Classic Literature
Classics Club: Make a list of at least 50 classics that you agree to read within 5 years. Write a review of each one and post it on your blog with a hyperlink to the review here.
Start Date: September 13, 2015
Goal for Completion: September 13, 2020
My Reward: 50+ classics I can say I read! Gastronomic reward? I am sure chocolate will be involved 🙂
~ A hot link on a title provides the review.
Louisa May Alcott
Little Women (1868)
Jane Austen
Mansfield Park (1814)
Northanger Abbey (1817)
Emma (1815)
Mary Austin
The Land of Little Rain (1905)
Edward Bellamy
Looking Backward (1888)
Anne Bronte
Agnes Grey (1847)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)
Charlotte Bronte
Villette (1853)
Willa Cather
O Pioneers! (1913)
Daniel Defoe
Roxana (1724)
Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol (1843)
Mrs. George Sheldon Downs
Gertrude Elliot’s Crucible (1908)
Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca (1938)
Fanny Fern
Ruth Hall (1855)
E.M. Forster
Room with a View (1908)
Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905)
Elizabeth Gaskell
Ruth (1853)
Wives and Daughters (1866)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Herland (1915)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter (1850)
House of Seven Gables (1851)
The Blithedale Romance (1852)
Shirley Jackson
The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
Henry James
The Bostonians (1886)
Sarah Orne Jewett
The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896)
Carolyn Keene
The Moonstone Castle Mystery (1963)
John Knowles
A Separate Peace (1959)
Peace Breaks Out (1981)
L.M. Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside (1921)
The Blue Castle (1926)
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein (1818)
Betty A. Smith
Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943)
Elizabeth George Speare
The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958)
The Bronze Bow (1961)
Bram Stoker
Dracula (1897)
Jan Struther
Mrs. Miniver (1939)
H. G. Wells
The Time Machine (1895)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)
The War of the Worlds (1898)
Edith Wharton
House of Mirth (1905)
Age of Innocence (1920)
Ethan Frome (1911)
Summer (1917)
The Custom of the Country (1913)
Glimpses of the Moon (1922)
The Bunner Sisters (1916)
OscarWilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
Thornton Wilder
Our Town (1938)
Virginia Woolf
Night and Day (1919)
Relevant Obscurity 
Congratulations on completing your list!
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Thank you so much, Deb!
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I don’t know if this is interesting for you, but at gutenberg.com you can download many of the classics for free (and legally), even for Kindle. Thanks for your list. It contains some lesser known classics too which is nice. Glad to see you have four George Eliot books on it. I’m halfway through Middlemarch at the moment. But no Thomas Hardy?
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Oops: http://www.gutenberg.org/ not .com
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Hi Denzil!
The deal here is you choose 50 books and commit to read them in 5 years. Also, once you finish you can make another list for another 5 years. The Classics Club was created to encourage people to read the classics.
And no, no Hardy on this list. There is a lot NOT on this list, because how do you choose just 50?!!
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I’ve just stumbled across this reading list and it’s gorgeous! I do apologise in advance if this comment is going to be rather long but I have to share some thoughts on the books mentioned above. “Little Women” is such a cute book, I still have to read the sequels. Jane Austen is my all-time favourite auhtor, I lost count how many times I’ve reread her novels. Of the Bronte sisters I definitely prefer Charlotte for “Jane Eyre” is a masterpiece whereas “Agnes Grey” is rather tame in comparison and “Wuthering Hights” rather dramatic (I did enjoy them as well, though). “The Old Curiosity Shop” is a truly heart-wrenching story with little Nell *sigh*. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy “Tender as the Night” as much as “The Great Gatsby”, the latter being one of my favourtite books. “Cranford” is so truly British (especially the old ladies), it made me smile so much. “Portrait of a Lady” quite intimidated me due to the number of pages but luckily I did pick it up because wow! Another favourite auhtor of mine is Edith Wharton, “The Age of Innocence” is such an enjoyable read. For some reason “Vanity Fair” kind of reminds me of a Charles Dickens novel, the style of writing, the characters…which means it is an awesome book. I’ve also read Stevenson and Woolf, though I have a hard time enjoying the latter’s novels. Now to Rebecca: It’s amazing! You never know whether you like a character or not because every single time you’ve made up your mind plot twists change everything. Happy reading!
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Hi and thank you for commenting! I have woefully missed out on a lot of classics and am enjoying my time getting to know them now.
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Welcome! I’m glad you started with the beginning of your list for the spin because Austen and Dickens are two of my favorites. Also loving Bronte, Fitzgerald, and many more. Enjoy the event!
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It won’t be long now until we all know our (book) fates 🙂
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So many wonderful lovely books ahead of you. I’m not sure that I’m in the mood for Robinson Crusoe, so I wish you an Austen or a Bronte instead 🙂
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I am secretly hoping for a Bronte myself 🙂
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My wish for you is Sense and Sensibility, for it is quite lovely. 🙂
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Hi Jillian! I have to admit, S&S would be a reread. What a beautifully written book 🙂
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What a great list! The only one that makes me cringe is Rebecca ……. I have #5 on my TBR list and am very curious about it, so if you get that one, I’ll be all ears as to what you have to say. I hope that you have a wonderful spin!
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Why does it make you cringe? I have heard such mixed reactions to it, which is so interesting to me.
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I can give you a detailed answer but I don’t want to spoil the book for you. Basically I found the characters to act in really unbelievable ways, the narrator and her outlook made no sense at times and it was just poorly constructed. I did an exercise of taking out the narrative in places and just leaving the dialogue and it was PAINFUL! I read that du Maurier had difficulty writing it, but honestly many people love it, so you might too. I’m probably in the minority. Just don’t have grand expectations and it might just surprise you. Her setting descriptions can be quite vivid and beautiful.
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Now you really have my curiosity going 🙂 I love when a book provokes such different reactions in people. I wonder which side of the fence I will land?!
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Since you said you have a ridiculous month plan, I hope you get something short — O Pioneers, Persuasion, and Rebecca would be ideal reads if you have a lot of reading already planned. Good luck with your spin pick!
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Thanks! I am so curious about O Pioneers, as I have never read it. And Rebecca I haven’t read either, which seems to get such mixed reactions, so THAT makes ME curious. But yes, short would be very good!
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Charlotte Perkins Gilman is such an eclectic writer. When I heard about this book I was really amazed. The Yellow Wallpaper had such an affect on me, but it is hard to imagine she wrote a sci fi/fantasy book, too. Or is it? All that outward imposed quiet must have kept her brain working, much to the chagrin of her husband and doctor 🙂 The Ellen Key book was an exciting find in a used bookstore.
I know, so many classics I have not read…including, you know who….don’t hate me. Maybe the CC will pick #11!
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Welcome to the club! Rebecca is one of my favorites and I just reread it. Enjoy! -Melissa
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Hey, thanks for adding me! And I can’t believe I never read Rebecca. Frankly, I can’t believe I never read most of the books on my list. But that’s why there is the Classics Club 🙂
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