The Guardian, Books You Can't Live Without: The Top 100 [2007]
114 ventries: 113 monographical, one otherwise
Ranked
The Guardian's list stands apart as the first of several lists published from 2007 onward, but otherwise is easily one of the least important, barely meeting the Greater Books criteria, with only one book from ancient times, the Bible. This list includes a significant number of modern-day popular favorites.
- 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*
- J R R Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings_6
published in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King, 1954-5English
*Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre: An Autobiography_16
originally published under the pseudonym, Currer Bell, 1847English
*Zulli* *Ward* *Magill* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
J K Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_4
1997English
*Guardian* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_3
1998English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_3
1999English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_3
2000English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_3
2003English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_3
2005English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_3
2007English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird_5
1960English
*Recommended* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard*
--
- The Bible_17
Downs also lists John Wycliffe's 1382 English translation of the Vulgate; Bloom, Dirda, and the Globe and Mail specify the King James Version, translated 1604-11 to English from the Hebrew and Aramaic (Old Testament) and the Greek (New Testament), revised 1769 by Benjamin BlayneyHebrew; Aramaic; Greek
*Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Read* *Ward* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *SeymourSmith* *Dirda* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *World*
- 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*
- George Orwell
Nineteen Eighty-Four_17
1949English
*Van Doren* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Phillip Pullman
His Dark Materials_4
originally published in three volumes: Northern Lights, 1995 (U S title: The Golden Compass); The Subtle Knife, 1997; The Amber Spyglass, 2000English
*Guardian* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Charles Dickens
Great Expectations_15
originally published serially Dec. 1860-Aug. 1861 in All the Year RoundEnglish
*Classics* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Newman*
- Louisa M Alcott
Little Women_6
originally published in two volumes: Little Women, 1868; and Good Wives, 1869English
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Guardian* *Smart* *Harvard* *Graphic*
- 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*
- Joseph Heller
Catch-22_10
1961English
*List* *Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Deposit*
Complete works_4
late Sixteenth-early Seventeenth centuriesEnglish
*Zulli* *List* *Fadiman* *Guardian*
- Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca_5
1938English
*Recommended* *Dirda* *Guardian* *Telegraph* *Deposit*
- J R R Tolkien
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again_2
1937English
*Fadiman* *Guardian*
- Sebastian Faulks
Birdsong_1
1993English
*Guardian*
- J D Salinger
Catcher in the Rye_8
1951English
*Van Doren* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Guardian* *Zane* *Taylor* *Graphic*
- Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveler's Wife_1
2003English
*Guardian*
- 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*
- Margaret Mitchell
Gone With the Wind_2
1936English
*Guardian* *Telegraph*
- F Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby_17
1925English
*Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Zane* *Great* *Guardian* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Harvard* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Charles Dickens
Bleak House_7
originally published serially Mar. 1852-Sep. 1853English
*Classics* *Van Doren* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Guardian* *Zane* *Newman*
- Leo Tolstoy
Voyna i Mir"_25
War and Peace
originally entitled 1805, published in part, 1865 and 1867; retitled and published in its entirety, 1869Russian
*Durant* *Invitation* *Hundred* *France* *Rexroth* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Norway* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *World* *Newman*
- Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_3
1979 novel based on 1978 radio playEnglish
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Evelyn Waugh
Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder_3
1945English
*Recommended* *Fadiman* *Guardian*
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Prestuplénie i Nakazániye_23
Crime and Punishment
originally published serially Jan.-Dec. 1866 in Rússkij Véstnik; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's English translationRussian
*Eliot* *Powys* *Classics* *France* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath_11
1939English
*Hundred* *Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Deposit* *Graphic*
- 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*
- Kenneth Grahame
The Wind in the Willows_3
1908English
*Recommended* *Guardian* *Telegraph*
- Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina_20
published in part serially 1873-7 in Rússkij Véstnik; in its entirety, 1877; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's English translationRussian
*Eliot* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Magill* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Reynolds* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Charles Dickens
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)_15
originally published serially May 1849-Nov. 1850English
*Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Eliot* *Classics* *Magill* *Read* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Zane* *Telegraph* *Newman*
C S Lewis
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_3
1950English
*Guardian* *Telegraph* *Harvard*
- Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia_2
1951English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_2
1952English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
- The Silver Chair_2
1953English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
- The Horse and His Boy_2
1954English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
- The Magician's Nephew2
1955English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
- The Last Battle_2
1956English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
Jane Austen
- Emma_11
originally anonymously published 1815English
*Read* *List* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Guardian* *Zane* *Newman*
- Persuasion_6
originally anonymously published 1817English
*Bloom* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Guardian* *Zane* *Newman*
- Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner_1
2003English
*Guardian*
- Louis de Bernières
Captain Corelli's Mandolin_1
1994English
*Guardian*
- Arthur Golden
Memoirs of a Geisha_1
1997English
*Guardian*
- A A Milne
Winnie-the-Pooh_2
published in part serially 1924-5; in its entirety, 1926English
*Guardian* *Telegraph*
- George Orwell
Animal Farm_8
1945English
*Van Doren* *Adler* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Smart* *Graphic*
- Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Code_1
2003English
*Guardian*
- 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*
- John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meaney_3
1989English
*Guardian* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- Wilkie Collins
The Woman in White_3
originally published serially in All the Year Round Nov. 1859-Aug. 1860English
*Bloom* *Guardian* *Telegraph*
- L M Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables_1
1908English
*Guardian*
- Thomas Hardy
Far From the Madding Crowd_5
originally anonymously published serially Jan.-Dec. 1874 in Cornhill Magazine; revised 1895 and 1901English
*Powys* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Guardian* *Newman*
- Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale_5
1985English
*Fadiman* *Great* *Guardian* *Smart* *Harvard*
- William Golding
Lord of the Flies_6
1954English
*Learning* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Graphic*
- Ian McEwan
Atonement_2
2001English
*Guardian* *Smart*
- Yann Martel
Life of Pi_1
2001English
*Guardian*
- Frank Herbert
Dune_2
1965English
*Recommended* *Guardian*
- Stella Gibbons
Cold Comfort Farm_1
1932English
*Guardian*
- Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility_4
originally published under the pseudonym, A Lady, 1811English
*Recommended* *Fadiman* *Guardian* *Newman*
- Vikram Seth
A Suitable Boy_2
1993English
*Guardian* *Deposit*
- Carlos Ruiz Zafón
La Sombra del Viento_1
2001Spanish
*Guardian*
- Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities_8
originally published serially Apr.-Nov. 1859 in All the Year RoundEnglish
*Classics* *Baldwin* *Zulli* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Guardian* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Aldous Huxley
Brave New World_9
1932English
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Great* *Guardian* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Graphic*
- Mark Haddon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_2
2003English
*Guardian* *Smart*
- Gabriel García Márquez
El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera_6
Love in the Time of Cholera
1985Spanish
*Bloom* *Trinity* *Norway* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart*
- John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men_4
1937English
*Recommended* *Fadiman* *Campbell* *Guardian*
- 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*
- Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones_1
2002English
*Guardian*
- Alexandre Dumas
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo_3
originally published serially Aug. 1844-Jan. 1846 in Journal des DébatsFrench
*Magill* *Guardian* *Newman*
- Jack Kerouac
On the Road_5
published in part as 'The Mexican Girl', the Paris Review; 'Jazz of the Beat Generation', New World Writing; and 'A Billowy Trip in the World', New Dimensions; in its entirety, 1957; alternate version, 2007English
*Recommended* *Fadiman* *Guardian* *Great* *Graphic*
- Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure_8
originally published serially Dec. 1894-Nov. 1895 in Harper's New Monthly MagazineEnglish
*Ward* *Magill* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Great* *Guardian* *Smart* *Newman*
- Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones's Diary_1
1996English
*Guardian*
- Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children_7
1981English
*Bloom* *Trinity* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- 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*
- Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress _9
originally published under the pseudonym, Boz, serially Feb. 1837-April 1839 in Bentley's MiscellanyEnglish
*Classics* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Kanigel* *Campbell* *Guardian* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Bram Stoker
Dracula_6
1897English
*Magill* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Dirda* *Guardian*
- Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden_2
originally published serially 1910-11 in the American MagazineEnglish
*Dirda* *Guardian*
- Bill Bryson
Notes From a Small Island_1
1995English
*Guardian*
- James Joyce
Ulysses_20
published in part serially Mar. 1918-Dec. 1920 in the Little Review; in its entirety, 1922English
*Classics* *France* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Taylor* *Telegraph* *Newman* *Graphic*
- Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar_5
originally published under the pseudonym, Victoria Lucas, 1963English
*Ward* *Recommended* *Guardian* *Harvard* *Graphic*
- Arthur Ransome
Swallows and Amazons_2
1930English
*Guardian* *Telegraph*
- Émile Zola
Germinal_10
originally published serially Apr. 1884-Jan. 1885 in Gil BlasFrench
*Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Dirda* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Newman*
- William Makepeace Thackeray
Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero_18
originally published serially Jan. 1847-Jul. 1848English
*Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Eliot* *Durant* *Classics* *Zulli* *Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Newman*
- A S Byatt
Possession_3
1990English
*Guardian* *Smart* *Educated*
- Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol_7
1843English
*Ward* *Van Doren* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Guardian* *Taylor* *Newman*
- David Mitchell
Cloud Atlas_2
2004English
*Guardian* *Harvard*
- Alice Walker
The Color Purple_3
1982English
*Recommended* *Campbell* *Guardian*
- Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day_4
1989English
*Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Deposit*
- Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary_27
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*
- Rohinton Mistry
A Fine Balance_2
1995English
*Guardian* *Smart*
- E B White
Charlotte's Web_2
1952English
*Van Doren* *Guardian*
- Mitch Albom
The Five People You Meet in Heaven_1
2003English
*Guardian*
- Arthur Conan Doyle
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_6
1892; stories originally published serially Jul. 1891-Jun. 1892 in the StrandEnglish
*Invitation* *Hundred* *Ward* *Dirda* *Guardian* *Telegraph*
Enid Blyton
- The Enchanted Wood_1
1939English
*Guardian*
- The Magic Faraway Tree_1
1943English
*Guardian*
- The Folk of the Faraway Tree_1
1946English
*Guardian*
- Up the Faraway Tree_1
1951English
*Guardian*
- 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*
- Iain Banks
The Wasp Factory_1
1984English
*Guardian*
- Richard Adams
Watership Down_3
1972English
*Fadiman* *Guardian* *Harvard*
- John Kennedy Toole
A Confederacy of Dunces_2
written early 1960's; published 1980English
*Guardian* *Deposit*
- Nevil Shute
A Town Like Alice_1
1950English
*Guardian*
- Alexandre Dumas
Les Trois Mousquetaires_3
The Three Musketeers
originally published serially Mar.-Jul. 1844 in Le SiècleFrench
*France* *Guardian* *Newman*
- William Shakespeare
Hamlet_27
1602English
*Eliot* *Durant* *Invitation* *Classics* *Hundred* *Downs* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *O'Hear* *Zane* *Taylor* *Harvard* *World* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_1
1964English
*Guardian*
- Victor Hugo
Les Misérables_18
1862French
*Baldwin* *Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *France* *Downs* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Trinity* *Guardian* *Harvard* *World* *Newman* *Graphic* *Deposit*