5 Classic Novels To Pick For Your Next Book Club Read

When it comes to picking the next read for your book club, catering to everyone's tastes can be tricky. With new bestsellers-to-be flooding the market every week, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options. In recent years we've gone well beyond Oprah's book club, with many of our favourite celebrities launching their own clubs, inviting fans at home to read along with them, and often sharing exclusive content to enhance the reading experience. Even so, it's easy to make a mistake when choosing books for your book club, and can be difficult to know how to satisfy all parties.

With this in mind, why not make it easier by turning to works that have proven their broad popularity for decades, if not centuries? Behold, the humble classic novel: literary fiction that, despite its age, remains relevant and engaging, because it tackles universal themes. Over time, these books have shaped and defined literary tradition, embedding themselves as cultural cornerstones. The beauty of the classic novel lies in its range. Under one umbrella term, we can find works that span the gamut — linked not by their similarities in style or message, but by their cultural weight and the conversations they've sparked for generations. Whatever its theme and story, the classic novel has a place at the table of any discussion.

Weddings make for irresistible affairs, in life and in literature. Few capture this better than Dorothy West. The timeless traditions and ceremonial spectacle; the orchestrated balance between devotion and duty, romance and responsibility, love and legacy; and the weight of societal expectations all converge in her critically acclaimed classic, "The Wedding." It is set in the 1950s, and we find ourselves in the Oval: a rarefied enclave of Black affluence in Martha's Vineyard. Here, the prosperous, highly regarded Coles family sits enthroned at the apex of the social hierarchy. Shelby Coles, the family's youngest daughter, is to marry Meade Wyler, a white jazz musician. But the arrival of Lute McNeil, a brash, working-class Black man who wants Shelby for himself, disrupts the day's carefully laid plans.

As the wedding approaches, West shifts our gaze from the Coles' dignified veneer to the cracks in the familial façade. Shelby's parents are trapped in a marriage that is more performance than partnership. Gram, Shelby's white great-grandmother, is a vestige of a bygone era, consumed by bitterness and longing for the South. The author's elegantly hewn analepses — flashbacks that situate the story — anchor the Coles' present in the context of their ancestors. The result for readers is a detailed, absorbing read that is guaranteed to provide ample discussion fodder for your next book club meeting. Written by West at the remarkable age of 85, "The Wedding" is a swan song you won't want to skip.

Before there was "Bridgerton," there was Jane Austen. "Sanditon" may not have the same fame as big hitters like "Pride and Prejudice," "Emma," and "Sense and Sensibility," but it's certainly not one to be overlooked. Escape to the eponymous seaside resort, where eldest daughter Charlotte Heywood has arrived as a guest for the summer. The town is brimming with quirky characters, eccentric developers, spirited women, and fortune seekers — each with their own agendas and romantic entanglements. Among them are Miss Lambe, a teenage Antiguan English heiress, and the two Miss Beauforts, who have just arrived from the West Indies. Predictably — but no less pleasurably — love, ambition, and gossip spin into a delightful maelstrom, as only Austen could orchestrate.

"Sanditon" remains an unfinished piece of Austen's, likely cut short by the onset of illness. But it is by no means incomplete in its whimsical charm. In some ways, its open-endedness has only added to its draw, with many writers flocking fervently to finish what she started. At your next book club meeting, perhaps it might be fun to consider where the story might have gone. And, if you found yourself really enchanted by its fanciful flair, there's an excellent PBS series of the story, with the love interest played by the dashing Theo James of "Downton Abbey," "The White Lotus," and "The Gentleman" fame.

There's a reason we've been seeing a resurgence of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," and that reason is vampires. They make for bewitching reading, which is why it's worth returning to one of the OG literary vampires: "Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu. Devilish in its decadence, this novella is rich in all the tropes that make the gothic genre so tantalizing. Mysterious fortresses, eroding aristocracy, occult detectives, paranormal visions, haunted heirlooms, and forbidden desire in the form of sapphic vampirism — what's not to love?

In the tenebrious depths of the 18th century, a young woman named Laura lives with her father in a secluded castle in Austria. One night, a mysterious girl named Carmilla arrives, transfixing Laura with a sense of déjà vu when she realizes Carmilla closely resembles a figure from a haunting dream she once had of a beautiful visitor in her bedchamber. All is not as it seems, as Carmilla grows increasingly eerie, and tensions build to form a psychological labyrinth of confusion and fear. What lies beneath this unnerving connection? And what forces — unseen, yet palpably close — are at work in the shadows of the castle? Le Fanu's work set the spooky stage for modern vampire lore. It is often cited as a major inspiration for Bram Stoker's classic heavyweight, "Dracula," and is a strong choice for any book club to sink its teeth into.

For book clubs that have visited and enjoyed classic novels before, "Wide Sargasso Sea" is the searing prelude to "Jane Eyre" that's sure to spark lively exchanges during your next group gathering. From Charlotte Brontë's 1847 original, we know all too well the story of Bertha: the suggested "beast or human being" hidden away in Mr. Rochester's Thornfield Hall. Over 100 years later, Dominican-British author Jean Rhys gave voice to that very "madwoman in the attic" — reimagining her as Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress whose troubled upbringing in Jamaica and forced marriage to Mr. Rochester led her to a life of torture and mistreatment.

This is a truly groundbreaking example of so-called postcolonial literature, interrogating the insidious effects of race, gender, and empire. Modern readings have also welcomed an ecocritical lens, choosing to focus on the exploitation of both the land and its people. Widely regarded as one of the best and most influential novels of all time, Rhys' work does more than just enrich the story of "Jane Eyre" — it promises to forever alter the way you view its canonical sequel.

Don't let the supposed child's reading age for "Ballet Shoes" fool you, this is a story that promises to enchant readers of all ages. Noel Streatfeild's much-loved classic follows three orphaned sisters who are taken in by their eccentric guardian, Great Uncle Matthew (affectionately known as Gum), in 1930s London. Each girl has their own unique talent. Pauline, the eldest, dreams of the stage, drawn to the glamorous world of acting. Petrova, the pragmatic one, has no interest in arts at all; her heart is set instead on becoming a mechanic, though society offers her little room for such aspirations. Posy, the youngest, is a natural ballerina — a child prodigy, in fact. Come for the unforgettable trio of sisters, stay for the dreams they chase against all odds. Perfect for a book club in need of a dose of childlike wonder, "Ballet Shoes" will no doubt leave your book club feeling uplifted.

Selecting the perfect book club picks is no simple task. For this particular curation, we turned to classic novels. By classic, we mean those older works of literary fiction that have withstood the test of time and significantly shaped culture since their publication. But we didn't want just any old classics, we sought out books that still resonate today, even if for different reasons than when they were first written. These are books that, though written in the past, speak potently to issues and ideas of the present. It's easy to get caught up with the classic novels we all know, so we hoped to find ones that may have slipped from the radar for many. Wanting to embrace a wide variety, we selected a range of genres, settings, and voices to ensure there was something for every taste, no matter how eclectic your book club is. We also know our target audience, which is why we made a conscious decision to gravitate towards novels written by or about women. And finally, we promise these texts make for interesting reading and are ripe for group discussion. They're sure to pose unique, thought-provoking questions, and help you reach fruitful answers, together, in return. (And hopefully also help you accomplish your reading goals.)