200 Superb Books Everyone Should Read At Least Once

We all have few books we especially love and cherish. We keep coming back to them for comfort and wisdom. But every once in a while, it’s nice to branch out and try adding some new tomes to your collection.

Look no further. Bright Side has brought you a list of 200 of the most extraordinary books, put together by the BBC. Ready, set, read!

A

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
• American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
• Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
• Atonement by Ian McEwan

B

• Bad Girls by Jacqueline Wilson
• The Beach by Alex Garland
• Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
• The BFG or Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl
• Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
• Bleak House by Charles Dickens
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
• Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

C

• Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
• The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
• The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat

D

• Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
• The Dare Game by Jacqueline Wilson
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
• The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
• Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith
• Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Dustbin Baby by Jacqueline Wilson

E

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Emma by Jane Austen

F

• Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
• Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
• The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye
• Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews
• The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
• The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

G

• George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl
• Girls in Love by Jacqueline Wilson
• Girls in Tears by Jacqueline Wilson
• Girls Out Late by Jacqueline Wilson
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
• Goodnight, Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
• Goosebumps by R. L. Stine
• Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
• The Green Mile by Stephen King
• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

H

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri
• High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

I

• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
• The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson
• It by Stephen King

J

• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach
• Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

K

• Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
• Katherine by Anya Seton
• Kim by Rudyard Kipling

L

• Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Clive Staples Lewis
• The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Lola Rose by Jacqueline Wilson
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

M

• Magician by Raymond E Feist
• The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
• The Magus by John Fowles
• Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
• Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
• Matilda by Roald Dahl
• The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Mort by Terry Pratchett

N

• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
• Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
• Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

O

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• The Once and Future King by T.H. White
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

P

• Papillon by Henri Charriere
• Perfume by Patrick Süskind
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
• Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
• Possession by A.S. Byatt
• The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
• A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

R

• The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
• Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• River God by Wilbur Smith

S

• Secrets by Jacqueline Wilson
• The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
• The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
• Shogun by James Clavell
• Silas Marner by George Eliot
• The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
• Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz
• Sleepovers by Jacqueline Wilson
• Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
• Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
• Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
• Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
• The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
• The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson
• Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
• Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

T

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• They Used to Play on Grass by Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
• Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
• The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
• The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCollough
• Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
• Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Truth by Terry Pratchett
• The Twits by Roald Dahl

U

• Ulysses by James Joyce
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

V

• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson

W

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
• The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• Winnie the Pooh by Alan Alexander Milne
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• The World According to Garp by John Irving
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

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• 1984 by George Orwell