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I am on a mission to read and reread classic literature. I searched far and wide for a decent book list but all seem incomplete to me. Please add your favorite classic books to the list.
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| 1 |
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Pride and Prejudice
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4.29 avg rating — 4,712,345 ratings
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| 2 |
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Jane Eyre
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4.16 avg rating — 2,288,376 ratings
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| 3 |
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1984
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4.20 avg rating — 5,333,333 ratings
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| 4 |
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The Count of Monte Cristo
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4.32 avg rating — 1,006,440 ratings
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| 5 |
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Little Women (Little Women, #1)
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4.17 avg rating — 2,421,320 ratings
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| 6 |
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Wuthering Heights
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3.90 avg rating — 1,993,912 ratings
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| 7 |
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Frankenstein
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3.89 avg rating — 1,810,276 ratings
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| 8 |
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The Great Gatsby
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3.93 avg rating — 5,811,880 ratings
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| 9 |
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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4.26 avg rating — 6,773,698 ratings
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| 10 |
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Sense and Sensibility
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4.09 avg rating — 1,280,605 ratings
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| 11 |
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The Odyssey
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3.83 avg rating — 1,172,530 ratings
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| 12 |
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A Tale of Two Cities
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3.88 avg rating — 1,003,828 ratings
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| 13 |
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Great Expectations
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3.80 avg rating — 865,060 ratings
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| 14 |
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Brave New World
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3.99 avg rating — 2,045,126 ratings
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| 15 |
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Animal Farm
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4.01 avg rating — 4,443,209 ratings
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| 16 |
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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3.83 avg rating — 1,329,102 ratings
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| 17 |
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Dracula
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4.02 avg rating — 1,440,963 ratings
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| 18 |
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Fahrenheit 451
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3.97 avg rating — 2,771,075 ratings
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| 19 |
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Hamlet
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4.03 avg rating — 1,033,283 ratings
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| 20 |
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Emma
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4.05 avg rating — 966,641 ratings
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| 21 |
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The Canterbury Tales
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3.52 avg rating — 236,111 ratings
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| 22 |
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Anna Karenina
by
4.10 avg rating — 918,195 ratings
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| 23 |
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The Catcher in the Rye
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3.80 avg rating — 3,843,106 ratings
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| 24 |
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Romeo and Juliet
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3.74 avg rating — 2,792,243 ratings
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| 25 |
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Persuasion
by
4.15 avg rating — 764,056 ratings
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| 26 |
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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
by
4.30 avg rating — 4,396,536 ratings
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| 27 |
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Rebecca
by
4.25 avg rating — 712,559 ratings
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| 28 |
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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass
by
4.06 avg rating — 603,174 ratings
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| 29 |
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The Scarlet Letter
by
3.44 avg rating — 909,247 ratings
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| 30 |
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Gone with the Wind
by
4.31 avg rating — 1,250,589 ratings
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| 31 |
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Les Misérables
by
4.21 avg rating — 836,907 ratings
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| 32 |
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by
3.94 avg rating — 573,094 ratings
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| 33 |
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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4.13 avg rating — 1,827,416 ratings
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| 34 |
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War and Peace
by
4.17 avg rating — 361,002 ratings
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| 35 |
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The Iliad
by
3.93 avg rating — 502,126 ratings
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| 36 |
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Crime and Punishment
by
4.28 avg rating — 1,050,020 ratings
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| 37 |
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Beowulf
by
3.50 avg rating — 344,411 ratings
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| 38 |
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The Complete Tales and Poems
by
4.40 avg rating — 293,583 ratings
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| 39 |
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The Three Musketeers
by
4.10 avg rating — 347,495 ratings
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| 40 |
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Macbeth
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,004,504 ratings
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| 41 |
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Oliver Twist
by
3.88 avg rating — 423,447 ratings
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| 42 |
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Moby-Dick or, The Whale
by
3.56 avg rating — 608,870 ratings
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| 43 |
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Mansfield Park
by
3.86 avg rating — 375,824 ratings
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| 44 |
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The Grapes of Wrath
by
4.02 avg rating — 982,169 ratings
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| 45 |
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Captain Nemo, #2)
by
3.89 avg rating — 273,583 ratings
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| 46 |
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The Republic
by
3.97 avg rating — 222,960 ratings
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| 47 |
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Catch-22
by
3.99 avg rating — 879,850 ratings
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| 48 |
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Madame Bovary
by
3.71 avg rating — 369,278 ratings
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| 49 |
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The Brothers Karamazov
by
4.39 avg rating — 377,917 ratings
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| 50 |
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The Lord of the Rings
by
4.54 avg rating — 723,227 ratings
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| 51 |
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King Lear
by
3.91 avg rating — 234,847 ratings
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| 52 |
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David Copperfield
by
4.04 avg rating — 255,878 ratings
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| 53 |
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Northanger Abbey
by
3.85 avg rating — 446,170 ratings
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| 54 |
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Don Quixote
by
3.91 avg rating — 301,129 ratings
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| 55 |
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1)
by
4.24 avg rating — 3,100,996 ratings
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| 56 |
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The Time Machine
by
3.89 avg rating — 558,542 ratings
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| 57 |
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Lord of the Flies
by
3.70 avg rating — 3,153,951 ratings
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| 58 |
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Journey to the Center of the Earth
by
3.85 avg rating — 221,676 ratings
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| 59 |
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Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)
by
4.32 avg rating — 1,095,436 ratings
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| 60 |
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Of Mice and Men
by
3.89 avg rating — 2,788,008 ratings
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| 61 |
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The Moonstone
by
3.91 avg rating — 98,092 ratings
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| 62 |
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Tess of the D’Urbervilles
by
3.84 avg rating — 300,158 ratings
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| 63 |
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Gulliver’s Travels
by
3.59 avg rating — 296,289 ratings
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| 64 |
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The Man Without Qualities
by
4.19 avg rating — 7,287 ratings
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| 65 |
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The Crucible
by
3.61 avg rating — 457,499 ratings
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| 66 |
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Candide
by
3.76 avg rating — 297,853 ratings
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| 67 |
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The Metamorphosis
by
3.90 avg rating — 1,378,283 ratings
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| 68 |
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The Phantom of the Opera
by
3.96 avg rating — 271,979 ratings
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| 69 |
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Vanity Fair
by
3.81 avg rating — 132,557 ratings
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| 70 |
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The Mayor of Casterbridge
by
3.86 avg rating — 65,566 ratings
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| 71 |
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Ivanhoe
by
3.76 avg rating — 98,522 ratings
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| 72 |
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J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
by
4.61 avg rating — 142,749 ratings
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| 73 |
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Treasure Island
by
3.85 avg rating — 534,307 ratings
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| 74 |
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The War of the Worlds
by
3.83 avg rating — 345,361 ratings
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| 75 |
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Jude the Obscure
by
3.83 avg rating — 75,362 ratings
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| 76 |
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East of Eden
by
4.43 avg rating — 619,244 ratings
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| 77 |
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The Age of Innocence
by
3.97 avg rating — 192,964 ratings
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| 78 |
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Robinson Crusoe
by
3.68 avg rating — 328,177 ratings
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| 79 |
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Bleak House
by
4.02 avg rating — 113,170 ratings
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| 80 |
|
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz, #1)
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 504,485 ratings
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| 80 |
|
The Secret Garden
by
4.17 avg rating — 1,278,435 ratings
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| 82 |
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Paradise Lost
by
3.85 avg rating — 179,919 ratings
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| 83 |
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The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso
by
4.08 avg rating — 169,622 ratings
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| 84 |
|
Aesop’s Fables
by
4.05 avg rating — 129,104 ratings
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| 85 |
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Cry, the Beloved Country
by
3.93 avg rating — 79,069 ratings
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| 86 |
|
The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings
by
4.19 avg rating — 244,103 ratings
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| 87 |
|
The Histories
by
4.01 avg rating — 55,082 ratings
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| 87 |
|
The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6)
by
4.05 avg rating — 595,346 ratings
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| 89 |
|
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by
3.99 avg rating — 381,835 ratings
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| 90 |
|
The House of Mirth
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3.97 avg rating — 104,742 ratings
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| 91 |
|
The Pilgrim's Progress
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4.07 avg rating — 156,432 ratings
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| 92 |
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The Woman in White
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4.01 avg rating — 164,299 ratings
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| 93 |
|
Alice in Wonderland
by
Jane Carruth (Adapted By)
4.03 avg rating — 396,361 ratings
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| 94 |
|
The Aeneid
by
3.87 avg rating — 141,527 ratings
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| 95 |
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Lolita
by
3.87 avg rating — 931,713 ratings
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| 96 |
|
The Little Prince
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4.33 avg rating — 2,419,926 ratings
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| 97 |
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A Christmas Carol
by
4.09 avg rating — 904,524 ratings
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| 98 |
|
The Giver (The Giver, #1)
by
Lois Lowry (Goodreads Author)
4.12 avg rating — 2,765,546 ratings
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| 99 |
|
Julius Caesar
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3.71 avg rating — 217,164 ratings
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| 100 |
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Heart of Darkness
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3.43 avg rating — 551,794 ratings
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634 books ·
523 voters ·
list created June 21st, 2008
by Crystal.
Tags:
classic, literature
Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)
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message 1:
by
Tamora
(new)
Apr 04, 2009 11:38AM
I'm just clicking on what I've read, not on what I liked. When you're dealing with books like these, that generally drop into everyone's life before they're 20, what you like and what you don't like is highly individual. I don't think you can really go by the opinion of the next person, because you're all forming your opinions. I liked TARZAN, but had no interest in CHARLOTTE'S WEB. My classmates had spasms over CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, so much so that I never told them that I kinda liked it. They were okay with THE SCARLET LETTER, which made me crazy. You really have to try the books that our parents, teachers, and peers think are probably classic, and decide for yourself if they're good reads as far as you're concerned!
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I would just like to say that I believe 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo is the best book on this list. And nooooo, I'm not basing it on the hit musical (even though I love that as well), because it did get a lot wrong. I'm currently reading A Tale of 2 Cities, nad let me say I've made a lot of connections to Les Miserables. It's just an amzing and epic Book!
I agree with Tamora, There are several books i've been told are must reads by people who don't read much themselves. I have been disappointed in many of them most books are classics because they've been around forever and a day. Much of the language is outdated and stale. occasionally you do stumble upon a book with a plot that holds up but it is a rare find. That being said, I loved Scarlett Letter and The hunchback of Notra Dame but found Pride and Prejudice tedious at best shallow and mindless at worst
i just discovered my interest in reading so i've read only a few. i just finished che's book on social revolution. so far from what i've read dracula is the best they describe the events as if one was there. my second best is lady chaterley's lover
This is a great list! I have this sort of mission too, although I gotta find a good library to hold all of these books. Too bad I don't have it in the area, or money to but some..
@CrystalI've tried adding other books than then ones originally written in English, apart from voting for the ones already on the list I mean, as there are so many great classics worth reading. All of which are available in English translations, by the way. Books I've added are, for instance, Alle fabels, Lustgebed, Avondgezichten, Het hoofdkussenboek, Het boek van Dede Korkoet, Nibelungenlied, De ring van de duif, Het boek der koningen, De rozentuin and Rubaiyat, to name just a few.
By the way, 'Classics' = 'Modern Classics' too? As there are plenty of those on your list.
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