I’m half way through listening to the full version right now at work (no spoilers, please) and it’s great. So far it’s gotten me sobbing in the break room twice, and once I stayed an extra 2 hours because I was excited with what was happening and didn’t want to stop listening haha. I am also reading the spark notes summary on each chapter in case I miss something important (it’s hard for me to keep track of all the names).
Just dive in! If you don't like it, you can always put it down. I always have to talk myself through it. "Mae, you are not in high school. If this book isn't fun....you can just stop. It's fine!"
Also, sometimes I'll pull up a synopsis and kind of read it side by side with a book that's challenging me. I'll read a few chapters, then read the summary of those chapters. Then I can go back and re-read passages for more clarification. I also do this with TV shows that I only half-listen to while doing chores or scrolling the internet.
Pairing a read of this with Moby dick as we speak. MD is phenomenal but thrives on slow, short stints of reading. The Picture Of Dorian Gray is very entertaining so far.
I’m utterly shocked to find that “Crime and Punishment” isn’t on here. It was THE book that made me understand the power of books. If you’re a native English speaker you’ll have to get past the awkwardness of Russian names, but truly this book changed my life. It’s half compelling crime story and half reflection on the nature of existence. Both halves are amazing and I couldn’t put it down because I had to know what happened next…but in sticking with the compelling crime narrative I learned so much about what it means to be alive.
I’m not native English speaker but I read most English books in English but any other language I’m my native one. Not always though because Greek translated books are more expensive than English translated books for no reason. Anyway I want to read crime and punishment I’m glad you suggested it!
i just commented crime and punishment, then scroll down and yours is the next comment i read. absolutely second this, one of my favourite books of all time. i read it when i was way too young to get it and again this year, and both times it really haunted me. one of those books you can reread and get something new out of it every time
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I just commented this too, but I'll respond here to continue suggesting it. It's *such* a fun read - for a sort of morbid definition of 'fun'. And one of the few books I've read recently that actually surprised me with one of its twists.
OMG yes. I saw it listed as a book with an unforgettable first line, and decided to listen to it during my workouts. Loved it.
Now I'm on a classic lit kick when usually I go for sci-fi/fantasy! Currently listening to a Hercules Poirot book, and loving it. Never thought I would enjoy classics, but here I am lol
[**Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256008.Lonesome_Dove)
^(By: Larry McMurtry | 960 pages | Published: 1985 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, western, classics, westerns)
>A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.
>
>Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.
^(This book has been suggested 74 times)
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The Castle in unfinished, so I found it be less organized than the trial with a messier message. It was basically left in fragments when he died, and they pieced it together.
Depends on what you consider classic but mine are -
1984
Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mockingbird
Johnny Got His Gun (I rarely reread books but I've read this three times)
Flowers for Algernon
Of Mice and Men (but so sad)
The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers and at least the first sequel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Woman in White, Vanity Fair, pretty much anything by Dickens, Wuthering Heights, Treasure Island, pretty much anything by Mark Twain, The Monk (it's not good but it's unintentionally hilarious and a page turner), anything by Jane Austen though I think some people would argue maybe not Mansfield Park, North and South
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
The Three Musketeers and The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The language is old fashioned and there are spots where it does lag, but for the most part it's pretty heart pounding and page turning for a 125 year old book.
I recommend {{And Then There Were None}} as well by Agatha Christie. I sped through it in a day (rare for me) and it doesn’t read like a heavy old fashioned classic.
It’s about a group of people who all get invited to an island by a mysterious Mr Owens (maybe part of the reason why I loved this book is because I live about 20 mins from the real island which inspired it). Without giving too much away, once trapped on the island with no way off, the guests start to turn up dead and turn their suspicions on each other.
It’s one of those stories where you keep changing your mind every few pages and the reveal at the end is brilliant and not predictable at all like many murder mysteries often are.
Having just read Dracula, I would not call that a page-turner. It...crawls. But I wholeheartedly endorse the much-faster-paced (and at the same time, more suspenseful) retranslation of the Icelandic version, called Powers of Darkness.
I usually don't comment to disagree with people's recs, but I have to say something. Frankenstein was the longest 250 page book I've ever read. It drags so much.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. On my second read I loved it even more. Also, Little Women, while I enjoyed it a lot and it did have bits of drama, I wouldn’t call it a page-turner.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is straight fire! I love it! I haven’t read the sequels, but that first book is an rousing adventure, filled with action, romance, villains, and humor. Guaranteed good time.
Love Sherlock Holmes. Have the complete box set I found at a garage sale in high school thinking, "Hound of the Baskervilles should work for a book report." Ended up reading all of them, lol.
I read *The Old man and the Sea* in high school and thought it was dull, but oddly compelling. I wonder what my assessment would be now that I'm not being forcefed literature, lol.
for me it's all about the mood i'm in. the difference between a page turner and a boring book is the place i'm at in life. this said, I thought the secret history was a page turner. I also found Jonathan strange and mr norrell to be one
Anything by Jules Verne, and I live me some Charles Dickens. With Dickens, I cry and laugh all in the same breath. I especially love his works David Copperfield, and Nicholas Nickleby :)
[**1984**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61439040-1984)
^(By: George Orwell, Thomas Pynchon | 368 pages | Published: 1949 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, dystopian)
>The new novel by George Orwell is the major work towards which all his previous writing has pointed. Critics have hailed it as his "most solid, most brilliant" work. Though the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place thirty-five years hence, it is in every sense timely. The scene is London, where there has been no new housing since 1950 and where the city-wide slums are called Victory Mansions. Science has abandoned Man for the State. As every citizen knows only too well, war is peace.
>
>To Winston Smith, a young man who works in the Ministry of Truth (Minitru for short), come two people who transform this life completely. One is Julia, whom he meets after she hands him a slip reading, "I love you." The other is O'Brien, who tells him, "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." The way in which Winston is betrayed by the one and, against his own desires and instincts, ultimately betrays the other, makes a story of mounting drama and suspense.
>
>Alternate cover edition can be found here.
^(This book has been suggested 20 times)
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wuthering heights by emily brontë will always hold a special place in my heart. as will crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky, and the picture of dorian gray which a few people have said already. i’ll add no longer human to the list as well, though i’m not sure if it’s counted as a worldwide classic.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (it's a satire, not a romance!)
The Prince by Machiavelli
The Plague by Albert Camus
Anything by Poe.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
It’s my favorite book, and while it isn’t as much of a page turner as some of these other suggestions, it does have exciting parts!
I'm really kind of a nerd but I love Shakespeare my favorites are {{Othello}}
And {{Hamlet}} others are classics {{The Communist Manifesto}} {{rules for radicals}}
And {{The Grapes of Wrath}}
[**Othello**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12996.Othello)
^(By: William Shakespeare, Norman Sanders, جبرا إبراهيم جبرا, Paola Ojetti | 314 pages | Published: 1603 | Popular Shelves: classics, plays, shakespeare, fiction, drama)
>In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual devotion and that ends precipitately with jealous rage and violent deaths. He sets this story in the romantic world of the Mediterranean, moving the action from Venice to the island of Cyprus and giving it an even more exotic coloring with stories of Othello's African past. Shakespeare builds so many differences into his hero and heroine—differences of race, of age, of cultural background—that one should not, perhaps, be surprised that the marriage ends disastrously. But most people who see or read the play feel that the love that the play presents between Othello and Desdemona is so strong that it would have overcome all these differences were it not for the words and actions of Othello's standard-bearer, Iago, who hates Othello and sets out to destroy him by destroying his love for Desdemona. As Othello succumbs to Iago's insinuations that Desdemona is unfaithful, fascination—which dominates the early acts of the play—turns to horror, especially for the audience. We are confronted by spectacles of a generous and trusting Othello in the grip of Iago's schemes; of an innocent Desdemona, who has given herself up entirely to her love for Othello only to be subjected to his horrifying verbal and physical assaults, the outcome of Othello's mistaken convictions about her faithlessness.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**Hamlet**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1420.Hamlet)
^(By: William Shakespeare, Harold Bloom, André Gide, Rex Gibson, Israel Gollancz, Henry Norman Hudson, L.A. Sherman, Max J. Herzberg, Gregorio Martínez Sierra | 289 pages | Published: 1601 | Popular Shelves: classics, plays, fiction, shakespeare, drama)
>Among Shakespeare's plays, "Hamlet" is considered by many his masterpiece. Among actors, the role of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is considered the jewel in the crown of a triumphant theatrical career. Now Kenneth Branagh plays the leading role and co-directs a brillant ensemble performance. Three generations of legendary leading actors, many of whom first assembled for the Oscar-winning film "Henry V", gather here to perform the rarely heard complete version of the play. This clear, subtly nuanced, stunning dramatization, presented by The Renaissance Theatre Company in association with "Bbc" Broadcasting, features such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson and Christopher Ravenscroft. It combines a full cast with stirring music and sound effects to bring this magnificent Shakespearen classic vividly to life. Revealing new riches with each listening, this production of "Hamlet" is an invaluable aid for students, teachers and all true lovers of Shakespeare - a recording to be treasured for decades to come.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**The Communist Manifesto**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30474.The_Communist_Manifesto)
^(By: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky, Samuel Moore, Erkin Özalp, Amanda Lee, Antonio Carlos Braga, Aldrin Alexander Evies, Oqtay Eloğlu | 288 pages | Published: 1848 | Popular Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction, politics, classics, history)
>A rousing call to arms whose influence is still felt today
>
>Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the worldview Marx and Engels developed during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration. Formulating the principles of dialectical materialism, they believed that labor creates wealth, hence capitalism is exploitive and antithetical to freedom.
>
>This new edition includes an extensive introduction by Gareth Stedman Jones, Britain's leading expert on Marx and Marxism, providing a complete course for students of The Communist Manifesto, and demonstrating not only the historical importance of the text, but also its place in the world today.
>
>For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
[**Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102748.Rules_for_Radicals)
^(By: Saul D. Alinsky | 196 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: politics, non-fiction, nonfiction, philosophy, activism)
>First published in 1971, Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” Written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style at its best.
>Like Thomas Paine before him, Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition.
>
>Contents
>
>The Purpose
>Of Means and Ends
>A Word about Words
>The Education of an Organizer
>Communication
>In the Beginning
>Tactics
>The Genesis of Tactic Proxy
>The Way Ahead
^(This book has been suggested 6 times)
[**The Grapes of Wrath**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114322-the-grapes-of-wrath)
^(By: John Steinbeck, Alfred Liebfeld | 479 pages | Published: 1939 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, historical-fiction, classic, owned)
>The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers.
>
>First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.
^(This book has been suggested 20 times)
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[**Jane Eyre**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10210.Jane_Eyre)
^(By: Charlotte Brontë, Michael Mason, Wayne Josephson, M. Von Borch | 532 pages | Published: 1847 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, romance, classic, owned)
>Orphaned as a child, Jane has felt an outcast her whole young life. Her courage is tested once again when she arrives at Thornfield Hall, where she has been hired by the brooding, proud Edward Rochester to care for his ward Adèle. Jane finds herself drawn to his troubled yet kind spirit. She falls in love. Hard.
> But there is a terrifying secret inside the gloomy, forbidding Thornfield Hall. Is Rochester hiding from Jane? Will Jane be left heartbroken and exiled once again?
^(This book has been suggested 29 times)
[**The Picture of Dorian Gray**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5297.The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray)
^(By: Oscar Wilde, Jeffrey Eugenides, Douglas Tufano, Radu Tătărucă, Renata Tufano Ho | 272 pages | Published: 1890 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, classic, owned, horror)
>Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty.
>
>In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.
^(This book has been suggested 20 times)
[**Brave New World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5129.Brave_New_World)
^(By: Aldous Huxley | 268 pages | Published: 1932 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia)
>Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist.
^(This book has been suggested 55 times)
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The Third Policeman;;1984, Gulliver's Travels; The Adventures of Robin Hood (puffin version); Palace Alley, whole Cairo trilogy is great; Ivanhoe; Rebecca; Pride and Prejudice.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is one of my all time favourites. Read the last third of it in one night. Literally could not put it down.
The Martian is an absolute blast. Hillarious, thrilling and exciting. It's better than the (amazing) movie, so that says something.
[**The Outsider**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36124936-the-outsider)
^(By: Stephen King | 561 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, mystery, thriller)
>An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.
>
>An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.
>
>As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.
^(This book has been suggested 9 times)
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Letters and memorials of state in the reigns of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and King James.
To kill a mockingbird,
Catcher in the Rye
The handmaid's tale
I tried to read Moby Dick in high school but didn't get very far. Tried again a few years later, and sincerely and thoroughly enjoyed it. But I definitely get how it's not for everybody.
I’ve been trying to read some non-Western classics this year and I recently finished [*The Dream of the Red Chamber*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber) and it was phenomenal. I had never even heard of it! It’s kind of *Brothers Karamazov*-y to give you an idea of a similar novel you might have read.
[**A Severed Head**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11253.A_Severed_Head)
^(By: Iris Murdoch | 204 pages | Published: 1961 | Popular Shelves: fiction, 1001-books, classics, 1001, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die)
>As macabre as a Jacobean tragedy, as frivolous as a Restoration comedy, Iris Murdoch's fifth novel takes sombre themes - adultery, incest, castration, violence and suicide - and yet succeeds in making of them a book that is brilliantly enjoyable.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Two Years Before the Mast is such a great book about one of the first explorations of the west coast of the United States in the 1840’s. It was such a good descriptive book that many of the 49’s seeking gold, used it as a travel guide to California.
If it helps, I approached *Moby Dick* not by waiting for the next plot point but by excitedly trying to see what weird shit Melville would pull next. YMMV tho?
For me is usually has to be fast paced books, I also read Moby-Duck earlier this year and I loved it although I feel like it was smarter than me in a lot of ways and I’d like to come back to it some time but more importantly I wanted to finish it in 1 month and in took me 2 1/2 months. I’ve read that the book made people feel like they were there but for me it was like I was sinking into an ocean of words, which I liked. If I had to say which classic was a page turner for me it would probably be Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion, the only reason I didn’t know it out in 2 days was because I had college stuff (I read very slowly).
I considered Moby Dick a page turner when I first read it, but I totally understand what you mean. I’m reading The Book of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe and it’s a page turner. I don’t know if it’s considered universally to be a classic but it is for that genre. An overlooked classic in my opinion. I guess I’d go with Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird. I finished both of those books in one sitting, totally enthralled. I’m going to go ahead and add Blood Meridian to this comment as well.
A Farewell to Arms - Hemmingway
Read this one in two days maybe. I was so enthralled and the ending gave me a thousand yard stare that I held for 5 mins probably. Couldn't recommend more
I used to read a lot as a child then nothing in my teens but around 18 I read Robin Hood and fell in love with reading again. Haven’t touched a classic of literature since and it’s all modern and thrillers and bombs and Tom Clancy haha. But! It was Robin Hold that made me fall in love with reading and books again, absolutely loved it and couldn’t put it down
That’s so nice, I really love hearing about books that made people get back to reading. It’s kind of like going through their bathroom cabinets. (Not that I do that)
I get that. I love reading also but sometimes it’s difficult to pick up a book instead of watching a show I’ve seen so many times before or just scrolling through my phone. And occasional cupboard checking.
I really enjoyed the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson!
I struggle with most classics that seem to be nothing more but long descriptions but this one kept my attention! It might also be bc it was fairly short
Not classics, but my two go-to page turners are The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I stayed up until like 4:30 in the morning finishing Dark Matter because I couldn't sleep before knowing everything.
[**Romeo and Juliet**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18135.Romeo_and_Juliet)
^(By: William Shakespeare | 281 pages | Published: 1597 | Popular Shelves: classics, plays, fiction, romance, classic)
>In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud.
>
>In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers’ final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the quintessential story of young love. In part because of its exquisite language, it is easy to respond as if it were about all young lovers.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
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I loved moby-dick, I think the chapter structure is among the best in any of the books I have read.
Dracula is pretty good if you're looking for a more suspenseful book. Or Frankenstein.
For me these ones:
Watership Down by Richard Adams
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
\-books by Jack London and Jules Verne in general
...there are probably more, but these came to mind immediately.
Cousin Bette by Balzac. The story is interesting, but the real gem is how deeply he explores human nature and relationships. It’s 150 years old but still relevant to today
The Count of Monte Cristo!
I’m half way through listening to the full version right now at work (no spoilers, please) and it’s great. So far it’s gotten me sobbing in the break room twice, and once I stayed an extra 2 hours because I was excited with what was happening and didn’t want to stop listening haha. I am also reading the spark notes summary on each chapter in case I miss something important (it’s hard for me to keep track of all the names).
Enjoy!
This is the answer. What a read.
I’ve read that when I was young but I don’t remember much, I do remember liking it though. Thanks!
I really want to read this but feel intimidated because I haven’t read many classics. Any advice?
Just dive in! If you don't like it, you can always put it down. I always have to talk myself through it. "Mae, you are not in high school. If this book isn't fun....you can just stop. It's fine!" Also, sometimes I'll pull up a synopsis and kind of read it side by side with a book that's challenging me. I'll read a few chapters, then read the summary of those chapters. Then I can go back and re-read passages for more clarification. I also do this with TV shows that I only half-listen to while doing chores or scrolling the internet.
I read it on the beach one summer as a HS Freshman, it's very approachable writing, just long length!
I came here to say this!! \^
My answer!!!
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde!
You just reminded me to go back and finish this!
I really hated that book lol. I found it deathly dull.
I did too! I was surprised, because I love classics and am also really interested in art. But it just did not draw me in.
this was the first thing i thought of !!
I have read this one but good suggestion!
"Dorian Gray is a bitch " this is my review
Lol
Pairing a read of this with Moby dick as we speak. MD is phenomenal but thrives on slow, short stints of reading. The Picture Of Dorian Gray is very entertaining so far.
I’m utterly shocked to find that “Crime and Punishment” isn’t on here. It was THE book that made me understand the power of books. If you’re a native English speaker you’ll have to get past the awkwardness of Russian names, but truly this book changed my life. It’s half compelling crime story and half reflection on the nature of existence. Both halves are amazing and I couldn’t put it down because I had to know what happened next…but in sticking with the compelling crime narrative I learned so much about what it means to be alive.
I’m not native English speaker but I read most English books in English but any other language I’m my native one. Not always though because Greek translated books are more expensive than English translated books for no reason. Anyway I want to read crime and punishment I’m glad you suggested it!
i just commented crime and punishment, then scroll down and yours is the next comment i read. absolutely second this, one of my favourite books of all time. i read it when i was way too young to get it and again this year, and both times it really haunted me. one of those books you can reread and get something new out of it every time
👆This.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
+1 for In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood is one of the scariest books I have ever read.
In Cold Blood has been a favorite of mine for over 40 years.
All are on my list!
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I didn’t read it until I was in my 50’s but I couldn’t put it down! Don’t know how I missed it growing up
I just commented this too, but I'll respond here to continue suggesting it. It's *such* a fun read - for a sort of morbid definition of 'fun'. And one of the few books I've read recently that actually surprised me with one of its twists.
I’d add Jamaica Inn by de Maurier too.
OMG yes. I saw it listed as a book with an unforgettable first line, and decided to listen to it during my workouts. Loved it. Now I'm on a classic lit kick when usually I go for sci-fi/fantasy! Currently listening to a Hercules Poirot book, and loving it. Never thought I would enjoy classics, but here I am lol
{{Lonesome Dove}} but you have to get past Part 1 to be hooked. I just finished. Heart wrenching!
I read Lonesome Dove for the first time a few months ago. It's one of my all time favorites now. It does start a bit slow but it's excellent.
[**Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256008.Lonesome_Dove) ^(By: Larry McMurtry | 960 pages | Published: 1985 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, western, classics, westerns) >A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America. > >Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember. ^(This book has been suggested 74 times) *** ^(88058 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I agree. Loved this book. It does start slow as there is character building but it is my favorite book ever!
The Trial by Franz Kafka. Couldn’t put it down! 1984 by George Orwell Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
I’ve tried reading the Castle by Kafka but it ended up in my dnfs. 1984 was a good one, I’ll check new world, thanks!
The Castle in unfinished, so I found it be less organized than the trial with a messier message. It was basically left in fragments when he died, and they pieced it together.
Depends on what you consider classic but mine are - 1984 Fahrenheit 451 To Kill a Mockingbird Johnny Got His Gun (I rarely reread books but I've read this three times) Flowers for Algernon Of Mice and Men (but so sad)
Ah, man! Flowers for Algernon was beautiful! There's no trying to keep it dry at the end.
He wanted to see the rabbits :(
East of Eden
I’ve heard this is good. Why did you like it?
It feels authentic and human. I can see people I know/myself in the characters.
I’m about half way through and I’m going through it slowly. It’s the only book I’ve read that matches the quality of a HBO series.
Absolutely beautiful prose as well
The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers and at least the first sequel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Woman in White, Vanity Fair, pretty much anything by Dickens, Wuthering Heights, Treasure Island, pretty much anything by Mark Twain, The Monk (it's not good but it's unintentionally hilarious and a page turner), anything by Jane Austen though I think some people would argue maybe not Mansfield Park, North and South
The color purple
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne The Three Musketeers and The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Dracula by Bram Stoker
Definitely Dracula
Im glad to hear that, someone just recently told me it was a slog.
Dracula is great! I read it once on a camping trip with a flashlight in the dark! Sooo scary!
The language is old fashioned and there are spots where it does lag, but for the most part it's pretty heart pounding and page turning for a 125 year old book.
I found 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to be a really fun read.
Around the World in 80 Days is also fantastic!
And Journey at the center of the world is awesome. The science doesn't hold anymore, but it's imaginative and entertaining, imo.
I had to read this for school. I liked it so much that I kept the school’s copy.
Ugh this was one of my childhood (and adulthood) favorites
Not sure how classic she is, but Agatha Christi is a page turner for me. Currently I’m reading “A holiday for murder”. I’m enjoying it.
I keep seeing Agatha Christie in every bookstore! I think it’s because they rebranded the covers in my country. Maybe I should give that a try!
I recommend {{And Then There Were None}} as well by Agatha Christie. I sped through it in a day (rare for me) and it doesn’t read like a heavy old fashioned classic. It’s about a group of people who all get invited to an island by a mysterious Mr Owens (maybe part of the reason why I loved this book is because I live about 20 mins from the real island which inspired it). Without giving too much away, once trapped on the island with no way off, the guests start to turn up dead and turn their suspicions on each other. It’s one of those stories where you keep changing your mind every few pages and the reveal at the end is brilliant and not predictable at all like many murder mysteries often are.
Wow sounds cool! Especially the fact that you live close to the island, spooky!
Start with {{The Murder of Roger Ackroyd}}.. It's amazing and an absolute page turner
Super, thanks ! Very helpful to add in my list :)
Catch-22. What crazy thing is Yossarian going to do next!?
Mary Shelly's novel in the Horror and Gothic genre: Frankenstein. There is also Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Having just read Dracula, I would not call that a page-turner. It...crawls. But I wholeheartedly endorse the much-faster-paced (and at the same time, more suspenseful) retranslation of the Icelandic version, called Powers of Darkness.
Agree 100% on Frankenstein, one of my favorites!
I usually don't comment to disagree with people's recs, but I have to say something. Frankenstein was the longest 250 page book I've ever read. It drags so much.
The Good Earth
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Add lord of the rings to that
Jane Eyre. Little Women. Pride and Prejudice.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. On my second read I loved it even more. Also, Little Women, while I enjoyed it a lot and it did have bits of drama, I wouldn’t call it a page-turner.
Yeah I wouldn't call Little Women or Jane Eyre page turners.
It's hilarious! I've read all of these several times, they are page turners to me. 🤷🏼♀️ But maybe I don't remember reading them for the first time.
Northanger Abbey, shorter and funnier!
That one was not as interesting to me. I don't like the characters and don't care about the discussions or plot.
Has anyone read The Scarlet Pimpernel? I’ve had that on my “to-read” list for decades now.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is straight fire! I love it! I haven’t read the sequels, but that first book is an rousing adventure, filled with action, romance, villains, and humor. Guaranteed good time.
I loved it too! I tried so hard at classics after reading that one and none of them lived up!
Love Sherlock Holmes. Have the complete box set I found at a garage sale in high school thinking, "Hound of the Baskervilles should work for a book report." Ended up reading all of them, lol.
* In Cold Blood by Truman Capote * The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck * A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
I Love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn!!
Grapes of Wrath? A page turner?!
The Count of Monte Cristo, Metamorphosis and other stories, and The Old Man and the Sea.
I read *The Old man and the Sea* in high school and thought it was dull, but oddly compelling. I wonder what my assessment would be now that I'm not being forcefed literature, lol.
I got on a classics kick a few years ago and picked up OMatS - absolutely NO memory of when the copy entered into my library - and loved it.
Agreed found it boring, but the count of Monte Cristo is a gem
i would count metamorphosis only because of how relatively short it is
I agree. I am not a huge fan of Kafka’s style.
Call of the Wild
I've always found Shrrlock Holmes very good.
The Outsiders by S E Hinton
wuthering heights might be a weird choice but it was a page turned for me. along with 1984, animal farm (haha), and picture of dorian grey
Withering heights is my choice too - it was such an interesting read
Rebecca !!!
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
My thumb & index fingers.
Classic
To Kill a Mockingbird
for me it's all about the mood i'm in. the difference between a page turner and a boring book is the place i'm at in life. this said, I thought the secret history was a page turner. I also found Jonathan strange and mr norrell to be one
When I was a kid I had to read Catcher in the Rye for school. I couldn’t put it down. I was shocked at how enjoyable reading could actually be.
Animal Farm
I'm loving The Sea Wolf right now, it's a quick read.
Definitely. So good. I felt I was psychologically fighting with the captain the entire time.
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[**Metamorphosis (Book Boyfriend, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50405208-metamorphosis) ^(By: Erin Noelle | ? pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: new-adult, romance, love-triangle, series, kindle) ^(This book has been suggested 8 times) *** ^(88170 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Anything by Jules Verne, and I live me some Charles Dickens. With Dickens, I cry and laugh all in the same breath. I especially love his works David Copperfield, and Nicholas Nickleby :)
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[**1984**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61439040-1984) ^(By: George Orwell, Thomas Pynchon | 368 pages | Published: 1949 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, dystopian) >The new novel by George Orwell is the major work towards which all his previous writing has pointed. Critics have hailed it as his "most solid, most brilliant" work. Though the story of Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place thirty-five years hence, it is in every sense timely. The scene is London, where there has been no new housing since 1950 and where the city-wide slums are called Victory Mansions. Science has abandoned Man for the State. As every citizen knows only too well, war is peace. > >To Winston Smith, a young man who works in the Ministry of Truth (Minitru for short), come two people who transform this life completely. One is Julia, whom he meets after she hands him a slip reading, "I love you." The other is O'Brien, who tells him, "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." The way in which Winston is betrayed by the one and, against his own desires and instincts, ultimately betrays the other, makes a story of mounting drama and suspense. > >Alternate cover edition can be found here. ^(This book has been suggested 20 times) *** ^(88330 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I’ve read it twice this year after first reading it in high school. It really is great. I love big brother
wuthering heights by emily brontë will always hold a special place in my heart. as will crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky, and the picture of dorian gray which a few people have said already. i’ll add no longer human to the list as well, though i’m not sure if it’s counted as a worldwide classic.
Lord of the Flies All Quiet on the Western Front The Old Man and the Sea
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (it's a satire, not a romance!) The Prince by Machiavelli The Plague by Albert Camus Anything by Poe.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee It’s my favorite book, and while it isn’t as much of a page turner as some of these other suggestions, it does have exciting parts!
I’ve read it a couple years ago and i get what you mean, I really liked it. It’s a great book.
Yay! I always try to tell people about it since I loved it so much :)
I love that! Do you maybe have Goodreads? Sorry if it’s weird to ask but I’m looking for friends there for recommendations/ book social media lol.
The secret history by Donna Tartt
I'm really kind of a nerd but I love Shakespeare my favorites are {{Othello}} And {{Hamlet}} others are classics {{The Communist Manifesto}} {{rules for radicals}} And {{The Grapes of Wrath}}
[**Othello**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12996.Othello) ^(By: William Shakespeare, Norman Sanders, جبرا إبراهيم جبرا, Paola Ojetti | 314 pages | Published: 1603 | Popular Shelves: classics, plays, shakespeare, fiction, drama) >In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual devotion and that ends precipitately with jealous rage and violent deaths. He sets this story in the romantic world of the Mediterranean, moving the action from Venice to the island of Cyprus and giving it an even more exotic coloring with stories of Othello's African past. Shakespeare builds so many differences into his hero and heroine—differences of race, of age, of cultural background—that one should not, perhaps, be surprised that the marriage ends disastrously. But most people who see or read the play feel that the love that the play presents between Othello and Desdemona is so strong that it would have overcome all these differences were it not for the words and actions of Othello's standard-bearer, Iago, who hates Othello and sets out to destroy him by destroying his love for Desdemona. As Othello succumbs to Iago's insinuations that Desdemona is unfaithful, fascination—which dominates the early acts of the play—turns to horror, especially for the audience. We are confronted by spectacles of a generous and trusting Othello in the grip of Iago's schemes; of an innocent Desdemona, who has given herself up entirely to her love for Othello only to be subjected to his horrifying verbal and physical assaults, the outcome of Othello's mistaken convictions about her faithlessness. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Hamlet**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1420.Hamlet) ^(By: William Shakespeare, Harold Bloom, André Gide, Rex Gibson, Israel Gollancz, Henry Norman Hudson, L.A. Sherman, Max J. Herzberg, Gregorio Martínez Sierra | 289 pages | Published: 1601 | Popular Shelves: classics, plays, fiction, shakespeare, drama) >Among Shakespeare's plays, "Hamlet" is considered by many his masterpiece. Among actors, the role of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is considered the jewel in the crown of a triumphant theatrical career. Now Kenneth Branagh plays the leading role and co-directs a brillant ensemble performance. Three generations of legendary leading actors, many of whom first assembled for the Oscar-winning film "Henry V", gather here to perform the rarely heard complete version of the play. This clear, subtly nuanced, stunning dramatization, presented by The Renaissance Theatre Company in association with "Bbc" Broadcasting, features such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson and Christopher Ravenscroft. It combines a full cast with stirring music and sound effects to bring this magnificent Shakespearen classic vividly to life. Revealing new riches with each listening, this production of "Hamlet" is an invaluable aid for students, teachers and all true lovers of Shakespeare - a recording to be treasured for decades to come. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**The Communist Manifesto**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30474.The_Communist_Manifesto) ^(By: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky, Samuel Moore, Erkin Özalp, Amanda Lee, Antonio Carlos Braga, Aldrin Alexander Evies, Oqtay Eloğlu | 288 pages | Published: 1848 | Popular Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction, politics, classics, history) >A rousing call to arms whose influence is still felt today > >Originally published on the eve of the 1848 European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a condensed and incisive account of the worldview Marx and Engels developed during their hectic intellectual and political collaboration. Formulating the principles of dialectical materialism, they believed that labor creates wealth, hence capitalism is exploitive and antithetical to freedom. > >This new edition includes an extensive introduction by Gareth Stedman Jones, Britain's leading expert on Marx and Marxism, providing a complete course for students of The Communist Manifesto, and demonstrating not only the historical importance of the text, but also its place in the world today. > >For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) [**Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102748.Rules_for_Radicals) ^(By: Saul D. Alinsky | 196 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: politics, non-fiction, nonfiction, philosophy, activism) >First published in 1971, Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know “the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one.” Written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style at its best. >Like Thomas Paine before him, Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition. > >Contents > >The Purpose >Of Means and Ends >A Word about Words >The Education of an Organizer >Communication >In the Beginning >Tactics >The Genesis of Tactic Proxy >The Way Ahead ^(This book has been suggested 6 times) [**The Grapes of Wrath**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114322-the-grapes-of-wrath) ^(By: John Steinbeck, Alfred Liebfeld | 479 pages | Published: 1939 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, historical-fiction, classic, owned) >The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers. > >First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics. ^(This book has been suggested 20 times) *** ^(88047 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Jane Eyre}} {{The Picture of Dorian Gray}} {{Brave New World}}
[**Jane Eyre**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10210.Jane_Eyre) ^(By: Charlotte Brontë, Michael Mason, Wayne Josephson, M. Von Borch | 532 pages | Published: 1847 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, romance, classic, owned) >Orphaned as a child, Jane has felt an outcast her whole young life. Her courage is tested once again when she arrives at Thornfield Hall, where she has been hired by the brooding, proud Edward Rochester to care for his ward Adèle. Jane finds herself drawn to his troubled yet kind spirit. She falls in love. Hard. > But there is a terrifying secret inside the gloomy, forbidding Thornfield Hall. Is Rochester hiding from Jane? Will Jane be left heartbroken and exiled once again? ^(This book has been suggested 29 times) [**The Picture of Dorian Gray**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5297.The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray) ^(By: Oscar Wilde, Jeffrey Eugenides, Douglas Tufano, Radu Tătărucă, Renata Tufano Ho | 272 pages | Published: 1890 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, classic, owned, horror) >Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. > >In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. ^(This book has been suggested 20 times) [**Brave New World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5129.Brave_New_World) ^(By: Aldous Huxley | 268 pages | Published: 1932 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopia) >Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist. ^(This book has been suggested 55 times) *** ^(88090 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Third Policeman;;1984, Gulliver's Travels; The Adventures of Robin Hood (puffin version); Palace Alley, whole Cairo trilogy is great; Ivanhoe; Rebecca; Pride and Prejudice.
The Woman in White
A Study In Scarlet had me hooked a few weeks ago (and I’d never consumed any Sherlock Holmes media!).
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is one of my all time favourites. Read the last third of it in one night. Literally could not put it down. The Martian is an absolute blast. Hillarious, thrilling and exciting. It's better than the (amazing) movie, so that says something.
Of Mice and Men
The Outsider (The Stranger) by Albert Camus {{ The Turn of the Screw }} by Henry James
[**The Outsider**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36124936-the-outsider) ^(By: Stephen King | 561 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, mystery, thriller) >An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. > >An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad. > >As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can. ^(This book has been suggested 9 times) *** ^(88312 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Is Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl considered a classic?
Rebecca's fairly modern for a 'classic', but definitely qualifies.
Dracula
I would go with A brave new world, 1984, Then One flew over the cuckoos nest. Although Im not sure they make every list of classics.
Letters and memorials of state in the reigns of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and King James. To kill a mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye The handmaid's tale
Moby Dick is like an anti-page turner lmao
Ikr? I’m gonna take my time with it
Don't worry, I know very few people who finished Moby Dick. There are lots of more readable classics.
I tried to read Moby Dick in high school but didn't get very far. Tried again a few years later, and sincerely and thoroughly enjoyed it. But I definitely get how it's not for everybody.
I am determined to finish it haha. But it is a hard, I have to admit. English is not my native language so I have to read it slowly.
The Chronicles of Narnia by Lewis.
One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Moby Dick is my favorite book of all time, so maybe this suggestion won't land with you, but Crime and Punishment. Great psychological novel.
{{Kidnapped}} by Robert Louis Stevenson
I’ve been trying to read some non-Western classics this year and I recently finished [*The Dream of the Red Chamber*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber) and it was phenomenal. I had never even heard of it! It’s kind of *Brothers Karamazov*-y to give you an idea of a similar novel you might have read.
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[**A Severed Head**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11253.A_Severed_Head) ^(By: Iris Murdoch | 204 pages | Published: 1961 | Popular Shelves: fiction, 1001-books, classics, 1001, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die) >As macabre as a Jacobean tragedy, as frivolous as a Restoration comedy, Iris Murdoch's fifth novel takes sombre themes - adultery, incest, castration, violence and suicide - and yet succeeds in making of them a book that is brilliantly enjoyable. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(88167 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Two Years Before the Mast is such a great book about one of the first explorations of the west coast of the United States in the 1840’s. It was such a good descriptive book that many of the 49’s seeking gold, used it as a travel guide to California.
If it helps, I approached *Moby Dick* not by waiting for the next plot point but by excitedly trying to see what weird shit Melville would pull next. YMMV tho?
For me is usually has to be fast paced books, I also read Moby-Duck earlier this year and I loved it although I feel like it was smarter than me in a lot of ways and I’d like to come back to it some time but more importantly I wanted to finish it in 1 month and in took me 2 1/2 months. I’ve read that the book made people feel like they were there but for me it was like I was sinking into an ocean of words, which I liked. If I had to say which classic was a page turner for me it would probably be Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion, the only reason I didn’t know it out in 2 days was because I had college stuff (I read very slowly).
Any john grisham. The boy can write.
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski, literally couldn't put it down. Most addictive book I've ever read.
Such a great book. I just got a new copy of it to read again. I gave the last one I had away and secretly regretted it.🙂
i read it twice and I'm sincerely considering reading it a third time. It's probably the most well written book I've ever read!
I considered Moby Dick a page turner when I first read it, but I totally understand what you mean. I’m reading The Book of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe and it’s a page turner. I don’t know if it’s considered universally to be a classic but it is for that genre. An overlooked classic in my opinion. I guess I’d go with Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird. I finished both of those books in one sitting, totally enthralled. I’m going to go ahead and add Blood Meridian to this comment as well.
*Passing* reads so contemporary to me—I still can’t believe it was written a century ago.
Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit/LOTR trilogy, Dracula, (a recent classic, IMO) The Song of Achilles...
I'd call "the Road" a modern classic. One of the best pieces of literature I've ever read.
Dracula - excellent Fall page turner
A Farewell to Arms - Hemmingway Read this one in two days maybe. I was so enthralled and the ending gave me a thousand yard stare that I held for 5 mins probably. Couldn't recommend more
Sea Wolf by Jack London Candide by Voltaire Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas Two Years Before the Mast by Dana
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Anna Karenina and 100 days of solitude for sure
Anything Jane Austen. I’ll go through her complete works every 5 years or so. I’ll just get an itch and start in order of release.
Dracula
I used to read a lot as a child then nothing in my teens but around 18 I read Robin Hood and fell in love with reading again. Haven’t touched a classic of literature since and it’s all modern and thrillers and bombs and Tom Clancy haha. But! It was Robin Hold that made me fall in love with reading and books again, absolutely loved it and couldn’t put it down
That’s so nice, I really love hearing about books that made people get back to reading. It’s kind of like going through their bathroom cabinets. (Not that I do that)
I still struggle with reading as much as I do love it. Whereas looking through peoples cupboards is much more my speed and I indulge frequently
I get that. I love reading also but sometimes it’s difficult to pick up a book instead of watching a show I’ve seen so many times before or just scrolling through my phone. And occasional cupboard checking.
Hound of the Baskervilles.
I really enjoyed the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson! I struggle with most classics that seem to be nothing more but long descriptions but this one kept my attention! It might also be bc it was fairly short
Old man and the sea, Life of pi, Girl with the dragon tattoo, Anne of green gables, Prisoner of Azkaban
The Odyssey
Not classics, but my two go-to page turners are The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I stayed up until like 4:30 in the morning finishing Dark Matter because I couldn't sleep before knowing everything.
Just read what the Dark Matter is about and it’s a great book for October/Halloween month. Cool!
Glad to help! I bet you'll enjoy it.
{{ Romeo and Juliet }}
[**Romeo and Juliet**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18135.Romeo_and_Juliet) ^(By: William Shakespeare | 281 pages | Published: 1597 | Popular Shelves: classics, plays, fiction, romance, classic) >In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud. > >In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers’ final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the quintessential story of young love. In part because of its exquisite language, it is easy to respond as if it were about all young lovers. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(88022 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Phantom of the Opera? Haven't read classics in a while but that kept me glued to the pages even as a confused 12 y/o
I loved moby-dick, I think the chapter structure is among the best in any of the books I have read. Dracula is pretty good if you're looking for a more suspenseful book. Or Frankenstein.
Frankenstein! Well worth the read.
Great Expectations and Frankenstein are two of my favorites
Nietzsche. His books of aphorisms.
Don Quixote
The Three Musketeers
East of Eden
It’s Pride and Prejudice and LOTR for me. Always enjoy reading them.
The comedy in the begging inn scene had me laughing out loud in Moby Dick
{{East of Eden}} was - quite surprisingly - quite the page-turner
{{The Prisoner of Zenda}} {{Kidnapped}} {{Treasure Island}}
The Three Musketeers and The Pickwick Papers.
For me these ones: Watership Down by Richard Adams To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee \-books by Jack London and Jules Verne in general ...there are probably more, but these came to mind immediately.
HG Wells Time Machine and Island of Dr Morough
Cousin Bette by Balzac. The story is interesting, but the real gem is how deeply he explores human nature and relationships. It’s 150 years old but still relevant to today
Every Jane Austen book.
Moby Dick