How to Read and Why - Harold Bloom (Recommendations) (36 books)

Harold Bloom in How to Read and Why sets out the following list of books, books which he believes have the power to instill in one a life-long love of aesthetically and intellectually great literature.

Short Stories
Ivan Turgenev "Bezhin Lea" and "Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands."
Anton Chekhov "The Kiss" and "The Student" and "The Lady with the Dog"
Guy de Maupassant "Madame Tellier's Establishment" and "The Horla"
Ernest Hemingway "Hill Like White Elephants" and "God Rest You Merry, Gentleman" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "A Sea Change"
Flannery O'Connor "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Good Country People" and "A View of the Woods"
Vladimir Nabokov's "The Vane Sisters"
Jorge Luis Borges "Tlon, Ugbar, Orbis Tertius"
Tommaso Landolfi "Gogol's Wife"
Italo Calvino "Invisible Cities"

Poems
A. E. Housman "Into My Heart an Air That Kills"
William Blake "The Sick Rose"
Walter Savage Landor "On His Seventy-fifth Birthday"
Alfred Lord Tennyson "The Eagle" and "Ulysses
Robert Browning "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"
Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"
Emily Dickinson "Poem 1260 - Because That You Are Going"
Emily Bronte "Stanzas: Often Rebuked, Yet Always Back Returning"
Popular Ballads "Sir Patrick Spence" and "The Unquiet Grave"
Anonymous "Tom O'Bedlam"
Shakespeare's "Sonnet 121 - Tis Better to Be Vil Than Vile Esteemed" and "Sonnet 129 - The Expense of Spirit in a Waste of Shame" and "Sonnet 144 - Two Loves I have, of Comfort and Despair"
John Milton "Paradise Lost"
William Wordsworth "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal" and "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Percy Bysshe Shelley "The Triumph of Life"
John Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"

Novels - Part I
Miguel de Cervantes "Don Quixote"
Stendhal "The Charterhouse of Parma"
Jane Austen "Emma"
Charles Dickens "Great Expectations"
Fyodor Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment"
Henry James "The Portrait of a Lady"
Marcel Proust "In Search of Lost Time"
Thomas Mann "The Magic Mountain"
Plays
Shakespeare "Hamlet"
Henrik Ibsen "Hedda Gabler"
Oscar Wilde "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Novels - Part II
Herman Melville "Moby Dick"
William Faulkner "As I Lay Dying"
Nathanael West "Miss Lonelyhearts"
Thomas Pynchon "The Crying of Lot 49"
Cormac McCarthy "Blood Meridian"
Ralph Ellison "Invisible Man"
Toni Morrison "Song of Solomon"

flag

All Votes Add Books To This List

1	The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde 4.17 avg rating — 400,821 ratings score: 298, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4.28 avg rating — 1,047,567 ratings score: 280, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino 4.10 avg rating — 95,242 ratings score: 274, and 3 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Emma by Jane Austen 4.05 avg rating — 963,008 ratings score: 198, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Selected Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant 4.14 avg rating — 3,346 ratings score: 194, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	The Works Of Guy De Maupassant ...: The Horla. Miss Harriet. Little Louise Roque by Guy de Maupassant 4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings score: 192, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 3.69 avg rating — 95,184 ratings score: 192, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Hamlet by William Shakespeare 4.03 avg rating — 1,031,766 ratings score: 191, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	Short Stories by Jorge Luis Borges (Book Guide): Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, the Library of Babel, the Garden of Forking Paths by Source Wikipedia 4.08 avg rating — 12 ratings score: 186, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway 3.83 avg rating — 18,845 ratings score: 180, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	Paradise Lost by John Milton 3.85 avg rating — 179,667 ratings score: 179, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway 3.79 avg rating — 47,608 ratings score: 177, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands by Ivan Turgenev 3.31 avg rating — 852 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	The Kiss (Pocket Penguin 70's series Book 60) by Anton Chekhov 3.50 avg rating — 1,297 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	The Best Short Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov 4.19 avg rating — 1,371 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	De Toverberg by Thomas Mann 4.13 avg rating — 59,872 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 3.80 avg rating — 864,287 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Moby-Dick by Herman Melville 3.56 avg rating — 608,215 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen by Ernest Hemingway 3.42 avg rating — 81 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison 3.92 avg rating — 200,296 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	The Sea Change by Ernest Hemingway 3.48 avg rating — 154 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	De geestrijke ridder Don Quichot van de Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 3.91 avg rating — 300,736 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor 4.16 avg rating — 49,090 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor 3.85 avg rating — 12,743 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	De Kartuize van Parma by Stendhal 3.79 avg rating — 19,747 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor 4.39 avg rating — 40,563 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 3.72 avg rating — 184,425 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov by Vladimir Nabokov 4.30 avg rating — 7,608 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison 4.15 avg rating — 125,469 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	Deux Fictions: "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" Et "El Sur" by Jorge Luis Borges 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James 3.80 avg rating — 84,555 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	Gogol's Wife and Other Stories by Tommaso Landolfi 3.81 avg rating — 376 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
33	The Collected Poems of A.E. Housman by A.E. Housman 4.15 avg rating — 1,037 ratings score: 83, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	The Sick Rose by William Blake 3.77 avg rating — 180 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge 3.97 avg rating — 62,169 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	Works of Walter Savage Landor by Walter Savage Landor liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating score: 81, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars