World's Best Reading

World's Best Reading
AuthorVarious
LanguageEnglish
PublisherReader's Digest
Published1982–2013
No. of books155+

The World's Best Reading is a series of classic books published by Reader's Digest beginning in 1982.[1] The series is distributed as a mail order membership club. Some individual volumes are available for sale directly through the Reader's Digest website. The series began with limited editions in 1982, then expanded to bi-monthly editions for years 1984 to 1995.

The series is still in print. Many of the editions are ornately illustrated and included commissioned artwork. Each volume includes a small paper pamphlet with a biography of the author.

Editions

No. Title Author Date
1 The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane 1982
2 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1983
3 The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1984
4 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë 1984
5 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1984
6 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1984
7 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Mark Twain 1984
8 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne 1984
9 Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1985
10 The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne 1985
11 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1985
12 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1985
13 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1985
14 The Call of the Wild and White Fang Jack London 1985
15 Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 1986
16 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1986
17 Tales of Suspense Edgar Allan Poe 1986
18 A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1986
19 Silas Marner George Eliot 1986
20 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1986
21 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales Washington Irving 1987
22 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1987
23 For the Term of His Natural Life Marcus Clarke 1987
24 The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories O. Henry 1987
25 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1987
26 Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain 1987
27 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1987
28 The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens 1988
29 The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1988
30 Around the World in 80 Days Jules Verne 1988
31 A Christmas Carol and Other Stories Charles Dickens 1988
32 The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain 1988
33 The Virginian Owen Wister 1988
34 A Passage to India E.M. Forster 1989
35 The Sea-Wolf Jack London 1989
36 The Song of Hiawatha and Other Poems Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1989
37 Twice-Told Tales Nathaniel Hawthorne 1989
38 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1989
39 Moby Dick Herman Melville 1989
40 Kim Rudyard Kipling 1990
41 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas Jules Verne 1990
42 On Our Selection and Our New Selection Steele Rudd 1990
43 Lost Horizon James Hilton 1990
44 The Innocents Abroad Mark Twain 1990
45 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1990
46 Doctor Zhivago Boris Leonidovich Pasternak 1990
47 Tales from the Arabian Nights 1991
48 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1991
49 Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe 1991
50 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1991
51 The Return of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1991
52 The Adventures of Robin Hood Paul Creswick 1991
53 A Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1992
54 The Celebrated Jumping Frog and Other Stories Mark Twain 1992
55 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Lew Wallace 1992
56 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1992
57 The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk 1992
58 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1992
59 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 1993
60 The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1993
61 Dusty and Man Shy Frank Dalby Davison 1993
62 Life with Father Clarence Day 1993
63 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 1993
64 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1993
65 The Robe Lloyd Cassell Douglas 1993
66 Heart of the West O. Henry 1993
67 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1994
68 The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle John Buchan 1994
69 Emma Jane Austen 1994
70 To Build a Fire and Other Stories Jack London 1994
71 King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard 1994
72 Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 1994
73 Roughing It Mark Twain 1994
74 Lorna Doone R. D. Blackmore 1995
75 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1995
76 Tales of the South Pacific James Michener 1995
77 Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana Jr. 1995
78 Beau Geste Percival Christopher Wren 1995
79 The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale Robert Louis Stevenson 1995
80 Goodbye Mr. Chips and Other Stories James Hilton 1995
81 Lost Horizon, Good-bye Mr. Chips and Other Stories James Hilton 1997
82 The Jungle Books Rudyard Kipling 1997
83 How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn 1997
84 Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel Jerome K. Jerome 1998
85 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1999
86 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1999
87 Far From the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 2002
88 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 2003
89 This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald 2003
90 Frankenstein Mary Shelley 2003
91 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 2003
92 Lord Jim Joseph Conrad 2003
95 Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 2004
96 My Antonia Willa Cather 2004
97 The Invisible Man and The Island of Dr. Moreau H. G. Wells 2004
98 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 2004
99 The Moon and Sixpence W. S. Maugham 2004
100 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 2004
101 Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw Henry James 2005
102 The Jungle Books Rudyard Kipling 2005
103 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 2005
104 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 2005
105 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 2005
107 The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine H. G. Wells 2005
108 Little Men Louisa May Alcott 2006
109 The Man of Property John Galsworthy 2006
110 Hard Times Charles Dickens 2006
111 Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope 2006
112 Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe 2006
113 The American Henry James 2007
114 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 2007
115 Persuasion Jane Austen 2007
116 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 2007
117 The Black Arrow Robert Louis Stevenson 2007
118 Dracula Bram Stoker 2007
119 Sons and Lovers D. H. Lawrence 2008
120 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 2008
121 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 2008
122 The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau Anthony Hope 2008
123 The Ambassadors Henry James 2008
124 Heart of Darkness and End of the Tether Joseph Conrad 2008
125 Agnes Grey Anne Brontë 2009
126 Howards End E. M. Forster 2009
127 The Confidence-Man Herman Melville 2009
128 Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 2009
129 The Secret Garden and A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 2009
130 Ethan Frome and Summer Edith Wharton 2009
131 Fathers and Sons Ivan Turgenev 2010
132 Where Angels Fear to Tread and A Room With a View E. M. Forster 2010
133 Adam Bede George Eliot 2010
134 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 2010
135 Jo's Boys Louisa May Alcott 2010
136 The Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 2010
137 Treasure Island / Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson 2010
138 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 2010
139 Pride & Prejudice Jane Austen 2011
140 Babbitt Sinclair Lewis 2011
141 The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 2011
142 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne 2011
143 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 2011
144 The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford 2011
145 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 2011
146 A Study In Scarlet / The Hound Of The Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 2011
147 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 2011
148 Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 2011
149 The War of the Worlds / The Time Machine H. G. Wells 2011
150 Jo's Boys Louisa May Alcott 2011
151 Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott 2012
152 The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 2012
153 Lorna Doone R D Blackmore 2013
154 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 2003

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Volkersz, Evert (Summer 1995). "McBook: The Reader's Digest Condensed Books franchise". Publishing Research Quarterly. Retrieved May 11, 2025 – via EBSCOhost.
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