Read classic books in English and Spanish
Twenty public-domain books, with the opening beside a translation. Pick a language, then keep going in LingoRead.
English books
Dracula
Jonathan Harker’s diary of the train ride toward Count Dracula’s castle.
Bram Stoker · 1897
C1Pride and Prejudice
Mrs Bennet’s hunt for husbands begins with Austen’s most famous sentence.
Jane Austen · 1813
A2Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
A bored Alice follows a rabbit and falls down a very long well.
Lewis Carroll · 1865
B2The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
“A Scandal in Bohemia” opens with Watson’s portrait of Holmes and Irene Adler.
Arthur Conan Doyle · 1892
C1Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein tells of his childhood in Geneva, before the creature.
Mary Shelley · 1818
C1The Picture of Dorian Gray
Basil Hallward’s studio, roses, and the portrait that starts the trouble.
Oscar Wilde · 1890
B1A Christmas Carol
Scrooge’s story starts from the plain fact that Marley was dead.
Charles Dickens · 1843
B2The Time Machine
A dinner, a fire, and a man explaining that time is a fourth dimension.
H. G. Wells · 1895
A2Peter Pan
The Darling nursery, and the one child who refuses to grow up.
J. M. Barrie · 1911
B1The Jungle Book
Father Wolf wakes in the Seeonee hills on the night Mowgli arrives.
Rudyard Kipling · 1894
B1Treasure Island
Jim Hawkins starts the story at the Admiral Benbow inn.
Robert Louis Stevenson · 1883
B1The Call of the Wild
Buck’s comfortable California life ends when he is stolen north.
Jack London · 1903
Spanish books
Don Quijote
Un hidalgo de aldea lee demasiados libros de caballerías y decide hacerse caballero.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra · 1605
B2Niebla
Augusto sale de casa y se encuentra con un perro, una calle y una pregunta.
Miguel de Unamuno · 1914
B1Marianela
Un viajero pierde el camino al anochecer, camino de las minas de Socartes.
Benito Pérez Galdós · 1878
A2Platero y yo
Un poeta y su burrito plateado recorren el pueblo en escenas breves.
Juan Ramón Jiménez · 1914
B2Leyendas
En Sevilla, en Nochebuena, alguien cuenta la leyenda de Maese Pérez el organista.
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer · 1871
B2Doña Perfecta
Pepe Rey baja del tren en Villahorrenda y busca el camino de Orbajosa.
Benito Pérez Galdós · 1876
C1La Regenta
Vetusta duerme la siesta mientras el viento empuja el polvo por sus calles.
Leopoldo Alas · 1885
A2Fábulas
Las fábulas en verso de Samaniego, desde la cigarra y la hormiga.
Félix María de Samaniego · 1781