The Greatest Fiction Books of All Time

Fiction books are some of the most common books out there. Most people have read some sort of fiction novel. That is why we decided to make a list of the greatest fiction books of all time.

There are various types of fiction novels and that gives us a lot of books to choose from. Many of these books are considered classics and have had a major impact in the literary world or I felt like should be read once by avid book fans. Without further ado, you can see the list of books below!

assorted title books on brown wooden shelf
The Greatest Fiction Books of All Time

The Greatest Fiction Books of All Time

  1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
  2. Beloved byToni Morrison, 1987
  3. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, 1967
  4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt 1992
  5. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick 1968
  6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, 1847
  7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960
  8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813
  9. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1961
  10. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, 1949
  11. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1878
  12. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, 1844
  13. Ulysses by James Joyce, 1920
  14. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 1952
  15. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 2003
  16. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1954
  17. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, 1939
  18. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, 1951
  19. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932
  20. The Stranger by Albert Camus, 1942
  21. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 1867
  22. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, 2016
  23. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, 1950
  24. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, 1865
  25. Lord of the Flies by William Golding, 1954
  26. Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897
  27. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, 1985
  28. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943
  29. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1985
  30. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, 1929
  31. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, 1969
  32. Animal Farm by George Orwell, 1945
  33. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 2005
  34. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, 1988
  35. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937
  36. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2013
  37. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, 1849
  38. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, 1851

Books Worth Mentioning

It was hard to leave out many books because they didn’t meet the criteria of being amazing books but were still good. Novels like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Count of Monte Cristo were obvious choices but other books like Americanah and The Secret History that aren’t as well-known but felt like they belonged on the list.

Other books that should be mentioned include books such as The Book Thief, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Grapes of Wrath and The Catcher in the Rye. While these books are mostly assigned in English class, they made a splash when they were first released. Most of these books were released before the internet existed and most people were still reading mostly the same stuff.

Conclusion

What books do you think should have been on the list that weren’t? No list is perfect but most of these books are well known and are on many people’s to-read list even if they never get to them. I have enjoyed most of them and was glad that I did give them a read even.

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41 thoughts on “The Greatest Fiction Books of All Time

  1. Alice says:

    Missing are some favourite works by Friedrich Dürrenmatt: das Versprechen and der Verdacht.

    Reply
  2. Diana Portman says:

    There are a lot of them that I read. It’s a nice list. The one I am planning to read next is “How to kill a mockingbird”. I loved the post.

    Reply
      1. Anonymous says:

        How about the many works of HG Wells? Perhaps the style is a bit dated, yet his books still provide sheer entertainment.

      2. David Jackson Ambrose says:

        I wait with baited breath for you to review one of my novels.
        Unlawful Disorder
        A Blind Eye
        State of the Nation
        By David Jackson Ambrose

  3. Brooklyn says:

    Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Native Son, Brothers Karamazov have to be on list

    Reply
  4. Jean S Stewart says:

    I’m a retired teacher of English literature, and this is an excellent list.

    Reply
  5. Liz Mostert says:

    How about the Outlander series as well as Game of Thrones

    Reply
    1. Ahaqir says:

      He’s a great writer but for me, his books never really stuck with me. I did forget about Of Mice and Men and will be adding that!

      Reply
      1. Anonymous says:

        House of Spirits, Isabel Allende; Razor’s Edge, Maugham; The Storyteller, Llosa Vargas; Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller.

    2. Rothian Lover says:

      and also we’re ignoring Philip Roth? Plot against America, American Pastoral, Human Stain, I married a Communist, Goodbye Columbus … none of them add up?

      Reply
  6. Barbara Kress says:

    How about Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell?

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says:

    The World According to Garp, John Irving. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth.

    Reply
  8. Ndudi says:

    I was thrilled to see Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for a book written in the 21st century to be amongst this list of great classics shows how good it is. I have Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird in my e-library, but I haven’t gotten to it just yet. This is an inspiration to do so. Thank you

    Reply
    1. Ahaqir says:

      I just finished Half of a Sun and that also deserves to be on the list as it is a really moving book. The three books you mentioned are all great and while they tell different stories of The U.S., they played an important part in its history.

      Reply
  9. Steve Joseph says:

    The Harry Potter series should be on the list

    Reply
  10. Borges says:

    Stuff that recent should not be near the top. Even from the last 50-60 years. We have no idea what will last. Also, where is Don Quixote, The Brothers Karamazov, In Search of Lost Time? Groundbreaking novels of massive stature and influence.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous says:

      War of the world’s treasure island stephen kings under the dome these are my favorite s

      Reply
    2. Ina May Gattis says:

      I used to think that too, but if you read a lot, you can also go by the books that leave a lasting impression on you and you go back to over and over. One contemporary book like that for me is The River Why….sooooo well written, so many life truths. Others:

      One for the Blackbird, one for the crow
      The ragged edge of night
      Shantaram

      Reply
  11. Hans says:

    A Man in Full, the Rabbit trilogy, All the King’s Men, Huckleberry Finn, A Separate Peace, QB VII, to name a few.

    Reply
  12. Angela says:

    All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
    I would agree with most of these but not all.
    The Grapes of Wrath is on your main list but you include it later in other books worth mentioning.

    Reply
  13. Kevin J Hallisey says:

    Loved your list and I agree with every book you listed. For my list, I would have added “Dune” ( the first book) by Frank Herbert and “Gravity’s Rainbow” by Thomas Pynchon.

    Reply
  14. Sean says:

    I can’t imagine including Enders Game in such a list without including A wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin much further up the list. The dispossessed should also have a place.

    A Confederacy of Dunces is a great book that could be up there. Same with Zeno’s Conscience. I would also definitely add a confederate Yankee in king Arthur’s court by Twain.

    And honestly great Gatsby and to kill a mockingbird should be much further down that list.

    Reply
  15. Jason Kanz says:

    Interesting list, but any “greatest novels list” without including Dostoyevsky is incomplete. The Brothers Karamazov is generally considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, novels ever written.

    Reply
  16. Ina May Gattis says:

    A gentleman in Moscow
    Gone with the wind
    The river why
    The brothers k

    Reply
  17. Philip Estrin says:

    Frankly, I don’t see how any list that professes to be the absolutely greatest books of all time can possibly exclude Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past” or “Don Quixote?” No Saul Bellow or Philip Roth and especially no Isaac Bashevis Singer? Or Dostoyevsky? Or Mishima? What about “Madame Bovary,” a d “The Red and the Black.” And for a more contemporary author, what about Richard Ford?

    Reply

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