There are millions of books out there and we will be unable to read even one percent of those books. That means we must choose what we read carefully. Harper’s Bazaar has their recommendations. Keep reading to find out what made Harper’s Bazaar’s 10 books to read in your lifetime list!
What we love about lists is that you don’t find two that are identical. While there are consensus picks, somehow, a surprising book or two make the list. That is also true for Harper’s Bazaar’s list. Keep reading to see which ten books they chose!
Harper’s Bazaar’s 10 Books to Read in Your Lifetime
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
- Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence
- The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Classics and a Few Surprises
The list starts off well by choosing some great classics. Everything looked great and then they just had to include The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This book does not belong on this list and is not must-read. A few sentences can summarize the whole story and you won’t have to read pages on pages about the meaning of the scarlet letter.
A book I never heard of made this list which surprised me. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence is a book that I have never come across before today. It was released in the 1928 in Italy and was even banned in some places because of the sexual content in the 1960’s. It even received an obscenity trial. The 1960’s was a different time to say the least.
Conclusion
It is hard to argue against the classics chosen by Harper’s Bazaar. Everything except The Scarlet Letter sits well with me and I do not know much about Lady Chatterley’s Lover to give much of an opinion.
That is all for Harper’s Bazaar’s 10 books to read in your lifetime list. What did you think of their list and their two surprising picks? Let us know in the comments below!
You need to research things you don’t know about. Lady Chatterley’s Lover came out in 1928, not the 1960s.
Before you criticize someone, learn to read more carefully. The writer had said it came out in 1928 and was banned even in the 1960’s
You clearly know nothing about books if you don’t know Lady Chatterley.
If you haven’t heard of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, then you know nothing about books. You have business compiling such lists. Go back to school and learn about the history of English literature.
Yay! Another list of mostly old, dead white guys! Come on, HB, step beyond the syllabus from Brit and American lit survey courses from the 90s, please.
Yes to these authors. Add Melville’s Moby Dick.
Your comments about The Scarlet Letter, and the fact that you’ve never heard of Lady Chatterley’s Lover (!?) exhibit an ignorance that should bar you from publishing these kinds of essays. The Scarlet Letter is one of the most brilliant books ever written, and I read Lady Chatterley Lover by the time I was 17. The list needs to be greatly expanded to include authors beyond the dead white (mostly) male western canon. And I’d question the inclusion of Lolita, whose thin veil of disapprobation does not hide the authors lip-licking, salacious enjoyment of pedophilic fantasies.
Moby Dick was a great movie, but it was hard to keep reading at times
The Scarlet Letter most certainly belongs. This riveting psychological masterpiece with a woman in the central role is groundbreaking and unforgettable.
I applaud the fact that the writer states not having read DHLawrence and the fact they aren’t justifying themself. It’s refreshing to read their truth. Spread the joy of reading, discovery of new authors, encourage discussion/debate if applicable. There are masterpieces written for everyone even if everyone cannot write a masterpiece.
I am also pretty surprised that this person has not heard of D.H.Laurence. Probably not the person to be reviewing books.
I wish reviewers would include Middlemarch by George Eliot it is an amazing story, beautifully written and covering historical times.
No People of Color?
SMDH!
Reading various classics, Thomas Mann seems never to be mentioned. How about ..The Magic Mountain..among many others!
I personally would leave off “Lord of the Flies” and substitute another in that space like “The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell and Peter Ford”, a poignant and searing account of Joseph Carey Merrick. It is unforgettable.
You need people of color on your team to direct you away from only white writers. Your list lacks diversity & excludes great books written in my lifetime.