Books to Read Before You Die That Are Actually Good and Not Too Long

100 Books to Read earlier You Die: Creating the Ultimate List

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[UPDATED January 4, 2022] One of my aims is to begin catching upwards on all the reading I've neglected for, well, the majority of my life. Then, I started by googling several combinations of 'books to read before you die,' '100 almost important books,' 'books everyone should should read in a lifetime,' and then on. I discovered that quite a few reputable (and a few not-and then-reputable) sources have published such a listing. Prissy, but information technology still leaves me at a loss for what to do next. Which list practice I go with?

After carefully reading through what was on offer I decided to take the collective wisdom from the various sources by painstakingly comparison (well, I hired 'Half dozen' from Vietnam via Elance to painstakingly compare) all of the lists to determine how much overlap existed betwixt them. I used this data to create a new list of the top books based on the number of times the book appeared equally i of the list'southward recommendations. The more the volume was referred to past the lists, the more than the experts agreed, and the more than deeply that book'southward place became in my new and improved books-to-read-before-you-die listing.

The Lists

Hither are the 8 lists I started with, amalgamated, and culled.

• The Guardian'southward The 100 greatest novels of all time.
• The BBC'due south Big Read Elevation 100.
• Amazon'south 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
• Harvard'due south Book store top 100.
• Mod Library's 100 All-time Novels.
• Time's All-Fourth dimension 100 Novels.
• The Telegraph's 100 Novels Everyone Should Read.
• The Art of Manliness' (hey, why non) 100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Human's Library.

Creating the Listing

And now for the books. Surprisingly plenty, there were 520 books from the 8 lists, which meant there was less overlap than I expected. 65 of the books were pretty straightforward as they were mentioned at to the lowest degree 3 times (with The Great Gatsby and Catch-22 existence the only 2 making it on all eight lists). To make up the remaining 45 books, since my list had to be 100 books long, I only needed to choose those books that made it onto at least 2 lists. Unfortunately, 91 books were on at least two lists. So, I decided to further choose those 91 past focusing on the books that were mentioned at least twice past The Guardian, Amazon, Harvard, Fourth dimension and The Telegraph. That left me with the correct number of books and, voila, the greatest listing ever created at present lives. Lucky for me virtually are bachelor on Aural ❤. Relish!

The Ultimate Listing: 100 Books to Read before Y'all Die

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Fiction novels

All titles below are links to where yous can grab a copy for yourself. You can likewise see an image of each book comprehend below.

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — Set amid the rich of 1920's New York City, the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby pursues his quixotic passion and obsession for the former debutante Daisy Buchanan.
2. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller — A novel seven years in the making (published in 1961) and said to be one of the near important in the 20th century. Catch-22 primarily follows the storyline of Captain John Yossarian, a crewman of a World State of war 2 bomber who is stationed on a small Mediterranean island where he repeatedly, and desperately, attempts to stay alive.
3. On the Route by Jack Kerouac — Inspired past the author'southward own experiences, the story of cross-country route trips by a number of penniless young people who are in beloved with life, beauty, jazz, sex, drugs, speed, and mysticism.
4. To Kill A Mockingbird past Harper Lee — A novel prepare in the American s exploring themes of justice and innocence through the experiences of a six year erstwhile girl, Lookout man, watching as her father defends a blackness man on trial in the 30s.
5. The Lord Of The Rings past J. R. R. Tolkien — From placidity beginnings in the Shire the story follows hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin across Middle-earth to stop the Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an before historic period created the 1 Ring to rule the other Rings of Ability equally the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer Middle-earth.
6. Lolita Vladimir past Nabokov — A controversial and shocking classic told from the perspective of the narrator, Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged professor who falls for and becomes sexually involved with his 12-year-old step-daughter.
7. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger — Holden Caulfield narrates his story from the previous Christmas -when he was kicked out of a preparatory schoolhouse- to present. Nosotros learn about his life and his effort to brand sense of himself, pregnant, and the events that have shaped him.
8. Midnight'due south Children past Salman Rushdie — Saleem was born at midnight on the night of India's independence. He is one of simply one,001 children born at that hour and each was endowed with an incredible talent.
9. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll — Written in 1865, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) creates a fantasy globe discovered by Alice when she falls through a rabbit pigsty.
10. Ulysses by James Joyce — Considered one of the most of import works of modernist literature, Ulysses chronicles the peripatetic appointments and encounters of Leopold Bloom in Dublin in the grade of an ordinary day.
11. Lord of the Flies by William Golding —A grouping of boys are stranded on an uninhabited island in the 50's when they embark on the disaster of trying to govern themselves.
12. The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck — Set against the backdrop of the great depression, Tom and his family are forced from their subcontract in the Oklahoma Grit Basin and set out for California along with thousands of others in search of a better life.
13. 1984 by George Orwell — The novel was written in 1949 and depicted a futurity (1984) when government surveillance had reached a totalitarian state, repressing the freedoms of individuals and society as a whole. Follow Smith as he shifts from party member to rebel, navigating the Idea Police, Big Brother, and more.
14. Jane Eyre past Charlotte Brontë — Jane Eyre, first published in London in 1874, is the love story between the independent, once-orphaned Jane and her domineering employer, Rochester. Jane comes to a cross-roads when she discovers Rochester's terrible secret.
15. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville — Moby dick is the story of Ahab, a whaling helm whose ship and leg were destroyed past an albino whale. Ahab pursues his mission: revenge on the whale.
16. Mrs. Dalloway past Virginia Woolf — The novel Mrs. Dalloway follows the thoughts, experiences, and memories of several characters on a unmarried mean solar day in London, most notably Mrs. Dalloway herself, the married woman of a politician in post-World State of war I, every bit she plans a dinner party for that evening. Some have said the book contains some of the almost beautifully written sentences in English literature.
17. A Passage to India by EM Forster —Written in 1924 when United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland ruled Bharat and the Indian independence movement was active. Aziz, an Indian doctor, navigates the formalities, relationships, love interests and frustrations that develop when living alongside the English ruling grade.
18. Brave New Globe by Aldous Huxley —Huxley writes of a dystopian future genetically engineered to provide a pain-free existence. There's simply i trouble: for Bernard, life is meaningless. Perhaps visiting i of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the one-time way of life and imperfection however exists will cure his existential angst.
19. Things Autumn Apart by Chinua Achebe — Okonkwo is an aggressive man determined to exist the leader of Umuofia, the village in which he lives. His beliefs and zealousness for the ways and traditions of the country are his guide.
20. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie past Muriel Spark — Miss Jean Brodie is determined to instil in her students independence, passion, and ambition. She advises her girls, "Safety does not come showtime. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come beginning. Follow me."
21. One Hundred Years of Solitude past Gabriel García Márquez — The novel, first published in Castilian as Cien años de soledad in 1967, is a tale of vii generations of the Buendía family that likewise spans 100 years of turbulent Latin American history. José Arcadio Buendía builds the cute city of Macondo in the eye of a swamp. At first prosperous, a tropical storm lasting nearly five years almost destroys the town, and by the fifth Buendía generation its moral compass besides.
22. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — Written in 1813, Pride and Prejudice remains one of English literature'due south virtually honey novels. Mr. Bennet has five daughters, just tin can simply laissez passer his estate to a male heir, risking destruction for the family upon his death. Ane of the daughters must marry well to stave off destitution. This pressure drives the plot, particularly for Mr. Bennet's daughter, Elizabeth.
23. Animal Farm by George Orwell —An allegorical novella published in August 1945, ii weeks prior to the end of WWII, about a group of farm animals rebelling confronting their farmer in pursuit of animal equality.
24. Criminal offense And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky —Originally published in Russian in 12 parts, Dostoyevsky writes of Rodion, a jaded and poor student in Saint petersburg, who intends to kill an underhanded pawnbroker for coin. What follows is the psychological and practical consequences of his deportment.
25. Beloved by Toni Morrison —The 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning story of an African American slave woman who escapes to the free city of Cincinnati just prior to the Civil War. The story is told by 4 voices and reveals a shocking narrative, which darts back and along in time.
26. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison — Far from the science fiction that may come to mind when reading the championship of this work, an Invisible Man -published in 1952- is the powerful story of a young blackness man who is seen as a grouping of stereotypes rather than who he is, rendering him 'invisible'.
27. Shambles-Five past Kurt Vonnegut — The semi-autobiographical account of the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by the British and American air forces in the February of 1945. Slaughter-house V is the story of Billy Pilgrim, a decidedly not-heroic man who travels back and along through flashbacks, visiting his birth, death, all the moments in between.
28. The Stranger by Albert Camus — This 1942 novel exemplifies Camus' existentialism, Meursault tells the before and later on account of his murder of another man shortly after his female parent's funeral.
29. Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes — A middle-anile man from cardinal Spain, Don Quixote, becomes obsessed with the ideals of knightly and takes up his equus caballus, sword, and feeble side-kick to defend the helpless and verbal punishment on the wicked. Quixote's deeds are typically as equally forlorn every bit his mental state.
30. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe — Beginning published in London in 1719, Crusoe is the sole survivor of a shipwreck, leaving him on an uninhabited isle and provides the account of how he survived and the unlikely helpers along the fashion.
31. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley —A classic by whatever definition, Frankenstein tells the story of a scientist who creates a monster through a science experiment and is now faced with the consequences of what to practise with this newly formed creature.
32. The Count of Monte Cristo past Alexandre Dumas — Edmond, a young sailor from Marseilles, is ready to go captain of his ain ship and to ally his beloved. However, spiteful enemies provoke his arrest and imprisonment, until he intends to escape in search of hidden treasure.
33. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens —Dickens initially published his 8th work as a series betwixt 1849–1850 and thus the original total title was, The Personal History, Adventures, Feel and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery, which is as practiced of a clarification as information technology is a title. The story is told by Copperfield as a man, recounting the ups and downs of his childhood and youth.
34. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë — The story revolves effectually the tempestuous romance between Heathcliff, an orphan who is taken home to Wuthering Heights on an impulse, and Catherine Earnshaw, a strong-willed girl whose mother died delivering her.
35. Footling Women by Louisa M Alcott —Published in 1868 and 1869, the novel details the lives of four sisters' transition into womanhood and their harrowing experiences forth the way.
36. The Telephone call of the Wild by Jack London — A compelling tale of a bold dog that, thrust into the harsh life of the Alaska Gold Rush, ultimately faces a choice betwixt living in man's earth and returning to nature.
37. The Air current in the Willows past Kenneth Grahame — Published in the early 1900s, The Wind in the Willows are brute tales past British writer Kenneth Grahame that began every bit a series of bedtime stories for his son.
38. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh — Based on Waugh'due south ain experience equally a war correspondent in Ethiopia, Scoop chronicles Lord Copper's determination to appoint just the right chap to cover a promising war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. So begins the story, a one-act of mistaken identity and brilliantly irreverent satire of the frenzied pursuit of hot news.
39. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler — A dying millionaire hires a private detective to take care of the blackmailer of one of his ii troublesome daughters. However, he finds himself involved with more than but extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, and murder are just a few of the complications he finds himself in.
40. Lucky Jim past Kingsley Amis — Jim has accidentally landed a task in i of England'due south newly formed universities, which promises a comfortable future- that is to say, if he tin go on abroad fellow lecturer Margaret's unwelcome advances and navigate a host of other socially unbearable circumstances.
41. If on a Wintertime's Nighttime a Traveller past Italo Calvino — Praised as a postmodern masterpiece, the volume is about the reader trying to read the book itself, with each chapter divided in two parts. The first role is in second person describing the process of interpreting what's forthcoming and the 2d part is the continuation of the narrative unfolding — the story of a book-fraud conspiracy.
42. A Bend in the River past V. Southward. Naipaul —Salim, an Indian human, finds himself in mid-20th century, postal service-colonial Africa pursuing a business concern venture only to discover a ruined shell of a boondocks left backside by European colonizers.
43. Housekeeping past Marilynne Robinson —Housekeeping is the story of two orphan girls living in secluded Idaho and are raised by a series of relatives until they state in the care of their aunt Sylvie, a true drifter that becomes the central graphic symbol of the novel.
44. Atonement by Ian McEwan —Atonement follows Briony from the historic period of 13 where, in 1935, what she bore witness to marked her life and the trajectory of the lives effectually her. However, could it be that her preconceived notions shaped what is that she saw?
45. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman —A series of three fantasy novels focused on two children, Lyra and Volition, who travel through parallel universes, touching on themes of philosophy, religion, and physics while meeting friends and foes in the form of witches, polar bears and more.
46. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — The volume was originally a BBC radio program. Seconds before Globe is demolished, Arthur is retrieved from the planet by his friend Ford starting their comedic journeying through space.
47. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens — Dickens' 1860 penultimate novel follows the story of Pip, a blacksmith'due south amateur in a country village. He suddenly comes into a large fortune from an unknown benefactor and moves from Kent to London where he enters high society.
48. Middlemarch by George Eliot —The novel examines the classes and lives of all those living in Middlemarch, a relatively unexciting town. The story canvasses the landed gentry down to professional workers, with focuses on Dorothy and Tertius, both of which have disastrous marriages.
49. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh —Charles meets Sebastian Flyte at Oxford College in 1923. Soon subsequently his life becomes intwined with the Flyte family unit, Roman Cosmic aristocrats of the fourth dimension. The novel depicts his relationship with the Flytes, God, and his romantic endeavors.
50. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy — Tolstoy described Anna Karenina as his first true novel. Others take since described information technology as the greatest work of literature ever written. In 1874 Russian federation, Prince Oblonsky, the brother of Anna Karenina, has an matter with his housemaid. Anna travels from St. petersburg to Moscow in an effort to save his marriage.
51. Portnoy'southward Complaint by Philip Roth — Alexander Portnoy describes to his psychotherapist, in i continuous monologue, his life and lust-crazed existence as a young Jewish bachelor.
52. The Historic period of Innocence past Edith Wharton — Three people's lives are woven together are deeply affected by the rigidness of high social club New York in the 1920s. Newland, a restrained immature chaser, is engaged to marry May, but falls in love with her cute and anarchistic cousin, Ellen. Despite his fear of a dull union he goes through with the ceremony, but continues to see Ellen.
53. The Handmaid's Tale past Margaret Atwood —Offred is a Handmaid to the commander in the Commonwealth of Gilead. Though she in one case had a husband, daughter, and a job, she at present navigates a world which controls her being, a world she resists at hazard of losing her life.
54. The Sun As well Rises past Ernest Hemingway — Inspired by Hemingway'due south trips to Kingdom of spain, a 1926 novel that portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to a Festival in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and bullfights.
55. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf — A stream of consciousness passing of fourth dimension as the Ramsey family visit the lighthouse betwixt 1910 and 1920, exploring themes of the transience of life and work as well every bit the subjective nature of reality.
56. White Noise by Don DeLillo — White Dissonance follows a year in the life of Jack Gladney, a professor who has made his proper name past pioneering the field of Hitler studies.
57. The Middle Is a Solitary Hunter past Carson McCullers — The novel is centered upon John Singer, a deafened-mute living in Georgia in the 1930s, the only man for whom 4 other characters in the boondocks find a true confidant.
58. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner — Set in Mississippi in the early 20th century, Faulkner's beginning major novel describes the decay and fall of the aristocratic Compson family — and, implicitly, of an entire social order.
59. Stake Burn down by Vladimir Nabokov — Fictional poet John Shade creates a 999 line verse form that focuses on various aspects of his life. Shade's friend and editor Charles Kinbotes write a forward and commentary on the poem, which focuses primarily on his own concerns, and thereby reveals a plot slice past piece.
60. I, Claudius by Robert Graves —I, Claudius, Written in the course of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the beginning of the Roman Empire, from Caesar'south assassination to Caligula'due south.
61. Go Tell Information technology On The Mountain past James Baldwin — Baldwin writes a semi-autobiographical story of John Grimes, an African American teenager in Harlem in the 1930s and his human relationship to his parents, step-father, and the Pentecostal church, the latter a source of both oppression and inspiration.
62. A Dance to The Music of Time by Anthony Powell —Not so much a book every bit it is 12, the story documents a British society from pre-World War I through to the 1970s, a social club that was disappearing even equally Powell wrote about information technology. A Dance to The Music of Time is an often funny commentary on the manners and movements, power and passivity in English political, cultural and military life.
63. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller — Tropic of Cancer shifts betwixt past and nowadays and largely functions as an immersive meditation on the man condition. Equally a struggling writer, Miller describes his feel living in Paris in the 30's, a bohemian existence where he psychologically suffers from hunger, homelessness, loneliness, and depression over his recent separation from his wife.
64. Wide Sargasso Ocean by Jean Rhys — Wide Sargasso Sea explores the power of relationships between men and women and develops postcolonial themes, such as racism, displacement, and assimilation.
65. Under The Cyberspace by Iris Murdoch — Set in a part of London where struggling writers rub shoulders with the successful. Its hero, Jake Donaghue, is drifting, clever, likeable and makes a living out of translation work. A meeting with Anna, an old flame, leads him into a series of fantastic adventures.
66. Gulliver's Travels past Jonathan Swift — Gulliver'due south Travels was published in 1726 and follows the tale of Lemuel Gulliver equally he embarks on four voyages. The volume is satirical expect at human nature and the subgenre of travelers tales.
67. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding — First published in London, 1749, Tom Jones is a comic tale, which is both bildungsroman and picaresque that is among the earliest English prose to be classified as a novel.
68. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson — Published in 1748, Clarissa is the story of a beautiful, young woman, Clarissa Harlowe, whose quest for virtue is tragically thwarted by the wickedness of her earth.
69. Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne — A meandering story that tells of the many trivial accidents, which are perceived every bit pseudo-scientific calamities, of Tristram's life, from conception and beyond.
70. The Cherry Letter of the alphabet by Nathaniel Hawthorne — An adulteress is forced to vesture a scarlet A to mark her shame while her unidentified lover is wracked with guilt, and her husband seeks revenge.
71. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert — Published in 1857, the story of a cute farm girl raised in a convent, Emma imagines married life to be an heady adventure and is permit downwards to find that her good natured, but relatively boring married man, isn't what she hoped for. She seeks truthful intimacy in romantic novels and then other men to detect her life spiralling out of command.
72. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James — James explores themes of personal freedom, responsibleness, and betrayal through the story of a spirited young American adult female who, in confronting her destiny, finds it overwhelming. After inheriting a big amount of money she becomes the victim of scheming past two American expatriates.
73. The Foreign Example of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde past Robert Louis Stevenson — A classic novella first published in the 1800's tells the story of a human being and his two change egos: the respected Dr. Henry Jekyll and the loathsome Mr. Edward Hyde.
74. Nostromo by Joseph Conrad — Set in a fictitious South American country, the story begins halfway through the revolution, where rich businessman, Charles Gould, uses gain from his silver mine to keep peace past supporting the electric current dictator. Instead he sparks chaos and war and must trust Nostromo with a boat of silver to keep it from falling into the hands of revolutionaries.
75. In Search of Lost Time past Marcel Proust —Originally written in French, In Search of Lost Fourth dimension could as well be translated as Remembrance of Things Past. The seven-part novel follows the narrator's remembrances of childhood and experiences into adulthood as he searches for truth and grapples with the meaninglessness of life. The story takes identify in the belatedly 19th and early 20th century aloof France.
76. The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence — Lawrence focuses on themes of individual'south struggle for growth and fulfilment within the smothering strictures of of English language social life through the lens of three generations of the Brangwen family unit living in Nottinghamshire.
77. The Practiced Soldier past Ford Madox Ford — Just prior to WWI, two wealthy couples come across at a spa in Germany and spend several years in comfortable friendship until it is revealed that one of the wives and ane of the husbands are in an affair. Decease and pregnant follow.
78. The Trial by Franz Kafka — An upstanding bank officer who is suddenly and unexplainably put under arrest and must defend himself confronting a charge about which he tin get no data.
79. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner —Equally I Lay Dying is Faulkner's distressing account of Addie Bundren'southward decease and the family'south odyssey to bury their wife and mother in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi.
80. Charlotte'south Web by E. B. White —The novel depicts the life-altering human relationship of Wilbur, a barnyard pig, and Charlotte, a spider. Wilbur is in danger of beingness slaughtered when Charlotte intervenes.
81. The Tin can Drum by Gunter Grass — Oskar Matzerath tells u.s. his life story from the solitude of a mental institution, from nascence and coming of age in the time of Globe Wars I and 2.
82. Herzog by Saul Bellow —Herzog is set in 1964 and is about the midlife crisis of a Jewish human, Moses Herzog. The reader learns of Moses as he writes frantic, unsent letters to friends, enemies, colleagues, and the famous, those living and expressionless, show the spectacular workings of his mind and the secrets of his troubled heart.
83. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré — The volume follows the endevors of taciturn, aging spymaster forced out of retirement to find a Soviet mole in the British Cloak-and-dagger Intelligence Service.
84. Song of Solomon past Toni Morrison — A man's attempt to fly from the pinnacle of Mercy hospital, resulting in his expiry, causes a scene which sends Ruth, a heavily pregnant woman, into labor and ushers in the birth of Macon "Milkman" Dead III, the beginning African American born in the hospital. The story follows his life.
85. Coin by Martin Amis — Money is a tale about a true consumer, John Self. He spends extravagantly and with abandon, mindless of consequence, as he seeks to satisfy his appetites: alcohol, tobacco, pills, pornography, junk nutrient, and more.
86. Oscar And Lucinda by Peter Carey — Oscar is an uptight preacher's kid, Lucinda a frizzy-haired heiress. Life events means each grow up to develop a guilty passion for gambling. When the two finally meet they are brought together by their disposition for run a risk, loneliness, and their awkwardly blossoming mutual affection.
87. Haroun and the Sea of Stories past Salman Rushdie — A phantasmagorical children's story set in a metropolis and so old and ruined that it has forgotten its own name. A mesmerising children'due south fantasy full in Indian folklore principally about a kid'due south magical journey to recapture the stories his father used to tell him.
88. American Pastoral by Philip Roth —
89. Austerlitz by W. Thousand. Sebald —
90. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle —
91. Are You There, God? It's me, Margaret by Judy Blume —
92. Of Human Chains by Due west. Somerset Maugham — Philip was abandoned as a child and raised by an unaffectionate family unit. In schoolhouse he struggles to fit in and grows up with a want for dearest, art, and experience. Later on a failed fine art career he begins studies in London, where he meets an uncaring waitress with whom he falls into a strong, disturbing, and life-changing love affair.
93. The Astonishing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon — Fix in 1939 NYC, a teenage budding sorcerer, Joe, arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy. While the long shadow of Hitler falls beyond Europe, America is happily in meridian of the Golden Historic period of comic books, and Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze.
94. The Cursory Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz — The story is centered on Oscar De León (nicknamed Oscar Wao), an overweight Dominican boy growing upwardly in New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well equally the expletive that has plagued his family for generations.
95. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen — Corrections is centered on the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, telling the story of their lives from the 1950s to "one final Christmas" together well-nigh the turn of the century.
96. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster — A tollbooth mysteriously appears in Milo'due south room, he drives through only because he's got nothing improve to practice. Only on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions, learns about fourth dimension from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and much more.
97. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami — The unreality vortex circling around several loosely continued searches by the protagonist-narrator, Toru Okada, a lost human being-boy in his early xxx's.
98. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston — The novel narrates main grapheme Janie Crawford's blossoming from a vivid merely voiceless, teenage girl into a woman with her mitt on the wheel of her own destiny.
99. Watchmen past Alan Moore — In an alternate 1985 America, costumed superheroes are office of everyday life. When one of his old comrades is murdered, masked vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) uncovers a plot to kill and discredit all by and nowadays superheroes.
100. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera — A novel possessing both comedy and trauma, the author addresses, 'Being' in a world in which lives are irreversibly shaped choices and chance events in which everything occurs just once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight.

Going deeper: 500+ books to read earlier you lot die

Several people have requested, not just the list above, but the full list of 500+ works that were mentioned past the 8 lists. If you want to evidence me some love for all this work y'all tin buy me a java or 20 ;) hither.

The spreadsheet with all 500+ books listed on information technology with their rankings and what list they announced on is hither.

How to get through the list of 100 books without taking a lifetime to do and so

If y'all don't take time to sit down and read -I don't- then you lot tin 'read' on the get with Audible. I've made it through countless books this way and swear by information technology. Audible offers a free xxx twenty-four hour period trial. I highly recommend giving it a try .

There is a sure kind of snobbery that exists about 'reading' books, and while I recall sitting and reading is a superb discipline, there'due south also something to exist said for hearing them. Not everyone learns the same way. I actually retain more data by hearing than seeing and therefore accept loved Audible and accept been using it for the meliorate part of seven years.

In improver to that, not all books are created equal and therefore don't deserve the same attention. Aural allows you to practise something about that. Equally such, with Audible y'all can listen to books at 1.25x, 1.5x, or even 2x the speed.

Get inspired: How Beak Gates reads books

Beak Gates on reading books

All 100 books to read, browsable by volume cover

I idea I'd provide an additional resource: the list of 100 books, browsable by book cover. You can see all 100 volume covers here.

More than from Joel Patrick

How to Write Something Meaningful

meldrumquirs1950.blogspot.com

Source: https://medium.com/world-literature/creating-the-ultimate-list-100-books-to-read-before-you-die-45f1b722b2e5

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