There are many best book lists online and we love looking at some of them. That gives us an idea of the best books and how a certain group or institution thinks. Today, we will be looking at Pan Macmillian’s 50 best books of all time list. Keep reading to see which books made their list.
What is Pan Macmillian?
You might be wondering what Pan Macmillian is and what hey do. Pan Macmillian is one of the biggest publishing companies in the United Kingdom. You may have some of their imprints such as Tor, Macmillan, Mantle, and Boxtree. The company was first founded in 1843 and is one of the powerhouses in the publishing business.
That gives them a sense of credibility. These lists always have personal bias and should be taken with a grain of salt though. You can see the full list below.
Pan Macmillian’s 50 Best Books of All Time
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- Luster by Raven Leilani
- Room by Emma Donoghue
- To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
- The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- A House for Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- Passing by Nella Larsen
- Sparrow by James Hynes
- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
- A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
- The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex
- The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- Dissolution by C. J. Sansom
- The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- Not Alone by Sarah K Jackson
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
- The City & The City by China Miéville
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- Arrival by Ted Chiang
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
- The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
- Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
- A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler
- Finding Hildasay by Christian Lewis
- I Heard What You Said by Jeffrey Boakye
- Queen of our Times by Robert Hardman
- This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
- The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku
- Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole
- Too Many Reasons to Live by Rob Burrow
- Exiles by Jane Harper
- The Vacation by John Marrs
- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Absolute Power by David Baldacci
- The Kindness Method by Shahroo Izadi
- Solve For Happy by Mo Gawdat
- The Shining by Stephen King
- The Rats by James Herbert
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
An Interesting List
I think this is a good list but some of these books wouldn’t even make my top 100 list. Pan Macmillian lists these books as must reads before you die and I don’t think that is true. About half of the list would fall under that claim but the other half can be ignored.
It also comes down to what people like and that is different for every person. So, while this list may be true for the person who created it, I imagine another person on the editorial board would have a different list. Some of these picks feel a bit personal and while they may be critically acclaimed, that doesn’t automatically make a book a must read.
Conclusion
That is all for Pan Macmillian’s 50 best books of all time list. What do you make of it? What books would you have included on the list? Let us know in the comments below!