 | Emma by Jane Austen
Perhaps the most polished of Austen's novels, Emma is a lovable buttinsky who is taken down a notch by life before she finds true love.
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 | Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
With a heroine who loves the early nineteenth century equivalent of my own guilty pleasure -- racy romance novels -- this lesser Austen work is well worth your time.
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 | Persuasion by Jane Austen
I never can decide if this is my favorite Austen novel. I love that the heroine is older, has lost her "bloom" and has a second chance at love. I delight in how Anne comes to life when her old flame reappears. And the characters of her two sisters and her preening father are fine examples of comedic writing at its best.
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 | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
How can anyone not love Elizabeth Bennet and the wonderfully haughty Mr. Darcy? Of course you must re-read this masterpiece at least annually.
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 | Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Perhaps Austen's most practical heroine, and one whose love story is quietest. But this is still Austen, after all, and satisfying to the last syllable. I especially love the scenes when the family rehearses for the racy home theatrics.
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 | Bartleby, the Scrivener A Story of Wall-Street by Herman Melville
Melville's wonderful novella is a tour de force of high comedy, pathos and human tragedy. The character of Bartleby, who just decides to "prefer" not to do any work one fine day, much to the exasperation of his long-suffering employer, is one of my favorite works of literature.
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 | Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
Mostly autobiographical, as most of Twain's best work is, this tale of life as a river boat captain in the mid-nineteen century is absorbing and fun.
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 | The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
An important book about the still-relevant arguments of "nature versus nurture," this tale of prejudice and perfidy is one of Twain's most intellectual works.
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 | A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A must-read for Christmas eve, when the kids are in bed and the gifts have been put under the tree. This book is written as though the spirit of Dickens were standing "over your right shoulder". It's truly wonderful, can be easily read in a few hours, and should be a holiday tradition.
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 | Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
A "life story" book, in the tradition of "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield," this novel is one of my favorites. The brother-sister relationship is tenderly-written, and the acting troop is hilarious -- especially the gin-soaked "Infant Phenomenon."
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 | Bleak House by Charles Dickens
A phenomenal indictment of the British legal system, and its horrible effect on the people trapped within a civil case. If you have never heard of "Jarndyce v. Jarndyce," you must read this book immediately.
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 | Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
My favorite Dickens novel, this wonderful tale of fate and how kindness can come back to haunt us, is eminently readable.
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 | Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter
The story of a boy who captures the American dream with hard work and good character in a great swamp in middle America. That description makes it sound dull, but it is anything but. If you love the great outdoors, true love and a wonderful tale, this is your book.
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 | A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
A sequel to "Freckles," the story of the plucky Elnora and her quest for knowledge, love and a good relationship with her mother is still timely and absorbing.
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 | Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The ultimate horse story for animal lovers, this book, told from the horse's mouth (literally), will make you cry and be a little more aware of the cruelties people can inflict on our beasts of burden.
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 | The Time Machine by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Wonderfully imagined early science fiction.
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 | The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Science experiments gone awry as the diabolical Dr. Moreau turns beasts into human form. Creepy.
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 | The Invisible Man by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Invisibility can make you crazy. The book is better than the movies!
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 | Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
The literary version of "Gone With The Wind."
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 | A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
This is NOT the Brendan Fraser version. But it is still quite visual. A good adventure story.
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 | Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum
My favorite of all the Oz books, this is the fourth entry in the series. In this book, Toto has been left in Kansas while Dorothy journeys to California to visit her uncle. She has along a wonderfully acerbic cat named Eureka. An earthquake sends them tumbling into the center of the Earth, where they meet up with none other than the humbug Wizard himself.
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 | The Life of Hon. William F. Cody Known as Buffalo Bill the Famous Hunter, Scout and Guide by William Frederick Cody
I love Buffalo Bill, and his exploits, told in his own voice, are as grand as the wild, wild West he helped to shape.
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 | The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by Meriwether Lewis
Perhaps the most important "journey of discovery" in American history (until the moon shot), these journal entries detail the courage and attention to detail it took to undertake a two-year trip to discover a continent and report back to an anxious President Jefferson.
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 | Little Women (Sterling Classics) by Louisa May Alcott
A terrific heroine, Jo March is one of my favorite characters in fiction.
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 | The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
If I could invite any of the Founding Fathers to dinner, it would be Benjamin Franklin. This book is witty, funny, opinionated and inspiring. He was also quite the ladies man.
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 | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Sad, dark and so very Russian, this is my favorite Russian novel. A tragedy, and yet somehow uplifting. It has never been adequately captured on film.
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 | The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A tale of sex and passion denied. The feminist in me so admires Hester and the way she stands up for herself and her child while shielding the weakness of the man she loves. Wonderful story-telling.
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 | The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald in Hollywood. Not his best, but it's Fitzgerald, so you will be enthralled.
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 | Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
A wonderful character study of a middle-aged hypocritical man -- a leading citizen in Zenith, Ohio -- who cannot quite understand why his life is just not turning out the way he thought it would.
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 | The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
This indictment of the meat-packing industry changed the way America looked at slaughter houses and the way we obtain our food. An important book.
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 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
No one can call themselves truly literate who does not read Alice's stories at least once a year. Treat yourself to a hardback copy of "The Annotated Alice." It contains both "Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass", and it has the originals of all the wonderful poetry parodies found in both books.
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 | Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington
What the well-read romantic was reading in the early 20th century, Alice Adams is from a working-class background, but tries to fit into the best society. Katharine Hepburn plays Alice in a wonderful movie adaptation of this best-selling novel.
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 | The Art of War by Sunzi
Philosophy at its pithiest. Some would opine that this book is a road map for success in such diverse endeavors as business, politics and love.
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 | Dream Psychology Psychoanalysis for Beginners by Sigmund Freud
Try some self-analysis.
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 | The Woman's Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Rabble-rousing from an early feminist.
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 | The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
Kipling's story of two friends who search for fortune and power. Mark Twain greatly admired this book.
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 | The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Kipling's masterpiece -- has all the Disney characters, but is much more satisfying.
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 | The Winning of the West, Volume 1 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1769-1776 by Theodore Roosevelt
Volume one of a five-part series, all available for free. Roosevelt loved the West, and it shows in this well-written prose.
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