Tough-O-Meter

We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)

(4) Base Camp

Packed with lively language, an entertaining cast of characters, and a poor schmoe of a hero, Seize the Day is a pretty straightforward read. Unlike James Joyce's Ulysses—another famous novel that charts one single day in the life of an Ordinary Joe—Seize the Day is short, sweet, and doesn't require an encyclopedia of languages and literary terms to understand. All's you gotta do is sit back, put up your feet, and let a masterful storyteller do his thang.