You know that in order to become a better writer, you need to become a better reader — and so polishing off some classic novels is in your future. But who has the time?
You do. Nobody’s admonishing you to get your book report in within two weeks. But if you still feel pinched between the hour hand and the minute hand, ease into great English literature with these short novels (most have fewer than 200 pages):
1. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Spectral visitors take miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge on a tour of the past, present, and future to prompt his reevaluation of the wisdom of his skinflint ways in this Victorian fantasy that helped usher in the nostalgia-drenched Christmas tradition. To this day, innumerable stage adaptations knock elbows with ballet productions of The Nutracker Suite and singing of Handel’s Messiah. Dickens’s Hard Times is another relatively quick read.
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The intrepid young hero, a half-feral but good-hearted boy, flees the deadly embrace of civilization, takes up with a freed slave and a couple of con men, and, with the assistance of one Samuel Langhorne Clemens, makes a library’s worth of observations about the human condition in one thin volume — a triumphant survivor of censorship and political correctness. (The n-word pervades it — quick, hide the children’s eyes and make reality go away!) See also The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which this book is a sequel to, and Pudd’nhead Wilson.
3. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
A young girl wanders into the woods and falls down a rabbit hole into a disconcertingly absurd hidden world in Oxford mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s satirical romp, laced with contemporary caricatures and poking at problems of mathematical logic. Like many great works of art, it was a critical failure but a popular success — and, in the long term, the critics have come around. See also the sequel Through the Looking-Glass.
4. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
A modern fable by the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four relates what happens when communism comes to Manor Farm: “All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.” Orwell (birth name Eric Blair), a proponent of democratic socialism — by definition, the antithesis of Stalinism — wrote the story in response to his disillusioning experiences during the Spanish Civil War, when totalitarianism cast a shadow over socialist ideals. British publishers concerned about the manuscript’s frank condemnation of the United Kingdom’s World War II ally the Soviet Union rejected it, but you can’t suppress the truth down for long.
5. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
Fastidious Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg makes a foolhardy wager at his club: He will circumnavigate the planet in eighty days. With resourceful French valet Passepartout by his side and a Scotland Yard detective — who mistakes him for a fugitive from justice — on his heels, he sets out with his fortune, his freedom, and, most importantly, his honor on the line. These and other novels by Verne have, from the beginning, fired the imaginations of readers from all over the world, though poor early English translations led to them being long mischaracterized as juvenile pulp fiction.
6. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
After an introduction to a horrifyingly regimented future “utopia,” readers meet John, a young man who has grown up in an isolated, unenlightened community before being brought back to civilization, which, shall we say, does not match his expectations. Huxley’s novel, one of the most celebrated in twentieth-century literature — and also impressively high on the lists of books targeted for censorship — depicts a future in which hedonism, not repression, is the greatest threat to humanity.
7. Candide, by Voltaire
Everybody’s favorite scathingly funny French philosopher introduces a young man raised in indoctrinated, isolated innocence who is repeatedly blindsided by reality when he becomes a citizen of the world. Anticipating the antipathy with which secular and religious authorities would condemn his work, Voltaire published it under a pseudonym, but everybody knew who had done the deed. Candide was widely banned, even in the United States into the twentieth century — high praise, indeed.
8. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
A run-down street in seaside Monterey, California, is as colorful a character as any of the people who populate it in this sweet Depression-era story about a community of the world’s cast-offs. This semiautobiographical novel, a warm wash of nostalgia, also serves as a requiem for a lost world the author could never find again. Steinbeck often kept it short and bittersweet: Look also for The Moon Is Down, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Red Pony, and Tortilla Flat.
9. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
Reading this mid-20th-century anthem of adolescent angst remains a rite of passage for high school literature students, who get a thrill out of reading one of the most frequently banned books of all time. The narrator’s sour sensibilities and his frank assessment of the world’s crapitude captivate many young readers, although the author (who exacerbated the allure of the book through his notorious reclusiveness) intended the book for an adult audience. Salinger’s other works include novellas and short stories, including Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories, and the twofer Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.
10. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
This flashback novel immerses the reader in the tragedy of a romantic triangle, as the title character agonizes over his affection for his sickly wife’s cousin, who has come to live with them and help around the house. Warning: Things don’t end well. The critical reception to Wharton’s work was mixed, but those who praised it recognized it as a compelling morality tale (though based on a real incident and thought to allude to the author’s own unhappy marriage).
11. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
In a dystopian future where firefighters ignite inflammatory books (that is, all of them) rather than suppress conflagrations, one member of the book-burning brigade, increasingly alienated in his decadent society, is lured to the light side. Bradbury initially denied that the theme of the story is censorship, fingering the boob tube for libracide instead, but he later graciously realized he could have it both ways.
12. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
A scientist conceives the idea of creating a man constructed from body parts and bringing him to life but is disgusted by his creation, which, devastated by the scientist’s and others’ rejection as it struggles to learn what it means to be human, exacts vengeance. The novel, written by the daughter of philosophers who began working on it when she was still in her teens, initially received mixed reviews, but its stature has steadily grown, aided by its wealth of classical allusions and Enlightenment inspirations, not to mention its profound psychological resonance.
13. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A young man gets caught up in the world of wealth during the Roaring Twenties, especially that revolving around the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby, but he discovers how superficial and hollow the American dream is after observing the petty passions of the rich. Fitzgerald’s novel was well received but did not fare as well as his earlier works, and when he died in relative obscurity years later, he believed himself a failure. During and after World War II, however, The Great Gatsby experienced a resurgence, and it is now accounted one of the great American novels.
14. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
A riverboat captain in the Belgian Congo, looking forward to meeting Kurtz, the manager of an isolated upriver colonial station, is devastated when the man he meets turns out to be quite different from the imagined ideal. Conrad’s story, overshadowed by Francis Ford Coppola’s loose film adaptation, the antiwar epic Apocalypse Now, should be read on its own merits. Though much praised for its psychological insight, is also considered one of the most potent criticisms of colonialism in literature.
15. Night, by Elie Wiesel
The author’s harrowing account of his early adolescence spent in Nazi concentration camps — during which his father, with whom he was incarcerated, gradually becomes helpless, and young Elie rejects God and humanity — is full of raw, stark power. Its critical reception was complicated by various factors: It is a memoir that contains a great deal of fiction, and it was published in quite different forms in Yiddish, then a pared-down French translation, from which a further abridged English version was derived. But that form at least is widely acknowledged as great art.
16. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
A beautiful young hedonist sells his soul for the price of agelessness, while a portrait of him painted by an admirer marks his physical dissipation. Wilde’s first novel was attacked for its homoeroticism and the scandalously frank depiction of debauchery but was received more favorably when the author toned down the former. Rich with allusions to, among other works, Faust, The Picture of Dorian Gray stands on its own as a tragic morality tale.
17. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
A young Civil War soldier overcomes his initial cowardice, but, despite the fact that he acts heroically in a later battle, his humanity is diminished. Crane, who finished the novel when he was only twenty-four (he would die just five years later after a series of debilitating lung hemorrhages), was celebrated for its authentic detail about the conduct of war, though he had never experienced it himself. It was also hailed as a triumph of both naturalism and impressionism, as it realistically portrays the ordeal of battle while achieving allegorical stature.
18. The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Written primarily in the form of a series of letters, this semiautobiographical story relates the tragedy of a young man who falls in love with a woman already betrothed to another. Although it made Goethe’s reputation at a young age, it also precipitated “Werther Fever,” prompting a fad of overwrought young people lamenting the vicissitudes of unrequited love, and Goethe later disavowed it and decried the Romantic literary movement it epitomized.
19. The Stranger, by Albert Camus
This existentialist classic chronicles the nihilistic life of an apathetic man who aimlessly commits murder and, once incarcerated, renounces humanity, which he has passively estranged himself from. Camus’s portrait of a man without a soul was a manifesto of his belief that life is bereft of meaning, and that the efforts of humans to find meaning are futile.
20. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
This complex melodrama about the compounded consequences of acting on selfish and vengeful motives has been overshadowed by Hollywood’s treatment of the thwarted love between a young woman named Catherine and her untamed foster brother, Heathcliff. But the story boasts an unflinching honesty about its deeply flawed protagonists, and though critical response to its publication was mixed, it has lived on as an expression of star-crossed ill fortune.
I had A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens in my junior school. It was a nice one, i loved it.
Anthem, by Ayn Rand.
Wow, I think I have books to read now, thanks for the list, but they are not free, what a pity. 🙁 Anyone wanna send me one of the books for a gift. 🙂
Excellent list! My favorites are:
1. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
3. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
4. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
5. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
6. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
7. Candide, by Voltaire
9. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
10. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
12. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
13. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
16. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
17. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
20. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
Some of them made great movies, especially Wuthering Heights. My favorite is the PBS special with British actor Tom Hardy.
Yes, yes, yes! Whether you call it research or reading for creative ideas or a reward for hard work, just read.
Mark,
I have to admit you got me on this one. When I first spied the title, “20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting”, I was momentarily taken aback. Imagine reading twenty novels in one sitting, classic or not.
Cheers,
Jimbo
Young: Well over half the books on that list are available in electronic form as free downloads from Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org). Project Gutenberg books are public domain in the US, so stuff from the second quarter of the 20th century forward is not generally available, and even with older authors not all their works will necessarily be there–but it is nonetheless a wealth of material. If you are willing to read the books on your computer (or happen to have some form of electronic reader), you can get started on Mark’s list pretty quickly.
Great post! Mark, I have a blog about classic literature and I hope you don’t mind that I linked to this article.
You’ve got a great list of books there, but I wish I had enough time to read a book in one sitting. I’m lucky if I can get enough time to read 100 pages in one go.
Quick reads, maybe. One-sitting reads, no way!
I actually read Wuthering Heights twice in one sitting! I was on a long coach journey from Alice Springs to Townsville in Australia. A friend had thrust a copy into my hand at the start of the journey and having read it quickly, and with nothing better to do for another few hours, I read the whole damn thing again. I hated it the first time and my opinion didn’t change on the second reading. I haven’t touched the book since and to this day have avoided any TV adaptations or movies of the book. The rest of the list is great though!
Fantastic post! One of many from this site! WONDERFUL short reviews of each novel. I read several Steinbeck novels last year – absolutely loved Cannery Row and the considerably longer East of Eden.
I love Ethan Frome and Wuthering Heights. Great Expectations was also a great novel, but it was kinda long. Thanks for this great list, I’ll be adding a few of the above mentioned books to this year’s Summer reading list.
Mark! Thank you. I love book lists, but had not considered a list of short books. I’ve read half of these, but not since I was a school girl. And not Voltaire or Camus, either. Time to load up my Kindle! And thank you for taking the time to create the Amazon links. You have made it very easy for us to find these books.
Permit me to suggest my favorite short book—easily read while sipping a gin and tonic: The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. It has all the finest elements: love, honor, and sacrifice.
I recommend Candide.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote.
Capote’s writing provides one of the best examples of carefully crafted sentences. No word is out of place or unnecessary. It is focused and economical, leading to engaging storytelling that drives the reader from the first word to the final period.
@Young, either get them online as Kathryn suggested, or go to your local library. I am sure they will have most of these titles, and you can rent them free of charge.
Thank you! This is a great list.
I appreciate shorter novels, principally because it seems better that the author do the work to edit the work properly rather than relying on thousands of readers to sort through lengthy, poorly edited material. Examples abound of long novels that could be improved through good editing. I’ve read most of the novels on this list, and my favorite is Frankenstein. Thanks for the concise reviews!
Sorry, but I HATED wuthering heights. Mostly boring, it was, in my mind, the real housewives of the day. The few sections of tight prose and enjoyable writing screamed of having been edited by her sisters, as those bits matched their writing style more than hers. (Personally, Charlotte got most of the talent in the family)
What a terrific list! Have read all of these but Ethan Frome….and just downloaded it for free on my Kindle!
“One sitting” obviously depends on how long you sit.
As Steven Wright said:
“Any place is ‘walking distance’ if you have the time.”
I’ve read a few of these, have a couple others in my to-be-read queue, and will certainly add a few more.
ApK
Excellent post, thank you so much!
Thanks, Mark, for a great list of quick reads. I’m always on the lookout for short classics that have also been made into films for my film/lit classes — you’ve given me a few I hadn’t thought about.
Folks looking for even more quick reads might also consider Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Pierre Boulle’s Planet of the Apes, or (just for fun) Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda.
nice list add Old man and the sea by Hemmingway!
No way that I can finish Wuthering Heights in one sitting.
I love Animal Farm. It’s one of my favorite stories of all time.
Thanks for this post!
I’ll have a look at this once i choose my next book to read.
Cheers,
Togrul
I love this list, but I cannot read Wuthering Heights or Cannery Row in one sitting. I like to linger over those two books.
Of Mice and Men, you can read it in an hour.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Melancholy Hussar of German legion – a short story by Thomas Hardy
Captains Courageous – Rudyard Kipling
I tried as hard as I could but I only got through the first 12 on the list before I dozed off in the old recliner.
Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge
I just got the ibooks app off the apple APP store for free and downloaded “A Christmas Carol” for FREE; complete with color illustrations, and it took all of about 37 seconds…..COOL
Yeah, The Catcher in the Rye is definately one of the greatest books of all time. Now I don’t know if you could read these in one sitting (especially the bottom one), but I’ve got three more good ones:
-East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
-The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
-The Fountainhead (Ayne Rand)
YOUNG: Might I suggest a public library? I realize that the idea of borrowing a book is foreign to many, but the library holds a plethora of “gifts” all for the borrowing. Not everything should be given . . . the best books are typically those borrowed.
Must be a really long sitting…. I can’t sit on my arse long enough to get through Wuthering Hights in one sitting… it is quite long. And a careful reading, not a quick one, is required to really appreciate a book like this. Perhaps people are speed readers, but I am not.
How could you omit ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Hemingway? The ideal book to be included in your list.
Alas, you left out two exceedingly good books namely: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Kongi’s Harvest by Wole Soyinka. Good writing is not limited to Euro-American civilization, you know. Next time, cast your net wider sir. 30 or even 50 Classics -including from Russia and China – will hurt no one.
I couldn’t read Dorian Gray in one sitting. While I love Dorian Gray and have read it many times, the prose is so heavy it starts to feel like a weight on my chest if I spend too much time on it.
The World is getting smaller, send those ebooks and more to those countries that are not able to buy them. we are in a recession and these bkkos are food for the brain. be generous and send them.
Greece is one of those countries. english is spoken everywhere and people take pride in learning the language.
Thanks
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn is second?? Way above The Catcher in the Rye??? What is this madness?? Maybe it’s because I had to read it for school (although it shouldn’t have made a difference because i genuinely had high hopes) (or maybe it’s because I’m not american) but oh my god was that book a snooze fest! I got about a third of the way through after about a week and couldn’t will myself to pick it back up! And Wuthering Heights i definitely would never put on a list of easy to read novels, while it wasn’t dull like Huck, it took incredible effort to get through it, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t just me but I would never be able to read that book in one sitting, or even in one week.
Dickens is my favourite writer. His imagination is all the more fascinating in its enormity due to his (mostly) restricting it to the boundaries of realism. And those metaphors! And those characters! And those bursts of breathtaking description and imagery!
Oh, and Francis Onaiyekanon (January 03, 2012 11:16 am)
“Alas, you left out two exceedingly good books namely: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Kongi’s Harvest by Wole Soyinka. Good writing is not limited to Euro-American civilization, you know. Next time, cast your net wider sir. 30 or even 50 Classics -including from Russia and China – will hurt no one.”
Yes, nice attempt to undermine a person’s choices because they don’t agree with your pluralist, ‘politically correct’ criteria. It was NEVER said here that good writing is limited to Euro-American civilization. If you want to put your choices down, make a list of your own. The reason why you dragged nationality into a simple post like this baffles me.
Insightful & inspiring. Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms could also be added.
I don’t know about you, but I was NOT able to read Frankenstein in one sitting. Definitely not a short book. I loved it, and I think it has a lot to contribute, but more of over a few days book.