World's Best Reading

The World's Best Reading is a series of classic books published by Reader's Digest beginning in 1982. 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.TitleAuthorDate1The Red Badge of CourageStephen Crane19822Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë19833The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper19844Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë19845Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen19846A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens19847A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtMark Twain19848The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne19849Tess of the D'UrbervillesThomas Hardy198510The House of the Seven GablesNathaniel Hawthorne198511Little WomenLouisa May Alcott198512The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark Twain198513Great ExpectationsCharles Dickens198514The Call of the Wild and White FangJack London198515KidnappedRobert Louis Stevenson198616The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain198617Tales of SuspenseEdgar Allan Poe198618A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the BaskervillesSir Arthur Conan Doyle198619Silas MarnerGeorge Eliot198620David CopperfieldCharles Dickens198621The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other TalesWashington Irving198722The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesSir Arthur Conan Doyle198723For the Term of His Natural LifeMarcus Clarke198724The Gift of the Magi and Other StoriesO. Henry198725Oliver TwistCharles Dickens198726Life on the MississippiMark Twain198727Treasure IslandRobert Louis Stevenson198728The Old Curiosity ShopCharles Dickens198829The Memoirs of Sherlock HolmesSir Arthur Conan Doyle198830Around the World in 80 DaysJules Verne198831A Christmas Carol and Other StoriesCharles Dickens198832The Prince and the PauperMark Twain198833The VirginianOwen Wister198834A Passage to IndiaE.M. Forster198935The Sea-WolfJack London198936The Song of Hiawatha and Other PoemsHenry Wadsworth Longfellow198937Twice-Told TalesNathaniel Hawthorne198938A Tree Grows in BrooklynBetty Smith198939Moby DickHerman Melville198940KimRudyard Kipling199041Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeasJules Verne199042On Our Selection and Our New SelectionSteele Rudd199043Lost HorizonJames Hilton199044The Innocents AbroadMark Twain199045O Pioneers!Willa Cather199046Doctor ZhivagoBoris Leonidovich Pasternak199047Tales from the Arabian Nights199148The Grapes of WrathJohn Steinbeck199149Uncle Tom's CabinHarriet Beecher Stowe199150The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeRobert Louis Stevenson199151The Return of Sherlock HolmesSir Arthur Conan Doyle199152The Adventures of Robin HoodPaul Creswick199153A Journey to the Center of the EarthJules Verne199254The Celebrated Jumping Frog and Other StoriesMark Twain199255Ben-Hur: A Tale of the ChristLew Wallace199256The Good EarthPearl S. Buck199257The Caine MutinyHerman Wouk199258Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery199259The Wind in the WillowsKenneth Grahame199360The Further Adventures of Sherlock HolmesSir Arthur Conan Doyle199361Dusty and Man ShyFrank Dalby Davison199362Life with FatherClarence Day199363The YearlingMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings199364To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee199365The RobeLloyd Cassell Douglas199366Heart of the WestO. Henry199367RebeccaDaphne du Maurier199468The Thirty-Nine Steps and GreenmantleJohn Buchan199469EmmaJane Austen199470To Build a Fire and Other StoriesJack London199471King Solomon's MinesH. Rider Haggard199472Captains CourageousRudyard Kipling199473Roughing ItMark Twain199474Lorna DooneR. D. Blackmore199575A Town Like AliceNevil Shute199576Tales of the South PacificJames Michener199577Two Years Before the MastRichard Henry Dana Jr.199578Beau GestePercival Christopher Wren199579The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's TaleRobert Louis Stevenson199580Goodbye Mr. Chips and Other StoriesJames Hilton199581Lost Horizon, Good-bye Mr. Chips and Other StoriesJames Hilton199782The Jungle BooksRudyard Kipling199783How Green Was My ValleyRichard Llewellyn199784Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the BummelJerome K. Jerome199885The Three MusketeersAlexandre Dumas199986The Mayor of CasterbridgeThomas Hardy199987Far From the Madding CrowdThomas Hardy200288The Age of InnocenceEdith Wharton200389This Side of ParadiseF. Scott Fitzgerald200390FrankensteinMary Shelley200391Sense and SensibilityJane Austen200392Lord JimJoseph Conrad200395Robinson CrusoeDaniel Defoe200496My AntoniaWilla Cather200497The Invisible Man and The Island of Dr. MoreauH. G. Wells200498Gulliver's TravelsJonathan Swift200499The Moon and SixpenceW. S. Maugham2004100Main StreetSinclair Lewis2004101Daisy Miller and The Turn of the ScrewHenry James2005102The Jungle BooksRudyard Kipling2005103Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert2005104Mansfield ParkJane Austen2005105The Magnificent AmbersonsBooth Tarkington2005107The War of the Worlds and The Time MachineH. G. Wells2005108Little MenLouisa May Alcott2006109The Man of PropertyJohn Galsworthy2006110Hard TimesCharles Dickens2006111Barchester TowersAnthony Trollope2006112Moll FlandersDaniel Defoe2006113The AmericanHenry James2007114The Phantom of the OperaGaston Leroux2007115PersuasionJane Austen2007116The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde2007117The Black ArrowRobert Louis Stevenson2007118DraculaBram Stoker2007119Sons and LoversD. H. Lawrence2008120Northanger AbbeyJane Austen2008121The House of MirthEdith Wharton2008122The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of HentzauAnthony Hope2008123The AmbassadorsHenry James2008124Heart of Darkness and End of the TetherJoseph Conrad2008125Agnes GreyAnne Brontë2009126Howards EndE. M. Forster2009127The Confidence-ManHerman Melville2009128Return of the NativeThomas Hardy2009129The Secret Garden and A Little PrincessFrances Hodgson Burnett2009130Ethan Frome and SummerEdith Wharton2009131Fathers and SonsIvan Turgenev2010132Where Angels Fear to Tread and A Room With a ViewE. M. Forster2010133Adam BedeGeorge Eliot2010134Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë2010135Jo's BoysLouisa May Alcott2010136The Way of All FleshSamuel Butler2010137Treasure Island / KidnappedRobert Louis Stevenson2010138Oliver TwistCharles Dickens2010139Pride & PrejudiceJane Austen2011140BabbittSinclair Lewis2011141The Adventures Of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain2011142The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne2011143A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens2011144The Good SoldierFord Madox Ford2011145The JungleUpton Sinclair2011146A Study In Scarlet / The Hound Of The BaskervillesSir Arthur Conan Doyle2011147The MoonstoneWilkie Collins2011148Robinson CrusoeDaniel Defoe2011149The War of the Worlds / The Time MachineH. G. Wells2011150Jo's BoysLouisa May Alcott2011151IvanhoeSir Walter Scott2012152The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper2012153Lorna DooneR D Blackmore2013154The Age of InnocenceEdith Wharton2003

Notes

References

External links World's Best Reading, collectors discussion forum, located at LibraryThing Goodreads Group, for collectors.