Why classics work for clubs
Every book here is in the US public domain, so members can borrow, download or buy inexpensive editions. Classics also come with a ready supply of questions: why people still read them, what has dated and what hasn't, and how the world they show compares with ours. Reading time below is a rough guide for someone reading a little every day.
Ten picks with discussion angles
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
- Premise
- The Bennet sisters, their mother's marriage plans and some poor first impressions.
- Reading time
- Two to three weeks
- Talk about
- First impressions, money and marriage, and which characters change their minds.
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
- Premise
- A young scientist creates a living being.
- Reading time
- One to two weeks
- Talk about
- What a maker owes what they make, and whose side the book takes.
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Premise
- A young man moves next door to a wealthy neighbor on Long Island in 1922.
- Reading time
- One week
- Talk about
- Reinventing yourself, wealth, and whether the narrator can be trusted.
Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf
- Premise
- One day in London as a woman prepares to host a party.
- Reading time
- One to two weeks
- Talk about
- How the book moves between minds, and how memory shapes a single day.
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
- Premise
- A young lawyer in 1870s New York society is engaged to a suitable match.
- Reading time
- Two weeks
- Talk about
- Unwritten social rules, and what the characters give up to follow them.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass
- Premise
- Douglass's own account of his life in slavery and his escape.
- Reading time
- One week
- Talk about
- The role of reading and writing in his story, and who he wrote it for.
Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
- Premise
- An orphan grows up and becomes a governess at a manor house.
- Reading time
- Three to four weeks
- Talk about
- Independence, conscience, and how Jane tells her own story.
The Awakening Kate Chopin
- Premise
- A young wife spends a summer on the Louisiana coast.
- Reading time
- One week
- Talk about
- Freedom and duty, and why the book shocked readers when it appeared.
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
- Premise
- A young man wishes his portrait would age instead of him.
- Reading time
- One to two weeks
- Talk about
- Beauty, influence, and whether art should have a moral purpose.
Silas Marner George Eliot
- Premise
- A lonely weaver lives apart from the village where he settled.
- Reading time
- One to two weeks
- Talk about
- Community, chance, and what makes a family.
Pairing a classic with something newer
Some clubs alternate a classic with a recent book, or pair them by theme, such as a nineteenth-century marriage plot followed by a modern novel about the same pressures. Pairing gives the group something extra to compare and breaks up a run of long, older books.
Tips for reading classics as a group
- Give a long book two meetings, with half the book for each.
- Agree on an edition or translation, so page numbers match when people quote passages.
- Read the first chapter aloud at the meeting before, to get everyone past the opening.
- Avoid introductions in older editions until after the meeting, since they often give away the ending.
For more choices, see the full classic reading lists by theme, and use the discussion guide for general questions.