A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Amazon | Project Gutenberg

"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"

Perhaps the most beloved Christmas novel ever, Dickens' classic tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and his visitation by the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future is a must-read for the holiday season.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Amazon | Project Gutenberg

Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?

Thackeray's most famous novel, a satire of early 19th-century British society, centering around the machinations of the ambitious and unscrupulous Becky Sharp, a young woman determine to make her way in society by whatever means possible.

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
While vacationing in Italy, young English girl Lucy Honeychurch is introduced to the Emersons, father and son, whom her traveling companion Miss Bartlett views as beneath them. Once back in England, their paths cross again, and Lucy finds herself torn between an eligible suitor and unsettling feelings for young George Emerson.

Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne, the spoiled, obnoxious son of a millionaire, falls overboard from an ocean liner and is picked up by a fishing schooner—and for the first time in his life, stranded far from everything he knows, is forced to work for his living and learn to get along with his companions. A classic sea adventure tale, full of humor and vivid, memorable characters.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
A classic and beloved girls' novel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm follows the memorable character of Rebecca Rowena Randall, a spirited, curious young girl sent to live with two spinster aunts, through mishaps, adventures and friendships at school and at home as she grows to young womanhood.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Perhaps the first tale of a dual-identity hero, The Scarlet Pimpernel tells the story of Sir Percival Blakeney, whose frivolous, dandified persona masks his secret life rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine under the name of the Scarlet Pimpernel; and the beautiful Lady Marguerite Blakeny, who is blackmailed by an enemy into uncovering the Pimpernel's identity—unaware that it is her husband.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

NOTICE: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
In one of the most famous pieces of American literature, young Huckleberry Finn and a runaway slave named Jim escape their old lives and set out to raft down the Mississippi River, encountering a plethora of strange and often humorous adventures along the way.

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, edited by John Bartlett

Project Gutenberg I | Project Gutenberg II
A collection of familiar phrases that have become woven into familiar English usage, traced to their sources in the Bible, Shakespeare, and the works of dozens more poets and writers. There are two different editions of this book available at Project Gutenberg: one that seems to be the original edition, and then the ninth edition, published in 1905. A free version is not currently available at Amazon, though there are several inexpensive ones.

The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux

Project Gutenberg | Kindle
An ambitious young reporter and a famous police detective attempt to solve a mysterious murder attempt on a woman in what is regarded as one of the first "locked-room" mystery novels, from the author of The Phantom of the Opera.

(Also available in the original French.)

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Amazon (Translation I) | Project Gutenberg (Translation II)
Orphaned Heidi, sent to live with her reclusive grandfather in the Swiss Alps, quickly grows to love her mountain home—but then is whisked away to the city, where she finds new friends and adventures, but still longs to return to the mountains.

Note: the Project Gutenberg edition (and a second free edition on Amazon labeled 'Gift Edition') is an entirely different translation. The first Kindle edition appears to be the same or very similar to the version I read and loved as a child, and my own personal opinion, after comparing the opening page of both versions, is that it's the better one. Your choice!

The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
In this classic 18th-century satire, a comedy of mixed identities results when Captain Jack Absolute's father announces that he wants to arrange a marriage for him...with the very same girl Jack has been secretly courting under an assumed name. The most hilarious scene-stealing character is Mrs. Malaprop, whose constant misuse of words led to the coining of the term "malapropism" after her name!

The Old Man in the Corner by Emmuska Orczy

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
In this collection of short mystery stories, an old man sits in the corner of a café, tying knots in a bit of string, and discusses baffling crimes with a lady journalist, offering his own suggestions about the true solutions.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
When her family moves from their home in southern England to the bleak northern industrial town of Milton, Margaret Hale's first impressions of her new home—and of mill owner John Thornton—are not pleasant. Thornton is drawn to her despite her dislike of him, but there seems no end to the conflict between them...

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
There, in the middle of the broad bright high-road—there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heaven—stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments...
A suspenseful, melodramatic Victorian page-turner, narrated in turn by a succession of different characters caught up in a sinister plot surrounding the mysterious, troubled woman in white. Once started, you won't be able to put it down!

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Stephen Crane's most famous novel, of a young Civil War soldier who worries that he may be a coward, and after fleeing in battle, is consumed with dread of others finding out—until he goes into battle a second time.

My review of this book.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Project Gutenberg
"Oh, what I know about myself isn't really worth telling," said Anne eagerly. "If you'll only let me tell you what I imagine about myself you'll think it ever so much more interesting."

One of the most beloved characters in literature, red-headed orphan Anne Shirley (Anne with an e, that is) transforms the lives of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert and the little town of Avonlea with her zest for life, her vivid imagination and her knack for getting into comical scrapes. Anne and her adventures are nearly impossible to ever forget.

A free edition is not currently available in the Kindle store, though there are a number of inexpensive ones.

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
Trollope's keen, low-key satire of 19th-century English high society and business centers around a wealthy financier of slightly doubtful origin, who nevertheless is able to persuade more and more prominent men to invest in his schemes, and whose daughter becomes the prize for those looking to make a wealthy match. Subplots and supporting characters also abound in this hefty, interesting Victorian novel.

My review of this book.

Wild Card Wednesday: The Complete Works of Jane Austen

Project Gutenberg
Today's Wild Card Wednesday features the complete works of another well-beloved author (whose complete works are well worth reading). Note that the large file from Project Gutenberg will probably take a long time to download. A search of the Kindle Store reveals many different inexpensive edition of Austen's complete works, but I have not tried out any of them and therefore can't say which has the best formatting (if you have a recommendation to make, let us know in the comments section!).

My Antonia by Willa Cather

Amazon | Project Gutenberg
A beautifully written novel tracing the story of a Bohemian farm girl, Antonia, and how her life intertwines with that of the novel's narrator Jim Burden, an orphan raised on his grandparents' Nebraska farm.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron

Amazon | Project Gutenberg

In the deep umbrage of a green hill's shade,

Which shows a distant prospect far away

Of busy cities, now in vain displayed,

For they can lure no further; and the ray

Of a bright sun can make sufficient holiday.

A long narrative poem, in which the travels of its protagonist give the poet the opportunity to describe and muse upon the landscape of the countries he travels through and historical events that took place there.