Recs if you like Middlemarch...

I've seen so many people say they don't read classics as they aren't diverse, and I wanted to give some suggestions that are.

This is a list of classics written by authors who are not Straight, Cis, White, and Men as the title suggests. I am also aiming to include a variety of cultures and regions in this list. If your looking for something more focused (e.g. diverse US classics) check out the lists I posted in the comments.

Suggestions are more than welcome!

Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.

books featured in the cozy video game “tiny bookshop”

classic literature only written by women, because why would a man be there??

puts beret on a jaunty angle ‘why yes i went to Oxbridge and go skiing on my holibobs with papa, why do you ask?’ takes a hit of tobacco flavoured vape, puts asterisk in margin of the obscure classic i’m ‘reading’

the list for people who want to look ‘well read’ and need some books to name drop - look no further if you have read them, more power to you, but this is explicitly about the people who claim to have read them but can’t read instructions on pasta

consider this a shopping list 🖤

Books for those who want to be well-read without the debt (created by someone with said debt)

Note: I will be deleting my PB account within the next two weeks, and I believe this list will be erased. Feel free to screenshot it if you see anything that interests you! ☺️ 3/17/2026

size matters for this list, all these classics are more than 400 pages long. they are THICK. suggestions welcome, i am a very generous interpreter of the term "classic" normally but i'm starting with the golden oldies

Penguin asked its readers in 2022 for the must-read classics. This is that list!

Your pre-1900 British & Irish lit starter pack from a bonafide English PhD

All fiction books that appear in the Tiny Bookshop catalogue! Would sort them by genre as I read along.

Books with short chapters!!! I started a challenge where I read a super long book a chapter-a-day and annotate it using a study guide! I found that annotating short chapters is super accessible and not overwhelming at all for me, so I wanted to share this list with anyone that wants to start over-analyzing their books :) I included a variety of stories because HOW you read is as important (if not more) than WHAT you read!!!!

I'm going to read every book every

wave em, shake em, jazz hands-em

always accepting suggestions for books with hands on the cover

...and I cannot lie.

Mammoth books over 800 pages!

These books have all been quoted in Margaret Renkl's The Comfort of Crows. Although some poems quoted in The Comfort of Crows are not included in this list.

classic & modern classic literature by women. limiting myself to one book per author. please let me know who i've missed!

classics written by women

book recs for blue readers according to read your color on substack | updated periodically

A list published by The Guardian on 5/16/2026, as voted on by authors, critics, and academics worldwide.