Take a look at our recommendations for the best books to read, and you are sure to find your next great read! With so many books, so little time! If you are looking for a master list of the best books that everyone should read in their lifetime, this is a great place to start. Featuring timeless bestsellers, iconic classics, and life-changing nonfiction, these are the books that will stay with you for your entire life!
Pride and Prejudice
A British classic and one of the most beloved books ever written, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is often copied but never duplicated, detailing the social mores of 19th-century England while crafting a hilarious, timeless, and utterly delightful novel that is sure to make you laugh and smile. If you have not read Pride and Prejudice, you really should, because it is a book that everyone should read!
To Kill A Mockingbird
The story follows white lawyer Atticus Finch as he tries to save the life of Tom Robinson, a black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. The innocence of the narrator, Finch’s six-year-old daughter Scout, only serves to highlight the unfairness and incomprehensibility of the situation. Harper Lee’s classic tale, set in 1930s Alabama, is perhaps the seminal text on racial tensions in the Deep South.
One of the greatest novels of the 20th century, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a true American classic that tackles the difficult problem of racism in the USA with humor, warmth, and compassion. In 2015, Lee published Go Set A Watchman, a follow-up novel that takes place in the 1950s and depicts the characters’ development over two decades. Go Set A Watchman not only confirms the masterpiece’s genius but also gives the classic new context and meaning.
Great Expectations
Great Expectations, one of the most well-known books written by this Victorian legend, is a must-read if you are looking for a novel by Charles Dickens to cross off your literary bucket list. It tells the story of Pip, an orphan boy attempting to rise above his lowly beginnings who is unexpectedly granted the chance to live a life of wealth and respectability owing to an enigmatic benefactor.
As time passes, Pip realizes that the money he was given is corrupted and that the girl he has loved since he was a young boy will never return his feelings; perhaps the things he gave up to live a more affluent life are the only things that will bring him happiness.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a classic story of passion, obsession, and excess, and it is one of the greatest novels of the 20th century and the pinnacle of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s illustrious literary career. Jay Gatsby loves money, notoriety, and the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Readers have loved The Great Gatsby since its 1925 release. This exquisitely crafted homage to 1920s America sparkles like a glass of the finest champagne, capturing the romance and beauty of the Jazz Age.
The Handmaid’s Tale
An influential feminist text, Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale explores the consequences of a reversal of women’s rights. Set in a dystopian future, the story, which is now a major TV series, imagines a world in which an environmental catastrophe has rendered most women infertile.
When a fundamentalist religious group seizes control of what was once the USA, fertile women are rounded up and trained to be silent, nameless “handmaids,” forced to procreate with the men in power. Because Atwood herself has stated that she was meticulous in ensuring that The Handmaid’s Tale had both a historical precedent and a contemporary point of reference, this work of science fiction is far darker and horrifyingly genuine than any other.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a masterpiece of Southern literature, poignant, powerful, and as relevant today as it was when it was published. It is one of the most important books of African American literature of the 20th century, capturing the evolution of Janie Crawford, a black woman determined to live life on her terms, through three marriages and a life marked by poverty, loss, and hardship, Janie claims her independence and makes her voice heard.
Anna Karenina
The great Tolstoy depicts Russian society in the nineteenth century in the novel Anna Karenina by emphasizing love as the primary force behind human experiences. He also delves deeply into the themes of religion, the pursuit of meaning in life, and the place of the Russian peasant in society. The complexity of this work is further demonstrated by the fact that it defies easy genre classification because it blends elements of romance, philosophy, psychology, and social fiction.
Things Fall Apart
The greatest wrestler and warrior alive, Okonkwo is renowned throughout West Africa, but after killing a clansman by accident, his life starts to fall apart. He is banished and returns to find colonial governors and missionaries have arrived in his village. Nigerian-born Chinua Achebe’s novel, which was first published in 1958 and has sold over 10 million copies in 45 languages, changed the landscape of African and international literature. If you enjoy it as much as we do, you will be happy to learn that it is part of a trilogy: two more novels, Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease, continue the story of this African community.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
There has never been a better time to read J.K. Rowling’s magical series about wizards, magic, and muggles than now! If you have not already met Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, this contemporary classic sets a new standard for children’s literature and has won fans of all ages from all over the world.
The Left Hand of Darkness
A human ambassador comes to negotiate Winter’s return to the greater intergalactic civilization, but how can he reconcile his own beliefs with this strange new world? Le Guin’s thoughtful examination of human psychology, identity, and gender blends beautifully with her imaginative world-building, earning The Left Hand of Darkness a well-deserved place in the canon of classic science fiction. Winter is an alien world whose inhabitants can change their gender at will.
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