Reading guide
How to read classics and hard books without giving up
Updated October 18, 2026
Hard books are finished the same way as easy ones: a little every day. Choose a readable edition, set a daily goal and a finish date, and make unknown words and confusing passages cheap to clear up. Faria answers both out loud while you read (“what does abbé mean?”, “who is Mercédès again?”) and never spoils anything past your page.
Pick the right edition
For a translated classic, the translation matters as much as the book. A recent translation often reads far more easily than a public-domain one. Check a page or two of each before you commit.
Give it a pace and a finish date
A thousand-page novel is daunting; twenty minutes a day for two months is not. Set a daily goal and let the finish date follow. Faria’s reading plan works out a finish date for each book at your daily pace.
Clear up words and passages as you go
Older books are full of words that have fallen out of use, and long books have casts that are easy to lose track of. Stopping to search breaks the spell; pushing on without understanding breaks it more slowly. Ask out loud instead: Faria explains a word in the sense your book uses, and answers questions like who a character is or what just happened, up to your page and no further.
Keep what moves you
Classics are full of lines worth keeping. Read one aloud during a Faria session and it is saved to the book’s wall, tidied up, ready to share as an image card or come back on your lock screen later.
It’s fine to slow down
Minutes, not pages, are the measure. A dense chapter that takes three sessions is still three days of reading. See how to read more for the habit that carries you through.
Questions
How do I get through a long classic novel?
Read a set amount every day (20 minutes is plenty), choose a readable translation, and clear up unknown words and confusing passages as you go instead of pushing past them. A finish date at your daily pace makes the length feel finite.
Is there an app that explains a book as I read it without spoilers?
Yes. Faria on iPhone answers spoken questions about the story you’re reading. It asks what page you’re on first, and its answers never reach past that page.