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.
- Gabriel García Márquez
Cien Anõs de Soledad_18
One Hundred Years of Solitude
1967; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Gregory Rabassa's English translationSpanish
*Ward* *Van Doren* *Good* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*
- F Scott Fitzgerald
Tender Is the Night_6
originally published serially Jan.-Apr. 1934 in Scribner's MagazineEnglish
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights_17
originally published 1847 under the pseudonym, Ellis Bell; revised 1850English
*Powys* *Hundred* *France* *Zulli* *Ward* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *Norway* *Guardian* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice_30
originally anonymously published 1813English
*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*
- Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend_6
originally published serially May 1864-Nov. 1865English
*Classics* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Deposit*
- Truman Capote
Breakfast at Tiffany's _2
originally published 1958 in EsquireEnglish
*Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Roald Dahl
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More_1
1977English
*Deposit*
- Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary_29
originally published serially Oct. 1856-Dec. 1856 in La Revue de Paris; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Frances Steegmuller's English translationFrench
*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*
- Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Grey_5
originally published Jul. 1890 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine; revised and expanded 1891; alternate earlier version published 2011English
*Ward* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Homer
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 versionGreek
*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*
- Leo Tolstoy
Voskresenie_1
Resurrection
1899Russian
*Deposit*
- Joseph Heller
Catch-22_10
1961English
*List* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises_7
1926English
*Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Erich Maria Remarque
Im Westen Nichts Neues_6
All Quiet on the Western Front
originally published Dec. 1928 in Vossische ZeitungGerman
*Hundred* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Deposit*
- Miguel de Cervantes
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 translationSpanish
*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*
- George Orwell
Homage to Catalonia_2
1938English
*Kanigel* *Deposit*
Ursula K Le Guin
- A Wizard of Earthsea_2
1968English
*Harvard* *Deposit*
- The Tombs of Atuan_1
1971English
*Deposit*
- The Farthest Shore_1
1972English
*Deposit*
- Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea_1
1990English
*Deposit*
- Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death_3
1969English
*Recommended* *Zane* *Deposit*
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 storiesEnglish
*Deposit*
Charles Perrault
- The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault_1
1977; translations by Angela Carter; includes nearly all of Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé, 1867French
*Deposit*
- Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé_1
Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oye
1867French
*Deposit*
- Martin Amis
Money_1
1984English
*Deposit*
- P G Wodehouse
Carry On, Jeeves_1
1925English
*Deposit*
- Mary Shelley
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus_11
originally anonymously published 1818English
*Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Dirda* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451_2
published in part, Feb. 1951, as 'The Fireman' in Galaxy Science Fiction; in its entirety, 1953English
*Recommended* *Deposit*
- John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath_11
1939English
*Hundred* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Ann Patchett
Bel Canto_1
2001English
*Deposit*
- Stephen King
It_1
1986English
*Deposit*
- George Eliot
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life _22
originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872English
*Baldwin* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Murakami Haruki
Nejimaki-Dori Kuronikuru_3
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
originally published in three volumes, 1994-5Japanese
*Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient_1
1992English
*Deposit*
- Markus Zusak
The Book Thief_1
2005English
*Deposit*
- Émile Zola
Thérèse Raquin_2
originally published serially 1867 in L'ArtisteFrench
*Ward* *Deposit*
- Norman Mailer
The Naked and the Dead_3
1948English
*Learning* *Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Angela Carter
The Magic Toyshop_1
1967English
*Deposit*
Northern Lights_1
1995; U S title, The Golden Compass; first of three volumes of His Dark MaterialsEnglish
*Deposit*
- Thomas Hardy
Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented_14
published in part serially Jul.-Dec. 1891 in the GraphicEnglish
*Powys* *Hundred* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Newman* *Deposit*
- Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca_5
1938English
*Recommended* *Dirda* *Guardian* *Telegraph* *Deposit*
- J D Salinger
Franny and Zooey_3
1961; 'Franny' originally published Jan. 1955 in the New Yorker; 'Zooey' originally published May 1957 in the New YorkerEnglish
*Recommended* *Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Georges Bataille
L'Histoire d'Oeil_1
Story of the Eye
originally published 1928 under the pseudonym, Lord Auch; revised 1940French
*Deposit*
- Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Voyage au Bout de la Nuit_4
Journey to the End of Night
1932French
*Bloom* *Norway* *Dirda* *Deposit*
Lewis Carroll
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_17
1865English
*Powys* *Invitation* *France* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There_10
1871English
*Powys* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Vikram Seth
A Suitable Boy_2
1993English
*Guardian* *Deposit*
- Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children_7
1981English
*Bloom* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita_11
1955English
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Harvard* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Donna Tartt
The Secret History_2
1992English
*Guardian* *Deposit*
- Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day_4
1989English
*Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit*
- Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness_16
originally published serially Feb.-Apr. 1899 in Blackwood'sEnglish
*Magill* *Adler* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Newman* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Le Petit Prince_4
1943French
*Van Doren* *Kanigel* *Guardian* *Deposit*
- John Kennedy Toole
A Confederacy of Dunces_2
written early 1960's; published 1980English
*Guardian* *Deposit*
- Victor Hugo
Les Misérables_18
1862French
*Baldwin* *Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Trinity* *Guardian* *Harvard* *World* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Honoré de Balzac
Illusions Perdues_4
Lost Illusions
1837-43French
*Powys* *Classics* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Stendhal
Le Rouge et le Noir, Chronique du XIXe Siècle_18
The Red and the Black
1830French
*Powys* *Classics* *France* *Rexroth* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Idiot_11
originally published serially 1868-9 in Rússkij VéstnikRussian
*Powys* *Classics* *France* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Norway* *Deposit* *Newman*
Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov_1
2000Russian
*Deposit*
- Plato
Politeia_24
The Republic
early Fourth Century B.CGreek
*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*
- Henry David Thoreau
Walden; or, Life in the Woods_20
1854English
*Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Campbell* *Great* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Albert Camus
L'Étranger_14
The Stranger
1942French
*Ward* *Van Doren* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Zane* *Harvard* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*
- James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man_14
originally published serially Feb. 1914-Sep. 1915, in the EgoistEnglish
*Classics* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Sigmund Freud
Das Unbewusste_2
The Unconscious
1915German
*Adler* *Deposit*
- Karl Marx
Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie_1
written ca. 1858; published 1939German
*Deposit*
- Niccolò Machiavelli
Il Principe_29
The Prince
1532Italian
*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*
- Herman Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale_26
1851English
*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*
- Sūnzǐ (Sun-tzu)
Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ_4
The Art of War
written ca. Fifth-Third centuries B CChinese
*Learning* *Fadiman* *Great* *Deposit*
- John Green
The Fault in Our Stars_1
2012English
*Deposit*
- Carl Jung; Joseph L Henderson; Marie-Louise von Franz; Aniela Jaffé; Jolande Jacobi
Man and His Symbols_2
1964English
*Great* *Deposit*
- Voltaire
Candide, ou L'Optimisme_23
1759; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Tobias Smollett's English translationFrench
*Powys* *Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Great* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life_23
1859English
*Lubbock* *Eliot* *Classics* *Hundred* *Downs* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Learning* *Fadiman* *Kanigel* *SeymourSmith* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Reynolds* *Deposit* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Robert Caro
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power_2
1982English
*Smart* *Deposit*
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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*
- Ken Kesey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_5
1962English
*Learning* *Recommended* *Campbell* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- Toni Morrison
Beloved_9
1987English
*Recommended* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Telegraph* *Zane* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meaney_3
1989English
*Guardian* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- James Baldwin
Another Country_1
1962English
*Deposit*
- Maya Angelou
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_4
1969English
*Campbell* *Great* *Deposit* *Educated*
- Jaroslav Hasek
Osudy Dobrého Vojáka Švejka za Svetové Války_4
The Good Soldier Švejk
1923Czech
*Ward* *Fadiman* *Dirda* *Deposit*
- Franz Kafka
Die Verwandlung_14
The Metamorphosis
originally published 1915 in Die Weißen Blätter; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Stanley Corngold's English translationGerman
*Ward* *Van Doren* *Adler* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *Norway* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Samuel Beckett
Watt_3
published in part, 1950, in Envoy; in its entirety, 1953English
*Bloom* *Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Jack London
The Call of the Wild_3
originally published serially 1903 in the Saturday Evening PostEnglish
*Recommended* *Campbell* *Deposit*
- Baruch Spinoza
Ethica, Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata_15
Ethics
1677Latin
*Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Recommended* *SeymourSmith* *Dirda* *Deposit*
- Thomas Hobbes
Leviathan or, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil_16
1651English
*Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *Downs* *Read* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Great* *Telegraph* *Deposit*
- Daniel Defoe
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner_21
originally anonymously published 1719English
*Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Dirda* *Great* *Zane* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Robert Graves
I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B C, Murdered and Deified A D 54_5
1934English
*Fadiman* *Zane* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- Philip Roth
Portnoy's Complaint_3
1969English
*Bloom* *Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Raymond Chandler
The Long Goodbye_2
1953English
*Zane* *Deposit*
- William Styron
Sophie's Choice_2
1979English
*Recommended* *Deposit*
- Christopher Isherwood
Goodbye to Berlin_4
1939English
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Art Spiegelman
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*
- Rachel Carson
Silent Spring_8
originally published Jun. 1962 in the New YorkerEnglish
*Downs* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Deposit* *Educated*
- Robert Hughes
The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change_1
1980; book accompanying television series of the same nameEnglish
*Deposit*
- James Agee
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men_6
1941; photography by Walker EvansEnglish
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Utne* *Dirda* *Smart* *Deposit*
- Edward Said
Orientalism_1
1978English
*Deposit*
- Hannah Arendt
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil_1
originally published 1963 in the New Yorker; expanded 1965English
*Deposit*
- John Kenneth Galbraith
The Affluent Society_1
1958English
*Deposit*
- Barbara W Tuchman
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century_2
1978English
*Deposit* *Educated*
- Rebecca West
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia_2
1941English
*Fadiman* *Deposit*
- Virginia Woolf
A Room of One's Own_4
1929English
*Kanigel* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman*
- Anne Frank
Het Achterhuis. Dagboekbrieven 14 Juni 1942 - 1 Augustus 1944_4
The Diary of a Young Girl
1947Dutch
*Recommended* *Campbell* *Harvard* *Deposit*