Classic novels for beginners: where to start if you have never read the classics

Short and gripping

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937). A novella about two itinerant farm workers in Depression-era California, short enough to finish in an afternoon or two. Plain, spare prose, mostly dialogue, and an ending people remember for years.
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (1915). A travelling salesman wakes up transformed into a huge insect, and his family has to deal with it. It is short, strange and darkly funny, and reads more easily than its reputation suggests. Translations vary, so try a modern one.
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925). A summer of parties, money and longing on Long Island in the 1920s, told by a narrator watching his mysterious neighbour. Under 200 pages, with some of the most quoted sentences in American fiction.
• Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945). Farm animals overthrow their farmer and build a society that slowly comes to resemble what they replaced. It reads like a fable, and you can enjoy it before you know anything about the history behind it.

Longer, but easier than you expect

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813). Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters and the proud Mr Darcy. People expect stiffness and find a sharp, funny book about first impressions, family embarrassment and money. If the opening chapters feel slow, the dialogue carries you once you know who everyone is. Many readers enjoy watching a good adaptation first.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949). Winston Smith lives under a regime that watches everything and rewrites the past. A tense, clear story whose vocabulary, such as Big Brother, doublethink and thought police, is everywhere, so it rewards you with constant recognition.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818). Not the film monster: the creature is articulate and the book is about responsibility, loneliness and what we owe what we make. Shelley revised the text for an 1831 edition, and both versions are in print. The letters at the start are a frame; keep going.
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958). The story of Okonkwo, a respected man in an Igbo village in what is now Nigeria, as colonial rule and missionaries arrive. Short chapters, vivid storytelling and proverbs throughout. It is one of the most widely read African novels in the world.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847). An orphan becomes a governess in a house with secrets. A strong first-person voice makes it feel surprisingly modern, and it has the pull of a mystery.

Tips for reading your first classics

• Pick a short one first. Finishing builds momentum; abandoning a 900-page novel builds the belief that classics are not for you.
• Choose a good edition. Notes explain old words and references; introductions often contain spoilers, so read them afterwards.
• For translated books, compare translations. Read the first page of two in a bookshop or a library preview and choose the one that sounds natural to you.
• Try the audiobook. Many classics are in the public domain, and free, volunteer-read recordings exist alongside professional ones. Listening while following the text helps with older prose.
• Do not worry about missing things. You are not being tested. A second reading years later will find more.
• Give a book 50 pages. If it still does not work, put it down and try another; a different classic may suit you better.
• Read with others. A book club or an online discussion turns a puzzling chapter into a conversation.

Where to find them