NAQT Top Literature

Hamlet

Hamlet

By William Shakespeare. The tragedy of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who seeks revenge against his uncle Claudius for murdering his father, marrying his mother, and taking the throne. Themes of madness, revenge, mortality, and corruption. Famous for the line, "To be, or not to be."

Oedipus Rex

By Sophocles. This ancient Greek tragedy follows King Oedipus as he seeks to rid Thebes of a plague, only to discover that he has fulfilled a prophecy by killing his father and marrying his mother. Known for themes of fate vs. free will.

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare. Scottish general Macbeth, spurred by prophecy and his wife’s ambition, murders King Duncan to seize the throne but descends into guilt and madness. Themes of ambition, fate, and guilt. Known for “Out, damned spot!”

King Lear

By William Shakespeare. King Lear divides his kingdom among his daughters but descends into madness and tragedy when his plan backfires. Explores themes of loyalty, betrayal, and power. Known for “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!”

Othello

By William Shakespeare. General Othello, driven by jealousy and manipulated by his ensign Iago, murders his wife Desdemona. Explores themes of jealousy, race, and betrayal.

Moby-Dick

By Herman Melville. The narrative of Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of the white whale Moby Dick. Themes include revenge, fate, and the nature of evil. Famous for “Call me Ishmael.”

The Great Gatsby

By F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age, this novel follows Jay Gatsby's love for Daisy Buchanan and critiques the American Dream. Themes include wealth, class, and disillusionment.

The Tempest

By William Shakespeare. The story of Prospero, a magician and the rightful Duke of Milan, who seeks to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place. Themes of forgiveness, power, and magic.

Don Quixote

By Miguel de Cervantes. Chronicles the adventures of a delusional nobleman who believes he is a knight and his loyal squire, Sancho Panza. Themes of idealism, reality, and chivalry.

Iliad

By Homer. An epic poem about the Trojan War, focusing on the hero Achilles' anger and the conflict between the Greeks and Trojans. Themes include honor, wrath, and fate.

Paradise Lost

By John Milton. An epic poem that tells the story of Satan's rebellion against God and the fall of man. Themes of free will, obedience, and redemption.

Pride and Prejudice

By Jane Austen. Centers on Elizabeth Bennet's evolving relationship with Mr. Darcy, exploring issues of class, marriage, and morality in 19th-century England.

Jane Eyre

By Charlotte Brontë. Follows the life of orphan Jane Eyre as she grows up, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and faces moral dilemmas. Themes include social class, independence, and morality.

Ulysses

By James Joyce. A modernist retelling of Homer’s Odyssey set in Dublin, following the lives of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. Known for its stream-of-consciousness style.

The Canterbury Tales

By Geoffrey Chaucer. A collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. Themes include social satire, morality, and human nature.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

By George Orwell. A dystopian novel set in a totalitarian society under constant surveillance by Big Brother. Explores themes of power, freedom, and individuality.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By Mark Twain. Follows young Huck Finn as he travels down the Mississippi River with an escaped slave, Jim. Themes include racism, freedom, and moral growth.

Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare. A tragic love story of two young lovers from feuding families. Themes of love, fate, and conflict.

The Merchant of Venice

By William Shakespeare. A play about Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and his conflict with Antonio. Themes of mercy, justice, and revenge.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

By Mark Twain. Follows the mischievous Tom Sawyer and his adventures along the Mississippi River. Themes include childhood, friendship, and freedom.

The Scarlet Letter

By Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story of Hester Prynne, who bears an illegitimate child and is condemned to wear a scarlet "A." Themes of sin, guilt, and redemption.

Anna Karenina

By Leo Tolstoy. Follows the tragic love affair of Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky. Themes include love, family, and social issues in 19th-century Russia.

The Divine Comedy

By Dante Alighieri. An epic poem depicting the journey of Dante through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Themes of redemption, faith, and the afterlife.

Crime and Punishment

By Fyodor Dostoevsky. Follows Raskolnikov, a man who commits murder and grapples with guilt. Themes include morality, justice, and redemption.

Les Miserables

By Victor Hugo. Chronicles the life of ex-convict Jean Valjean as he seeks redemption. Themes of justice, poverty, and love.

Our Town

By Thornton Wilder. A play depicting daily life in the small town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. Themes of life, death, and the passage of time.

A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams. Follows Blanche DuBois, a troubled woman who moves in with her sister in New Orleans. Themes include desire, mental health, and reality.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare. A comedy about love, mistaken identities, and magic in a forest. Themes include love, transformation, and illusion.

David Copperfield

By Charles Dickens. Chronicles the life of David Copperfield as he overcomes adversity. Themes include perseverance, class, and family.

The Red Badge of Courage

By Stephen Crane. A young soldier faces the realities of war and his own fear. Themes include courage, fear, and heroism.

Candide

By Voltaire. A satirical novel following Candide as he travels the world facing hardship. Themes of optimism, religion, and society.

Pygmalion

By George Bernard Shaw. The story of Henry Higgins, who transforms flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a "lady." Themes include class, identity, and transformation.

Aeneid

By Virgil. An epic poem about the hero Aeneas and the founding of Rome. Themes of duty, fate, and heroism.

Vanity Fair

By William Makepeace Thackeray. Follows Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley in 19th-century England. Themes include society, ambition, and morality.

War and Peace

By Leo Tolstoy. Chronicles the lives of Russian nobility during the Napoleonic Wars. Themes of war, family, and history.

Billy Budd: Foretopman

By Herman Melville. The story of Billy Budd, a sailor accused of mutiny. Themes include innocence, law, and morality.

Madame Bovary

By Gustave Flaubert. Follows Emma Bovary's pursuit of romance and luxury. Themes include romanticism, disillusionment, and society.

As You Like It

By William Shakespeare. A comedy about love, mistaken identities, and life in the Forest of Arden. Themes include love, identity, and pastoral life.

The Grapes of Wrath

By John Steinbeck. Follows the Joad family as they migrate west during the Great Depression. Themes of poverty, perseverance, and justice.

Odyssey

By Homer. The epic journey of Odysseus as he returns home from the Trojan War. Themes include loyalty, intelligence, and fate.

Heart of Darkness

By Joseph Conrad. Follows Marlow's journey into the Congo to find Kurtz. Themes of imperialism, morality, and civilization.

The Three Musketeers

By Alexandre Dumas. Follows d'Artagnan and the musketeers in their adventures. Themes of loyalty, friendship, and honor.

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee. Set in the racially divided South, it follows Atticus Finch defending a Black man accused of rape. Themes of justice, race, and morality.

A Tale of Two Cities

By Charles Dickens. Set in London and Paris during the French Revolution, explores themes of sacrifice, justice, and resurrection.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

By Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Follows the Buendia family over generations in the town of Macondo. Themes of magic realism, fate, and family.

Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare. The story of the assassination of Julius Caesar and its aftermath. Themes of ambition, loyalty, and fate.

Antigone

By Sophocles. Follows Antigone's defiance of King Creon to bury her brother. Themes of loyalty, law, and family.

A Farewell to Arms

By Ernest Hemingway. A love story set during World War I between an American and an English nurse. Themes include love, war, and loss.

Little Women

By Louisa May Alcott. Follows the lives of the March sisters during the Civil War. Themes of family, love, and independence.

Animal Farm

By George Orwell. A satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution told through animals who rebel against their farmer. Themes of power, corruption, and propaganda.

The Waste Land

By T.S. Eliot. A modernist poem exploring despair and disillusionment in a post-World War I world.

Faust

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The story of Faust, who makes a pact with the devil Mephistopheles. Themes of ambition, knowledge, and redemption.

Lolita

By Vladimir Nabokov. The controversial story of Humbert Humbert’s obsession with young Dolores Haze. Themes of obsession, morality, and

manipulation.

The Count of Monte Cristo

By Alexandre Dumas. Follows Edmond Dantès’ quest for revenge against those who wronged him. Themes of justice, betrayal, and redemption.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

By Ernest Hemingway. Follows an American fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Themes of duty, love, and sacrifice.

The Magic Mountain

By Thomas Mann. A young man visits a sanatorium and becomes immersed in philosophical debates. Themes of time, disease, and society.

Pilgrim's Progress

By John Bunyan. An allegory of Christian’s journey toward salvation. Themes of faith, sin, and redemption.

A Doll's House

By Henrik Ibsen. The story of Nora Helmer, who realizes her individuality in a stifling marriage. Themes include independence, gender roles, and self-discovery.

Robinson Crusoe

By Daniel Defoe. The story of a castaway’s survival on a deserted island. Themes of isolation, self-reliance, and human resilience.

The Call of the Wild

By Jack London. Follows Buck, a domesticated dog, as he returns to a primitive state in the Yukon. Themes of survival, nature, and instinct.

Beowulf

By Unknown. An Old English epic poem recounting the hero Beowulf’s battles against Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. Themes include heroism, fate, and loyalty.

Death of a Salesman

By Arthur Miller. The tragedy of Willy Loman, who is haunted by his failures and unfulfilled dreams. Themes include the American Dream, family, and identity.

The Crucible

By Arthur Miller. Set during the Salem witch trials, explores hysteria, power, and reputation in a Puritan community.

The Sun Also Rises

By Ernest Hemingway. Follows expatriates in post-World War I Europe. Themes of disillusionment, love, and the Lost Generation.

The Catcher in the Rye

By J.D. Salinger. Follows Holden Caulfield as he navigates adolescence and alienation in New York City. Themes include innocence, identity, and mental health.

The Stranger

By Albert Camus. Follows Meursault, an indifferent French Algerian who commits murder. Themes include existentialism, absurdism, and morality.

Brave New World

By Aldous Huxley. A dystopian novel exploring a genetically engineered, hedonistic society. Themes of control, technology, and individuality.

Oliver Twist

By Charles Dickens. The story of an orphan who navigates the grim underbelly of London. Themes of poverty, crime, and kindness.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

By Harriet Beecher Stowe. An anti-slavery novel that follows the life and hardships of the slave Uncle Tom. Themes include slavery, morality, and religion.

Waiting for Godot

By Samuel Beckett. An absurdist play in which two characters wait endlessly for someone named Godot. Themes include existentialism, hope, and the human condition.

The Glass Menagerie

By Tennessee Williams. Follows the struggles of the Wingfield family. Themes of memory, illusion, and family dynamics.

Much Ado about Nothing

By William Shakespeare. A comedic play involving love, misunderstandings, and mistaken identities. Themes include deception, honor, and love.

The Jungle

By Upton Sinclair. Exposes the harsh conditions of the meatpacking industry in Chicago. Themes include poverty, corruption, and social justice.

Great Expectations

By Charles Dickens. Follows Pip’s life as he grows from a poor boy to a gentleman. Themes of wealth, class, and redemption.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

By Samuel Taylor Coleridge. A poem about a mariner who is cursed after killing an albatross. Themes of guilt, penance, and nature.

Twelfth Night

By William Shakespeare. A comedy of mistaken identities and love triangles. Themes include gender, love, and disguise.

Eugene Onegin

By Alexander Pushkin. Follows the story of the dandy Eugene Onegin and his tragic relationship with Tatyana. Themes of unrequited love, society, and regret.

Things Fall Apart

By Chinua Achebe. Set in Nigeria, follows Okonkwo as he confronts the effects of colonialism. Themes of tradition, change, and identity.

Catch-22

By Joseph Heller. A satirical novel about soldiers trying to survive bureaucracy in World War II. Themes of absurdity, survival, and war.

The Last of the Mohicans

By James Fenimore Cooper. Set during the French and Indian War, follows Hawkeye and his Mohican friends. Themes of race, honor, and survival.

Rip van Winkle

By Washington Irving. Follows a man who falls asleep for 20 years and wakes up to a changed world. Themes of change, freedom, and nostalgia.

Main Street

By Sinclair Lewis. Follows Carol Kennicott as she confronts small-town life in Gopher Prairie. Themes of conformity, change, and idealism.

Wuthering Heights

By Emily Brontë. Follows the destructive romance between Heathcliff and Catherine. Themes include revenge, love, and class.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll. Follows Alice as she explores a whimsical, nonsensical world. Themes of curiosity, identity, and absurdity.

Sense and Sensibility

By Jane Austen. The story of the Dashwood sisters and their contrasting approaches to love and society. Themes of class, romance, and morality.

The Taming of the Shrew

By William Shakespeare. A comedy involving the courtship of the headstrong Katharina by Petruchio. Themes include gender roles, marriage, and identity.

The House of the Seven Gables

By Nathaniel Hawthorne. A Gothic novel about the cursed Pyncheon family. Themes include guilt, family, and the supernatural.

Of Mice and Men

By John Steinbeck. The story of two displaced ranch workers in the Great Depression. Themes of friendship, dreams, and loneliness.

My Ántonia

By Willa Cather. Chronicles the life of Ántonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant in Nebraska. Themes include friendship, hardship, and the American frontier.

All the King's Men

By Robert Penn Warren. Follows the rise and fall of politician Willie Stark. Themes include power, corruption, and morality.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson. A poem commemorating the bravery of British soldiers in a failed military charge during the Crimean War.

Slaughterhouse-Five

By Kurt Vonnegut. Follows Billy Pilgrim, a World War II soldier who becomes “unstuck in time.” Themes include war, fate, and free will.

The Tin Drum

By Günter Grass. Follows Oskar Matzerath, who refuses to grow and experiences Germany's turbulent history. Themes of innocence, history, and power.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

By William Shakespeare. A comedic play involving the attempts of Falstaff to court two married women. Themes of marriage, deception, and class.

The Sound and the Fury

By William Faulkner. Follows the decline of the Compson family in Mississippi. Themes of time, memory, and decay.

Beloved

By Toni Morrison. A former slave is haunted by the ghost of her dead daughter. Themes of trauma, motherhood, and memory.

Decameron

By Giovanni Boccaccio. A collection of stories told by ten people sheltering from the plague. Themes include love, wit, and fortune.

The Brothers Karamazov

By Fyodor Dostoevsky. Explores the lives and conflicts of the Karamazov brothers. Themes include faith, morality, and justice.