This classics club list is the idea of The Classics Club blog which is to encourage the reading of classic literature – definitions can be broad but books should have been published more than 25 years ago. We choose 50 books (or more, but not fewer) to read and review on our blogs within a five year period.
So here is my chosen list. Some of these I have read before, some not. I have tried to find as many women writers as possible.
Here are my 50 classic books to read from July 2022 to July 2027
1 Earthsea Chronicles, Ursula K. Le Guin
Absolutely love all things Le Guin. This is my comfort reading.
2 The Moonspinners, Mary Stewart
I was reminded of this book quite recently by KarenPopeWrites. I read it when I was a teenager, so we shall see.
3 Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
Far better than any of the films, the original book.
4 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
Can’t believe I haven’t read this one, but hey!
5 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
I know I love this book because I’ve read it – but am really looking forward to reading it again.
6 The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
Glug! Scared of this one, but you have to try these difficult reads.
7 Siddharta, Herman Hesse
Appropriate for someone who practises buddhism, a book about Shakyamuni, the original buddha.
8 The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
I’ve read a lot of her poetry and biographies about her but never Plath’s own novel. Time to rectify this.
9 Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Thurston
Heard a lot about this one.
10 Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
Old favourite.
11 Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
This one’s on my shelf but it doesn’t get looked at terribly often.
12 And Then There were None, Agatha Christie
This will be my first venture into Christie territory.
13 Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton
Another one I read as a teenager.
14 My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
Don’t know anything about this but it sounds fascinating.
15 How Green was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn
I grew up with Welsh valley books. That’s because I grew up in the Welsh valleys. Have read them all but will read them again
16 Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
Not only have I read this book but I actually visited Cannery Row on a trip to San Francisco which was very exciting.
17 The Wasteland and Other Poems, T. S. Eliot
One of our greatest poets, even if you don’t want to look too closely at his ideology.
18 The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
Looking forward to this one.
19 King Solomon’s Mines, H. Rider Haggard
I remember reading She when I was a kid.
20 The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkein
Tales of Middle Earth before the time span of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
21 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
No-one knows who wrote this. I wil probably read the Simon Armitage one.
22 Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
My mother’s favourite book.
23 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Never read any Joyce. Time to do so.
24 If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Italo Calvino
Mysterious and unclassifiable. Wonderful.
25 A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas
If its Wales it has to be Dylan Thomas.
26 Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurty
This will be my very first Western novel.
27 Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
Another of my mother’s favourite books.
28 Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather
I don’t know this book but I have read Song of the Lark and My Antonia by the same author and loved those.
29 Agnes Grey, Ann Bronte
Perhaps the least famous sister.
30 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
A coming of age tale par excellence.
31 The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio
10 Young people escape plague ridden Florence for the relative safety of nearby Fiesole. They challenge each other to tell stories every day for 10 days, thus 100 stories.
32 The Borrowers, Mary Norton
Still one of the best children’s books ever in my opinion.
33 The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
34 Saint Joan, George Bernard Shaw
35 The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart
My second Mary stewart book on this list. There are three books in this trilogy and I may try and read them all but probably won’t have time.
36 The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole
The original gothic guy.
37 The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
For when Gilead seems a bit too real to read about – this one is preferable.
38 Gilgamesh
39 The Celtic Twilight: Faerie & Folklore, W.B. Yeats
40 The Moon & Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham
Based on the life of Paul Gauguin.
41 The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin
42 The Secret of the Old Clock (A Nancy Drew Mystery) Carolyn Kenne
Another childhood favourite.
43 Ronia, The Robber’s Daughter, Astrid Lindgren
44 My Summer in a Garden, Charles Dudley Warner
45 The Tale of Tom Kitten, Beatrix Potter
46 The Gadfly, Ethel Lilian Voynich
47 As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams, Lady Sarashima
48 Night and Day, Virginia Woolf
I have read a number of Virginia Woolf’s books but never this one.
49 The Mandarins, Simone de Beauvoir
A novel based around her life in Paris with Jean Paul Sartre from the author of The Second Sex.
50 The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison