As far as classics go, they can do a lot of things to a reader – change your life, make you raise your brows, put you to sleep, etc. Because of these things, we definitely don’t want to start with something so long and tedious (or boring — let’s face it, a lot of them are) that it puts us off reading for five years before we can find the motivation to pick up a book again.

Below is my list of easy and fun classics beginners can start with before tackling on more complicated works. They are in general harder than an average fiction, but not so hard that it turns reading into torture. 

1. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

A short book, not depressing, although it is just as creepy as Disney’s adaptation starring Jim Carrey. A Christmas Carol is one of those books you can finish in one or two days, or even a few hours. It is an extremely easy read with a brief insight into Victorian London.

Premise: Scrooch is a grumpy man who only cares about his own profit. This Christmas, he learns why he shouldn’t. 

2. Emma – Jane Austen

A simply plotline; a smart, flawed, and hilarious heroine; Regency life and plenty of social satire because… Jane Austen. Emma is a great book to start with to familiarize yourself with the author’s style. 

Premise: Emma thinks she’s smart, which she is. Handsome Mr. Knightly thinks Emma needs help controlling her know-it-all tendency, which she does. Emma doesn’t like it when people prove her wrong, which she can often be. Hence, drama. 

3. Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle

The name Sherlock Holmes invokes all kinds of intimidation, Benedict Cumberbatch didn’t exactly help as he (wonderfully) took this character’s mind complexity to the next level. But the original stories themselves are short and straightforward enough. Written from John Watson’s point of view, there is plenty of humor to go around as we follow the famous detective’s work.

Premise: they solve crimes. 

4. Nobody’s Boy (Sans Famille) – Hector Malot

Premise: Remi is an orphan who has been having a content life until his foster father appears out of nowhere and decides to sell him to a street entertainer. He begins to embark on a new life full of surprising twists and turns.

This book reads like a fairy tale. It explores the brutal life of the working class but rekindles hope at the same time.

5. The Prince and the Pauper – Mark Twain 

Premise: Just start switching IDs with people and things are bound to work out, I guess.

A heartwarming book with many adaptations already: two boys who look alike switch roles and learn about each other’s life along the way. Longer than you might expect, but fairy-tale like and easy to follow.

6. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

A man is charged with a crime he did not commit and suffers injustice for more than a decade in brutal imprisonment due to the corruption of the government at the time. 

This book may feel difficult at first due to the numerous names and complicated setting. But once you get past the first one or two chapters, things start to flow and the storyline becomes surprisingly simple.

Seen the film adaptation already? I’d read the book anyway for better character development and closure.

Premise: vengeance is sweet.  

7. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes

This is one hilarious book about the misadventures of a wanna-be knight. Don Quixote teaches and entertains. Some chapters are formulaic, some you can totally skip. What great classic doesn’t have fillers, anyway? 

There is a handful of translations of this book. I went with Edith Grossman’s translation.

8. The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy

Premise: Life sucks and there’s nothing you can do about it.

A man who considers himself quite successful and well respected suddenly becomes ill one day. From then on, he starts to observe the people he lives with, the people he calls friends, and reflects on his life, questioning his life’s value through the way they treat him.

Before tackling on the brick-thick War and Peace or Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a good place to start. Less depression since it’s shorter. 

And of course, don’t take my premises too seriously.