It’s very rare that I find a list of must-read books that I like or agreed with but I was very impressed with the Guardian’s list of 1000 books. It covers so many eras and genres and even has a few obscure, yet excellent books that are not often recorded in other “top” lists.
I will slowly make my way through this list to expand my reading diet!
Guardian’s 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read
52 Pickup January 27, 2023
Absolute Beginners
The Accidental Tourist
According to Queeney
Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
Adam Bede
The Adventures of Augie March
The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom
The Adventures of Gil Blas
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
The Adventures of Roderick Random
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Affinity
The African Queen
After London; or Wild England
Afternoon Men
The Age of Innocence January 11, 2019 (Review)
Air
Albert and Jacob
Ali and Nino
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland August 2001
All Quiet on the Western Front August 2013
All Soul’s Day
All the Pretty Horses
Alms for Oblivion
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Ambassadors
American Gods
American Pastoral
American Psycho
An American Tragedy
Amongst Women
And Then There Were None
Andersonville
The Andromeda Strain
Angel
Anglo-Saxon Attitudes
Animal Farm
Anna Karenina January 2012
Anthills of the Savannah
Any Human Heart
Around the World in Eighty Days December 2006
As I Lay Dying
Ascent
The Ascent of Rum Doodle
The Asphalt Jungle
The Assistant
Asterix the Gaul
At-Swim-Two-Birds
Atomized
The Atonement
August Carp, Esq; by Himself
Austerlitz
Auto-da-Fe
The Awakening
Babbitt
Ballet Shoes
The Bamboo Bed
Barchester Towers August 7, 2014 (Review)
The Baron in the Trees
Barry Lyndon
The Beach
The Beast Must Die
Beauty and Sadness
Before Lunch
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Being Dead
Bel-Ami
The Bell Jar
Belles-Lettres Papers: A Novel
Beloved
A Bend in the River
Berlin Alexanderplatz
The Betrothed
Beyond Black
The Big Blowdown
The Big Nowhere
The Big Sleep June 12, 2014 (review)
Billy Liar
Birdsong
Black and Blue
Black Beauty
Black Mischief
The Black Prince
Black Sunday
Blacklist
The Blackwater Lightship
Bleak House read February 15, 2024
The Blind Assassin
Blindness
Blood Meridian
Blott on the Landscape
The Blue Flower
The Blue Room
The Bluest Eye
Bold as Love
Bomber
Bones and Silence
The Bonfire of the Vanities
Bonjour Tristesse
The Book of Daniel
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
The Book of the New Sun
The Bottle Factory Outing
The Bourne Identity
Bouvard et Pécuche
Brave New World November 24, 2012
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Breakfast of Champions
Breathing Lessons
Brewster’s Millions
Bridget Jone’s Diary
Big Lights, Big City
Brighton Rock
The Brothers Karamazov November 10, 2016 (Review)
Buddenbrooks
The Buddha of Suburbia
Burmese Days read July 6, 2023
The Butcher Boy
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
The Caine Mutiny
Cakes and Ale
Call It Sleep
The Call of the Wild
Camp Concentration
Candide March 2014 (Review) read-along
A Canticle for Leibowitz Dec 2011
Caprice
Captain Blood
Carrie’s War
The Case of Comrade Tulayev
The Case of the Gilded Fly
Casino Royale
The Castafiore Emerald
The Castle of Otranto October 2012
Castle Rackrent
The Castle
Cat’s Eye
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
Changing Places
Charade
The Charterhouse of Parma
The Chateua
Cheese
Cheri
The Child in Time
Childhood’s End
The Children of Men
The Children of the New Forest
Chronicle in Stone
The Chronicles of Narnia April 2014 (Reviews – see also bottom of linked review)
Cider with Rosie
Clarissa
Claudine at School
Clayhanger
A Clockwork Orange
Cloud Atlas
The Code of the Woosters
Cold Comfort Farm October 2001
Cold Mountain
The Color Purple
The Coming Race
The Commitments
A Confederacy of Dunces
Confederates
Confessions of Zeno
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Consider Phlebas
The Constant Gardener
Cop Hater
The Corrections
Count Belisarius
The Count of Monte Cristo March 2006
The Counterfeiters
Couples
Covenant with Death
Cover Her Face
The Crab with the Golden Claws
Cranford April 2013
Crash
Crime and Punishment
The Crime of Father Amado
Chrome Yellow
The Crow Road
The Cruel Sea
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Crying of Lot 49
Cryptonomicon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
A Dance to the Music of Time
Daniel Deronda February 2014 (Review)
A Dark-Adapted Eye
Darkmans
Darkness at Noon
Darkness Falls from the Air
Darwin’s Radio
The Daughter of Time
Day
Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Locust
Day of the Triffids March 13, 2022 (Review)
De Niro’s Game
Dead Lagoon
Dead Souls
Death and the Penguin
Death at the President’s Lodging
Death in Summer
Death in Venice
Death of a Hero
Death of the Heart
The Death of Virgil
The Debacle
The Debt to Pleasure
Decline and Fall
Deliverance
Delta of Venus
Devil in a Blue Dress read October 17, 2022
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands
Diary of a Mad Old Man
Diary of a Nobody November 2009
Diary of a Provincial Lady
Dirty Tricks
The Discworld Series
Disgrace
Dissolution
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Doctor Zhivago May 26, 2014
Dolores Claibourne
Dom Casmurro Joaquim
Dombey and Son September 2013
Don Quixote July 2007
Double Indemnity
Dracula October 19, 2015
The Driver’s Seat
The Drowned World
A Dry White Season
Dune
Earthly Powers
Earthsea Series
East Lynne
East of Eden February 17, 2015 (Review)
The Echoing Grove
Effi Briest
The Egoist
The Einstein Intersection
Elmer Gantry
Emma December 2007 (Review)
Empire of the Sun May 19, 2017
The End of the Affair
The End of the World News
Enduring Love
Enemies, A Love Story
England, Their England
The English Patient
Enigma
Ennui; Or, Memoirs of the Earl of Glenthorn
Epileptic
Epitaph for a Spy
Erewhon May 16, 2015 (Review)
Eugenie Grandet
Evelina
Everything is Illuminated
Excellent Women
Exit Music
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Extinction
The Face of Another
Fahrenheit 451 July 2012
Fair Stood the Wind for France
A Fairy Tale of New York
Family Matters
The Family Moskat
The Famished Road
Fantomas
A Far Cry From Kensington
Far from the Madding Crowd June 23, 2016 (Review)
The Far Pavilions
A Farewell to Arms
A Fatal Inversion
Fatherland
Fathers and Sons September 19, 2014 (Review)
The Female Man
Fight Cub
A Fine Balance
Fingersmith
Finnegan’s Wake
Fireflies
First Love
A Flag for Sunrise
Flashman
Flaubert’s Parrot
Flowers for Algernon
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Foreign Affairs
The Forever War
The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney
Fortunes of War
Focault’s Pendulum
Foundation
The Fountain Overflows
The Four Just Men
Frankenstein April 2014 (Review)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Friday, the Rabbi Slept Late
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
From Here to Eternity
Frost in May
Fun Home
G.
The Garden of the Finzi-Cortinis
Gargantua and Pantagruel
The Gathering
GB84
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Germinal
Get Shorty
The Getaway
Gilead
Giovanni’s Room
Girl in Winter
Girlfriend in a Coma
The Girls of Slender Means
The Glass Bead Game
The Glass Key
A Glastonbury Romance
Go Tell It On The Mountain
The Go-Between
The God of Small Things
God’s Bits of Wood
The Godfather
The Golden Notebook
Goldfinger
Gone With the Wind
Good Behaviour
The Good Companions
A Good Man in Africa
The Good Soldier Svejk
The Good Soldier October 8, 2019 (Review)
Goodbye to Berlin
Gorky Park
The Graduate
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grass is Singing
Gravity’s Rainbow
Great Apes
Great Expectations
The Great Gatsby January 2014 (Review)
The Great Impersonation
Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical
Greenmantle September 27, 2021 (Review)
The Group
Gulliver’s Travels January 3, 2015 (review)
A Gun For Sale
The Guns of Navarone
A Handful of Dust
Handley Cross
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Hanging Gardens
Hangover Square
Hard Revolution
Hard Times
The Harpole Report
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone April 2001
The Haunting of Hill House February 2013
Headlong Hall
The Hearing Trumpet
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Heart of Darkness
A Heart So White
The Heat of the Day
Heavy Weather
Hello Summer, Goodbye
Herland
Herzog
Hideous Kinky
High Fidelity May 5, 2017
High Wind in Jamaica
His Dark Materials
History
The History of Tom Jones read June 13, 2023
The History Man
The History of Mr. Polly
The History of Pompey the Little
A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters
The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Hobbit March 2011
The Hollow Man
The Home and the World August 15, 2016
The Horse’s Mouth
The Hound of the Baskervilles
A House for Mr. Biswas
House of Leaves
The House of Mirth March 2013 (Review) Read-along
The House of the Seven Gables
How Green Was My Valley December 2009
How Late It Was, How Late
How the Dead Live
Howard’s End
The Human Stain
Humboldt’s Gift
Hunger
The Hunters
Hurrah for St. Trinians
Hyperion
I Am Legend read October 23, 2023
I Capture The Castle November 2008
I Served the King of England
I’ll Go To Bed At Noon
An Ice Cream War
The Idiot May 2014
If Not Now, When?
Illywhacker
The Immoralist
In the Country of Last Things
Independence Day
An Infamous Army
Infinite Jest
The Influence
The Information
Ingenious Pain
Institute Benjamenta
The Insult
Invisible Cities
Invitation to the Waltz
The Invisible Man
The Ipcress File
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Ivanhoe
Jacques, the Fatalist
Jane Eyre December 2006 (Review) Read-along
Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Joseph Andrews
Journey Into Fear
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Journey to the End of the Night
Joy in the Morning
Jude the Obscure
A Judgement in Stone
Julie, ou la Novelle Heloise
July’s People October 29, 2014 (Review)
Jumper
The Jungle
Jurassic Park
Just William
Justine
A Kestrel for a Knave
Kidnapped April 2000
Kim
A Kind of Loving
Kindred March 2013
The King of Torts
King Solomon’s Carpet
King Solomon’s Mines
The Kingdom of this World
The Kite Runner
The L-Shaped Room
L’Isola di Arturo
La Bete Humaine
La Comedie Humaine
L.A. Confidental
La Disparition
La Vie Mode d’Emploi
Lady Audley’s Secret February 2012
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Lake Wobegon Days
Lanark
Lark Rise to Candleford
The Last Chronicle of Barset
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Last Seen Wearing
The Last September
The Laughing Policeman
Le Grand Meaulnes
The League of Frightened Men
The Lecturer’s Tale
The Left Hand of Darkness
A Legacy
The Leopard
Les Enfants Terribles
Les Liasons Dangereuses
Les Miserables January 2009
Les Revenentes
Less Than Angels
Life and Fate
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil
The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy
Light
Light Years
The Line of Beauty
Little Dorritt
The Little Prince
Little Women March 2009
The Little World of Don Camillo
Live Flesh
Living
Loitering With Intent
Lolita
Lolly Willowes
London Fields
The Lonely Londoners
The Lonely Passion
Lonesome Dove
The Long Goodbye
A Long Long Way
Look At Me
Lord Jim
Lord of the Flies May 20, 2020
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy July 2009
Lorna Doone
A Lost Lady
Lost Souls
Love for Lydia
Love in A Cold Climate
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love on the Dole
Love Story
The Loved One
The Lover
Lucky Jim
Lush Life
The Machine Gunners
Madame Bovary April 2014 (Review)
The Madman of Bergerac
The Magic Mountain June 2013
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnus
Mainstreet
Malice Aforethought
Malone Dies
The Maltese Falcon March 2012
The Man in the High Castle
The Man of Property
The Man Who Loved Children
The Man Who Was Thursday August 20, 2014 (Review)
The Man With the Golden Arm
The Man Without Qualities
The Manchurian Candidate
The Mandarins
Manon Lescaut
Manservant and Maidservant
Mansfield Park November 2007
The Map of Love
The Mark of Zorro
A Married Man
Martin Chuzzlewit April 2013
Martin Eden
Mary Barton
The Mask of Dimitrios
Master and Commander
The Master and Margarita April 2013
Master Georgie
Maurice Guest
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
The Mayor of Casterbridge
McTeague
Melmoth the Wanderer
The Member of the Wedding
Memet My Hawk
Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf
Memoirs of a Survivor
Men at Arms
Microserfs
Middlemarch June 2013
Middlesex
Midnight’s Children
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Mighty Walzer
The Military Philosophers
The Mill on the Floss August 17, 2022
Millennium People
The Millstone
The Ministry of Fear
Misery
Miss Simla’s Feeling for Snow
Mister Johnson
Moby Dick read December 16, 2022
Molesworth
Moll Flanders
Molloy
Money
The Monk
Monkey
A Month in the Country
Moo
The Moon and the Bonfire
Moon Over Africa
The Moonstone January 2, 2016 (Review)
More Die of Heartbreak
Morvern Cellar
Mother
Mother London
Motherless Brooklyn
The Moviegoer
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Mr. Norris Changes Trains
Mrs. Dalloway January 2014 (Review)
The Murder at the Vicarage December 2009 & January 31, 2022 (Review)
Murder Must Advertise
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd August 2019 (Review)
Music and Silence
My Antonia April 2013
My Cousin Rachel
My Family and Other Animals May 2012
My Name is Asher Lev August 2011
My Name is Red
My New York Diary
My Search for Warren Harding
The Mysteries of Udolpho December 31, 2020 (Review)
The Mysterious Affair at Styles January 25, 2019 (Review)
The Mysterious Stranger
The Naked and the Dead
Naked Lunch
The Name of the Rose
Narziss and Goldmund
Native Son
The Neon Rain
Neuromancer
New Grub Street October 2013 (Review)
The New York Trilogy
News from Nowhere
Nice Work
The Night Sessions
The Night Watch
Nightmare Abbey
Nights at the Circus
Nightwood
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Seventy-Four
Nineteen Seventy-Seven
No Bed For Bacon
No Country for Old Men
No Orchids for Miss Blandish
Non-Stop
North and South June 2012
Northanger Abbey January 2005 (Review)
Norwegian Wood
Nostromo
Notes from the Underground December 10, 2015 (Review)
Novel on Yellow Paper
Oblomov
The Odd Women
Of Human Bondage
Of Love and Hunger
Of Mice and Men
Office Politics
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
The Old Man and the Sea May 2014 (Review)
The Old Men at the Zoo
The Old Wive’s Tale
Oliver Twist
On Beauty
On the Road March 4, 2015 (Review)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch
One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
On Hundred Years of Solitude
One of Ours
Only Forward
The Ordeal of Richard Fevere
Orlando January 21, 2015 (Review)
Oroonoko
Oscar and Lucinda
Our Man in Havana
The Outsider
The Painted Bird
The Painter of Signs
Palace Walk
Pale Fire
Pamela
Parade’s End
The Parasites
A Passage to India
Passing
The Passion of New Eve
The Passion
Patience and Sarah
Peace in War
Penrod
Pierre Goriot
Perfume
Personality
Persuasion February 21, 2015 (Review)
The Piano Teacher
Piccadilly Jim
The Pickwick Papers November 5, 2017 (Review)
The Picture of Dorian Gray January 2012
Pictures from an Institution
Pig Tales
The Plague January 26, 2015 (Review) Read-along
Play as It Lays
The Pledge
Pnin
Poetic Justice
Pointed Roofs
The Poisoned Chocolates Case
The Polyglots
Porterhouse Blues
Portnoy’s Complaint
The Portrait of a Lady
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Possession
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Postmortem
The Power and the Glory
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Prestige
Pride and Prejudice October 2013
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Princess of Cleves
A Princess of Mars
The Prisoner of Zenda
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
The Professor’s House
Puckoon
Pudd’nhead Wilson
The Pursuit of Love
Put Out More Flags
Quarantine
Queen Lucia
A Quiet Belief in Angels
The Rabbit Omnibus
The Radetsky March
The Ragazzi Pier
A Rage in Harlem
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
The Rainbow
Rasselas
Ratking
The Reader
Rebecca April 2013
The Recognitions
The Rector’s Daughter
The Red and the Black June 2012
The Red Badge of Courage
Red Dragon
Red Harvest
The Red Room
Red Shift
Regency Buck
Regeneration
The Reluctant Orphan
The Remains of the Day
Remembering Babylon
Remembrance of Things Past
The Remorseful Day
The Restraint of Beasts
The Return of the Soldier
Revelation Space
Revolutionary Road
A Rich Full Death
Rickshaw Boy
The Riddle of the Sands
Riddley Walker
The Rings of Saturn
Ringworld
The Road
Robinson Crusoe August 2009
Rogue Male
Rogue Moon
Room At The Top
Room Temperature
A Room With a View
Roxana
Rubyfruit Jungle
Ruth June 2013
The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
Samarkand
Sanctuary
The Satanic Verses
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
The Savage Detectives
The Scar
Scaramouche February 2009
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Pimpernel February 2009
Schindler’s Ark
Scoop
A Season in Sinji
The Secret Adversary February 4, 2019 (Review)
The Secret Agent
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾
The Secret History
Sense and Sensibility July 25, 2015 (Review)
Sentimental Education
A Sentimental Journey
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Shame
Sharpe’s Eagle
She: A History of Adventure
The Sheltering Sky
The Shining
The Ship of the Line
The Shipping News
Shirley
The Shrimp and the Anenome
Sidetracked
The Siege of Krishnapur
The Sign of Four
Silas Marner
Silence
Silence of the Grave
The Silent Duchess
Silver Stallion
Sirens of Titan
Sister Carrie
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Slaves of Solitude
Slouching Towards Kalamazoo
Snow Crash
The Snow Goose
So Long, See You Tomorrow
Solaris
Sons and Lovers
Sophie’s Choice
The Sorrow of War
The Sorrows of Young Werther
The Sound and the Fury
The Sound of My Voice
Sour Sweet
South Riding
South Wind
The Space Merchants
Spies
A Sport and a Pastime
The Sportswriter
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Squire Haggard’s Journal
Star Maker
The Stars My Destination March 24, 2015
Staying On
Steppenwolf
Strait is the Gate
The Stranger Borders of Palace Crescent
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stranger in a Strange Land
Strangers on a Train
A Study in Scarlet
A Suitable Boy
Suite Française
Sunset Song
The Surprising Adventures of Baron
The Swimming Pool Library
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Sword in the Stone January 2014 (Review)
Sybil or The Two Nations
A Tale of a Tub
A Tale of Two Cities April 2012
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Tales of the City
Tales of the South Pacific
A Taste For Death
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness
Tender is the Night
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Thank You, Jeeves
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Therese Raquin
They Were Counted
The Thin Man
Things Fall Apart
The Things They Carried
The Third Man
The Third Policeman
The Thirty-Nine Steps November 2010 (Review)
This Sporting Life
A Thousand Acres
Three Men in a Boat October 2009
The Three Musketeers April 2012
The Three Paradoxes
The Three Sisters
Three Soldiers
Through the Looking Glass August 2001
The Time Machine January 11, 2016 (Review)
The Time of Indifference
The Time Ships
A Time to Be Born
A Time of Kill
The Time Travellers Wife
The Tin Drum
The Tin Roof Blowdown
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tin Tin in Tibet
Titmus Regained
Titus Groan
To Each His Own
To Kill A Mockingbird April 5, 2016
To The Ends of the Earth Trilogy
To The Lighthouse August 2013
Tobacco Road
Tom Brown’s Schooldays
Tono-Bungay
Topper Takes a Trip
The Tortoise and the Hare
Tourist Season
Towards the End of the Morning
The Towers of Trebizond
A Town Like Alice
Toxic Shock
Trainspotting
The Transit of Venus
Travels With My Aunt
Treasure Island August 2012
The Tree of Man
Trent’s Last Case
The Trail
Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Ruislip
True History of the Ned Kelly Gang
The Turn of the Screw
Two Serious Ladies
Ulysses
The Unbearable Bassington
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Uncle Silas
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The Uncommon Reader
The Unconsoled
Under the Net
Under the Skin
Under the Volcano
Under Western Eyes
Underworld
The Unfortunates
Unless
Untouchable
USA
V.
The Vagabond
The Valley of Bones
Valley of the Dolls
Vanity Fair August 2013
Vathek
The Vatican Cellars
Vendetta
Venus on the Half-Shell
The Vicar of Wakefield
The Victorian Chaisse-longue
Victory: An Island Tale
Vile Bodies
Villette March 31, 2016 (Review)
Vineland
The Virgin in the Garden
The Virgin Suicides
The Virginian May 2013
Voss
A Voyage to Arcturus
Vurt
Waiting for the Barbarians
The Wapshot Chronicle
War and Peace August 3, 2014 (Review)
The War of the Worlds March 2012
Washington Square
The Wasp Factory
Waterland
The Way of All Flesh
The Way We Live Now
We
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The Weather in the Streets
Weaveworld
The Well of Loneliness
The Westminster Alice
What A Carve Up
When The Wind Blows
Whiskey Galore
White Man Falling
White Noise
White Teeth
Who Do You Think You Are?
Whose Body?
Wide Sargossa Sea
Wieland
Williwaw
The Wimbledon Poisoner
Wind in the Willows April 21, 2020 (Review)
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles
The Wings of the Dove
Wise Children
The Witches of Eastwick
The Woman in White February 2013
Women in Love
The Woodlanders
Wuthering Heights February 2014 (review)
The Years of Rice and Salt
You Only Live Twice
The Young Lions
Z.
Zami
Zazie in the Metro
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Zorba the Greek
Zuileka Dobson
Read 119 out of 1000 ~~ February 24, 2024