The Great Books Project

This project stems from a desire to continue reading great books throughout my life. My interest began (and remains) primarily in fiction, but the project has grown in many wonderful directions. The foundation of the project comes from The New Lifetime Reading Plan.

I have also color-coded the books I have read once (or more than once) and given each a hugely arbitrary rating. The ratings are based on the pleasure I felt in reading the book, what the book aimed to achieve, and how fully the book reached its potential. Thus High Fidelity rates slightly higher than Things Fall Apart because I enjoyed it more and though its ambitions were limited, it met them. I am not making a claim that it is a "better" book.

     
Fiction
 
Pre-19th Century
 
Bunyan, John Pilgrim's Progress
Cervantes, Miguel De Don Quixote
Choderlos de Laclos, Pierre Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe
Defoe, Daniel Moll Flanders
Fielding, Henry Tom Jones
Rabelais, Francois Gargantua and Pantagruel
Shikibu, Murasaki The Tale of Genji
Swift, Jonathan Gulliver's Travels
Unknown The Adventures of Amir Hamza
Unknown The Arabian Nights
Voltaire Candide
 
19th Century
 
Alcott, Louisa May Little Women
Andersen, Hans Christian Fairy Tales
Austen, Jane Emma
Austen, Jane Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane Northanger Abbey
Austen, Jane Persuasion
Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane Sense and Sensibility
Balzac, Honore de Cousin Bette
Balzac, Honore de Eugenie Grandet
Balzac, Honore de Pere Goriot
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Bronte, Charlotte Villette
Bronte, Emily Wuthering Heights
Carroll, Lewis Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Carroll, Lewis Through the Looking Glass
Chopin, Kate The Awakening
Collins, Wilkie The Moonstone
Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness
Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage
Dickens, Charles Barnaby Rudge
Dickens, Charles Bleak House
Dickens, Charles David Copperfield
Dickens, Charles Dombey and Son
Dickens, Charles Great Expectations
Dickens, Charles Hard Times
Dickens, Charles Little Dorrit
Dickens, Charles Martin Chuzzlewit
Dickens, Charles Nicholas Nickleby
Dickens, Charles The Old Curiosity Shop
Dickens, Charles Oliver Twist
Dickens, Charles Our Mutual Friend
Dickens, Charles The Pickwick Papers
Dickens, Charles A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoevsky, Fyodor The Brothers Karamazov
Dostoevsky, Fyodor Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky, Fyodor Demons
Dostoevsky, Fyodor The Idiot
Dostoevsky, Fyodor Notes from Underground
Doyle, Arthur Conan The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Dumas, Alexandre The Count of Monte Cristo
Eliot, George Adam Bede
Eliot, George Middlemarch
Eliot, George The Mill on the Floss
Eliot, George Silas Marner
Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary
Gaskell, Elizabeth Mary Barton
Gogol, Nikolai Dead Souls
Hardy, Thomas Far From the Madding Crowd
Hardy, Thomas Jude the Obscure
Hardy, Thomas The Mayor of Casterbridge
Hardy, Thomas The Return of the Native
Hardy, Thomas Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Blithedale Romance
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The House of the Seven Gables
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Scarlet Letter
Hogg, James Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Hugo, Victor Les Miserables
Lermontov, Mikhail Hero of Our Time
Melville, Herman Billy Budd
Melville, Herman Moby-Dick
Melville, Herman The Piazza Tales
Poe, Edgar Allan Complete Tales
Scott, Walter Ivanhoe
Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
Stendhal The Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal The Red and the Black
Stevenson, Robert Louis Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island
Stoker, Bram Dracula
Thackeray, William Vanity Fair
Tolstoy, Leo Anna Karenina
Tolstoy, Leo War and Peace
Trollope, Anthony The Eustace Diamonds
Trollope, Anthony The Last Chronicle of Barset
Trollope, Anthony The Warden
Trollope, Anthony The Way We Live Now
Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Twain, Mark The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
 
20th Century
 
Abbey, Edward The Monkey Wrench Gang
Achebe, Chinua Anthills of the Savannah
Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart
Adams, Richard Watership Down
Agee, James A Death in the Family
Agnon, S.Y. Only Yesterday
Allende, Isabel Eva Luna
Allende, Isabel The House of the Spirits
Allende, Isabel The Stories of Eva Luna
Anderson, Sherwood Winesburg, Ohio
Appelfeld, Aharon Badenheim 1939
Appelfeld, Aharon The Immortal Bartfuss
Atwood, Margaret Alias Grace
Atwood, Margaret The Handmaid's Tale
Auchincloss, Louis The Rector of Justin
Auster, Paul Moon Palace
Bahr, Howard The Black Flower
Baldwin, James Go Tell It on the Mountain
Banks, Russell Affliction
Banks, Russell Cloudsplitter
Banks, Russell The Sweet Hereafter
Banville, John The Book of Evidence
Barker, Pat The Eye in the Door
Barker, Pat The Ghost Road
Barker, Pat Regeneration
Barnes, Julian Flaubert's Parrot
Barnes, Julian A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
Bassani, Giorgio The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Bellow, Saul The Adventures of Augie March
Bellow, Saul Henderson the Rain King
Bellow, Saul Herzog
Bellow, Saul Humboldt's Gift
Bellow, Saul Mr. Sammler's Planet
Bellow, Saul Seize the Day
Bernieres, Louis de Corelli's Mandolin
Bolano, Roberto Amulet
Bolano, Roberto Nazi Literature in the Americas
Bolano, Roberto The Savage Detectives
Borges, Jorge Luis Collected Fictions
Borges, Jorge Luis Dreamtigers
Borges, Jorge Luis Labyrinths
Bowen, Elizabeth The Death of the Heart
Brown, Larry Father and Son
Buck, Pearl The Good Earth
Butler, Samuel The Way of All Flesh
Byatt, A.S. Possession
Calvino, Italo If on a winter's night a traveler
Camus, Albert Exile and the Kingdom
Camus, Albert The Fall
Camus, Albert The Plague
Camus, Albert The Stranger
Carey, Peter Bliss
Carey, Peter Illywhacker
Carey, Peter Oscar and Lucinda
Carver, Raymond Where I'm Calling From
Cather, Willa Death Comes for the Archbishop
Cather, Willa A Lost Lady
Cather, Willa Lucy Gayheart
Cather, Willa My Antonia
Cather, Willa O Pioneers!
Cather, Willa One of Ours
Cather, Willa The Professor's House
Cather, Willa Shadows on the Rock
Cather, Willa The Song of the Lark
Chabon, Michael A Model World
Chabon, Michael The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Chabon, Michael Werewolves in Their Youth
Chabon, Michael Wonder Boys
Coelho, Paulo The Alchemist
Coetzee, J.M. Disgrace
Coetzee, J.M. Life & Times of Michael K
Conrad, Joseph Lord Jim
Conrad, Joseph Nostromo
Conrad, Joseph The Secret Agent
Conrad, Joseph Under Western Eyes
Crace, Jim Gift Of Stones
Cunningham, Michael The Hours
DeLillo, Don Libra
DeLillo, Don Underworld
DeLillo, Don White Noise
Diaz, Junot Drown
Dickey, James Deliverance
Doctorow, E.L. Ragtime
Doyle, Roddy Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Dreiser, Theodore An American Tragedy
Dreiser, Theodore Sister Carrie
Ellison, Ralph Invisible Man
Faulkner, William As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William Intruder in the Dust
Faulkner, William The Reivers
Faulkner, William The Sound and the Fury
Faulkner, William The Unvanquished
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby
Fitzgerald, F. Scott Tender is the Night
Fitzgerald, F. Scott This Side of Paradise
Ford, Richard The Sportswriter
Forster, E.M. Howard's End
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India
Forster, E.M. A Room With a View
Forster, E.M. Where Angels Fear to Tread
Frazier, Charles Cold Mountain
Gaines, Ernest A Lesson Before Dying
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel Love in the Time of Cholera
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel Of Love and Other Demons
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel One Hundred Years of Solitude
Golden, Arthur Memoira of a Geisha
Golding, William Lord of the Flies
Grass, Gunther The Tin Drum
Graves, Robert Claudius the God
Graves, Robert I, Claudius
Greene, Graham The End of the Affair
Greene, Graham The Heart of the Matter
Greene, Graham The Power and the Glory
Greene, Graham The Quiet American
Grossman, David The Smile of the Lamb
Guterson, David Snow Falling on Cedars
Hammett, Dashiell Woman in the Dark
Hansen, Ron Atticus
Haruf, Kent Plainsong
Haruf, Kent The Tie That Binds
Heinemann, Larry Paco's Story
Heller, Joseph Catch 22
Heller, Joseph God Knows
Hemingway, Ernest Complete Short Stories
Hemingway, Ernest A Farewell To Arms
Hemingway, Ernest For Whom the Bell Tolls
Hemingway, Ernest The Old Man and the Sea
Hemingway, Ernest The Sun Also Rises
Hesse, Hermann The Glass Bead Game
Hesse, Hermann Narcissus and Goldmund
Hesse, Hermann Siddhartha
Hesse, Hermann Steppenwolf
Hijuelos, Oscar The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Hornby, Nick About a Boy
Hornby, Nick High Fidelity
Hulme, Keri The Bone People
Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Irving, John The Cider House Rules
Irving, John A Prayer for Owen Meany
Irving, John The World According to Garp
Ishiguro, Kazuo The Remains of the Day
Ishiguro, Kazuo The Unconsoled
James, Henry The Ambassadors
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer Heat and Dust
Jin, Ha Waiting
Johnson, Charles Middle Passage
Jones, James From Here to Eternity
Jones, James The Thin Red Line
Joyce, James A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Joyce, James Ulysses
Kadare, Ismail The Palace of Dreams
Kafka, Franz The Castle
Kafka, Franz The Complete Stories
Kafka, Franz The Trial
Kawabata, Yasunari Beauty and Sadness
Kawabata, Yasunari The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories
Kawabata, Yasunari First Snow on Fuji
Kawabata, Yasunari House of the Sleeping Beauties
Kawabata, Yasunari The Lake
Kawabata, Yasunari The Master of Go
Kawabata, Yasunari The Old Capital
Kawabata, Yasunari Palm-of-the-Hand Stories
Kawabata, Yasunari Snow Country
Kawabata, Yasunari The Sound of the Mountain
Kawabata, Yasunari Thousand Cranes
Kazantzakis, Nikos The Last Temptation of Christ
Kelman, James How Late It Was, How Late
Kennedy Toole, John A Confederacy of Dunces
Kerouac, Jack Dharma Bums
Kerouac, Jack On the Road
Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Khoury, Elias Gate of the Sun
Knowles, John A Separate Peace
Koestler, Arthur Darkness at Noon
Kundera, Milan Immortality
Kundera, Milan The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Lagerkvist, Par Barabbas
Lahiri, Jhumpa Interpreter of Maladies
Lawrence, D.H. The Rainbow
Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers
Lawrence, D.H. Women in Love
Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
Lethem, Jonathan Motherless Brooklyn
Lewis, Sinclair Babbitt
Lewis, Sinclair Main Street
Lively, Penelope Moon Tiger
Mahfouz, Naguib Children of the Alley
Mahfouz, Naguib Palace of Desire
Mahfouz, Naguib Palace Walk
Mahfouz, Naguib Sugar Street
Mailer, Norman The Executioner's Song
Mailer, Norman The Naked and the Dead
Makine, Andrei Once Upon the River Love
Malamud, Bernard The Assistant
Malamud, Bernard The Fixer
Mann, Thomas Buddenbrooks
Mann, Thomas Death in Venice
Mann, Thomas Doctor Faustus
Mann, Thomas Joseph and His Brothers
Mann, Thomas The Magic Mountain
March, William Company K
McCarthy, Cormac All the Pretty Horses
McCarthy, Cormac Blood Meridian
McCarthy, Cormac Child of God
McCarthy, Cormac Cities of the Plain
McCarthy, Cormac The Crossing
McCarthy, Cormac Suttree
McCullers, Carson The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
McDermott, Alice Charming Billy
McEwan, Ian Amsterdam
McEwan, Ian Black Dogs
McEwan, Ian The Cement Garden
McEwan, Ian The Child in Time
McEwan, Ian Enduring Love
McEwan, Ian The Innocent
McFarland, Dennis The Music Room
McMurtry, Larry The Last Picture Show
McMurtry, Larry Lonesome Dove
Miller, Henry Tropic of Cancer
Mishima, Yukio Confessions of a Mask
Mishima, Yukio The Decay of the Angel
Mishima, Yukio Runaway Horses
Mishima, Yukio The Sound of Waves
Mishima, Yukio Spring Snow
Mishima, Yukio The Temple of Dawn
Mishima, Yukio The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Mistry, Rohinton A Fine Balance
Moody, Rick The Ice Storm
Moore, Susanna The Whiteness of Bones
Morrison, Toni Beloved
Morrison, Toni Song of Solomon
Nabokov, Vladimir Lolita
Nabokov, Vladimir Pale Fire
Nabokov, Vladimir Pnin
Naipaul, V.S. A Bend in the River
Naipaul, V.S. A House for Mr. Biswas
Narayan, R.K. The Bachelor of Arts
Narayan, R.K. The Dark Room
Narayan, R.K. The English Teacher
Narayan, R.K. The Financial Expert
Narayan, R.K. Mr. Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi
Narayan, R.K. Swami and Friends
Narayan, R.K. The Vendor of Sweets
Narayan, R.K. Waiting for Mahatma