Books Everyone Should Read Once in Their Lifetime

There are some books in the world that everyone should read once in their lifetime. Some books are just that good. These are books that most people have either read or heard about and have added it to their to-read list. Keep reading to find out which books everyone should read once in their lifetime! 

Many of these books tackle major issues or changed the genre. Books like Harry Potter have become ingrained in modern day culture and the books went on to inspire many writers and books over the years. These books become more than words on pages and uplift the readers and become a sort of therapy.

Books Everyone Should Read Once

1. The Dairy of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
4. The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  
7. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
9. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 
10. Lord of the Flies by William Golding 
11. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck  
13. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens  
14. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
15. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry  
16. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 
17. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
20. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
21. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton  
22. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 
23. Life of Pi by Yann Martel 
24. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
25. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
26. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
27. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick

1984

A sci-fi novel that has risen to popularity in modern times is 1984 by George Orwell. When some ideas in this sci-fi and dystopian novel came true, people’s interest in the novel rose. This novel touches on various issues such as mass surveillance, a controlling regime, and disinformation.

The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien

If you love fantasy novels, then you have to read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Not only is it an amazing 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 Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  

Set in 1925 and told from Nick Carraway’s point of view, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is an American classic novel that captures the 1920s. The novel tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a millionaire with a mysterious past who wants to reunite with his former lover Daisy Buchanan.

Like many great novels, this one was inspired by true events based on a romance Fitzgerald has with a socialite as well as parties he attended in Long Island in 1922. The novel was considered a commercial failure, selling less than 20,000 copies and Gatsby considered himself a failure with nothing to be remembered for.

But that changed when his novel surged in popularity when the Council on Books in Wartime gave soldiers free copies. This led to his novel being re-examined by critics and scholars and his novel was this introduced to American high school curriculum and the mainstream media in American.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

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 Book Thief by Markus Zusak

One of my favorite novels of all time is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 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 Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

A novel that has stayed with me ever since I read it is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is a powerful 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 Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 

One of the most popular dystopian novels must be The Handmaid’s Tale. Some people may have read it in school while others read it for fun but either way, it is an impactful novel. Another classic dystopian novel that is up there is 1984. They both tackle serious issues and make us imagine the worst-case scenarios. 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

If you like horror novels, then you will love Frankenstein. It is worth reading the novel that many consider the first sci-fi novel and a novel that asks philosophical questions that readers are still thinking about to this day. Even over two centuries after the novel was published, it is still a great read and the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein lives to this day in many people’s mind.

Conclusion

There is no one perfect list of books everyone should read once. Everyone has different taste. But for the most part, many of the lists do look very similar. Some personal preferences make a list unique and that is what makes reading fun. These are my picks and the books that I was glad I read and would encourage other book lovers to read. 

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