1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

The Book, 1001 Books

A book edited by Peter Boxall, and written by over 100 hundred international critics.

This list was originally published in 2006 and was added to this site about 7 years ago.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
550 Max Havelaar Multatuli 1860 Dutch Dutch
38 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1860 British English
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
179 Fathers and Sons Ivan Turgenev 1862 Russian Russian
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
3324 The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby Charles Kingsley 1863 British English
342 Notes from the Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky 1864 Russian Russian
542 Uncle Silas Sheridan Le Fanu 1864 Irish English
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
926 Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 French French
11 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
852 The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1867 British English
759 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
393 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
57 The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky 1869 Russian Russian
463 The Songs of Maldoror Comte de Lautréamont 1868 French French
1604 Phineas Finn Anthony Trollope 1869 British English
116 A Sentimental Education Gustave Flaubert 1869 French French
12 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy 1869 Russian Russian
3324 King Lear of the Steppes Ivan Turgenev 1870 Russian Russian
547 Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 British English
28 Middlemarch George Eliot 1871 British English
3324 Torrents of Spring Ivan Turgenev 1872 Russian Russian
728 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
94 Demons Fyodor Dostoevsky 1872 Russian Russian
2270 In a Glass Darkly Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 Irish English
815 Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne 1872 French French
1205 The Enchanted Wanderer Nikolai Leskov 1873 Russian Russian
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
3324 Pepita Jimenez Juan Valera y Alcalá-Galiano 1874 Spanish Spanish
742 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
10 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877 Russian Russian
2545 Martín Fierro José Hernández 1872 Argentinian Spanish
530 The Red Room August Strindberg 1879 Swedish Swedish
1998 Ben-Hur Lew Wallace 1880 American English
1140 Nana Émile Zola 1880 French French
73 The Portrait of a Lady Henry James 1881 American English
931 The House by the Medlar Tree Giovanni Verga 1881 Italian Italian
301 The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas Machado de Assis 1881 Brazilian Portuguese
491 Bouvard et Pécuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
115 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
1432 A Woman's Life Guy de Maupassant 1883 French French
349 The Death of Ivan Ilyich Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
583 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
386 La Regenta Clarín 1884 Spanish Spanish
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
1558 Marius the Epicurean Walter Pater 1885 British English
22 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1884 American English
356 Germinal Émile Zola 1885 French French
696 King Solomon's Mines H. Rider Haggard 1885 British English
1963 The Quest Frederik van Eeden 1887 Dutch Dutch
218 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
1665 The House of Ulloa Emilia Pardo Bazán 1886 Spanish Spanish
1516 The People of Hemsö August Strindberg 1887 Swedish Swedish
1396 Pierre et Jean Guy de Maupassant 1888 French French
1616 Under the Yoke Ivan Vazov 1888 Bulgarian Bulgarian
1482 Eline Vere Louis Couperus 1889 Dutch Dutch
209 Hunger Knut Hamsun 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
3324 By the Open Sea August Strindberg 1890 Swedish Swedish
1065 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
883 Thaïs Anatole France 1890 French French
1090 The Kreutzer Sonata Leo Tolstoy 1889 Russian Russian
89 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
1727 Down There J. K. Huysmans 1891 French French
117 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1891 British English
1072 Gösta Berling's Saga Selma Lagerlöf 1891 Swedish Swedish
606 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
980 News from Nowhere William Morris 1890 British English
205 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
946 The Diary of a Nobody George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith 1892 British English
1419 The Viceroys Federico De Roberto 1894 Italian Italian
287 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
338 Effi Briest Theodor Fontane 1895 German German
294 The Time Machine H. G. Wells 1895 British English
459 The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 1896 British English
385 Quo Vadis Henryk Sienkiewicz 1895 Polish Polish
53 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
1547 What Maisie Knew Henry James 1897 American English
3324 Compassion Benito Pérez Galdós 1897 Spanish Spanish
2558 Pharaoh Bolesław Prus 1895 Polish Polish
2355 The Fruits of the Earth André Gide 1897 French French
372 War of the Worlds H. G. Wells 1898 British English
1174 As A Man Grows Older Italo Svevo 1898 Italian Italian
632 Dom Casmurro Machado de Assis 1899 Brazilian Portuguese
271 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
785 The Stechlin Theodor Fontane 1898 German German
1664 Eclipse of the Crescent Moon Géza Gárdonyi 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
1611 Some Experiences Of An Irish R.M. E.Œ. Somerville, Martin Ross 1899 Irish English
3324 Sandokan Emilio Salgari 1883 Italian Italian
336 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
3324 None but the Brave Arthur Schnitzler 1895 Austrian German
247 Kim Rudyard Kipling 1901 British English
90 Buddenbrooks Thomas Mann 1901 German German
164 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
31 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 1899 British English
261 Wings of the Dove Henry James 1902 American English
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
831 Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers 1903 British English
230 The Call of the Wild Jack London 1903 American English
3324 Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Daniel Paul Schreber 1903 German German
450 Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 1903 British English
1116 Hadrian the Seventh Frederick Rolfe 1904 British English
283 Nostromo Joseph Conrad 1904 British English
217 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
1008 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1668 Solitude Caterina Albert 1905 Spanish Catalan
305 The Confusions of Young Törless Robert Musil 1906 Austrian German
246 The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy 1906 British English
183 The Jungle Upton Sinclair 1906 American English
470 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
764 Mother Maxim Gorky 1906 Russian Russian
662 The House On The Borderland And Other Novels William Hope Hodgson 1908 British English
390 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1908 British English
3324 Hell Henri Barbusse 1908 French French
289 A Room With a View E. M. Forster 1908 British English
1228 Strait is the Gate André Gide 1909 French French
398 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German