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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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A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 401 |
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The Bad Seed
by
4.01 avg rating — 19,909 ratings
score: 81,
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1 person voted
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| 402 |
|
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Petites Classiques)
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3.71 avg rating — 13,217 ratings
score: 80,
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2 people voted
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| 402 |
|
The Bell
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3.93 avg rating — 10,348 ratings
score: 80,
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1 person voted
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| 402 |
|
The Uninvited
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3.96 avg rating — 1,693 ratings
score: 80,
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1 person voted
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| 405 |
|
The Call of the Wild and White Fang
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4.12 avg rating — 77,909 ratings
score: 79,
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1 person voted
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| 405 |
|
Hangsaman
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3.76 avg rating — 11,844 ratings
score: 79,
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1 person voted
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| 407 |
|
Much Obliged, Jeeves (Jeeves, #14)
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4.20 avg rating — 6,484 ratings
score: 78,
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1 person voted
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| 407 |
|
The Sundial
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3.80 avg rating — 7,944 ratings
score: 78,
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1 person voted
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| 409 |
|
Lentil (Picture Puffin Books)
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4.13 avg rating — 4,465 ratings
score: 77,
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1 person voted
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| 409 |
|
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
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4.07 avg rating — 66,781 ratings
score: 77,
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1 person voted
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| 409 |
|
The Bird's Nest
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3.72 avg rating — 7,851 ratings
score: 77,
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1 person voted
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| 412 |
|
The Bridge Over the River Kwai
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3.94 avg rating — 10,600 ratings
score: 76,
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1 person voted
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| 412 |
|
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
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3.96 avg rating — 10,103 ratings
score: 76,
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1 person voted
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| 412 |
|
The Road Through the Wall
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3.58 avg rating — 3,160 ratings
score: 76,
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1 person voted
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| 415 |
|
Men of Iron
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3.99 avg rating — 3,060 ratings
score: 75,
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1 person voted
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| 415 |
|
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers
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3.90 avg rating — 25,268 ratings
score: 75,
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1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
Crictor: A Diverting Picture Book About a Pet Boa Constrictor in a French Village for Children (Ages 4-8) (Reading Rainbow Books)
by
4.12 avg rating — 2,112 ratings
score: 74,
and
1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
Leonardo's Notebooks
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3.99 avg rating — 53,242 ratings
score: 74,
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1 person voted
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| 417 |
|
The Mysteries of Udolpho
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3.43 avg rating — 17,046 ratings
score: 74,
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1 person voted
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| 420 |
|
All the King's Men
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4.09 avg rating — 66,425 ratings
score: 73,
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2 people voted
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| 420 |
|
Les liaisons dangereuses
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4.05 avg rating — 58,514 ratings
score: 73,
and
2 people voted
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| 420 |
|
Fathers and Sons
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 100,381 ratings
score: 73,
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2 people voted
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| 420 |
|
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man / Dubliners
by
3.93 avg rating — 7,022 ratings
score: 73,
and
1 person voted
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| 420 |
|
Benighted
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3.73 avg rating — 782 ratings
score: 73,
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1 person voted
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| 425 |
|
De stille kracht
by
3.58 avg rating — 3,403 ratings
score: 72,
and
1 person voted
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| 425 |
|
The Tell-Tale Heart
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4.24 avg rating — 122,230 ratings
score: 72,
and
1 person voted
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| 425 |
|
The Day of the Triffids
by
4.01 avg rating — 116,890 ratings
score: 72,
and
1 person voted
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| 428 |
|
The Gettysburg Address and Other Writings
by
4.28 avg rating — 156 ratings
score: 71,
and
1 person voted
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| 428 |
|
The October Country
by
4.10 avg rating — 21,536 ratings
score: 71,
and
1 person voted
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| 430 |
|
Beauty and the Beast
by
3.97 avg rating — 15,705 ratings
score: 70,
and
1 person voted
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| 430 |
|
Maurice
by
4.08 avg rating — 57,387 ratings
score: 70,
and
2 people voted
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| 430 |
|
A Pair of Blue Eyes
by
3.79 avg rating — 9,019 ratings
score: 70,
and
1 person voted
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| 430 |
|
In a Glass Darkly
by
3.84 avg rating — 5,948 ratings
score: 70,
and
1 person voted
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| 434 |
|
The Idiot
by
4.21 avg rating — 214,597 ratings
score: 69,
and
1 person voted
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| 434 |
|
The Shrinking Man
by
3.77 avg rating — 9,219 ratings
score: 69,
and
1 person voted
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| 436 |
|
Breakfast at Tiffany's
by
3.85 avg rating — 250,496 ratings
score: 68,
and
2 people voted
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| 436 |
|
Meditations
by
4.28 avg rating — 338,507 ratings
score: 68,
and
1 person voted
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| 436 |
|
The Werewolf of Paris
by
3.63 avg rating — 1,439 ratings
score: 68,
and
1 person voted
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| 439 |
|
Eros ontwortelt mijn hart : gedichten en fragmenten
by
4.17 avg rating — 11,295 ratings
score: 67,
and
1 person voted
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| 439 |
|
Netochka Nezvanova
by
3.85 avg rating — 8,254 ratings
score: 67,
and
1 person voted
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| 439 |
|
The Arabian Nights
by
4.03 avg rating — 81,034 ratings
score: 67,
and
2 people voted
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| 439 |
|
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
by
4.09 avg rating — 4,152 ratings
score: 67,
and
1 person voted
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| 443 |
|
De Heptamerone : of de vertellingen van de koningin van Navarre
by
3.57 avg rating — 1,460 ratings
score: 66,
and
1 person voted
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| 444 |
|
Jubilee
by
4.37 avg rating — 6,944 ratings
score: 65,
and
1 person voted
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| 444 |
|
The Glass Bead Game
by
4.10 avg rating — 42,141 ratings
score: 65,
and
1 person voted
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| 446 |
|
The King Without a Kingdom (The Accursed Kings, #7)
by
Maurice Druon (Artist)
3.41 avg rating — 4,937 ratings
score: 64,
and
2 people voted
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| 447 |
|
Where Love Is, There God Is Also
by
4.11 avg rating — 2,054 ratings
score: 62,
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1 person voted
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| 447 |
|
The Last of the Mohicans (The Leatherstocking Tales, #2)
by
3.70 avg rating — 101,962 ratings
score: 62,
and
4 people voted
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| 447 |
|
Zes dagen. Gesprekken over het hoerenbestaan
by
3.60 avg rating — 102 ratings
score: 62,
and
1 person voted
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| 447 |
|
The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes, #2)
by
3.88 avg rating — 176,391 ratings
score: 62,
and
2 people voted
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| 447 |
|
Medea
by
3.95 avg rating — 86,545 ratings
score: 62,
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2 people voted
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| 452 |
|
Oidipous & Antigone
by
3.75 avg rating — 2,848 ratings
score: 61,
and
1 person voted
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| 452 |
|
De dame met de camelia's
by
4.05 avg rating — 61,002 ratings
score: 61,
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2 people voted
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| 454 |
|
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
by
3.46 avg rating — 6,814 ratings
score: 60,
and
1 person voted
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| 454 |
|
The Art of War
by
3.95 avg rating — 564,803 ratings
score: 60,
and
1 person voted
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| 456 |
|
Purgatory: Manuscript Materials Including the Author's Final Text
by
3.59 avg rating — 68 ratings
score: 59,
and
1 person voted
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| 456 |
|
The Awakening
by
3.69 avg rating — 226,071 ratings
score: 59,
and
2 people voted
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| 456 |
|
Rubaiyat
by
4.17 avg rating — 23,070 ratings
score: 59,
and
1 person voted
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| 456 |
|
Doctor Zhivago
by
4.01 avg rating — 102,446 ratings
score: 59,
and
1 person voted
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| 460 |
|
De Rozentuin
by
4.50 avg rating — 3,439 ratings
score: 58,
and
1 person voted
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| 460 |
|
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
by
4.51 avg rating — 216,162 ratings
score: 58,
and
1 person voted
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| 462 |
|
Het boek der koningen: de verhalen van Rostam
by
4.52 avg rating — 5,643 ratings
score: 57,
and
1 person voted
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| 463 |
|
Manchild in the Promised Land
by
4.28 avg rating — 9,151 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 463 |
|
De ring van de duif : De Moorse verhandeling over minnaars en liefde
by
3.93 avg rating — 7,424 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 463 |
|
Faust: Oerversie
by
3.65 avg rating — 733 ratings
score: 56,
and
2 people voted
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| 463 |
|
Horton Hears a Who!
by
4.22 avg rating — 113,742 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 463 |
|
Captain Blood
by
4.18 avg rating — 17,602 ratings
score: 56,
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1 person voted
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| 468 |
|
Death Comes for the Archbishop
by
3.97 avg rating — 42,916 ratings
score: 55,
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2 people voted
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| 468 |
|
Het boek van Dede Korkoet
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3.90 avg rating — 1,570 ratings
score: 55,
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1 person voted
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| 468 |
|
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by
4.34 avg rating — 544,738 ratings
score: 55,
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1 person voted
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| 468 |
|
Scaramouche (Scaramouche, #1)
by
4.10 avg rating — 9,199 ratings
score: 55,
and
1 person voted
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| 472 |
|
All-of-a-Kind Family (All-of-a-Kind-Family, #1)
by
4.24 avg rating — 27,010 ratings
score: 54,
and
1 person voted
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| 472 |
|
Where the Sidewalk Ends
by
4.35 avg rating — 1,499,713 ratings
score: 54,
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2 people voted
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| 472 |
|
The Sea-Hawk
by
4.08 avg rating — 3,764 ratings
score: 54,
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1 person voted
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| 475 |
|
An Essay on Man
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3.70 avg rating — 1,848 ratings
score: 53,
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1 person voted
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| 475 |
|
The Chosen (Reuven Malter, #1)
by
4.07 avg rating — 96,972 ratings
score: 53,
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2 people voted
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| 475 |
|
Wigs On the Green
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3.41 avg rating — 1,848 ratings
score: 53,
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1 person voted
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| 478 |
|
Black Boy
by
4.09 avg rating — 55,769 ratings
score: 52,
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1 person voted
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| 478 |
|
De Fabels van La Fontaine
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4.02 avg rating — 15,386 ratings
score: 52,
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1 person voted
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| 478 |
|
The Borgias
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3.58 avg rating — 2,255 ratings
score: 52,
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1 person voted
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| 481 |
|
Gargantua en Pantagruel
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3.65 avg rating — 16,178 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 481 |
|
The Bacchae
by
3.94 avg rating — 25,177 ratings
score: 51,
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1 person voted
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| 483 |
|
Caesar and Cleopatra
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3.68 avg rating — 2,271 ratings
score: 50,
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2 people voted
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| 483 |
|
De non: Een schokkende bekentenis
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3.75 avg rating — 8,809 ratings
score: 50,
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1 person voted
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| 483 |
|
The Golden Ass
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3.85 avg rating — 17,094 ratings
score: 50,
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1 person voted
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| 486 |
|
On Old Age, On Friendship & On Divination
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4.11 avg rating — 569 ratings
score: 49,
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1 person voted
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| 486 |
|
The Communist Manifesto
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3.68 avg rating — 195,419 ratings
score: 49,
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1 person voted
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| 488 |
|
The Art of Love
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3.71 avg rating — 7,442 ratings
score: 48,
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1 person voted
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| 489 |
|
Het lijden van de jonge Werther
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3.69 avg rating — 153,528 ratings
score: 47,
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1 person voted
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| 489 |
|
On the Good Life
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2,084 ratings
score: 47,
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1 person voted
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| 491 |
|
Eight Cousins (Eight Cousins, #1)
by
4.01 avg rating — 39,611 ratings
score: 46,
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1 person voted
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| 491 |
|
L'Avare
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3.56 avg rating — 37,288 ratings
score: 46,
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1 person voted
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| 491 |
|
Letters from a Stoic
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4.33 avg rating — 55,335 ratings
score: 46,
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1 person voted
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| 491 |
|
The Secret Garden / A Little Princess
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4.40 avg rating — 3,079 ratings
score: 46,
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1 person voted
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| 495 |
|
The Consolation of Philosophy
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4.05 avg rating — 17,734 ratings
score: 45,
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1 person voted
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| 495 |
|
I Heard the Owl Call My Name
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4.05 avg rating — 8,897 ratings
score: 45,
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1 person voted
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| 497 |
|
Justine, of De tegenspoed der deugdzaamheid
by
3.42 avg rating — 16,759 ratings
score: 44,
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1 person voted
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| 497 |
|
Jamaica Inn
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3.90 avg rating — 59,477 ratings
score: 44,
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1 person voted
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| 497 |
|
Henry V
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3.85 avg rating — 52,944 ratings
score: 44,
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2 people voted
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| 497 |
|
City of God
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3.95 avg rating — 13,659 ratings
score: 44,
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1 person voted
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634 books ·
522 voters ·
list created June 21st, 2008
by Crystal.
Tags:
classic, literature
Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)
date
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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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Anyone can add books to this list.
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