Topic
Classics
90 reading guides and book lists curated by the Editors Reads team.
90 posts — page 1 of 5
1984 vs Animal Farm: Which Orwell to Read First?
George Orwell's two masterpieces attack the same target in opposite ways — one a short fable, one a full dystopia. Here's how 1984 and Animal Farm compare, and which to read first.
Authors Like Toni Morrison: 6 Writers to Read Next
If Toni Morrison's lyrical prose and unflinching reckoning with American history move you, these six writers belong on your shelf — each with a book to start.
Books Like All Quiet on the Western Front: 6 War Reads
Want more unflinching truth about war, its horror, and what it does to ordinary soldiers after All Quiet on the Western Front? These six novels deliver — with where to start.
The Iliad vs The Odyssey: Which to Read First?
Homer's two epics tell very different stories — one a war, one a journey home. Here's how The Iliad and The Odyssey compare in difficulty, theme, and pleasure, and which to read first.
War and Peace vs Anna Karenina: Which to Read First?
Tolstoy's two giants offer very different ways in — one a sweeping epic of history, one an intimate tragedy of love. Here's how they compare and which to read first.
Authors Like Cormac McCarthy: 7 Writers to Read Next
Authors like Cormac McCarthy for fans of Blood Meridian and The Road — William Faulkner, Larry McMurtry, Denis Johnson, John Steinbeck, and more, with where to start.
Books Like Salem's Lot: 10 Vampire and Horror Novels
Books like Salem's Lot by Stephen King — 10 vampire and small-town horror novels, from Dracula to Mexican Gothic, with where to start for each.
Books Like The Things They Carried: 11 War Novels
Books like The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien — 11 great war novels from All Quiet on the Western Front to Slaughterhouse-Five, with where to start for each.
Pride and Prejudice vs Emma: Which to Read First?
Pride and Prejudice and Emma are two of Jane Austen's best-loved novels. Here's how they differ, what each does best, and which to read first.
The Hobbit vs The Fellowship of the Ring: Read First?
The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring are most readers' two entry points to Tolkien. Here's how they differ, what each does best, and which to read first.
The Old Man and the Sea vs The Sun Also Rises: First?
The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises are two essential Hemingway novels. Here's how they differ, what each does best, and which to read first.
Wuthering Heights vs Jane Eyre: Which to Read First?
Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are the two great Brontë novels. Here's how they differ, what each does best, and which to read first.
Where to Start with Baroness Orczy: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Baroness Orczy — how to approach The Scarlet Pimpernel, her essential adventure novel that invented the secret-identity hero. A complete reading guide.
Where to Start with Daniel Defoe: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Daniel Defoe — how to approach Robinson Crusoe, his essential novel and the founding text of English prose fiction. A complete reading guide.
Where to Start with Daniel Keyes: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Daniel Keyes — how to approach Flowers for Algernon, his essential novel about intelligence, identity and what it means to be human. A complete reading guide.
Where to Start with Dashiell Hammett: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Dashiell Hammett — how to approach The Maltese Falcon, his essential novel and the founding text of hardboiled crime fiction. A complete reading guide.
Where to Start with Edwin Lefèvre: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Edwin Lefèvre — how to approach Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, the 1923 trading classic on Jesse Livermore's career, markets, and the psychology of speculation. A complete reading guide.
Where to Start with Elizabeth Gaskell: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Elizabeth Gaskell — how to approach North and South, her Victorian novel combining industrial-era class conflict with one of the period's most satisfying slow-burn romances. A complete reading guide.
Where to Start with Emily Brontë: A Reading Guide
Where to start with Emily Brontë — how to approach Wuthering Heights, her essential and only novel. A complete reading guide to the Victorian author.
Where to Start with James Allen: A Reading Guide
Where to start with James Allen — how to approach As a Man Thinketh, his 1903 sixty-eight-page masterwork on thought, character, and the mind as a garden that grows what you plant in it. A complete reading guide.
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