Blood and Guts in High School by Kathy AckerStory of the Eye by Georges BatailleThe Piano Teacher by Elfriede JelinekI Spit on Your Graves by Boris VianWe Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Best Transgressive Fiction
871 books — 968 voters
The Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathDon Quixote by Kathy AckerJourney to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand CélineAs I Lay Dying by William FaulknerSteppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Best Books of the 20th Century
7,899 books — 49,788 voters

Nausea by Jean-Paul SartreThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathBastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy AllisonThe Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward GoreyNaked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
I Picked It Up Because of the Title
7,929 books — 2,081 voters

The Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathMaldoror and the Complete Works by Comte de LautréamontLes amantes by Elfriede Jelinek
Cult Classics
1,568 books — 2,119 voters
Angry Women by V. Vale
Re/Search & V/Search & Juno
45 books — 12 voters

Baise-Moi by Virginie DespentesThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathOrlando by Virginia WoolfThree Guineas by Virginia WoolfBlood and Guts in High School by Kathy Acker
Best Feminist Fiction
1,499 books — 2,671 voters
Europe Central by William T. Vollmann
Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once
31,849 books — 121,108 voters

Europe Central by William T. Vollmann
Must Read Before You Die
555 books — 183 voters
American Psycho by Bret Easton EllisLost Souls by Poppy Z. BriteExquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
Best Horror Novels
2,087 books — 5,458 voters

The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de SadeAmerican Psycho by Bret Easton EllisBeloved by Toni MorrisonStory of the Eye by Georges BatailleThe Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
The Most Disturbing Books Ever Written
3,214 books — 11,355 voters
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor DostoevskyThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis CarrollThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar WildeDracula by Bram Stoker
Best Books Ever
76,778 books — 285,700 voters