For December 2025 - Classics (1969 & before)

[Renata]

Hi all! Starting up the book-of-the-month suggestions for December 2025 in the CLASSICS category. Top 4 will be selected for the poll.

Books that qualify for this category:

1. Must have a publication date 1969 or before. For newer books, please make your suggestion on the Modern Classic/Popular Reads thread.

2. Have not been previously ready by this group. Previously read books can be nominated in the Bookshelf Catchup thread. See the group's Bookshelf for previously read books.

3. Be reasonably well-read, with at least 50,000 ratings, to fit the "Everyone Has Read This but Me" claim.

Only one nomination is allowed per person, per category. If you nominate more than one book only your first nomination will be added toward the tracking post. Please continue to second as many nominations that interest you!

Page numbers are required for every nomination. To find out how many pages a book has; go to the book's page on Goodreads. look under the section titled "GET A COPY" and above the book's ISBN number.

Nominations end midnight PST October 16.

[Renata]

Tracking through message: 23
🎃= Poll Candidate

🎃A Farewell to Arms (293p) - 5
Far From the Madding Crowd (480p) - 1
Howards End (318p) - 4
Dead Souls (464p) - 2
The Metamorphosis (201p) - 1
The Tell-Tale Heart (31p) - 2
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (510p) - 2
Moby-Dick or, The Whale (720p) - 4
4:50 from Paddington (288p) - 1

[Rora]

I nominate A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, 293 pages

[Kristen]

I nominate Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, 480 pages

[Job]

I nominate Howards End by E.M. Forster, 318 pages

[Ali]

I nominate Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, 464 pages

[Cynthia]

I nominate The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, 201 pages.

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

I second A Farewell to Arms; Far From The Maddening Crowd; and Howards End.

[Pony]

I nominate The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (31 pages; published 1843).

[Sandra]

I second Dead Souls and A Farewell to Arms

[Theresa]

I nominate The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo (510p)

I second A Farewell to Arms, Howards End, and the Metamorphosis

[Rora]

I second Dead Souls

[Renata]

I nominate Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville, 720 pages

[Zeljka]

I nominate 4:50 from Paddington, 288 pages

[Lea]

I second A Farewell to Arms, Howards End, The Tell-Tale Heart and Moby Dick.

[Sandra]

I nominate The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen 371 pages

[Renata]

Sandra wrote: "I nominate The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen 371 pages"
Sandra, your book doesn't quite meet our "well-read" criteria of 50K ratings. Give it another try?

[Peggyzbooksnmusic]

I second 4:50 from Paddington.

[Andi]

I second:
A Farewell to Arms
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Moby Dick

[Theresa]

I second Moby Dick

[Linda]

I second Howards End

[Pony]

I second The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Moby-Dick.

[Miriam]

I second The Tell Tale Heart

[Sandra]

Sandra wrote: "I nominate The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen 371 pages"
Sorry Renata I forgot to check

[Sandra]

I nominate The Plague by Albert Camus 308 pages