A List of Favorite Books

This list doesn’t encompass all of the good books that I’ve read throughout my life. The books in this list are distinguished from the others in that they have stayed with me in my thoughts and in my heart. They’ve shaped a part of who I am.

They’re all worth reading more than once, in my opinion, and though there are many more that I wanted to mention, I’ve narrowed the list down to 50.

I chose these books more for the effects that the stories have on the human soul and mind, rather than simply for entertainment. They’re thought provoking. Some have such lush and fluid writing that you find yourself getting lost in the words, not realizing the passing time.

Some are a bit harder for the brain to understand--the language being quite difficult—but that, to me, is like lifting weights for the mind. Reading difficult books has the same effect on your brain as lifting heavy weights does on your muscles. If you keep lifting 5lb dumbbells, you’re never going to get stronger. Real growth comes from lifting the heavy stuff, or reading books that are, at first, too hard for you. But our brains are amazing—they adapt and conform to what we give to it. Much like a muscle.

The list is in no particular order, so have a look, and I’d love to hear your suggestions of what you’d add or even take away, or what you thought of any of the books on this list that you’ve also read :)

1. The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald

2. The Razor’s Edge - W. Somerset Maugham

3. Rules of Civility - Amor Towles

4. The Cape Cod Lighter - John O’Hara

5. The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas

6. The Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy

7. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

8. Persuasion - Jane Austen

9. The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky

10. Family Happiness - Leo Tolstoy

11. Appointment in Samarra - John O’Hara

12. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

13. The Iliad - Homer

14. The Odyssey - Homer

15. The Aeneid - Vergil

16. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

17. The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

18. The Nero Wolfe series - Rex Stout.

There are 73 stories total. Read all of them, starting with the first one, Fer-de-Lance. So, yes, I’m technically adding 73 books to this list but I don’t care :)

19. Bel-Ami - Guy de Maupassant

20. Selected Stories of Richard Yates - Richard Yates lol

21. The Gift of the Magi - O.Henry

22. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

23. Raise High the Roof beam, Carpenters - J.D. Salinger

24. Nine Stories - J.D. Salinger

25. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

26. A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway

27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

28. Utopia - Sir Thomas More

29. BUtterfield 8 - John O’Hara

30. Bernice Bobs Her Hair & Other Stories - (and pretty much any short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

31. 1984 - George Orwell

32. Animal Farm - George Orwell

33. Anna Karenina - Leo Tostoy

34. Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (his short stories are also good)

35. Martin Eden - Jack London

36. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

37. Demian - Herman Hesse

38. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey

39. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

40. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

41. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Marukami

42. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Marukami

43. The Hobbit - J.R.R.Tolkien

44. Shadows in Paradise - Erich Maria Remarque

45. Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth - Leo Tolstoy

46. The Sorrows of Young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

47. Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham

48. East of Eden - John Steinbeck

49. An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser

50. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

Oh. Also Harry Potter. Duh. And many other children’s books (which sometimes are more useful for adults than children themselves, but perhaps that calls for another list in the future).

happy reading!