The Best Classics You Didn't Know You'd Love to Read

Would you trust me here? My mom read only gothic novels and my dad was not a reader. I am not a person who got a great education in the classics in school. 

Frankly, classics intimidated me. 

What changed? How did I become a person who now loves to read classics?

I don't know. I think it was because I gradually came to hear about other regular folk like me who read a classic book and loved it.

So that's what I would encourage you to do. Try a classic, maybe one of these, if one of these sounds intriguing. Read it. Share your experiences with other people.

Cautionary Note: Of course, not every book works with every person. You may try one of these or some other classic and hate it. I urge you to try, try again. I promise that you will eventually find your way to a classic that will amaze you, that will make you wish you'd been reading classics all your life.

Here is a list of classics I rated as 5-star reads that were rated highly by a lot of other people...

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry...Average rating 4.33 with 2,361,760 ratings

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery...Average rating 4.32 with 1,074,981 ratings

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas...Average rating 4.32 with 987,712 ratings

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith...Average rating 4.30 with 497,115 ratings

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...Average rating 4.29 with 4,608,287 ratings

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien...Average rating 4.29 with 4,330,337 ratings

Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse...Average rating 4.29 with 31,172 ratings

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie...Average rating 4.26 with 324,517 ratings

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote...Average rating 4.24 with 17,517 ratings

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott...Average rating 4.17 with 2,383,331 ratings

True Grit by Charles Portis...Average rating 4.17 with 67,989 ratings

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas...Average rating 4.10 with 339,517 ratings

A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr...Average rating 4.10 with 22,719 ratings

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens...Average rating 4.09 with 894,139 ratings

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens...Average rating 4.04 with 252,409 ratings

Animal Farm by George Orwell...Average rating 4.01 with 4,328,747 ratings

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck...Average rating 4.01 with 968,600 ratings

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck...Average rating 4.01 with 257,281 ratings

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.