Classics....that are reasonably easy to read

[Manymoresometimes]

I've always read books, but never really classics, except Jane Eye. Ive read Beloved a part of an adult GCSE course and hated it, but maybe because i was younger.

Wuthering Heights and now Lord of the Flies on the BBC (which im hating) has made me thought. im a big grownup (dont laugh) and i need to try some classics.

All modern books bore me, HELP. Im open to anything.

I agree with Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, P&P and 1984.

I do NOT agree with The Grapes of Wrath or War and Peace! I didn't find them easy reads at all.

I found The Three Musketeers easy to read. Fast paced.

Vanity Fair is really long but much more readable than I'd expected.

I loved On the Beach. Sobbed my heart out.

A Fortnight in September (the loveliest book, and one of my favourites)
Wilkie Collins Woman in White and The Moonstone both great
Ivanhoe is a very easy fun read.
Rebecca of course

Silas Marner was always one of my favourites.

I also couldn’t put down the Tenant of Wildfell Hall - I enjoyed it more than both Jane Eyre and I couldn’t make it past the first couple of chapters of Wuthering Heights. It’s so odd to me that Anne is the overlooked Brontë sister.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a great place to start.

Vanity Fair, love that book

I've just finished George Eliot's Adam Bede. It was fabulous.

Another vote for Nevil Shute. On The Beach is his most well known work but it is Bleak! I much prefer A Town Like Alice, it's a comfort read for me. Great female lead, her character is so real. Also Pied Piper, all about an old man who goes on a fishing holiday in the south of France just before the start of WW2 and accidentally ends up bringing half a dozen children back to safety in England with him fleeing the Nazis. Based on a true story, as is a lot of his work. He lived in interesting times.

Dracula is easy to read I’d say.

Yes, another vote for Dracula from me too! Zips along, real horror but also adventure and friendship

If you want easy reads and you're not a big reader there's a lot on this thread that are far from easy.
My suggestions.
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is short and funny.
Of Mice and Men is a 20th century classic but also a relatively short easy read, hence done to death in schools.
Avoid Tolstoy, George Elliott, Dickens, Thomas Hardy until you have tried a few easier ones.

I read Ivanhoe for the first time about fifteen years ago. I vaguely remembered watching it as a kid. The book is more fun than you'd think- especially with the Robin Hood bits.

Tried Lorna Doone recently, again, vague memories of the film? Series? Jesus christ. I rarely give up on books, but 100 pages in and I just didn't care.

Came here to mention Steinbeck. More to him than Of Mice and Men and his writing is beautiful.

Some are mentioning Orwell but I would also recommend Brave New World and We by Yevgeny Zamyatin which predates both and is the OG dystopian novel.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez.
Next on my list is the Count of Monte Cristo

You have excellent taste! Eppie is a delight.

I do like a heartwarming 'Orphan softens the crusty heart of misunderstood lonely elder' -- Silas Marner, Anne of Green Gables, Goodnight Mister Tom, Heidi...

I find most classics boring but liked Rebecca (has been mentioned a lot) and Little Women.

I dislike Great Expectations but am rather fond of Nicholas Nickleby.

A Christmas Carol is 100 pages long. The Muppet version uses a lot of the original text so there's not much that will come as a surprise. You'll also come to appreciate the ghost muppets and how well they fit the description from the book.

Btw why do feel like you should read the classics? It's not compulsory. If you liked Jane Eyre then Wide Sargasso sea would be a good start..

Rebecca is very good.

I think most of my favourites have been mentioned but I'll also add:

Hemmingway, The old man and the sea (such a fabulous short story) A farewell to arms too (excellent but very sad).

Neither Tolstoy book is an easy read. Both excellent, but not easy.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Agreed, A Town Like Alice is wonderful and is also a comfort read for me. I read it every few years and love it every time.

Ffs don’t start with Anna Karenina!

Three Men In A Boat. Easy, hilarious and short.

I love Trilby by George Du Maurier.

Also agree with anything by Alexander Dumas - especially The Three Muskateers and The Count of Monte Cristo - really engaging and not kids books as you might think.

For something more recent, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. It’s long but not difficult to read.

I agree with Wilkie Collins, he's brilliant and funny.
David Copperfield I found really easy to read, but I reckon everyone knows the story so maybe that helps?
I flew through Crime and Punishment once I was into it, it does take a few pages but well worth sticking it out because it's get far easier.
Stoner by John Williams.
I always recommend Sherlock Holmes, they are the only books I re-read.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte is surprisingly modern and by far the easiest Bronte to read.

If you want some light, try the MApp and Alicia books by EF. BEnson.
and anything by PG Wodehouse, think Bertie Wooster and Jeeves
Sherlock Holmes
Dracula