Fiction novels transport you to another world when reading. They are the closest thing to magic there is in our world. The adventure is even better when the book you are reading is one of the greatest works of fiction. That is why we decided to list the 25 best fiction books of all time.
Why 25 books you ask? This feels like the right number to get all of the books that are considered great in one list. Often times, we have to omit great books because a top ten list is too short. That won’t be the case here.
Still, as with any list, some books won’t make the cut. The books chosen in this list are our picks and come with our biases. No list is perfect and neither is this one but these are the 25 books that ended up making out list. You can see the full list below.
The 25 Best Fiction Books of All Time
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
- Beloved by Toni Morrison, 1987
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, 1967
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt 1992
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick 1968
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, 1847
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1960
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1961
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, 1949
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, 1878
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, 1844
- Ulysses by James Joyce, 1920
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 1952
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 2003
- The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1954
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, 1951
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 1867
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, 2016
- Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, 1985
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, 1985
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 2005
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, 1988
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, 1937
A Lot of Classics
This list is dominated by classics. It is hard to justify cutting out classics and choosing personal favorites. There are still great books such as The Secret History by Donna Tartt that aren’t considered classics that we included. This book is too good to omit and a book that we recommend to any book lover.
There aren’t too many surprises on this list in our opinion. Many classics such as Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë made the list. Any list without these works seems wrong and they were a shoe-in from the start.
Conclusion
What did you think of the 25 best fiction books of all-time list? What books should have made the list but didn’t? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time, happy reading!
Gone with the Wind deserves to be on this list.
Since ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” appears twice, there is room for one more: ‘A Lesson Before Dying’.
If not already mentioned Lonesome Dove
Vanna Speaks!
Great Expectations or A Tale of Two
Cities belongs on this list
Cutting for Stone
Harry Potter
Clan of the Cave Bear
Something by Vonnegut. I’d suggest Cat’s Cradle.
Lonesome Dove belongs. Ulysses is an impossible read. Doesn’t belong.
To Killl A Mockingbird didn’t make the cut? Seriously?
… I may have totally forgotten about it… I’ll make the change soon.
Aaaanndd… now it’s on the list twice. Feast or famine…
Actually, To kill a Mockingbird is on the list twice…
Enders game?!?
God Is an Englishman by R. F. Delderfield
Add Captains and The Kings by Taylor Caldwell….Lost Horizon by James Hilton….. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck….Shane by Jack Schaefer….The Godfather by Mario Puzo….A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens….East of Eden by John Steinbeck….
Get rid of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald…. Beloved by Toni Morrison…. Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger
THE FOUNTAINHEAD
by Ann Rand
To Kill a Mockingbird isn’t really fiction. It’s a memoir.
No, it’s not a memoir, it’s a fictional story.
It’s on the list!
I had to go back and add it… Kinda embarrassing 😔
Look again. It’s on the list!
Are you people 12 years old? No Iliad or Odyssey? No Faulkner? Dante? The Hobbit?? Dracula?? And Ulysses APPEARED IN 1922, NOT 1920.
Great list but no Hemingway? What about For Whom the Bell Tolls? Or, Steinbeck- The Grapes of Wrath, or Melville- Moby Dick, or even Twain- Huckleberry Finn. Maybe you are concerned about offending people’s sensibilities but, Hemingway and Twain are considered great by most scholars.
Pillars of the Earth…Ken Follet
Thank you for reminding some that great writing did not originate in the 18th Century, nor does it depend on one’s average reading level.
I like this list, but I find the lack of Steinbeck saddening. East of Eden might be my favorite novel ever written.
Amen
Lonesome Dove is high on my Best list. Always sad to never see it included.
Any thing by any rand
Ulysses was published in 1922, not q920
Any Rand was no better than Ayn Rand…
No Mark Twain??!
Im also going to be “THAT” person and say HP and the sorcerers stone has been on Amazons top 20 list for 198 weeks… Thats impressive and not many books can claim that.
Dracula was awful. Swap it out with Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Let’s take 25 books I read in high school and college and make a list out of it…
The greatest novel ever written was Moby Dick.
The Grapes of Wrath – What’s wrong with you?
No “Crime and Punishment?” No “Brothers Karamazov?”
No notes from underground? ANYTHING by Nikolai Gogol’ ? So many Russian ( & Soviets&their satellite countries)authors- the list would be in the thousands-that deserve to be here. So many Ukrainian, Jews,Poles- my goodness,the Polish lit out there-how about author of Sailor who fell from grace…& Pick a book.- or one of my absolute favourites,a teen girl dreamed up by a genius,under-read author of none other than Irish origins- so many Irish as well- this is not a touchy feely oprah’s club list:true gothic horror suspense in the indominatable female protagonist,never a victim; &one of THE most sinister relatives invented : genius J.Sheridan le Fanu,& Uncle Silas. I read it between business time,&staying up all night. One of my best reads ever,Uncle Silas,too many Russ.,Soviet,&Irish books to boot- find them.You never know when you will pick up one book,find it was from a group of authors in a “salon” type setting,&there it is-the beginning of a world wide network of books,fiction,by a multitude of authors from many different places that will lend enrichment to your reading world.Please-if you like the book,follow the threads.I love H.P. Lovecraft as well,&still think,in straight horror ahead of its time,The strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward is a terrifying masterpiece. Go,read authors!
Absolom! Absalom! By William Faulkner
Tale of Two Cities