Best Classic Novels Everyone Must Read At Least Once

1. Swiss Family Robinson

Imagine you find yourself on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. Your ship is wrecked and not another living soul on the island, what would you do? Well, that is exactly the situation the Robinsons find themselves in. The family comprises of William and Elizabeth Robinson and their four sons Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Franz and how their resourcefulness, immense inner strength, faith and love for each other enables survival on this island, forms the rest of the story. The life on the island is no piece of cake but it is a one of a kind experience that can be humbling and also brings the family together in many ways and throughout the book there is the question of when they will return to civilization. This book is comprised of highly delightful details of the family’s adventures on the island and is well worth a read.

2. Little Women

Sick of books with pious heroine’s, people we can never match up to and who keep reminding us of our incompetence, well then you probably would love the protagonist of this Louisa Alcott book. The inscrutable Jo is anything but a lady and her efforts to tame her tom-boyish ways always end up in failure. She and her sisters and mother share a tight bond especially in the face of their struggling means and their father being away serving in the Civil war. Despite their circumstances, the sisters manage to befriend their rich neighbor Laurie and together they cook up enough fun to keep us entertained. A tale about the struggles, pleasures and challenges of the four sisters this is a story you will take with you through life.

3. Eight Cousins

Thirteen-year-old Rose suddenly finds herself orphaned with her father’s sudden demise and the ward of an uncle she never met. Her aunts each insist on prescribing what they think is best for the sickly girl only making her feel more ill. And to make matters worse she is expected to meet and even play with her seven rowdy boy cousins. And then she meets her uncle the doctor who recommends unusual but highly enjoyable activities that soon turns her into a rosy, cheerful and healthy young girl. What with seven energetic cousins, an uncle who never ceases to amaze her and Phoebe, the unusual girl Rose befriends there is never a dull moment in Rose’s life.

4. A Christmas Carol

This book consists of ghosts and not one but three, a certain Mr. Scrooge, yes that really is his name and the story takes place on Christmas. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Mr.Scrooge is a miser whose acumen at business does not extend to his social skills. He loathes Christmas and is the tight-fisted, grouch no one expects capable of uttering anything cheerful. But this is only until one fateful Christmas eve when he is visited by the ghost of his late business partner, Marley, who had been no more of an altruist than Scrooge himself during his lifetime. Marley is suffering for his sins and asks or rather warns Scrooge to change his ways rather than share the same fate. He informs him of the three ghosts that would visit him later that night. What takes place next and whether Scrooge eventually does have a change of heart is something you will have to read about. This is a story with a moral but never a moment passes when you feel the book is preaching to writers for hire online.

5. Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

The beloved character Tom Sawyer is a teenage boy whose antics form the story. The trouble maker in him gets on the nerves of his haggard Aunt Polly who still loves him albeit all. Tom goes around the town gallivanting with his vagabond friend Huckleberry Finn and together their adventures involve witnessing a murder, rafting away from home, marching into their own funeral and finding treasure. We also get to meet Tom’s love interest Becky Thatcher and witness first-hand the pains and joys of teenage love. Everyone should read this novel for it is not just a read but a one of a kind experience.