This list is compiled of several different “100 best books in the world/books you have to read before you die”-lists, and I will continue adding books to the list. Hopefully, with your help. Now, this list is not for your average “read and forget”-books, I don’t want The Pretty Little Liars, I want books that are either just great, or books that have made some impact in the world (like Austen, who is constantly being referenced to). Read / Not read.
A
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Little Women, by Louisa M Alcott
The House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Emma, by Jane Austen
Persuasion, by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
B
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis De Bernieres
The Bible
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
Notes From A Small Island, by Bill Bryson
Post Office, by Charles Bukowski
The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
C
The Teachings of Don Juan, by Carlos Casteneda
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad (started, but never finished)
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
Veronica Decides to Die, by Paulo Coelho
D
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
The Divine Comedy, by Dante
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
A Tale Of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
White Noise, by Don DeLillo
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Notes from the Underground, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
E
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
Middlemarch, by George Eliot
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
F
Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulk
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer
G
Sophie’s World, by Jostein Gaarder
The Solitaire Mystery, by Jostein Gaarder
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
H
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, by Mark Haddon
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Alex Haley (started, but never finished)
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy
The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
Catch 22, by Joseph Heller
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
Dune, by Frank Herbert
The Talented Mr Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
The Iliad & the Odyssey, by Homer
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
A Rebours, by JK Huysmans
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
I
A Prayer for Owen Meaney, by John Irving
The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro
J
Fear of Flying, by Erica Jong
Ulysses, by James Joyce (started, but never finished)
K
The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
On The Road, by Jack Kerouac
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
L
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Chronicles of Narnia, by CS Lewis
M
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love In The Time Of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
Atonement, by Ian McEwan (started, but never finished)
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Paradise Lost, by John Milton
Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami
Kafka On the Shore, by Haruki Murakami
N
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
O
Nineteen Eighty Four (1984) – George Orwell
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
P
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M Pirsig
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
Mort, by Terry Pratchett
His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman (started, but never finished)
R
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome
Three Comrades, by Erich Maria Remarque.
The Dice Man, by Luke Rhinehart
Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
Harry Potter-series, by JK Rowling
Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie
S
The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
Complete Works of Shakespeare
Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
T
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S Thompson
The Rum Diary, by Hunter S Thompson
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
V
Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
W
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Importance of Being Ernest, by Oscar Wilde
A Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Y
Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates
Z
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.
The help by Kathryn Stockett?
[...] The first draft is right here, so you get an idea of what I am talking about. And the link is right to your right, in the sidebar under “project: read“. [...]
Har du ikke lest Den mørke materien? Da har du masse å glede deg til!
Kristine: Lest bok nr 1, og kom halvveis i nummer 2, for mange år siden. :)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, the adventures of huckleberry Finn, Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro, White teeth by Zadie Smith, Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho and The waves by Virginia Woolf.
Holder på med et lignende prosjekt selv, så takk for forslag :)
L: ! Thanks :)
Maren: American Psycho, Veronica Decides to Die & The Adventures of H. Finn har jeg lest, men White Teeth, Never Let Me Go og The Waves er notert (lest annet av V Woolf, men ikke den).
Alfabethuset av Jussi Adler-Olsen :)
Tre kamerater + Triumfbuen av Erik Maria Remarque. Mord på orientekspressen, Døden på Nilen, m.m. av Agatha Christie. Samlede dikt (og historier) av Johan Herman Wessel (fordi det er helt utrolig mange sitater og ordtak som kommer herfra…). Og: The pillars of the earth + World without end av Ken Follett.
Céline – Voyage au bout de la nuit (“Journey to the End of the Night”), John Milton – Paradise Lost, Jules Verne – Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours” (“Around the World in Eighty Days”), Patrick Süsskind – Das Parfüm (“Perfume”) and at least one of Lovecraft’s. Oh, and Michael Ende – Die Unendliche Geschichte (“The Neverending Story”) (or “Momo” or “Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver”, they’re all great!).. that’s it, the rest of great books is already on your list :)
Wuthering Heights by Emely Bronte
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Kabalmysteriet by Jostein Gaarder
Inger: Åh, den har jeg hatt lyst til å lese lenge!
R: Har lest alle Agatha Christie-bøkene vi har hjemme (og mener å huske at begge de to er i biblioteket?). Tre Kamerater må jeg lese til sommeren når jeg kommer hjem !
Lucy: Paradise Lost is really a treasure. Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours as well. Didn’t realize The Neverending Story was actually a book and not just a movie franchise. Merci beacuoup !
Ingrid: lest ;)
Veronica: check :)
Boktyven av Markus Zusak
An absolute must-read is ‘East of Eden’ by john steinbeck. Btw love this list, lots of inspiration!
“History” bu Elsa Morante
Brave New World av Aldous Huxley. Dystopisk fremtidsroman fra 1938, hvor skummelt mye stemmer…
Også må jeg si meg enig i boktyven!
En ny bok du burde lese(som ikke er noen klassiker ennå) er Mornings in Jenin av Susan Abulhawa. Viktig bok om Palestina…
Kos deg!
Cecilie: på listen !
Danique: But I don’t like Steinbeck :/ Might have to give him another chance. Maybe.
Vilde: noted, never heard of it.
Anette: Brave New World har vært på listen lenge. Den er jo ref til over alt. Mornings in Jenin har jeg hjemme, så den skal jeg lese til sommeren. Og tusen takk !
I love this list! I am going to start one for myself as well :) Please read Vanity Fair, I read it 10 years ago and it’s still one of my favorites; it’s insanely beautiful & complex.