Published April 17, 2007
Here I will list the books that have been nominated for the YWS Top 100 Classics. Reasons why or why not certain books should be considered can also go here. Remember, this is for books that are older than 50 years.
Alphabetically, by author
--Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
--Foundation series, Isaac Asimov
--Emma, Jane Austen
--Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
--Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
--Oz series, Frank L. Baum
--Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
--The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
--Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
--Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
--Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgeson Burnett
--A Little Princess, Frances Hodgeson Burnett
--The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgeson Burnett
--Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs
--The Canturbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
--The Awakening, Kate Chopin
--A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
--Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
--The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
--Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
--The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
--Sherlock Holmes series, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
--Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
--The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
--The Lady of the Camellias, Alexandre Dumas
--Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
--The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
--The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
--The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
--Catch-22, Joseph Heller
--A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
--The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
--Illiad, Homer
--Odyssey, Homer
--Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
--The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
--Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
--To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
--The Call of the Wild, Jack London
--Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville
--Moby Dick, Herman Melville
--Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
--Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
--Animal Farm, George Orwell
--Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
--Anthem, Ayn Rand
--All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
--The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
--Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare
--Frankenstein, Mary Shelly
--The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
--The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
--Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
--Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
--Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
--Dracula, Bram Stoker
--Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
--The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
--The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien
--Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
--War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
--Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
--Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
--Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Jules Verne
--Candide, Voltaire
--The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
--The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
--Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
--Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde
--The Little House on the Prairie series, Laura Ingalls Wilder
--Native Son, Richard Wright
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I've only read 7.
Ouch.
I read five, though there were at least ten where I started or got halfway through and got so frustrated with them I just threw them at somebody.
But there's another classic you should add to the list which I really, really liked: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I loved that book!
Only six. That stinks. Of course, I didn't count the ones I only got halfway through. I went on a classics spree a few years ago. Needless to say, it didn't go so well. I'll be reading more of these next year whenever I start my Modernity class.
Wow, I've read 20 of these...though some only through school. I wouldn't have finished the Scarlet Letter if my midterm grade hadn't hinged on it. That being said, I also see why people consider it a classic. I might too, if Hawthore didn't continue through five pages without ending the sentence.
First arguement:
Wuthering Heights should be considered a classic because it shows the importance of choices. It is set in the perfect place to demonstrate this because the two houses involved are separate from the rest of the world, further hilighting their differences. (I'm not sure if this was a full reason or not...) The one thing that people should not do is classify this as a classic "romance" because this story is really not very romantic; it's rather morbid.
*applauds cadmium*
Now, I dislike Dickens, as many do, but he was a literary mastermind. If anything of his should go up there, it should be A Tale of Two Cities.
To Kill a Mockingbird - I don't think anyone could possibly dispute that. Same for Catcher in the Rye. ALL Salinger = goodness.
14, two of which were published after his death
EDIT: Baum wrote about 60 books in his lifetime, 14 were Oz, and others were popular things akin to our idea of Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys (stories about children in his time doing things),published under several pennames. Oz was the most successful series, though. A lot of his stuff, though, like American Fairy Tales did not sell well.
I thought I should clear that. Sorry :p
Updated list: I've read 8. Yay.
What about Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck, Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain, Peter Pan(Forgot author name)
That's all I can think of... hold on Arabian Nights( I don't know who wrote this, but it should be on this.)
I agree. For instance, I find Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters terribly dull -- and getting through something like The Illiad or even Beowulf (which I don't think is on this list) is like pulling teeth for me.
Oh, and also.
If the Oz series and Little House on the Prarie are on here and all, I demand that C.S. Lewis' The Chronicals of Narnia be considered as well.
Ha! I've got you all beat with 38...and a lot of them are series, too!
A lot of these are great books, but some of them are...I just don't understand why people like them. Maybe people just pretend to like them so that they can say they 'read the classics' in a haughty accent. Even though several of the alleged 'classics' are extremely odiferous.
Note:* did you know that there are about eight or nine books in the Oz series? The Wizard of Oz was the famous one, but he wrote tons of others.
Yours I remain,
12. Yay, I got Nate beat.
As far as poetry goes, I think it could stand to have its own list. Plays too, because Tennessee Williams and Paul Zindel deserve to make that list, for sure.
Twenty-four!
I like the list; very comprehensive. The one's I haven't read yet are all on my list for the future as well.
Skye approves.
I've read approx. 21 I think. And I think I used to read the Oz series too, but I cant remember. My favourites are GWTW and all three books by Austen (she has a great sense of humour XD). I really must read more...
i have read 9 1/2 of these... i read all the lord of the rings book until the second half of the third book (technically the fifth).
heh i feel accomplished. =)
How many have we actually got now? I'd count, but the list is really long!
Well now that I've added a bunch that I've read, I have read twenty of these. I wish I could count Lord of the Rings, but I only got through the first book.
Thanks!
Yes, The Kite Runner was published in 2003. It should be over in the other list.
Got 11! But I'm pretty sure "The Kite Runner" isn't anymore than 10 years old. It's an awesome book though, and the author should be coming out with his second book soon.
I've only read three. Most of my nominations are based upon the impact they have had upon modern literature, pop culture, etc.
Hehe, I've only read six as well and I dont really intend to read 3 or so of the others on the list...
Wow. That's sad.I've only read six books of those.
We need more poetry collections there, lol.