“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.”
–Franz Kafka.
There are so many books in life and so little time to read them all. We all find reading to be a pleasurable activity that brings a fountain of benefits. Books open the doors to new worlds and ways of living, which allow to connect to the world in a completely new way.
Books make us better persons. They increase our capacity to detect and understand the feelings of other people. They also considerably reduce stress levels by 68%, lower the heart rate, and increase the ability to assimilate and process information. Those who read have a vast vocabulary, which turns them into good conversationists. Reading prevents health problems and keeps our brain active, which is a good weapon against illnesses like Alzheimer.
The Time Magazine has painstakingly created a list of 35 books that everyone must read at some point in their lives. This list touches many genres, from science fiction, romantic novels, children’s stories to science.
35. 1984, George Orwell
A dystopian and political novel published on June 8, 1949. This novel introduced new concepts like “omnipresence” and “Big Brother.”
34. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
A science fiction novel published in 1959, it tells the story of Charlie Gordon, who has an IQ of 68 and is chosen to complete a series of tasks that will progressively increase his intelligence.
33. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
The most famous work by the British writer Aldous Huxley, published in 1932. The novel gives an uncanny glimpse of the future, such as reproductive technology, human harvesting, and sleep learning.
32.The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
A comedy science fiction novel that follows the story of a human called Arthur Dent, who is whisked away and saved from Earth’s destruction by aliens.
31. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Published in 1969, this is a satyrical novel about World War II, which tells the experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his time as an American soldier and chaplain’s assistant, to postwar and early years.
30. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
First published in 1968, the novel is set in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco, where Earth’s life has been greatly damaged by nuclear global war. It was later adapted into film by Ridley Scott and renamed Blade Runner.
A young Edmund Dantes is falsely imprisoned by his jealous friend. Later on he escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge. Dumas finished writing it in 1844 and was published in 18 parts during the course of two years. It is considered to be one of Dumas’s masterpieces.
27. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
A novel written by war veteran Erich Maria Remarque in 1929, it describes the German soldiers’ extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the hopelessness from civilian life felt by the returning soldiers.
26. Animal Farm, George Orwell
It is an allegorical and dystopian novella by George Orwell, first published in England on August 17, 1945, telling the story of an animal rebellion in a farm. The uncanny resemblance with history isn’t really a coincidence.
25. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was immediately successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature.
24. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein
“Once there was a tree… and she loved a little boy.” So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.
23. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by media, drugs, and conformity.
22. Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
Published in 1908 by Canadian writer, L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables tells the story of spunky Anne Shirley and her adventures at Green Gables, a farm outside Avonlea, Prince Edward Island.
21. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the most important works of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. The story is set in America, where extremist Judeo-Christian beliefs have won the war. Now, women have no rights. They are slaves to men and the patriarchal society in which they live. The Handmaid’s Tale is the first-person account of one of these enslaved women.
Dune was written in 1965 and it is considered to be one of the most important works in the science fiction canon. Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire, where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses, the story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion.
19. L’Étranger, Albert Camus
As the Albert Camus’s first novel published in 1942, L’Étranger follows the story of a man unwittingly drawn into a murder on an Algerian beach. Camus explores what he terms “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.”
18. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevski
Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate novel set in nineteenth century Russia, entering into deep ethical debates of God, morality, and free will.
17. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevski
This novel places Dostoyevski at the forefront of Russia’s greatest writers. It is a psychological novel that explores the life of the brilliant but conflicted young Raskolnikov and the murder he commits. The concept of redemption through suffering is fully explored by Dostoyevski.
16. How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies and become the first bestselling “self-help” book.
15. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
American Nobel laureate, John Steinbeck, brings us the story of two families set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas Valley. This often brutal novel creates parallelisms with the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
14. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
One of the twentieth century’s iconic works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement of a Nobel Prize laureate. It tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of one particular family.
13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy
A searing, post apocalyptic novel published in 2006, it tells the story of father and son walking alone through burned America, a country that has ceased to be.
12. Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Published in 1943, Le Petit Prince is the most translated book in the French language. A timeless tale of a boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, he learns the meaning of adulthood through a series of extraordinary encounters.
11. Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami lures readers into a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder. Kafka on the Shore displays the prowess of one of the world’s greatest storytellers.
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
In 1937, Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the Civil War for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed his greatest novel, which emerged from “the good fight.”
9. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale is an alternative comic series published from 1980 to 1991 in the Raw Magazine
A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler’s Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father’s story and history itself.
8. Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street, Herman Melville
A classical tale of the eighteenth century, it narrates the mysteries that surround a writer in Wall Street. As the story progresses, Melville brings a sense of the human condition as seen through the eyes of a lowly employee.
Herman Melville is known for his works, Moby Dick and Typee.
7. Cosmos, Carl Sagan
On the book, Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization. The first part was published in 1980.
6. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
A science fiction novel published in 1974, it narrates a long, interplanetary war between men and a fierce alien enemy.
5. Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Emil Frankl
Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted many readers for generations with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. It revolves around a series of answers that his patients give him on one question: Why not commit suicide?
4. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Written in 2003, Bill Bryson confronts the biggest challenge: to understand —and, if possible, answer— the oldest questions we have posed about ourselves and the universe.
3. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? This autobiography was written by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow.
2. Watership Down, Richard Adams
Work of British writer, Richard Adams, published in 1972, Watership Down is catalogued as a children’s story. Set in a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring and at times disturbing tale of adventure follows a band of rabbits on their flight from the destruction of their home and the encroaching presence of man.
1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, Robert M. Pirsig and Renato Valenzuela Molina
The unforgettable story of a summer motorcycle trip across America’s Northwest by a father and his young son. A story of love, fear, of growth and discovery that becomes a personal journey into life’s fundamental questions. A modern classic that resonates with many generations.
