Anonymous wrote:All of Dickens
Lord of the Flies
Moby Dick

And so many more. I'm actually kinda annoyed that I never had to read any of these for school. And I went to one of the top private high schools in the country.

I went to school in NE Europe(former SU) and had to read something from Dickens,Bronte and Austen,Poe,Shaw's plays,Orwell,Wells.I also read and Lord of the Flies, Moby Dick and Cather in the Rye(title didn't make any sense in my mother tongue). The big Russian novels were a must of course.
Hemingway (The Old man and the Sea), Stendhal, Eric Marie Remarque, Goethe, Balzac (Father Goriot), Cervantes and even Garcia Marquez were also part of the program.From Remarque I chose to to read All Quiet on the Western Front.
I also went to a top school, but all schools had pretty much the same programs along with several languages.
Any good any of the schooling did me, hard to find people to talk about the classics. The romance novels seem to be the books to read.Anyhow, there are still many classics I haven't read, but I promised to read them when I'm an old retired lady.

The Jungle Book

also, originals of Peter Pan and Mary Poppins are fun (children's classics)

Even if you read it, especially around 20s, some classics are definitely worth rereading later in your life. Totally different impression and, let's be honest, most of it is forgotten anyway.

Anonymous wrote:Rebecca
Jane Eyre
The Pearl
Ethan Frome
Little Women
Anne Frank
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

(I know some of these are considered "young adult," but still worthwhile if you have not read them yet, IMO."

I like this list. All women authors, except for one. There need to be more of them in the canon. Love Edith Wharton and the Brontes so much.

I read Grapes of Wrath a few years ago and it is well worth a read.

I can't finish Little Women or Anne Frank.

I know that for Little Women it is that I don't like that Jo turns down Laurie. I thought maybe that when I grew up a bit and reread it as an adult I might see things differently but no...the book falls apart for me then.

I'd like to read more Hemingway. I read the Old Man and the Sea and that was it.

I went to a small college prep high school and we were assigned authors but not titles usually. Of course we went and found the shortest "classic" by each author. So I've read Tale of Two Cities but nothing else by Dickens. Typee but not Moby Dick. Of Mice and Men but not Grapes of Wrath. Etc...

Never mind that for "light" reading, I plowed through all of Herman Wouk's books, Gone with The Wind, and countless other massive tomes.

Rebecca
Jane Eyre
The Pearl
Ethan Frome
Little Women
Anne Frank
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

(I know some of these are considered "young adult," but still worthwhile if you have not read them yet, IMO."

I read Moby Dick recently. It's actually pretty funny in places, surprisingly. Lots of whale lore tucked into separate chapters, but you can skip these if you want.

I have lugged a copy of War and Peace around the world with me. Still never read it. I have been tempted to ask the passport guys to stamp it in each country.

Anonymous wrote:All of Dickens
Lord of the Flies
Moby Dick

And so many more. I'm actually kinda annoyed that I never had to read any of these for school. And I went to one of the top private high schools in the country.

I didn't have to read any of these either. Or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or just about anything classic. I also am a little annoyed. What I've been doing is that as my oldest gets reading assignments, we read them together. I buy them on the Kindle.

All of Dickens
Lord of the Flies
Moby Dick

And so many more. I'm actually kinda annoyed that I never had to read any of these for school. And I went to one of the top private high schools in the country.

The bible.

Never read any Dostoyevsky

Call of the Wild

Came across Moby Dick today. Realized I have never read it. Am going to start.

What Great Books are missing from your checklist?