I say “best” right now, but I anticipate and hope that as I continue to read more, other books will replace many of those on this list. Also, if you scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see that I’ve cheated somewhat. I only have 76 books listed. I really wanted to be selective about the books I put on this list. I wanted books that I would absolutely recommend again, books that have made a difference in my life or that I believe are important. So there is room for more books to be added to this list, which I hope will happen. Again, in no particular order, these are 100 of the best book I’ve read until now:
| 1. Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bronte |
| 2. Wuthering Heights | Emily Bronte |
| 3. The Brothers Karamazov | Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| 4. Surprised by Hope | N. T. Wright |
| 5. Les Miserables | Victor Hugo |
| 6. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Anne Bronte |
| 7. Lord of the Flies | William Golding |
| 8. Girl With a Pearl Earring | Tracy Chevalier |
| 9. Breakfast at Tiffany’s | Truman Capote |
| 10. Emma | Jane Austen |
| 11. Gone With the Wind | Margaret Mitchell |
| 12. Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen |
| 13. Mrs. Dalloway | Virginia Woolf |
| 14. To the Lighthouse | Virginia Woolf |
| 15. Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| 16. Adam Bede | George Eliot |
| 17. Middlemarch | George Eliot |
| 18. Tess of the d’Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy |
| 19. The Remains of the Day | Kazuo Ishiguro |
| 20. Madame Bovary | Gustave Flaubert |
| 21. The Fellowship of the Ring | J. R. R. Tolkein |
| 22. The Two Towers | J. R. R. Tolkein |
| 23. The Return of the King | J. R. R. Tolkein |
| 24. The Hobbit | J. R. R. Tolkein |
| 25. The Dovekeepers | Alice Hoffman |
| 26. A Voice in the Wind | Francine Rivers |
| 27. An Echo in the Darkness | Francine Rivers |
| 28. As Sure as the Dawn | Francine Rivers |
| 29. The Time Traveler’s Wife | Audrey Niffenegger |
| 30. Her Fearful Symmetry | Audrey Niffenegger |
| 31. Redeeming Love | Francine Rivers |
| 32. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot |
| 33. The Other Boleyn Girl | Philippa Gregory |
| 34. The Jungle Book | Rudyard Kipling |
| 35. The Screwtape Letters | C. S. Lewis |
| 36. The Life of Charlotte Bronte | Elizabeth Gaskell |
| 37. Love You Forever | Robert Munsch |
| 38. The entire Nancy Drew series | Carolyn Keene |
| 39. The Vicar of Wakefield | Oliver Goldsmith |
| 40. The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Victor Hugo |
| 41. The Host | Stephanie Meyer |
| 42. The Dragonriders of Pern series | Anne McCaffrey |
| 43. Hadassah | Tommy Tenney |
| 44. Uncle Tom’s Cabin | Harriet Beecher Stowe |
| 45. The Portrait of Dorian Grey | Oscar Wilde |
| 46. Their Eyes Were Watching God | Zora Neale Hurston |
| 47. The Practice of the Presence of God | Brother Lawrence |
| 48. Inferno | Dante |
| 49. Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens |
| 50. Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe |
| 51. Night | Elie Wiesel |
| 52. The Uncommon Reader | Alan Bennet |
| 53. The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands | Dr. Laura Schlessinger |
| 54. Much Ado About Nothing | William Shakespeare |
| 55. King Lear | William Shakespeare |
| 56. The Taming of the Shrew | William Shakespeare |
| 57. Frankenstein | Mary Shelley |
| 58. The Help | Kate Stockett |
| 59. Little Women | Louisa May Alcott |
| 60. Beowulf | Unknown |
| 61. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | Unknown |
| 62. Candide | Voltaire |
| 63. Bird by Bird | Anne Lamott |
| 64. A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens |
| 65. The Crucible | Arthur Miller |
| 66. Young Goodman Brown | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| 67. The Scarlet Letter | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| 68. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | J. K. Rowling |
| 69. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | J. K. Rowling |
| 70. Parts | Tedd Arnold |
| 71. Madeline | Ludwig Bemelmans |
| 72. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson |
| 73. Faust | Johann Goethe |
| 74. Dr. Faustus | Christopher Marlowe |
| 75. Villette |
Charlotte Bronte |
| 76. Smut | Alan Bennett |
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Tagged: book reviews, books, children's literature, literature
Ariel Price
I’ve read few from your list e.g. Emma, Pride & Prejudice, Little women, much ado about nothing… But I’m really impressed that you’ve read Things Fall Apart! Fantastic story. Have you seen the movie? It was many years ago. Keep up the good work
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Thanks, Kemi! No, I haven’t seen the movie but I’d like to. Actually, that’s one I should probably consider re-reading soon as well. I had to read it as a senior in high school and absolutely loved it.
Great. Have heard of and read many. Looked up more than a few. I look forward to the next 24.
Thank you! I do, too.
Have you read The Pillars of the Earth and World without end by Ken Follet? Those are definitely on my list of best books ever. And I agree with you about The Dovekeepers! I’ve read many of Alice Hoffman’s books, and that one was something special!
I read The Pillars of the Earth when I was in high school but wasn’t impressed. I remember just feeling uncomfortable because of the sex scenes. Granted, that was quite a while ago so I might have a different impression now. Are the rest of Alice Hoffman’s books good? Which would you recommend?
My first Alice Hoffman book was Practical Magic, so it’s my favourite! I really liked Seventh Heaven too. I think they’re some of her earlier books, so the style of writing seems a little different. More magic, less tragic.
Neat! I’ll have to check those out. More to add to my To-Read list.
What a wonderful idea for a post! I found some ones on there that I’ve been wanting to read and some I’ve loved and wanted everyone I know to read them. I think I might write one of these lists at some point…Of this entire list is there one book that stands out above all the rest for the impact it has had on your life?
Thank you! You should definitely make a list. It forced me to really think about what books I love and why. I think the book that stands out in my mind is Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright. Before I read it, I didn’t think much about the Second Coming of Christ or what the New Heaven and New Earth is all about, but that book taught me that everything we do now makes a difference for later. It completely changes how we live as Christians. I probably already need to read it again to remind myself to keep living for the Kingdom, but it’s already helped a lot!
Incredibly fond as I am of “A Christmas Carol”, you appear to love it twice as much.
(Listed as both #64 and #75.)
Oh no! Haha thanks for pointing that out. Amended so that now I only have 25.
75*. Sheesh.
Some absolutely fantastic books there, and also The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s always good to see some love for Victor hugo.
Thanks! Les Miserables is one of my favorites!
Did you really like Her Fearful Symmetry? I loved it until the end… The ending pretty much ruined the entire book for me… too twisted, too much selfishness… What did you think?
I was definitely caught off guard by the ending and it did make me sad, but I thought it made the story unique regardless. I just like the fact that Audrey Niffenegger thinks outside the box and knows how to surprise the reader.