,

The only reading list with both Ulysses and Twilight! The Goodreads staff pored over the most-read and most highly rated books added by our membership to create the Goodreads 100 for Fiction. Reflecting the amazing diversity of the Goodreads community, this list blends highbrow literature and mainstream fiction, stretching from historic greats like Homer and Shakespeare to modern favorites like Cormac McCarthy and J.K. Rowling. You'll find classics, contemporary novels, and plenty of genre representation, including historical fiction, science fiction, romance, and fantasy. Any reader who has read all 100 can claim mastery of the Western canon as well as 21st century pop culture.
How many have you read?

List Challenge
The average Goodreads member has read 26 out of 100 books on this list — how many have you read?
1

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4.26 avg rating — 6,863,430 ratings
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2

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4.41 avg rating — 3,139,793 ratings
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3

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4.29 avg rating — 4,783,935 ratings
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4

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3.74 avg rating — 2,816,801 ratings
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5

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4.47 avg rating — 11,375,082 ratings
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6

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3.80 avg rating — 3,883,757 ratings
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7

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,435,852 ratings
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8

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,316,804 ratings
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9

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,047,763 ratings
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10

by
3.99 avg rating — 2,070,838 ratings
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11

by
3.97 avg rating — 2,824,254 ratings
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12

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,443,735 ratings
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13

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3.83 avg rating — 1,335,572 ratings
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14

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,145,742 ratings
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15

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,037,701 ratings
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16

by
4.32 avg rating — 845,411 ratings
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17

by
3.93 avg rating — 5,895,906 ratings
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18

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,411,790 ratings
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19

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,191,292 ratings
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20

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,452,873 ratings
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21

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,292,908 ratings
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22

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,826,532 ratings
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23

by
4.03 avg rating — 396,711 ratings
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24

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,255,623 ratings
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25

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,439,978 ratings
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26

by
4.22 avg rating — 2,011,201 ratings
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27

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,282,482 ratings
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28

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,621,389 ratings
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29

by
4.17 avg rating — 929,313 ratings
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30

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,877,460 ratings
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31

by
4.35 avg rating — 1,506,836 ratings
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32

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,479,999 ratings
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33

by
3.94 avg rating — 2,518,528 ratings
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34

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,110,184 ratings
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35

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,466,529 ratings
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36

by
4.27 avg rating — 946,840 ratings
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37

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,293,094 ratings
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38

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,020,722 ratings
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39

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,615,349 ratings
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40

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,188,700 ratings
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41

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,471,308 ratings
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42

by
4.20 avg rating — 778,806 ratings
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43

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,868,872 ratings
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44

by
3.67 avg rating — 7,293,325 ratings
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45

by
4.30 avg rating — 325,792 ratings
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46

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,107,403 ratings
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47

by
4.36 avg rating — 3,483,142 ratings
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48

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,101,263 ratings
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49

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,874,075 ratings
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50

by
4.10 avg rating — 928,889 ratings
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51

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4.29 avg rating — 1,074,880 ratings
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52

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3.94 avg rating — 1,750,798 ratings
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53

by
3.88 avg rating — 1,010,930 ratings
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54

by
4.28 avg rating — 750,774 ratings
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55

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,471,369 ratings
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56

by
3.99 avg rating — 885,422 ratings
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57

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,799,714 ratings
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58

by
4.21 avg rating — 301,844 ratings
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59

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,870,243 ratings
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60

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,607,822 ratings
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61

by
4.44 avg rating — 634,567 ratings
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62

by
4.21 avg rating — 842,383 ratings
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63

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,392,299 ratings
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64

by
4.25 avg rating — 717,727 ratings
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65

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,032,866 ratings
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66

by
3.87 avg rating — 942,985 ratings
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67

by
4.02 avg rating — 648,740 ratings
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68

by
3.97 avg rating — 709,046 ratings
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69

by
4.24 avg rating — 336,708 ratings
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70

by
4.47 avg rating — 3,014,029 ratings
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71

by
4.35 avg rating — 828,485 ratings
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72

by
4.35 avg rating — 833,187 ratings
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73

by
4.11 avg rating — 542,230 ratings
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74

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,214,277 ratings
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75

by
3.79 avg rating — 492,815 ratings
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76

by
4.39 avg rating — 593,356 ratings
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76

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,856,141 ratings
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78

by
4.28 avg rating — 418,541 ratings
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79

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,698,579 ratings
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80

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,274,206 ratings
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81

by
4.01 avg rating — 260,425 ratings
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82

by
4.26 avg rating — 1,151,353 ratings
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83

by
4.57 avg rating — 238,602 ratings
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84

by
4.10 avg rating — 989,678 ratings
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85

by
4.11 avg rating — 792,336 ratings
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86

by
4.39 avg rating — 384,781 ratings
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87

by
4.16 avg rating — 1,838,254 ratings
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88

by
4.14 avg rating — 314,143 ratings
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89

by
3.99 avg rating — 385,669 ratings
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90

by
3.92 avg rating — 201,743 ratings
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91

by
3.98 avg rating — 489,276 ratings
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92

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,727,986 ratings
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93

by
3.76 avg rating — 137,632 ratings
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94

by
3.95 avg rating — 394,115 ratings
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95

by
3.89 avg rating — 337,049 ratings
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96

by
4.30 avg rating — 318,249 ratings
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97

by
4.18 avg rating — 641,646 ratings
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98

by
4.04 avg rating — 662,856 ratings
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99

by
4.18 avg rating — 206,093 ratings
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100

by
3.89 avg rating — 278,351 ratings
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Get Results & Compare With Friends »




Jessica 1358 books
352 friends
Benjamin 8730 books
416 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
851 friends
Bettie 15676 books
19 friends
Angela 1484 books
34 friends
Phillip 5187 books
139 friends
Ben 1082 books
70 friends
Rob 1137 books
129 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-32 of 32 (32 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn @ Jessica: Who is "We" ? BTW, Good list, great idea.


message 2: by Janet (new)

Janet pout-The Thorn Birds isn't on the list.


message 3: by Will (new)

Will Byrnes 64 for sure, with another 8 I may or may not have in some distant past. And it is missing a bunch of my all time faves. Really? no Moby Dick? No Hammett or Chandler. Ah well, there cannot possibly be agreement on such a list. My votes are not in any particular order.

I presumed that voting was for faves among this listing, and not to identify all the book read from the list.


message 4: by Beth (new)

Beth McDonough I agree on hammett and chandler, although im happy to see agatha christie on the list. Would have also liked to see flannery oconner


message 5: by [deleted user] (new)

the lives of Christopher chant would be a good book to be on there...


message 6: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Aug 18, 2011 09:52AM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Somehow this list has expanded to 104 books.

Do you want me to delete the extras, Jessica?


message 7: by Ben (new)

Ben Twilight hasn't cracked the Top 50! Is its brief candle of popularity finally flickering out... or is this just a small sample size?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Small sample size and who's voted within that, would be my guess.


message 9: by Kelly (new)

Kelly This list now has 104 books even though it is supposed to have 100.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Yes, I noticed that.

Would y'all like me to try to remove the extras not on the original list?


message 12: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn Susanna wrote: "Yes, I noticed that.

Would y'all like me to try to remove the extras not on the original list?"


I certainly would like the list pared back to Jessica's original certified GR..... As scripture say: Add not one jot or tittle. (The gods are not mocked).


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) I second (or third?) that vote ...


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Alright, removing the ones not on the list.


message 15: by [deleted user] (new)

Themis-Athena wrote: "I second (or third?) that vote ..."

Third as I deleted my request. Glad its done, thanks Susanna for keeping up with all this.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads No problem.


message 17: by Etta (new)

Etta Mcquade Where is Willa Cather, who is one of the greats of American literature?


message 18: by [deleted user] (new)

Etta wrote: "Where is Willa Cather, who is one of the greats of American literature?"

Join the New Mexico group and you will find her there. If I remember right.



Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Etta wrote: "Where is Willa Cather, who is one of the greats of American literature?"

I guess she didn't rate with Time magazine.


message 20: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl The list is up to 103 books. Also, the voting buttons have gone away for me - what's up with that?


message 21: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Sep 04, 2011 11:18AM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Same here, Lobstergirl. Will see if I can remove the outliers again.

ETA: I think the buttons are gone because someone made it a "challenge" list, and I think they are having trouble with also being able to vote on those.

And for some reason this list is not recording how many people voted for the books, thus making it harder to find the outliers.

Has anyone mentioned this problem with "challenge" lists at GR Feedback?


message 22: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Has anyone mentioned this problem with "challenge" lists at GR Feedback?

Yes, I started a thread.


Dr. W. Neal Burnette "Ulysses", the greatest English-language novel of the 20th Century only rates #94!

LOL


message 24: by Nicolas (new)

Nicolas So, timeless books like The Oddysey and Dracula are behind Twilight. I havn't read Twilight, but I'm fairly certain that people won't give a damn about it in ten years.


message 25: by Rasel (new)

Rasel Janet wrote: "pout-The Thorn Birds isn't on the list."

I'm with you Janet.


message 26: by Renae (new)

Renae Richardson I have read 15 but my goal from this classics list is 31 that I am eager to read this year.


message 27: by Andrea (new)

Andrea 33, but there's a massive difference between 'read' and 'remember anything about' or 'enjoyed'.


message 28: by Sho (last edited Jan 14, 2013 04:23PM) (new)

Sho I read 47 and surprised to find that many of the books I haven't read I have seen them as movies! I added some of them to my reading pile! (It's getting so big I might as well call it a mountain.)


message 29: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Apr 12, 2013 02:33AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I did a count: I've read 33 of them, so not too bad :-) An additional 13 are still on my 'to read' list.

I agree with Andrea, by the way: There is a massive difference between 'read' and 'remember anything about', which is why I haven't counted a few books I've already read (borrowed them years ago during my secondary school days), as these are now on my 'to read' list because I bought a copy recently and intend to read them again.


message 30: by Ramesh (new)

Ramesh Great list. BTW - i count books as read even if i don't remember anything about. By that strict measure, I didn't go to high school or college, even though the classes are part of me!


message 31: by Jack (new)

Jack Hansen Just discovered the list and I went from 25 to 31 by discovering that I have read some the choices listed but I never listed them in my personal list.


message 32: by Lilia (new)

Lilia Ford I've read 52, though almost none are rated since I haven't read them since I joined Goodreads.


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