,

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

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13

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14

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15

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4.13 avg rating — 217,884 ratings
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16

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3.90 avg rating — 2,861,631 ratings
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17

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4.17 avg rating — 408,163 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 516,768 ratings
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19

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3.88 avg rating — 1,017,683 ratings
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20

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3.86 avg rating — 197,222 ratings
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21

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4.14 avg rating — 72,718 ratings
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22

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4.18 avg rating — 3,466,685 ratings
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23

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4.07 avg rating — 119,430 ratings
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24

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3.90 avg rating — 2,164,562 ratings
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25

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4.21 avg rating — 847,911 ratings
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26

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3.82 avg rating — 179,512 ratings
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27

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3.92 avg rating — 1,025,138 ratings
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28

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3.93 avg rating — 514,433 ratings
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29

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4.09 avg rating — 945,916 ratings
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30

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3.93 avg rating — 87,714 ratings
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30

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4.11 avg rating — 523,952 ratings
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32

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4.31 avg rating — 727,408 ratings
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33

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4.12 avg rating — 828,219 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 217,733 ratings
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35

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3.98 avg rating — 106,608 ratings
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36

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4.29 avg rating — 1,097,850 ratings
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37

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3.76 avg rating — 138,726 ratings
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38

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4.11 avg rating — 239,638 ratings
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39

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4.39 avg rating — 392,553 ratings
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40

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4.13 avg rating — 810,100 ratings
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41

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3.94 avg rating — 401,246 ratings
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42

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3.89 avg rating — 338,361 ratings
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43

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4.11 avg rating — 797,575 ratings
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44

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4.47 avg rating — 3,038,452 ratings
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45

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3.83 avg rating — 178,393 ratings
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46

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4.41 avg rating — 214,479 ratings
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47

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4.27 avg rating — 116 ratings
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48

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4.36 avg rating — 222,478 ratings
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49

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4.20 avg rating — 121,529 ratings
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50

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4.04 avg rating — 665,653 ratings
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51

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3.89 avg rating — 1,605,582 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 829,147 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 62,600 ratings
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54

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55

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3.89 avg rating — 109,236 ratings
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56

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57

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58

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3.88 avg rating — 137,749 ratings
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59

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3.88 avg rating — 40,629 ratings
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60

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4.18 avg rating — 7,453 ratings
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61

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3.84 avg rating — 304,115 ratings
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62

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3.80 avg rating — 879,097 ratings
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63

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4.50 avg rating — 113 ratings
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64

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4.77 avg rating — 39 ratings
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65

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4.07 avg rating — 142,291 ratings
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66

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4.36 avg rating — 6,894 ratings
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67

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4.58 avg rating — 249,007 ratings
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68

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3.89 avg rating — 278,587 ratings
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69

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3.69 avg rating — 94,295 ratings
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70

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4.09 avg rating — 174,025 ratings
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71

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4.23 avg rating — 29,924 ratings
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72

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4.15 avg rating — 784,949 ratings
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73

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74

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3.71 avg rating — 378,253 ratings
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75

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3.86 avg rating — 382,147 ratings
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76

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4.14 avg rating — 398,003 ratings
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77

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78

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4.09 avg rating — 126,681 ratings
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79

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3.65 avg rating — 16,321 ratings
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80

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3.83 avg rating — 48,284 ratings
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81

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3.73 avg rating — 181,376 ratings
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82

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4.45 avg rating — 165,194 ratings
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83

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4.16 avg rating — 69,093 ratings
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84

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3.91 avg rating — 307,639 ratings
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85

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3.94 avg rating — 180,240 ratings
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86

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4.01 avg rating — 103,642 ratings
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87

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4.21 avg rating — 36,061 ratings
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87

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4.21 avg rating — 117 ratings
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89

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3.88 avg rating — 55,389 ratings
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89

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3.53 avg rating — 238,872 ratings
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91

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3.83 avg rating — 672,283 ratings
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92

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3.91 avg rating — 1,920,248 ratings
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93

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4.18 avg rating — 2,891 ratings
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94

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4.30 avg rating — 345,655 ratings
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95

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3.59 avg rating — 300,394 ratings
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96

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4.15 avg rating — 23,131 ratings
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97

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3.97 avg rating — 37,142 ratings
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98

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3.89 avg rating — 123,509 ratings
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99

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3.85 avg rating — 544,182 ratings
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100

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4.01 avg rating — 299,113 ratings
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710 books · 146 voters · list created October 28th, 2012 by deleted user.
93 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Ruchi 633 books
9 friends
Dustin 9238 books
1368 friends
Brian 297 books
230 friends
ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ 4181 books
464 friends
volkhova 0 books
32 friends
Debbie 2836 books
2 friends
Albert 15 books
129 friends
Sarah 13944 books
226 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

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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.


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