11 Classics I’d Give to Someone Who Hasn’t Read One Since High School

If someone told me they hadn’t read a classic since high school, I’d ask what they like to read or watch now. A fan of twisty mysteries might be happiest with Agatha Christie. Someone who likes stories about houses full of secrets should try Daphne du Maurier. And if they’ve just finished a five-season drama about revenge, I’d hand them all of The Count of Monte Cristo.

My first pick for most readers would be Rebecca. Its narrator returns to a house in a dream, and within a few pages I want to know what happened there. If you want something brisker, start with The Outsiders. If you want a story that feels urgent from the moment its premise clicks, choose Kindred.

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1. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I’d give this to someone who likes a thriller where a conversation over breakfast can feel as threatening as a locked door. The unnamed narrator marries Maxim de Winter and moves to Manderley, where the memory of his first wife seems to govern everything from the household routine to what counts as good taste. Watch how quickly the narrator starts imagining what Rebecca would have done in her place. That habit makes the house feel haunted before anyone needs to raise their voice.

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2. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

I’d give this to the person who always pauses a detective show to announce their suspect. Hercule Poirot has retired to a village where he hopes to grow vegetable marrows. Then a local man is murdered, and every seemingly minor detail suddenly deserves a second look. Christie makes the investigation fun even when you think you’re ahead of it. I’d go in cold and save any discussion of the ending for afterward.

Find the HarperCollins edition of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on Amazon · Read our review of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

3. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Ponyboy Curtis tells you early on that he likes movies and books. I’d give his story to someone who remembers the Greasers and the Socs as rival groups and has forgotten how much time Ponyboy spends trying to understand other people. The scenes with his older brothers, especially Darry, can land differently as an adult. You can see why Ponyboy mistakes the strain of keeping a family together for a lack of affection.

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4. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

I’d give Kindred to a reader who likes time travel when it complicates a character’s choices. Dana, a Black writer living in California in 1976, is repeatedly pulled back to a Maryland plantation where one of her ancestors is a white boy whose survival matters to her own existence. Butler makes each trip a practical problem for Dana. She has to figure out who might help her, what she can safely say and how she’ll get home. The history has force because every decision carries consequences.

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5. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

This is one of my favorite classics, and I’d give it to someone who loves a story that takes its time setting up a payoff. Edmond Dantès begins with a promising career and a wedding ahead of him. A betrayal sends him to prison, where the people he meets and the things he learns shape the revenge to come. The pleasure is in seeing Dumas bring back people and details from hundreds of pages earlier. I’d choose Robin Buss’s unabridged translation and give the book the time I’d give a long TV series.

Find Robin Buss’s translation of The Count of Monte Cristo on Amazon

6. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I’d give this to someone who knows the image of the monster better than the story. The stretch I’d tell them to watch for comes after Victor brings the creature to life. Hiding near a family’s cottage, the creature watches people care for one another and teaches himself how to speak. By the time he tries to approach the family, you know exactly what he hopes will happen. That’s what makes the encounter so painful.

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7. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I’d give this to someone who likes beautiful manners and dreadful behavior in the same room. Dorian’s portrait bears the marks of age and of his choices while he keeps the face everyone admires. The premise is reason enough to pick it up, but I’d stay for the conversations. Listen to how often Lord Henry makes a damaging idea sound like a clever observation. You can see why Dorian wants to repeat him.

Find the Dover Thrift edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray on Amazon

8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

I’d give Jane Eyre to a reader who gets invested in characters who insist on setting their own terms. Jane spends much of her early life at the mercy of people who can take away her home, her income or her sense of belonging. That history gives her conversations with Rochester an edge. There’s a lot of pleasure in watching a governess speak frankly to the man who pays her wages, especially when she knows what it could cost her.

Find the Penguin Classics edition of Jane Eyre on Amazon

9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I’d give this to someone who remembers the green light from class and wants a different way into the book. This time, follow Nick Carraway. He introduces himself as someone inclined to reserve judgment, then tells a story full of judgments about who deserves his sympathy. Pay attention to how he talks about Gatsby beside how he talks about Tom and Daisy. You’ll come away with a clearer sense of what Nick admired, and what that admiration lets him overlook.

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10. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

I’m glad I gave this one another try. I’d give it to a science-fiction reader who likes watching two people slowly learn to trust each other. Genly Ai arrives on the icy planet Gethen as an envoy, and at first his account makes it easy to share his judgments about the people he meets. The book gives you reasons to question those judgments. It starts slowly, but the journey across the ice gives the political story an intimacy I didn’t expect.

Find The Left Hand of Darkness on Amazon · Read our review of The Left Hand of Darkness

11. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

I’d give this to someone who enjoys comedy about people who believe they’re being perfectly reasonable. In Florence, Lucy Honeychurch and her chaperone are disappointed by their rooms, and two fellow guests offer to swap. The offer should settle things in a minute. Instead, everyone has to work out what accepting it might imply. That early scene is a good sample of Forster’s humor and of how much of Lucy’s life is spent considering what other people will say.

Find the Dover Thrift edition of A Room with a View on Amazon

Which classic would I start with?

If I were choosing for a friend without knowing much about their taste, I’d go with Rebecca. If we had just spent dinner discussing a whodunit, I’d switch to Christie. And if they wanted a second chance at a book from school, I’d pick The Great Gatsby and tell them to follow Nick. Sometimes a different character is enough to make a familiar book feel new.

For a shorter reading commitment, see five classic novels you can finish in a weekend.

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