Skip to Main Content (Press Enter) Toggle side nav
mobile banner image
The ReadDown

100 Essential Penguin Classics

Fan of classic fiction or looking for a new read? Here’s a list of important Penguin Classics.

And if you’re in the holiday spirit, check out our list of 15 Christmas Classics, and even more books for the season on our Holiday Gift Guide.

  1. 1

    East of Eden

    by John Steinbeck

    East of Eden Book Cover Picture
    East of Eden Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  2. 2

    America Is in the Heart

    by Carlos Bulosan

    America Is in the Heart Book Cover Picture
    America Is in the Heart Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  3. 3

    Wuthering Heights

    by Emily Bronte

    Wuthering Heights Book Cover Picture
    Wuthering Heights Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $24.00

    Also available from:

  4. 4

    Little Women

    by Louisa May Alcott

    Little Women Book Cover Picture
    Little Women Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  5. 5

    Cane

    by Jean Toomer

    Cane Book Cover Picture
    Cane Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $15.00

    Also available from:

  6. 6

    Twelve Years a Slave

    by Solomon Northup

    Twelve Years a Slave Book Cover Picture
    Twelve Years a Slave Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  7. 7

    Devil on the Cross

    by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

    Devil on the Cross Book Cover Picture
    Devil on the Cross Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  8. 8

    Amiable with Big Teeth

    by Claude McKay

    Amiable with Big Teeth Book Cover Picture
    Amiable with Big Teeth Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  9. 9

    Dark Tales

    by Shirley Jackson

    Dark Tales Book Cover Picture
    Dark Tales Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  10. 10

    The Joy Luck Club

    by Amy Tan

    The Joy Luck Club Book Cover Picture
    The Joy Luck Club Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  11. 11

    The Bloody Chamber

    by Angela Carter

    The Bloody Chamber Book Cover Picture
    The Bloody Chamber Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  12. 12

    The Tale of the Heike

    by

    The Tale of the Heike Book Cover Picture
    The Tale of the Heike Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $30.00

    Also available from:

  13. 13

    The River Between

    by Ngugi wa Thiong’o

    The River Between Book Cover Picture
    The River Between Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  14. 14

    Les Miserables

    by Victor Hugo

    Les Miserables Book Cover Picture
    Les Miserables Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $25.00

    Also available from:

  15. 15

    Something to Remember Me By

    by Saul Bellow

    Something to Remember Me By Book Cover Picture
    Something to Remember Me By Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  16. 16

    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

    by Frederick Douglass

    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Book Cover Picture
    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $13.00

    Also available from:

  17. 17

    On Being Different

    by Merle Miller

    On Being Different Book Cover Picture
    On Being Different Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $14.00

    Also available from:

  18. 18

    My Inventions and Other Writings

    by Nikola Tesla

    My Inventions and Other Writings Book Cover Picture
    My Inventions and Other Writings Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  19. 19

    The Beautiful and Damned

    by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The Beautiful and Damned Book Cover Picture
    The Beautiful and Damned Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $27.00

    Also available from:

  20. 20

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    by Mark Twain

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Book Cover Picture
    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  21. 21

    Revolutionary Suicide

    by Huey P. Newton

    Revolutionary Suicide Book Cover Picture
    Revolutionary Suicide Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  22. 22

    Pride and Prejudice

    by Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice Book Cover Picture
    Pride and Prejudice Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  23. 23

    Candide

    by Francois Voltaire

    Candide Book Cover Picture
    Candide Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $26.00

    Also available from:

  24. 24

    Lady Chatterley’s Lover

    by D. H. Lawrence

    Lady Chatterley's Lover Book Cover Picture
    Lady Chatterley's Lover Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $20.00

    Also available from:

  25. 25

    The Snow Leopard

    by Peter Matthiessen

    The Snow Leopard Book Cover Picture
    The Snow Leopard Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  26. 26

    On the Road: the Original Scroll

    by Jack Kerouac

    On the Road: the Original Scroll Book Cover Picture
    On the Road: the Original Scroll Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  27. 27

    Metamorphosis and Other Stories

    by Franz Kafka

    Metamorphosis and Other Stories Book Cover Picture
    Metamorphosis and Other Stories Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  28. 28

    The Pillow Book

    by Sei Shonagon

    The Pillow Book Book Cover Picture
    The Pillow Book Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $19.00

    Also available from:

  29. 29

    Under the Sea-Wind

    by Rachel L. Carson

    Under the Sea-Wind Book Cover Picture
    Under the Sea-Wind Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  30. 30

    Ceremony

    by Leslie Marmon Silko

    Ceremony Book Cover Picture
    Ceremony Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  31. 31

    The Haunting of Hill House

    by Shirley Jackson

    The Haunting of Hill House Book Cover Picture
    The Haunting of Hill House Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  32. 32

    The Odyssey

    by Homer

    The Odyssey Book Cover Picture
    The Odyssey Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  33. 33

    Gravity’s Rainbow

    by Thomas Pynchon

    Gravity's Rainbow (Classics Deluxe Edition) Book Cover Picture
    Gravity's Rainbow (Classics Deluxe Edition) Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $23.00

    Also available from:

  34. 34

    The Divine Comedy

    by Dante Alighieri

    The Divine Comedy Book Cover Picture
    The Divine Comedy Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $27.00

    Also available from:

  35. 35

    Twelve Angry Men

    by Reginald Rose

    Twelve Angry Men Book Cover Picture
    Twelve Angry Men Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $14.00

    Also available from:

  36. 36

    Jane Eyre

    by Charlotte Bronte

    Jane Eyre Book Cover Picture
    Jane Eyre Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  37. 37

    The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

    by Leo Tolstoy

    The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories Book Cover Picture
    The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $12.00

    Also available from:

  38. 38

    Kokoro

    by Natsume Soseki

    Kokoro Book Cover Picture
    Kokoro Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  39. 39

    Therese Raquin

    by Emile Zola

    Therese Raquin Book Cover Picture
    Therese Raquin Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $13.00

    Also available from:

  40. 40

    The Quiet American

    by Graham Greene

    The Quiet American Book Cover Picture
    The Quiet American Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  41. 41

    The Aleph and Other Stories

    by Jorge Luis Borges

    The Aleph and Other Stories Book Cover Picture
    The Aleph and Other Stories Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  42. 42

    Anna Karenina

    by Leo Tolstoy

    Anna Karenina Book Cover Picture
    Anna Karenina Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $30.00

    Also available from:

  43. 43

    East Goes West

    by Younghill Kang

    East Goes West Book Cover Picture
    East Goes West Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  44. 44

    Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada

    by Pablo Neruda

    Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada Book Cover Picture
    Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $14.00

    Also available from:

  45. 45

    Sixty Stories

    by Donald Barthelme

    Sixty Stories Book Cover Picture
    Sixty Stories Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  46. 46

    The Art of War

    by Sun Tzu and Thomas Cleary

    The Art of War Book Cover Picture
    The Art of War Book Cover Picture

    Available from:

  47. 47

    The Hanging on Union Square

    by H. T. Tsiang

    The Hanging on Union Square Book Cover Picture
    The Hanging on Union Square Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  48. 48

    The Count of Monte Cristo

    by Alexandre Dumas

    The Count of Monte Cristo Book Cover Picture
    The Count of Monte Cristo Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $30.00

    Also available from:

  49. 49

    Frankenstein

    by Mary Shelley

    Frankenstein Book Cover Picture
    Frankenstein Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $23.00

    Also available from:

  50. 50

    Utopia

    by Thomas More

    Utopia Book Cover Picture
    Utopia Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $12.00

    Also available from:

  51. 51

    Lysistrata and Other Plays

    by Aristophanes

    Lysistrata and Other Plays Book Cover Picture
    Lysistrata and Other Plays Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $12.00

    Also available from:

  52. 52

    Dracula

    by Bram Stoker

    Dracula Book Cover Picture
    Dracula Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $23.00

    Also available from:

  53. 53

    Robinson Crusoe

    by Daniel Defoe

    Robinson Crusoe Book Cover Picture
    Robinson Crusoe Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $23.00

    Also available from:

  54. 54

    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

    by Lewis Carroll

    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Book Cover Picture
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $24.00

    Also available from:

  55. 55

    The Last Days of Socrates

    by Plato

    The Last Days of Socrates Book Cover Picture
    The Last Days of Socrates Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $14.00

    Also available from:

  56. 56

    The Crucible

    by Arthur Miller

    The Crucible Book Cover Picture
    The Crucible Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $15.00

    Also available from:

  57. 57

    Middlemarch

    by George Eliot

    Middlemarch Book Cover Picture
    Middlemarch Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $26.00

    Also available from:

  58. 58

    The Bhagavad Gita

    by Anonymous

    The Bhagavad Gita Book Cover Picture
    The Bhagavad Gita Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $11.00

    Also available from:

  59. 59

    Gulliver’s Travels

    by Jonathan Swift

    Gulliver's Travels Book Cover Picture
    Gulliver's Travels Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $22.00

    Also available from:

  60. 60

    Don Quixote

    by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

    Don Quixote Book Cover Picture
    Don Quixote Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  61. 61

    Herzog

    by Saul Bellow

    Herzog Book Cover Picture
    Herzog Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  62. 62

    The Canterbury Tales

    by Geoffrey Chaucer

    The Canterbury Tales Book Cover Picture
    The Canterbury Tales Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $25.00

    Also available from:

  63. 63

    Pygmalion

    by George Bernard Shaw

    Pygmalion Book Cover Picture
    Pygmalion Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $12.00

    Also available from:

  64. 64

    Passing

    by Nella Larsen

    Passing Book Cover Picture
    Passing Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $24.00

    Also available from:

  65. 65

    The Prince

    by Niccolo Machiavelli

    The Prince Book Cover Picture
    The Prince Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $8.00

    Also available from:

  66. 66

    The Picture of Dorian Gray

    by Oscar Wilde

    The Picture of Dorian Gray Book Cover Picture
    The Picture of Dorian Gray Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $24.00

    Also available from:

  67. 67

    Great Expectations

    by Charles Dickens

    Great Expectations Book Cover Picture
    Great Expectations Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  68. 68

    Madame Bovary

    by Gustave Flaubert

    Madame Bovary Book Cover Picture
    Madame Bovary Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $24.00

    Also available from:

  69. 69

    Moby-Dick

    by Herman Melville and Coralie Bickford-Smith

    Moby-Dick Book Cover Picture
    Moby-Dick Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $30.00

    Also available from:

  70. 70

    Siddhartha

    by Hermann Hesse

    Siddhartha Book Cover Picture
    Siddhartha Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  71. 71

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

    by Ken Kesey

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Book Cover Picture
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  72. 72

    The Scarlet Letter

    by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    The Scarlet Letter Book Cover Picture
    The Scarlet Letter Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $8.00

    Also available from:

  73. 73

    The Tale of Genji

    by Murasaki Shikibu

    The Tale of Genji Book Cover Picture
    The Tale of Genji Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $34.00

    Also available from:

  74. 74

    The Communist Manifesto

    by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

    The Communist Manifesto Book Cover Picture
    The Communist Manifesto Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $22.00

    Also available from:

  75. 75

    Hamlet

    by William Shakespeare

    Hamlet Book Cover Picture
    Hamlet Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $10.00

    Also available from:

  76. 76

    A Room with a View

    by E. M. Forster

    A Room with a View Book Cover Picture
    A Room with a View Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $11.00

    Also available from:

  77. 77

    Treasure Island

    by Robert Louis Stevenson

    Treasure Island Book Cover Picture
    Treasure Island Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $23.00

    Also available from:

  78. 78

    Personal Memoirs

    by Ulysses S. Grant

    Personal Memoirs Book Cover Picture
    Personal Memoirs Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $19.00

    Also available from:

  79. 79

    The Souls of Black Folk

    by W. E. B. Du Bois

    The Souls of Black Folk Book Cover Picture
    The Souls of Black Folk Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $14.00

    Also available from:

  80. 80

    The Age of Innocence

    by Edith Wharton

    The Age of Innocence Book Cover Picture
    The Age of Innocence Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $11.00

    Also available from:

  81. 81

    Of Mice and Men

    by John Steinbeck

    Of Mice and Men Book Cover Picture
    Of Mice and Men Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  82. 82

    The Stonewall Reader

    by

    The Stonewall Reader Book Cover Picture
    The Stonewall Reader Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $18.00

    Also available from:

  83. 83

    My Antonia

    by Willa Cather

    My Antonia Book Cover Picture
    My Antonia Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $11.00

    Also available from:

  84. 84

    Dubliners

    by James Joyce

    Dubliners Book Cover Picture
    Dubliners Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $11.00

    Also available from:

  85. 85

    The Joy Luck Club

    by Amy Tan

    The Joy Luck Club Book Cover Picture
    The Joy Luck Club Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Also available from:

  86. 86

    The Last of the Mohicans

    by James Fenimore Cooper

    The Last of the Mohicans Book Cover Picture
    The Last of the Mohicans Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $13.00

    Also available from:

  87. 87

    Fear and Trembling

    by Soren Kierkegaard

    Fear and Trembling Book Cover Picture
    Fear and Trembling Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $13.00

    Also available from:

  88. 88

    The Jungle

    by Upton Sinclair

    The Jungle Book Cover Picture
    The Jungle Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $19.00

    Also available from:

  89. 89

    Walden and Civil Disobedience

    by Henry David Thoreau

    Walden and Civil Disobedience Book Cover Picture
    Walden and Civil Disobedience Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $14.00

    Also available from:

  90. 90

    Uncle Tom’s Cabin

    by Harriet Beecher Stowe

    Uncle Tom's Cabin Book Cover Picture
    Uncle Tom's Cabin Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $10.00

    Also available from:

  91. 91

    The Analects

    by Confucius

    The Analects Book Cover Picture
    The Analects Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $12.00

    Also available from:

  92. 92

    Confessions

    by Augustine of Hippo

    Confessions Book Cover Picture
    Confessions Book Cover Picture

    Hardcover
    $22.00

    Also available from:

  93. 93

    Leaves of Grass

    by Walt Whitman

    Leaves of Grass Book Cover Picture
    Leaves of Grass Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $13.00

    Also available from:

  94. 94

    The Epic of Gilgamesh

    by

    The Epic of Gilgamesh Book Cover Picture
    The Epic of Gilgamesh Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $12.00

    Also available from:

  95. 95

    The Travels

    by Marco Polo

    The Travels Book Cover Picture
    The Travels Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Also available from:

  96. 96

    The Song of Roland

    by Anonymous

    The Song of Roland Book Cover Picture
    The Song of Roland Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $13.00

    Also available from:

  97. 97

    Beowulf

    by Anonymous

    Beowulf Book Cover Picture
    Beowulf Book Cover Picture

    Mass Market Paperback
    $4.95

    Also available from:

  98. 98

    The Song of Kieu

    by Du Nguyen

    The Song of Kieu Book Cover Picture
    The Song of Kieu Book Cover Picture

    Paperback
    $15.00

    Also available from:

Find other titles in

Classics

Related Lists:

Back to Top

Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

Raise kids who love to read

Brightly

Raise kids who love to read
An online magazine for today’s home cook

TASTE

An online magazine for today’s home cook
The eBooks you want at the lowest prices

LitFlash

The eBooks you want at the lowest prices
Read it first. Pass it on!

Read it Forward

Read it first. Pass it on!