Recs if you like Ivanhoe...

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

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

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

Every book depicted on PBS's Wishbone (1995–1997)

This isn't MY list. These are the foundational texts of the Western Canon. Up until the early 1900s, these were unquestionably part of any educated person's background. Austen, Lewis, Twain, James, Sayers, Tolkien....what do you think they grew up reading that informed the genius works they created? Their masterpieces didn't materialize out of thin air. This list is by no means comprehensive, but you'll be off to a solid start.

Books that often get overlooked next to big author names or better known works by those authors.

Name generators my beloveds. Just a list made by someone whose D&D characters were mostly christened with the help of RNG. The one and only criterion: Title is a first/given name (or nickname too)! Some are verified by the book actually containing a character with that name.

Books mentioned or quoted in The Secret History and books mentioned by donna tartt

books mentioned/quoted by Will and/or Tessa in Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series (i added also the first book of the series to make it easier to navigate)

This is the compendium of books from the 2012 edition.