Confession time! Tell us your literary sins to win an entire set of 20 Puffin Classics

[EmilyMumsnet]

Literary shame is a powerful thing - if you've ever nodded sagely while your friends discussed Bleak House or chuckled knowingly about the The Wizard of Oz - the film is the same thing isn’t it? – you'll know what we're talking about. But now we're giving you the chance to 'fess up! Tell us which Puffin Classic you have never actually read, and you'll be in the running to win the entire set.

The Puffin Classics are back, and with a bold new look – twenty brand new covers for the classic tales, from Huck to Dorothy to Alice to Peter. One lucky poster will receive all twenty, while 5 randomly-selected runners-up will win a copy of their never-read tale.

Here's the full set list:
The Call of the Wild, Tom Sawyer, The Wizard of Oz, King Arthur, The Jungle Book, Black Beauty, Huckleberry Finn, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, The Odyssey, A Little Princess, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, The Wind in the Willows, Treasure Island, Heidi, Peter Pan, Little Women, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

This competition is now closed. And the winners are:

Belo - full set of Puffin Classics
happysouls - The Call Of The Wild
Punkatheart -Heidi
Miisty - Tom Sawyer
Pigeonpea - Huckleberry Finn
kohl - Wind In The Willows

Thanks for all your contributions, we'll be in touch with the winners shortly

I read a lot as a child, but I haven't read quite a few of these, including Treasure Island, The Jungle Book, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn... Perhaps I should give them a try now!

From this list I loved Heidi, The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables, and read them many times. I didn't get on with Little Women that well, for some reason (maybe I would now?) - and The Wizard of Oz has been eclipsed in my memory by the film.

I would love to discover / rediscover more of the classics now with my own children. My DS and I are currently working our way through the Narnia books at bedtime, and my daughter is enjoying Roald Dahl, so I hope they'll both be big readers.

Never read Call of the Wild, but all the rest - oh yeah! And proud to be counted.

I have never read Black Beauty - although loved the TV Series!

I'm not sure I even knew that the Wizard of Oz was a book ... I can't bear to think how a book version might absolutely ruin the film . A great many of these I read only quite recently, not as a child (Call of the Wild, Black Beauty - never read as a kid, didn't like it when I did read it). Absolutely never never never read Anne of Green Gables, though I still remember the copy on my bedroom shelves. I couldn't bear the title - much to prissy. Having said that, I read Little Women endlessly and wanted to grow up into Jo, so there's childish logic for you.

EEEEKKKK!

I did think I was well read until I looked at the list!
Not sure I really want to admit to having only read a few, so I'll admit that I haven't read Huckleberry Finn

I haven't read Anne of Green Gables or Little Women. They just seem so boringly wholesome and domestic.

I love The Call of the Wild. Can't read it without sobbing.

I watched the film of a famous book recently so I could appear knowledgeable & well-read. I can't even remember the name of the film book now & didn't really follow the plot. It may have been War & Peace. There was something to do with a bloke who inherited some title in spite of being illegitimate, someone got married but his wife was more interested in other men, someone died in childbirth, someone went to war, there were Germans I think involved, someone got captured, someone was nice to him but then died, a family had to leave their home, someone else died or was injured or something... Eventually the soldier person made it back & hooked up with the daughter of the family who'd by that point returned to what was left of their home.

Basically I learnt that in some long winded book, lots of things happened to several "someone"s. My plan may not have worked...

Roger Lancelyn Green is my absolute favourite reteller of myths and legends and always has been. My original copy of his King Arthur fell apart!

Although I have read the books on that list that I have read several (or many times), I have never read Call of the Wild or the Wizard of Oz.

I am a Librarian and I have to confess to never having read (off that list) The Call of the Wild, Tom Sawyer, King Arthur, Huckleberry Finn, Journey to the Centre of the Earth or Treasure Island.

I suspect that it is because, as a child, I thought of those a 'boys' books and they therefore didn't appeal to me. I didn't really have anyone to guide me through classic literature, I was just let loose on the Library bookshelves so much of my reading was Judy Bloom and Paula Danziger.

I have to compound my shame by adding that it is now my job to encourage other people to read and one of the books I offer to my Reading Groups for discussion is Treasure Island. I can converse on it with some authority despite never having read it.

However the books on that list which I have read, I read repeatedly and loved deeply. Anne Shirley, Sara Crewe and Jo March will be my friends until I die.

There are lots I haven't read but feel I should have, in particular the Wizard of Oz because our children were given a boxset of Oz and I still haven't read it! I've seen the film too, and enjoyed it!

I'd never admit this in RL but I think I've only read about two classics on that list, it's embarrassing!

I love to read though.

I was always reading as a child and teenager. Our Public Library had a large collection of fairy tales and legends books, from all over the world. I read the lot, before moving on to adult novels.

Having to read The Hobbit at school (aged 12) put me right off Lord of The Rings forever. Surprisingly, after all my earlier reading, I just didn't 'get' the fantasy genre, and still don't!

Until last year, I had gone through a 10-year break from novels - no idea why. I had continued to read non-fiction regularly, to improve my skills and learning, and I still do.

Since last year, I have been, again, reading masses of novels, mainly who-dunnits. Currently, I am just finishing Alastair Maclean's Circus, which I bought in 1976, and never got round to reading!

All but 3 of the Puffin Classics, I have read at least 3 times: once to myself, once to my older 2 DCs and then to my younger 3 DCs. All of them love reading.

The only 3 Puffins that I haven't read are: Anne of Green Gables, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden.

My favourite Puffin was given to me as Christmas present, A Puffin Book of Verse, when I was a child. I loved it and wish I still had it.

Like most people on this thread I haven't read "The Call of the Wild"! This is a great list for me though, as it has given me a place to start for introducing my avid reader of a 5 year old son to the greats! Thanks :)

Haven't read black beauty, little women, Tom Sawyer, call of the wild.

I've never read The Odyssey - I started once and just thought... no.

But I see this is a retelling, so maybe I should read this version!

I think I've read everything else.

The odyssey - I am ashamed to say I don't even know what its about, not sure how that one managed to pass me by

Hmmm there are lots a few I haven't read. But thankfully many have been made into films so I can nod knowledgeably when the books come up. Think the jungle book is probably the one I've lied exaggerated about reading the most!

Thought I would have read most of these, but actually there are several I haven't: The Call of the Wild, The Jungle Book, King Arthur, The Wizard of Oz, The Odyssey and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Inspiration for the library list I suppose!

I've read most of these but I have to say that although they are good stories because of the way they are written most of them are quite hard going children.

I've never read The Odyssey, which regret as I loved Classics at school. Percy Jackson is the closest I get to this these days.

Anne of Green Gables. I've even been to Green Gables farm with red hair in plaits and kept quiet that it was the sum total of my knowledge of the book!

Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Given how much I love a great sci fi read, how on earth have I not found time to read this over the years??!

I read a lot as a child, I think the only one I never got around to was Huckleberry Finn.

I find Jane Austen really boring

I've neverread the wizard of oz, or seen the film. But I have seen and Love Return to Oz!

When I watched Se7en, and the cops were discussing the list of books that are flagged when people borrow them... I paused the film and wrote them down to try and borrow them

I found a couple and they were boring! haha!

Hmm, I have never read any of these:
The Call of the Wild, Tom Sawyer, The Wizard of Oz, Black Beauty, Huckleberry Finn, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Treasure Island.

But conversely I have read and adored all of these: Heidi, Peter Pan, A Little Princess, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Little Women, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Do I win a prize?