Ah classics. As an English major in college I read a lot. I loved some of them, hated others, but like any reader I know they are important.

There was an argument I was reading online about how classics became classics. The person writing it was stating that some classics were simply bad books. I’m not arguing with their point, but I think it’s important to know what makes a classic. Classic books are books that changed the publishing/writing world. They are new, they are fresh, there was something about them that was very important at the time it was written. Whether it was a brave new idea or a new method and style of writing, classics have changed the way fiction is viewed and read.

With that being said, some classics are better than others and some are harder to read then others. That’s just the way it goes.

I like classics while I’m reading them but getting into them has always felt like a bit of a chore. As technology has evolved, I’ve finally found a better way to go about reading them. Classics are great because almost all of them are in the public domain, which means they don’t have copyright laws tying them down anymore.

I’ve never been big on audio books until I discovered the recorded classics. They are free, you don’t even need a library card (though everyone should have one, lets be real) you don’t have to worry about them disappearing or having to return them. All you have to do is download an app to your phone and you have thousands of classic at your fingertips. The best part is that some of these novels that are harder to read on the page aren’t as hard to follow when listening to them.

The last one I listened to was The Picture of Dorian Gray and it was wonderful, but even more so because the readers had British accents. There are a ton of different apps. The one I am using now has both the free classics in addition to ones you can pay for. You should go through the app store and figure out which one you like best! There are a lot of options.