With so many books to choose from, we love to highlight some of the classics that we love. We have compiled a list of 7 classic novels that you should read. Keep reading to find out which 7 novels made our list!
This is a series and that is why some obvious choices didn’t make the list. You can see the previous books selected here. Our latest list includes memorable classics as well as lesser known classics. You can see the full list down below!
7 Classic Novels That You Should Read
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Classics that You Should Read
Our first pick is the well-known novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The dystopian novel is one of the most challenged books out there. A recent hit tv show has brought attention back to this classic novel and its one-of-a-kind plot.
Another classic that should be read is The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. It is taught in many middle and high schools. The writing is easy to follow, the plot is timeless, and it is a novel teenagers will gravitate towards. And Hinton was only 17 when she wrote this novel!
Lastly, a book that doesn’t get the attention is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The novel was published 11 years after the author committed suicide. Toole’s mother repeatedly asked Walker Percy, an author and college instructor to read it. When the novel was published, it was well received and Toole went on to win a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Conclusion
These are 7 classic novels that you should read. Many of these classic novels get overlooked but they are powerful works of fiction that are beloved by many for good reason. What classics should be included in future lists? Let us know in the comments below!
I would strongly add : Solzhenitsyn, August 1914. Hemingway, Green Hill of Africa. Gibran, The Prophet. Franz Kafka, America also Metamorphosis and Other Stories, least but not last, Papillon by H. Charriere
Stockholm – Sweden.
your book choices are painfully lberal… handmaid tale, Steinbeck… why not just tell them to read Das Kapital?
Das Kapital is not only leftist but for most people boring and unreadable. People left and right want to read a story not a treatise. But I agree with you about The Handmaid’s Tale.
Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter (well written and kind of a classic 1966 I think)
How about Cervantes don Quixote, Camu’s Plague, Hesse’s Steppenwulf, Gogol’s Diary of a mad man?
I’ve read only two from this list, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Little Women.
Hard Times by Dickens
Dr Zhivago
The guns of August
Foxes book of martyrs
All creatures great and small
Oh Jerusalem!