It really depends what book you want to read. People are reading these books all the time. These are all very well known authors, people write popular biographies, which are bought, or if they are current people write reviews, even in a social media age. Then again I study literature so I’m biased….
the authors on these lists originally wrote in English, French, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish, Bengali, Chinese…. Who are you thinking of reading and in which language? What’s your level in each?
I think the answer to your questions depends on your degree of proficiency. If you are truly high level, no need to consult cliff notes, and sure the historical context might present some trouble, but you can pick it up via context clues, and read what you need to later. For me this would change if you read something maybe more than ~400 years old in English. For example, Shakespearean and Chaucerean vocabulary is quite different from today’s— the words may be the same but sometimes their meaning is completely different—so you might need a critical edition to help you out with meanings that have changed over time.
If you are intermediate level, some of the works may present a challenge because of vocabulary and syntax. But nothing impossible. I think Paul Nation has made some graded readers in English of some classic works that I wish someone would do in another language! Lots of good books here.
Graded readers | School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies |…
Read the mid-frequency readers including classic fiction and non-fiction adapted and graded for readers with various English vocabulary sizes.
As to what works you would like…. English is my native language so I have only really read these authors in English. (I do know some French and Spanish will read the French & Spanish classics one day and hopefully German as well.) All these writers are quite different. What have you read recently and what do you like?
As for historical context, I doubt the books will be nonsensical. You will still be able to appreciate them even if knowing more context would make your experience richer. You will also gain knowledge about the context by reading.