Recs if you like Bleak House...
1001 Books to Read Before You Die
Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.
books insufferable people claim to have read
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
Penguin's 100 Must-Read Classics
Penguin asked its readers in 2022 for the must-read classics. This is that list!
100 Gothic Classics
A list of 100 gothic classics which covers over 250 years of literature, from the high-drama castles of the 1700s to the psychological "New Gothic" of today.
Bleakness Is My Weakness
For when you need to wallow in melancholy and misery: a collection of pessimistic, cynical, downbeat, depressing, doom and gloom fiction for my disillusioned friends.
More to come!
Got the holiday blues? Check out my list Christmas with the Cranks!
gimme them LONG classics, i wanna carry a BRICK
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
Audiobook Narrator Spotlight: Simon Vance
📍title inspired by @erintripsey's lists Audiobooks narrated by Brighton, England's Simon Vance! I'm a fan of his narration of Bram Stoker's Dracula and wanted to compile a list of more books narrated by him. He has a smooth English accent, lighter tone for feminine characters, and distinct variations with other UK/European accents.
Fun Fact: He's been an audiobook narrator since age 6, when he did a reading of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne!
Tiny Fables
All fiction books that appear in the Tiny Bookshop catalogue! Would sort them by genre as I read along.
Penguin's 100 Must Read Classics
I'm going to read every book every
I Like Big Books...
...and I cannot lie.
Mammoth books over 800 pages!
A Comprehensive List of Gothic Literature
A comprehensive list from Dr. Rebecca Marks (ig:culture_dumper). Includes English, American, Irish, Scottish, German, French, Spanish and Latin American Gothic stories.
classic mysteries to read on a stormy night
we have crime! we have thunderstorms! we have quicksand! we have romance sub plots! we have old timey investigators! we have some sexism and racism that definitely needs to be addressed by modern audiences…
The Guardian’s The 100 Best Novels of All Time
A list published by The Guardian on 5/16/2026, as voted on by authors, critics, and academics worldwide.
Tiny bookshop books
From the game. Because I can't be the only one using it as an excuse to add to my tbr
Guillermo del Toro’s Required Reading
A collection of Guillermo Del Toro’s required reading!
This list is from an interview he did with Jack Edwards on his YouTube. You can find the video here
In the video he mentions some authors instead of books so I chose some the popular ones or collections.
If anyone has seen any other interviews where he mentions other books let me know and I’ll add them!
Note: These are not books written by him, but books he recommends.
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
I tried to find the latest version (2026).
Top 100 Books! (According to The Guardian)
The Guardian Top 100 Best Novels
Long Classics
People who like to read long books rise up! These are classics that are longer than 500 Pages. Feel free to recommend more!
Fancily fighting crimes (or commiting them)
19th century (and a little early 20th) fiction about private detectives and clever con artists (or both!)
Oxford Reading List for English
Found this online - a reading list of a first year English course at Oxford University. Wanted to create this for my own enjoyment and figured someone else might like it too! I only added the fiction and poetry books and I also did not add any companions.
The last bit (from bottom up to Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway) are required reading - top half is recommended.
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