Best Books
Ever have a craving to read a classic or just a really good book, but don’t know where to go for a list of the best of the best books? Ever have someone—a teacher, friend, parent—suggest a novel from their best of lists that they tell you you must read before you die and wonder what the deal is about that particular title, anyway?
Well, I can’t tell you all the specifics of all the best of the best books in my opinion, but I can give you a few suggestions, name a few more titles that you might want to read if you are stuck for ideas or are one who wants to catch up with all the most popular and most-read (besides The Bible, that is) books of all time.
Best of the Best Books by Title
1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four), by George Orwell
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Native Son, by Richard Wright
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Seize the Day, by Saul Bellow
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Best of the Best Books by Author
James Joyce-- Don’t be intimidated. Dig right in to Ulysses or Finnegan’s Wake. Or, if your prefer to start “simpler”, start with The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Toni Morrison – Read everything, especially being sure to cover The Bluest Eye, Sula, Tar Baby, and Song of Solomon.
Ayn Rand – Also a more intellectual writer, Rand still offers unparalleled philosophical fiction (unparalleled in her century, that is…save by Camus and Sartre, of course).
Ernest (Papa) Hemingway—If you like the minimalist, realist style, read everything, especially The Sun Also Rises and A Moveable Feast, as well as the early stories collected in in our time. If you prefer Hemingway’s more popular themes of war, for example, read A Farewell to Arms, for starters.
James Baldwin—Read everything. Twice.
Phillip K. Dick – Read everything. Three times.
Virginia Woolf – Woolf’s writing is primarily stream-of-consciousness, and speaks to a time and a mindset (writerly, at that), so definitely check out Mrs. Dalloway or To the Lighthouse.
John Irving—A most accessible and engaging writer, Irving brings us such poignant works as Hotel New Hampshire and the World According to Garp and such provocative novels as A Prayer for Owen Meany.
John Updike – for a contemporary but full writing style, Updike will delight you with his brilliance and accessibility to his brilliance. Read about the ex-basketball star, following him through the decades of his life in the Rabbit quatrology, or get steamy with Couples, or touch upon mysticism in The Centaur.
So, hopefully, this is enough to keep you reading into your graying years or further. And hopefully, too, you will find at least a few titles for your own best of the best list to pass on to your students, friends, or loved ones. Happy reading!
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