Top 100 Must-Read Books from Around the World

Books do more than entertain—they reflect the human experience in its rawest, richest form. They transport us to ancient civilizations, dystopian futures, and everything in between. The best books of all time are not just beloved—they’re benchmarks in storytelling. These books offer insight, challenge ideas, and linger in our minds long after the last page.

But what makes a book one of the all-time best books? It’s not just about popularity or how many copies were sold. The greatest books live on through cultural impact, literary merit, and their power to stir something deep within us.

In this ultimate guide, I’ll walk you through 100 of the best novels and nonfiction works ever written. I’ll also share tips on how to make reading a habit, how to pick the right book for your mood, and what these books can teach us about life, love, and being human.

What Makes a Book One of the Greatest Books?

Selecting the best fiction books or greatest memoirs isn’t easy. Everyone brings their own taste, history, and emotional triggers to what they read. Still, certain criteria help guide a meaningful list:

• Enduring Popularity: Is the book still widely read, referenced, or taught today?
• Literary Innovation: Did the author experiment with form, language, or structure?
• Cultural Impact: Has the book influenced real-world ideas or movements?
• Universal Themes: Does it explore topics like love, death, justice, or freedom that remain relevant across generations?
• Diverse Voices: Does it reflect global perspectives and lived experiences?

This list doesn’t “rank” the top 100 best books—it celebrates them. I’ve grouped them by category to help you navigate based on your interests.

Fiction Classics: Best Novels That Defined Generations

These all time best books are literary anchors. Their language, plots, and characters have shaped the modern novel.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
   A sparkling social satire, witty romance, and a feminist icon in Elizabeth Bennet. It’s one of the best fiction books for readers who love strong characters.
2. Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
   More than just a sea story—it’s a philosophical meditation on obsession, nature, and humanity.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
   A poignant Southern tale of race, justice, and moral growth. Timeless, especially for young readers discovering the power of empathy.
4. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
   Epic in every sense. Family, fate, politics, and love unfold across Russian battlefields and ballrooms.
5. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
   A richly textured coming-of-age story filled with hope, betrayal, and unforgettable characters.
6. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
   Jazz Age glamour meets existential emptiness. Arguably one of the greatest books ever written in American literature.
7. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
   A deep psychological study of guilt, morality, and redemption in 19th-century Russia.
8. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
   Magical realism at its most lyrical. A multigenerational tale that captures the spirit of Latin America.
9. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
   Love, betrayal, and social expectation clash in a story as intense today as it was in 1878.
10. Ulysses – James Joyce
    A masterclass in stream-of-consciousness writing. Experimental, bold, and dazzlingly human.

Contemporary Fiction: Best Fiction Books of the Modern Era

Here are the best novels that speak to today’s world—intimate, global, tragic, and hopeful.

11. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
    A moving tale of friendship, guilt, and redemption set against Afghanistan’s turbulent history.
12. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
    Explores caste, corruption, and survival in India during The Emergency. Deeply human and heartbreaking.
13. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
    A young boy’s survival story at sea becomes a spiritual and philosophical journey.
14. Normal People – Sally Rooney
    A millennial masterpiece. Spare, emotional, and beautifully observed.
15. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
    Narrated by Death, this Holocaust-era story explores the power of words and resistance.
16. The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
    Art, trauma, and fate collide in this Pulitzer-winning coming-of-age epic.
17. Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    Navigating identity and race from Nigeria to America, it’s both political and deeply personal.
18. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
    A magical competition and a love story wrapped in a dreamlike, visually stunning world.
19. The Underground Railroad – Colson Whitehead
    A literal and metaphorical reimagining of the escape from slavery. Brutal and necessary.
20. Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
    Set in the underworld of Bombay, it’s a sprawling novel of crime, love, and spiritual hunger.

Science Fiction & Fantasy: The Greatest Books of Imagination

These aren’t just great sci-fi stories—they’re some of the best fiction books of all time for how they imagine new worlds while reflecting our own.

21. Dune – Frank Herbert
    Think “Game of Thrones in space” with ecological, religious, and political depth.
22. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
    The cornerstone of epic fantasy. Heroism, sacrifice, and the fight against darkness.
23. Neuromancer – William Gibson
    Cyberpunk begins here. Hacking, AI, and dystopian futures.
24. The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
    A sci-fi novel that explores gender fluidity and cultural understanding with poetic elegance.
25. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
    A brilliant child trained for interstellar war. Ethical dilemmas wrapped in action.
26. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
    A feminist dystopia that continues to resonate in today’s political climate.
27. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
    Epic in scope, this series imagines the rise and fall of civilizations.
28. American Gods – Neil Gaiman
    Ancient deities wander modern America. Gaiman blends mythology and road trip with flair.
29. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
    The basis for Blade Runner. What makes us human?
30. The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
    Fantasy meets music, myth, and memory in this lyrical masterpiece.

Nonfiction & Memoirs: Best Books That Tell Real Stories

Some of the all time best books are grounded in fact. These memoirs and nonfiction works speak truth, reveal injustice, or illuminate history.

31. The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
    A powerful firsthand account of life in hiding during the Holocaust.
32. Night – Elie Wiesel
    A haunting chronicle of life in Nazi death camps.
33. Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari
    A sweeping history of human evolution that reads like a novel.
34. Educated – Tara Westover
    Raised off the grid, Westover’s journey to education is astonishing.
35. Born a Crime – Trevor Noah
    Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful about growing up under apartheid.
36. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl
    A Holocaust survivor’s reflection on suffering, hope, and purpose.
37. Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
    A young man abandons society for the wilderness. A story of idealism and tragedy.
38. Becoming – Michelle Obama
    A refreshingly honest and deeply empowering memoir from a First Lady.
39. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
    Science, ethics, and the legacy of an uncredited Black woman.
40. On Writing – Stephen King
    Part memoir, part masterclass. Ideal for aspiring authors.

Historical & World Literature: All Time Best Books from Around the Globe

These timeless works are global landmarks in storytelling.

41. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
    The pre- and post-colonial struggle in Nigeria—quietly powerful.
42. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
    A spiritual parable about following your dreams. One of the most translated books in history.
43. Blindness – José Saramago
    A haunting allegory of societal collapse and compassion.
44. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
    Born at the exact moment of India’s independence, Saleem’s story is both personal and political.
45. Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
    A hilarious and philosophical journey about idealism and madness.
46. The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri
    A poetic exploration of the afterlife—and the human soul.
47. The Iliad & The Odyssey – Homer
    Ancient epics of war, honor, homecoming, and endurance.
48. The Epic of Gilgamesh
    The oldest known story. Friendship, mortality, and legacy.
49. The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
    Satire, theology, magic, and Soviet censorship swirl in this dazzling novel.
50. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
    “It was the best of times…” A love story set against the French Revolution.

Historical & World Literature

51. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Vasily Grossman
    A chillingly concise portrayal of Soviet gulag life, revealing ordinary dignity under extraordinary oppression.
52. Life & Fate – Vasily Grossman
    A sweeping World War II epic, examining Stalinism’s moral complexities and war’s human cost.
53. Season of Migration to the North – Tayeb Salih
    A haunting postcolonial tale contrasting Sudanese and British cultures, rich with psychological depth.
54. Pereira Maintains – Antonio Tabucchi
    Set under fascist Portugal, this contemplative novel shows how a journalist grapples with conscience.

Fantasy & Science Fiction

55. Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
    A head-spinning cyberpunk ride that mixes tech, religion, linguistics, and violent pranksters.
56. Hyperion – Dan Simmons
    Crafted like The Canterbury Tales, this multi-voice space opera weaves mystery, love, and faith.
57. The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
    In a nano-tech future, a young girl’s primer book becomes a catalyst for societal change.
58. Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
    A witty and whimsical take on the apocalypse, friendship, and bureaucracy in heaven and hell.
59. The Road (highlighted again in sci-fi) – Cormac McCarthy
    Poignant and unflinching, this father–son journey paints a bleak but tender vision of a devastated world.
60. The Left Hand of Darkness (already acknowledged) – Ursula K. Le Guin
    Explores gender and politics with compassion—doubly powerful in both sci-fi and world lit lists.
61. The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
    A tense alternate-history where the Axis powers won WWII—questioning reality and identity.
62. The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin
    Two worlds—utopian Anarres and capitalist Urras—explored in a profound sci-fi philosophical dialogue.

Fiction & Literary Experimentation

63. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
    A single day in post‑WWI London, rendered through memory and mind in lyrical stream‑of‑consciousness.
64. Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
    A profound journey through Black identity in America, raw, poetic, and electrifying.
65. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
    A careful, sensual dissection of romantic idealism gone awry in provincial France.
66. Beloved – Toni Morrison
    A haunting, elegiac tale of slavery’s legacy, memory, and supernatural reverberation.
67. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
    A taboo-shattering narrative, disturbingly poetical and brilliantly unreliable.
68. The Brothers Karamazov – Dostoevsky
    Philosophical, spiritual, raw—an exploration of faith, doubt, patricide, and redemption.
69. The Trial – Franz Kafka
    Surreal, claustrophobic, bureaucratic oppression refracted through guilt and existential dread.
70. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
    The prototypical teenage voice that still resonates—alienation, authenticity, and angst.

Contemporaries & Debut Standouts

71. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
    A story of fate, faith, and miraculous friendship in small-town America.
72. The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
    A darkly funny, sprawling look at Midwestern family dysfunction in late 20th century.
73. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon
    Comics, WWII, magic, friendship—a layered tribute to creativity and escape.
74. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Díaz
    Dominican curses, diaspora pain, pop‑culture references, and unfiltered heart.
75. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
    A sweeping generational saga about intersex identity, immigration, and self‑discovery.
76. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke
    19th‑century England reimagined with earthen magic and social satire.
77. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
    A lush, sensorial tale of romantic rivalry in a traveling midnight circus.
78. Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts
    True crime meets spiritual odyssey in Mumbai’s labyrinthine cityscape.

Nonfiction, Memoir & Social Issues

79. Silent Spring – Rachel Carson
    The seminal environmental text that sparked the modern ecological movement.
80. Hiroshima – John Hersey
    A journalistic masterpiece sharing six survivors’ stories from the atomic bombing.
81. The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion
    Pure emotional clarity on grief, loss, and a life turned upside‑down.
82. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
    Pioneering nonfiction novel melding true crime with artful prose.
83. Walden – Henry David Thoreau
    A pastoral manifesto on simplicity, nature, and self-reliance.
84. Quiet – Susan Cain
    A celebration of introversion in a culture biased toward extroversion.
85. The Righteous Mind – Jonathan Haidt
    Combines psychology, anthropology, and politics to explore moral systems.
86. Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
    A controversial yet sweeping theory on why civilizations rose (and some didn’t).
87. The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe
    A raucous, heroic chronicle of early American astronauts and test pilots.
88. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X & Alex Haley
    A powerful journey from street life to global activist.
89. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
    Scientific ethics illuminated through one woman’s unacknowledged legacy.
90. Born a Crime – Trevor Noah
    Bittersweet memoir about growing up in apartheid South Africa—funny, raw, and insightful.
91. Becoming – Michelle Obama
    Evocative, empowering, and candid reflection from the former First Lady.

Influential Short Stories & Poetry

92. Dubliners – James Joyce
    A collection of everyday epiphanies capturing early 20th-century Dublin.
93. The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
    Short fiction rooted in Southern life—lyrical, humane, full of nuance.
94. Selected Poems – Federico García Lorca
    Passionate, surreal poetry from Spain’s avant-garde master.
95. Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
    Epic celebration of democracy and the self in free verse.

Deeply Unique & Hybrid Works

96. Pale Fire – Vladimir Nabokov
    A poem+commentary puzzle that reveals obsession, authorship, and madness.
97. If on a winter’s night a traveler – Italo Calvino
    A metafiction mosaic where you’re the reader piecing together shifting stories.
98. The Lover – Marguerite Duras
    A fragmented memoir‑novel exploring memory, desire, and colonized Vietnam.
99. Giovanni’s Room – James Baldwin
    A groundbreaking novel of love, sexuality, and identity in Paris.
100. Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson
     Quiet, existential, and deeply haunting—a meditation on absence, family, and nature.

What These Books Teach Us

Reading the greatest books isn’t about ticking boxes—it’s about becoming more human.

• Empathy: Walk in others’ shoes, across cultures and time periods.
• Curiosity: Learn how people lived, loved, and resisted in times very different from ours.
• Craft: See how the best fiction books are built—sentence by sentence, scene by scene.
• Perspective: Confront your biases, expand your views, and get inspired to write your own story.

How to Start Reading the Best Books of All Time

You don’t need to read 100 books a year to be a “real” reader. You just need to start.

• Follow your curiosity: Love thrillers? Start there. Don’t force “important” books.
• Mix it up: Alternate heavy reads with lighter fare.
• Try audiobooks: Perfect for commutes or cleaning.
• Join a community: Book clubs or online forums help you stay engaged.
• Track your journey: Use Goodreads or a notebook to reflect on what you’ve read.

Final Thoughts On The 100 Greatest Books

This list of the best books of all time isn’t final or definitive, it’s a starting point. These 100 titles represent just a slice of the world’s literary wealth. You might not connect with every book, and that’s okay. What matters is finding the ones that speak to your soul.

So start today. Pick a title that stirs your curiosity, and read just one chapter. You’ll be surprised how fast a page turns when the story grabs you.

And who knows? In discovering the best novels and greatest books others have written, you just might find your own story waiting to be told.