Greater Books

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Book Depository, Best Books Ever [2012]

102 entries: 96 monographical, six otherwise

Ranked

This list offered by the Book Depository, the British online book seller owned by an American online book seller, has been dated based upon the most-recent book in the list; the article itself is undated and no longer available except via the Internet Archive. Whoever made this list also created an alternate list based on votes from users, entitled Your Best Books Ever. We could include that list only as an extension of the original, since by itself it does not meet our criteria. For now, it is put aside. In neither case does the article provide any indication of the persons involved or when and how they made their choices.

  1. Gabriel García Márquez

  2. Cien Anõs de Soledad_18
    One Hundred Years of Solitude
    1967; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Gregory Rabassa's English translation—Spanish

    *Ward* *Van Doren* *Good* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*

  3. F Scott Fitzgerald

  4. Tender Is the Night_6
    originally published serially Jan.-Apr. 1934 in Scribner's Magazine—English
    *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*

  5. Emily Brontë

  6. Wuthering Heights_17
    originally published 1847 under the pseudonym, Ellis Bell; revised 1850—English
    *Powys* *Hundred* *France* *Zulli* *Ward* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *Norway* *Guardian* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*

  7. Jane Austen

  8. Pride and Prejudice_30
    originally anonymously published 1813—English
    *Eliot* *Powys* *Hundred* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Reynolds* *World* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*

  9. Charles Dickens

  10. Our Mutual Friend_6
    originally published serially May 1864-Nov. 1865—English
    *Classics* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Deposit*

  11. Truman Capote

  12. Breakfast at Tiffany's _2
    originally published 1958 in Esquire—English
    *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  13. Roald Dahl

  14. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More_1
    1977—English
    *Deposit*

  15. Gustave Flaubert

  16. Madame Bovary_29
    originally published serially Oct. 1856-Dec. 1856 in La Revue de Paris; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Frances Steegmuller's English translation—French
    *Classics* *Durant* *Hundred* *France* *Zulli* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*

  17. Oscar Wilde

  18. The Picture of Dorian Grey_5
    originally published Jul. 1890 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine; revised and expanded 1891; alternate earlier version published 2011—English
    *Ward* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  19. Homer

  20. Iliad_33
    ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B.C; Cowan and Guinness ("Trinity") specifiy Richard Lattimore's English translation; Mallison ("Smart") notes Derek Jacobi's modern aural version—Greek
    *Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Classics* *France* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *O'Hear* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *World* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*

  21. Leo Tolstoy

  22. Voskresenie_1
    Resurrection
    1899—Russian

    *Deposit*

  23. Joseph Heller

  24. Catch-22_10
    1961—English
    *List* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Deposit*

  25. Ernest Hemingway

  26. The Sun Also Rises_7
    1926—English
    *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*

  27. Erich Maria Remarque

  28. Im Westen Nichts Neues_6
    All Quiet on the Western Front
    originally published Dec. 1928 in Vossische Zeitung—German

    *Hundred* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Deposit*

  29. Miguel de Cervantes

  30. El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha_37
    Don Quixote
    originally published in two volumes, 1605 and 1615; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Edith Grossman's English translation—Spanish

    *Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Powys* *Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *O'Hear* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Taylor* *Reynolds* *World* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*

  31. George Orwell

  32. Homage to Catalonia_2
    1938—English
    *Kanigel* *Deposit*

    Ursula K Le Guin
  33. A Wizard of Earthsea_2

  34. 1968—English
    *Harvard* *Deposit*

  35. The Tombs of Atuan_1

  36. 1971—English
    *Deposit*

  37. The Farthest Shore_1

  38. 1972—English
    *Deposit*

  39. Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea_1

  40. 1990—English
    *Deposit*

  41. Kurt Vonnegut
    Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death_3
    1969—English
    *Recommended* *Zane* *Deposit*

    • Philip Pullman

    Grimm Tales: For Young and Old_1
    2012; U S version entitled, Fairy Tales From the Brothers Grimm; new versions of the German-language original stories—English
    *Deposit*

    Charles Perrault
    • The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault_1

  42. 1977; translations by Angela Carter; includes nearly all of Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé, 1867—French
    *Deposit*

  43. Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé_1

  44. Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oye
    1867—French

    *Deposit*

  45. Martin Amis

  46. Money_1
    1984—English
    *Deposit*

  47. P G Wodehouse

  48. Carry On, Jeeves_1
    1925—English
    *Deposit*

  49. Mary Shelley

  50. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus_11
    originally anonymously published 1818—English
    *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Dirda* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*

  51. Ray Bradbury

  52. Fahrenheit 451_2
    published in part, Feb. 1951, as 'The Fireman' in Galaxy Science Fiction; in its entirety, 1953—English
    *Recommended* *Deposit*

  53. John Steinbeck

  54. The Grapes of Wrath_11
    1939—English
    *Hundred* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  55. Ann Patchett

  56. Bel Canto_1
    2001—English
    *Deposit*

  57. Stephen King

  58. It_1
    1986—English
    *Deposit*

  59. George Eliot

  60. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life _22
    originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872—English
    *Baldwin* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*

  61. Murakami Haruki

  62. Nejimaki-Dori Kuronikuru_3
    The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
    originally published in three volumes, 1994-5—Japanese

    *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  63. Michael Ondaatje

  64. The English Patient_1
    1992—English
    *Deposit*

  65. Markus Zusak

  66. The Book Thief_1
    2005—English
    *Deposit*

  67. Émile Zola

  68. Thérèse Raquin_2
    originally published serially 1867 in L'Artiste—French
    *Ward* *Deposit*

  69. Norman Mailer

  70. The Naked and the Dead_3
    1948—English
    *Learning* *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  71. Angela Carter
    The Magic Toyshop_1
    1967—English
    *Deposit*

    • Philip Pullman

  72. Northern Lights_1
    1995; U S title, The Golden Compass; first of three volumes of His Dark Materials—English
    *Deposit*

  73. Thomas Hardy

  74. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented_14
    published in part serially Jul.-Dec. 1891 in the Graphic—English
    *Powys* *Hundred* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Newman* *Deposit*

  75. Daphne du Maurier

  76. Rebecca_5
    1938—English
    *Recommended* *Dirda* *Guardian* *Telegraph* *Deposit*

  77. J D Salinger

  78. Franny and Zooey_3
    1961; 'Franny' originally published Jan. 1955 in the New Yorker; 'Zooey' originally published May 1957 in the New Yorker—English
    *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  79. Georges Bataille

  80. L'Histoire d'Oeil_1
    Story of the Eye
    originally published 1928 under the pseudonym, Lord Auch; revised 1940—French

    *Deposit*

  81. Louis-Ferdinand Céline

  82. Voyage au Bout de la Nuit_4
    Journey to the End of Night
    1932—French

    *Bloom* *Norway* *Dirda* *Deposit*

    Lewis Carroll
  83. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_17

  84. 1865—English
    *Powys* *Invitation* *France* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  85. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There_10

  86. 1871—English
    *Powys* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  87. Vikram Seth

  88. A Suitable Boy_2
    1993—English
    *Guardian* *Deposit*

  89. Salman Rushdie

  90. Midnight's Children_7
    1981—English
    *Bloom* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Harvard* *Deposit*

  91. Vladimir Nabokov

  92. Lolita_11
    1955—English
    *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  93. Donna Tartt

  94. The Secret History_2
    1992—English
    *Guardian* *Deposit*

  95. Kazuo Ishiguro

  96. The Remains of the Day_4
    1989—English
    *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit*

  97. Joseph Conrad

  98. Heart of Darkness_16
    originally published serially Feb.-Apr. 1899 in Blackwood's—English
    *Magill* *Adler* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Newman* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*

  99. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

  100. Le Petit Prince_4
    1943—French
    *Van Doren* *Kanigel* *Guardian* *Deposit*

  101. John Kennedy Toole

  102. A Confederacy of Dunces_2
    written early 1960's; published 1980—English
    *Guardian* *Deposit*

  103. Victor Hugo

  104. Les Misérables_18
    1862—French
    *Baldwin* *Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Trinity* *Guardian* *Harvard* *World* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*

  105. Honoré de Balzac

  106. Illusions Perdues_4
    Lost Illusions
    1837-43—French

    *Powys* *Classics* *Deposit* *Newman*

  107. Stendhal

  108. Le Rouge et le Noir, Chronique du XIXe Siècle_18
    The Red and the Black
    1830—French

    *Powys* *Classics* *France* *Rexroth* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*

  109. Fyodor Dostoevsky
    Idiot_11
    originally published serially 1868-9 in Rússkij Véstnik—Russian
    *Powys* *Classics* *France* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Norway* *Deposit* *Newman*

    • Anton Chekhov

  110. Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov_1
    2000—Russian
    *Deposit*

  111. Plato

  112. Politeia_24
    The Republic
    early Fourth Century B.C—Greek

    *Classics* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Reynolds* *World* *Deposit* *Educated*

  113. Henry David Thoreau

  114. Walden; or, Life in the Woods_20
    1854—English
    *Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Campbell* *Great* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*

  115. Albert Camus

  116. L'Étranger_14
    The Stranger
    1942—French

    *Ward* *Van Doren* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Zane* *Harvard* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*

  117. James Joyce

  118. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_14
    originally published serially Feb. 1914-Sep. 1915, in the Egoist—English
    *Classics* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman*

  119. Sigmund Freud

  120. Das Unbewusste_2
    The Unconscious
    1915—German

    *Adler* *Deposit*

  121. Karl Marx

  122. Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie_1
    written ca. 1858; published 1939—German
    *Deposit*

  123. Niccolò Machiavelli

  124. Il Principe_29
    The Prince
    1532—Italian

    *Eliot* *Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Zulli* *Read* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *Kanigel* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *World* *Deposit* *Educated*

  125. Herman Melville

  126. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale_26
    1851—English
    *Classics* *Hundred* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Guardian* *Zane* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Harvard* *Newman* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*

  127. Sūnzǐ (Sun-tzu)

  128. Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ_4
    The Art of War
    written ca. Fifth-Third centuries B C—Chinese

    *Learning* *Fadiman* *Great* *Deposit*

  129. John Green
    The Fault in Our Stars_1
    2012—English
    *Deposit*

    • Carl Jung; Joseph L Henderson; Marie-Louise von Franz; Aniela Jaffé; Jolande Jacobi

  130. Man and His Symbols_2
    1964—English
    *Great* *Deposit*

  131. Voltaire

  132. Candide, ou L'Optimisme_23
    1759; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Tobias Smollett's English translation—French
    *Powys* *Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Great* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*

  133. Charles Darwin

  134. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life_23
    1859—English
    *Lubbock* *Eliot* *Classics* *Hundred* *Downs* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Learning* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *SeymourSmith* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Reynolds* *Deposit* *Graphic* *Educated*

  135. Robert Caro
    The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power_2
    1982—English
    *Smart* *Deposit*

    • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  136. Faust. Der Tragödie Erster Teil_3
    first of two volumes of Faust; published in part, 1790; in its entirey, 1808; revised 1829; second volume, Faust. Der Tragödie Zweiter Teil, 1832
    *Eliot* *Foundation* *Deposit*

  137. Ken Kesey

  138. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_5
    1962—English
    *Learning* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Deposit* *Graphic*

  139. Toni Morrison

  140. Beloved_9
    1987—English
    *Recommended* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Telegraph* *Zane* *Harvard* *Deposit*

  141. John Irving

  142. A Prayer for Owen Meaney_3
    1989—English
    *Guardian* *Harvard* *Deposit*

  143. James Baldwin

  144. Another Country_1
    1962—English
    *Deposit*

  145. Maya Angelou

  146. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_4
    1969—English
    *Campbell* *Great* *Deposit* *Educated*

  147. Jaroslav Hasek

  148. Osudy Dobrého Vojáka Švejka za Svetové Války_4
    The Good Soldier Švejk
    1923—Czech

    *Ward* *Fadiman* *Dirda* *Deposit*

  149. Franz Kafka

  150. Die Verwandlung_14
    The Metamorphosis
    originally published 1915 in Die Weißen Blätter; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Stanley Corngold's English translation—German

    *Ward* *Van Doren* *Adler* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *Norway* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*

  151. Samuel Beckett

  152. Watt_3
    published in part, 1950, in Envoy; in its entirety, 1953—English
    *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  153. Jack London

  154. The Call of the Wild_3
    originally published serially 1903 in the Saturday Evening Post—English
    *Recommended* *Campbell* *Deposit*

  155. Baruch Spinoza

  156. Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata_15
    Ethics
    1677—Latin

    *Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Recommended* *SeymourSmith* *Dirda* *Deposit*

  157. Thomas Hobbes

  158. Leviathan or, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil_16
    1651—English
    *Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *Downs* *Read* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Great* *Telegraph* *Deposit*

  159. Daniel Defoe

  160. The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner_21
    originally anonymously published 1719—English
    *Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Dirda* *Great* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*

  161. Robert Graves

  162. I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B C, Murdered and Deified A D 54_5
    1934—English
    *Fadiman* *Zane* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Deposit*

  163. Philip Roth

  164. Portnoy's Complaint_3
    1969—English
    *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  165. Raymond Chandler

  166. The Long Goodbye_2
    1953—English
    *Zane* *Deposit*

  167. William Styron

  168. Sophie's Choice_2
    1979—English
    *Recommended* *Deposit*

  169. Christopher Isherwood

  170. Goodbye to Berlin_4
    1939—English
    *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  171. Art Spiegelman

  172. Maus_1
    originally published serially 1980-91 in Raw; published in book form in two volumes: Maus: A Survivor's Tale, 1986; and And Here My Troubles Began, 1991;—English
    *Deposit*

  173. Rachel Carson

  174. Silent Spring_8
    originally published Jun. 1962 in the New Yorker—English
    *Downs* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Deposit* *Educated*

  175. Robert Hughes

  176. The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change_1
    1980; book accompanying television series of the same name—English
    *Deposit*

  177. James Agee

  178. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men_6
    1941; photography by Walker Evans—English
    *Bloom* *Recommended* *Utne* *Dirda* *Smart* *Deposit*

  179. Edward Said

  180. Orientalism_1
    1978—English
    *Deposit*

  181. Hannah Arendt

  182. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil_1
    originally published 1963 in the New Yorker; expanded 1965—English
    *Deposit*

  183. John Kenneth Galbraith

  184. The Affluent Society_1
    1958—English
    *Deposit*

  185. Barbara W Tuchman

  186. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century_2
    1978—English
    *Deposit* *Educated*

  187. Rebecca West

  188. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia_2
    1941—English
    *Fadiman* *Deposit*

  189. Virginia Woolf

  190. A Room of One's Own_4
    1929—English
    *Kanigel* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman*

  191. Anne Frank

  192. Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 - 1 Augustus 1944_4
    The Diary of a Young Girl
    1947—Dutch

    *Recommended* *Campbell* *Harvard* *Deposit*