When I was in middle school, I decided that I would attempt to read one-hundred fiction classic books by the time I graduated from high school. It’s about the nerdiest feat I’ve ever *almost* accomplished. Frankly, I was annoyed that-aside from an eight grade literature class- my teachers never assigned enough books for my liking. I’ve read plenty, and yet, when people ask me for a recommendation, involving any genre, I have a brain freeze and I mumble out something like, “Great Expectations is good.” Only I didn’t say I started the book two or three times before reading it all the way through.
I’ve decided to do a series of lists, both fiction and non-fiction. These will be divided into about three posts. Here is the first:
1. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
2. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
4. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
5. Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan
6. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
7. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Agatha Christie
Aside from the Nancy Drew books, I’m not too excited about mystery novels. Then, in eight or ninth grade, my literature teacher assigned our class And Then There Were None. I’m a big fan.
9. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
10. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
11. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
12. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
13. Shakespeare by Bill Bryson (not a classic, but related to the topic of Shakespeare)
14. Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
15. Richard III by William Shakespeare
16. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
17. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare
18. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
19. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
20. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
21. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
21. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
22. Pride and prejudicee by Jane Austen
23. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
24. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
25. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by Frank L. Baum
26. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
27. Our Town [Play] by Thornton Wilder
28. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
29. Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
30. Animal Farm by George Orwell
31. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
32. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
33. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
34. The Crucible by Upton Sinclair
35. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
36. Black Like Me (non-fiction) by John Howard Griffith
37. Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White
38. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
39. The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells (Not to be confused with The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
40. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle
41. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’engle
42. Billy Budd by Herman Mellville
43. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
44. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
45. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
46. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury
47. The Red Badge of Courage by Stephan Crane
48. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
49. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
50. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
51. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
53. 1984 by George Orwell
Short Stories:
“The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Gold Bug” Edgar Allan Poe
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog” by Mark Twain
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber
“The Gift of the Magi” by O’Henry
“The Cap and the Anthem” O’Henry
“An Unfinished Star” O’Henry
“Enchanted Profile” by O’Henry
“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant
“An Appointment With Love” by Sulamith Ish Kishor
“An Experiment in Misery” by Stephan Crane
You’re probably thinking, wait, only fifty-three books? That’s not exactly close to one-hundred. Unfortunately, I was not smart enough to write all of these down. Many, recalling from memory. This post will continue to be updated.
Is there a classic not on the list(s) above that you recommend? Comment down below. If I receive enough feedback, I’ll create a post from your recommendations for other subscribers to see!
Coffee Shop Talk 