Spark Your Imagination With These Classic Books
From William Shakespeare to Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald to Maya Angelou, the list of classic novels is never-ending. So, if you want to start reading your way through the cannon, then where do you start? Start with the must-reads, of course.
These books tell stories of adventure, love, loss, revenge, and growth. Some created entirely new genres, while others influenced many of the modern books published today. They’ve inspired readers for generations. Many of these stories you might think you know, but you won’t know the full story until you pick them up for yourself.
Classics are classics for a reason. If you are going to start your own journey into the world of classic literature, then this is the best place to start.
Literary Classics
The Great Gatsby
by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby (1925) is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published at the height of Fitzgerald's career as a leading writer of American fiction, The Great Gatsby was reviewed poorly by contemporary critics, but has since been recognized as a groundbreaking work for its vision of American decadence and decay. Adapted into several influential films and adored by generations of readers and writers, The Great Gatsby is not only Fitzgerald's crowning achievement, but one of the finest novels ever written.
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
In this quintessential tale of vengeance set in the Napoleonic era, Edmond Dantès, a young French sailor, is engaged to marry Mercédès, a young and beautiful Catalan woman. In a terrible act of jealously, three men betray Edmond, and he is wrongfully convicted of treason. He is sent to the infamous Château d'If, one of the most feared prisons of France.
After a daring escape from imprisonment, Dantès hunts in search of a treasure that he has learned of from a fellow inmate. Once in possession of his vast fortune, he returns to Paris as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo to wreck revenge on the three men who have betrayed him. Dumas's tale simmers with intrigue and excitement and remains one of the great classics of our time.
The Tragedy of King Lear
by William Shakespeare
King Lear is a prosperous but older man who plans to distribute his wealth among his three daughters in accordance to their declarations of love. Two shower him with compliments while the other is unable to participate in a false display of affection.
Les Miserables Volume I
by Victor Hugo
Valjean's rise coincides with the decline of a young woman named Fantine. She is a single mother who is struggling to support her daughter Cosette. Due to the child's illegitimacy, Fantine is unable to keep a job and is forced into prostitution. When the overzealous Inspector Javert arrests Fantine, the mayor intervenes on her behalf. This decision leads to an unexpected reveal and unfortunate tragedy.
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
Opening with the famous lines, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Charles Dickens', A Tale of Two Cities is perhaps one of the most celebrated and popular novels of its time. Weaving together the narratives of vastly different but equally profound characters against the backdrop of political revolution and strife, A Tale of Two Cities is a tale of human perseverance. Throughout the novel, Charles Dickens is able to portray the hardships of each social class during the trying times of the French Revolution in a way that is both profoundly elegant and heartbreaking at the same time. Becoming known as the perhaps the epitome of Dickensian writing and style, A Tale of Two Cities measures the boundaries of human will in the fight for what is right during a time when that just might cost your life.
Middlemarch
by George Eliot
First appearing in 1871, Middlemarch is a historical novel set 42 years before its publication. Political and social concerns of the era are present but serve as background and contrast to four compelling plotlines focused on a set of unforgettable characters striving against circumstance, each other, and themselves. Powerful themes, religion, love, marriage, education, society's treatment of women and much more, are dealt with as fully fused elements of the story and integral parts of the lives of the characters.
Classic Epics
The Odyssey
by Homer Homer - Emily Wilson
Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (English Edition)
by Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor - Luo Guanzhong
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 169 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280.The story - part historical, part legend, and part mythical - romanticises and dramatises the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to replace the dwindling Han dynasty or restore it. While the novel follows hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the three power blocs that emerged from the remnants of the Han dynasty, and would eventually form the three states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu.
The Inferno
by Dante Alighieri - John Ciardi - Archibald T MacAllister - Edward M Cifelli
The first part of Dante's Divine Comedy is many things: a moving human drama, a supreme expression of the Middle Ages, a glorification of the ways of God, and a magnificent protest against the ways in which men have thwarted the divine plan. One of the few literary works that has enjoyed a fame both immediate and enduring, The Inferno remains powerful after seven centuries. It confronts the most universal values--good and evil, free will and predestination--while remaining intensely personal and ferociously political, for it was born out of the anguish of a man who saw human life blighted by the injustice and corruption of his times.
Classic Romance
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice has been hailed as one of the most popular romantic novels in English literature. From tangled love affairs and heart-breaking betrayals, Pride and Prejudice is the story of an unexpected love affair that leaves the entire town buzzing. Brimming with gossip and guile, see why the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy has withstood the test of time.
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
In this new edition of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, re-read the classic love story that has haunted and inspired nearly who've come across it. From the burning love between Catherine and Heathcliff, to the estranged family dynamics at Wuthering Heights, Bronte's novel explores the dangers of a love that remains forever unrequited.
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
Jack Worthington is an upstanding gentleman in Victorian society. He just has one secret-he tells everyone that he has a brother named Earnest, when, in reality, Earnest is his alter ego. This allows him a certain duality; he can go out and party as Earnest, but have a sterling reputation as Jack. However, he must merge the two when Jack discovers that his lover, Gwendolyn, will only marry a man named Earnest. Meanwhile, Algernon, a family friend, discovers Jack's secret and (much to Jack's dismay) becomes increasingly interested in Jack's ward, Cecily. After inviting himself to Jack's home and introducing himself as Earnest, Algernon quickly gains the attention of Cecily.
Classic Science Fiction and Fantasy
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Brilliant young scientist Victor Frankenstein's drive to create life leads him to animate a creature assembled from the bodies of the dead. Horrified at the result, Frankenstein flees. Alone, it learns of its ghastly nature and dreams of how it might find some kind of happiness. Seeking out Frankenstein, the creature offers a terrible ultimatum, create for it a companion or suffer its merciless revenge.
The Hobbit: 75th Anniversary Edition
by J R R Tolkien - J R R Tolkien
This deluxe hardcover edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy contains a short introduction by Christopher Tolkien, a reset text incorporating the most up-to-date corrections, and all of Tolkien's own drawings and full-color illustrations, including the rare "Mirkwood" piece.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. . . . Mr. Garcia Marquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life." --William Kennedy, New York Times Book Review
One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Dracula
by Bram Stoker
In 1897, Bram Stoker published what has now become one of the most revered horror stories of its time. Dracula has inspired the gothic genre for generations, continuing to this day to frighten and delight its readers for anyone brave enough to face the world of blood thirsty vampires in search of their next mortal victim.
1984
by George Orwell - Erich Fromm
1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmare vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. "1984" is still the great modern classic "negative Utopia" - a startling original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny this novel's power, its hold on the imagination of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions - a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.
Classic Poetry
On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho
by Matsuo Basho - Lucien Stryk - Lucien Stryk
Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist monk and a life-long traveller. His poems combine 'karumi', or lightness of touch, with the Zen ideal of oneness with creation. Each poem evokes the natural world - the cherry blossom, the leaping frog, the summer moon or the winter snow - suggesting the smallness of human life in comparison to the vastness and drama of nature. Basho himself enjoyed solitude and a life free from possessions, and his haiku are the work of an observant eye and a meditative mind, uncluttered by materialism and alive to the beauty of the world around him.
The Emily Dickinson Collection
by Emily Dickinson
The Emily Dickinson Collection (2021) compiles some of the best-known works of an icon of American poetry. Out of nearly two-thousand poems discovered after her death, less than a dozen appeared in print during Dickinson's lifetime. Drawn from such influential posthumous volumes as Poems (1902) and The Single Hound (1914), The Emily Dickinson Collection captures the spiritual depths, celebratory heights, and impenetrable mystery of Dickinson's poetic gift. "Fame is a fickle food / Upon a shifting plate, / Whose table once a Guest, but not / The second time, is set." Deeply aware of the fleeting nature of fame, Dickinson--whose reputation in life was as a lonely eccentric who rarely, if ever, left home--seems to provide some clarity as to why publication so often eluded her. Having published just ten poems in her lifetime, Dickinson continued to write in solitude until her final years.
Modern Classics
A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry
"Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of Black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959.
Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of Black America--and changed American theater forever. The play's title comes from a line in Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might “dry up/like a raisin in the sun.”
The Outsiders (Platinum)
by S E Hinton
No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends--true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on "greasers" like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect--until the night someone takes things too far.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou - Oprah Winfrey
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: young, brilliant, beautiful, and enormously talented, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's neurosis becomes completely understandable and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies.
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father--a crusading local lawyer--risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.