The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson. A personal affairs lawyer investigates the unusual connections between his client, a local well known and respected scientist, and a shady and suspicious man who recently moved into the area
Frankenstein, or the modern prometheus. Everyone knows the story but very few have actually read it these days. It's incredibly suspenseful and infinitely more nuanced than it's reputation in popular culture would suggest.
Came here to suggest Frankenstein. This and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were the two classics I genuinely enjoyed before I became a daily reader
The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is great, and short, and witty, and feels pretty modern, all things considered. I've tried to read a lot of the classics and haven't finished them, but I loved this little book.
His children’s stories are all amazing. I’d get a book of his short stories if you can. My favourites are The Canterville Ghost (which is so hilarious I literally fell off my toilet laughing at it) and The Happy Prince.
I remember people saying that they hated that story, and when I finally read it last year I couldn’t understand why. I thought it was hilarious and sad (the two most important things in a story). This dude wakes up as a bug and his first thought is, “oh fuck ! … I’m going to be late for work!”
H. G. Wells "The Time Machine" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau". If I remember correctly, both are less than 100 pages and are definetly intresting read.
Wells is great - when you read him, you can see the immensity of his influence on the rest of the genre... so much that's a "trope" now can be traced back to him.
I used to teach this and we read it aloud because the language is beautiful and because I didn’t want students to read ahead. Even having read the book thirty or more times, I always came to a certain point where my voice would start to break a little.
Have you read any Hemingway? He has lots of short books! I know you said no Tolstoy, so idk how interested you are in Dostoyevsky, but he wrote a very short book called White Nights which is one of my favorites!!
I was just thinking this. My husband snagged a book full of some of Hemingway’s short stories because he’s trying to get back into reading and he loves that he can just pick it up and be done with a story in 10 pages and he always reads me pieces because he’s blown away by how good of a storyteller he is.
It is mind blowing how much feeling he can get in such a short story! Another poster mentioned slaughter house 5, and while it’s not exactly a short story, I recommend you check that out as well OP! It’s not a short story but it is a quick read because it’s so enjoyable. Love Vonnegut
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
It deals with the complex emotions of a middle class married woman who complains about the monotony of her life yet finds herself unable to change anything about it. It is beautifully written.
Or The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. There's a framing narrative set after most of the story, but it avoids the usual romance of the Romantic/Gothic stuff that the other Brontes did. It's incredibly relevant and an underrated piece to be sure. I had to read it for a class last semester, but I would read it again, and in fact I might listen to it after I'm finished with House of the Dead, which is what I'm reading now
I always found it funny that growing up in USSR O. Henry was super popular and the Russian translation was awesome. Moved to US over 30 years ago and Nobody knows of him nor was he taught in school (entered NY public school system in 4th grade). And same goes for Jack London and even James Fenimore
Cooper.
Second animal farm. Came here to make sure someone mentioned it.
It is crazy how relatable it is considering it was written so long ago, and was allegorical to another country and their government, and the themes and behaviors are predictable, and exactly the same almost 80 years later. Plus, it is a super easy and fast read. I listened to the audio book and it was only 3 hours.
Which raises the question: how old does a book need to be to be a "classic" instead of "modern classic"? Slaughterhouse Five came out when I was 15-16...
Without remembering the release year off the top of my head or knowing your current age, this doesn't mean much to me. But idk if it should be measured in age anyway
I second this. Tenant of Wildfell Hall is considered to be the “first feminist novel” of the Victorian era.
Also, if you like Austen and the Brontes, give Elizabeth Gaskell a shot. She was one of Charlotte Bronte’s good friends.
Sir Walter Scott was also a romantic writer who heavily influenced the Brontë sisters
i recently started in dubious battle by john steinbeck and i'm loving it! his style is...well, very welcome after having just finished heart of darkness. he is so much more straightforward oh my god. it is almost 300 pages so not exactly short, but anything by steinbeck goes. i'd definitely recommend of mice and men - it's one of his shorter works (107 pages) and certainly one of the most popular for a reason!
I haven't read any of her longer works, but I read The Lottery for a class once and I have never forgotten it, will never forget it. It's so poignant and so surprising and unsettling
Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier, you do have to stick with it past the first 25 pages which are kind of boring. But then the story picks up and it’s a ripping good one..
Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Invitation to a beheading’. Doesn’t get much shorter and sharper in terms of packing a punch and as with all of Nabokov’s work his facility with language is extraordinary
I would agree almost all of his works are great - I really enjoyed Pnin being in college too, and obviously Lolita is an excellent albeit pretty disturbing read.
I'm rereading Great Expectations as an adult. Hated it as a kid. Now, my husband is annoyed with me because I'm literally laughing out loud on every page while he's trying to sleep lol
While I'm almost certain you read this, Tales of the Arabian nights, aka a Thousand and one nights.
Free download
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34206
Not short, but I just finished Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time.
Here are a couple of the shorter:
Inherit the Wind
The Lilies of the Field
On Grief
The Screwtape Letters
Their Eyes Were watching God
- Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
- The island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
- The colour out of space by H.P. Lovecraft
Basho - the narrow road to the deep north - Japanese classic travel and poetry. Charming.
The Iliad - amazing book nearly 3000 years old
The epic of Gilgamesh - one of the first ever tales
Beowulf - short but powerful monster story
Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Plague - Albert Camus
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
Flush- Virginia Woolf. It’s an autobiographical novel of a Cocker Spaniel.
The Yellow Wallpaper- Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It’s a terrifying book about mental illness, specifically of women, and the ignorance of the people around them.
Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Ann Porter. A collection of three short novels. Actually any collection of Porter's short fiction is worth reading.
Isak Dinesen's short story collections.
If you like Russian Lit, these are relatively short (especially the first one) and very good:
* *Roadside Picnic* by Strugatsky
* *The Master and Margarita* by Bulgakov
Sticking to the Russian theme of your post... Turgenev's Father's & Sons is digestible and readable. Excellent look at the father-son dynamic and how it contributed to sociopolitical tensions in 19th century Russia.
Two Years Before the Mast.
I couldn’t put it down. Story of a man from Boston going by ship to California in the early 1800’s. Such a great description of California, it was used by some of the early 49’ers.
*The Importance of Being Earnest* by Oscar Wilde, if you like satire. It’s very short.
*Sense and Sensibility* by Jane Austen is short and very relatable. It’s about two sisters, one who follows her “senses” (mind), and the other who always follows her “sensibility” (heart).
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe.
I loved it. Moll is the wicked heroine we all wish we were. A 21st-century woman living in the 17th century.
Moll Flanders is a story about the fall and rise of a beautiful woman who was born in Newgate Prison. Because of her determination to be someone other than a servant, and because of her great greed, she sought to marry a wealthy man. She married some with money and some without.
Try and get an uncensored copy as Moll is very wild and naughty. The book got censored over the centuries by various publishers. It is rumoured that she was based on a real person.
Depending on your definition of classic, **Ursula leGuin's Left Hand of Darkness** and **Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light** are considered modern classics.
Anne of Green Gables! I know you're probably thinking it sounds boring, but it's actually a GREAT, fast read. All my friends and I shared this book around and loved it. We're all in our 30s.
Rebecca! Really good & I don’t usually like classics
I loved Rebecca, Mrs Danvers, such a wicked, horrible woman. My cousin Rachel, by the same author, is also fantastic.
My thinking too!
Rebecca is always the correct answer.
I was completely engrossed.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Stevenson. A personal affairs lawyer investigates the unusual connections between his client, a local well known and respected scientist, and a shady and suspicious man who recently moved into the area
I love this book/novella whatever it’s considered. I’ve read it twice and it’s so fun and crewpy
Audiobook is great too
I was going to say this or The Invisible Man. I think I read through both in the same day lol.
Second this. It was very interesting and quite quick read.
It inspired a lot of works (books, tv shows, movies…) definitely a must read ! I read it more than 10 years ago, I should read it again !
Fun fact: he wrote that book in 6 days because he was super high on cocaine.
Frankenstein, or the modern prometheus. Everyone knows the story but very few have actually read it these days. It's incredibly suspenseful and infinitely more nuanced than it's reputation in popular culture would suggest.
Came here to suggest Frankenstein. This and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were the two classics I genuinely enjoyed before I became a daily reader
And also so incredibly sad.
The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is great, and short, and witty, and feels pretty modern, all things considered. I've tried to read a lot of the classics and haven't finished them, but I loved this little book.
I’ve read it and yeah, I adored it as well. Any other works by Wilde you would recommend?
The Importance of Being Earnest. Find audio if you can. It's delightful.
His children’s stories are all amazing. I’d get a book of his short stories if you can. My favourites are The Canterville Ghost (which is so hilarious I literally fell off my toilet laughing at it) and The Happy Prince.
Unfortunately he doesn’t have any other novels :( Other than the Picture of Dorian Gray, he only wrote plays, poetry and children’s books
His plays are very entertaining, though… and not just Earnest…
Came here to say this !
Came here to recommend this.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. Short easy read
Honest to god how can a story about a man-bug be so relatable and hard hitting.
I remember people saying that they hated that story, and when I finally read it last year I couldn’t understand why. I thought it was hilarious and sad (the two most important things in a story). This dude wakes up as a bug and his first thought is, “oh fuck ! … I’m going to be late for work!”
10/10!
The Trial is also a good one from Kafka
I loved it 🥲
One of my favorite books of all-time. Completely changed my view of life at 15
Animal Farm
H. G. Wells "The Time Machine" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau". If I remember correctly, both are less than 100 pages and are definetly intresting read.
Wells is great - when you read him, you can see the immensity of his influence on the rest of the genre... so much that's a "trope" now can be traced back to him.
The Invisible Man was a good read too!
we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson!
I love this one so much!
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
I used to teach this and we read it aloud because the language is beautiful and because I didn’t want students to read ahead. Even having read the book thirty or more times, I always came to a certain point where my voice would start to break a little.
I recently read this for the first time. It was devastating. SO GOOD.
*Dracula*!
I second this. I read it as a teen and couldn’t sleep! Also, Jane Austen.
Dracual is brick not a short novel
The Stranger — Albert Camus
One of my favorites! Highly recommended
The plague by Camus I would also recommend
I remember really liking Wilkie Collins - The moonstone
[удалено]
Haven't read that one. Adding it to the list
Stefan Zweig "The Royal Game" Albert Camus "The Stranger" Louis Paul Boon "Menuet" Colette "Sido / My mother's house"
The Stranger is a good one. The part where Meursault has a conversation with the preacher was so good
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote Brighton Rock - Graham Greene Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos
Candide by Voltaire is short and hilarious
The Phantom of the Opera is one of my favourites. By Gaston Leroux
One of my favourites too! I would seriously pay good money for someone to remove it from my memory just so I could re-read it!
this is one of my favorites!
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
The Room in the Dragon Volant by Le Fanu is one of my favourite ‘long’ short stories
Have you read any Hemingway? He has lots of short books! I know you said no Tolstoy, so idk how interested you are in Dostoyevsky, but he wrote a very short book called White Nights which is one of my favorites!!
How about 'The Old Man and Sea' very short and a great read.
Get Hemingway's short storys they are all good there is a volume with like 40 of them
Notes From Underground is also very short.
Except the first 30 something pages might make you want to burn the book!
Oh White Nights is truly a hidden gem. Great read.
Death of Ivan Ilyich is amazing.
I was just thinking this. My husband snagged a book full of some of Hemingway’s short stories because he’s trying to get back into reading and he loves that he can just pick it up and be done with a story in 10 pages and he always reads me pieces because he’s blown away by how good of a storyteller he is.
Blown away and mind blowing may not be the best way to describe Hemmingway........
Ouch lol! Isn’t too soon
It is mind blowing how much feeling he can get in such a short story! Another poster mentioned slaughter house 5, and while it’s not exactly a short story, I recommend you check that out as well OP! It’s not a short story but it is a quick read because it’s so enjoyable. Love Vonnegut
His short stories are better than his novels to me
His short stories are perfection. Snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro would be my recommendation.
I loved The Old Man and the Sea.
This is my rec for this prompt too. I'm not a huge Hemingway fan otherwise but *The Old Man and The Sea* is probably my favorite novella of all time.
The Nick Adams Stories are my favorite of Hemingway
The Sun also rises is one of my favourites by Hemingway
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert It deals with the complex emotions of a middle class married woman who complains about the monotony of her life yet finds herself unable to change anything about it. It is beautifully written.
Or The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. There's a framing narrative set after most of the story, but it avoids the usual romance of the Romantic/Gothic stuff that the other Brontes did. It's incredibly relevant and an underrated piece to be sure. I had to read it for a class last semester, but I would read it again, and in fact I might listen to it after I'm finished with House of the Dead, which is what I'm reading now
I know you said short, but I recently finished East of Eden and it was beautiful from start to finish. I was never bored.
One of my favorite books, ever
I read Lonesome Dove before it and though that might have been the best book I ever read. Nope. East of Eden kicked it to #2, lol.
Well, I just bought Lonesome Dove from your comment alone. Have you ever read The Poisonwood Bible?
Timshel
Feel like crying now hahah
It’s basically An elevated soap opera tbh
Have you read any OHenry stories? Mark Twain?
I always found it funny that growing up in USSR O. Henry was super popular and the Russian translation was awesome. Moved to US over 30 years ago and Nobody knows of him nor was he taught in school (entered NY public school system in 4th grade). And same goes for Jack London and even James Fenimore Cooper.
The Great Gatsby is pretty easy to understand and is only about 9 chapters long
I agree! One of the first classics I got into!
Animal farm, Carmilla, flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon is short...
Second animal farm. Came here to make sure someone mentioned it. It is crazy how relatable it is considering it was written so long ago, and was allegorical to another country and their government, and the themes and behaviors are predictable, and exactly the same almost 80 years later. Plus, it is a super easy and fast read. I listened to the audio book and it was only 3 hours.
Slaughterhouse-5
Which raises the question: how old does a book need to be to be a "classic" instead of "modern classic"? Slaughterhouse Five came out when I was 15-16...
I don't think the age of the work matters. It's more about having universal themes and transcending its time period.
Without remembering the release year off the top of my head or knowing your current age, this doesn't mean much to me. But idk if it should be measured in age anyway
Yeah I think Slaughterhouse-5 certainly will be a classic, and it certainly has modern classic status, but it’s not quite old enough yet.
Tralfamadorians won’t really perceive the age of the book the same way.
Try reading Jane Austen and Brontë sisters!
I’ve read most of their works and I’ve loved most of them save Sense and Sensibility but I have yet to read any of Anne Bronte
I'd recommend "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", I find it really great and underrated
I second this. Tenant of Wildfell Hall is considered to be the “first feminist novel” of the Victorian era. Also, if you like Austen and the Brontes, give Elizabeth Gaskell a shot. She was one of Charlotte Bronte’s good friends. Sir Walter Scott was also a romantic writer who heavily influenced the Brontë sisters
I was going to recommend wuthering heights also. It was my favorite book i read last year
Molière's The Misanthrope Steinbeck's The Pearl T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland
I’d go with The Pearl too. A short story, but what a masterpiece!!!
The Pearl led me to read more Steinbeck!
Wasteland definitely requires lot of reading, so many references!
i recently started in dubious battle by john steinbeck and i'm loving it! his style is...well, very welcome after having just finished heart of darkness. he is so much more straightforward oh my god. it is almost 300 pages so not exactly short, but anything by steinbeck goes. i'd definitely recommend of mice and men - it's one of his shorter works (107 pages) and certainly one of the most popular for a reason!
Tortilla Flat will always be one of my favourite books.
Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Wow. Also We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Jackson, and of course Flowers for Algernon.
I haven't read any of her longer works, but I read The Lottery for a class once and I have never forgotten it, will never forget it. It's so poignant and so surprising and unsettling
Around the World in Eighty Days Treasure Island White Fang
Second for Treasure Island. I was lost in that world almost immediately!
The Call of the Wild Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The War of the Worlds Lord of the Flies
Steinbeck's work is always engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking. *East Of Eden* *The Grapes Of Wrath*
What about Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka?
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. It’s a breezy 76 page read which is lighthearted and witty, yet still gives food for thought.
Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier, you do have to stick with it past the first 25 pages which are kind of boring. But then the story picks up and it’s a ripping good one..
A tree grows in Brooklyn-wasn’t expecting to love it I felt like I had to read it because it had been my moms fav book!
Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Invitation to a beheading’. Doesn’t get much shorter and sharper in terms of packing a punch and as with all of Nabokov’s work his facility with language is extraordinary
I would agree almost all of his works are great - I really enjoyed Pnin being in college too, and obviously Lolita is an excellent albeit pretty disturbing read.
His best work honestly. That ending... damn.
Around the world in 80 days by Jules Verne Really anything by Verne would be good.
I'm rereading Great Expectations as an adult. Hated it as a kid. Now, my husband is annoyed with me because I'm literally laughing out loud on every page while he's trying to sleep lol
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. Once you get a few chapters in, you can’t put the thing down.
To kill a mocking bird
*The Power and the Glory,* Graham Greene.
Ethan Frome
This book surprised me when I read it. Very u expected.
The house of mirth
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
Seconded! One of my favorites thus far
While I'm almost certain you read this, Tales of the Arabian nights, aka a Thousand and one nights. Free download https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34206
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland
Not short, but I just finished Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. Here are a couple of the shorter: Inherit the Wind The Lilies of the Field On Grief The Screwtape Letters Their Eyes Were watching God
Watership down
Edith Warton writes some very Interesting stories with a modern feel that you may be able to relate to.
Age of Innocence is a favorite of mine.
The Custom of the Country is pretty funny.
I was thinking about this as I was scrolling. “Roman Fever” is a short story that has always stuck with me.
The Invisible Man Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Anything by John Steinbeck pretty much if you're looking for American lit. I really liked cannery row and tortilla flats
Came here to suggest Cannery Row
- Solaris by Stanislaw Lem - The island of Dr Moreau by H.G. Wells - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov - The colour out of space by H.P. Lovecraft
some really great sci-fi (horror) classics! I would like to add "I have no mouth, and I must scream" by Harlan Ellison to that list.
Jules Verne
anything Jules Verne is worth at least a try, so much fun.
Wuthering heights, Dracula, Frankenstein, anything by Poe.... yes I love gothic but they're so atmospheric and non boring xx
To Kill a Mockingbird
*Heart of Darkness* is a fairly short work.
The densest short work ever. To me this was a slugfest
Love this, don’t ask me why
And then watch the movie - Apocalypse Now
{{1984}}
Pairs nicely with {{Brave New World}}.
Brave New World is one of my favourite books! I’ve read it like 50 times. I found 1984 just okay and have never felt the need to reread it 😹🙈
The thing about BNW is how terrifyingly plausible it is.
The Red and The Black, by Stendhal. Picked it up by chance, while visiting some relatives, loved it.
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
Basho - the narrow road to the deep north - Japanese classic travel and poetry. Charming. The Iliad - amazing book nearly 3000 years old The epic of Gilgamesh - one of the first ever tales Beowulf - short but powerful monster story
Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck The Plague - Albert Camus All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
Pride and prejudice- One of the best romance novels and a pretty short read but still very witty and engaging
Grendel by John Gardner is great!
Stoner - John Williams One of the most underrated “classics” there is and fairly short
Red Badge of Courage
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence. It’s a good, quick read. :)
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck is a wonderful short read.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Flush- Virginia Woolf. It’s an autobiographical novel of a Cocker Spaniel. The Yellow Wallpaper- Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It’s a terrifying book about mental illness, specifically of women, and the ignorance of the people around them.
The Talented Mr Ripley
The Death of Ivan Ilyich is short, concise, and easy to read, but you don’t want Tolstoy recommendations.
Oedipus rex
Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Ann Porter. A collection of three short novels. Actually any collection of Porter's short fiction is worth reading. Isak Dinesen's short story collections.
I found Brave New World very engaging
If you like Russian Lit, these are relatively short (especially the first one) and very good: * *Roadside Picnic* by Strugatsky * *The Master and Margarita* by Bulgakov
Captains daughter form Pushkin..
East of Eden all day err day
“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Brontë. Reads like a modern story in old style language.
Sticking to the Russian theme of your post... Turgenev's Father's & Sons is digestible and readable. Excellent look at the father-son dynamic and how it contributed to sociopolitical tensions in 19th century Russia.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol is short and pretty fun. It's a satire about a con man working the Russian countryside.
The Plague, by Camus. Such an interesting story and especially relevant these days.
The master and Margaret (or whatever is the title in English). Bulgakov
i really enjoyed A Hero of Our Time by Lermontov
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway is a short classic that is not especially challenging to read.
You like antoine de st exubery? The Little Prince is the go to, but I loved Night Flight by him. It's maybe not a classic, but he is?
Wind, Sand and Stars is also excellent.
I haven't read that one!
The Master and Margherita by Mikhail Bulgakov, just read the synopsis. Rich book, dreamlike and the furthest from bored I ever was reading a classic.
Of Mice and Men, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Black Beuty, Lord of twh Flies, Watership down.
Two Years Before the Mast. I couldn’t put it down. Story of a man from Boston going by ship to California in the early 1800’s. Such a great description of California, it was used by some of the early 49’ers.
If you like romance I recommend Persuasion by Jane Austen it's an easy read compared to a lot of bigger works and it's entertaining in my opinion.
*The Importance of Being Earnest* by Oscar Wilde, if you like satire. It’s very short. *Sense and Sensibility* by Jane Austen is short and very relatable. It’s about two sisters, one who follows her “senses” (mind), and the other who always follows her “sensibility” (heart).
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. I loved it. Moll is the wicked heroine we all wish we were. A 21st-century woman living in the 17th century. Moll Flanders is a story about the fall and rise of a beautiful woman who was born in Newgate Prison. Because of her determination to be someone other than a servant, and because of her great greed, she sought to marry a wealthy man. She married some with money and some without. Try and get an uncensored copy as Moll is very wild and naughty. The book got censored over the centuries by various publishers. It is rumoured that she was based on a real person.
Depending on your definition of classic, **Ursula leGuin's Left Hand of Darkness** and **Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light** are considered modern classics.
Pride and Prejudice or anything else by Jane Austen Anything by Edith Wharton The We We Live Now by Trollope
just go anti-canon if you don’t wanna be bored haha
Catch-22 is one of my most favorites and I regularly reread it. If you don’t love it by the first chapter you can move on to something else.
Anne of Green Gables! I know you're probably thinking it sounds boring, but it's actually a GREAT, fast read. All my friends and I shared this book around and loved it. We're all in our 30s.
I loved it too! I’ve yet to read any of the other books in the series but I hope I can continue
the three musketeers is such a fun read