The Classics Club

I whinge all the time about having not read enough of “the classics”, so I have FINALLY decided to do something about it by joining The Classics Club. Essentially, you get up to five years to read a minimum of 50 “classics”, which can include modern and genre-specific classics. Some of the following I have read before, a small number I studied at school and some I just recognise by their name. My five years will be up in March 2019, and when I have finished each book I will link it to its review on this blog…

 

  1. 1984 by George Orwell
  2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessClassics Post It
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 4*
  5. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
  6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  7. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
  8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  9. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
  10. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
  12. Emma by Jane Austen
  13. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
  14. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
  15. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  16. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  17. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
  18. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  19. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  20. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling (of course!)
  21. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
  22. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  23. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  24. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  25. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  26. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
  27. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Wolff
  28. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  29. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 4*
  30. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
  31. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kasey
  32. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  33. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  34. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
  35. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 4*
  36. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
  37. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  38. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  39. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
  40. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  41. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
  42. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
  43. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
  44. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
  45. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  46. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3*
  47. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams DNF
  48. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
  49. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
  50. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
  51. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
  52. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  53. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
  54. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee 5*
  55. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

19 Responses

  2. kainzow

    Ah,classic-haven! That’s a very good list,although Russian books are missing! 😉
    I see that there are classics from the 19th,20th and late 20th centuries.

    I read Frankenstein,which honestly was not that great.It was insightful as far as to know what the real story was about.
    Mrs Dalloway was nice,but the stream of consciousness requires much concentration! It is a nice story,but … it does have its own peculiarities.

    Hmm,Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird are among the best modern classics of literature,even though they’re both different in mood and tone.The former is extremely gloomy while the latter isn’t at all! So,I will suggest To Kill a Mockingbird as a first read.It is a lovely book,with unforgettable characters,great morals and funny moments! Although opinions about books can differ,I have a hunch that you’ll like it. 🙂

    There are also Catch 22 and The Catcher in the Rye which are public favourites!

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    1. Rachel

      Thanks for your comment kainzow! Can you recommend some Russian classics for me? I think they intimidated me a little! But if they come with a recommendation I’ll add them to the list.

      I studied Frankenstein at school 8 years ago and thought I’d have a reread, it was interesting to see where the story originated but I also wanted to read it without studying it in that level of detail, I think sometimes that can take the enjoyment out of the whole experience.

      There can be some very mixed reviews on the classics, it’s a very love/hate scenario but I’m determined to get through this list, and so many of them are so well known. Even though I haven’t read many of them I could list loads. I looked most of these up on Goodreads before adding them to my list to try and get a feel for the story.

      It’s settled, To Kill A Mockingbird is my first read!

      R

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    1. Rachel

      That’s reassuring!! I’m planning to do reviews at some stage (I know I’ve read some and not reviewed them yet! Bad blogger) so it’ll be great to compare notes! R x

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