The Book List
(or the 778 Best Books of All-Time)


You'll never need to seek out book recommendations again!  Here we present to you the 778 best books of all-time, as ranked by readers, visitors, friends, and the creator of the Blue Pyramid.  This compilation is the result of 46 individuals' lists of their 25 favorite books.  1 point is awarded for a 25th ranking, while 25 points for a 1st ranking.

We invite you to join the effort of perfecting this list by submitting your own ranked list of 25 best books to storey@bluepyramid.org.
(All genres welcome, no compilations, no series as one book.)

[List of Sumbitters]   [Storey Clayton's Top 25]   [Original Note for this List]   [Back to the Library]

(#) indicates first-place votes
*-book on the Book Quiz, which was based on an earlier version of this list.


Rank
Title Author
Points
1
To Kill a Mockingbird* (4) Harper Lee
246
2
Hamlet* William Shakespeare
222
3
1984* George Orwell
206
4
The Fellowship of the Ring* J.R.R. Tolkien
174
5
Lolita* (2) Vladimir Nabokov
170
6
The Return of the King* J.R.R. Tolkien
161
7
Catch-22* Joseph Heller
152
8
The Catcher in the Rye* J.D. Salinger
141
9
Ender's Game* (2) Orson Scott Card
139
10
Night* Elie Wiesel
125
11
The Hobbit* (2) J.R.R. Tolkien
121
12
The Bible (2) ?
115
The Great Gatsby* F. Scott Fitzgerald
115
14
A Prayer for Owen Meany* John Irving
114
15
Brave New World* (1) Aldous Huxley
111
16
The Handmaid's Tale* Margaret Atwood
107
17
One Hundred Years of Solitude* (1) Gabriel Garcia Marquez
99
18
I, Robot* Isaac Asimov
97
19
The Grapes of Wrath* (1) John Steinbeck
94
20
Dune* Frank Herbert
93
21
Love in the Time of Cholera* Gabriel Garcia Marquez
88
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
88
23
Stranger in a Strange Land* (2) Robert Heinlein
87
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* Douglas Adams
87
25
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe* C.S. Lewis
85
26
Siddhartha* Hermann Hesse
81
27
The Stand Stephen King
80
28
Ulysses* (2) James Joyce
77
29
Paradise Lost John Milton
72
30
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1) Robert Pirsig
71
Watership Down* (1) Richard Adams
71
32
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* Mark Twain
67
33
The Sound and the Fury* William Faulkner
65
34
Gone with the Wind (1) Margaret Mitchell
64
Roots* Alex Haley
64
36
The Giver* (1) Lois Lowry
63
The Two Towers* J.R.R. Tolkien
63
Great Expectations* Charles Dickens
63
39
Cat's Cradle* (1) Kurt Vonnegut
58
40
Cry, the Beloved Country* Alan Paton
57
Animal Farm* George Orwell
57
42
Macbeth William Shakespeare
56
43
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
55
44
A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L'Engle
54
45
The World According to Garp (1) John Irving
53
 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
53
47
Atlas Shrugged (1) Ayn Rand
52
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* Lewis Carroll
52
49
Black Hawk Down (1) Mark Bowden
50
King Lear William Shakespeare
50
A Theory of Justice* John Rawls
50
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
50
53
Fahrenheit 451* Ray Bradbury
49
54
Moby Dick* (1) Herman Melville
48
55
Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
47
Mrs. Dalloway* Virginia Woolf
47
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler Italo Calvino
47
The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury
47
Inherit the Wind* Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
47
60
The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
46
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* Ken Kesey
46
62
The Inferno Dante Alighieri
44
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare
44
64
Invisible Man* (1) Ralph Ellison
43
The Red Tent Anita Diamant
43
66
Death in Venice and Other Stories Thomas Mann
42
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone J.K. Rowling
42
Les Miserables* Victor Hugo
42
69
The Trial (1) Franz Kafka
41
Ada Vladimir Nabokov
41
Middlemarch George Elliot
41
Where the Sidewalk Ends Shel Silverstein
41
Godel, Escher, Bach* Douglas Hofstadter
41
Hocus Pocus Kurt Vonnegut
41
75
The Way Things Work David Macauly
40
Mother Night* Kurt Vonnegut
40
A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
40
Jurassic Park* Michael Crichton
40
79
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson
39
 Confessions* St. Augustine of Hippo
39
Thus Spoke Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche
39
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil John Berndt
39
David Copperfield* Charles Dickens
39
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
39
My Name is Asher Lev Chaim Potok
39
86
The Poisonwood Bible* Barbara Kingsolver
38
A People's History of the United States* Howard Zinn
38
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Robert C. O'Brien
38
89
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon
37
Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon
37
The Princess Bride William Goldman
37
Neuromancer William Gibson
37
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert Heinlein
37
94
Prufrock and Other Observations* T.S. Eliot
36
Run with the Horsemen Ferrol Sams
36
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
36
97
The Guns of August* Barbara Tuchman
35
Exodus Leon Uris
35
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More Roald Dahl
35
Anarchy, State and Utopia* Robert Nozick
35
101
Pale Fire* (1) Vladimir Nabokov
34
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
34
Winnie the Pooh A.A. Milne
34
104
A Light in the Attic Shel Silverstein
33
Cat's Eye Margaret Atwood
33
106
The Chosen Chaim Potok
32
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
32
All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot
32
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Tom Stoppard
32
The Lord of the Flies William Golding
32
111
The Hours Michael Cunningham
31
Traveling Mercies Anne Lamott
31
A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
31
114
The Iliad Homer
30
Now We are Six A.A. Milne
30
Starship Troopers Robert Heinlein
30
The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe
30
118
Anne of Green Gables* (1) L.M. Montgomery
29
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman Richard Feynman
29
The Whisper of the River Ferrol Sams
29
A Ring of Endless Light Madeleine L'Engle
29
The Things They Carried* Tim O'Brien
29
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
29
124
Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson
28
The Silver Chair C.S. Lewis
28
The Federalist Papers James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, & John Jay
28
The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka
28
The Winds of War Herman Wouk
28
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
28
130
The Mists of Avalon* Marion Zimmer Bradley
27
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson
27
A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett
27
133
Beach Music (1) Pat Conroy
26
Compassion Fatigue* Susan Moeller
26
Waiting for Godot* Samuel Beckett
26
And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
26
Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
26
The Last Battle C.S. Lewis
26
139
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1) Sherman Alexie
25
The Loom of Language (1) Frederick Bodmer
25
Cathedral (1) Raymond Carver
25
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1) Anne Tyler
25
Babar the King* (1) Jean De Brunhoff
25
"Master Harold"...and the Boys* (1) Athol Fugard
25
Creating Minds (1) Howard Gardner
25
Random House Dictionary of the American Language* (1) Jess Stein (ed.)
25
The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman (1) Abbie Hoffman
25
Tao Te Ching (1) Lao Tzu
25
Anna Karenina (1) Leo Tolstoy
25
Leaves of Grass (1) Walt Whitman
25
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1) Robert Burton
25
The Bloody Sun (1) Marion Zimmer Bradley
25
At Dawn We Slept (1) Gordon W. Prange
25
Naked Lunch (1) William S. Burroughs
25
Everything is Illuminated (1) Jonathan Safran Foer
25
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller
25
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Thomas Kuhn
25
158
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
24
The Urantia Book Urantia Foundation
24
Ravelstein Saul Bellow
24
Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke
24
The Foxfire Book Eliot Wigginton (ed.)
24
The Great American Novel Philip Roth
24
Surprised by Joy C.S. Lewis
24
V Thomas Pynchon
24
Reagan: A Life in Letters Ronald Reagan
24
The Awakening Kate Chopin
24
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William L. Shirer
24
The History of Love Nicole Krauss
24
The Godfather Mario Puzo
24
The Confusion Neal Stephenson
24
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Dr. Seuss
24
Franny and Zooey J.D. Salinger
24
174
Summer of My German Soldier Bette Greene
23
The 12 Chairs Ilya Ilf & Evgeni Petrov
23
Fathers and Crows William T. Vollman
23
A Separate Peace John Knowles
23
Endgame Samuel Beckett
23
Chuang Tsu Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English (trans.)
23
Ficciones Jorge Luis Borges
23
Six Easy Pieces Richard Feynman
23
The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Really Are Alan Watts
23
When We Were Very Young A.A. Milne
23
Love's Executioner Irvin D. Yalo
23
Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
23
The Secret History Donna Tartt
23
The Four Loves C.S. Lewis
23
Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela
23
Remembrance of Things Past Marcel Proust
23
Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian
23
The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman Laurence Sterne
23
The Valley of Adventure Enid Blyton
23
Burr Gore Vidal
23
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
23
American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis
23
John Adams David McCullough
23
Charlotte's Web E.B. White
23
The Tao of Pooh Benjamin Hoff
23
199
Dubliners James Joyce
22
Dicey's Song Cynthia Voight
22
Personal History Katharine Graham
22
King Matt the First Janusz Korczak
22
Duino Elegies Rainer Maria Rilke
22
Illuminatus! Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea
22
Purple America Rick Moody
22
Testament of Youth Vera Brittain
22
Tree In the Trail Holling Clancy Holling
22
The Cider House Rules John Irving
22
The Missing Piece Shel Silverstein
22
Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel Garcia Marquez
22
My Land, My People the Dalai Lama
22
Man on Superman George Bernard Shaw
22
Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy
22
The Stranger Beside Me Ann Rule
22
The Origin of Species Charles Darwin
22
My Life in Christ St. John of Kronstadt
22
Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner
22
The Man Without Qualities Robert Musil
22
Beowulf ?
22
It's a Magical World Bill Watterson
22
The Blessing of Pan Lord Dunsany
22
Island of the Blue Dolphins Scott O'Dell
22
The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein
22
Cunt Inga Muscio
22
The Joyous Season Patrick Dennis
22
The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery
22
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
22
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge
22
Henry V William Shakespeare
22
Narcissus and Goldmund Herman Hesse
22
231
Non-Violent Resistance: style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Satyagraha Mohandas Gandhi
21
A House Like a Lotus Madeleine L'Engle
21
The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde
21
The Winter of Our Discontent John Steinbeck
21
Fargo, Rock City Chuck Klosterman
21
The Wind Cannot Read Richard Mason
21
I Ching Richard John Lynn (trans.)
21
The Missing Piece Meets the Big O Shel Silverstein
21
Sorrows and Rejoicings Athol Fugard
21
Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt
21
The Iron Horse Henry B. Comstock
21
Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky
21
Rabbit Run John Updike
21
Sometimes a Great Notion Ken Kesey
21
A Widow for One Year John Irving
21
Words Under the Words Naomi Shihab Nye
21
Veil George C. Chesbro
21
Auntie Mame Patrick Dennis
21
Quicksilver Neal Stephenson
21
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
21
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
21
The Sunflower Simon Wiesenthal
21
A History of English Speaking Peoples Winston Churchill
21
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
21
Empire Falls Richard Russo
21
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
21
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
21
258
Tales of the Night Peter Hoeg
20
Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac
20
A View from Nowhere Thomas Nagel
20
Uncle Wiggily's Adventures Howard R. Garis
20
The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving
20
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Phillip K. Dick
20
The Reawakening Primo Levi
20
The Wounded Land Stephen R. Donaldson
20
Ishmael Daniel Quinn
20
The Search for Delicious Natalie Babbitt
20
Petersburg Andrei Bely
20
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest Mollie Katzen
20
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C.S. Lewis
20
The Runaway Jury John Grisham
20
Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris
20
A Short History of a Small Place T.R. Pearson
20
The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis
20
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
20
The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster
20
277
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair Pablo Neruda
19
Memory of Fire: style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Genesis Eduardo Galeano
19
Will You Please be Quiet, Please? Raymond Carver
19
Marjorie Morningstar Herman Wouk
19
Blackberry Subway Jam Robert Munsch & Michael Martchenko
19
Basic Facts About the United Nations UN Department of Public Information
19
The Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkien
19
Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl
19
The Conquest of America Tzvetan Todorov
19
Silverlock John Myers Myers
19
Lying Awake Mark Salzman
19
Locked in the Cabinet Robert Reich
19
The Spell of the Yukon Robert Service
19
Time Enough for Love Robert Heinlein
19
The Idiot Fyodor Dostoyevsky
19
Barrayar Lois McMaster Bujold
19
Till We Have Faces C.S. Lewis
19
The Gameplayers of Zan M. A. Foster
19
Et Nox Facta Est Victor Hugo
19
The Eyes of the Dragon Stephen King
19
A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry
19
A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin
19
Notes from the Underground Fyodor Dostoyevsky
19
The Republic Plato
19
Cheaper by the Dozen Frank & Ernestine Gilbreth
19
Story of My Life Helen Keller
19
The Railway Children E. Nesbit
19
The Color of Summer Reinaldo Arenas
18
304
Player of Games Iain M. Banks
18
Nicholas and Alexandra Robert K. Massie
18
Six Wars at a Time Howard Shaff & Audrey Karl Shaff
18
People of the Lie M. Scott Peck
18
The Winter's Tale William Shakespeare
18
Captain Horatio Hornblower Cecil Scott Forester
18
And I Don't Want to Live This Life Deborah Spungen
18
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
18
Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant
18
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Tom Robbins
18
Last Call Tim Powers
18
Earthly Powers Anthony Burgess
18
The Killer Angels Michael Shaara
18
The Color Purple Alice Walker
18
The Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
18
A Clash of Kings George R.R. Martin
18
Shogun James Clavell
18
322
Island Aldous Huxley
17
Lenin's Tomb David Remnick
17
The Pearl John Steinbeck
17
Mathematical Methods for Physicists George B. Arfken
17
Sybil Flora Rheta Schreiber
17
Trout Fishing in America Richard Brautigan
17
Invisible Cities Italo Calvino
17
Yertle the Turtle Dr. Seuss
17
Leading Minds Howard Gardner
17
Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco
17
It Can't Happen Here Sinclair Lewis
17
Cash Johnny Cash
17
Belinda Anne Rice
17
Getting to Yes Roger Fisher & Bill Ury
17
Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers
17
Peace Like a River Leif Enger
17
Le Morte D'Arthur Thomas Mallory
17
Easter, 1916 William Butler Yeats
17
The Scarlet Pimpernel Baroness Orczy Emmuska
17
A Storm of Swords George R.R. Martin
17
A Kiss for Little Bear Else Holmelund Minarik
17
Around the World in 80 Days Jules Verne
17
The Last Temptation of Christ Nikos Kazantzakis
17
Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut
17
Reasons and Persons Derek Parfit
17
347
Green Shadows, White Whale Ray Bradbury
16
The Runner Cynthia Voight
16
Lend Me Your Ears - Great Speeches In History William Saffire (ed.)
16
Fantastic Mr. Fox Roald Dahl
16
Cold Mountain Charles Frasier
16
White Noise Don DeLillo
16
Life and Death in Shanghai Nien Cheng
16
Andersonville MacKinlay Kantor
16
Weapons of Chess Bruce Pandolfini
16
Fear and Trembling Soren Kierkegaard
16
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman
16
Getting the Love You Want, Guide for Couples Harvelle Hendrix
16
Untouched by Human Hands Robert Sheckley
16
All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren
16
Fox in Sox Dr. Seuss
16
Colossus of Maroussi Henry Miller
16
Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
16
Dhalgren Samuel Delaney
16
Coryat's Crudities Thomas Coryate
16
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Brown
16
Captain Blood Rafael Sabatini
16
On the Road Jack Kerouac
16
QB VII Leon Uris
16
Mrs. Bridge Evan S. Connell
16
The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli
16
372
In the Lake of the Woods Tim O'Brien
15
Contact Carl Sagan
15
No Exit Jean-Paul Sartre
15
Harold and Maude Colin Higgins
15
Caucasia Danzy Senna
15
High Fidelity Nick Hornby
15
Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers
15
One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich Alexander Solzhenitsyn
15
The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell
15
What is Called Thinking Martin Heidegger
15
Read to Me: style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Raising Kids Who Love to Read Bernice Cullinan
15
Clarence Darrow for the Defense Irving Stone
15
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Audre Lorde
15
Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin
15
Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner
15
The Glass Bead Game Hermann Hesse
15
The Holy Sinner Thomas Mann
15
The Lords of Discipline Pat Conroy
15
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
15
Life Among the Savages Shirley Jackson
15
The Ugly American William J. Lederer & Eugene Burdick
15
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler E.L. Konigsburg
15
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
15
395
The Poetry of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson
14
Blow Up and Other Stories Julio Cortazar
14
High Tide in Tuscon Barbara Kingsolver
14
Stories Katherine Mansfield
14
Exploring Social Psychology David G. Myers
14
Vamps and Tramps Camille Paglia
14
Loosely Based* Storey Clayton
14
The Art of Electronics Paul Horowitz & Winfield Hill
14
Philosophical Investigations Ludwig Wittgenstein
14
Five Children and It E. Nesbit
14
Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana
14
Human Scale Development Manfred Max-Neef
14
The Art of War Sun Tzu
14
Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo Oscar Zeta Acosta
14
Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. LeGuin
14
The Demons Heimito von Doderer
14
Season of the Witch James Leo Herlihy
14
The Leopard Giuseppe di Lampedusa
14
The Petrified Forest Robert E. Sherwood
14
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera
14
Raising Demons Shirley Jackson
14
The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton
14
417
Jailbird Kurt Vonnegut
13
Year of the Griffen Diana Wynne Jones
13
All Too Human George Stephanopoulos
13
Songs of Innocence Songs of Experience William Blake
13
A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf
13
Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson
13
Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle
13
Kipling Stories and Poems Caroline Kipling (comp.)
13
The Gashleycrumb Tinies Edward Gorey
13
Tevye's Daughters Shalom Aleichem
13
Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke
13
Black Hawk, Grey Falcon Rebecca West
13
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Kurt Vonnegut
13
William's Doll Charlotte Zolotow
13
Steamboats and Modern Steam Launches Bill Durham
13
House of Stairs William Sleator
13
The Feynman Lectures on Physics Richard Feynman
13
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson
13
Democracy and Distrust John Hart Ely
13
Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley
13
American Gods Neil Gaiman
13
Sunk Without Trace Robert Birley
13
This Perfect Day Ira Levin
13
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
13
Sexing the Body Anne Fausto-Sterling
13
The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov
13
The Apology Plato
13
444
In the Penal Colony Franz Kafka
12
The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos
12
The Law Frederic Bastiat
12
Stoneware and Porcelain Daniel Rhodes
12
The New Encyclopaedia (1910) H.C. O'Neill (ed.)
12
First Sorrow Franz Kafka
12
The Westing Game Ellen Raskin
12
Job: style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  A Comedy of Justice Robert Heinlein
12
Chaos and Order: style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The Gap Into Madness Stephen R. Donaldson
12
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Judith Viorst
12
Experiments in Mass Communications Carl I. Hovland
12
Honeymoon in Purdah Alison Wearing
12
Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol
12
The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson
12
Prince Caspian C.S. Lewis
12
The Complaint;or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality Edward Young
12
Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M. Auel
12
Life of Pi Yann Martel
12
Hope Was Here Joan Bauer
12
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Dr. Seuss
12
Herland Charlotte Perkins-Gilman
12
The System of the World Neal Stephenson
12
Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis
12
The Shining Stephen King
12
Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes
12
469
Anne of Windy Poplars L.M. Montgomery
11
The Color of Water James McBride
11
All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy
11
A Welsh Classical Dictionary Peter C. Bartrum
11
Chaos James Gleick
11
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
11
The Dead Zone Stephen King
11
Knowing God J.I. Packer
11
A Bargain for Frances Russell Hoban
11
To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf
11
The Taste of Courage Desmond Flower & James Reeves
11
Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot Al Franken
11
Set This House in Order Matt Ruff
11
Another Roadside Attraction Tom Robbins
11
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoyevsky
11
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway
11
Molloy Samuel Beckett
11
Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen
11
The Dispossessed Ursula K. LeGuin
11
Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons Bill Watterson
11
Collected Poems William Dunbar
11
Ancient Evenings Norman Mailer
11
The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. DuBois
11
Revelations of Divine Love Julian of Norwich
11
Crossing to Safety Wallace Stegner
11
Diplomacy Henry Kissinger
11
Our Town Thornton Wilder
11
496
Death is a Lonely Business Ray Bradbury
10
The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe
10
Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoirs of a Dublin Woman Nuala O'Faolain
10
Cavedweller Dorothy Allison
10
Valis Phillip K. Dick
10
Stillwell and the American Experience in China Barbara W. Tuchman
10
A Grief Observed C.S. Lewis
10
Amazing Grace Jonathan Kozol
10
Just and Unjust Wars Michael Walzer
10
The Orestia Aeschylus
10
Cultural Politics of Everyday Life John Shotter
10
Fences August Wilson
10
Animal Dreams Barbara Kingsolver
10
The Big Friendly Giant Roald Dahl
10
The Tempest William Shakespeare
10
Grendel John Gardner
10
The Constitution of the United States of America Constitutional Convention of 1787 et al.
10
Metamorphoses Ovid
10
Screwjack Hunter S. Thompson
10
Gideon's Trumpet Anthony Lewis
10
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon
10
Julian Gore Vidal
10
My Century Gunter Grass
10
The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
10
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
10
Flatland Edwin A. Abbott
10
Flood Andrew Vachss
10
Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
10
Boy Roald Dahl
10
The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
10
The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon
10
Foundation and Empire Isaac Asimov
10
The Odyssey Homer
10
Illusions Richard Bach
10
530
The Caves of Steel Isaac Asimov
9
The Sneetches and Other Stories Dr. Seuss
9
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors Roddy Doyle
9
Othello William Shakespeare
9
The Closing of the American Mind Alan Bloom
9
Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
9
Railroads of Nevada David F. Myrick
9
Foundation Isaac Asimov
9
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Mildred D. Taylor
9
Farnham's Freehold Robert Heinlein
9
Web of the Romulans M.S. Murdock
9
Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain
9
House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski
9
The Curse of Lono Hunter S. Thompson
9
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
9
Revolt of the Cockroach People Oscar Zeta Acosta
9
To Your Scattered Bodies Go Philip Jose Farmer
9
Writing Down the Bones Natalie Goldberg
9
Yukon Ho! Bill Watterson
9
Essays Michel de Montaigne
9
Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch
9
The Kitchen God's Wife Amy Tan
9
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
9
Cousin Bette Honore de Balzac
9
The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner
9
In Cold Blood Truman Capote
9
What We Talk about When We Talk about Love Raymond Carver
9
557
Matilda Roald Dahl
8
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
8
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey
8
The Future and its Enemies Virigina Postrel
8
The Ice Storm Rick Moody
8
Summer's Lease John Mortimer
8
The Country Bunny DuBose Heyward
8
The Elements of Style William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White
8
Beggars in Spain Nancy Kress
8
This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald
8
The Sacred Fount Henry James
8
The Patchwork Girl of Oz L. Frank Baum
8
Mysterious Island Jules Verne
8
Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame Charles Bukowski
8
Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
8
Palm of the Hand Stories Yusanari Kawabata
8
The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry Walter Pater
8
Lucid Dreaming Stephen Laberge
8
The Crucible Arthur Miller
8
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths Ingri & Edgar D'Aulaire
8
Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak
8
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer
8
Whirlwind James Clavell
8
Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer
8
581
Borderliners Peter Hoeg
7
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
7
The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain
7
Kentucky Straight Chris Offutt
7
Griffin and Sabine Nick Bantock
7
Collected Poems Maya Angelou
7
A Long Way From Chicago Richard Peck
7
Airport Planning Charles Froesch & Walther Prokosch
7
The House of Blue Leaves John Guare
7
Wisdom Energy Lama Yeshe & Lama Zopa Rinpoche
7
Excession Iain M. Banks
7
When Bad Things Happen to Good People Harold Kushner
7
The Duchess of Malfi John Webster
7
Naked in Death J.D. Robb
7
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Mark Twain
7
Superfudge Judy Blume
7
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling
7
The Ticket that Exploded William S. Burroughs
7
Picasso at the Lapin Agile Steve Martin
7
The Hairy Ape Eugene O'Neill
7
The Horse and His Boy C.S. Lewis
7
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ?
7
Flags of Our Fathers James Bradley
7
The Sword of Shannara Terry Brooks
7
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
7
The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy
7
In Search of Excellence Tom Peters
7
Happenstance Carol Shields
7
The Plague Albert Camus
7
The Long Walk Stephen King
7
A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare
7
612
Welcome to the Monkey House Kurt Vonnegut
6
American Rhapsody Joe Eszterhas
6
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World Haruki Murakami
6
Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat
6
Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott
6
Unholy Spirits Gary North
6
Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville
6
Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault
6
Planet of the Blind Stephen Kuusisto
6
Secrets of the Great Pyramid Peter Tompkins
6
All the President's Men Bob Woodward & Carl Berstein
6
Cannery Row John Steinbeck
6
Native Son Richard Wright
6
Zen Buddhism D.T. Suzuki
6
The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe
6
The Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson
6
What God Wants to Know Bruce Larson
6
One for the Money Janet Evanovich
6
Earthman's Burden Poul Anderson
6
Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver
6
Phaedo Plato
6
The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough
6
The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger
6
Relativity: The Special and the General Theory Albert Einstein
6
Amerika Franz Kafka
6
Jitterbug Perfume Tom Robbins
6
The Allegory of Love C.S. Lewis
6
The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination Jacob Bronowski
6
Scoop Evelyn Waugh
6
Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow
6
642
Beware the Fish! Gordon Korman
5
An Unfortunate Woman Richard Brautigan
5
The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper
5
Death Be Not Proud John Gunther
5
The Memory Book Harry Lorayne & Jerry Lucas
5
Rules and Order (vol. 1 of Law, Legislation, and Liberty) Friedrich August von Hayek
5
When Rabbit Howls Truddi Chase
5
Hiroshima John Hersey
5
Blindness Jose Saramago
5
Player Piano Kurt Vonnegut
5
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Betty MacDonald
5
Vecindarios Excentricos Rosaria Ferre
5
Escape from Colditz P.R. Reid
5
The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux
5
The Theory and Practice of Hell Eugen Kogon
5
The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank
5
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise Peter Abelard & Betty Radice
5
Emily of New Moon L.M. Montgomery
5
The Good Rain Timothy Egan
5
The Background Saki
5
The Strange Career of Jim Crow C. Vann Woodward
5
The Fountainhead Ayn Rand
5
The Revenge of the Baby-Sat Bill Watterson
5
Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais
5
Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman
5
Battle Cry of Freedom James McPherson
5
American Pastoral Philip Roth
5
Possession A.S. Byatt
5
The Castle Franz Kafka
5
671
Billy Sunday and Other Poems Carl Sandburg
4
The Business of Fancydancing Sherman Alexie
4
Historia Regum Britanniae Geoffrey of Monmouth
4
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
4
The View From Saturday E.L. Konigsburg
4
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel Virginia Lee Burton
4
Beezus and Ramona Beverly Cleary
4
Johnny Got His Gun Dalton Trumbo
4
When Hell Was in Session Jeremiah Denton
4
Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like Jay Williams
4
The Reciprocating Aircraft Engine Robert Dunston
4
Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe
4
The Obnoxious Jerks Stephen Mane
4
Synchronicity Carl Jung
4
Tom Brown's School Days Thomas Hughes
4
Freakonomics Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
4
Drawing of the Dark Tim Powers
4
Mountain Interval Robert Frost
4
Scientific Progress Goes Boink Bill Watterson
4
Descent into Hell Charles Williams
4
What to Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Glenn Doman & David Melton
4
The Tin Drum Gunter Grass
4
Founding Brothers Joseph J. Ellis
4
The Irish Princess Amy J. Fetzer
4
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard
4
Eight Cousins Louisa May Alcott
4
Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller
4
Lysistrata Aristophanes
4
699
I Sing the Body Electric! Ray Bradbury
3
Looking Backward Edward Bellamy
3
Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson
3
The Outline of History H.G. Wells
3
San Manuel Bueno, Martir Miguel de Unamuno
3
The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X & Alex Haley
3
Anton Chekhov's Short Stories Anton Chekhov
3
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
3
The Death and Life of Superman Roger Stern
3
The City of Gold and Lead John Christopher
3
Daughter of Time Josephine Tey
3
Tales of Pirx the Pilot Stanislaw Lem
3
East of the Sun and West of the Moon Theodore & Kermit Roosevelt
3
Technology of Wine Making Maynard Amerine
3
The German Ideology Karl Marx
3
Ghost Girl Torey Hayden
3
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne
3
Lord Foul's Bane Stephen R. Donaldson
3
The Sleeping Lord David Jones
3
The Collector John Fowles
3
Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh
3
Delta of Venus Anais Nin
3
Godric Frederick Buechner
3
Valley of Decision Marcia Wallace
3
The Covenant James Michener
3
Half Magic Edward Eager
3
725
The Mouse That Roared Leonard Wibberly
2
Little Town on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder
2
The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler
2
The Valley of Horses Jean M. Auel
2
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
2
The Truly Disadvantaged William Julius Wilson
2
Conspiranoia Devon Jackson
2
A Primer of Freudian Psychology Calvin Hall
2
The Road to Mecca Athol Fugard
2
The Stranger Albert Camus
2
The Village of Stepanchikovo Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2
The Genealogy of Morals Friedrich Nietzsche
2
Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich
2
French Toast for Breakfast: Declaring Peace With Emotional Eating Mary Anne Cohen
2
Hatcher's Notebook Julian Hatcher
2
Like a Hole in the Head Jen Banbury
2
The Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud
2
Tropic of Capricorn Henry Miller
2
Skinny Legs and All Tom Robbins
2
The Road Less Traveled M. Scott Peck
2
Tough Guys Don't Dance Norman Mailer
2
Beneath the Wheel Hermann Hesse
2
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller
2
Watt Samuel Beckett
2
The Power and the Glory Graham Greene
2
Eragon Christopher Paolini
2
Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver
2
The Agony and the Ecstasy Irving Stone
2
The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell
2
Civility Stephen L. Carter
2
755
The Chamber John Grisham
1
The Brethren Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong
1
Pieces of a Song Diane di Prima
1
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There Lewis Carroll
1
Irish Pedigrees John O'Hart
1
Second Foundation Isaac Asimov
1
Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
1
The Fixer Bernard Malamud
1
Expecting Adam Martha Beck
1
Curtain Agatha Christie
1
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
1
Machinery's Handbook Erik Oberg (ed.)
1
Ain't Got Time to Bleed Jesse Ventura
1
The Crimson Petal and the White Michel Faber
1
Antigone Sophocles
1
The Razor's Edge Somerset Maughm
1
Lords and Ladies Terry Pratchett
1
Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth
1
The Zombie Survival Guide Max Brooks
1
The Hot Zone Michael Crichton
1
Walden Henry David Thoreau
1
Ragtime E.L. Doctorow
1
The Power of One Bryce Courtenay
1

Submitters:
Storey Clayton (Watership Down)
Jenny Lobasz (Beach Music)
Kevin Grinberg (Invisible Man)
Andy Bragin (Lolita)
David Gray (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven)
Stina Robison (Anne of Green Gables)
Beth Mandel (The Giver)
Luke Stevens (The Loom of Language)
Julian Sanchez (Pale Fire)
Andrew Sepielli (Cathedral)
Paulette Clayton (Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant)
Donald Clayton (Babar the King)
Alisha Creel (Cat's Cradle)
Soy Chen (One Hundred Years of Solitude)
Emily Garin ("Master Harold" ...and the Boys)
Arthur Traldi (The Grapes of Wrath)
Cris Markos (Creating Minds)
Nikki Hay (Ender's Game)
Russ Gooberman (Stranger in a Strange Land)
Peter T. Jackson (Ulysses)
Marge Garin (Random House Dictionary of the American Language)
Greg Wilson (The Hobbit)
Clea Emerson-Farley (The Hobbit)
Paul Garin III (Moby Dick)
Adam Zimmerman (The Autobiography of Abbie Hoffman)
Jordan Segal (Ender's Game)
Daisy Porter (Gone with the Wind)
David Bremner (Tao Te Ching)
Joanna Winslade (Brave New World)
Elizabeth Riggs (The Bible)
Kristen White (Ulysses)
Ramakrishnan Parthasarathy (The Trial)
Lauren Cusick (The World According to Garp)
David Frankhauser(Anna Karenina)
Mark Beardsley (Atlas Shrugged)
Jess Smith (Stranger in a Strange Land)
Virginia Lore (Leaves of Grass)
Tim Carroll (To Kill a Mockingbird)
John Knox (The Anatomy of Melancholy)
L. Becker (The Bloody Sun)
Vic Calleja (Lolita)
Bernie Ross III (At Dawn We Slept)
Kimberly Shannon (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Paula Meyer (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Michael Gaughan (Naked Lunch)
Stephanie Kinney (Everything is Illuminated)
Claire Wood (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Max Wilkins (The Bible)
Debbie Nance (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

Old Notes:
First, there was the
Bob Dylan List.  But more people read books than like Bob Dylan.  So before Jake & Freez start singing to make fun, I figured I'd add a Book List.  Almost everybody likes to read.  I want to know what you like to read.

When I had the oldschool booklist up, I'd periodically get e-mails from angry wanderers saying that my list was childish, absurd, & how dare I call them the "best books of all-time"?  Ought I not just say "favorite" or some equally mitigating word?  I didn't think so, but they did.  Now they have a chance to rebut my list.  Or ideally just throw in their favorites.

I encourage everyone (especially my friends, but all visitors are of course welcome) to submit to this list.  Here's the submission rules:
1.  All genres welcome.  No distinction here between fiction or non, poetry or prose, or any other such silliness.
2.  Compilations strongly discouraged.  Just as a greatest-hits album doesn't really count in an all-time best albums list, so should the Complete Works of William Shakespeare not compete with other single volumes.  Try to pick your favorite Shakespeare plays (or whatever the individual volumes may be) & rank them head-to-head with other things.
3.  NO series (as one entry).  I know the old list had series combos.  I was wrong.  I don't care if Tolkien wanted the Lord of the Rings series published as one volume.  It wasn't.  Deal.
4. All lists should be a ranked list of 25 books.  No others shall be accepted.

A couple notes on recent changes, circa December 2004:
1.  The Bible is now being considered by the List as one book. 
Previous submissions of separate books of The Bible have been incorporated into entries as The Bible.
2.  This is not the version of the List that the Book Quiz was based on in February 2004.  That list was current as of the first 25 submitters, with 468 total books.


That should be it.  One list per customer, obviously.  Yeah, so start sending 'em!  (storey@bluepyramid.org)