There are some books that have passed the toughest test for a book; time. Regardless of how much time has passed and how many similar books have been published, these books still remain popular. These books are called classics, and they are required reading for any book lover. These classic books have inspired generations of readers and influenced our culture. The classic books on this list are not only required reading for all, they are easy to read so there is no excuse not to start working your way through them now.
8 Outstanding Classic Books Which Are Easy To Read
1. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
(Featured in Nobel Prize in Literature: 6 Classic Winners You Must Read)
Lord of the Flies is much more than an adventure story about good little boys. It is an exploration into the darker side of man and the true source of the “beast,” or the Devil.
Meet Ralph, who represents sanity, common sense, and the conscience of man; Jack, who loves nothing more than hunting, blood, and power, and who Freudians might say embodies the Id; Piggy, who personifies intelligence, logic, and reason; and Simon, who discovers the true nature of the beast and represents a ray of hope for mankind.
2. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
(Featured in 7 Books That Will Change Your Outlook On Life)
This is a controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression
They are an unlikely pair: George is “small and quick and dark of face”; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a “family,” clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.
3. Animal Farm – George Orwell
(Featured in 6 Gripping Page Turners You Won’t Be Able To Put Down)
If like me you were forced to read this in high school and therefore hated it, I urge you to read it again. George Orwell found an incredible way to show how the power structures of the world work, how revolutions come about and how absolute power can corrupt, absolutely.
4. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass – Lewis Carroll
The classic story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Reading the Alice books as an adult is quite a different experience than it is as a child. The books’ complexity really stands out on a careful reading. In fact, what are generally regarded as children’s stories can be amazingly frustrating to read due to the complexity of the language and the almost constant stream of puns that are sometimes lost on a modern audiences.
5. The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemingway
(Featured in Nobel Prize in Literature: 6 Classic Winners You Must Read)
With “The Old Man and the Sea,” it is so easy to see why Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and why he deserves all of his accolades. This short novel is fierce, full of vibrant energy and humanity, all the while being a slave to the realities of finite power, of the inability to struggle against something greater than yourself. Of course, this is the standard “man against nature” story, but it is told with such craft that even cliches ring true.
6. Dracula – Bram Stoker
You may have seen every Dracula movie ever made, but you do not know the real Count Dracula until such time as you have read Stoker’s book. Eerie, horrifying and genuinely mysterious, Dracula is undoubtedly the most striking and unique vampire novel yet penned.
7. Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
(Featured in 8 Books That Will Have A profound Impact On Your Life)
Slaughter house Five follows a young man, Billy Pilgrim through his life. Billy believes aliens have abducted him. We assume that it’s through these aliens that he learns to time travel, a skill he frequently uses. The book changes the very way you think about time, life and death.
8. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
(Featured in 6 Books Everyone Must Read In Their Lifetime)
Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1961, To Kill a Mockingbird has been essential reading for the last 50 years. The book follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus –three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Although banned for a number of years because of its controversial story line during a volatile time in US history, the ban was lifted and the book is part of many school curriculum’s.
