The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Best Books of the 21st Century
9,857 books — 21,934 voters

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain PearsStone's Fall by Iain Pears
Best Historical Mystery
2,060 books — 4,510 voters

A Christmas Carol by Charles DickensGravity’s Rainbow by Thomas PynchonFahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyThe Crow Road by Iain Banks
Best Opening Sentence
219 books — 151 voters
The Famished Road by Ben OkriFahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyIodine by Haven KimmelThe Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. TolkienA Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
Novels with the Best Opening Lines
38 books — 17 voters

A Hell of a Woman by Jim ThompsonI Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Unique Narrators
403 books — 347 voters
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain PearsThe Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia HighsmithThe Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafónMystic River by Dennis Lehane
Best Crime & Mystery Books
7,305 books — 15,557 voters

Stone's Fall by Iain PearsThe Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Books With Multiple Perspectives
741 books — 287 voters
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark TwainTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckThe Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Best Banned, Censored, and Challenged Books
924 books — 2,382 voters

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Best Gothic Books of All Time
572 books — 3,496 voters