Nineteen Eighty-Four by George OrwellAnimal Farm by George OrwellThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldLolita by Vladimir NabokovOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Penguin Modern Classics
414 books — 490 voters
The Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeA Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled HosseiniThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Around the World in 100 Books
1,325 books — 708 voters

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled HosseiniMemoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenThe Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Around the World One Book from Each Country
1,094 books — 985 voters
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Great American Novel
672 books — 1,093 voters

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg LarssonPippi Longstocking by Astrid LindgrenThe Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg LarssonThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg LarssonHunger by Knut Hamsun
Best Scandinavian and Nordic Literature
1,220 books — 1,246 voters
Things Fall Apart by Chinua AchebeThe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverHalf of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieHeart of Darkness by Joseph ConradCry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Africa (fiction and nonfiction)
1,806 books — 1,689 voters

The Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniMemoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenA Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled HosseiniThe Book Thief by Markus ZusakLife of Pi by Yann Martel
Foreign Lands
2,372 books — 2,203 voters

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa SeeThe Good Earth by Pearl S. BuckThe Joy Luck Club by Amy TanShanghai Girls by Lisa SeeThe Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
Best Novels That Take Place in China
418 books — 1,102 voters
Fingersmith by Sarah WatersTipping the Velvet by Sarah WatersAnnie on My Mind by Nancy GardenFried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie FlaggThe Price of Salt by Claire  Morgan
Best Lesbian Fiction
2,053 books — 2,688 voters

The God of Small Things by Arundhati RoyThe House of the Spirits by Isabel AllendeThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankHalf of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThe Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Women Around the World
1,177 books — 437 voters
Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenJane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar WildeFrankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyWuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Penguin Classics
595 books — 311 voters