Short Classic Books for Busy People |
Books discussed: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953), Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945), Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937), War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1898), Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843), Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (1599), Sir Gawian and the Green Knight, by Unknown (c.1400), Beowulf by Unknown (c.1000 AD)
Does the thought of reading a classic work sound boring or intimidating? Are you going on a short trip, and you want a short but enriching read? Or are you used to fast, contemporary stories, but wished you could dive into something "literary"? Or do you love classics, but you are having a difficult time convincing your child (or your friend) to give one a try? No problem: some classics are really short.
Sometimes less is more. And classic literature is no exception. Did you know that Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is only about 75 pages? Yes, you read that correctly. In fact, Jekyll and Hyde is so short it is usually packaged "with other stories" so the bound volume is more rounded out. Or how about Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men? This classic story about migrant workers during the Great Depression barely passes the one hundred page barrier. Same goes for Dicken's Christmas Carol. While Dicken is known for being verbose in other works, he is quite to the point in this classic. Some of these books are even inflated. Take Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Both of these works are from older forms of English, and they require a translator. Sometimes these books are presented with the original English on one page, and the translation on the other. Depending on the edition you get, the book might actually be half the length that it appears. You might be wondering: "What do you mean Julius Caesar is only 130 pages?" The one I have looks alot longer than that. Well, classics often contain commentaries that can be quite lengthy. The actual work may not extend nearly as long as the commentary. I am a stickler on the importance of reading the introduction, but I also know that "reluctant readers" will want to skip to the actual story. The following table illustrates some of the great works qualify as both "classic" and "short reads." The page numbers are in green.
| Title | Author | Year | Pages |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell | 1945 | 175 |
| Beowulf | Unknown | c.1000 | 175 |
| Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | 1843 | 115 |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | 1953 | 175 |
| Julius Caesar | William Shakespeare | 1599 | 130 |
| Of Mice and Men | John Steinbeck | 1937 | 115 |
| Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Unknown | c.1400 | 190 |
| Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson | 1886 | 75 |
| War of the Worlds | H.G. Wells | 1898 | 190 |
Length is no measure of lasting influence. Shakespeare, whose work is synonomous with "good English," wrote plays. Plays are scripts. Scripts have to keep an audience's attention span. Thus, while Shakespeare's language is highly elevated, the length of the works are very manageable. Let's get back to Jekyll and Hyde. There are a number of reasons why this book is interesting. First, it's written by Stevenson, the same Stevenson that wrote Treasure Island. The success of this book can't be underestimated. At the time, if the book was new, the ending would be a real twist. But everyone today knows the twist, because the characters are so great. Just imagine: an iconic character motif--that is used as a metaphor in popular culture still, even after almost 150 years--is derived from a story slimmer than your index finger. Not bad. Fahrenheit 451--a favorite of librarians--defines the importance of the printed word in a dystopian future where books are banned because ideas are dangerous. And Ray Bradbury conveys the weight of this meaty topic in under 200 pages. By the way, it's fast and fun. Ray Bradbury thought A Christmas Carol was the greatest novel. Why? Because A Christmas Carol is about the possibility that any person can transform for the positive. Nobody is a lost cause. What message could be more uplifting than that? With this novel, Charles Dickens basically invented our modern celebration of Christmas. He transformed December in the English-speaking world in under 200 pages. Another neat thing about A Christmas Carol is that it is also a ghost story. How cool. Another slim essential is War of the Worlds. H.G. Wells may be the biggest name in English science fiction, and his story about a Martian invasion is so eerily modern. Think about it: there actually exists a novel from the nineteenth century about an alien invasion. Pretty neat, huh? An edgy short classic is Animal Farm. The farm animals represent people, and the farm yard is society. For instance, the horse is, well, the work horse that simply does what he is told. Here's the kicker: Orwell was explicitly calling out the Soviet Union and communism way before it was politically correct to do so. He knew, even during World War II, that "Uncle" Joe Stalin--who British and Americans were supposed to respect as an ally--was a very, very bad man. Writing in a similar time as Orwell is Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men is a quick read full of earthy language. Down and out migrants struggle for work in this bittersweet experience of the Great Depression. This short book ends in a way that you will never forget.
The heritage of written English, like the heritage of Greek and Latin, begins with epic poems. Two classic English poems from medieval times are Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Both of these texts, unless you are a scholar, require a translation. Unlike Homer, these two English epics are rather short. Beowulf reads like an episode from J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was, in fact, a scholar of Old English, and many of the themes and motifs in his work come from historial sources like Beowulf. Beowulf is a monster slayer. The earliest piece of written work in English is a guy from a beer hall that takes on trolls and dragons. This poem does have the hooks to get those "reluctant readers," especially if they are already into Lord of the Rings. Besides, Beowulf is shorter than Tolkien. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is from a later period than Beowulf, but it is also a good example of English epic poetry. Sir Gawain inhabits a more Christianized world than Beowulf, for the monsters are no longer beasts waiting in the woods; rather, they are here the temptations within. Sir Gawain is a knight in Arthur's Court, and he must take on the ghastly Green Knight. This poem is set during Yule, or Christmas. Instead of being a man of brute strength, Sir Gawain represents a hero of the soul, a man who can overcome his passions and temptations. If you read both Beowulf and Sir Gawain, you would see a trajectory of moral progression in the English soul. And with their relative brevity, this feat is quite doable.
So whether you just need a short read for a short trip, or you are begging your son to turn off the video games and read something, these short classics are a good start checklist. Remember, short books have changed the world. Updated August 2019 Back to the top of the page Return to Front Page