Classics and Best Sellers Road Test

If you want to get stuck into some classics or best sellers but don't know where to start, this page could be a bit of a gauge, as I'm road testing them for you, to give you some idea. If I found them pompous and overrated, I'll say so. I'll also give you the thumbs up if I thought they were amazing and worth the hype.

I had a love/hate relationship with the classics in my past. As a school kid, I thought I loved them. As an uni student with an English major, I thought I hated them. So many of the selections didn't seem to live up to my optimistic expectations, but perhaps having to write essays about them was enough to curb my enthusiasm. At last I'm ready to carefully stick my neck out again. I'm going to put them under the microscope (well, my microscope), and explain whether or not I think they live up to their long-standing popularity. 

I've tried to keep the titles in alphabetical order. Hopefully it will make it easier for you to cast your eye down the list, especially if you want to see if I've reviewed a particular book. But if you're searching for books by a particular author all in one spot, check out my fiction and non-fiction review pages.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Tangled Web by Lucy Maud Montgomery
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Adam Bede by George Eliot

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery

Anne of Windy Willows by L.M. Montgomery
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Babette's Feast by Karen Blixen

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

The Big Fisherman by Lloyd C Douglas
Big Magic  by Elizabeth Gilbert

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Borrowers Afield by Mary Norton

The Borrowers Afloat by Mary Norton

The Borrowers Aloft by Mary Norton

The Borrowers Avenged by Mary Norton

Boy by Roald Dahl

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Children of the New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Complete Adventures of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Devil's Disciple by George Bernard Shaw

Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

Dubliners by James Joyce

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner

Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Emily Climbs by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Emily's Quest by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Emma by Jane Austen
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Evelina by Frances Burney

The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Flowers for Mrs Harris by Paul Gallico
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Going Solo by Roald Dahl

The Golden Road by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

Hans Brinker,or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

The Happy Prisoner by Monica Dickens

Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne
The Harp in the South by Ruth Park
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Horse and his Boy by C.S. Lewis
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane of Lantern Hill by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Kristin Lavransdattar by Sigrid Undset

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Steadman

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis

The Man who was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
March  by Geraldine Brooks
The Martian by Andy Weir

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

My Antonia by Willa Cather
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G.K. Chesterton

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery

Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (translated by Alan Vermilye)

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Pollyanna by Eleanor H Porter
Poor Man's Orange by Ruth Park

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte

The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit

Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery
Rebecca  by Daphne du Maurier
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte

The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
Silas Marner by George Eliot

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

The Silver Chalice by Thomas B. Costain

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

Spare by Prince Harry

The Story Girl by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Sun on the Stubble by Colin Thiele
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
The Thirteenth Tale  by Diane Setterfield
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Villette by Charlotte Bronte

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Watership Down by Richard Adams

What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge

What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Work by Louisa May Alcott
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte