,

There are so many of us here on Goodreads sick of seeing "best books ever" lists with Twilight and The Hunger Games. Well, how about all of us with a mental age over 13 make a "greatest books list"?

The rules are simple; books must not be shit you read in high school. I'm talking about Joyce, Proust, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, etc., or maybe some lesser known literary masters that time has forgot.
1

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,382,124 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,812,936 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.17 avg rating — 363,035 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,302,314 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.29 avg rating — 4,746,428 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.70 avg rating — 3,171,080 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.12 avg rating — 1,093,799 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,253,143 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.01 avg rating — 4,483,570 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.40 avg rating — 460,816 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.81 avg rating — 132,844 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.97 avg rating — 165,398 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,013,438 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.13 avg rating — 212,959 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,805,624 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.10 avg rating — 923,231 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.17 avg rating — 403,281 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.86 avg rating — 195,004 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.14 avg rating — 72,055 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.30 avg rating — 508,642 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.88 avg rating — 1,007,272 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,015,323 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.82 avg rating — 178,160 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,423,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.92 avg rating — 86,566 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.11 avg rating — 515,825 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.31 avg rating — 713,043 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.12 avg rating — 824,532 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.07 avg rating — 117,406 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.26 avg rating — 215,732 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.97 avg rating — 105,304 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
3.76 avg rating — 137,193 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.21 avg rating — 839,933 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,011,704 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.93 avg rating — 505,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.11 avg rating — 237,977 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.09 avg rating — 912,274 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.13 avg rating — 799,005 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.94 avg rating — 389,668 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,062,996 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.89 avg rating — 336,364 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.47 avg rating — 2,998,091 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.83 avg rating — 174,287 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.28 avg rating — 115 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.39 avg rating — 381,665 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.36 avg rating — 220,147 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.20 avg rating — 120,166 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.04 avg rating — 661,685 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,587,443 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.25 avg rating — 820,272 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.13 avg rating — 60,731 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.31 avg rating — 14,322 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.11 avg rating — 789,682 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.90 avg rating — 108,700 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.28 avg rating — 338,099 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.28 avg rating — 747,935 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.88 avg rating — 136,943 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.41 avg rating — 210,632 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.88 avg rating — 40,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,342 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.84 avg rating — 301,283 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.80 avg rating — 868,542 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.49 avg rating — 106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.77 avg rating — 39 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.07 avg rating — 141,232 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.36 avg rating — 6,770 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.89 avg rating — 274,888 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.69 avg rating — 93,188 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.08 avg rating — 170,754 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.23 avg rating — 29,747 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.15 avg rating — 769,348 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.25 avg rating — 712,062 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.71 avg rating — 371,806 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.86 avg rating — 377,584 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.14 avg rating — 393,165 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.50 avg rating — 137,021 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.09 avg rating — 125,671 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.65 avg rating — 16,176 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.83 avg rating — 47,654 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.74 avg rating — 179,916 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.45 avg rating — 164,470 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.16 avg rating — 67,821 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.91 avg rating — 303,047 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.94 avg rating — 178,372 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.01 avg rating — 102,408 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.21 avg rating — 35,613 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.22 avg rating — 116 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.88 avg rating — 54,710 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.53 avg rating — 236,937 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
3.83 avg rating — 659,129 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,854,381 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.19 avg rating — 2,862 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.30 avg rating — 337,280 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.57 avg rating — 234,711 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.59 avg rating — 297,457 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.15 avg rating — 23,010 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.97 avg rating — 36,960 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.89 avg rating — 122,284 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.85 avg rating — 536,975 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.01 avg rating — 296,664 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
716 books · 143 voters · list created October 28th, 2012 by deleted user.
94 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Ruchi 633 books
9 friends
Dustin 9336 books
1372 friends
Brian 297 books
230 friends
ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ 4162 books
463 friends
volkhova 532 books
32 friends
Debbie 2818 books
2 friends
Albert 15 books
129 friends
Sarah 14900 books
227 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by William (new)

William Wallace Why all the Grisham? A Time to Kill was excellent and so I read more. A slope appeared: it was all downhill from his first book. About number six started books that were poorly if at all edited. It is as if he said that he sold millions so just publish it like he wrote it. I don't read him any more and don't see why he is on any list for intelligent people at all, despite the excellence of the first book.


message 2: by Grigoriy (new)

Grigoriy Great books, thank you so much!Here is a web-site with a lot of book recommendations from outstanding entrepreneurs, great politicians and other celebrities - http://www.favobooks.com/


message 3: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Sep 06, 2015 07:47AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) William wrote: "Why all the Grisham? ..."

John Grisham (#23, 43, 109, 251, 253, 256, 259, 261, 263, 265, 271) shouldn't be on this list, judging from the desciption ("I'm talking about Joyce, Proust, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, etc, or maybe some lesser known literary masters that time has forgot").

Same goes for Stephen King (#39, 54, 56), in my humble opinion. Nor should Georgette Heyer (#125, 307) be on it (even though I love her books). And that's not even mentioning some of the others I came across.

All in all, this list isn't what it set out to be anymore, unfortunately. Such a pity...


message 4: by Lori (new)

Lori Agreed. Some of this list is ridiculous. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo shouldn't be on here either. To Kill a Mockingbird is a good book but it's also standard middle school assigned reading.


message 5: by Lmarie (new)

Lmarie P I just added several books. I might have misunderstood the intent of the list. I took it to be a list books a smart (well-read and/or well educated) people would be likely to enjoy. I didn't just select books by the masters because everyone knows about them. I picked some I thought others may not have enjoyed yet.

My tastes are broad. I hope you like these suggestions.


message 6: by Vicki (new)

Vicki Booklovinglady wrote: "William wrote: "Why all the Grisham? ..."

John Grisham (#23, 43, 109, 251, 253, 256, 259, 261, 263, 265, 271) shouldn't be on this list, judging from the desciption ("I'm talking about Joyce, Prou..."


An Infamous Army, by Georgette Heyer, is widely considered the best fictional account of the Battle of Waterloo; it is my understanding that it has even been on a course reading list at West Point.


back to top



Related News

Danielle Evans was just 26 when she released her short story collection Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self in 2010, a multi-award-winning...

Anyone can add books to this list.