Rediscover the great books of your youth and what they have to say about your life now. Remember reading "Catcher in the Rye" and "Pride and Prejudice" at school? Would you read them again now that no-one's grading you, just for your own enjoyment? "Practical Classics" helps you do just that. Author Kevin Smokler guides you through fifty books commonly assigned in high school English classes and shows you why you'd probably enjoy rereading the same books as an adult. Smokler's essays on the classics - witty, down-to-earth, appreciative, and insightful - are divided into ten sections, each covering an archetypical stage of life - from youth and first love to family, loss, and the future. The author not only gives you practical, real-world reasons why revisiting in adulthood is not only enjoyable but useful.