Classics
Read Classics Classics in English
79 classics books at CEFR A2 to C2 — learn English by reading the stories worth reading. Select any word for an instant translation, listen to the narration read the page aloud, and save the vocabulary you meet. Pick your level and start with a free sample.
What are the best classics classics to read in English as a learner?
The best classics classics for English learners are the well-known titles you can read in the original — start with The Trojan Horse, Orpheus and Eurydice and Perseus and Medusa. Each one is labelled with a CEFR level, any word you do not know is one selection away from a translation, and the narration reads the page aloud while it highlights the words.
- 79
- books
Level A2AdventureThe Trojan HorseThe Greek myth of the wooden horse and the fall of Troy, told by Aeneas, retold in short, simple sentences for A1–A2 learners.
Level A2RomanceOrpheus and EurydiceThe Greek myth of Orpheus, the singer who went down to the land of the dead to bring back his wife Eurydice, retold in short, simple sentences for A1–A2 learners.
Level A2FantasyPerseus and MedusaThe Greek myth of Perseus, who went to the end of the world for the head of Medusa and saved Andromeda from a sea monster, retold in short, simple sentences for A1–A2 learners.
Level A2AdventureIcarusThe Greek myth of Daedalus the inventor, the Labyrinth, and his son Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, retold in short, simple sentences for A1–A2 learners.
Level C1–C2ClassicsOliver TwistBorn into hardship in a grim workhouse, an infant named Oliver Twist faces a harsh world from his very first breath.
Level C2ClassicsThe Brothers KaramazovThe classic classics novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Level A2–B2PoetryA Child's Garden of VersesStevenson's beloved collection of short, musical poems about childhood — swings, shadows, ships, and bedtime.
Level C1–C2Science FictionA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtThe classic science-fiction novel by Mark Twain.
Level C1–C2ClassicsA Tale of Two CitiesThe classic historical novel by Charles Dickens.
Level C1–C2RomanceA pair of blue eyesThe classic romance novel by Thomas Hardy.
Level B2–C2AdventureAdventures of Huckleberry FinnThe classic adventure novel by Mark Twain.
Level B1–C1FantasyAlice's Adventures in WonderlandDown the rabbit-hole into a logic-bending world of riddles and talking creatures.
Level C2RomanceAnna KareninaThe classic romance novel by Leo, graf Tolstoy.
Level B1–C1Children'sAnne of Green GablesThe classic historical novel by L.
Level B2–C1AdventureAround the World in Eighty DaysPhileas Fogg wagers his fortune on circling the globe in just eighty days.
Level C1–C2HistoricalAutobiography of Benjamin FranklinThe classic historical novel by Benjamin Franklin.
Level C2PhilosophyBeyond Good and EvilThe classic philosophy novel by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
Level C2PhilosophyBiographia LiterariaThe classic philosophy novel by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Level C1–C2RomanceCamille (La Dame aux Camilias)The classic romance novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Level B2–C2AdventureCatrionaThe classic romance novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Level C1–C2ClassicsCranfordThe classic classics novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell.
Level C1–C2ClassicsCrime and PunishmentThe classic mystery novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Level C1–C2ClassicsDavid CopperfieldThe classic classics novel by Charles Dickens.
Level C1–C2HorrorDraculaLetters and journals trace a vampire's voyage from the Carpathians to London.
Level C2RomanceEloisa : $b or, A series of original lettersThe classic romance novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Level C2PoetryErotica RomanaThe classic romance novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Level A2–B1Children'sFifty Famous Stories RetoldFifty short, famous stories from history and legend — King Alfred and the cakes, the sword of Damocles, and more — retold in plain English for young and new readers.
Level B2–C2HorrorFrankensteinA young scientist builds a living being from death — and abandons what he makes.
Level C1–C2ClassicsGreat ExpectationsThe classic classics novel by Charles Dickens.
Level C1–C2AdventureGulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the WorldThe classic adventure novel by Jonathan Swift.
Level C2ClassicsHistory of Tom Jones, a FoundlingThe classic classics novel by Henry Fielding.
Level C1–C2RomanceJane Eyre: An AutobiographyThe classic romance novel by Charlotte Brontë.
Level B2–C2AdventureKidnappedThe classic adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Level C2ClassicsLes MisérablesThe classic historical novel by Victor Hugo.
Level B2–C2HistoricalLife on the MississippiThe classic adventure novel by Mark Twain.
Level B1–C1Children'sLittle Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and AmyThe classic childrens novel by Louisa May Alcott.
Level C1–C2RomanceManon LescautThe classic romance novel by abbé Prévost.
Level C2ClassicsMiddlemarchThe classic romance novel by George Eliot.
Level C2AdventureMoby Dick; Or, The WhaleThe classic adventure novel by Herman Melville.
Level C1–C2HistoricalNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveThe classic historical novel by Frederick Douglass.
Level C1–C2RomancePride and PrejudiceWit, pride and slow-burning love in the drawing rooms of Regency England.
Level C2RomanceRomeo and JulietThe classic romance novel by William Shakespeare.
Level B2–C2AdventureRoughing ItThe classic adventure novel by Mark Twain.
Level C1–C2RomanceSense and SensibilityThe classic romance novel by Jane Austen.
Level C2AdventureThe Adventures of Roderick RandomThe classic adventure novel by T.
Level B2–C1AdventureThe Adventures of Tom SawyerMischief, caves and buried treasure along the Mississippi River.
Level A2–B1Children'sThe Aesop for ChildrenMore than a hundred of Aesop's fables retold for children, each a few sentences long and ending in a clear moral.
Level B2–C1AdventureThe Call of the WildStolen into the Yukon gold rush, a dog heeds the ancient call of the wild.