Looking for the best books of all time of all time?
You're in the right place!
Here's what you'll find on this page...
In the book list below, you’ll find the 101 best books to read of all time across all types and genres from my entire, master-library of thousands of good books to read.
Want something more specific? For some best book lists by topic and genre (including lists of the best fiction books and best nonfiction books of all time), head over to the book recommendations page
Outraged? Delighted? Think something’s missing? Your thoughts and suggestions make my day and they also make this list better for everyone. Please leave a comment with your suggestions, below. I’d genuinely love to hear from you.
One last thing – I’ll be keeping this list up to date as the years go by so if you’d like to hear about that, head over to the free tools section of the site and I’ll send you something to help you read more, learn faster and wake up productive as a bonus for signing up.
For now though, here’s my list of the best books to read of all time…
The 100 Best Books to Read of All Time
Why these best books to read and not others? To stay objective, I rank all my book recommendations by what’s most loved (Goodreads rating), what’s most popular (Goodreads review count) and what’s proven timelessly relevant (first publication date).
This isn’t a whimsical list. It’s a data-driven, crowdsourced collection of the best books to read ever published as decided by book lovers just like you. (Note: To maximise diversity, I only include the top ranking book from any series in a list.)
And if you think something's missing? I LOVE book recommendations so if there are any other best books to read that you think deserve mentioning, email me and I’ll be sure to include them in the next round of updates.
Until then, enjoy this ultimate list of the 100 best books to read of all time...
Books 1-10: The Top 10 Best Books To Read of All Time
The top 10 best books to read of all time are...
1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (FREE Summary)
Pride and Prejudice is THE unforgettable, ever-popular and genre-defining love-story story of the 19th century. It's over 200 years old and still as fresh, charming and unputdownable as the day it was first published - by best-selling author, Jane Austin.
Published 1813 // 279 pages // Rated 4.3 over 3,727,600 reviews on Goodreads
2. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (FREE Summary)
The king of all adventure and slow-burning revenge stories. The Count of Monte Christo may not be a quick read, but fantastic characters, a gripping plot and masterful twists make it an obvious contender for one of the best books of all time - by master novelist, Alexandre Dumas.
Published 1844 // 1,276 pages // Rated 4.3 over 840,800 reviews on Goodreads
3. The Return of the King (Lord of the Rings, #3) - J.R.R. Tolkien (FREE Summary)
The final instalment in the greatest, genre-defining, high-fantasy trilogy of all time. The Return of the King is a thrilling climax to the journey begun in The Fellowship of the Ring and set in the world of The Hobbit - by writer, poet and best-selling author, J.R.R. Tolkein.
Published 1955 // 404 pages // Rated 4.6 over 790,600 reviews on Goodreads
4. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (FREE Summary)
Widely acclaimed as one of the best books of all time, The Brothers Karimazov is a masterwork of philosophy and theology that explores the nature of faith, doubt and reason in a fast-changing world, through the lives, mishaps and thoughts of its unforgettable cast of characters - by novelist and philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Published 1879 // 796 pages // Rated 4.4 over 286,300 reviews on Goodreads
5. The Complete Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #1-9) - Arthur Conan Doyle
Published 1894 // 1,796 pages // Rated 4.5 over 191,500 reviews on Goodreads
6. Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) - L.M. Montgomery (FREE Summary)
Published 1908 // 320 pages // Rated 4.3 over 877,000 reviews on Goodreads
7. Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl (FREE Summary)
Man's Search for Meaning is a gruelling, yet deeply liberating insight into the why behind each of our whats and hows - by holocaust survivor, psychologist and founder of logotherapy, Viktor Frankl.
Published 1946 // 165 pages // Rated 4.4 over 572,400 reviews on Goodreads
8. We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Published 1929 // 64 pages // Rated 4.4 over 251,000 reviews on Goodreads
9. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (FREE Summary)
Published 1866 // 671 pages // Rated 4.3 over 771,400 reviews on Goodreads
10. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince is a hauntingly beautiful novella that addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss through the life-story of a little prince from space (asteroid B 612) told to the author (a stranded philosophical pilot) as he struggles to escape from the desert - by writer, poet, journalist and aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Published 1943 // 93 pages // Rated 4.3 over 1,787,300 reviews on Goodreads
Books 11-100: The Best Books To Read to Read Next
Here are the next best books to read from my database...
11. Night (The Night Trilogy, #1) - Elie Wiesel (FREE Summary)
Published 1956 // 115 pages // Rated 4.4 over 1,124,600 reviews on Goodreads
12. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (FREE Summary)
Published 1936 // 1,037 pages // Rated 4.3 over 1,159,800 reviews on Goodreads
13. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Published 1952 // 601 pages // Rated 4.4 over 485,700 reviews on Goodreads
14. Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1) - A.A. Milne
Published 1926 // 145 pages // Rated 4.3 over 305,900 reviews on Goodreads
15. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again - J.R.R. Tolkien (FREE Summary)
Published 1937 // 366 pages // Rated 4.3 over 3,471,500 reviews on Goodreads
16. The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
Published 1964 // 64 pages // Rated 4.4 over 1,035,200 reviews on Goodreads
17. And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie (FREE Summary)
Published 1939 // 264 pages // Rated 4.3 over 1,119,100 reviews on Goodreads
18. Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu
Published -300 // 160 pages // Rated 4.3 over 141,000 reviews on Goodreads
19. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - Dr. Seuss
Published 1957 // 64 pages // Rated 4.4 over 380,400 reviews on Goodreads
20. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (FREE Summary)
Published 180 // 99 pages // Rated 4.3 over 180,300 reviews on Goodreads
21. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
Published 1952 // 191 pages // Rated 4.3 over 361,500 reviews on Goodreads
22. The Godfather - Mario Puzo
Published 1964 // 448 pages // Rated 4.4 over 383,900 reviews on Goodreads
23. Les Misérables - Victor Hugo (FREE Summary)
Published 1862 // 1,463 pages // Rated 4.2 over 749,200 reviews on Goodreads
24. The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams Bianco
Published 1922 // 40 pages // Rated 4.3 over 246,200 reviews on Goodreads
25. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales - Jacob Grimm
Published 1812 // 880 pages // Rated 4.3 over 152,300 reviews on Goodreads
26. Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss
Published 1960 // 64 pages // Rated 4.3 over 712,800 reviews on Goodreads
27. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
Published 1943 // 496 pages // Rated 4.3 over 429,900 reviews on Goodreads
28. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Published 1960 // 324 pages // Rated 4.3 over 5,423,400 reviews on Goodreads
29. The Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom (FREE Summary)
The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom
Published 1971 // 242 pages // Rated 4.4 over 296,300 reviews on Goodreads
30. Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Published 1947 // 32 pages // Rated 4.3 over 348,700 reviews on Goodreads
31. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Published 1938 // 449 pages // Rated 4.2 over 556,200 reviews on Goodreads
32. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Narnia, #1) - C.S. Lewis
Published 1950 // 206 pages // Rated 4.2 over 2,512,200 reviews on Goodreads
33. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
Published 1942 // 223 pages // Rated 4.3 over 394,300 reviews on Goodreads
34. Persuasion - Jane Austen
Published 1817 // 249 pages // Rated 4.2 over 619,700 reviews on Goodreads
35. How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie (FREE Summary)
Published 1936 // 288 pages // Rated 4.2 over 832,500 reviews on Goodreads
36. The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Published 1969 // 26 pages // Rated 4.3 over 462,800 reviews on Goodreads
37. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
Published 1847 // 507 pages // Rated 4.1 over 1,894,700 reviews on Goodreads
38. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4) - Agatha Christie
Published 1926 // 288 pages // Rated 4.3 over 217,100 reviews on Goodreads
39. The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X (FREE Summary)
Published 1965 // 527 pages // Rated 4.3 over 246,800 reviews on Goodreads
40. The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings - Edgar Allan Poe
Published 1843 // 448 pages // Rated 4.2 over 234,200 reviews on Goodreads
41. The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
Published 1971 // 72 pages // Rated 4.3 over 321,500 reviews on Goodreads
42. Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1) - Frank Herbert
Published 1965 // 604 pages // Rated 4.3 over 1,124,300 reviews on Goodreads
43. A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Published 1905 // 242 pages // Rated 4.2 over 292,200 reviews on Goodreads
44. The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Published 1967 // 335 pages // Rated 4.3 over 299,100 reviews on Goodreads
45. 1984 - George Orwell
Published 1949 // 237 pages // Rated 4.2 over 3,954,500 reviews on Goodreads
46. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Published 1963 // 37 pages // Rated 4.2 over 933,900 reviews on Goodreads
47. The Complete Fairy Tales - Hans Christian Andersen
Published 1835 // 803 pages // Rated 4.3 over 106,200 reviews on Goodreads
48. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Published 1868 // 449 pages // Rated 4.1 over 1,989,800 reviews on Goodreads
49. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (FREE Summary)
Published 1969 // 289 pages // Rated 4.3 over 483,500 reviews on Goodreads
50. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
Published 1973 // 456 pages // Rated 4.3 over 852,200 reviews on Goodreads
51. The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
Published 1901 // 72 pages // Rated 4.2 over 232,400 reviews on Goodreads
52. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank (FREE Summary)
Published 1947 // 283 pages // Rated 4.2 over 3,331,800 reviews on Goodreads
53. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Published 1952 // 184 pages // Rated 4.2 over 1,660,700 reviews on Goodreads
54. Madeline - Ludwig Bemelmans
Published 1939 // 44 pages // Rated 4.3 over 206,100 reviews on Goodreads
55. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Published 1911 // 331 pages // Rated 4.2 over 1,053,300 reviews on Goodreads
56. The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason (FREE Summary)
Published 1926 // 194 pages // Rated 4.3 over 161,800 reviews on Goodreads
57. Watchmen - Alan Moore
Published 1987 // 416 pages // Rated 4.4 over 527,300 reviews on Goodreads
58. The Shining - Stephen King
Published 1977 // 659 pages // Rated 4.3 over 1,325,000 reviews on Goodreads
59. Ender's Game (Ender's Saga, #1) - Orson Scott Card
Published 1985 // 324 pages // Rated 4.3 over 1,272,200 reviews on Goodreads
60. Corduroy - Don Freeman
Published 1968 // 32 pages // Rated 4.3 over 211,700 reviews on Goodreads
61. Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Published 1935 // 335 pages // Rated 4.2 over 278,500 reviews on Goodreads
62. Shōgun (Asian Saga, #1) - James Clavell
Published 1975 // 1,152 pages // Rated 4.4 over 164,000 reviews on Goodreads
63. Matilda - Roald Dahl
Published 1988 // 240 pages // Rated 4.3 over 822,600 reviews on Goodreads
64. Roots - Alex Haley
The Saga of an American Family
Published 1976 // 729 pages // Rated 4.4 over 155,800 reviews on Goodreads
65. The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Published 1869 // 667 pages // Rated 4.2 over 158,400 reviews on Goodreads
66. I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) - Isaac Asimov
Published 1950 // 224 pages // Rated 4.2 over 318,100 reviews on Goodreads
67. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Published 1962 // 325 pages // Rated 4.2 over 689,200 reviews on Goodreads
68. Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Published 1932 // 198 pages // Rated 4.2 over 253,800 reviews on Goodreads
69. Maus I (Maus, #1) - Art Spiegelman (FREE Summary)
A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
Published 1986 // 159 pages // Rated 4.4 over 296,600 reviews on Goodreads
70. The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1) - Ken Follett
Published 1989 // 973 pages // Rated 4.3 over 714,000 reviews on Goodreads
71. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Published 1867 // 1,392 pages // Rated 4.1 over 300,400 reviews on Goodreads
72. Endurance - Alfred Lansing (FREE Summary)
Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Published 1959 // 282 pages // Rated 4.4 over 109,100 reviews on Goodreads
73. Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers
Published 1991 // 479 pages // Rated 4.5 over 273,600 reviews on Goodreads
74. The Monster at the End of this Book - Jon Stone
Published 1971 // 32 pages // Rated 4.5 over 123,300 reviews on Goodreads
75. Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
Published 1985 // 945 pages // Rated 4.5 over 170,500 reviews on Goodreads
76. The Stand - Stephen King
Published 1990 // 1,153 pages // Rated 4.3 over 701,400 reviews on Goodreads
77. The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis
Published 1945 // 146 pages // Rated 4.3 over 130,600 reviews on Goodreads
78. Second Foundation (Foundation, #3) - Isaac Asimov
Published 1953 // 256 pages // Rated 4.3 over 168,600 reviews on Goodreads
79. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide, #1) - Douglas Adams
Published 1979 // 193 pages // Rated 4.2 over 1,675,400 reviews on Goodreads
80. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) - George R.R. Martin
Published 1996 // 835 pages // Rated 4.4 over 2,275,800 reviews on Goodreads
81. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Published 1890 // 367 pages // Rated 4.1 over 1,260,700 reviews on Goodreads
82. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Published 1811 // 409 pages // Rated 4.1 over 1,091,300 reviews on Goodreads
83. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill (FREE Summary)
Published 1937 // 233 pages // Rated 4.2 over 284,500 reviews on Goodreads
84. The Little House Collection - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Published 1971 // 2,700 pages // Rated 4.4 over 149,000 reviews on Goodreads
85. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) - J.K. Rowling
Published 1997 // 322 pages // Rated 4.5 over 8,796,100 reviews on Goodreads
86. The Constitution of the United States of America - Founding Fathers
Published 1787 // 30 pages // Rated 4.5 over 26,700 reviews on Goodreads
87. The Cat in the Hat (The Cat in the Hat, #1) - Dr. Seuss
Published 1957 // 61 pages // Rated 4.2 over 499,500 reviews on Goodreads
88. The Story of Ferdinand - Munro Leaf
Published 1936 // 72 pages // Rated 4.4 over 89,900 reviews on Goodreads
89. Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
Published 1986 // 32 pages // Rated 4.4 over 224,700 reviews on Goodreads
90. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
Published 1982 // 295 pages // Rated 4.3 over 609,500 reviews on Goodreads
91. Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss
Published 1990 // 44 pages // Rated 4.4 over 376,500 reviews on Goodreads
92. Calvin and Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes #1) - Bill Watterson
Published 1987 // 128 pages // Rated 4.6 over 145,200 reviews on Goodreads
93. Different Seasons - Stephen King
Published 1982 // 560 pages // Rated 4.3 over 193,100 reviews on Goodreads
94. A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf
Published 1929 // 112 pages // Rated 4.2 over 165,800 reviews on Goodreads
95. Harold and the Purple Crayon (Harold, #1) - Crockett Johnson
Published 1955 // 64 pages // Rated 4.3 over 137,300 reviews on Goodreads
97. Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Published 1966 // 216 pages // Rated 4.2 over 580,900 reviews on Goodreads
98. Letters from a Stoic - Seneca
Published -49 // 256 pages // Rated 4.4 over 30,600 reviews on Goodreads
99. The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough
Published 1977 // 692 pages // Rated 4.2 over 336,500 reviews on Goodreads
100. The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin
Published 1963 // 106 pages // Rated 4.5 over 86,300 reviews on Goodreads
More Book Recommendations
Enjoyed this list of the best books of all time of all time?
You'll also like TAoL's other book recommendations...
More Best Books of All Time (by Type)
These are some lists of overall best books to read...
More Best Nonfiction Books (by Topic)
These are some lists of best nonfiction books to read...
More Best Fiction Books (by Genre)
These are some lists of best fiction books to read...
Or, you can read all my book recommendations.
Wish There Was a Faster/Easier Way?
Whenever you’re ready, here are four ways I can help you be more productive, find more balance and live life more on purpose…
- Curious? Discover how productive you really are… Take this free, 2-minute assessment to unlock your PQ and discover the top 25 habits you need to get big things done. Take the 2-minute quiz →
- Overwhelmed? Get a free chapter of my book… Let me show you how to beat procrastination, permanently, with this free sneak peek inside TAoL’s ultimate productivity primer. Download your free chapter →
- Stuck? Grab a 90-Day TRACKTION Planner… Get the tool thousands trust to help them take control of their time, master their habits and hit goals in every part of their lives. Order your 90-day planner →
- Burned out? Join the TRACKTION Community… Take the 6-week masterclass, get weekly group coaching, find accountability partners and connect with like-minded self-starters. Get started FREE →