Just one word for you guys:
Sabatini!
Bram Stoker’s Dracula is also a great read. It’s told through the diaries and letters of the characters, with a sprinkling of newspaper articles concerning the increasing number of strange occurrences around Carfax Abbey. The creepy parts have really stood the test of time, too.
He’s great! That’s the translation I used in high school to read it and I really enjoyed it.
Charlotte Bronte’s Villete - really enjoyed it.
Another vote for Crime and Punishment. Gee, and I didn’t think I liked Russian literature. Page turner!
I just finished The Boy in the Bush by D.H. Lawrence and ??. Basically, Lawrence took a book written by Kate (somebody…?) and they re-wrote it together - mostly his work in the rewritting according to the Intro). Excellent book - I really enjoyed it. I’m working through his The Plumed Serpent right now.
And I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Jane Austen’s stuff. I think it’s good, easy classical writing that can help turn on young women (mostly) to the classics. They are still relatively accessible.
Les Miserables. Parts of it require a whole lot of slogging, but the story itself is excellent.
Anna Karenina has the same syndrome, but is well worth reading.
Jane Eyre.
Jane Austen, too, while we’re at it.
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
The Scarlet Pimpernel. I know - it was fluff reading when it came out, and it’s still pretty fluffy, but it’s extremely entertaining.
I’ve got to disagree with Moby Dick, though. I tried. I really did. But I couldn’t get through more than a third. Sorry!
–Julie