Humanities Literature 101 Classics to Get You Started A Reading List for Literary Explorers Share Flipboard Email Print Liam Quin/Wikimedia Commons Literature Classic Literature Authors & Texts Top Picks Lists Study Guides Terms & Definitions Best Sellers Contemporary Literature Plays & Drama Poetry Quotations Shakespeare Short Stories Children's & Young Adult Books View More by Adam Burgess Adam Burgess, Ph.D. is a university professor, literary reviewer, and expert in American and classical literature and criticism. Updated February 03, 2019 So many books, so little time. Anyone, novice or expert, who is interested in reading classic literature might feel overwhelmed by the number of works categorized as "Classics." So, where should you get started?The list below contains 101 works spanning multiple countries and subjects. It is meant to be a "get started" or "find something new" list for anyone on their own personal classic reading quest. TextAuthorThe Count of Monte Cristo (1845)Alexandre DumasThe Three Musketeers (1844)Alexandre DumasBlack Beauty (1877)Anna SewellAgnes Grey (1847)Anne BrontëThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)Anne BrontëThe Prisoner of Zenda (1894)Anthony HopeBarchester Towers (1857)Anthony TrollopeThe Complete Sherlock Holmes (1887-1927)Arthur Conan DoyleDracula (1897)Bram StokerThe Adventures of Pinocchio (1883)Carlo CollodiA Tale of Two Cities (1859)Charles DickensDavid Copperfield (1850)Charles DickensGreat Expectations (1861)Charles DickensHard Times (1854)Charles DickensOliver Twist (1837)Charles DickensWestward Ho! (1855)Charles KingsleyJane Eyre (1847)Charlotte BrontëVillette (1853)Charlotte BrontëSons and Lovers (1913)D.H. LawrenceRobinson Crusoe (1719)Daniel DefoeMoll Flanders (1722)Daniel DefoeTales of Mystery & Imagination (1908)Edgar Allan PoeThe Age of Innocence (1920)Edith WhartonCranford (1853)Elizabeth GaskellWuthering Heights (1847)Emily BrontëThe Secret Garden (1911)Frances Hodgson BurnettCrime and Punishment (1866)Fyodor DostoyevskyThe Brothers Karamazov (1880)Fyodor DostoyevskyThe Man Who Was Thursday (1908)G.K. ChestertonThe Phantom Of The Opera (1909-10)Gaston LerouxMiddlemarch (1871-72)George EliotSilas Marner (1861)George EliotThe Mill on the Floss (1860)George EliotThe Diary of a Nobody (1892)George and Weedon GrossmithThe Princess and the Goblin (1872)George MacDonaldThe Time Machine (1895)H.G. WellsUncle Tom's Cabin (1852)Harriet Beecher StoweWalden (1854)Henry David ThoreauThe Aspern Papers (1888)Henry JamesThe Turn of the Screw (1898)Henry JamesKing Solomon's Mines (1885)Henry Rider HaggardMoby Dick (1851)Herman MelvilleThe Odyssey (circa 8th C. BC)HomerThe Call of the Wild (1903)Jack LondonLast of the Mohicans (1826)James Fenimore CooperEmma (1815)Jane AustenMansfield Park (1814)Jane AustenPersuasion (1817)Jane AustenPride and Prejudice (1813)Jane AustenPilgrim's Progress (1678)John BunyanGulliver's Travels (1726)Jonathan SwiftHeart of Darkness (1899)Joseph ConradLord Jim (1900)Joseph Conrad20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870)Jules VerneAround the World in Eighty Days (1873)Jules VerneThe Awakening (1899)Kate ChopinThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)L. Frank BaumTristram Shandy (1759-1767)Laurence SterneAnna Karenina (1877)Leo TolstoyWar and Peace (1869)Leo TolstoyAlice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)Lewis CarrollThrough the Looking-Glass (1871)Lewis CarrollLittle Women (1868-69)Louisa May AlcottThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)Mark TwainAdventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)Mark TwainFrankenstein (1818)Mary ShelleyDon Quixote of La Mancha (1605 & 1615)Miguel de Cervantes SaavedraTwice-Told Tales (1837)Nathaniel HawthorneThe Scarlet Letter (1850)Nathaniel HawthorneThe Prince (1532)Niccolò MachiavelliThe Four Million (1906)O. HenryThe Importance of Being Earnest (1895)Oscar WildeThe Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)Oscar WildeThe Metamorphoses (circa 8 AD)OvidLorna Doone (1869)R. D. BlackmoreDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)Robert Louis StevensonTreasure Island (1883)Robert Louis StevensonKim (1901)Rudyard KiplingThe Jungle Book (1894)Rudyard KiplingIvanhoe (1820)Sir Walter ScottRob Roy (1817)Sir Walter ScottThe Red Badge of Courage (1895)Stephen CraneWhat Katy Did (1872)Susan CoolidgeTess of the d'Urbervilles (1891-92)Thomas HardyThe Mayor Of Casterbridge (1886)Thomas HardyUtopia (1516)Thomas MoreRights of Man (1791)Thomas PaineLes Misérables (1862)Victor HugoThe Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819-20)Washington IrvingThe Moonstone (1868)Wilkie CollinsThe Woman in White (1859)Wilkie CollinsA Midsummer Night's Dream (1600)William ShakespeareAs You Like It (1623)William ShakespeareHamlet (1603)William ShakespeareHenry V (1600)William ShakespeareKing Lear (1608)William ShakespeareOthello (1622)William ShakespeareRichard III (1597)William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice (1600)William ShakespeareThe Tempest (1623)William ShakespeareVanity Fair (1848)William Thackeray Continue Reading