The classic books everyone should read start with Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Crime and Punishment and 1984. All 50 on our list were published before 1950.

Where to start

  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813): the most-loved classic of all, and funnier than its reputation.
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847): a heroine who refuses to be anyone's possession.
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861): Dickens at his most gripping, and shorter than most of his books.
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866): a murder in the first part, and a mind unravelling for the rest.
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925) and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937): both short enough for a weekend.
  • 1984 by George Orwell (1949): the one whose words you already use.

What makes a book a classic?

We could talk all day about what constitutes a classic book. My list would be different to your list and we could debate the virtues of our choices ‘til we’re blue in the face!

The definition of a classic book is a long and hotly debated topic. All exemplary, all noteworthy, but as we discussed in a recent blog on our sister site LoveReading4Kids when we debated the classics every child (and adult) should read, there are some tenets that the classics all have in common.

In classic literature, a work is usually considered to be a representation of the period in which it was written and it merits lasting recognition, one that deserves re-reading five times, and picking up again five years even 100 years after its publication. They are a treasured experience, they are books which exercise a particular influence when they imprint themselves on our imagination as unforgettable. They don’t elicit indifference, they polarise opinion. In other words, in this interpretation, a recently-published book is not a classic. While the term "modern classic" may apply to books written after World War II, they need longevity to achieve the designation of a simple "classic."

Our 50 classics, from 1476 to 1949

Here at LoveReading we present our list of classic books, all published before 1950. 

We start with the collection of stories told by 24 fictional pilgrims in a story-telling competition in the incredible Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, hailing from 1476! With one book from the 1700s, an amazing 31 from the 1800s, we selected the remaining 17 from the 20th century and finish the list in 1950.

Questions we get asked

What are the top 10 classic books to read?

From our list: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, Middlemarch, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men and 1984.

What is a good classic book for beginners?

Start short: Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde can each be read in an evening or two. For a longer first classic, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre are the easiest to fall into.

What counts as a classic book?

A book that represents the time it was written in and still earns re-reading generations later. For this list we drew the line at 1950: books published after the Second World War are usually called modern classics.

What are the best classic books by women?

On our list: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, George Eliot's Middlemarch, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm.

What is the oldest book on the list?

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written in the late 1300s and first printed in 1476. The newest is 1984, published in 1949.

It is an incredible list of stunning classics, all of which we adore here at LoveReading. What’s your favourite, how many have you read…and what will you be reading or re-reading next?