pratchett novel)

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imapassenger1 t1_j6mdhjo wrote

Gulliver's Travels. 250 years or so old and reads like something recent. They say satire dates quickly.

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caspaseman t1_j6mfd98 wrote

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding is hilarious!

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New-Rip4617 t1_j6mveag wrote

I agree! It definitely takes getting used to though!

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GengerbreadMan t1_j6lp8ai wrote

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. It's a fiction comedy and satire of religion that can still be relevant today.

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MyDogThinksISmell t1_j6lpgvz wrote

I think the novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are fun reads. The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man series and The Big Sleep to name a few.

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Y_Brennan t1_j6lrowj wrote

The Maltese Falcon was a really really bad movie. But the long goodbye is probably the best noir detective movie ever made. I have really wanted to read it ever since I saw the film but haven't gotten around to it yet.

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Galindan t1_j6nodoy wrote

Now you're just taking crazy. Maltese falcon is an incredible movie. One of the best noir films ever

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Y_Brennan t1_j6novqq wrote

It's redeeming feature is that it is only an hour and 45 minutes. Couldn't stand it. TBF I am not a big fan of those noir films anyway. I much prefer movies like the long goodbye that almost parody the genre and end up being great. I haven't watched murder my dear but I hate that they changed the name from farewell my lovely which is clearly the superior name.

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[deleted] t1_j6mc9sh wrote

Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Unset

Middlemarch by George Elliot

Both of those are enormous, but are sooo good and interesting the whole time.

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danone25 t1_j6mdqpf wrote

The Golden Ass by Apuleius

It is basically a comedy/fantasy book with some tacky jokes. Though the ending is a bit weird.

Also the Short Stories from Guy de Maupassant are very easy to read.

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bl3ghhh t1_j6mil6r wrote

The Parfume by Patrick Süskind as well!

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KansaisDorayaki t1_j6n4qfs wrote

For me the easiest to read is Jane Austen, honestly. I especially recommend Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is also a page-turner and a classic, but I would not recommend other works by Stoker.

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theliver t1_j6luf2i wrote

The first book of The Sun Also Rises is basically just ubering around a city and partying with your friends.

I recently read The Time Machine for the first time and so much of it feels very modern in story and theme. Tho this ones been so influential that is the reason it feels modern

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New-Rip4617 t1_j6mv0qi wrote

Vanity Fair The Charterhouse of Parma Madame Bovary

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sekhmet1010 t1_j6n2yky wrote

Anything by Anthony Trollope .

He is the most accessible victorian era author i have come across so far. His prose is extremely simple, his characters flawed and funny, and his realism a breath of fresh air. He neither villainises any character, nor does he glorify any. One usually deals with shades of light grey.

He was also very prolific. He wrote two 6-book series (The Barsetshire Chronicles and the Palliser Novels).

My suggestion, however, would be to start with one of his many standalones. Good starting points would be :-

▪︎ Miss Mackenzie

▪︎ The Belton Estate

▪︎ He Knew He Was Right

It would be good to get a taste of his style before one jumps into one of the series, i think. And in my opinion, all of these represent his particular style very well.

I have read 13 of his 48 novels, and honestly, i have enjoyed them all. I own the others and can't wait to read the next Trollope.

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killaADK t1_j6net5s wrote

Three musketeers

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OLJUGACHI t1_j6mwmo2 wrote

Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes (shocking how the whole race discussion hasn´t really changed since the sixtees)

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supperatemotel t1_j6nfypt wrote

It's only SOME modernism and post-modernism that's difficult (some is not - proust, for example, i found so lovely). I guess things written in middle/early modern English, too, are difficult for us today. Everything else should be sweet.

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[deleted] t1_j6my0tr wrote

I did not find Dorian Gray readable. I ended up doing it by audiobook because gay snark has not changed in 160 years, but yeah, couldn’t do it on paper.

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SillyObjectives t1_j6nxlf8 wrote

My favourite Hardy book is definitely Tess of the D’Ubervilles and I find it so readable but that belies how utterly heartbreaking it is. It destroys me, every time.

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monsquesce t1_j6o18yx wrote

I recently read Rebecca and was surprised how easy it was to read! The prose is not what I would expect from the 1930s. Reads more modern.

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jlikejoy t1_j6oykv9 wrote

Apologies if some aren’t old enough but they are considered classics…. Window with a view Ethan frome 1984 A moveable feast The Death of Ivan Ilych The wind in the willows Billy Budd Sailor Bartleby the Scivenor (any Herman Melville short will honestly be good as a starting place) The metamorphosis Northanger Abbey (my favorite Jane Austen) We have always lived in the castle If Beale street could talk A Christmas Carol

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BeckAlexanderTheGr8 t1_j6pbx7w wrote

Ira Levin - A Kiss Before Dying Anything Gogol / Dostoyevsky Streetcar, Glass Menagerie - by Tennessee Williams Ethan Frome - by Edith Warton F Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful & Damned Clarice Lispector - Hour of the Star Emile Zola - Thèrèse Raquin Joan Didion - Play it as it Lays Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master & Margarita Jack Kerouac - Big Sur Amerika- by Franz Kafka

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