# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/41 "2010-05-30T21:46:55Z")
Lady Chatterly’s Lover Madame Bovary Jane Eyre ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/42 "2010-05-30T21:58:55Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > 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. I see the OP was trying **Emma** , which I found the least enjoyable of Austen’s works. As Thudlow says, **Pride & Prejudice** is a really good read! I agree with most of Thudlow’s other recommendations - except for \*\*The Moonstone. \*\*Couldn’t get through that. & I’ve never read **Robinson Crusoe.** I’d also add **The Scarlet Pimperne** l by Baroness Orczy. & not exactly a classic, but **Forever Amber** by Kathleen Winsor for a great example of an anti-heroine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/43 "2010-05-30T23:53:18Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan. > Its old, but a bloody good read and definitely a page turner. Only on the first chapter, but I can tell it’s going to be the stuff to give the troops. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/44 "2010-05-31T00:06:39Z")
If it’s summer, I’m reading (and re-reading) Ray Bradbury’s short stories, of which there are umpteen volumes…Also, the collected short stories of William Somerset Maughm are mesmerizing. He wrote some excellent spy stories but mostly wrote about the colonial British vs. the “natives” in what is now VietNam, the Malay rubber plantations - think “Red Dust” the movie with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, or “Rain” with Joan Crawford…Is “Forever Amber” by Kathleen Winsor considered a classic? It most certainly is a page turner, covering life in the royal court, the Great Fire of London, and the Plague. " ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/45 "2010-05-31T00:16:12Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > _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. And this was my recommendation! I’ve heard it described as the best adventure novel ever written, and I can totally believe it. It’s huge, and it may help to keep a printed-out cast of characters handy, but it’s totally engrossing. Great stuff. I also second the recommendation for Three Musketeers and Treasure Island. Every summer I make it a goal to read one classic. Last year’s was Tale of Two Cities. I recommend **against** that one: it really didn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/46 "2010-05-31T00:20:48Z")
I was surprised and pleased how much I enjoyed _Les Miserables_. I was expecting something much dryer. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/47 "2010-05-31T00:28:57Z")
If\* Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde\* is available, I’d suggest that. One of my favorite reads. You know the story so it is an easy read. ---
**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 31, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/48 "2010-05-31T00:34:27Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I was surprised and pleased how much I enjoyed _Les Miserables_. I was expecting something much dryer. Ditto, but there’s two translations. The Penguin Classic edition is superior to the Signet Classic edition. It’s slow in spots, but once I got through the battle of Waterloo (only about the last 5 pages are relevant), it flew. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/49 "2010-05-31T00:48:37Z")
Lord of the Rings ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/50 "2010-05-31T01:01:24Z")
I don’t know if it’s your thing, but \*Gone With the Wind \*is always a page-turner for me. There’s a lot more to it than the film shows, so you might give it a try even if you didn’t care for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270/51 "2010-05-31T01:06:58Z")
I’ll second **Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde** It’s surprisingly good, even though you know the story. I’m a big Jules Verne fan. If his stuff counts as “classic”, I’ll recommend it, but YMMV. If you’re going to read it – DON’T read the Project Gutenberg version. The “standard” translation is abysmal,. and cuts out 1/3 of the text! There have been at least four good translations since about 1960. get one of those. I recommend _The Annotated 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ with Walter James Miller’s annotations, but it’s not in print. Miller himself is co-translator of the US Naval Academy version, which is still in print. I’d also recommen Edgar Allen Poe. I think his stories _the Gold Bug_, _The Pit and the Pendulum_, _The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar_, _The Black Cat_, and others are page-turners. But some of his stuff is wordy and obscure. Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain, definitely. I also think Jonathan Swift’s _Gulliver’s Travels_ is superb. So is Voltaire’s _Candide_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-classic-novel-thats-also-a-page-turner/541270.md?page=2)