20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting

20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting 20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting 20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting By Mark Nichol You know that in order to become a better writer, you need to become a better reader and so polishing off some classic novels is in your future. But who has the time? You do. Nobody’s admonishing you to get your book report in within two weeks. But if you still feel pinched between the hour hand and the minute hand, ease into great English literature with these short novels (most have fewer than 200 pages): 1. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens Spectral visitors take miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge on a tour of the past, present, and future to prompt his reevaluation of the wisdom of his skinflint ways in this Victorian fantasy that helped usher in the nostalgia-drenched Christmas tradition. To this day, innumerable stage adaptations knock elbows with ballet productions of The Nutracker Suite and singing of Handel’s Messiah. Dickens’s Hard Times is another relatively quick read. 2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain The intrepid young hero, a half-feral but good-hearted boy, flees the deadly embrace of civilization, takes up with a freed slave and a couple of con men, and, with the assistance of one Samuel Langhorne Clemens, makes a library’s worth of observations about the human condition in one thin volume a triumphant survivor of censorship and political correctness. (The n-word pervades it quick, hide the children’s eyes and make reality go away!) See also The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which this book is a sequel to, and Pudd’nhead Wilson. 3. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll A young girl wanders into the woods and falls down a rabbit hole into a disconcertingly absurd hidden world in Oxford mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s satirical romp, laced with contemporary caricatures and poking at problems of mathematical logic. Like many great works of art, it was a critical failure but a popular success and, in the long term, the critics have come around. See also the sequel Through the Looking-Glass. 4. Animal Farm, by George Orwell A modern fable by the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four relates what happens when communism comes to Manor Farm: â€Å"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.† Orwell (birth name Eric Blair), a proponent of democratic socialism by definition, the antithesis of Stalinism wrote the story in response to his disillusioning experiences during the Spanish Civil War, when totalitarianism cast a shadow over socialist ideals. British publishers concerned about the manuscript’s frank condemnation of the United Kingdom’s World War II ally the Soviet Union rejected it, but you can’t suppress the truth down for long. 5. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne Fastidious Victorian gentleman Phileas Fogg makes a foolhardy wager at his club: He will circumnavigate the planet in eighty days. With resourceful French valet Passepartout by his side and a Scotland Yard detective who mistakes him for a fugitive from justice on his heels, he sets out with his fortune, his freedom, and, most importantly, his honor on the line. These and other novels by Verne have, from the beginning, fired the imaginations of readers from all over the world, though poor early English translations led to them being long mischaracterized as juvenile pulp fiction. 6. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley After an introduction to a horrifyingly regimented future â€Å"utopia,† readers meet John, a young man who has grown up in an isolated, unenlightened community before being brought back to civilization, which, shall we say, does not match his expectations. Huxley’s novel, one of the most celebrated in twentieth-century literature and also impressively high on the lists of books targeted for censorship depicts a future in which hedonism, not repression, is the greatest threat to humanity. 7. Candide, by Voltaire Everybody’s favorite scathingly funny French philosopher introduces a young man raised in indoctrinated, isolated innocence who is repeatedly blindsided by reality when he becomes a citizen of the world. Anticipating the antipathy with which secular and religious authorities would condemn his work, Voltaire published it under a pseudonym, but everybody knew who had done the deed. Candide was widely banned, even in the United States into the twentieth century high praise, indeed. 8. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck A run-down street in seaside Monterey, California, is as colorful a character as any of the people who populate it in this sweet Depression-era story about a community of the world’s cast-offs. This semiautobiographical novel, a warm wash of nostalgia, also serves as a requiem for a lost world the author could never find again. Steinbeck often kept it short and bittersweet: Look also for The Moon Is Down, Of Mice and Men, The Pearl, The Red Pony, and Tortilla Flat. 9. The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger Reading this mid-20th-century anthem of adolescent angst remains a rite of passage for high school literature students, who get a thrill out of reading one of the most frequently banned books of all time. The narrator’s sour sensibilities and his frank assessment of the world’s crapitude captivate many young readers, although the author (who exacerbated the allure of the book through his notorious reclusiveness) intended the book for an adult audience. Salinger’s other works include novellas and short stories, including Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories, and the twofer Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. 10. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton This flashback novel immerses the reader in the tragedy of a romantic triangle, as the title character agonizes over his affection for his sickly wife’s cousin, who has come to live with them and help around the house. Warning: Things don’t end well. The critical reception to Wharton’s work was mixed, but those who praised it recognized it as a compelling morality tale (though based on a real incident and thought to allude to the author’s own unhappy marriage). 11. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury In a dystopian future where firefighters ignite inflammatory books (that is, all of them) rather than suppress conflagrations, one member of the book-burning brigade, increasingly alienated in his decadent society, is lured to the light side. Bradbury initially denied that the theme of the story is censorship, fingering the boob tube for libracide instead, but he later graciously realized he could have it both ways. 12. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley A scientist conceives the idea of creating a man constructed from body parts and bringing him to life but is disgusted by his creation, which, devastated by the scientist’s and others’ rejection as it struggles to learn what it means to be human, exacts vengeance. The novel, written by the daughter of philosophers who began working on it when she was still in her teens, initially received mixed reviews, but its stature has steadily grown, aided by its wealth of classical allusions and Enlightenment inspirations, not to mention its profound psychological resonance. 13. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald A young man gets caught up in the world of wealth during the Roaring Twenties, especially that revolving around the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby, but he discovers how superficial and hollow the American dream is after observing the petty passions of the rich. Fitzgerald’s novel was well received but did not fare as well as his earlier works, and when he died in relative obscurity years later, he believed himself a failure. During and after World War II, however, The Great Gatsby experienced a resurgence, and it is now accounted one of the great American novels. 14. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad A riverboat captain in the Belgian Congo, looking forward to meeting Kurtz, the manager of an isolated upriver colonial station, is devastated when the man he meets turns out to be quite different from the imagined ideal. Conrad’s story, overshadowed by Francis Ford Coppola’s loose film adaptation, the antiwar epic Apocalypse Now, should be read on its own merits. Though much praised for its psychological insight, is also considered one of the most potent criticisms of colonialism in literature. 15. Night, by Elie Wiesel The author’s harrowing account of his early adolescence spent in Nazi concentration camps during which his father, with whom he was incarcerated, gradually becomes helpless, and young Elie rejects God and humanity is full of raw, stark power. Its critical reception was complicated by various factors: It is a memoir that contains a great deal of fiction, and it was published in quite different forms in Yiddish, then a pared-down French translation, from which a further abridged English version was derived. But that form at least is widely acknowledged as great art. 16. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde A beautiful young hedonist sells his soul for the price of agelessness, while a portrait of him painted by an admirer marks his physical dissipation. Wilde’s first novel was attacked for its homoeroticism and the scandalously frank depiction of debauchery but was received more favorably when the author toned down the former. Rich with allusions to, among other works, Faust, The Picture of Dorian Gray stands on its own as a tragic morality tale. 17. The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane A young Civil War soldier overcomes his initial cowardice, but, despite the fact that he acts heroically in a later battle, his humanity is diminished. Crane, who finished the novel when he was only twenty-four (he would die just five years later after a series of debilitating lung hemorrhages), was celebrated for its authentic detail about the conduct of war, though he had never experienced it himself. It was also hailed as a triumph of both naturalism and impressionism, as it realistically portrays the ordeal of battle while achieving allegorical stature. 18. The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Written primarily in the form of a series of letters, this semiautobiographical story relates the tragedy of a young man who falls in love with a woman already betrothed to another. Although it made Goethe’s reputation at a young age, it also precipitated â€Å"Werther Fever,† prompting a fad of overwrought young people lamenting the vicissitudes of unrequited love, and Goethe later disavowed it and decried the Romantic literary movement it epitomized. 19. The Stranger, by Albert Camus This existentialist classic chronicles the nihilistic life of an apathetic man who aimlessly commits murder and, once incarcerated, renounces humanity, which he has passively estranged himself from. Camus’s portrait of a man without a soul was a manifesto of his belief that life is bereft of meaning, and that the efforts of humans to find meaning are futile. 20. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte This complex melodrama about the compounded consequences of acting on selfish and vengeful motives has been overshadowed by Hollywood’s treatment of the thwarted love between a young woman named Catherine and her untamed foster brother, Heathcliff. But the story boasts an unflinching honesty about its deeply flawed protagonists, and though critical response to its publication was mixed, it has lived on as an expression of star-crossed ill fortune. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†5 Lessons for Mixing Past and Present TensePersonification vs. Anthropomorphism

20 Email Marketing Best Practices That Will Improve Results

20 Email Marketing Best Practices That Will Improve Results Emails are incredibly powerful. A third of customers  have visited a website or purchased something just from seeing an email in their inbox without ever actually opening the email. That’s the power of email! Whether you’re running a blog, selling products online, or collecting sales leads, everybody wants a healthy email list. But how do you make that email list an engaged one? By following best practices. Consider the following 20 tips your complete guide to an excellent email marketing program that boosts open and click rates, reduces churn, and increases your subscriber lifetime value! Let’s get started. 20 Email Marketing Best Practices That Will Improve ResultsImplement Email Best Practices With Three Free Templates This post is packed with actionable advice. To help you execute your email marketing even better, weve included these three free templates: Email Marketing Calendar: Plan all your email content in advance and get more organized. Email Subject Line Template: Make writing subject lines easy with these simple fill-in-the-blank templates. Its a great complement to the Email Subject Line Tester. Email Subject Line A/B Test Template: Record results from A/B tests and refine your messaging over time.20 #email #marketing best practices + 3 free templates = success.Infographic: Best Practices, At a Glance. Email marketing is an art and science. Navigate its complexities successfully by following these 20 simple best practices. Check out this infographic rounding up 20 top #email #marketing best practices:1. Send to Yourself First. This one feels like a no-brainer, but when you reflect on how few people actually proofread their own emails, you quickly realize it isn't. Always send yourself a test email first to ensure that: There are no typos The images show up The format looks great on both your desktop and smartphone All the links work There is nothing glaringly wrong with the email Double-check both the HTML and plain-text versions. Always send email newsletters to yourself first.2. Do NOT Spam. This is another no-brainer, but it’s so important it bears repeating: do not spam. Spamminess can refer to poor judgment within the email itself - irrelevant content, all-uppercase subject lines, etc. - but it mainly refers to how you collect and engage with your email subscribers. Buying email lists or signing people up without them expressly opting in first is an absolute no no. Do not do this. If you think you can get away with this, know that you can’t. Purchased lists are associated with extremely high unsubscribe and spam rates. Get too many of those, and you could get banned from your email marketing provider. Other best practices include: adding your physical address somewhere in the email (the footer is a good option). giving people a way to unsubscribe (most reputable email marketing providers include this by default). Leave out either of these, and you are breaking anti-spam laws. Are you unknowingly breaking anti-spam email marketing laws? Find out (and read 19 more best...3. Make it Easy to Subscribe. Since you won’t be purchasing email lists, you want to make it as easy and as enticing as possible for people to subscribe to your email. Here are some ideas: Embed signup CTAs throughout your website or blog. Include a pre-checked checkbox besides any other form where people enter their email address (such as a member registration or checkout page). Add a signup form to your Facebook page. Regularly tweet out a link to your subscribe page. Send your first email within 24 hours of subscribing, if not immediately. With human attention spans officially  shorter than that of goldfish, you can’t risk people forgetting what they signed up for. Make it easy for subcribers to get on your #email list.4. Use a Double Opt-in. Because sharing your email address has become so commonplace these days, people don’t always realize they’re signing up to get overloaded with emails. This is why most experts recommend a double opt-in process. A double opt-in  involves sending a person a confirmation email after they sign up, letting them know that they signed up and requiring them to click a button to confirm they indeed want to stay signed up. Keep your double opt-in email short and sweet like Haute Hijab does below, emphasizing the confirmation button and placing it above-the-fold. Below that button, include validation of why signing up for your email is a good idea: it’s the best way to avoid FOMO on your best offers and freshest content. Here's the confirmation email button: Here's why email marketers should use a double opt-in.5. Schedule Smart. The best day and time to send your emails depends on your unique customer set. However, you can make some educated guesses using the research others have already done.   helpfully aggregated studies from the top email providers to conclude that the best day and time to send emails is Tuesdays around 10am. Start there, and then test and optimize based off your own data. Remember that these times are specific to your recipient’s time zones, which may or may not match yours. Depending on the size of your customer base, you may segment your list based on time zones (more on segmentation later). Recommended Reading: What 10 Studies Say About the Best Time to Send Email 6. Develop a Cadence. Speaking of timing, how frequently do you want to send your emails? Much of your email will be automated based on your user’s actions (e.g. double opt-in confirmations, order confirmation and shipping notifications), but you want to touch subscribers at least once a month. To support this goal, brainstorm an email calendar that corresponds to your content marketing, event marketing, and other promotional calendars. This helps keep you sane while ensuring you stay in touch. Plan sales emails and product launch announcements ahead of time. Help people prepare for the holidays by emailing gift guides and encouraging them to make reservations now vs. later. Not sure how much is too much? If you start sending more emails and witness a downward trend in your open and click rates but an uptick in your unsubscribes, that’s a telltale sign that you’re sending too much. Why is developing a consistent cadence important for #email #marketing?7. Give People Options. Of course, rather than guessing for them, you can always let people choose the frequency themselves. When Hubspot started offering separate newsletter subscriptions options for their blog, organized by frequency and topics, their subscriber churn rate went way down: Other ideas include: Letting people opt for â€Å"less† email Letting people â€Å"pause† their subscription for 30 or 90 days Sometimes people care about your brand but they’re simply overwhelmed or taking a healthy hiatus from email. Help them stay in touch by letting them choose the frequency of your emails. Recommended Reading: 21+ Easy Ways to Build an Email List That Will Skyrocket By 140% in 1 Year 8. Focus on Your Subject Line... Subject lines are critically important. These are the headline that convince a subscriber your email is worth opening. That means you should do everything within your power to set yourself up for success here. Research and tinker to find the two best options possible, then A/B test among those with a small subset of your subscribers. Then, repeat this process for every single email you send. Things that do well in subject lines include: The recipient’s name A tasteful emoji or two 30-50 characters tops Action verbs A clear and irresistible value proposition that matches the content of your email Consistency (Some emails, like blog newsletters, perform best with the same subject line everytime - it helps readers know what to expect so they keep an eye for it in their inbox) Things that don’t do so great are: Spammy keywords (urgent, buy now, win, free) All uppercase letters Typos Overuse of emojis Deceptive subject lines that don’t match the email content (these lead to unhappy subscribers who unsubscribe and grow to resent you as a brand) Remember: the goal of your subject line is to get the people who care about the content within your email to open it, not to get opens at any cost. Editor's Note: You can also use 's Email Subject Line Tester to optimize every one you send.https://.com/email-subject-line-tester 9. ...But Don’t Forget the Sender. Perhaps even more important the subject line, the â€Å"from† name  can literally make or break your email. Sender names tend to perform best when they’re personalized. Instead of just your company name, use a person’s name, like â€Å"Your Name from Your Company.† And never use the default â€Å"No-Reply @ Your Company† option - it’s impersonal, and frankly, frustrating. Use a real name and assign a team member to respond to emails. Don’t forget your pre-header either. This is the preview text that displays after the subject line in most email clients. If you don’t set it, the client will preview something from your email which can look messy and unprofessional. Test these just as vigorously as your subject lines and sender names. Recommended Reading: Everything You Need to Know About Writing Awesome Email Subject Lines 10. Keep It Simple, Stupid. On to the body of the email. The goal here is to grab your reader’s attention quickly and follow up with a strong CTA. Regardless of whether you want them to sign up, order a product, or read your blog post, organize your copy using the â€Å"power of three†: Here's another example from Dropbox: Where possible, limit your CTAs. Try to keep it to one main CTA and place it above-the fold. Also make your CTA a bright, beautiful button that’s easy to find and click - otherwise you’re making people search for it. Before you send, double-check your work by sharing the email with a colleague. Can they instantly (within a few seconds) relay back to you the CTA? If so, move forward with your email. If not, do not pass go. Your email needs work as the message is not clear. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Call to Action In a Template With 6 Examples 11. Add Alt Text to Images and Buttons. Alt text isn’t just for images on your website. Adding them to your emails helps users understand what they’re reading, in case the HTML doesn’t render properly or their email client blocks images by default. Without alt text, readers will simply see a blank space where a button or image used to be. With alt text, they’ll still be able to read the action you want to take and understand where to click. Add alt text to all of your images and CTA buttons, and hyperlink them to your landing pages while you’re at it. Don't forget to add alt-text to all your images (plus 19 more email marketing best practices12. Send the Right Emails. The longer a person has subscribed, the more personalized the emails they receive from you should be - because you’re collecting information from their purchases, their interactions with your support team, and the content they’re clicking on from your previous email sends†¦ right? Right. But at a minimum, most successful email marketing programs tend to include the following types of emails: Double opt-in for subscribing (see tip #4) Welcome/thank you for signing up Some form of blog newsletter Important brand announcements Request for feedback or online review Abandoned cart reminder, order confirmation, shipping confirmation (for e-commerce) What’s the one type of email you should never send? The kind you send, just to send it. Every single email you send should have a purpose that provides value to your customers. Their inbox is not the place to simply remind them of your existence. No one liked the poke button on Facebook, remember? Recommended Reading: How to Get Bigger Results From Email Marketing With Kim Courvoisier From Campaign Monitor 13. Create Drip Campaigns. Drip campaigns are another successful type of email companies send. Drip campaigns extend the water metaphor of the sales funnel. Here’s an example of what a drip campaign might look like for a new e-commerce blog subscriber: Welcome email: â€Å"Thanks for subscribing! Here’s a % off coupon.† A few days later: â€Å"Hope you’re enjoying our blog. Here are our top articles you may have missed.† One week after that: â€Å"If you like our blog, you’ll love our whitepaper about X! It goes into way more detail.† If the prospect downloads the whitepaper, you might then enter them into a new drip campaign. If you’re wondering how you can create drip campaigns, start by knowing your audience. Once you know your audience and define your user personas, you can segment your email list. Different personas get different campaigns with copy choices, send frequency, and content catered specifically to them. What's the benefit to creating email drip campaigns?14. Automate Your Outreach. Drip campaigns are just one type of automated email you can create. There are all sorts of behaviors that could trigger different marketing emails, such as: Someone who subscribes to your blog receives a welcome email sharing your most popular articles. Someone who buys an item gets notified of future sales in that item’s category, plus any new styles of that particular item. Someone who abandons their shopping cart  receives a reminder of the items in their cart, with a steep discount or an urgent call to buy while supplies still alst.Are you automating your #email outreach?15. Keep It True to You. Your emails should match your brand. The colors and font choices should be the same. The tone should read like the same voice of the person who wrote your web copy or your latest Facebook post. However, that’s not to say you can’t give your emails a special flair. Some brands have done this to great success, so they’re essentially known for an outstanding email marketing program. Warby Parker  is one such example: Recommended Reading: How to Define Your Brand Positioning and Brand Voice 16. Encourage Sharing. Want more subscribers? Ask people to share your email! Encourage recipients to forward your email to anyone else who might be interested. Link the CTA to prepopulate a new email message with the subject and body text already pre-filled. For example: Share this email with your friends! Incorporate social sharing, too, but do so with purpose: Want more eyes on your content? Add social buttons for people to share the newsletter link itself on social media. Want more followers? Add social buttons that link to your social media channels. Recommended Reading: Why People Share: The Psychology of Social Sharing 17. Optimize for Mobile. How many of us have spent time waiting in line at the coffee shop checking our emails? Over half of emails are now read on mobile devices, and that trend should only continue as people increasingly rely on mobile devices over desktop computers. That means your email needs to be easy to read, view, and click on mobile. It should load fast (aim for 300KB or less), and it shouldn't require too much scrolling. Keep your email as short as possible, and go heavy on the imagery (while compressing it to ensure optimal load times). Make CTA buttons and any links 45-57 pixels tall to match the size of adult fingertips. Limit the width of your email body to 650 pixels so it displays nicely on most phones. Recommended Reading: Mobile Marketing Strategy: How to Build One the Best Way 18. Test, Test, and Test Again. Nearly all email marketing providers have A/B testing functionality built-in. Many offer multivariate testing as part of an upgrade. Either way, there is absolutely no reason for you to not test your emails. Here are just a few examples of what you can test: Subject lines and preheader text Send times and days of the week Format and layout Featured image or copy CTA placements and types of buttons