Журнал The Observer согласно каким-то своим субъективным взглядам провёл анализ НЕ современной литературы. Того, что обычно называют классикой и что пылится на полках букинистических магазинов.

Но это НАШЕ наследие. И это, если уж не прочитать всё, то хотя бы стоит знать.

Вот первые 30 романов из списка газеты The Observer

1. Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes • Мигель Сервантес. Дон Кихот The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries.

2. Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan • Джон Беньян. Путь паломника

The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair.

3. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe •          Даниель Дефо. Робинзо Крузо The first English novel.

4. Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift • Джонатан Свифт. Путешествия Гулливера

A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision.

5. Tom Jones Henry Fielding

The adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy: an unbeatable plot and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage. Избранные произведения

6. Clarissa Samuel Richardson На английском языке

One of the longest novels in the English language, but unputdownable.

7. Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne На английском языке Русский перевод 

One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for its own good.

8. Dangerous Liaisons Pierre Choderlos De Laclos Опасные связи

An epistolary novel and a handbook for seducers: foppish, French, and ferocious.

9. Emma Jane Austen. Джейн Остин Эмма

Near impossible choice between this and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma never fails to fascinate and annoy.

10. Frankenstein Mary Shelley. Мэри Шелли Франкенштейн

 Inspired by spending too much time with Shelley and Byron.

11. Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock

A classic miniature: a brilliant satire on the Romantic novel.

12. The Black Sheep Honore De Balzac Оноре де Бальзак Собрание сочинений

Two rivals fight for the love of a femme fatale. Wrongly overlooked.

13. The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal Стендаль

Penetrating and compelling chronicle of life in an Italian court in post-Napoleonic France.

14. The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas. Граф Монте-Кристо Александра Дюма

A revenge thriller also set in France after Bonaparte: a masterpiece of adventure writing.

15. Sybil Benjamin Disraeli. Сибилла Бенджамин Дизраэли

Apart from Churchill, no other British political figure shows literary genius.

16. David Copperfield Charles Dickens. Дэвид Копперфилд Чарльз Диккенс

This highly autobiographical novel is the one its author liked best.

17. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte. Грозовой перевал. Эмили Бронте

Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff have passed into the language. Impossible to ignore.

18. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte. Джейн Эйр Шарлотта Бронте

Obsessive emotional grip and haunting narrative.

19. Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray. Ярмарка тщеславия Уильям Теккерей Мейкпис

The improving tale of Becky Sharp.

20. The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne. Алая Буква. Натаниель Готорн

A classic investigation of the American mind.

21. Moby-Dick Herman Melville. Моби Дик Моби Дик Герман Мелвилл

'Call me Ishmael' is one of the most famous opening sentences of any novel.

22. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert. Мадам Бовари Гюстав Флобер

You could summarise this as a story of adultery in provincial France, and miss the point entirely.

23. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins. Женщина в белом Уилки Коллинз

Gripping mystery novel of concealed identity, abduction, fraud and mental cruelty.

24. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Lewis Carroll. Алиса  в Стране Чудес Льюис Кэрролл

A story written for the nine-year-old daughter of an Oxford don that still baffles most kids.

25. Little Women Louisa M. Alcott. Маленькие женщины Луиза Олкотт М.

Victorian bestseller about a New England family of girls.

26. The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope. Энтони Троллопа

A majestic assault on the corruption of late Victorian England.

27. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy. Анна Каренина Лев Толстой

The supreme novel of the married woman's passion for a younger man.

28. Daniel Deronda George Eliot. Даниэль Деронда Джордж Элиот

A passion and an exotic grandeur that is strange and unsettling.

29. The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky. Братья Карамазовы Федор Достоевский

Mystical tragedy by the author of Crime and Punishment.

30. The Portrait of a Lady Henry James. Женский портрет Генри Джеймс

The story of Isabel Archer shows James at his witty and polished best.

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