Your favorite books. Your story.

Explore the books that shaped other people.

• 1. Kristin Lavransdatter TrilogySigrid Undset
  2. To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee
  3. The Wisdom of InsecurityAlan Watts
  4. The Wasp FactoryIain Banks
  5. SmithDon Paterson
  6. Geography IIIElizabeth Bishop
  7. PossessionA. S. Byatt
  8. Mrs. Palfrey at the ClaremontElizabeth Taylor
  9. A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens

  MoD

  I sit at my desk and pick the nine books that come to mind. Some I have reread several times. Some have changed the way I view the world. Some have made me never want them to end

• 1. The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien
  2. The three stigmata of Palmer EldritchPhilip K. Dick
  3. The Tao of PhysicsFritjof Capra
  4. The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mindJulian Jaynes
  5. The vivisectorPatrick White
  6. Pincher MartinWilliam Golding
  7. Cousin BetteHonoré de Balzac
  8. Consciousness explainedDaniel C. Dennett
  9. DebtDavid Graeber

  dadso

  Books that were memorable or influential in approximate order of reading

• 1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
  2. A Discovery of WitchesDeborah Harkness
  3. Series of Unfortunate Events Set books #1-9Lemony Snicket
  4. Angels & DemonsDan Brown
  5. The Fault in Our StarsJohn Green
  6. SpeakLaurie Halse Anderson
  7. The MartianAndy Weir
  8. HorrorstörGrady Hendrix
  9. Myst ReaderRand Miller

  Rowan Bell

  Nine books

• 1. Ender's GameOrson Scott Card
  2. Perdido Street StationChina Miéville
  3. Kasper in the GlitterPhilip Ridley
  4. RevengerAlastair Reynolds
  5. This is How You Lose the Time WarAmal El-Mohtar
  6. Dakota of White FlatsPhilip Ridley
  7. A Natural History of DragonsMarie Brennan
  8. NeverwhereNeil Gaiman
  9. The Wasp FactoryIain Banks

  MilkyPork

  Nine books

• 1. Birds Without WingsLouis de Bernières
  2. Captain Corelli's MandolinLouis de Bernières
  3. Fear and Loathing in Las VegasHunter S. Thompson
  4. Notes from a small islandBill Bryson
  5. The Satsuma ComplexBob Mortimer
  6. Wild SwansJung Chang
  7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
  8. NetherlandJoseph O'Neill
  9. The men who stare at goatsJon Ronson

  Hazel Chen

  Nine books

• 1. As I walked out one midsummer morningLaurie Lee
  2. A Clergyman's DaughterGeorge Orwell
  3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
  4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly CloseJonathan Safran Foer
  5. Homage to CataloniaGeorge Orwell
  6. Jupiter's travelsTed Simon
  7. Derek Jarman's gardenDerek Jarman
  8. A month in the countryJames Lloyd Carr
  9. Brighton RockGraham Greene

  Kit Kim

  Nine books

• 1. Women in LoveD. H. Lawrence
  2. On The RoadJack Kerouac
  3. Naked LunchWilliam S. Burroughs
  4. 100 Years of SolitudeGabriel García Márquez
  5. The Grapes of WrathJohn Steinbeck
  6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestKen Kesey
  7. A Clockwork OrangeAnthony Burgess
  8. Voyage au bout de la nuitLouis-Ferdinand Céline
  9. Cities of the Red NightWilliam S. Burroughs

  Rowan Evans

  Nine books

• 1. The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien
  2. Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyJohn le Carré
  3. A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
  4. RegenerationPat Barker
  5. Night WatchTerry Pratchett
  6. The Foundation TrilogyIsaac Asimov
  7. An Artist of the Floating WorldKazuo Ishiguro
  8. Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad
  9. Animal FarmGeorge Orwell

  Robin Hart

  Nine books

• 1. SourceryTerry Pratchett
  2. Miracle of Castel Di Sangro, TheJoe McGinniss
  3. Animal FarmGeorge Orwell
  4. Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell
  5. Watership DownRichard Adams
  6. Red MarsKim Stanley Robinson
  7. Green MarsKim Stanley Robinson
  8. Blue MarsKim Stanley Robinson
  9. A Psalm for the Wild-BuiltBecky Chambers

  Quinn Reed

  Nine books

• 1. The Silver SwordIan Serraillier
  2. ItStephen King
  3. NecroscopeBrian Lumley
  4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayMichael Chabon
  5. The StandStephen King
  6. The HobbitJ.R.R. Tolkien
  7. East of EdenJohn Steinbeck
  8. That Old Ace in the HoleAnnie Proulx
  9. Leviathan WakesJames S. A. Corey

  Nora Evans

  Nine books

• 1. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4Sue Townsend
  2. The RatsJames Herbert
  3. The HobbitJ.R.R. Tolkien
  4. My Family and other AnimalsGerald Malcolm Durrell
  5. Band of BrothersStephen E. Ambrose
  6. Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeDee Alexander Brown
  7. A Walk in the WoodsBill Bryson
  8. The StandStephen King
  9. Astérix GladiateurRené Goscinny

  Iris Price

  Nine books

• 1. On The RoadJack Kerouac
  2. Down and Out in Paris and LondonGeorge Orwell
  3. The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald
  4. The MagusJohn Fowles
  5. Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and punishmentJohn D. Simons
  6. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle MaintenanceRobert Pirsig
  7. Jude the ObscureThomas Hardy
  8. Fowler's modern English usageH. W. Fowler
  9. The Code of the WoostersP. G. Wodehouse

  Remy Frost

  Nine books

• 1. The Eye of the WorldRobert Jordan
  2. MagicianRaymond E. Feist
  3. The GunslingerStephen King
  4. The Fellowship of the RingJ.R.R. Tolkien
  5. The Book Of ThreeLloyd Alexander
  6. The Dragonriders of PernAnne McCaffrey
  7. The Skystone (The Camulod Chronicles, Book 1)Jack Whyte
  8. The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeC. S. Lewis
  9. Dragon Prince #1 (Dragon Prince)Melanie Rawn

  Rex M

  Favorite fantasy epics

• 1. Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë
  2. The Catcher in the RyeJ. D. Salinger
  3. The City and the StarsArthur C. Clarke
  4. The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald
  5. Seize the DaySaul Bellow
  6. Vernon God LittleD. B. C. Pierre
  7. Fear and Loathing in Las VegasHunter S. Thompson
  8. The garden of EdenErnest Hemingway
  9. Animal Farm / Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell

  Wuthering heights

  Favorites

• 1. Holidays in hellP. J. O'Rourke
  2. The Power and the GloryGraham Greene
  3. UbikPhilip K. Dick
  4. A Handful of DustEvelyn Waugh
  5. The comforts of madnessPaul Sayer
  6. The complete ghost stories of M.R. JamesMontague Rhodes James
  7. A Confederacy of DuncesJohn Kennedy Toole
  8. Every Man for Himself and God Against AllWerner Herzog
  9. Larousse gastronomiqueProsper Montagné

  Robin Frost

  Favorites

• 1. The Wasp FactoryIain Banks
  2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
  3. Män som hatar kvinnorStieg Larsson
  4. A short history of nearly everythingBill Bryson
  5. The World Without UsAlan Weisman
  6. InsomniaStephen King
  7. The RainmakerJohn Grisham
  8. The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien
  9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeMark Haddon

  Eden Hill

  Favorites

• 1. Catch-22Joseph Heller
  2. A Confederacy of DuncesJohn Kennedy Toole
  3. LongitudeDava Sobel
  4. COD; A BIOGRAPHY OF THE FISH THAT CHANGED THE WORLDMark Kurlansky
  5. The Colour of MagicTerry Pratchett
  6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
  7. The Wasp FactoryIain Banks
  8. We Have Always Lived in the CastleShirley Jackson
  9. American PsychoBret Easton Ellis

  Luke

  Favorites

• 1. Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell
  2. One Day in the Life of Ivan DenisovichAleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  3. Fields of fireJames Webb
  4. Agent 6Tom Rob Smith
  5. Fool's goldGillian Tett
  6. Fear IndexRobert Harris
  7. HHhHLaurent Binet
  8. Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyJohn le Carré
  9. Searching for John FordJoseph McBride

  Mara Stone

  Favorites

• 1. FatherlandRobert Harris
  2. LabyrinthKate Mosse
  3. Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
  4. The FirmJohn Grisham
  5. Great ExpectationsCharles Dickens
  6. All the Light We Cannot SeeAnthony Doerr
  7. The Lost ContinentBill Bryson
  8. Bee StingPaul Murray
  9. I, PartridgeSteve Coogan

  Ellis Reyes

  Favorites

• 1. Saturday Night and Sunday MorningAlan Sillitoe
  2. AtonementIan McEwan
  3. Gormenghast TrilogyMervyn Peake
  4. The complete poems of John Keats and Percy Bysshe ShelleyJohn Keats
  5. The Spy Who Came in from the ColdJohn le Carré
  6. Generation XDouglas Coupland
  7. The modern antiquarianJulian Cope
  8. Brighton RockGraham Greene
  9. Songs of innocence and of experienceWilliam Blake

  Nora Brooks

  Favorites

• 1. King Leopold's ghostAdam Hochschild
  2. Staying PowerPeter Fryer
  3. The class struggle in the ancient Greek worldDe Ste. Croix, G. E. M.
  4. A People's History of the United StatesHoward Zinn
  5. Battle Cry of Freedom Part 1 of 3James M. McPherson
  6. To end all warsAdam Hochschild
  7. The English people and the English revolutionBrian Stuart Manning
  8. История русской революцииLeon Trotsky
  9. The Dawn of EverythingDavid Graeber

  Jules Vale

  Favorites

• 1. Biggles flies northW. E. Johns
  2. Prince CaspianC. S. Lewis
  3. Berlin gameLen Deighton
  4. The Old Man and the SeaErnest Hemingway
  5. Just So StoriesRudyard Kipling
  6. Five on a Treasure IslandEnid Blyton
  7. WiltTom Sharpe
  8. Adolf Hitler: my part in his downfallSpike Milligan
  9. Molesworth: Whizz for atommsGeoffrey Willans

  Rory Gray

  Favorites

• 1. TrilobiteRichard A. Fortey
  2. Il GattopardoGiuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
  3. The HobbitJ.R.R. Tolkien
  4. Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
  5. Novels (Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man)Dashiell Hammett
  6. ἸλιάςHomer.
  7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
  8. Мастер и МаргаритаMikhail Afanasʹevich Bulgakov
  9. The PrinceNiccolò Machiavelli

  Wren Finch

  Favorites

• 1. Down with skool!Geoffrey Willans
  2. The Big SleepRaymond Chandler
  3. The Code of the WoostersP. G. Wodehouse
  4. Suffer the little childrenDonna Leon
  5. Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
  6. The Maltese FalconDashiell Hammett
  7. The four men; a farragoHilaire Belloc
  8. Roger's Profanisaurus Rex: From the Pages of 'Viz', the Ultimate Swearing Dictionary"Viz"
  9. Oxford dictionary of quotationsElizabeth Knowles

  Nora Reed

  Favorites

Unnamed readers appear under assigned nicknames.

Nine books from published reading lists and interviews, with a source for every pick.

• 1. Oryx and CrakeMargaret Atwood
  2. 2666Roberto Bolaño
  3. The Yiddish Policemen's UnionMichael Chabon
  4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoJunot Díaz
  5. American GodsNeil Gaiman
  6. Tree of SmokeDenis Johnson
  7. No Country for Old MenCormac McCarthy
  8. American PastoralPhilip Roth
  9. Midnight's ChildrenSalman Rushdie

  Stephen King

  Nine sourced reading picks

• 1. Donovan's BrainCurt Siodmak
  2. Consider Her Ways and OthersJohn Wyndham
  3. Riddley WalkerRussell Hoban
  4. The Left Hand of DarknessUrsula K. Le Guin
  5. Wildwood WisdomEllsworth Jaeger
  6. Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell
  7. The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. Tolkien
  8. Red MemoryTania Branigan
  9. Wild Animals I Have KnownErnest Thompson Seton

  Margaret Atwood

  Nine sourced reading picks

• 1. BlindnessJosé Saramago
  2. The CaveJosé Saramago
  3. Bleak HouseCharles Dickens
  4. Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë
  5. The Nature of ThingsLucretius
  6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta LacksRebecca Skloot
  7. The Voyage of the BeagleCharles Darwin
  8. Little Big ManThomas Berger
  9. MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Nine sourced reading picks

• 1. The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. Tolkien
  2. The Once and Future KingT. H. White
  3. Watership DownRichard Adams
  4. Best Served ColdJoe Abercrombie
  5. The HeroesJoe Abercrombie
  6. IvanhoeWalter Scott
  7. The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
  8. The Black RoseThomas B. Costain
  9. The Iron KingMaurice Druon

  George R. R. Martin

  Nine sourced reading picks

Ranked lists from Apple Books and Open Library.

• Apple Books

  Top 9 on Apple Books: Romance (US)

  Last updated 9 Oct 2026

  1. 1.
     Threshing DayRebecca Yarros

     Threshing Day

     Rebecca Yarros

  2. 2.
     Birth of the WitchNora Roberts

     Birth of the Witch

     Nora Roberts

  3. 3.
     The Love HypothesisAli Hazelwood

     The Love Hypothesis

     Ali Hazelwood

  See the full chart

• Apple Books

  Top 9 on Apple Books: Mysteries & Thrillers (US)

  Last updated 9 Oct 2026

  1. 1.
     The French IllusionJohn Grisham

     The French Illusion

     John Grisham

  2. 2.
     VerityColleen Hoover

     Verity

     Colleen Hoover

  3. 3.
     Other Worlds Than TheseStephen King

     Other Worlds Than These

     Stephen King, Peter Straub

  See the full chart

• Open Library

  Trending on Open Library this week

  Updated 27 Oct 2026

  1. 1.
     Atomic HabitsJames Clear

     Atomic Habits

     James Clear

  2. 2.
     Rich Dad, Poor DadRobert T. Kiyosaki

     Rich Dad, Poor Dad

     Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter

  3. 3.
     The 48 Laws of PowerRobert Greene

     The 48 Laws of Power

     Robert Greene

  See the full chart

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