A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. - Italo CalvinoAlthough writt...

1. Classic Books Everyone Should Read
A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. - Italo Calvino
Although written several centuries ago, classic books continue to allure the readers even in the
modern world. They are termed as timeless, as the authors followed certain structural guidelines
while writing them. Most of these books depict the period in which they were written. Here are a
few classics that are all-time favorite books of the bibliophiles.
Pride and Prejudice ~ Jane Austen
It is Jane Austen's second novel which was published in 1813. It's a tale about the
misunderstandings and prejudices that arise between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and is
set in the backdrop of Victorian England. This novel is among the most popular novels of Jane Austen
and has been adapted into several films.
Madame Bovary ~ Gustave Flaubert
It is a classic tale of a young married woman, Emma, whose romantic expectations about love are
not fulfilled by her husband. Due to this, she commits adultery which finally leads to her destruction.
To Kill a Mockingbird ~ Harper Lee
Racial inequality is the central theme of Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' which was published in
1960. The story is told through the eyes of Scout Finch, who is a 6-year-old girl, and is set in
backdrop of Great Depression in America.
A Tale of Two Cities ~ Charles Dickens
It is a book where Charles Dickens, through his principal characters, portrays the oppressive nature
of the French aristocracy towards the peasant class.
Paradise Lost ~ John Milton
It is an epic poem which was written in 12 books,
and published in 1674. In this poem, Milton tells
the story of the fall of man from the grace of God
by using a variety of poetic devices.
Anna Karenina ~ Leo Tolstoy
It is a majestic novel, divided into 8 parts, which
was published in the periodical 'The Russian
Messenger' between 1873 to 1877. The main
character of the novel is Anna Karenina, and the book deals with a variety of themes like marriage,
fidelity, hypocrisy, society, family, desire, etc.

2. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark ~ William Shakespeare
It is the longest, and most popular, play written by the great playwright, William Shakespeare. This
play depicts the conflict of Prince Hamlet who faces a dilemma, where he has to choose between
personal revenge and moral values.
Ulysses ~ James Joyce
It was published, in the year 1922, in Paris. This great saga consists of 18 episodes, and
approximately 265,000 words. Joyce structured it with the help of stream of consciousness
technique. Though the book garnered a lot of criticism when it was published, it is now considered
to be the greatest work of modernist literature.
Gone With the Wind ~ Margaret Mitchell
The novel depicts the period of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction, and has a lot of
social and historical references. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize in the year 1937, and was also
made into a movie.
Jane Eyre ~ Charlotte Brontë
It was published in the year 1847. The novel depicts the tale of Jane Eyre, an orphan girl, and how
she finds true love after going through various trials and difficult situations in life.
In addition to these, there are some more books that are a part of the rich literature and have stolen
the hearts of many readers. The following is a list of classic books that everyone should read.
Lady Chatterley's Lover ~ D. H. Lawrence
Rebecca ~ Daphne du Maurier
Animal Farm ~ George Orwell
The Moonstone ~ Wilkie Collins
The Catcher in the Rye ~ J. D. Salinger
Catch-22 ~ Joseph Heller
Oedipus the King ~ Sophocles
A Farewell to Arms ~ Ernest Hemingway
Gulliver's Travels ~ Jonathan Swift
Utopia ~ Thomas More
David Copperfield ~ Charles Dickens
No Exit ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

3. One Hundred Years of Solitude ~ Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez
Crime and Punishment ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Way of the World ~ William Congreve
War and Peace ~ Leo Tolstoy
Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley
Don Quixote ~ Miguel de Cervantes
Little Women ~ Louisa May Alcott
Wuthering Heights ~ Emily Brontë
Vanity Fair ~ William Makepeace Thackeray
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ~ Arthur Conan Doyle
Lolita ~ Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov
The Scarlet Letter ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Canterbury Tales ~ Geoffrey Chaucer
The Dangerous Liaisons ~ Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
Beloved ~ Toni Morrison
The Color Purple ~ Alice Walker
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale ~ Herman Melville
Oliver Twist ~ Charles Dickens
Robinson Crusoe ~ Daniel Defoe
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ~ Mark Twain
The Trial ~ Franz Kafka
Far from the Madding Crowd ~ Thomas Hardy
The Lord of the Rings ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Prince ~ Niccolò Machiavelli
The Grapes of Wrath ~ John Steinbeck

4. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ~ James Joyce
The Mill on the Floss ~ George Eliot
Silas Marner ~ George Eliot
The Picture of Dorian Gray ~ Oscar Wilde
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ~ Lewis Carroll
Les Misérables ~ Victor Hugo
Black Beauty ~ Anna Sewell
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ~ Mark Twain
Great Expectations ~ Charles Dickens
Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady ~ Samuel Richardson
A Doll's House ~ Henrik Ibsen
Romeo and Juliet ~ William Shakespeare
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Mrs Dalloway ~ Virginia Woolf
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ~ Jules Verne
The Metamorphosis ~ Franz Kafka
The Wind in the Willows ~ Kenneth Grahame
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth ~ Jules Verne
Dracula ~ Bram Stoker
Treasure Island ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Each of these classics is distinct from the others and many readers have mentioned that every time
they read a book again, they came across something that they had not noticed earlier. Pick up some
of these books to enjoy reading timeless classics.
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