Greater Books

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The Daily Telegraph/ The Sunday Telegraph, 110 Best Books [2008]

186 entries: 174 monographical, 12 otherwise

Unranked—arranged topically

Of the three lists generated in recent years by collective personnel at major newspapers, the Telegraph's is closer to the Globe and Mail's in its decent coverage of Western literature, but also compares to the Guardian's in its inclusion of modern popular favorites. Some of those recent best sellers do not belong on a "great books" lists; they are too closely tied to contemporary events or tastes. Indeed, this list shows clearly the unfortunate side of publications getting into the habit of making book lists that cover all of literary history: as with lists of music albums, an excess of recent entries distracts from the stated purpose of the list and suggests excessive praise for those recent entries, when in fact the listmakers were unlikely to have wanted to make a bold claim about the significance of those works but rather simply aimed to include some suitable present-day companions to older works.

    Homer
  1. Iliad

  2. ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B C—Greek

  3. Odýsseia

  4. The Odyssey
    ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B C—Greek


    Anthony Trollope
  5. The Warden

  6. 1855—English

  7. Barchester Towers

  8. 1857—English

  9. Doctor Thorne

  10. 1858—English

  11. Framley Parsonage

  12. originally published serially Jan. 1860-Apr. 1861 in Cornhill Magazine—English

  13. The Small House at Allington

  14. originally published serially Sep. 1862-Apr. 1864—English

  15. The Last Chronicle of Barset

  16. originally published serially Dec. 1866-Jul. 1867—English

  17. Jane Austen

  18. Pride and Prejudice
    originally anonymously published 1813—English

  19. Jonathan Swift

  20. Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships
    Gulliver's Travels
    1726; revised 1735—English


  21. Charlotte Brontë

  22. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography
    originally published under the pseudonym, Currer Bell, 1847—English

  23. Leo Tolstoy

  24. Voyna i Mir"
    War and Peace
    originally entitled 1805, published in part, 1865 and 1867; retitled and published in its entirety, 1869—Russian


  25. Charles Dickens

  26. The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)
    originally published serially May 1849-Nov. 1850—English

  27. William Makepeace Thackeray

  28. Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero
    originally published serially Jan. 1847-Jul. 1848—English

  29. Gustave Flaubert

  30. Madame Bovary
    originally published serially Oct. 1856-Dec. 1856 in La Revue de Paris—French

  31. George Eliot

  32. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
    originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872—English

  33. William Shakespeare

  34. Sonnets
    1609; two sonnets originally published in The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599—English

  35. Dante

  36. La Divina Commedia
    The Divine Comedy
    originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21—Italian


  37. Geoffrey Chaucer

  38. Canterbury Tales
    1478—English

  39. William Wordsworth
    The Prelude or, Growth of the Poet's Mind: An Autobiographical Poem
    1850; earlier versions written 1799 and 1805—English

    John Keats
    • 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'

    originally anonymously published Jan. 1820 in Annals of the Fine Arts; included in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'Ode to a Nightingale'

    originally published Jul. 1820 in Annals of the Fine Arts; included in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'Ode on Indolence'

    originally published in The Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats, 1848—English

    • 'Ode on Melancholy'

    part of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'Ode to Psyche'

    part of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'To Autumn'

    part of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • T S Eliot

  40. 'The Waste Land'
    originally published Oct. 1922 in the Criterion—English

    John Milton
  41. Paradise Lost

  42. 1667; revised 1674—English

  43. William Blake
    Songs of Innocence and Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul
    published in part, 1789, as Songs of Innocence; in its entirety, 1794—English

    William Butler Yeats
    • The Collected Poems of W B Yeats

  44. 1933; expanded 1950; revised 1956; includes The Wind Among the Reeds [1899]; The Shadowy Waters [originally published May 1900 in the North American Review; revised for inclusion in Poems, 1899-1905; theatrical version published separately 1906; both versions included here]; Michael Robartes and the Dancer [1921]; The Tower [1928]; The Winding Stair [1929]; Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems [1932]; New Poems [1938]; selections from The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, 1889; The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, 1892; In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age, 1904; The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910; Responsibilities, 1914; The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and a Play in Verse, 1917, expanded 1919; A Full Moon in March, 1935; and Last Poems and Two Plays, 1939—English

  45. The Wind Among the Reeds

  46. 1899—English

  47. The Shadowy Waters

  48. 1900; originally published May 1900 in the North American Review; revised for inclusion in Poems, 1899-1905; theatrical version published separately 1906; both versions included in the author's collected poems—English

  49. Michael Robartes and the Dancer

  50. 1920—English

  51. The Tower

  52. 1928; originally published as Seven Poems and a Fragment, 1922; The Cat and the Moon, 1924; and October Blast, 1927—English

  53. The Winding Stair

  54. 1929—English

  55. Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems

  56. 1932—English

  57. New Poems
    1938—English

    Ted Hughes
    • Collected Poems

  58. 2003; includes The Hawk in the Rain [1957]; Lupercal [1960]; Recklings [1966]; Crow [published as: Four Crow Poems, 1970; A Few Crows, 1970; Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow [1970--expanded 1971]; Crow Wakes, 1971; and as Hughes' part of Poems: Ruth Fainlight, Ted Hughes, Alan Silitoe, 1971--the Collected Poems version of Crow is counted as a monographic work, though in fact it has not been published on its own in such expanded form; in other words, the three shorter original monographic publications are not included in the master list]; Prometheus on His Crag [1973; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979]; Cave Birds [1975; expanded and revised 1978; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993]; Season Songs [1976; published in part, 1968, as Five Autumn Songs for Children's Voices; and as part of Spring Summer Autumn Winter, 1973; revised 1985]; Orts [1978; portions included as part of 'Earth-Numb' section of Moortown, 1979]; Moortown Elegies [1978; included in Moortown, 1979; expanded and retitled Moortown Diary, 1989]; Adam and the Sacred Nine [1979; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979]; Remains of Elmet [1979; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993; revised and entitled Elmet, 1994]; A Primer of Birds [1981; includes one poem from Crow Wakes, 1971]; River [1983; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993]; Flowers and Insects [1986]; Wolfwatching [1989; includes two poems from A Primer of Birds]; Capriccio [1990]; Rain-Charm for the Duchy [1992]; Birthday Letters [1998; published in part, 1995, in New Selected Poems 1957-1994]; Howls and Whispers [1998]; plus Tales From Ovid: Twenty-Four Passages From the Metamorphoses, 1997—published in part in After Ovid: New Metamorphoses, 1994; selections from Wodwo, 1967; and Gaudete, 1977; 'Earth-Numb', originally published in the collection Moortown [1979]; plus sections entitled Early Poems and Juvenilia (1946-57); Uncollected (1957-59); Uncollected (1960-1967); Uncollected (1967-70); Uncollected (1971-73); Uncollected (1974-75); Uncollected (1976-77); Uncollected (1977-78); Uncollected (1979); Uncollected (1980-81); Uncollected (1981-83); Uncollected (1983-86); Uncollected (1987-89); Uncollected (1992-97); Uncollected (1997-98)]—English

  59. The Hawk in the Rain

  60. 1957—English

  61. Lupercal

  62. 1960—English

  63. Recklings

  64. 1966—English

  65. Crow

  66. originally published as Four Crow Poems, 1970; A Few Crows, 1970; Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow, 1970, expanded 1971; Crow Wakes, 1971; and as Hughes’s portion of Poems: Ruth Fainlight, Ted Hughes, Alan Silitoe, 1971; only the author's Collected Poems, 2003, includes singular version of this work—English

  67. Prometheus on His Crag

  68. 1973; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979—English

  69. Cave Birds

  70. 1975; expanded and revised 1978; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993—English

  71. Season Songs

  72. 1976; published in part, 1968, as Five Autumn Songs for Children’s Voices; and as part of Spring Summer Autumn Winter, 1973; revised 1985—English

  73. Orts

  74. 1978; portions included as part of 'Earth-Numb' section of Moortown, 1979—English

  75. Moortown Elegies

  76. 1978; included in Moortown, 1979; expanded and retitled Moortown Diary, 1989—English

  77. Adam and the Sacred Nine

  78. 1979; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979—English

  79. Remains of Elmet

  80. 1979; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993; revised and entitled Elmet, 1994—English

  81. A Primer of Birds

  82. 1981; includes one poem from Crow Wakes, 1971—English

  83. River

  84. 1983; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993—English

  85. Flowers and Insects

  86. 1986—English

  87. Wolfwatching

  88. 1989; includes two poems from A Primer of Birds—English

  89. Capriccio

  90. 1990—English

  91. Rain-Charm for the Duchy

  92. 1992—English

  93. Birthday Letters

  94. 1998; published in part, 1995, in New Selected Poems 1957-1994—English

  95. Howls and Whispers
    1998—English

    • Tales From Ovid: Twenty-Four Passages From the Metamorphoses

  96. published in part in After Ovid: New Metamorphoses, 1994; in its entirety, 1997; English translations of selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses—English

  97. Henry James

  98. The Portrait of a Lady
    originally published serially Oct. 1880-Nov. 1881 in Macmillan's and Nov. 1880-Dec. 1881 in the Atlantic Monthly—English

  99. Marcel Proust

  100. À la Recherche du Temps Perdu
    In Search of Lost Time; In Remembrance of Things Past
    originally published in seven volumes, two of which originally published as two books each, 1913-27—French


  101. James Joyce

  102. Ulysses
    published in part serially Mar. 1918-Dec. 1920 in the Little Review; in its entirety, 1922—English

  103. Ernest Hemingway

  104. For Whom the Bell Tolls
    1940—English

    Evelyn Waugh
  105. Men at Arms

  106. 1952—English

  107. Officers and Gentlemen

  108. 1955—English

  109. Unconditional Surrender

  110. 1961—English

  111. Muriel Spark

  112. The Ballad of Peckham Rye
    1960—English

    John Updike
  113. Rabbit, Run

  114. 1960—English

  115. Rabbit Redux

  116. 1971—English

  117. Rabbit Is Rich

  118. 1981—English

  119. Rabbit at Rest

  120. 1990—English

  121. Gabriel García Márquez

  122. Cien Anõs de Soledad
    One Hundred Years of Solitude
    1967—Spanish


  123. Toni Morrison

  124. Beloved
    1987—English

  125. Philip Roth

  126. The Human Stain
    2000—English

  127. Daphne du Maurier

  128. Rebecca
    1938—English

  129. Thomas Malory

  130. Le Morte d'Arthur
    1485; revised through sixth edition, 1634—English

  131. Choderlos de Laclos

  132. Les Liaisons Dangereuses
    The Dangerous Liaisons
    1782—French


  133. Robert Graves

  134. I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B C, Murdered and Deified A D 54
    1934—English

    Mary Renault
  135. Fire From Heaven

  136. 1969—English

  137. The Persian Boy

  138. 1972—English

  139. Funeral Games

  140. 1981—English

  141. Patrick O'Brien

  142. Master and Commander
    1969—English

  143. Margaret Mitchell

  144. Gone With the Wind
    1936—English

  145. Boris Pasternak

  146. Dóktor Živágo
    Doctor Zhivago
    Italian translation, 1957; original Russian, 1958—Russian


  147. Thomas Hardy

  148. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented
    published in part serially Jul.-Dec. 1891 in the Graphic—English

    Jean Plaidy
  149. The Plantagenet Prelude

  150. 1976—English

  151. The Revolt of the Eaglets

  152. 1977—English

  153. The Heart of the Lion

  154. 1978—English

  155. The Prince of Darkness

  156. q978—English

  157. The Battle of the Queens

  158. 1978—English

  159. The Queen From Provence

  160. 1979—English

  161. Edward Longsharks

  162. 1979; retitled The Hammer of the Scots, 2008—English

  163. The Follies of the King

  164. 1980—English

  165. The Vow on the Heron

  166. 1980—English

  167. Passage to Pontefract

  168. 1981—English

  169. The Star of Lancaster

  170. 1981—English

  171. Epitaph for Three Women

  172. 1981—English

  173. Red Rose of Anjou

  174. 1982—English

  175. The Sun in Splendour

  176. 1982—English

  177. Arthur Ransome

  178. Swallows and Amazons
    1930—English

  179. C S Lewis

  180. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    1950—English

  181. J R R Tolkien

  182. The Lord of the Rings
    published in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King, 1954-5—English

  183. Phillip Pullman

  184. His Dark Materials
    originally published in three volumes: Northern Lights, 1995 (U S title: The Golden Compass); The Subtle Knife, 1997; The Amber Spyglass, 2000—English

  185. Jean de Brunhoff

  186. Historie de Babar
    1931—French

  187. E Nesbit

  188. The Railway Children
    originally published serially in the London Magazine, 1905—English

  189. A A Milne

  190. Winnie-the-Pooh
    published in part serially 1924-5; in its entirety, 1926—English

    J K Rowling
  191. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

  192. 1997—English

  193. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

  194. 1998—English

  195. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

  196. 1999—English

  197. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

  198. 2000—English

  199. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

  200. 2003—English

  201. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

  202. 2005—English

  203. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

  204. 2007—English

  205. Kenneth Grahame

  206. The Wind in the Willows
    1908—English

  207. Robert Louis Stevenson

  208. Treasure Island
    originally entitled Treasure Island or, The Mutiny of the Hispaniola, published serially 1891-92 in Young Folks under the pseudonym, Captain George North—English

  209. Mary Shelley

  210. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
    originally anonymously published 1818—English

  211. Jules Verne

  212. Vingt Mille Lieues Souls les Mers
    Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
    1870—French


  213. H G Wells

  214. The Time Machine
    1895—English

  215. Aldous Huxley

  216. Brave New World
    1932—English

  217. George Orwell

  218. Nineteen Eighty-Four
    1949—English

  219. John Wyndham

  220. The Day of the Triffids
    1951—English

  221. Isaac Asimov

  222. Foundation
    1951; four of five chapters previously published: May 1942, as 'Foundation', in Astounding Science-Fiction; Jun. 1942, as 'Bridle and Saddle', in Astounding Science-Fiction; Oct. 1944, as 'The Wedge', in Astounding Science-Fiction; Aug. 1944, as 'The Big and the Little', in Astounding Science-Fiction—English

  223. Arthur C Clarke

  224. 2001: A Space Odyssey
    1968—English

  225. Philip K Dick

  226. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
    1968—English

  227. William Gibson

  228. Neuromancer
    1984—English

  229. Patricia Highsmith

  230. The Talented Mr. Ripley
    1955—English

  231. Dashiell Hammett

  232. The Maltese Falcon
    1930—English

    Arthur Conan Doyle
  233. A Study in Scarlet

  234. originally published 1887 in Beeton's Christmas Annual—English

  235. The Sign of the Four

  236. originally published Feb. 1890 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine—English

  237. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

  238. 1892; stories originally published Jul. 1891-Jun. 1892 in the Strand—English

  239. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

  240. 1894; stories originally published 1892-3 in the Strand—English

  241. The Hound of the Baskervilles

  242. 1902; originally published serially Aug. 1901-Apr. 1902 in the Strand—English

  243. The Return of Sherlock Holmes

  244. 1905; stories originally published 1903-4 in the Strand—English

  245. The Valley of Fear

  246. 1915; originally published serially Sep. 1914-Feb. 1915 in the Strand—English

  247. His Last Bow: Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes

  248. 1917; stories originally published Sep. 1908-Dec. 1913 in the Strand; except one published Sep. 1917 in Collier's Weekly—English

  249. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

  250. 1927; stories originally published Oct. 1921-Apr. 1927 in the Strand—English

  251. Raymond Chandler

  252. The Big Sleep
    1939—English

  253. John le Carré

  254. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
    1974—English

  255. Thomas Harris

  256. Red Dragon
    1981—English

  257. Agatha Christie
    Murder on the Orient Express
    Murder in the Calais Coach
    1934—English


    • Edgar Allan Poe

  258. 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'
    originally published Apr. 1841 in Graham's Magazine; revised for inclusion in The Prose Romances of Edgar A Poe, 1843—English

  259. Wilkie Collins

  260. The Woman in White
    originally published serially Nov. 1859-Aug. 1860 in All the Year Round—English

  261. Elmore Leonard

  262. Killshot
    1989—English

  263. Karl Marx

  264. Das Kapital, Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie
    published in three volumes: 1867, 1885, and 1894—German

  265. Thomas Paine

  266. The Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
    originally published in two volumes, 1791 and 1792—English

  267. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  268. Du Contrat Social ou Principes du Droit Politique
    The Social Contract
    1762—French


  269. Alexis de Tocqueville

  270. De la Démocratie en Amérique
    Democracy in America
    originally published in two volumes, 1835 and 1840—French


  271. Carl von Clausewitz

  272. Vom Kriege
    On War
    1832—German


  273. Niccolò Machiavelli

  274. Il Principe
    The Prince
    1532—Italian


  275. Thomas Hobbes

  276. Leviathan or, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
    1651—English

  277. Sigmund Freud

  278. Die Traumdeutung
    The Interpretation of Dreams
    1899—German


  279. Charles Darwin
    On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
    1859—English

    • Denis Diderot et al.

  280. Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers
    published in 28 volumes, 1751-72—French

  281. Robert M Pirsig

  282. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
    1974—English

  283. Richard Bach

  284. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
    1970—English

  285. Douglas Adams

  286. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    1979 novel based on 1978 radio play—English

  287. Malcolm Gladwell

  288. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
    2000—English

  289. Naomi Wolf

  290. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
    1991; expanded 2002—English

    Delia Smith
  291. Delia's How to Cook Book One

  292. 1998—English

  293. Delia's How to Cook Book Two

  294. 1999—English

  295. Delia's How to Cook Book Three

  296. 2001—English

  297. Peter Mayle

  298. A Year in Provence
    1989—English

  299. David Pelzer

  300. A Child Called 'It'
    1995—English

  301. Lynne Truss

  302. Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
    2003—English

  303. Ben Schott

  304. Schott's Original Miscellany
    2002—English

  305. Edward Gibbon

  306. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
    originally published in six volumes: first, 1776; second-third, 1781; fourth-sixth, 1788—English

  307. Winston Churchill

  308. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
    published in four volumes, 1956-58—English

  309. Steven Runciman

  310. A History of the Crusades
    1951—English

  311. Herodotus

  312. Historiē
    History
    Fifth Century B C—Greek


  313. Thucydides

  314. History of the Peloponnesian War
    early Fifth Century B C—Greek

  315. T E Lawrence

  316. Seven Pillars of Wisdom
    1922—English

    --
  317. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

  318. Ninth-Twelfth centuries—English

  319. Orlando Figes

  320. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924
    1997—English

  321. Simon Schama

  322. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
    1989—English

  323. A J P Taylor

  324. The Origins of the Second World War
    1961—English

  325. Augustine of Hippo

  326. Confessionum Libri Tredecim
    The Confessions of St. Augustine
    written 397-98—Latin


  327. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

  328. De Vita Caesarum
    The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
    written 121—Latin


  329. Giorgio Vasari

  330. Le Vite de' Più Eccellenti Pittori, Scultori, e Architettori da Cimabue Insino a' Tempi Nostri
    The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
    1550; expanded 1568—Italian


  331. Primo Levi

  332. Se Questo è un Uomo
    Survival in Auschwitz
    1947—Italian


  333. Siegfried Sassoon

  334. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man
    1928—English

  335. Lytton Strachey

  336. Eminent Victorians
    1918—English

  337. Elizabeth Gaskell

  338. A Life of Charlotte Brontë
    1857—English

  339. Robert Graves

  340. Good-Bye to All That
    1929; revised 1957—English

  341. James Boswell

  342. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
    1791—English

    Alan Clark
  343. Diaries

  344. 1993—English

  345. Diaries: Into Politics 1972-1982

  346. 2000—English

  347. Diaries: The Last Diaries 1993-1999

  348. 2002—English