The Classic Club List

  1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
  2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  4. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
  5. Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
  6. Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  7. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
  8. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
  9. We The Living by Ayn Rand
  10. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
  11. Watership Down by Richard Adams 
  12. The Day of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
  13. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
  14. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
  15. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
  16. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
  17. Possession by A. S. Byatt 
  18. The Pillars of The Earth by Ken Follett
  19. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
  20. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (read August 2024)
  21. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 
  22. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
  23. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
  24. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
  25. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  26. 4321 by Paul Auster
  27. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
  28. Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
  29. The Voyage of The Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
  30. The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
  31. The Horse and His Boy  by C. S. Lewis
  32. The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis
  33. The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
  34. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
  35. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
  36. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
  37. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
  38. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
  39. The Crimson Petal and The White by Michael Faber
  40. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
  41. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts 
  42. My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
  43. Shibumi by Trevanian
  44. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
  45. The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn 
  46. It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
  47. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  48. Stoner by John Williams
  49. The Sea by John Banville
  50. Underworld by Don DeLillo




 The Classic Club

5 comments:

  1. Silvia CachiaJuly 20, 2024

    I can’t tell you how happy this list makes me. I see old friends that I have read and loved, books I haven’t read but by authors I love. It is inspiring me to maybe go for another 50 books list (I already listed a few for tomorrow’s spin!) Cheers to our reconnecting and staying in touch to see and read our posts on the spin and everything else. I still have that card in the shape of a cute Japanese girl , I hang it by my desk area in my classroom! A little more for me and I hope to one day leave the classroom as well. I have thought a lot about you lately because I have watched the 3 seasons of The Bear which take place in Chicago!

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    1. Bellezza July 09, 2025

      I’m not sure why I haven’t replied to your comment before, but I’m glad you like this list. Also, many of them are rereads for me, as they are beloved books; so many have literally changed my life in growing my perspective and strength. Maybe I should add Charlotte’s Web?😉

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  2. SilviaJuly 22, 2024

    I loved "My Name is Red", such an original book, a page turner.

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  3. Gretchen JoannaJuly 09, 2025

    I remember when this list -- or something very like it, though I thought the one back then included 100 titles --was published on FaceBook more than ten years ago. Some of us wondered how it was that three novels by Ayn Rand would be on such a list. After doing a little research it was discovered that the list was created by votes from the general public, and that the Ayn Rand Society had their members flood the contest with votes for her books.

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    1. Bellezza July 09, 2025

      That is such a shame that the Ayn Rand Society “cheated.” I always despair at the dishonesty which surrounds us. That said, I’m a great fan of Ayn Rand’s work. A capitalist at heart, I cannot abide excuses for incompetence, or shirking of one’s personal responsibility. Perhaps those rank with dishonesty.

      Caveat: As a Christian, I also believe that we must help those who truly need it.

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