CEFR C2 · Proficient
Read Proficient Classics in English (C2)
61 books graded at CEFR C2 (proficient) — learn English by reading the stories worth reading at exactly your level. Tap any word for an instant translation, listen to the narration, and save the vocabulary you meet. Start with a free sample.
What are the best C2 books to read in English?
The best C2 books to read in English are well-known classics whose own language sits at that level — start with Sonnets from the Portuguese, Oliver Twist and The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Each is the complete book, labelled CEFR C2 (proficient), with tap-to-translate, narration and saved vocabulary, so you read a real story while building the English you actually meet in it.
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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 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 C2RomanceAnna KareninaThe classic romance novel by Leo, graf Tolstoy.
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 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 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–C2MysteryThe Complete Sherlock HolmesDeduction, fog and gaslight — the complete canon of the world's first consulting detective.
Level C2ClassicsThe Complete Works of William ShakespeareThe classic poetry novel by William Shakespeare.
Level B2–C2AdventureThe Count of Monte CristoBetrayed and imprisoned, Edmond Dantès escapes to engineer a decade-spanning revenge.
Level C2ClassicsThe Expedition of Humphry ClinkerThe classic epistolary novel by Tobias Smollett.
Level B2–C2ClassicsThe Great GatsbyJazz-Age longing on Long Island, and the green light across the bay.
Level C2ClassicsThe History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, CompleteThe classic romance novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
Level C2PoetryThe Lady of the LakeThe classic romance novel by Walter Scott.
Level C1–C2MysteryThe Man Who Was Thursday: A NightmareThe classic mystery novel by G.
Level C1–C2MysteryThe MoonstoneThe classic mystery novel by Wilkie Collins.
Level C1–C2GothicThe Mysteries of UdolphoThe classic mystery novel by Ann Ward Radcliffe.
Level C1–C2MysteryThe Mystery of Edwin DroodThe classic mystery novel by Charles Dickens.
Level C1–C2GothicThe Picture of Dorian GrayA portrait ages while its beautiful owner does not — Wilde’s only novel.
Level C2PhilosophyThe PrinceThe classic historical novel by Niccolò Machiavelli.