Must Read Classics

My favorite books are the classics. I'm always searching for "new" classics to read, ones I've not heard of or have overlooked. Let me know which ones you love!
900

by
3.53 avg rating — 9,748 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
900

by
4.07 avg rating — 2,138,290 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
903

by
4.01 avg rating — 846,840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
904

by
4.29 avg rating — 25,144 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
904

by
3.99 avg rating — 426,440 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
904

by
4.16 avg rating — 217,606 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
904

by
3.96 avg rating — 3,224,686 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
904

by
3.75 avg rating — 115,087 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
904

by
4.10 avg rating — 212,384 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
910

by
3.46 avg rating — 6,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
910

by
3.98 avg rating — 2,871 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
910

by
3.87 avg rating — 15,407 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
910

by
4.43 avg rating — 34,840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
910

by
3.85 avg rating — 31,628 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
915

by
3.69 avg rating — 17,947 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
915

by
3.78 avg rating — 16,306 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
915

by
3.80 avg rating — 9,518 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
915

by
3.78 avg rating — 9,497 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
915

by
3.39 avg rating — 24,549 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
920

by
3.85 avg rating — 23,008 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
921

by
4.20 avg rating — 2,912 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
921

by
3.98 avg rating — 82,863 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
921

by
4.13 avg rating — 291,235 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
924

by
4.03 avg rating — 312,932 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
925

by
3.79 avg rating — 67,348 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
925

by
4.01 avg rating — 180,585 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
927

by
3.75 avg rating — 8,600 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
927

by
4.07 avg rating — 21,738 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
927

by
4.11 avg rating — 35,759 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
930

by
4.04 avg rating — 7,442 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
930

by
4.03 avg rating — 110,531 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
930

by
4.12 avg rating — 5,615,212 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
933

by
4.15 avg rating — 5,496 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
933

by
3.89 avg rating — 30,247 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
933

by
3.94 avg rating — 822,847 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
936

by
4.17 avg rating — 929 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
936

by
3.99 avg rating — 125,934 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
936

by
3.97 avg rating — 5,998 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
936

by
4.27 avg rating — 135,814 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
936

by
4.19 avg rating — 170,603 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
941

by
4.23 avg rating — 28,708 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
941

by
4.10 avg rating — 275,400 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
943

by
3.77 avg rating — 334,754 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
943

by
3.78 avg rating — 432,171 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
945

by
4.02 avg rating — 116,461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
945

by
4.33 avg rating — 227,907 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
947

by
3.86 avg rating — 28,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
947

by
3.93 avg rating — 68,210 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
947

by
4.63 avg rating — 94,983 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
947

by
4.29 avg rating — 49,182 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
947

by
4.31 avg rating — 44,437 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
947

by
4.13 avg rating — 85,307 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
953

by
3.39 avg rating — 8,506 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
953

by
3.88 avg rating — 17,237 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
953

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 301 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
953

by
4.78 avg rating — 9 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
957

by
4.02 avg rating — 3,312 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
957

by
4.12 avg rating — 386,035 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
957

by
3.95 avg rating — 24,417 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
960

by
4.26 avg rating — 2,820 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
960

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,662 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
960

by
4.24 avg rating — 15,266 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
963

by
3.52 avg rating — 1,210 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
963

by
3.86 avg rating — 30,320 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
963

by
4.07 avg rating — 47,248 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
966

by
4.07 avg rating — 36,426 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
966

by
4.10 avg rating — 15,090 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
968

by
4.27 avg rating — 499 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
968

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,699 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
968

by
3.74 avg rating — 43,111 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
968

by
3.95 avg rating — 176,214 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
968

by
4.18 avg rating — 46,278 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
968

by
4.04 avg rating — 5,489 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
974

by
3.89 avg rating — 72,850 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
975

by
3.88 avg rating — 10,186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
975

by
4.18 avg rating — 491,319 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
977

by
4.01 avg rating — 142,183 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
977

by
3.95 avg rating — 555,194 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
979

by
3.65 avg rating — 12,091 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
979

by
3.69 avg rating — 44,383 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
979

by
4.34 avg rating — 84,512 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
979

by
4.28 avg rating — 234,859 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
983

by
4.34 avg rating — 32,591 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
984

by
4.22 avg rating — 81,057 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
984

by
3.74 avg rating — 68,877 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
984

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,471,337 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
987

by
3.83 avg rating — 9,725 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
988

by
3.80 avg rating — 41,897 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
989

by
4.11 avg rating — 21,532 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
989

by
3.89 avg rating — 33,676 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
989

by
4.03 avg rating — 40,359 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
992

by
3.72 avg rating — 33,887 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
993

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,832 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
994

by
4.23 avg rating — 116,022 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
995

by
3.73 avg rating — 90,450 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
995

by
4.23 avg rating — 40,952 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
997

by
3.96 avg rating — 5,807 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
997

by
4.38 avg rating — 59,061 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
999

by
3.71 avg rating — 22,737 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
999

by
4.08 avg rating — 22,601 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
1,851 books · 4,608 voters · list created July 29th, 2008 by Jenny (votes) .
1729 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Jenny 1694 books
75 friends
Kathryn 575 books
128 friends
Brooke 127 books
20 friends
Antoine 949 books
177 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3384 books
853 friends
Erin 563 books
65 friends
Mary 1150 books
28 friends
Jill 1716 books
98 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 73 (73 new)


message 1: by Silvana (new)

Silvana there are two "to kill a mockingbird". how to delete one?


message 2: by Taylor (new)

Taylor Existing the Moments/Taylor DiVico


message 3: by Bettie (new)

Bettie Silvana wrote: "there are two "to kill a mockingbird". how to delete one?"

there are three wuthering heights - i voted for 'em all


message 4: by Jordan (new)

Jordan You've a bit of Russian lit on here. If you enjoy it, and you've not read these already, you might try:

Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita"
Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls"

The team of Pevear and Volokhonsky is my current favorite for Russian to English translation whenever I can find them. They do very well capturing the "flavor" and sensibilities of the original Russian.


message 5: by Conrad (new)

Conrad I give it a week before the Bible or Book of Mormon supplants Camus as number one.


message 6: by Julie (new)

Julie This is a great list! Eventually I'll work my way through it...lol


message 7: by Emily (new)

Emily It's nice to know someone else is enjoying these books besides me! If only I could find someone in High School who enjoys them this much! Love your list and will hopefully be able to make it through all 456 books!!!


message 8: by [deleted user] (new)

Emily, I love these books. Some strange ones slipped in this list but I really like them on the whole.


message 9: by [deleted user] (new)

Some of these are not classics yet.


message 10: by Anne (new)

Anne L Great list! I'm a lover of classics myself, and if you haven't read them already, I highly recommend "La dame aux camelias" by Alexandre Dumas fils and "Manon Lescaut" by L'Abbe Prevost. They are some really great books that have been much neglected by readers. These two stories are similar but not alike.


message 11: by [deleted user] (new)

Anne wrote: "Great list! I'm a lover of classics myself, and if you haven't read them already, I highly recommend "La dame aux camelias" by Alexandre Dumas fils and "Manon Lescaut" by L'Abbe Prevost. They are ..."

Anne, I just downloaded Manon Lescaut from Project Gutenberg. I could not find Dumas' La Dame aux Camelias. Thank you for the suggestions. I will find it somewhere else.


message 12: by Candycloud (new)

Candycloud Harry Potter isn't a classic!


message 13: by Candycloud (last edited Nov 05, 2011 03:22AM) (new)

Candycloud And diary of a wimpy kid dog days! What on earth?


message 14: by Candycloud (new)

Candycloud Charlotte's web should be on that list. Its a true classic.


message 15: by Tara (new)

Tara There are several repeats, I noticed The Bible, "To Kill a Mockingbird," "I capture the Castle," and "Metamorphosis."
They are the different formats of the same book on here twice.... Can it be fixed?


message 16: by Candycloud (new)

Candycloud Librarians' can change it, I think.


message 17: by Danielle (new)

Danielle I removed diary of a wimpy kid from the list, but I am not sure if I should remove Harry Potter or not since I don't know how old a book can be before it is deemed a "classic."


message 18: by Danielle (new)

Danielle I tried to do a check for duplicates but some of the books are wierd. For example, there is a 7 in one book for the Chronicles of Narnia, but there is also the first two in separate places on the list. Unfortunately, those can't be combined and if I delete one than votes will be lost, also being on the delete book page scares me, because if I delete something I shouldn't than my librarian privileges could be revoked. I value my librarian status too much to risk that.


message 19: by Candycloud (new)

Candycloud Hmm... hard.


message 20: by Lobsang (new)

Lobsang Yeshi Great books!


message 21: by Victoria (new)

Victoria Danielle wrote: "I removed diary of a wimpy kid from the list, but I am not sure if I should remove Harry Potter or not since I don't know how old a book can be before it is deemed a "classic.""

I know that it has been a while but I agree with your decision to keep Harry Potter. It may not be a classic now, exactly, but I believe that one day it will be.


message 22: by Dorothy (new)

Dorothy Michiels Can anyone recommend a publisher of hard cover classics? Or a book club where I can purchase them? I'd like to begin a library to pass on to my family's future generations. Thank you.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads There's the Library of America. http://www.loa.org/


message 24: by [deleted user] (new)

Classics are just phenomenal! They are basis of books today and a reason why I keep reading!


message 25: by Greg (new)

Greg Kensington I discuss many classics, authors and writing. An open discussion for all.
www.descriptivephrases.com


message 26: by Minnie (new)

Minnie chung Anne wrote: "Great list! I'm a lover of classics myself, and if you haven't read them already, I highly recommend "La dame aux camelias" by Alexandre Dumas fils and "Manon Lescaut" by L'Abbe Prevost. They are ..."

It is impossible I have finally got somenone who loves La dame aux camelias, this story is one of the best love stories EVER>


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads It's pretty easy to add books to lists; at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 28: by Misfit (new)

Misfit Susanna wrote: "It's pretty easy to add books to lists; at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes.""

How does #181 Isn't It Pretty To Think So? qualify for this list?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Because those same 12 people have spammed it on 27 pages of Listopias! (Was 28, but I removed it from a few, like "Time's Top 10 Novels of 2012," which it wasn't.)


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Removed, because a book published in 2012 is not a classic in the terms of this list:

Isn't It Pretty To Think So?


message 31: by Moses (new)

Moses Abubakar some books are not classics and so should be removed


Theresa~OctoberLace Thanks for this list!


message 33: by Bekka (new)

Bekka Dorothy wrote: "Can anyone recommend a publisher of hard cover classics? Or a book club where I can purchase them? I'd like to begin a library to pass on to my family's future generations. Thank you."

Great idea - building a library to pass on to future generations. Thanks for the idea!


message 34: by [deleted user] (new)

The Godfather is a classic? I liked it but a classic?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads The movie is a classic. Haven't read the book.


message 36: by [deleted user] (new)

I read the book and the part about the horse was much too graphic. I would not call it a classic yet but I am not sure how that is determined.

Is there a list for classic movies? (will search)
thanks


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads There are several for movies, don't know if there's a list for that or not, though. (There's at least one of all of these, though: book and movie both good, book better than movie, movie better than book.)


message 38: by Kate (new)

Kate My definition of "classic" is about as liberal as you're going to find. In going through this list, I found and removed some titles published within the last ten-fifteen years:

The Fault In Our Stars
The Book Thief
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Dear John
Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope (this is a YA modernization of the classic Austen novel)
Code Name Verity
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... And It's All Small Stuff
Looking For Alaska
I Know This Much Is True
Angela's Ashes

Many of these books are good, but it's too soon to say whether they'll become classics for future readers.


message 39: by Romi (last edited Jun 08, 2014 06:33AM) (new)

Romi Elnagar Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia-Marques is the greatest novel of the twentieth century IMHO.
Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis is a great cycle of poetry.
The Illustrated Man by the late Ray Bradbury is excellent as are ANY OF HIS WRITINGS!
Other good reads:
The Devil's Storybook by Natalie Babbitt
Hawaii by James Mitchener
Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul


message 40: by Bruce (new)

Bruce Chelberg i have just retired an want a place to start reading,i have read a lot but want to read classics at this point, why? because i want to see what the great thinkers and writes had to draw on to get where they got with the knowledge they saw before them


message 41: by GA (new)

GA I am very surprised to see The Scarlet Pimpernel on the list.

Although Baroness Orczy should be credited for creating the disguised-hero-alter-ego oeuvre, I don't think that she had any talent!


message 42: by Carmen (new)

Carmen Sepulveda One of the best non-fiction short stories I ever read was Jack London's People of the Abyss. It is a harrowing sociological study of the East End of London around the time of Jack the Ripper. This is a great classic and one that most people should read if for no other reason than to put that time frame in context. You will be thanking God that you live in this time as opposed to that time after reading this book. It is available to download on gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1688


message 43: by Greg (new)

Greg Bruce wrote: "i have just retired an want a place to start reading,i have read a lot but want to read classics at this point, why? because i want to see what the great thinkers and writes had to draw on to get w..."
Hi Bruce, I retired from "corporate America" recently but am doing lots of different things now. I too am catching up on my reading. I think this list is a pretty good place to start. I've read seven of the top ten and Jane Eyre is next!


message 44: by Shacoria (new)

Shacoria This list is way too long. A lot of these aren't classics, especially the books on the latter pages.


message 45: by Greg (new)

Greg Greg wrote: "Bruce wrote: "i have just retired an want a place to start reading,i have read a lot but want to read classics at this point, why? because i want to see what the great thinkers and writes had to dr..."
Bruce, I read Jane Eyre. Worst book I've ever read. IF you dare read it, don't say I didn't warn you.


message 46: by Sue (new)

Sue what definition is being used for "classic" ? i'd say some are too recent to be included.


message 47: by Karis (new)

Karis I checked for duplicates and removed 17.


message 48: by Victoria (new)

Victoria Knight Why is there no Hunter S Thompson?


message 49: by Victoria (new)

Victoria Knight I went and typed this out on a spreadsheet & removed duplicates.
The Harry Potter series is in there at least three times, still.
From the 1046 I have 956 non-duplicated books.


message 50: by Tyler (new)

Tyler Cameron I love the classics for sure, but I just don't get the fascination with Gatsby or Catcher in the Rye... just because it's old doesn't make it a classic.


« previous 1
back to top



Related News

Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we spend a lot of time stacking and sorting and thinking of interesting new ways to encourage the vital...

Anyone can add books to this list.