,

What is or are the best books of the bildungsroman genre?

"A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a usually youthful main character."
1

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,985,985 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.80 avg rating — 3,944,467 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,345,502 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,496,680 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,362,692 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.73 avg rating — 304,580 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.80 avg rating — 883,268 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,131,700 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.08 avg rating — 892,870 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.04 avg rating — 1,260,734 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,848,206 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.15 avg rating — 1,640,755 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.24 avg rating — 2,030,214 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.64 avg rating — 166,032 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.36 avg rating — 3,542,096 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,931,070 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.76 avg rating — 305,387 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.05 avg rating — 262,314 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,058,453 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.57 avg rating — 1,052 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.30 avg rating — 520,811 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.60 avg rating — 234,036 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,486,721 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,216,305 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.04 avg rating — 667,532 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.21 avg rating — 303,674 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.85 avg rating — 879,509 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.95 avg rating — 258,112 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.16 avg rating — 62,257 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.08 avg rating — 99,194 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.70 avg rating — 158,837 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,361,859 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.13 avg rating — 63,507 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,661,031 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.19 avg rating — 416,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.85 avg rating — 149,450 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
3.99 avg rating — 121,145 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,513 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,764,810 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.07 avg rating — 205,191 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.64 avg rating — 56,207 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.01 avg rating — 367,703 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.92 avg rating — 10,106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.92 avg rating — 3,648,085 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.12 avg rating — 5,791,215 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.09 avg rating — 79,643 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.84 avg rating — 59,695 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.22 avg rating — 74,238 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.25 avg rating — 367,189 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.89 avg rating — 280,798 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.84 avg rating — 76,710 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.85 avg rating — 253,962 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.11 avg rating — 282,347 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.85 avg rating — 547,215 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.34 avg rating — 14,283 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.50 avg rating — 61,266 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.95 avg rating — 73,590 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.79 avg rating — 68,544 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.84 avg rating — 305,409 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.70 avg rating — 51,816 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 174,435 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.75 avg rating — 34,474 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.24 avg rating — 43,789 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.92 avg rating — 204,185 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.97 avg rating — 134,476 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,124,961 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.77 avg rating — 3,545 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.73 avg rating — 94,985 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.26 avg rating — 335,392 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.70 avg rating — 1,503,940 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,989 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.86 avg rating — 195,617 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.63 avg rating — 80,853 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.83 avg rating — 19,036 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.15 avg rating — 568,448 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.95 avg rating — 47,255 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.77 avg rating — 405,789 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.04 avg rating — 30,779 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.02 avg rating — 177,511 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.80 avg rating — 142,127 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.36 avg rating — 95,380 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.99 avg rating — 747,024 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 780,326 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.23 avg rating — 360 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,932 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.06 avg rating — 150,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.72 avg rating — 23,135 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.29 avg rating — 16,623 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.97 avg rating — 4,282 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.15 avg rating — 230,506 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.08 avg rating — 59,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.70 avg rating — 21,840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.19 avg rating — 10,070 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.75 avg rating — 25,024 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.27 avg rating — 200,003 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.06 avg rating — 84,508 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.93 avg rating — 30,892 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.19 avg rating — 30,980 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.30 avg rating — 27,223 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.83 avg rating — 37,756 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
367 books · 329 voters · list created October 4th, 2009 by Leila.
91 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Greyweather 2660 books
65 friends
Veruca Salt 1557 books
142 friends
D.L. 1009 books
175 friends
new_user 1595 books
193 friends
Ricki 5263 books
1477 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
851 friends
Kelly 1414 books
39 friends
Seregil 1947 books
61 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Chrisl (new)

Chrisl Hearing people with multiple languages speak the work "bildungsromans" would appeal to me. Having seen it recently in separate contexts, I became curious how many books have been assigned that subject in public libraries.
In March 2014, Seattle Public has 2,358 entries. The huge WorldCat (world catalog) which often is listed as a Goodreads data source has 8,268.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Jane - I was having problems earlier voting from my own bookshelves, but doing a general search for the title worked OK. Don't know if you're having the same problem or not.


message 3: by Jane (new)

Jane Thanks, Suzanne, I finally tried that; it worked; and added both The Soldier of Raetia [I just love the hero, Dardanus] and Strategos - Born in the Borderlands. In fact, while writing my review on one of them, I forget which, I used the word Bildungsroman.


message 4: by Scott (last edited Jan 29, 2018 12:23PM) (new)

Scott Herdliska A Wizard of Earthsea should be near the top of this list.


message 5: by Charlotte (new)

Charlotte What about memoires of a geisha? (not sure if i spelt that right)


message 6: by Jenna (new)

Jenna What about Crime and Punishment?


message 7: by Nate (new)

Nate James Charlotte wrote: "What about memoires of a geisha? (not sure if i spelt that right)"

Added.


back to top



Related News

  At the beginning of each calendar month, Goodreads’ crack editorial squad assembles a list of the hottest and most popular new books...

Anyone can add books to this list.