The Books You've Always Meant to Read

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

About this list

Waterstones, 229 Books

That classic you're too embarrassed to admit you've never read? That doorstopper of a read still propping up one leg of your bed? You're amongst friends! Make good all your bookish ambitions with our guide to the essential additions to your home library - the best books you've never read.

This list was originally published in 2020 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
558 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Alexander Brown 1970 American English
17173 Operation Mincemeat Ben Macintyre 2010 British English
17173 Viking Britain Thomas Williams 2017 British English
17173 Spitfire John Nichol 2020 British English
17173 1,000 Years Of Annoying The French Stephen Clarke 2010 British English
17173 Black And British David Olusoga 2016 British English
521 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou 1969 American English
1995 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
4367 Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain 2000 American English
112 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank 1947 Dutch Dutch
17173 And Away… Bob Mortimer 2021 British English
17173 Behind The Mask Tyson Fury 2019 British English
14986 Alex Ferguson Sir Alex Ferguson 2013 British English
17173 Red Notice Bill Browder 2015 American English
5036 I Feel Bad About My Neck Nora Ephron 2006 American English
17173 The Salt Path Raynor Winn 2018 British English
17173 Pele Pele 2006 Brazilian English
17173 Lady In Waiting Anne Glenconner 2019 British English
448 Homage to Catalonia George Orwell 1938 British English
2425 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 American English
1077 Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee 1959 British English
17173 Airhead Emily Maitlis 2019 British English
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
14232 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
7148 Atomic Habits James Clear 2018 American English
313 Meditations Marcus Aurelius 161 Roman Greek
10558 The Body Keeps The Score Bessel van der Kolk 2014 American English
17173 Good Vibes, Good Life Vex King 2018 British English
2077 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman 2011 Israeli English
10876 Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez​​ 2019 British English
14986 Power Of Now Eckhart Tolle 1997 Canadian English
17173 Why Men Love Bitches Sherry Argov 2002 American English
6320 The Power Of Habit Charles Duhigg 2012 American English
14986 The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down Haemin Sunim 2012 Korean Korean
12870 Factfulness Hans Rosling 2018 Swedish English
14986 In Search Of Schrodinger's Cat John Gribbin 1984 British English
1011 Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
3233 Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner 2005 American English
14898 The Intelligent Investor Benjamin Graham 1949 American English
17173 Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking Allen Carr 1985 British English
5643 Enlightenment Now Steven Pinker 2018 American English
17173 Otherlands Thomas Halliday 2022 British English
5781 Entangled Life Merlin Sheldrake 2020 British English
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
17173 Other Minds Peter Godfrey-Smith 2016 Australian English
14986 Humble Pi Matt Parker 2019 British English
14986 The Hidden Life Of Trees Peter Wohlleben 2015 German German
14986 The Body Bill Bryson 2019 American English
1122 A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking 1988 British English
17173 Wilding Isabella Tree 2018 British English
17173 Adventures Of A Young Naturalist Sir David Attenborough 2017 British English
14986 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
17173 The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs Steven Brusatte 2018 American English
17173 Mudlarking Lara Maiklem 2019 British English
14324 How To Randall Munroe 2019 American English
1038 Cosmos Carl Sagan 1980 American English
2679 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
14986 Meadowland John Lewis-Stempel 2014 British English
17173 The Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen 2014 British English
17173 This Much Is True Miriam Margolyes 2021 British English
2116 Just Kids Patti Smith 2010 American English
1617 Ways Of Seeing John Berger 1972 British English
17173 Tall Tales And Wee Stories Bill Connolly 2019 Scottish English
14986 The Secret Lives Of Colour Kassia St. Clair 2016 British English
17173 Wall And Piece Banksy 2005 British English
17173 Playing To The Gallery Grayson Perry 2014 British English
8894 Chronicles Bob Dylan 2004 American English
14232 How Music Works David Byrne 2012 American English
14986 Me Elton John 2019 British English
14986 The Beauty Of Everyday Things Soetsu Yanagi 2019 Japanese Japanese
14986 Scar Tissue Anthony Kiedis 2004 American English
5847 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
17173 Art Matters Neil Gaiman 2018 British English
17173 Why Your Five Year Old Could Not Have Done That Susie Hodge 2012 British English
17173 Caravaggio Andrew Graham Dixon 2010 British English
14986 Cash Johnny Cash 1997 American English
17173 The Good, The Bad, And The Multiplex Mark Kermode 2011 British English
1388 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
2881 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
4656 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
1346 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
17173 Rooftoppers Katherine Rundell 2013 British English
3922 Wonder R. J. Palacio 2012 American English
5232 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
17173 How To Train Your Dragon Cressida Cowell 2003 British English
2172 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
2488 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
3150 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
8998 Inkheart Cornelia Funke 2003 German German
2988 Eragon Christopher Paolini 2002 American English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
15921 Gobbolino The Witch's Cat Ursula Williams 1942 British English
1548 Tom's Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce 1958 British English
6133 The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson 1991 British English
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
224 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
814 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
340 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 1900 American English
508 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
114 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
102 Charlotte's Web E. B. White 1952 American English
136 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 1908 British English
2438 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
867 Heidi Johanna Spyri 1881 Swiss German
1247 The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 British English
2081 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English