We all have them – books that were forced on us in school; essential classics that we choked down despite hating every word; the worthy, the venerable, the WORST. Here are my favourite antidotes to those so-called ‘must-read’ classics.

Found Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre tedious?

Try Love Nina by Nina Stibbe

Between wandering the moors and making calf eyes at the (quite frankly) emotionally manipulative Mr Rochester, Jane didn’t actually seem to spend a lot of time looking after children. If you fancy hearing from a governess with a sense of humour you might like to check out Love Nina. This is a collection of hilarious letters written by 20-year-old Nina Stibbes during her time nannying for one of the most formidable literary figures of the 1980s.

Found Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter preachy?

Try Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny

You’d think someone willing to risk being branded as an adulteress by the Puritans for the sake of love – or even lust – would show a little bit more zing but Hester Prynne is such a goody-goody. I’m right, aren’t I? Well, the adulteresses in Single, Carefree, Mellow are full of zing. This short story collection is smart, sexy and totally ruthless.

Found Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick boring?

Try Rush Oh! by Shirley Barrett

Ugh, Moby-Dick… But Rush Oh! even has an exclamation mark in the title, so you know it’s going to be fun. This wryly humorous novel tells the story of a family of whalers in 19th-century Australia who formed a unique allegiance with a pod of killer whales.

Found Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Ubervilles unsatisfying?

Try Dietland by Sarai Walker

Here’s what I remember about Tess of the D’Ubervilles (‘A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented’, to give the full title, ick): Tess gets horribly treated by a string of men, then dies. In Dietland, Plum has always felt herself a victim until she meets an underground women’s collective that teaches her that self-worth isn’t something you have to ask for, and that saving yourself is a lot more fun than waiting around for someone to save you.

Found Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights hateful?

Try Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

If the overwrought drama and horrible, unsympathetic characters in Wuthering Heights got on your nerves then try Cold Comfort Farm on for size. Witty and refreshing, this novel parodies every pretension in Brontë’s novel, but always with evident affection. Protagonist Flora decides to up sticks from her comfortable life in London and relocate to Howling, Sussex. Here she proceeds to bring order, compassion and modernity to her distant relatives (possibly against their will).

Found Homer’s The Odyssey too one-sided?

Try The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Between Odysseus getting stoned on flowers, perving on nymphs and smooching with a hot witch-goddess, The Odyssey is basically the Ancient Greek version of The Hangover. If you want to hear the other side of the story, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad is the perfect feminist counterpoint, exposing the double standards in a clever, acerbic narrative.

Lian Hingee