# Recommend a classic novel that's also a page-turner? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270 "2010-05-30T05:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![spazurek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@spazurek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spazurek)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/21 "2010-05-30T13:51:47Z")
> [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](#): > > _Moby-Dick_ would be a good example of what I’m looking for if I hadn’t already read it. Wow, I came in to say that **Moby-Dick** is utterly riveting, but in a very unconventional way. That’s certainly not its reputation, and I was worried that I’d get nothing but scoff…and there you are, right by my side. I think I like you. So since we obviously think alike, let me give my highest recommendation to the work of Tolstoy. It’s very different from Melville; Tolstoy was almost religiously opposed to stylistic flair. But nobody I’ve ever read gives a truer representations of real people and relationships. Plus, **War and Peace** , like **Moby-Dick** , is filled with fascinating digressions that paint a rich picture of life in the mid-19th century. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/22 "2010-05-30T13:55:18Z")
_Ben-Hur, a Tale of the Christ_, by Lew Wallace, is a crackling good page-turner. You don’t have to be Christian, or even religious, to enjoy this one. I would have also suggested Lloyd Douglas’ _The Robe_, excepts for a rather long digression into a farming community that takes approximately forever to get through. The rest of the novel is great (the Richard Burton movie is also pretty good, aside from Richard Burton - one of his weakest performances). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/23 "2010-05-30T14:31:47Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Rudyard Kipling was racist and sexist. He was also a first class storyteller. I think that I’m gonna see if Half Price Books has some of his works. Kipling’s _Kim_ is perhaps his best book & available [here](http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/k#a132). Along with _The Jungle Book_–everybody should get to know Mowgli & the creatures that raised him. Of course Kipling is racist by today’s standards. But we know less about the racial attitudes of his contemporaries because so few of them ever bothered to portray non-white characters. Gutenberg also has some stories from Galaxy Magazine of the 1960’s, with original illustrations. [Fritz Leiber’s](http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a25421) _The Big Time_ is a Hugo-winning short novel of the Time War; “No Great Magic” shows the same characters, a bit later in the War. A couple of stories by [R A Lafferty](http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a25720). And Cordwainer Smiths [Game of Rat & Dragon](http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29614). (Maybe not what you requested, but I had a Galaxy subscription back then; these stories were among the ones that introduced a very young fan to non-Juvenile SF.) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/24 "2010-05-30T14:33:16Z")
_Beau Geste_ is the most exciting book I have ever read. No lie, I could not put it down until I found out what happened at Fort Zinderneuf. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/25 "2010-05-30T14:53:45Z")
_The Count of Monte Cristo_. Before there were summer blockbusters, there were Dumas novels. Just as exciting, just as improbable, with just as many plot holes it’s better to ignore. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/26 "2010-05-30T14:57:55Z")
Another one: most of Orwell’s books are available on Gutenberg. Homage to Catalonia is one of my favourites, though not a novel, rather an account of his time in International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![UTejas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UTejas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UTejas)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/27 "2010-05-30T15:46:15Z")
_An American Tragedy_ by Theodore Dreiser is incredible. Long, but a real page turner and totally worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/28 "2010-05-30T16:32:37Z")
If you’re looking for examples of classic novels that are good examples of plot and pacing, my #1 recommendation would be _The Hound of the Baskervilles_ by Arthur Conan Doyle, easily the best of the Sherlock Holmes novels (as opposed to the short stories). I also enthusiastically second the recommendations of Jules Verne (his _Around the World in 80 Days_ is a page-turner), Mark Twain, Jack London (loved _The Sea Wolf_), Rudyard Kipling, Wilkie Collins (_The Woman in White_; and if you like that, try _The Moonstone_), and _Robinson Crusoe_ (particularly since you like the “practical details” aspect of _Moby-Dick_). Charles Dickens might be worth a look. He’s not exactly known for his pacing, but _Oliver Twist_ is perhaps his most concise and plot-driven novel. I actually found _Pride and Prejudice_ to be a page-turner (and certainly the most so of Jane Austen’s novels). I see that a number of P.G. Wodehouse’s novels are available online. Wodehouse is a master of humor and plotting of his own particular contrived, silly sort and is very entertaining. If I had to recommend one in particular, I would reluctantly say _Right Ho, Jeeves_—reluctantly because I recently listened to the audio version read by Jonathan Cecil and enjoyed it so much that I really think that’s the best way to appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/29 "2010-05-30T17:12:19Z")
[Dracula](http://www.literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/chapter-01.html) holds up well. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/30 "2010-05-30T17:16:48Z")
Also, [The Man Who Would Be King](http://www.classicreader.com/book/2975/1/) by Kipling. A great adventure yarn. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/31 "2010-05-30T17:44:32Z")
> [@UTejas](#): > > _An American Tragedy_ by Theodore Dreiser is incredible. Long, but a real page turner and totally worth reading. Hoo boy, do I ever disagree with this. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/32 "2010-05-30T18:58:49Z")
> [@nachtmusick](#): > > I have read few of the classics, but War and Peace actually grabbed me. It is far more involving than I expected. It is (almost definitively) long, of course, but try a hundred pages and see what you think. I agree- it was 1400 pages, but everything flew by… EXCEPT Tolstoy’s second postscript, in which he belabored every point he had already made very subtly during the course of the novel itself. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/33 "2010-05-30T19:02:43Z")
A couple of other long classics that are more fun than you’d think: Dostoevsky’s _ **Crime and Punishment a** _ and _ **The Brothers Karamazov** _ are, underneath it all, murder mystery novels. The difference being that _ **The Brothers Karamazov** _ is a whodunit, while\*\*\* Crime and Punishment\*\*\* is a Columbo episode (you KNOW who did it and how, the question is how he’s going to get tripped up and arrested)- quite literally. I say literally because Levinson and Link, the creators of Lieutenant Columbo, admit they based him on the magistrate in _ **Crime and Punishment** _. Point being, there are good STORIES underneath all the metaphysical and theological speculation. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/34 "2010-05-30T19:09:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I’ve just started reading _20,000 Leagues Under The Sea_. I’ve not read it before, and I thought it was about time. > > [Full text](http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/2000010ah.htm). I picked up _Around the World in 80 Days_ about a years ago. It’s short (and I think for children), but it’s a page turner. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/35 "2010-05-30T19:40:41Z")
Can you get _West With the Night_ by Beryl Markham? it’s not a novel, its an autobiography of sorts, but she had quite an interesting life. Its so good, people accuse Markham of not writing it herself but rather having it ghost written by Hemingway, rather a compliment I should think. When I would go to summer camp my parents would send me with some books of my choosing and some of their choosing. “West With the Night” was my very favorite of 10 years worth of “boring, old” books my parents sent me off to summer camp with 🙂 I’m afraid “The Moonstone” was a total dud in my eyes, however I enjoyed “The Three Musketeers” quite a lot. I also liked _White Fang_ over _Call of the Wild_ but they’re both good. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/36 "2010-05-30T19:49:51Z")
How about those late Victorian page-turners _King Solomon’s Mines_ and _She_? ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/37 "2010-05-30T20:00:23Z")
> [@UTejas](#): > > _An American Tragedy_ by Theodore Dreiser is incredible. Long, but a real page turner and totally worth reading. This is like recommending \*My Dinner With Andre \*to someone who wants an action flic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/38 "2010-05-30T20:05:10Z")
I heard it said once that the quickest way to teach an English boy French is to give him a copy of _Around the World in 80 Days_ with only the first half translated. Once you get a few chapters in, it’s impossible to put down. I know a couple of folks have already mentioned it, but I don’t think I’ve seen any book, classic or not, that’s more of a page-turner. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/39 "2010-05-30T20:09:30Z")
It’s not a novel per se, but “Life on the Mississippi” by Twain READS like a novel and paints a vivid picture of what it was like to be a riverboat pilot in the heyday of the riverboat era. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/40 "2010-05-30T20:17:46Z")
[The Time Machine](http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/timemachine/1/) and [The First Men in the Moon](http://books.google.com/books?id=OrcnAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=first+men+in+the+moon&source=bl&ots=ADCwEgJCyO&sig=KGqFlBy75SrRLrj8HRpoId9BGN4&hl=en&ei=0sYCTPLTAcT7lweAv6GiCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13&ved=0CFcQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q&f=false) by H.G. Wells are both entertaining reads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270.md?page=3)