Classics I loved reading ... again

Rediscover timeless classics with this curated list of beloved books worth reading again. Dive into literary masterpieces that captivate and inspire.

Nineteen Eighty-four Cover
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Nineteen Eighty-four

by George Orwell

Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities
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(Type: books)
Roughing it Cover
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Roughing it

by Mark Twain

Describes the author's experiences during the six years he spent in California, Nevada, and Hawaii
The Lord of the Rings Cover
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The Lord of the Rings

by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

Contains The Fellowship of the ring, The Two towers, and The Return of the king, appendices, indexes, and notes on the text.
The Picture of Dorian Gray Cover
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The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence, and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps." "From the Trade Paperback edition.
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ID: 0679405380
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Catch-22 Cover
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Catch-22

by Joseph Heller

Named one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. One of the funniest books ever written, Joseph Heller's masterpiece about a bomber squadron in the Second World War's Italian theater features a gallery of magnificently strange characters seething with comic energy. The malingering hero, Yossarian, is endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his skin from the horrible chances of war, and his story is studded with incidents and devices (including the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade and the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule that gives the book its title) that propel the narrative in a headlong satiric rush. But the reason Catch-22's satire never weakens and its jokes never date stems not from the comedy itself but from the savage, unerring, Swiftian indignation out of which that comedy springs. This fractured anti-epic, with all its aggrieved humanity, has given us the most enduring image we have of modern warfare. This hardcover Everyman's Library edition includes an introduction by Malcolm Bradbury, a chronology of the author's life and times, and a select bibliography. It is printed on acid-free paper, with sewn bindings, full-cloth covers, foil stamping, and a silk ribbon marker.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Cover
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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

by Italo Calvino

Introduction by Peter Washington; Translation by William Weaver Italo Calvino’s masterpiece combines a love story and a detective story into an exhilarating allegory of reading, in which the reader of the book becomes the book’s central character. Based on a witty analogy between the reader’s desire to finish the story and the lover’s desire to consummate his or her passion, IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of the same book—IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER, by Italo Calvino, of course—are constantly and comically frustrated. In between chasing missing chapters of the book, the hapless readers tangle with an international conspiracy, a rogue translator, an elusive novelist, a disintegrating publishing house, and several oppressive governments. The result is a literary labyrinth of storylines that interrupt one another—an Arabian Nights of the postmodern age.
The Count of Monte Cristo Cover
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The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

Relates a sailor's preparation for and execution of revenge against the three men responsible for his fifteen years in prison.