A reading diary for 13 classic school books you can read and listen to free

By Pavel Kharakh Published October 27, 2026

A reading diary template and discussion questions for classic set texts, from Treasure Island to Romeo and Juliet, each with free full text and audio.

English class often comes with a reading list, and the books on it tend to be old: Jekyll and Hyde, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, a Shakespeare play. That's demanding even when English is your first language. When it isn't, and you're fifteen and reading Fitzgerald in your second language, it can feel impossible.

Two old habits make it manageable. The first is a reading diary: a few lines after every chapter about what happened, what you think and which words you didn't know. The second is listening to the book while you read it. The narrator carries you through sentences you would otherwise stall on, and there is good evidence that it helps both understanding and vocabulary.

This post gives you both. First a diary template that works for any book, then 13 classics that are often set in school, sorted by CEFR level, each with questions for your diary. All 13 are in the public domain: the full text is on Project Gutenberg and a complete, unabridged recording is on LibriVox, so you can read and listen to every one of them free.

What a reading diary is

A reading diary (also called a reading journal or reading log) is a notebook where you write a little after each reading session. Teachers ask for one because it turns reading into something active: you notice more when you know you'll have to write about it. It also leaves you with notes for the class discussion or the essay at the end.

If you're reading in a foreign language, the diary does one more job. It's where the new words go, each with the sentence you found it in, so you can learn them in context instead of from a list.

A reading diary template for any book

Before you start

• What do you already know about the book, its author or the time it was written?
• Read the first page. What do you expect the book to be about?

After each chapter

• What happened? Two or three sentences, in your own words.
• Which character did you learn something new about, and what was it?
• Copy out one sentence you liked or didn't understand, and say why.
• Write one question you'd like to ask the author or one of the characters.
• Note three new words, each with the sentence it came from.

When you finish

• Did the ending match what you expected after the first page?
• What is the book about underneath the plot?
• Would you recommend it to someone in your class? Why, or why not?

Keep entries short. Five minutes after each chapter is worth more than one long essay written the night before the lesson.

How to read a set text in a language you're still learning

1. Listen while you read, from the first page. Let the narrator set the pace. If you keep falling behind, slow the audio down rather than stopping every few seconds.
2. Don't look up every word. Look up a word when it stops you understanding the sentence, or when it turns up for the third time.
3. Write the diary entry straight after the chapter. Write it in English if you can. Short, simple sentences are fine.
4. Reread the chapters you'll discuss in class. The second time through, you'll notice the things the questions ask about.

You can do all of this with a Gutenberg ebook, the LibriVox MP3s and a dictionary. In Readuet, every book below already has its text and audio lined up sentence by sentence, so the highlight follows the narrator. Tap any word for a translation that fits the sentence, and the words you save go into a daily review, which takes care of the "three new words" part of the diary. The whole free catalog, read-along included, is on the free plan, in the web app and on iPhone and Android.

B1: classics that read easily

At B1 you can follow a real novel written for a general audience. These three have clear plots and plenty of action. All B1 books

The Call of the Wild

Jack London · 3.6 hours · read by Tom Crawford · Read and listen free

• Buck learns "the law of club and fang". What are its rules, and who teaches them to him?
• Compare how Buck's owners treat their dogs: François and Perrault, then Hal, Charles and Mercedes, then John Thornton. What does each of them show about people?
• At the end, is Buck going back to something or leaving something behind?
• London tells the story from a dog's point of view. Where does that work well, and where did you notice the human writer behind it?

Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson · 7.5 hours · read by Adrian Praetzellis · Read and listen free

• Jim is a boy among grown men. When does he act more wisely than the adults, and when does he put everyone in danger?
• Long John Silver is a liar and a mutineer, yet many readers like him. Why? Do you?
• Jim tells the story years later, so you know he survived. How does Stevenson keep you in suspense anyway?
• What has the treasure cost by the end? Was it worth it?

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain · 6.8 hours · read by John Greenman · Read and listen free

• How does Tom get his friends to whitewash the fence for him? What does Twain say this shows about work and play?
• Tom and Huck witness a murder in the graveyard. Why is it so hard for Tom to tell the truth, and why does he do it in the end?
• Compare Tom and Huck. Who has more freedom, and whose life would you rather have?
• Twain wrote for adults as well as children. Find a moment where the joke is on the grown-ups.

B2: the core of the reading list

B2 is where most adult classics become manageable. You'll still look words up, but most pages will make sense without them. All B2 books

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson · 3.1 hours · read by David Barnes · Read and listen free

This one has a complete chapter-by-chapter diary of its own, further down.

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald · 5.0 hours · read by Scotty Smith · Read and listen free

• Nick calls himself one of the few honest people he has ever known. Do you trust him as a narrator?
• What does the green light at the end of Daisy's dock mean to Gatsby? Does its meaning change by the end of the book?
• Hundreds of people come to Gatsby's parties. Who comes to his funeral, and what does that tell you?
• "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!" Is Gatsby in love with Daisy, or with a memory of her?

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle · 13.5 hours · read by Ruth Golding · Read and listen free

The book is twelve separate stories, so you can read just the ones your class is studying. If you get to choose, start with "A Scandal in Bohemia" or "The Speckled Band".

• Why does Conan Doyle have Watson tell the stories rather than Holmes himself?
• In "A Scandal in Bohemia", Irene Adler outwits Holmes. Why does he call her "the woman" from then on?
• Pick one story and list every clue before Holmes explains it. Could you have solved the case?
• More than once, Holmes lets a guilty person go free. Is he right to?

The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells · 6.6 hours · read by Rebecca Dittman · Read and listen free

• The Martians are defeated by bacteria, not by people. Why do you think Wells ended the story that way?
• In the first chapter, the narrator compares the Martians' invasion to what Europeans did to the people of Tasmania. What point is he making?
• Why does the narrator leave the artilleryman and his plans for life underground?
• Read the opening paragraph twice. How does Wells make an invasion from Mars feel scientific and believable?

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Frederick Douglass · 4.0 hours · read by Jeanette Ferguson · Read and listen free

• Douglass calls learning to read "the pathway from slavery to freedom". Why did slaveholders fear an enslaved person who could read?
• The fight with Mr. Covey is a turning point. What changes in Douglass afterwards?
• In the appendix, Douglass separates two kinds of Christianity. What is the difference, and why does it matter so much to him?
• He chooses not to describe how he escaped. Why?

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen · 13.4 hours · read by Annie Coleman Rothenberg · Read and listen free

• The first sentence is one of the most famous in English. Is Austen being serious? How can you tell?
• Who is proud, and who is prejudiced? Can you argue it the other way round?
• Darcy proposes the first time and Elizabeth refuses. What does each of them get wrong about the other?
• Compare the marriages in the book: Mr and Mrs Bennet, Charlotte and Mr Collins, Lydia and Wickham, Jane and Bingley. What does Austen think makes a good one?

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde · 9.5 hours · read by Bob Neufeld · Read and listen free

• Who is most to blame for what Dorian becomes: Lord Henry, Basil or Dorian himself?
• Why does the portrait age instead of Dorian? What would the story lose without it?
• Lord Henry is full of clever lines. Copy out two. Do you agree with either of them, or are they only clever?
• How does Sibyl Vane's death change Dorian?

C1: long sentences, big ideas

C1 books have long sentences, formal vocabulary and narrators who don't always say what they mean. Seeing the text while you hear it makes a real difference here. All C1 books

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley · 7.4 hours · read by Caden Vaughn Clegg · Read and listen free

• The story has three narrators: Walton, Victor and the creature. Whose account do you trust most?
• The creature learns to speak and read by secretly watching the De Lacey family. What does he learn about people, and how does it change him?
• Who is the real monster? Find evidence for both answers.
• The book's subtitle is The Modern Prometheus. What is Shelley warning us about?

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë · 18.6 hours · read by Elizabeth Klett · Read and listen free

• At Gateshead and at Lowood, Jane is treated unfairly. How does she respond to injustice as a child, and how as an adult?
• "Reader, I married him." Why does Jane speak to the reader directly?
• How is Bertha Mason described? What do you think of the way the novel treats her?
• Jane leaves Thornfield with nowhere to go. Why, and was she right?

C2: Shakespeare

Shakespeare is hard for native speakers too. But a play is written to be heard, and following the lines while a reader speaks them is the easiest way in. All C2 books

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare · 3.2 hours · read by Sam Stinson · Read and listen free

• The Prologue tells you how the play ends. Why would Shakespeare give the ending away?
• The lovers meet, marry and die within a few days. Is it love, or just haste? Friar Laurence warns, "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." Is he right?
• Whose fault are the deaths: the families', the Friar's, bad luck, or Romeo and Juliet's own?
• What does Mercutio mean by "A plague o' both your houses!"? Why is his death the turning point of the play?

A complete reading diary: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Jekyll and Hyde is short (ten chapters, about three hours of audio) and set on many reading lists, which makes it a good book for trying a full diary. You probably know the twist already. Stevenson's first readers didn't, so as you read, watch how the story keeps the secret until the end: who knows what, and when?

Chapter by chapter

1. Story of the Door. Enfield tells Utterson about a man who trampled a child. What is it about Hyde that disgusts people, and why can nobody describe him?
2. Search for Mr. Hyde. "If he be Mr. Hyde, I shall be Mr. Seek." Why is Utterson so worried about Jekyll's will?
3. Dr. Jekyll Was Quite at Ease. How does Jekyll react when Utterson brings up Hyde? What does that tell you?
4. The Carew Murder Case. Notice the fog and the London streets. How does the setting add to the mood?
5. Incident of the Letter. Mr. Guest compares two pieces of handwriting. What does Utterson suspect, and why does he keep quiet?
6. Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon. Lanyon is dying after a shock and refuses to talk about Jekyll. What do you think he saw?
7. Incident at the Window. What do Utterson and Enfield see at the window, and what do they guess?
8. The Last Night. Poole and Utterson break down the door. What do they find, and what is still unexplained?
9. Dr. Lanyon's Narrative. We finally see the transformation. Why does Stevenson show it through Lanyon's eyes first?
10. Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case. Jekyll writes that "man is not truly one, but truly two". Do you agree? Was Hyde a different person, or Jekyll with no limits?

When you finish

• Nearly every character is a respectable gentleman, and none of them says openly what he suspects. What does the book say about respectability?
• Is Jekyll a victim, or is he responsible for everything that happens?
• Write a diary entry as Poole, Jekyll's butler, on the last night.

Words you'll meet

For teachers

• It's all free. The text, the audio and the read-along for every book in this post are on Readuet's free plan. It runs in a browser at app.readuet.com, so school laptops and Chromebooks work, and there are iPhone and Android apps.
• It's a reader, not a classroom platform. There are no class accounts, no teacher dashboard and no way to see a student's progress. Students sign up themselves, and our Terms require them to be at least 13. The diary itself stays on paper or in your usual learning platform.
• Read the books before you set them. Tom Sawyer and the Douglass Narrative use the racist language of their time, and several of the others reflect the attitudes of theirs.
• Teaching a classic that isn't here? Write to support@readuet.com and tell us which one. If there's a free recording of it, we'll consider it for a diary.

What's not here, and why

Many books on today's reading lists are still under copyright, among them To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies. There's no free text or recording of them. George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 are public domain in the UK and the EU but not in the United States, and LibriVox records only books that are public domain in the US, so they aren't in the free catalog either.

If you own an ebook and its audiobook, Readuet can put them in sync on a paid plan.

Frequently asked questions

What is a reading diary?

A notebook, paper or digital, where you write a few lines after each reading session: what happened, what you think about it, a quote and any new words. It's also called a reading journal or reading log.

Are these books really free?

Yes. The texts come from Project Gutenberg and the recordings from LibriVox, and all of them are in the public domain. You can download them from gutenberg.org and librivox.org, or read and listen to them together in Readuet on the free plan.

Are the audiobooks the full, unabridged text?

Yes. Each recording is matched to the Gutenberg edition it was read from, and abridged or dramatised versions are left out. Volunteers sometimes skip or repeat a line, and each recording starts with a short LibriVox announcement.

Which book should I start with?

If your class hasn't chosen one, pick the level below the one you feel at. The Call of the Wild is short and fast at B1, and Jekyll and Hyde is the shortest B2 book here.

Can I use these questions in class?

Yes, use them however you like. A link back to this page is appreciated but not required.