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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Most Popular Genres Collections

Genres › 18th Century

Vathek
William Beckford
16 days •
ⓘ 1782 • The chronicle of Caliph Vathek, who seeks supernatural powers and stops at nothing to attain them.
The Monk
Matthew Lewis
58 days •
ⓘ 1796 • A struggle between personal ambition and religious vows leads to violence and darkness in this classic sinister Gothic novel.
The Castle of Otranto
Horace Walpole
15 days •
ⓘ 1764 • One of the first gothic novels, Walpole tells the tale of Manfred and his growing obsession with saving his family line by marrying the much younger Isabella.
The Romance of the Forest
Ann Radcliffe
53 days •
ⓘ 1791 • Placed under the protection of a family fleeing paris, Adeline finds herself in a sinister ruined abbey filled with horrors of the past. A suspenseful Gothic novel.
Persian Letters
Montesquieu
28 days •
ⓘ 1721 • Journey with Persian nobles Usbek and Rica as they travel through France, seek to understand Western culture, and deal with turmoil at home.
Manon Lescaut
Abbé Prévost
22 days •
ⓘ 1731 • Banned after its original publication in France, this is the scandalous story of Chevalier des Grieux who turns his back on his family and noble background for Manon Lescaut.
Tom Jones
Henry Fielding
113 days •
ⓘ 1749 • Tom Jones, a foundling with a mysterious past, is banished to London to find love, adventure, danger, and more in this classic comic novel of 18th century life.
Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
Mary Wollstonecraft
17 days •
ⓘ 1796 • A travel memoir and record of Wollstonecraft’s strained relationship with Gilbert Imlay, as well as the last publication of her life.
A Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume
72 days •
ⓘ 1738 • A foundational work in philosophy, Hume seeks to introduce a scientific mindset to the study of human psychology.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake
7 days •
ⓘ 1789 • A collection of poetry by the "pre-romantic" William Blake, who was thought mad by his contemporaries.
The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
14 days •
ⓘ 1762 • Rousseau explores the possibility that a "contract" between people be the source of sovereign power, not systems such as monarchies. His ideas would help inspire political revolt through Europe.
Clarissa
Samuel Richardson
294 days •
ⓘ 1748 • An epistolary novel of Clarissa's quest for virtue in spite of her family's machinations and the dangerous Robert Lovelace.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake
4 days •
ⓘ 1790 • A collection of poetry satirizing religion, following the author’s descent to hell.
Evelina
Frances Burney
51 days •
ⓘ 1778 • Following the heroine Evelina's journey through 18th century London society, Burney critiques the snobbery, consumerism, and aggression towards women found in fashionable upperclass life.
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.
A Sicilian Romance
Ann Radcliffe
21 days •
ⓘ 1790 • Murder, secret tunnels, haunted castles, and miraculous discoveries await Julia as she tries to escape an unwanted marriage in this Gothic classic.
The Vicar of Wakefield
Oliver Goldsmith
20 days •
ⓘ 1766 • Follow the ups and downs of a virtuous vicar's family, navigating challenges with humor and resilience in 18th-century England.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon
300 days •
ⓘ 1776 • The monumental six volume history of Rome, from its peak through the fall first of Western Rome and then of Byzantium.
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