2023 Reading Schedule Builder

Create your reading list to tackle the best classic books in the new year, setting aside just 20 minutes a day! More info & examples →
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The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Arthur Conan Doyle
4 days •
ⓘ 1892 • Helen Stoner's sister recently perished, warning of "the speckled band," and now Helen feels her own life is in danger! Her mysterious and violent stepfather is the prime suspect. Sherlock Holmes sets out to investigate.
Bartleby, the Scrivener
Herman Melville
6 days •
ⓘ 1853 • Initially an impressively hard worker in the rat race on Wall Street, a new clerk suddenly refuses all work. "I would prefer not to" becomes his constant refrain.
The Canterville Ghost
Oscar Wilde
4 days •
ⓘ 1887 • An American family moves into the looming British mansion, Canterville Chase to the great annoyance of the home's ghost. Even worse, the family refuses to believe in him!
Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
4 days •
ⓘ 1849 • Disgusted by the Mexican-American War and slavery, Thoreau urges citizens to right their government's wrongs and be agents of positive change - even if it means breaking unjust laws.
The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
5 days •
ⓘ 1848 • "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" argue Marx and Engels in this, their world-shaking political pamphlet advocating for socialism over capitalism.
The Convict Laundress
Mary Theresa Vidal
2 days •
ⓘ 1852 • The sad descent of a working-class Irish woman, convicted of a crime and tempted by the "devils" of alcohol and opium.
The Creatures That Time Forgot
Ray Bradbury
5 days •
ⓘ 1946 • On a planet ravaged by hostile climate, the inhabitants have evolved to live just 8 days. But the means of escape lay glittering on a distant mountaintop.
The Crystal Crypt
Philip K. Dick
3 days •
ⓘ 1954 • Stark terror ruled the Inner-Flight ship on that last Mars-Terra run. For the black-clad Leiters were on the prowl and the grim red planet was not far behind.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
F. Scott Fitzgerald
4 days •
ⓘ 1922 • In Baltimore, baby Benjamin is born - but there's something terribly wrong. He is, to all appearances, a 70-year-old man, already capable of speech.
The Death of Ivan Ilych
Leo Tolstoy
7 days •
ⓘ 1886 • A powerful man of the world is suddenly and shockingly confronted with his own mortality in this, arguably one of the finest novellas ever written.
Fantomina
Eliza Haywood
4 days •
ⓘ 1725 • A "lady of distinguished birth, beauty, wit, and spirit" disguises herself to repeatedly manipulate and seduce the same man.
First Love
Ivan Turgenev
8 days •
ⓘ 1860 • The story of a young man who falls in love with an older woman, running through a gauntlet of emotions from joy and devotion to jealousy and despair.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde
9 days •
ⓘ 1895 • A comic masterpiece from Oscar Wilde filled with witty rapid-fire conversation, mistaken identities, and secret engagements.
La Grande Bretèche
Honoré de Balzac
3 days •
ⓘ 1831 • A curious neglected country estate hides a sordid and tragic history.
Lady Susan
Jane Austen
10 days •
ⓘ 1871 • The witty and beautiful Lady Susan Vernon has recently been widowed, and now seeks to find the best possible second marriage for herself. An unforgettable and perhaps unique character amongst 19th century literature.
The Lady with the Dog
Anton Chekhov
3 days •
ⓘ 1899 • An adulterous affair at a summer beach town becomes something more in this classic short story, deemed by Vladimir Nabokov the greatest ever written.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving
5 days •
ⓘ 1820 • In the dreamy town of Sleepy Hollow, ghosts haunt the woods, Native American bewitchments hang over the land, and a cloaked rider waits for Ichabod Crane.
The Little Mermaid
Hans Christian Andersen
4 days •
ⓘ 1837 • A young mermaid princess longs to visit the surface world of humans. The Sea Witch trades her a magical potion in exchange for the mermaid's tongue.
The Lurking Fear
H.P. Lovecraft
3 days •
ⓘ 1923 • Something is brutally slaughtering the locals at Tempest Mountain, drawing the attention of a reporter and monster hunter. Dark secrets and death await as storms rage overhead.
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
10 days •
ⓘ 1611 • Macbeth and his wife, consumed by desire for power, are driven to murder - then destroyed by guilt, paranoia, and madness.
The Madman
Khalil Gibran
3 days •
ⓘ 1918 • Philosophical poetry and short stories on truth, spirituality, and love by Lebanese author Khalil Gibran
The Man Who Would Be King
Rudyard Kipling
6 days •
ⓘ 1888 • Two adventurers set out for a remote part of Afghanistan to set themselves up as kings. But years later, things have not gone as they expected.
The Misadventures of John Nicholson
Robert Louis Stevenson
8 days •
ⓘ 1887 • The hapless John Nicholson trips over mistakes, follies, and bad luck until he's across the world from his family and suspected of murder.
A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift
2 days •
ⓘ 1729 • Swift suggests, to solve their economic woes, that impoverished Irish sell their children as food for the rich. A cutting satire mocking the heartless and savage way in which the wealthy look down on the poor.
The Monkey's Paw
W. W. Jacobs
2 days •
ⓘ 1902 • To the owner of the monkey's paw go three wishes, but also an enormous price.
Nature
Ralph Waldo Emerson
6 days •
ⓘ 1836 • Emerson's classic transcendentalist essay, finding that reality and the divine can be understood through nature.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce
2 days •
ⓘ 1890 • A Confederate saboteur is about to be hung from the Owl Creek railway bridge, but escape seems within his grasp. A captivating story with more than one twist ending.
The Open Boat
Stephen Crane
4 days •
ⓘ 1897 • A semi-autobiographical retelling of Crane's experience being shipwrecked and stranded for days off the coast of Florida.
Paul's Case
Willa Cather
3 days •
ⓘ 1905 • Pittsburgh high school student Paul dreams of escaping his middle-class life for one of culture and excitement.
The Pit and the Pendulum
Edgar Allan Poe
3 days •
ⓘ 1842 • The chilling tale of the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition. Poe plays on the reader's own senses to spark fear and revulsion.
The Prussian Officer
D.H. Lawrence
4 days •
ⓘ 1914 • A captain, frustrated with his empty life, turns his anger towards his young orderly.
The Seagull
Anton Chekhov
8 days •
ⓘ 1896 • In the words of Chekhov, this comedy has "much talk of literature, little action," and "five bushels of love."
Second Variety
Philip K. Dick
7 days •
ⓘ 1953 • A nuclear assault by the Soviet Union pushes UN forces to flee to the moon, leaving robots to continue the war. But the robots soon develop beyond their original purpose.
The Sound of Silence
Barbara Constant
2 days •
ⓘ 1962 • Lucilla feels like she's going crazy. She can answer a question before it's been asked, knows what other drivers will do before they make a move.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
10 days •
ⓘ 1886 • The duality of our public and private selves takes on an all too disturbing life in this classic tale of twisted identity.
A Warning to the Curious
M.R. James
3 days •
ⓘ 1925 • A chance discovery unleashes supernatural terror for archaeologist Paxton.
Xingu
Edith Wharton
3 days •
ⓘ 1916 • A biting roast of shallow book clubs where literature takes a back seat to personality and dysfunction.
The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
2 days •
ⓘ 1892 • Witness a woman's descent into madness in this unsettling, important early work of American feminist literature.
Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne
3 days •
ⓘ 1835 • Deep in the forest outside Salem Village, Goodman Brown encounters an old man with a snake staff and a haunting gathering.
Youth
Isaac Asimov
4 days •
ⓘ 1952 • While their fathers attempt to contact space aliens, Slim and Red stumble upon two strange animals.
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