With so many books to read, choosing the right ones is not always easy. That is why we have curated a list of the 40 must read books of all time. Keep reading to find out which books made the list!
Creating this list was not easy as many great books were omitted. The good news is that you don’t have to read every book on this list. If you like the writing style of an author, you can binge read them. That is what makes reading fun.
If reading doesn’t entertain you, the you are probably reading the wrong books. This list includes many amazing books and we know not every book is going to be to your liking. Finding which books and authors we like is a part of the journey. You can see the full list below!
The 40 Must Read Books of All Time
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
To Kill a Mockingbird
Like many people, I first read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school and couldn’t put the novel down even if I wanted to. The story is told by the viewpoint of Jean Louise Finch and tells the story of Atticus Finch defending Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a white woman in Maycomb, Alabama. Even over 70 years later, the novel is still on print and sells ten of thousands of copies every year.
The Lord of the Rings
If you love reading fantasy novels, then you have to read The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Not only is it an incredible series but it is the formula that many fantasy authors have used to write their novels. If you have read a bunch of fantasy novels, then you have most likely come across troupes that were popularized by Tolkien.
The Book Thief
Nothing beat the feeling of seeing on of my favorite novels, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, on the list. It tells a chilling story about a family that hides a Jewish man in Germany during World War II. The writing is incredible but what I love the most is using death as a narrator. If you haven’t read this timeless classic, then you are missing out.
The Catcher in the Rye
A classic novel that readers see to either love or hate is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. After revisiting this novel, I do believe it deserves the recognition it has gotten over the decades. There is a lot to take away and the novel is even more relevant in this day and age. I do think the novel hasn’t aged as gracefully as other classics but it still captures childhood innocence that we are all familiar with.
The Kite Runner
A novel that has stayed with me ever since I read it is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is a beautifully written novel about two unlikely friends that takes place in Afghanistan, where the regime is collapsing. Hosseini tackles heavy subjects as love, betrayal, family, identity, and redemption. Find out yourself why this novel is one of the best selling historical fiction novels of all time.
The Secret History
One of my favorite novels has to be The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It is a murder mystery that takes place on a college campus and recalls the events that led to the murder of one of the members of the club. This novel gave birth to the dark academia subgenre and established Tartt as a one of a kind author. Few authors can get away with releasing one novel a decade but Tartt has proven that it is worth waiting for her novels.
Conclusion
That ends this list of the 40 must read books of all time. How many of these books have you read? Which books should we include in our next list? Let us know in the comments below!
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Just noticed that Gone With the Wind and Animal Farm are both on their twice, but I didn’t count to see if there were more or less than 40. It’s a pretty solid list and I have read most of them. But there’s a few that I won’t ever read. I really can’t understand why Beloved makes so many lists like this one. I read it and thought it was awful, badly written and jumping all over the place so that it hardly made sense. I’m a big reader, since I was 4 years old! I generally read more than a dozen books a month, so it’s not like it was too difficult for me. It just wasn’t well written and I really can’t understand what anybody likes about it. I feel that the story could have been told in a much better way.
You’re not Toni Morrison I assume! 😉 Read Beloved recently and was blown away by it, sensational. Really up there. But also a highly traumatic read. Also Charlotte’s Web is on there twice!
Maybe someone should read a basic math book! 40 books on the list, but two listed twice.
Actually 5 are listed twice. The 35 Must Read Books of All Time
Animal Farm and Charlotte’s Web are listed twice. I don’t take much stock in a list with poor editing.
In addition to Gone With The Wind and Charlotte’s Web being listed twice, the list has The Lord Of The Rings which is a trilogy and not a single volume.
I have read most of these, and most are very good, but I think both The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and Beloved are weak entries.
Amen. If they lack the diligence to properly audit their own list, their credibility goes right out the window.
A Tale of Two Cities listed twice.
There are 5 books duplicated on the list. Just an fyi……..
Thanks for the list.
The grapes of wrath is repeated
A poor list…
Sweden.
Perhaps if this article’s “author” spent more time proofreading this AI generated mess then they would have noticed it only has 35 titles listed.
I guess some more way more important ICF they must be read twice
Why is the Bible not listed?
Bad list. Bad writing. Why does this garbage keep showing up on my feed?
I have read 12 of the books but I think you need to add The Stand by Stephen King which I have read twice I especially enjoyed of men and mice and of course Gone with the Wind