Must read books

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 Wait, before we start, let me ask you a question. Have you ever read a classic that was just so good but you just can’t find another book like that? As a certified bookworm, I can assure you that you are in no way alone and if I'm honest with you I do it way too often. Which is why for the benefit of both you and me, I will start at the beginning of your-, no our classical novel journey. 

Everyone enjoys good classic literature, but where should I begin? The fiction canon spans so many authors, from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison to Fyodor Dostoevsky, that it's simple to become lost in it. A  realm of fantasies.

Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

Toni Morrison's work Beloved, published in 1987 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1988. By portraying the life of a Black woman named Sethe from her time as a slave in Kentucky prior to the Civil War to her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873, the work addresses the damaging effects of slavery.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1823)

Shelley's novel, Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus (1818), is a combination of Gothic horror story and science fiction. The book tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss student of natural science who creates an artificial man from pieces of corpses and brings his creature to life.

Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It is the story of a vampire, Count Dracula's, who moves from his native Transylvania to England in the search for victims of his undead curse, and the actions of a group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing to combat him.

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954)

The Lord of the Rings is the saga of a group of sometimes reluctant heroes who set forth to save their world from consummate evil..Its numerous worlds and characters were inspired by Tolkien's in-depth familiarity with philology, folklore, and mythology.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

Midnight's Children, allegorical novel by Salman Rushdie, published in 1981. It is a historical chronicle of modern India centring on the inextricably linked fates of two children who were born within the first hour of independence from Great Britain.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a story about Alice who falls down a rabbit hole and lands into a fantasy world that is full of weird, wonderful people and animals..It's a well-known children's novel that many adults are also fond of.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (1964)

Charlie Bucket lives on the outskirts of town with his poverty-stricken family: his parents and all four grandparents. Each day on his way to school, Charlie passes the best and biggest chocolate factory in the world, run by the secretive Willy Wonka. When Charlie's father loses his job, things go from bad to worse.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (1967)

The Outsiders is about two weeks in the life of a 14-year-old boy. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1880)

The Brothers Karamasov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons―the impulsive Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, its social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911)

The novel centers on Mary Lennox, who is living in India with her wealthy British family..She is a pampered, obnoxious 10-year-old girl who has been neglected by her uncaring parents and treated spoiled by her staff. Mary becomes an orphan after a cholera outbreak kills her parents and the household staff.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)

A Christmas Carol is a play about a mean-spirited and selfish old man, Ebenezer Scrooge, who hates Christmas..On a cold Christmas Eve, Scrooge is rude to those who work for him, refusing to donate to charity and being rude when he invites his nephew to spend Christmas with him.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)

The story follows the lives of the four March sisters - Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy - and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. Loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters, it is classified as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.

The Castle by Franz Kafka (1926)

The Castle is the last novel by Franz Kafka. In it a protagonist known only as "K." arrives in a village and struggles to gain access to the mysterious authorities who govern it from a castle supposedly owned by Count Westwest.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1904)

A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, mermaids, Native Americans, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland.

The Godfather by Mario Puzo (1969)

It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the back story of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood.

Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854)

The book satirizes the social and economic circumstances of the time while evaluating English society.

This is the imagination to get lost to, indeed. These are times best books and honestly I could read some of them over a hundred times and never get tired of them. Which is why I wanted to share this with you all. Thank you!

Written By: Twarita Verma