My ever-expanding list of books you must read
Posted By CarrieK on September 4, 2009
Update: I’m editing the title to indicate that these are books I think everyone must read, not books I’m listing for myself to read. I’ve read – and loved – all of these, that’s why I consider them must-reads. 
)
I have officially run out of genres in which I can list my favorites. I thought it would be good to do one last “favorites” post, in which I compile all the lists, plus any must-reads I’ve come across since, and any other books I love that didn’t quite fit into one of the lists. This list will continue to grow – for many years, I’m sure. Because of the fact that it would make me insane to try to actually put them in any order of preference, there is no order to this list. I will attempt to separate it into genres, but know that there is often over-lap between genres.
(Aside: How do you determine between contemporary fiction and literary fiction? What about historical fiction – does it matter if it’s literary, too? Does the Outlander series count as historical fiction, or do I have to put it in fantasy because of the time travel element? What about women’s fiction? I get confused by these questions.)
Fiction:
Peace Like a River
A Patchwork Planet
Broken for You
At Home in Mitford
The Thirteenth Tale
Fieldwork
Levi’s Will
Straight Up
An Irish Country Doctor
River Rising
One True Thing
Summer of Light
Abide With Me
How to Be Good
Belong to Me
The School of Essential Ingredients
The Laws of Harmony
The Last Bridge
The Breakdown Lane
The Camel Bookmobile
Good Grief
The Myth of You and Me
Historical fiction:
A Thread of Grace
Year of Wonders
Ireland: A Novel
Trinity
Exodus
Homestead
The Things They Carried
I Capture the Castle
The Book Thief
The Children of Men
The Walking Drum
The Quiet American
Guernica
North River
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Leonardo’s Swans
The Passion of Artemisia
The Heretic’s Daughter
Burning Bright
Fantasy:
The Time Traveler’s Wife
Outlander
Lost in a Good Book
Neverwhere
Magical realism:
Snow in August
Classics:
Great Expectations
To Kill a Mockingbird
Persuasion
Kristin Lavransdatter
Anna Karenina
Jane Eyre
Short stories:
That Distant Land: Stories
Children’s fiction:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Tigerheart
Coraline
Inkheart
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
The Mysterious Benedict Society
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Baby Island
The Tale of Despereaux
Number the Stars
Bridge to Terabithia
Rules
Penny From Heaven
Science Fiction:
The Road
The Host
Mystery series:
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (First in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series)
Cover Her Face (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries, No. 1)
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Cordelia Gray Mysteries, No. 1)
Booked to Die (Cliff Janeway Novels)
A is for Alibi (The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries)
One for the Money (Stephanie Plum mysteries)
Graphic novels and memoirs:
The Complete Maus
The Complete Persepolis
American Widow
Blankets
YA fiction:
Graceling
The Hunger Games
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
If I Stay
The Devil’s Arithmetic
Pirates!
The Looking Glass Wars
Twilight
Gone
Memoirs:
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I’ve Learned
Notes From a Small Island
Imagined London: A Tour of the World’s Greatest Fictional City
The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World
The Glass Castle
A Circle of Quiet
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
The Woman Who Can’t Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science
History:
1776
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest
Non-fiction about reading and writing:
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
On Writing
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
How Reading Changed My Life
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
Poetry:
The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982
The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems
Songs of Innocence and Experience
The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle
The Radiation Sonnets: For My Love, in Sickness and in Health
What the Light Was Like: Poems
Wow, my head is spinning. There are so many incredible books on this list, it has to feel so good to see them all in print and knowing you’ve read them all. I loved your lists and have made a note to myself to look them up when I am in need of a certain genre! I’m sorry its over!
Sandy´s last blog ..Another Challenge Completed
Sandy – I had so much fun putting these lists together – I’m glad you enjoyed them!
You have some fabulous books on your list! I hesitate to do this…not sure if making my list would give me a feeling of accomplishment or just depress me because if would be so long (and impossible to read as it seems to lengthen daily)!
JoAnn – I updated the title to indicate that these are books I’ve already read and consider must-reads for others! My mistake – you weren’t the only one to be confused by what I meant. Sadly, my to-be-read list is miles and miles longer….
Wow, that’s a big list…but I haven’t looked at my tbr list on good reads lately…it could be just as long or longer….lol
Serena (Savvy Verse & Wit)´s last blog ..Guest Post: Jill Mansell, Author of Millie’s Fling
Serena – I was surprised at how many there were once it was all put together!
That’s the danger of blogging
When you think you got it all under control you find another author, another book talked about in different blogs and all of a sudden you find yourself with another ‘must-read’.
It’s funny but half of the books you listed are on my neverending ‘must-read’ list too.
lilly´s last blog ..2-in-1: Cell & From a Whisper to a Scream
Lilly – these are actually all books I’ve already read and consider must-reads for others. My list of to-reads is even longer!
[...] My ever-expanding list of must-reads ~ Literary Road Trip: Author Michael Harmon ~ Whatcha Watchin’? Wednesday: Scrubs, Season 8 ~ [...]
Fun lists. I’ve read some andmany of the others are on my wish list. I see only one Austen book, why did you choose Persuasion? I’ve only read two (S&S and P&P) but need to read at least one more for the Austen challenge.
stacybuckeye´s last blog ..Title Meme
Stacy – Persuasion is my favorite Austen. I loved P&P and S&S, too – but I think the writing is deeper in Persuasion. Just my opinion.
Just looking at that list makes me feel faint. Too… many… books…..
heidenkind´s last blog ..Oracles of Delphi Keep
Tasha – Sorry, don’t mean to put pressure on you!
I have really enjoyed this feature on your blog, Carrie. You’ve got an amazing list of books there, some I’ve read but many I haven’t but are on either my TBR pile or my wish list. Broken for You is one of my all-time favorites. At Home in Mitford is such a sweet book. I loved The Thirteenth Tale. Anna Karenina, Persuasion, To Kill and Mockingbird and Jane Eyre–all excellent and must reads, I agree.
Literary Feline´s last blog ..TGIF: Random Fun. Not so Bookish Thoughts. Well, Mostly Not.
Wendy – I read Broken for You because of your review!
As always I love your lists of favorites. The genre thing has me stumped. There are people who would categorize Outlander under romance. I think I’d put in HF because the historical aspects are well researched. But, really, I don’t know.
And that contemporary fiction vs. literary fiction has me stumped too.
And all the different mystery subgenres confuse me too.
Haven’t I been a big help?
Beth F´s last blog ..Review: Fishing Journals by Louis Gary Lamit
Beth – you have the same trouble with genres that I do!
Fieldwork is on my list of books to read. Love everything by Nick Hornby. Also think Anna Qundlen is fabulous. All your classics are fantastic. I cannot believe I STILL haven’t read The Glass Castle. It sits on my bookshelf. I will read it soon.
Amy S.´s last blog ..Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie: DVD Review
Amy – yes, you should definitely read Fieldwork and The Glass Castle – they are amazing.
It was so late last night that I didn’t even want to tackle the whole contemporary fiction versus literary fiction question. Now that I’m more fully awake, I’ll offer my two cents. From my personal perspective, I think the line is very blurry when it comes to separating the two out.
I tend to use the sort of/kind of subjective definitions that are already in existence. I think of literary fiction as focusing more on style and character–in depth. Contemporary or popular fiction is more likely to focus on plot and narrative. When it gets right down to it though, even with these definitions, I still get confused. I tend to lump them all together and call them “fiction”.
Historical fiction, I think, can fall into either/or or both categories: popular or literary fiction. It can be a category unto itself too, I imagine. I am not sure what a good cut off is for historical fiction. Fifty years ago and earlier?
Many books today seem to cross the genre lines. Even in crime fiction. Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories is an example. It has that literary fiction feel to it but it’s also a crime fiction novel. Michael Chabon is an author that is often used as an example as well who mixes his book types. Genre and book type labels are fluid and not as clear cut as perhaps they once were–or as the bookstores would want us to believe.
That’s a topic I could go on and on about, but I’ll stop here.
I was in the middle of writing my Sunday Salon post. I should get back to that, shouldn’t I?
Literary Feline´s last blog ..TGIF: Random Fun. Not so Bookish Thoughts. Well, Mostly Not.
LF – I agree – it makes things very confusing when shopping at bookstores – sometimes I think their way of categorizing books is just arbitrary and random. I’ve recommended some books to my sister – one was a mystery and one was YA – and she couldn’t find either of them under those labels.