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If you are going to read The Outsiders, also read two of the author's, S.E. Hinton, other books - That Was Then This Is Now and Rumblefish, both are also very good coming of age novels.
I didn't see Lord of The Flies there, did I?.. it's a good classic novel.
How about The Time Machine, by HG Wells.. or The Invisible Man.
There have been some great books named already, and some of them my all-time favorites. But here are some others that I think are good additions to the all-time classic list and for a "well-rounded" reading list:
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown
A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Magus by John Fowles
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
Emma by Jane Austen
Watership Down by Ruchard Adams
The irony of this thread is that many classics are often unreadable. Alot of times they're dry, dull or just plain pointless.
Thank you!! I've been reading through this thread thinking many different times....why would you want to read that? I've always thought a lot of the "classics" were just plain depressing. NOT ALL...I want to make that clear before I get yelled at or someone throws their coffee cup at the screen But really.... I read to entertain myself, or expand my thinking a bit, not be bombarded with 18th century attitudes as I nod off to sleep.
Also wanted to note, I didn't see it on here, but may have just missed it: The Lord of the Rings. I get so mad when I talk to my younger cousins and they seem to think this was just a few movies. Read the books! Yes, the movies are pretty but I was told to read these at twelve years old and have since re read them at least once a year.
Another good one? The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
There is usually dispute about what are the best classics to read. It does take some background to get full appreciation, but the more one reads, the more one gathers information. I've certainly read many of the books, or at least the authors, listed here by folks. I've read Frankenstein at least four times, as a class assignment, but also just because I wanted to, as it is one of my faves. You should also try The Last Man by Mary Shelley, which is not listed, as far as I know, as a classic, but I think it should be, as it is one of the first of it's genre. It is the saddest novel I ever read. Frightening too. I love Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, and Poe. Just to name some. But I can't get started, the list is too long...
But also try Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Leslie Marmon Silko, Sherman Alexie, Simon J. Ortiz. These off the top of my head.
I love Charles Bukowski too. Very much.
BTW, they used to call us "bookworms". But what will people who read digital versions of lit be called, I wonder? I prefer books, but that's just me. I love to hold them in my hands, turn the pages, keep on my shelf. I also visit the library often.
Location: I will be escaping Suck City and landing in Tampa in December
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My list of classics---no particular order
Pride & Prejudice
Barry Lyndon
Dracula
Bleak House
Great Expectations
Pamela
Cecilia
The Monk
Anything by Washington Irving
The Jungle
Moll Flanders
The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
These are my favorites: Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, The Bell Jar, Slaughterhouse Five, A Farewell to Arms, Frankenstein, Hiroshima, A Separate Peace
I had to read Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace in high school, which was a long time ago. I hated both of them. When my daughter hit high school, she read Catcher and LOVED it. It's one of her favorite books. I couldn't get over her reaction to a book I thought was depressing and stupid. Then it occurred to me that reading it now, as an adult, as a different person than I was as a teenager, I might have a different perspective on the story. I hope to get around to reading it again.
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But really.... I read to entertain myself, or expand my thinking a bit, not be bombarded with 18th century attitudes as I nod off to sleep. 
