,

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!
1

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4.53 avg rating — 676,957 ratings
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4.15 avg rating — 2,237,169 ratings
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10

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4.29 avg rating — 3,981,261 ratings
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11

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4.12 avg rating — 1,538,672 ratings
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12

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3.89 avg rating — 1,808,501 ratings
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13

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4.02 avg rating — 953,697 ratings
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14

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3.97 avg rating — 2,421,806 ratings
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15

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3.69 avg rating — 2,908,057 ratings
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16

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3.80 avg rating — 3,528,712 ratings
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17

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4.27 avg rating — 905,940 ratings
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18

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3.87 avg rating — 1,603,045 ratings
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19

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3.74 avg rating — 2,606,830 ratings
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20

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4.19 avg rating — 3,737,325 ratings
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21

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4.01 avg rating — 1,276,866 ratings
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22

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4.08 avg rating — 1,191,258 ratings
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23

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4.08 avg rating — 842,412 ratings
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24

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3.79 avg rating — 803,671 ratings
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25

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3.83 avg rating — 1,266,368 ratings
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26

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4.20 avg rating — 798,352 ratings
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27

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4.31 avg rating — 1,208,640 ratings
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28

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4.16 avg rating — 1,172,612 ratings
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29

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4.47 avg rating — 10,071,106 ratings
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30

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3.87 avg rating — 948,097 ratings
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31

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4.15 avg rating — 703,367 ratings
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32

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4.06 avg rating — 564,340 ratings
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33

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4.32 avg rating — 2,115,574 ratings
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34

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4.05 avg rating — 887,730 ratings
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35

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3.88 avg rating — 2,550,939 ratings
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36

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3.89 avg rating — 899,222 ratings
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37

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4.01 avg rating — 907,594 ratings
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38

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3.99 avg rating — 1,858,271 ratings
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39

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3.81 avg rating — 1,082,158 ratings
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40

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4.27 avg rating — 651,696 ratings
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41

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4.20 avg rating — 733,115 ratings
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42

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4.09 avg rating — 849,289 ratings
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43

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3.43 avg rating — 866,035 ratings
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44

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4.31 avg rating — 980,759 ratings
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45

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3.99 avg rating — 831,866 ratings
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46

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4.16 avg rating — 328,621 ratings
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47

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3.80 avg rating — 1,150,518 ratings
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48

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4.10 avg rating — 1,371,010 ratings
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49

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3.90 avg rating — 271,281 ratings
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50

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4.24 avg rating — 630,112 ratings
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51

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3.88 avg rating — 851,368 ratings
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52

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4.09 avg rating — 322,907 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 937,351 ratings
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54

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4.13 avg rating — 1,340,783 ratings
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55

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3.95 avg rating — 540,868 ratings
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56

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 712,869 ratings
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57

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4.37 avg rating — 332,960 ratings
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58

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3.91 avg rating — 455,757 ratings
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59

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3.83 avg rating — 283,847 ratings
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60

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4.17 avg rating — 370,973 ratings
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61

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4.07 avg rating — 460,831 ratings
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62

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4.29 avg rating — 466,276 ratings
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63

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3.84 avg rating — 490,016 ratings
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64

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4.41 avg rating — 539,867 ratings
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65

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3.86 avg rating — 350,153 ratings
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66

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4.08 avg rating — 481,266 ratings
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67

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3.54 avg rating — 561,508 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 672,845 ratings
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69

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4.11 avg rating — 972,708 ratings
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70

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3.70 avg rating — 335,046 ratings
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71

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4.37 avg rating — 1,246,589 ratings
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72

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 249,885 ratings
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73

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4.08 avg rating — 152,914 ratings
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74

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3.85 avg rating — 401,718 ratings
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75

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4.23 avg rating — 1,843,485 ratings
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76

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4.15 avg rating — 2,002,693 ratings
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77

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4.44 avg rating — 293,102 ratings
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78

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4.06 avg rating — 244,536 ratings
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79

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4.24 avg rating — 2,803,004 ratings
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80

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3.69 avg rating — 390,401 ratings
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81

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3.60 avg rating — 409,001 ratings
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82

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4.27 avg rating — 1,364,942 ratings
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83

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3.86 avg rating — 1,061,531 ratings
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84

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4.47 avg rating — 26,465 ratings
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85

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3.43 avg rating — 513,692 ratings
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86

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4.07 avg rating — 772,521 ratings
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87

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4.39 avg rating — 2,811,562 ratings
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88

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3.89 avg rating — 253,761 ratings
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89

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3.91 avg rating — 227,537 ratings
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90

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4.20 avg rating — 1,837,942 ratings
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91

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4.05 avg rating — 963,332 ratings
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92

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4.34 avg rating — 3,153,689 ratings
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93

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4.02 avg rating — 1,097,901 ratings
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94

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4.02 avg rating — 3,246 ratings
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94

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4.05 avg rating — 125,683 ratings
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96

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4.39 avg rating — 421,126 ratings
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97

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4.07 avg rating — 135,526 ratings
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98

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3.85 avg rating — 182,261 ratings
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99

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3.52 avg rating — 222,021 ratings
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100

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4.17 avg rating — 73,696 ratings
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1,768 books · 4,458 voters · list created July 29th, 2008 by Jenny (votes) .
44 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Jenny 1467 books
83 friends
Kathryn 583 books
127 friends
Brooke 116 books
19 friends
Antoine 949 books
177 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3370 books
864 friends
Erin 567 books
65 friends
Mary 1131 books
28 friends
Jill 1716 books
101 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 72 (72 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.


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