Most everyone loves reading a great classic novel, but where to begin? There are so many wonderful authors from Charles Dickens to Scott F. Fitzgerald, Jane Austen to George Orwell. Classic novels have something for everyone, from dystopian fiction. to romances, heartfelt family sagas to historical fiction. The Moniteau County Library’s collections contain them all. In addition, this list would be the perfect reading challenge if you need one!

The Great Gatsby

By: Scott F. Fitzgerald

Jay Gatsby is one of the most famous residents of Long Island, New York. His sumptuous mansion, lavish parties and glamorous lifestyle are renowned throughout the neighborhood. And yet, beyond the status symbols, no one seems to know anything about this elusive, ephemeral figure. Gatsby seems to have it all. However, it soon becomes clear that the thing that he craves beyond all else cannot be bought..

Little Women

By: Louisa May Alcott

Chronicles the joys and troubles of the four March sisters--Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth--as they grow into young ladies and marry in nineteenth-century New England.

The Odyssey

By: Homer

A modern verse translation of Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey," which recounts the experiences of Odysseus during his return from the Trojan War. Includes an introduction and notes.

Pride and Prejudice

By: Jane Austen

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he's indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy's involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she's determined to dislike him more than ever.

Emma

By: Jane Austen

Sparkling comedy of provincial manners concerns a well-intentioned young heiress and her matchmaking schemes that result in comic confusion for the inhabitants of a 19th-century English village. Droll characterizations of the well-intentioned heroine, her hypochondriacal father, plus many other finely drawn personalities make this sparkling satire of provincial life one of Jane Austen's finest novels.

The Grapes of Wrath

By: John Steinbeck

The story of a farm family's Depression-era journey from the Dustbowl of Oklahoma to the California migrant labor camps in search of a better life.

To Kill a Mockingbird

By: Lee Harper

Presents a fortieth anniversary edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in which Scout Finch, the young daughter of a local attorney in the Deep South during the 1930s, tells of her father's defense of an African-American man charged with the rape of a white girl.

Brave New World

By: Aldous Huxley

A satirical novel about the utopia of the future, a world in which babies are decanted from bottles and the great Ford is worshipped.

Jane Eyre

By: Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, a penniless orphan, is engaged as governess at Thornfield Hall by the mysterious Mr. Rochester. Her integrity and independence are tested to the limit as their love for each other grows, and the secrets of Mr. Rochester's past are revealed. Charlotte Bronte's novel about the passionate love between Jane Eyre, a young girl alone in the world, and the rich, brilliant, domineering Rochester has, ever since its publication in 1847, enthralled every kind of reader, from the most critical and cultivated to the youngest and most unabashedly romantic. It lives as one of the great triumphs of storytelling and as a moving affirmation of the prerogatives of the heart in the face of disappointment and misfortune. Jane Eyre has enjoyed huge popularity since first publication, and its success owes much to its exceptional emotional power.

The Call of the Wild

By: Jack London

A dog in the Klondike reverts to wilderness life and becomes the leader of a pack of wolves.

Moby-Dick

By: Herman Melville

The itinerant sailor Ishmael begins a voyage on the whaling ship Pequod whose captain, Ahab, wishes to exact revenge upon the whale Moby-Dick, who destroyed his last ship and took his leg. As they search for the savage white whale, Ishmael questions all aspects of life. The story is woven in complex, lyrical language and uses many theatrical forms, such as stage direction and soliloquy. It is considered the exemplar of American Romanticism, and one of the greatest American novels of all time.

Frankenstein

By: Mary Shelley

1984

By: George Orwell

Winston Smith and Julia join the underground opposition to the totalitarian government that would suffocate individuality.

Animal Farm

by: George Orwell

An account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones's Manor Farm into Animal Farm, a wholly democratic society built on the credo that All Animals Are Created Equal. But are they?

Dracula

By: Bram Stoker

The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By: Mark Twain

Nineteenth-century American author Mark Twain's novel in which Huck Finn, the son of the town drunk, and Jim, an escaped slave, make a break for freedom down the Mississippi River on a raft; includes two critical essays

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

By: Mark Twain

Tells the adventures of a boy and a runaway slave as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft.

A Tale of Two Cities

By: Charles Dickens

Lucie Manette had been separated from her father for eighteen years while he languished in Paris's most feared prison, the Bastille. Finally reunited, the Manettes's fortunes become inextricably intertwined with those of two men, the heroic aristocrat Darnay, and the dissolute lawyer, Carton. Their story, which encompasses violence, revenge, love and redemption, is grippingly played out against the backdrop of the terrifying brutality of the French Revolution. A Tale of Two Cities begins on a muddy English road in an atmosphere charged with mystery and drama, and it ends in the Paris of the French Revolution with one of the most famous acts of self-sacrifice in literature. In between lies one of Charles Dickens's most exciting books- a historical novel that, generation after generation, has given readers access to the profound human dramas that lie behind cataclysmic social and political events.

Great Expectations

By: Charles Dickens

'In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman — and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her haughtiness; and the embittered Miss Havisham, an eccentric jilted bride

Catch-22

Joseph Heller

Presents a classic edition of the 1961 satire of military bureaucracy, focusing on the story of John Yossarian, a bombadier in World War II who is trying to avoid getting killed while at the same time dealing with a colonel who keeps upping the number of missions he must fly.

The Age of Innocence

By: Edith Wharton

Newland Archer, a young lawyer in upper-crust 1870's New York, becomes a victim of social expectations and restrictions when he becomes infatuated with his docile fiancee's nonconformist cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska.

The Iliad

By: Homer

A modern verse translation of Homer's classic epic of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, from Agamemnon's visit by the priest Chryses to the burial of Hector.

The Catcher in the rye

By: J. D. Salinger

An adolescent boy, knowing he is about to be dropped by his school, spends three days and nights in New York City.

Les Misérables

By: Victor Hugo

Presents an English translation of the nineteenth-century French novel about Jean Valjean, a peasant who is released from prison, where he spent nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family, only to find himself threatened by people and events from his past.

The Outsiders

By: S. E. Hinton

The struggle of three brothers to stay together after their parent's death and their quest for identity among the conflicting values of their adolescent society.

The count of Monte Cristo

By: Alexandre Dumas

Tells the story of Edmond Dantes, wrongfully imprisoned for life in the supposedly impregnable sea fortress the Chateau d'If. After a daring escape, and after unearthing a hidden treasure revealed to him by a fellow prisoner, he devotes the rest of his life to tracking down and punishing the enemies who wronged him.

Anna Karenina

By: Leo Tolstoy

In nineteenth-century Russia, the wife of an important government official loses her family and social status when she chooses the love of Count Vronsky over a passionless marriage.

Wuthering Heights

By: Emily Bronte

First published 1847 in England. Forced by a storm to spend the night at the home of the somber Heathcliff, Mr. Lockwood uncovers a tale of terror and hatred on the Yorkshire moors.

Lord of the Flies

By: William Golding

Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality.

War and Peace

By: Leo Tolstoy

An English translation of Leo Tolstoy's classic epic novel about the lives of five aristocratic families in Moscow and St. Petersburg against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars of 1805 to 1814.

The Scarlet Letter

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

In 18th century Boston, a Puritan woman is condemned to wear the letter "A" for bearing an illegitimate daughter.

Fahrenheit 451

By: Ray Bradbury

After learning that books are a vital part of a culture he never knew, a book-burning official in a future fascist state clandestinely pursues reading until he is betrayed. Includes a 2003 introduction by the author.

The Hobbit: or There and Back Again

J. R. R. Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, becomes a thief for a band of dwarves and soon finds himself in the midst of a war with the evil goblins and wargs, and forced to make a decision between the call of duty and the pull of the simple life.

Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the Ring

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

A young hobbit named Frodo Baggins is suddenly given a great responsibility: possession of the Dark Lord's dangerously powerful One Ring, which he must take on a perilous journey to the Cracks of Doom, where it can be destroyed. Includes a pull-out map of the West of Middle-earth

The Picture of Dorian Gray

By: Oscar Wilde

An exquisitely beautiful young man in Victorian England retains his youthful and innocent appearance over the years while his portrait reflects both his age and evil soul as he pursues a life of decadence and corruption

One Hundred Years of Solitude

By: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family.

The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

By: Robert Louis Stevenson

Kindly, respected Dr. Henry Jekyll is convinced that all men have two personalities lurking within them. He concocts a drug to separate one man into two personalities and tests it on himself.

The Time Machine

By: H. G. Wells

Relates the adventures of a scientist who invents a machine that transports him into the future.

Crime and Punishment

by: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Raskolnikov, a former Russian student, murders an old pawnbroker and her sister, but the guilt which enfolds him and with which he struggles result in a tragedy of tension and terror.

Watership Down

By: Richard Adams

Chronicles the adventures of a group of rabbits searching for a safe place to establish a new warren where they can live in peace

Cat’s Cradle

By: Kurt Vonnegut

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three eccentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to humankind brings about the end, that for all of us

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

By: Lewis Carroll

Collects Lewis Carroll's classic children's novels about a little girl named Alice who follows a white rabbit down a hole and discovers a strange world filled with unusual and nonsensical characters.