Five Classics Everyone Should Read (Eventually)
A List of Classic Novels that are Certain to Enhance your Life | Written by Daniel T. Dodaro
Define classic. I dare you. “You” is the key word here because every person asked will define “classic” differently. This statement holds true with books.
Some people think a novel is only a classic if it is old. How old? They shrug. Others think it depends on the manner in which the novel has impacted the cultural zeitgeist (doesn’t the word, zeitgeist, just roll off the tongue?). How much of an impact? Again, they shrug.
Me? How do I, the author of this article, define classic? Thank you for asking.
I decline to give a useful answer because, at the moment, I don’t have one. But I can always give a useless answer…
Drumroll please…
In Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously stated in his concurrence that the test to determine obscenity is: “I know it when I see it.” And that is how I will define “classic” for our purposes. Yay! Now, neither of us have to argue over definitions, allowing us to get straight to the list you actually came here for.
However, I have one last disclaimer. I am not ranking these novels in any order. To do so would be as Herculean a task as defining “classic,” and I decline to suffer the backlash I would get for attempting to do so.
Also, this list may contain some spoilers. I will do my best to avoid them, but I can make no guarantees.
Now, without further ado, here is my list of five classics everyone should read (eventually).
(1) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
What a way to start a list! Beginning a list of great novels with a work by Dostoevsky is like starting a meal with dessert. Surely, it can only go downhill from here (I hope not).
I do not claim to be an expert on Dostoevsky by any means; I know about him almost entirely through his writings, specifically The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment.
That aside, The Brothers Karamazov is a work that inspires awe. In fact, I am still in awe of it, despite having read it over four years ago. I finally got around to Crime and Punishment more recently, and while I enjoyed it, I cannot help but feel The Brothers Karamazov has raised more resounding questions overall—specifically regarding family, faith, and the law.
The story follows three brothers: Dimitri, Ivan, and Alexei (Alyosha). While their relationships with their unscrupulous father, Fyodor, drives the overarching narrative, each of the brothers have their own journeys that unfold along the way. Their unique personalities are central to the story. Dimitri, the oldest, is emotional and hedonistic. Ivan, the middle son, is cynical, intellectual, and reserved. Alexei, the youngest son, is optimistic and faithful. When the brothers’ inheritance comes into question, their stories intertwine, ultimately culminating in a legendary courtroom trial.
Interestingly, The Brothers Karamazov also raises one of the most famous arguments for Atheism in all of literature and poses an equally engaging counterargument for Christianity. Read the Chapter, “The Grand Inquisitor,” as an excerpt if you are interested.
Kurt Vonnegut once said that The Brothers Karamazov “teaches everything one needs to know about life,” and I find it hard to disagree with him.
(2) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Wait, wrong story.
Let’s talk The Count of Monte Cristo—a revenge story of epic proportions. Edmund Dantes, a young man with a promising future, is betrayed by three men on his wedding day and falsely imprisoned for fourteen years. When he manages to escape prison, he locates a treasure he learned of while in confinement and returns to society as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo, using his wealth, intellect, and influence to enact revenge on those who stole his chance at a peaceful life.
Deeply philosophical and highly entertaining, this novel pushes the boundaries of storytelling. It is the fastest you will read 1,300 pages in your life. You name it, The Count of Monte Cristo has it. Interspersed action and romance. Well-developed characters and relationships. An irreplicable atmosphere. Twists worth staying up late for.
It is the adventure story.
Also, only a handful of characters in literature come even close to matching the aura of the Count. He is what Jay Gatsby strives to be.
(3) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
“Call me Ishmael…” Yawn…
At the risk of sounding unsophisticated, Moby Dick took a while for me to appreciate. It was only after two-hundred pages that I began to actually read the novel for pleasure, not just for the goal of completion. At first, I didn’t get why people spoke so highly of it…until it clicked.
Let me start by saying, who would have thought whaling in the 19th Century could be so interesting? Clearly, Melville did. Moby Dick is littered with occasional chapters on the history of whaling and the anatomy of whales.
Let me clarify for those of you who haven’t read Moby Dick. Melville does not teach us about whaling by weaving fun facts into his narrative. No, he literally includes breaks in the narrative to discuss whaling. It is like if you were reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and every few pages, the author glued in pages torn from an entomology textbook. But what is most amazing is that after a while, these educational digressions felt purposeful, perhaps even necessary. They provide time for the story to sink in, which makes the narrative feel more impactful by the end.
Another thing that I love about Moby Dick is just how much the story borders on mythological. Is there something supernatural about this white whale? Was Ahab doomed from the start? There is so much hidden meaning here, so much room for analysis.
And Ahab, as mad as he seems, is ultimately not all that unreasonable in retrospect. It’s amazing that Melville could present such a fantastical character, only to spend the entire story convincing you that he is not so different from you or I. I sympathize with Ahab. The white whale, an unknowable creature, took his leg, and he raged against the injustice of this tragic loss. Wouldn’t you?
Even in modern life, random and uncontrollable forces leave us in the lurch, and we wonder why bad things have to happen in the first place. Why was NJ Transit delayed…again? Why did McDonalds give me a small fries when I ordered a medium? Why is it raining on the one day I planned to go to the beach, but it rarely ever rains when I am confined to the four corners of my office?
Jokes aside, hardship + needless rumination = built-up resentment, and this is exactly what plagued Ahab. He suffered a loss and was left to ruminate on it. An unhealthy obsession followed.
If anything, this is a cautionary tale against rumination and assigning fault in situations where there isn’t any. We all have dealt with a white whale—an uncontrollable force that has taken something of value from us (hopefully, not a leg). A lot of the time, facing our whale is inevitable. We must choose whether to rage against it or accept it for what it is and move on with our lives.
(4) Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
I swear I am not putting Mother Night on this list instead of Slaughterhouse Five just to have this list stand out from other lists you may have perused.
I genuinely love Mother Night. I have read many Vonnegut novels, from Player Piano to Breakfast of Champions, and Mother Night has always stood out to me as a sleeper hit. I find this especially interesting because Mother Night is the least sci-fi of his novels, and I am a sucker for fantastical storytelling. On a sidenote, if you are in the mood for sci-fi, you should read another one of my Vonnegut favorites, The Sirens of Titan.
Another thing I love about Vonnegut is that he connects stories by reusing characters in a fun way—sometimes directly, sometimes loosely. For example, Kilgore Trout is a recurring character that appears throughout many of his novels (think Hoid from Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere except feverishly inconsistent in how he is portrayed).
Overall, there is just something about Vonnegut’s writing that scratches an itch that no other author can scratch. He’s scathing for sure, but in a charming way. Every page seems to contain a battle between loud pessimism and quiet optimism.
Anyway, Mother Night follows Howard Campbell, a former Nazi propogandist, who was secretly an American spy during the war. The trouble for Howard is that few people knew he was an American spy, so he is forced to live an inconspicuous life in the United States. As with all Vonnegut novels, mayhem ensues from there. It’s fun. It’s bleak. It’s Vonnegut.
But seriously, if this plot does not pull you in, you will not be disappointed with most of Vonnegut’s works. There is a report card online, where Vonnegut assigned letter grades to his own novels, that might be a fun place to start.
My favorite Vonnegut novels are Mother Night, the Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, and Welcome to the Monkey House. Cat’s Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and Player Piano are also great reads.
Unfortunately, I did not like Galapagos. But…so, it goes.
(5) Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for journeys. My favorite novel of all time, after all, is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
What I love about Siddhartha is that it presents the reader with a journey of spiritual enlightenment that feels strangely realistic. There is a progression to Siddhartha’s journey that doesn’t ask readers to suspend all reason, even if there are parts that are fantastical.
I cannot stress how much I love this novel. I found it incredibly profound when I read it almost a decade ago, and I still think about how it made me feel today. Its lessons have impacted my worldview, and I think it is worth a read. For such a short novel, it is packed with incredible value per page (“VPP”).
Apart from my love of this novel, may I go on a quick tangent?
I will accept your silence as assent, Dear Reader.
Why is it that Siddhartha was named Siddhartha? Just to confuse people? Think about it: Siddhartha, our main character, embarks on a journey to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Who does this sound like? The Buddha…Siddhartha Gautama. But Siddhartha is not about that Siddhartha. The main character is a Siddhartha, who just so happens to be alive at the same time as the historical Buddha. He even encounters the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, on his quest. Maybe, I am more obtuse than most, but I would guess this has confused many readers over the years. It would be like if I wrote a novel about a fictional character named Amadeus, who goes on a journey to become a great composer and encounters Amadeus Mozart along the way. If I named that novel, “Amadeus,” would you not be annoyed with me as you stroll around Barnes & Noble and pass by the shelf? Would you not sigh to yourself and roll your eyes? Of course, you would. Why not just give your main character a different name, Hermann? This critique does not speak to the quality of the novel. I just find this to be a slightly baffling choice…but I digress.
…actually, one last thing about this name debacle. Spoiler Alert. You know what really grinds my gears even more about this? Siddhartha, the main character, eventually becomes a Buddha by achieving spiritual enlightenment. So, Siddhartha is a Buddha, who should not be confused with Siddhartha, the Buddha. Why do this to us Hermann? Why?
Honestly, if there is a reason, I hope to never learn it. It’s funnier that way.
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I appreciate you taking the time to read!
This list was written by Daniel T. Dodaro, the author of Death, the Gardener.
All stories begin and end with a question. It is up to each of us to discover what that question is.
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