,

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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4.10 avg rating — 923,425 ratings
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17

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4.17 avg rating — 403,354 ratings
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18

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3.86 avg rating — 195,030 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 72,063 ratings
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20

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4.30 avg rating — 508,735 ratings
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21

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3.88 avg rating — 1,007,392 ratings
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22

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3.90 avg rating — 2,016,132 ratings
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23

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3.82 avg rating — 178,172 ratings
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24

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4.18 avg rating — 3,424,097 ratings
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25

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3.92 avg rating — 86,583 ratings
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25

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4.11 avg rating — 515,916 ratings
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27

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4.31 avg rating — 713,191 ratings
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28

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4.12 avg rating — 824,571 ratings
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29

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4.07 avg rating — 117,412 ratings
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30

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4.26 avg rating — 215,756 ratings
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31

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3.97 avg rating — 105,328 ratings
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32

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3.76 avg rating — 137,219 ratings
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33

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4.21 avg rating — 840,035 ratings
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34

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3.92 avg rating — 1,011,842 ratings
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35

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3.93 avg rating — 505,372 ratings
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36

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4.11 avg rating — 238,003 ratings
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37

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4.09 avg rating — 912,977 ratings
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38

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4.13 avg rating — 799,135 ratings
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39

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3.94 avg rating — 389,843 ratings
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40

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4.29 avg rating — 1,063,364 ratings
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41

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3.89 avg rating — 336,397 ratings
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42

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4.47 avg rating — 2,998,484 ratings
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43

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3.83 avg rating — 174,331 ratings
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44

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4.28 avg rating — 115 ratings
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45

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4.39 avg rating — 381,365 ratings
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46

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4.36 avg rating — 220,171 ratings
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47

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4.20 avg rating — 120,177 ratings
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48

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4.04 avg rating — 661,731 ratings
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49

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3.89 avg rating — 1,587,644 ratings
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50

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4.25 avg rating — 820,390 ratings
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50

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4.13 avg rating — 60,761 ratings
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52

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53

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4.11 avg rating — 789,766 ratings
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54

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55

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4.28 avg rating — 338,304 ratings
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56

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57

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57

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4.41 avg rating — 210,687 ratings
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59

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3.88 avg rating — 40,335 ratings
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60

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4.19 avg rating — 7,342 ratings
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61

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3.84 avg rating — 301,306 ratings
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62

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3.80 avg rating — 868,660 ratings
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63

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4.49 avg rating — 106 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 — 141,245 ratings
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66

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4.36 avg rating — 6,771 ratings
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67

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3.89 avg rating — 274,921 ratings
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68

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3.69 avg rating — 93,203 ratings
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69

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70

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71

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4.15 avg rating — 769,517 ratings
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72

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73

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75

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80

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3.74 avg rating — 179,931 ratings
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81

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4.45 avg rating — 164,480 ratings
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82

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4.16 avg rating — 67,833 ratings
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83

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3.91 avg rating — 303,113 ratings
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84

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3.94 avg rating — 178,389 ratings
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85

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4.01 avg rating — 102,423 ratings
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86

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4.21 avg rating — 35,619 ratings
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86

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4.22 avg rating — 116 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 54,718 ratings
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88

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3.53 avg rating — 236,972 ratings
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90

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3.83 avg rating — 659,281 ratings
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91

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3.90 avg rating — 1,855,447 ratings
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92

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4.19 avg rating — 2,861 ratings
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93

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4.30 avg rating — 337,382 ratings
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94

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4.57 avg rating — 234,851 ratings
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95

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3.59 avg rating — 297,505 ratings
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96

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4.15 avg rating — 23,014 ratings
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97

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3.97 avg rating — 36,962 ratings
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98

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3.89 avg rating — 122,298 ratings
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99

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3.85 avg rating — 537,060 ratings
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100

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4.01 avg rating — 296,688 ratings
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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

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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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