Classics ranked
Items in this hypelist
Books
Bonjour Tristesse A Novel
Francoise Sagan · 2008
Herland
Charlotte Perkins Gilman · 2021
I have no mouth and I must scream
Harlan Ellison · 1967
The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman · 2018
The Time Machine
H G Wells · 2023
The Outsiders
S. E. Hinton · 1967
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka · 2009
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Harper Lee
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1961), a classic of modern American literature. Although the novel deals with controversial issues such as rape and racial inequality, it is also praised for its warmth and humor.
FARENHEIT 451
Ray Bradbury
The Bradbury classic about a future crisis in intellectual freedom and book burning.
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 2012
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson · 2019
A new edition of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Gothic novella, originally published in 1886. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is about a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll and the evil Mr. Edward Hyde. Although the book had initially been published as a "shilling shocker," The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was an immediate success and became one of Stevenson's best-selling works.<br/><br/>Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, most remembered today for writing Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses.<br/>Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. In 1890, he settled in Samoa where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned away from romance and adventure toward a darker realism. He died in his island home in 1894.<br/>A celebrity in his lifetime, Stevenson's critical reputation has fluctuated since his death, though today his works are held in general acclaim. In 2018 he was ranked, just behind Charles Dickens, as the 26th-most-translated author in the world.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Bantam Classics)
Leo Tolstoy · 1981
Hailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?<br/><br/>This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.
Notes from a Dead House
Fyodor Dostoyevsky · 2015
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak · 2007
<b>#1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER • ONE OF <i>TIME</i> MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME <b>• A <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> READER TOP 100 PICK FOR BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY • A <i>KIRKUS REVIEWS</i> BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY</b><br><br>The extraordinary, beloved novel about the ability of books to feed the soul even in the darkest of times.</b><br><br><i>When Death has a story to tell, you listen.</i><br><br>It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.<br><br>Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement. <br><br>In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of <i>I Am the Messenger,</i> has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.<br><br>“The kind of book that can be life-changing.” —<i>The New York Times</i><br><br>“Deserves a place on the same shelf with <i>The Diary of a Young Girl </i>by Anne Frank.” —<i>USA Today</i><br><br><b>DON’T MISS <i>BRIDGE OF CLAY</i>, MARKUS ZUSAK’S FIRST NOVEL SINCE <i>THE BOOK THIEF.</i></b>
Notes from Underground (Vintage Classics)
Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1994
<b>Award-winning translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky give us a brilliantly faithful rendition of this classic novel, in all its tragedy and tormented comedy. In this second edition, they have updated their translation in honor of the 200th anniversary of Dostoevsky’s birth.</b> <br><br>One of the most remarkable characters in literature, the unnamed narrator of Dostoevsky's most revolutionary novel is a former official who has defiantly withdrawn into an underground existence. In full retreat from society, he scrawls a passionate, obsessive, self-contradictory narrative that serves as a devastating attack on social utopianism and an assertion of man’s essentially irrational nature.
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck · 2025
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck recounts the tale of two uprooted traveler laborers, George Milton and Lennie Little, during the Economic crisis of the early 20s in California. George is little, sharp-witted, and defensive of his friend, Lennie, who is, serious areas of strength for enormous, intellectually debilitated. Together, they fantasy about possessing a little homestead, a dream that gives them trust regardless of their cruel reality. In any case, Lennie's absence of command over his solidarity prompts a sad mishap when he unexpectedly kills a lady, constraining George to go with a deplorable choice to shield Lennie from a horde. The novel investigates subjects of fellowship, dejection, dreams, and the brutality of life for underestimated people.
1984: 75th Anniversary
George Orwell · 1961
The Stranger
Albert Camus · 1989
I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman, Ros Schwartz · 1998
Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics)
Jane Austen · 2002
Austen's most popular novel, the unforgettable story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy<br/><br/>Few have failed to be charmed by the witty and independent spirit of Elizabeth Bennet in Austen’s beloved classic Pride and Prejudice. When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows us the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life. This Penguin Classics edition, based on Austen's first edition, contains the original Penguin Classics introduction by Tony Tanner and an updated introduction and notes by Viven Jones.<br/><br/>For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
Mary Shelley · 2018
<b>Mary Shelley’s classic novel, presented in its original 1818 text, with an introduction from National Book Critics Circle award-winner Charlotte Gordon</b><br> <br> <b>Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s <i>The Great American Read</i></b><br> <br>The original 1818 text of <i>Frankenstein</i> preserves the hard-hitting and politically-charged aspects of Shelley’s original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also emphasizes Shelley’s relationship with her mother—trailblazing feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who penned <i>A Vindication of the Rights of Woman</i>—and demonstrates her commitment to carrying forward her mother’s ideals, placing her in the context of a feminist legacy rather than the sole female in the company of male poets, including Percy Shelley and Lord Byron.<br> <br> This edition includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by National Book Critics Circle award-winner and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon, and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson. <br> <br>Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte · 2002
The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Original 1890 Edition (A Oscar Wilde Classic Novel)
Oscar Wilde · 2023
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray<br/><br/>The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1891 gothic and philosophical novel by Irish writer and playwright Oscar Wilde. First published as a serial story in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, the editors feared the story was indecent, and without Wilde's knowledge, deleted five hundred words before publication.<br/><br/>Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press.<br/><br/>Wilde revised and expanded the magazine edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) for publication as a novel; the book edition (1891) featured an aphoristic preface — an apologia about the art of the novel and the reader. The content, style and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own literary right, as social and cultural criticism. In April 1891, the editorial house Ward, Lock and Company published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.<br/><br/>A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!
