While there are many amazing books to read, the classics always deserve some love. Many people ignore them and end up missing out on amazing novels. That is why we compiled a list of 19 classics that everyone should read!
Classic novels have influenced many modern novels and will continue to do so. That is the power of an amazing book. The popularity of characters from novels published over a century ago should be enough encouragement to read them. You can see the full list below
19 Classics That Everyone Should Read
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
- The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Classics That You Should Read
The first novel on our list is The Catcher in the Rye and it is a novel that everyone should read. Salinger tells a captivating story that will resonate with many young adults. Many people read it in high school and I recommend revisiting it and seeing what flew over your head the first time around.
One of my favorite classics is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It is an amazing adventure story and very well written. Even if you aren’t a fan of classic novels, this one will have you hooked!
A novel that many know about even if they have never read it is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It is more than just a typical horror novel. It tackles a bunch of philosophical issues and helped push launch the horror genre. Plus, many people incorrectly assume that the monster is called Frankenstein.
Conclusion
These are 19 classics that everyone should read. How many books on the list have you read? What classics should we include on our next list? Let us know in the comments below!
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I’ve read all of the classics and recommend them to all the book lovers!
Why is “The Alexandria Quartet” never mentioned in any of these lists?
The Stand by Stephen King. It will wreck & change your life.
Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn by Mark Twain. Each great in their own way.
The Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh.
I was born in the UK, and learned more about Britain and colonialism than I ever did at school.
Let’s be honest, Wuthering Heights is an awful book. It is the only book I have read the main characters couldn’t be killed off fast enough.
It may have been revolutionary to discuss mental health issues then, but it is not (by any means) a real portrayal of mental health. It perpetuates the made-up women’s “hysteria” trope. This does nothing for to educate people/youth today.
Read ” Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Both are excellent.
A guy wrote this list, right?
What about books of famous authors : Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, D.H.Lawrence, Oscar Wild, Jukes Verne, Thomas Hardy, to name a few. And yes, what about Gibran Kahlil Gibran book : The Prophet, translated into 22 languages, the most read book around the world after the Bible and the Quran, by more than 500 million people…
With due respect to Mr. Ahaqir, he should do his home work properly before publishing his inaccurate articles.
Stockholm – Sweden.
I can’t believe that One Hundred Years of Solitude made the list! My book club read it and only 2 of us actually finished the book; the only way I was able to get through it was by printing out a list of chapter summaries and following along with that while taking notes. I definitely do not recommend!
Devil in the White City…. Read it in a day and a half ….historical novel.
Did they edit out where you wrote that it was non-fiction? Great book!
What about Animal Farm. It is a riot.
I’m proud to say I’ve not read a single book on this list despite several of them being mandatory for school. Cliff notes and similar worked great. The first one of these I encountered was Great Expectations, and it put me to sleep at night. All the while, I became more angry by the day as to how I just couldn’t handle the teacher’s requirements because the book was so incredibly boring. I used to read books I enjoyed for fun. After that 8th grade year, I’ve never read for pleasure ever since. I’m 37 now; what a shame. At least I earned 2 math degrees instead.