Editor’s Pick: 10 great classics to read
Classics are widely loved and appreciated by many, however, many people find them intimidating and hard to read.
There are hundreds of classics to read but here are ten classics to pick up if you want to get into reading classic literature.
1- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The novel is a coming-of-age story about a young girl, who through her narration, shows the consequences of racism and prejudice in the US in the 1930s.
2- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
This is one of the most loved classics in all history by many people. Published in 1813, it tells the story of the Bennet family, in specific their daughter Elizabeth and her love story with Mr. Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner.
3- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The novels tells the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein who attempts creating a creature by gathering body parts from corpses. Things take a turn when the creature come to life and starts tormenting Frankenstein. This is the first horror novel and was written by Mary Shelley when she was only 18 years old.
4- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The novel tells a tragic love story of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, a young woman whom he loved in his youth. The love story is a metaphor for the unattainability of the American Dream, and the novel is filled with the most iconic figures and symbols in American literature.
5- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
This is a coming-of-age story about a troubled teenage boy who questions the society’s morality and the meaning of life as a result of his personal trauma.
6- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
This is a novella that tells the story of two displaced migrant ranch workers who move from place to place in California in search of work during the Great Depression.
7- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
This is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser who is haunted by a ghost of his former business partner. His friend’s spirit tells him to change into a kinder spirit or else he will suffer an awful death.
8- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
This is the world’s best-selling mystery that tells the story of ten strangers who get invited to an island by a mysterious host. Upon their arrival the host accuses each person of murder and tells them that they are here to face a death penalty for their crimes.
9- The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Another gothic novel about the outcasts of the society, it tells the story of a phantom in the Parisian opera who falls in love with soprano Christine Daaè, causing a lot of trouble in the opera house.
10- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
This is a tale of a young handsome man who favours eternal youth at the expense of his soul. Upon seeing a beautiful portrait of himself, Dorian Gray declares that he would sell his soul if the portrait were to grow old and ugly while he remained young and handsome.
