In 1899, The Daily Telegraph of London offered its readers a list of the “100 Best Novels in the World,” as assessed by the editor and a small committee of consultants. Although compiled at the end of the 19th Century, the list is not limited to that century. Allan Massie has a good essay comparing the 1899 list to a similar list compiled by The Daily Telegraph in 1999.
I have been halfheartedly (more like deci-heartedly) working on this list for a couple of years now. Inspired by Rebecca Reid’s Classics Circuit – described as “A Blog Tour of Classic Authors” – and a lively discussion on Wuthering Expectations about “overrated” books, I am adding this list to my List of Lists, with the hopes that I will then devote more attention to it.
Those few I have read are in red. Those on my TBR shelf are in blue. Several are out of print or otherwise hard to find, so I am resigned to the fact that I will never finish all these books. Which isn't such a bad thing -- those Victorians sure did love their seafaring tales!
The Tower of London by W. H. Ainsworth
Old St Paul's by W. H. Ainsworth
Windsor Castle by W. H. Ainsworth
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin
Pere Goriot by Honoré de Balzac
A Window in Thrums by J. M. Barrie
The Golden Butterfly by Walter Besant and James Rice
Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood
Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
The Deemster by Hall Caine
Valentine Vox by Henry Cockton
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
The Last of the Mohicans by J. Fenimore Cooper
The Pathfinder by J. Fenimore Cooper
The Prairie by J. Fenimore Cooper
Mr Isaacs by F. Marion Crawford
Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Firm of Girdlestone by Conan Doyle
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
Mary Barton by Mrs Gaskell
The Aide de Camp by James Grant
The Romance of War James Grant
Gabriel Conroy by Bret Harte
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Elsie Venner by Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
Two Years Ago by Charles Kingsley
Alton Locke by Charles Kingsley
Hypatia by Charles Kingsley
The Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn by Henry Kingsley
Soldiers Three by Rudyard Kipling
Guy Livingstone by George Lawrence
Harry Lorrequer by Charles Lever
Charles O'Malley by Charles Lever
The Atonement of Leam Dundas by E. Lynn Linton
Handy Andy by Samuel Lover
Rory O'More by Samuel Lover
Last of the Barons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Night and Morning by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Rienzi by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The Caxtons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
The King's Own by Captain Frederick Marryat
Peter Simple by Captain Frederick Marryat
Jacob Faithful by Captain Frederick Marryat
Midshipman Easy by Captain Frederick Marryat
Diana of the Crossways by George Meredith
John Halifax, Gentleman by D. M. Mulock
Under Two Flags by Ouida
It is Never Too Late to Mend by Charles Reade
Peg Woffington and Christie Johnstone by Charles Reade
Hard Cash by Charles Reade
The Headless Horseman by Captain Mayne Reid
Virginia of Virginia by Amelie Rives
The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
Tom Cringle's Log by Michael Scott
Cruise of the Midge by Michael Scott
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott
Old Mortality by Sir Walter Scott
Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott
Woodstock by Sir Walter Scott
The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
Frank Fairlegh by Frank E. Smedley
Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett
Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett
On the Face of the Waters by Mrs F. A. Steel
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (reviewed here)
Soapey Sponge's Sporting Tour by Robert Smith Surtees
The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue
The History of Henry Esmond by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Newcomes by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
Robert Elsmere by Mrs H. Ward
£10,000 a Year by Samuel Warren
The Wide, Wide World by Elizabeth Wetherell
Market Harborough by G. J. Whyte-Melville
Inside the Bar by G. J. Whyte-Melville
East Lynne by Mrs Henry Wood
NOTE
Last updated on July 17, 2016.
OTHERS WITH THIS LIST
Wuthering Expectations
My Reader's Block
If you have adopted this list, please leave a comment with a link to any related posts -- progress reports, reviews, similar or personal lists, etc. -- and I will add the link below.