Hello friends! I hope you’re all well. As are a lot of my friends, I’m not the best at reading Classics. A lot of the time the language is archaic and confusing, making for a very dense read. That said, as attested by a lot of my favourite Classical reviewers (Lauren from Bookish Byron always has fantastic Classic and Historical Fiction reviews, and Nicola from Brontë Babe Blog is your place to go for all things Brontë!), Classics can be a fantastic source of joy, information and education. With all that said, here’s ten Classics that won’t bore your socks off.

10. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell




‘When Margaret Hale’s father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience she is forced to leave her comfortable home in the tranquil countryside of Hampshire and move with her family to the fictional industrial town of Milton in the north of England. Though at first disgusted by her new surroundings, she witnesses the brutality wrought by the Industrial Revolution and becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers. Sympathetic to the poor she makes friends among them and develops a fervent sense of social justice. She clashes with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, who is contemptuous of his workers. However, their fierce opposition masks a deeper attraction.’ – Goodreads
9. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Tom Hardy




‘Set in Hardy’s Wessex, Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, “A Pure Woman”, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic. It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descended from the ancient family of d’Urbeville. In her search for respectability, her fortunes fluctuate wildly, and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy. It explores Tess’ relationships with two very different men, her struggle against the social mores of the rural Victorian world which she inhabits and the hypocrisy of the age.’ – Goodreads
8. Villette by Charlotte Brontë




‘With her final novel, Villette, Charlotte Brontë reached the height of her artistic power. First published in 1853, Villette is Brontë’s most accomplished and deeply felt work, eclipsing even Jane Eyre in critical acclaim. Her narrator, the autobiographical Lucy Snowe, flees England and a tragic past to become an instructor in a French boarding school in the town of Villette. There she unexpectedly confronts her feelings of love and longing as she witnesses the fitful romance between Dr. John, a handsome young Englishman, and Ginerva Fanshawe, a beautiful coquette. The first pain brings others, and with them comes the heartache Lucy has tried so long to escape. Yet in spite of adversity and disappointment, Lucy Snowe survives to recount the unstinting vision of a turbulent life’s journey – a journey that is one of the most insightful fictional studies of a woman’s consciousness in English literature.’ – Goodreads
7. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin




‘Baldwin’s haunting and controversial second novel is his most sustained treatment of sexuality, and a classic of gay literature. In a 1950s Paris swarming with expatriates and characterized by dangerous liaisons and hidden violence, an American finds himself unable to repress his impulses, despite his determination to live the conventional life he envisions for himself. After meeting and proposing to a young woman, he falls into a lengthy affair with an Italian bartender and is confounded and tortured by his sexual identity as he oscillates between the two. Examining the mystery of love and passion in an intensely imagined narrative, Baldwin creates a moving and complex story of death and desire that is revelatory in its insight.’ – Goodreads
6. Asleep by Banana Yoshimito




‘Banana Yoshimoto has a magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.’ – Goodreads
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison




‘Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Combining the visionary power of legend with the unassailable truth of history, Morrison’s unforgettable novel is one of the great and enduring works of American literature.’ – Goodreads
4. Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller




‘Set in the nineteenth century, Isabel Miller’s classic lesbian novel traces the relationship between Patience White, a painter, and Sarah Dowling, a farmer, whose romantic bond does not sit well with the puritanical New England farming community in which they live. Ultimately, they are forced to make life-changing decisions that depend on their courage and their commitment to one another.’ – Goodreads
3. Orlando by Virginia Woolf




‘Virginia Woolf’s Orlando ‘The longest and most charming love letter in literature’, playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf’s close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth’s England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Constantinople, awakes to find that he is now a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.’ – Goodreads
2. The Vegetarian by Han Kang




‘Before the nightmare, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary life. But when splintering, blood-soaked images start haunting her thoughts, Yeong-hye decides to purge her mind and renounce eating meat. In a country where societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye’s decision to embrace a more “plant-like” existence is a shocking act of subversion. And as her passive rebellion manifests in ever more extreme and frightening forms, scandal, abuse, and estrangement begin to send Yeong-hye spiraling deep into the spaces of her fantasy. In a complete metamorphosis of both mind and body, her now dangerous endeavor will take Yeong-hye—impossibly, ecstatically, tragically—far from her once-known self altogether.’ – Goodreads
1. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hudston




‘One of the most important works of twentieth-century American literature, Zora Neale Hurston’s beloved 1937 classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an enduring Southern love story sparkling with wit, beauty, and heartfelt wisdom. Told in the captivating voice of a woman who refuses to live in sorrow, bitterness, fear, or foolish romantic dreams, it is the story of fair-skinned, fiercely independent Janie Crawford, and her evolving selfhood through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, trials, and purpose. A true literary wonder, Hurston’s masterwork remains as relevant and affecting today as when it was first published – perhaps the most widely read and highly regarded novel in the entire canon of African American literature.’ – Goodreads
So that’s it! Happy reading and I hope you find a Classic that won’t bore your socks off within this list.
I love Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and A Room with a View by E M Forster. Great list!
I haven’t read Mrs Dalloway but I love A Room With a View! Thanks! 😀
my favourite classic is Anne of Green Gables and To Kill a Mockingbird.
I love those two as well! 😀
I hadn’t even heard about most of these so this is a great list for me to discover new classics. My personal favorite is The Picture of Dorian Gray!
https://bookfever11.com/
Ooh I love Dorian Gray!!! x
I love this idea for a post! I’ve avoided a lot of classics for this exact reason. Orlando sounds like a really interesting read though! x
https://www.femaleoriginal.com
Orlando is amazing, I hope you enjoy it if you read! x
I’ve had a copy of Villette in my bookcase that I bought in a charity shop a while back and I had mostly forgotten about it till now! Great picks, The Vegetarian is so unique.
You should read it, it’s amazing!! Thanks for commenting 😁 x
Your post came at the perfect time, I’ve been wanting to read some more classics! I’ve been searching for North and South at used bookstores, but no luck so far. Beloved and Orlando are some of my favorite books, but East of Eden is my immediate answer to my favorite classic. I probably wouldn’t say it’s not boring though 😄
I’ve never read East of Eden but it looks amazing! Good luck finding a copy of North and South 😀
Some of these are on my TBR and its especially exciting if they’ve made their way onto this list. Inwas worried about Their eyes were watching God being boring but I’m much more reassured now. Great post!!! Xxx
I’m glad this was helpful!! Their Eyes Were Watching God is an amazing novel! xxx
Villette is such an incredible book. It was my Charlotte Brontë and definitely a favourite! Great post 🙂
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
It is! I’m glad other people enjoy it xx
This is a great list! I’ll probably add To Kill a Mockingbird to this list as well. It remains one of my favourite classics! 🙂
Ooh yes that’s an amazing book too! x
Is it shameful to admit I have read none of these books? I am really not a classic book kinda girl, but as my love of reading has returned I have been thinking I should probably broaden my horizon’s.
Great post, I might check some of these out x
Not at all! Classics can be really hard to get into if you don’t already love them. Happy reading! x
I haven’t actually read any of these books but Beloved is on my list! I really need to reas more classics!
Serena / http://www.ramblingsofanotherunigraduate.com
I hope you enjoy any if you read them! x
I thought I would have read way more of these as I read a bunch of classics a few years ago when I really got into them, but I think I’m gonna have to add these to my list and have a moment of getting back into reading the classics!
I feel like the more well-known classics e.g. Pride & Prejudice, Charles Dickens, can actually be the most difficult to enjoy for most people! Happy reading! 🙂 xx
Great post! Thank you for sharing! I haven’t read any of these books but they sound really good!
Thank you! I hope they’re helpful xx
Thanks for these suggestions! I’ve read a couple of classics but honestly, they intimidate me quite a bit so I don’t tend to reach for them. The boredom factor always worries me too haha so this is perfect for me! x
I just love classics! And some of them are in my TBR. My favourite classic is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and it is also my first book that I read 😄
Little Women is an amazing choice!!
I never heard about most of them! I’m sure gonna add a few to my TBR now haha. Orlando was already on my list, I really need to pick up that book soon.
One of my fav classic is War and Peace, I mean, I loved the adaptations, they made me love the story, but did you see the books?? They’re frickin huge, I hadn’t find the courage yet to read them oopsie
YES war and peace is my absolutely favourite classic!!! It took me three years to read because I kept stopping and starting but it was so worth it in the end 😊
Aaah I hope to finish it too!