Classic Pageturners You Won't Want to Put Down

Summary

Will recommends classic books that are gripping, relatively approachable, and often dark or Gothic. He presents them roughly from shortest to longest, so viewers can choose a book to fit their available reading time.

Shorter works

• “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe — A memorable poem built around the raven’s repeated refrain, “Nevermore.”
• Other works by Edgar Allan Poe:
  • “The Tell-Tale Heart” — A fast-moving story whose intensity grows as it explores guilt after a crime.
  • “The Fall of the House of Usher” — A dynamic Gothic story in which descriptions of the decaying house suggest decline and contribute to the story’s meaning.
  • “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Purloined Letter,” and “The Gold-Bug” — Poe’s detective stories, which Will credits with helping inspire later detective and mystery fiction.
• The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley — A very short story that Will says can be read in about half an hour.
• A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle — An introductory Sherlock Holmes mystery featuring Holmes, Dr. Watson, and a murder scene marked with a message written in blood.
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James — A strange, unsettling story about a governess caring for two children.
• The Storyteller and Other Stories by Rubem Fonseca — A collection of short, dark, frightening stories that Will finds gripping enough to encourage readers to keep going.
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck — One of the more accessible recommendations, written in comparatively simple language. Though less overtly creepy than some of the other books, it has dark moments.

Medium-length works

• A Christmas Carol and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain by Charles Dickens — Will recommends reading these works together, preferably in winter; together, they total about 200 pages. Both draw on similar moods and material. The description of a professor bargaining with a phantom to erase painful memories appears to refer to The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — A classic about a man who creates a monster, only for the creature to turn against its creator. Will urges viewers to read the novel even if they already know its premise or have seen an adaptation.
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson — A haunted-house story in which a professor rents a supposedly spooky house and invites three guests to stay. Will praises the novel and suggests watching its Netflix adaptation after reading it.

Longer works

• Dracula by Bram Stoker — Will found the opening somewhat slow, but says the novel became hard to put down. It begins with a young lawyer visiting Count Dracula and realizing he is a prisoner. The first-person accounts help make the story’s strange events compelling.
• The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas — A lengthy, lively adventure associated with the saying “One for all and all for one.” Will explains that its serialized publication encouraged suspense at the ends of chapters, helping make the story both long and dynamic. He also recommends Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo.

Sponsorship

The video includes a promotion for ElevenReader, which turns text such as PDFs, articles, and stories into audio. The ad highlights a full-cast, sound-designed audiobook of Frankenstein and provides the code FRANKENSTEIN for a discounted subscription offer.

Speakers and sources featured

• Will (William Dozier) — The video’s narrator and book recommender.
• ElevenReader — Sponsor and source of the audiobook promotion and Frankenstein audio excerpt.
• Authors and works discussed: Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Purloined Letter,” and “The Gold-Bug”); Mary Shelley (The Mortal Immortal and Frankenstein); Arthur Conan Doyle (A Study in Scarlet); Henry James (The Turn of the Screw); Rubem Fonseca (The Storyteller and Other Stories); John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men); Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain); Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House); Bram Stoker (Dracula); and Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo).