5 Classics That Are Actually Easy To Read

Ah, the classics. They’re rewarding but incredibly difficult, right? Think again. These classics just seem intimidating. They’re surprisingly easy—and fun—to read.

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (1844)

Wordsworth Editions / Via pandabooks.jp

Betrayal! Romance! Scandal! Pirates! REVENGE!

This is a non-stop adventure and easily the most exciting story you’ll ever read.

Everyone who sees the massive book you’re carrying around will be very impressed.

“Oh this?” you’ll say casually. “It’s Dumas. Yes, I just love French literature.”

They won’t know that reading The Count of Monte Cristo feels like binge watching Pretty Little Liars (if the plot actually made sense and A was named Edmond).

2. The Metamorphoses by Ovid (8 A.D.)

W. W. Norton & Company / Via amazon.com

Ancient epic poetry may sound boring, but The Metamorphoses is really a collection of short stories. Crazy ones full of incest, trickery, war, and people turning into animals (seriously, that happens a lot).

The writing is accessible and fast-paced and the myths themselves are always entertaining. Try just one and you’ll probably read them all.

If you like fantasy—I’m looking at my GoT & anime nerds—this is the classic for you.

3. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)

Random House / Via campbellshonorsdiscussionboard.wordpress.com

Whenever I want to remind myself what it’s like to be swept off my feet by a book, I re-read the first chapter of Invisible Man. It’s pure genius. It’s pure energy.

And no, I’m not talking about The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, which is about a man who is actually transparent.

This book deals with a more sinister kind of invisibility: the invisibility the narrator feels as a black American coping with racism.

This novel is so fresh and intense, there’s really nothing quite like it.

4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

Harper Perennial Modern Classics / Via amazon.com

All natural reproduction has been abolished. Instead, human embryos are bred artificially (VIA CLONING) and raised in conditioning centers where kids are brainwashed while they sleep.

It's pretty freaky.

The story follows John the Savage (a guy born and raised on a traditional reservation with no technology) as he joins the weird clone society. As you can imagine, he doesn’t fit in so well.

This one doesn’t make it onto a lot of high school reading lists because of all the sex stuff. But it’s the kind of book that would be assigned as frequently as The Great Gatsby if high schools were less prude. Cause it’s that good.

5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform / Via amazon.com

There’s magic, corruption, and deals with the devil. Plus, Oscar Wilde's one and only novel is short. Really short. You can (and probably will) finish it in a single day.

It's also got some of the wittiest one-liners out there, like “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it " and "nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing."

It's too bad Oscar never had Twitter cause he would have been great at it.