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
17119 Operation Mincemeat Ben Macintyre 2010 British English
17119 Viking Britain Thomas Williams 2017 British English
17119 Spitfire John Nichol 2020 British English
17119 1,000 Years Of Annoying The French Stephen Clarke 2010 British English
17119 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
4366 Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain 2000 American English
113 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank 1947 Dutch Dutch
17119 And Away… Bob Mortimer 2021 British English
17119 Behind The Mask Tyson Fury 2019 British English
14983 Alex Ferguson Sir Alex Ferguson 2013 British English
17119 Red Notice Bill Browder 2015 American English
5033 I Feel Bad About My Neck Nora Ephron 2006 American English
17119 The Salt Path Raynor Winn 2018 British English
17119 Pele Pele 2006 Brazilian English
17119 Lady In Waiting Anne Glenconner 2019 British English
448 Homage to Catalonia George Orwell 1938 British English
2423 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 American English
1077 Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee 1959 British English
17119 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
10553 The Body Keeps The Score Bessel van der Kolk 2014 American English
17119 Good Vibes, Good Life Vex King 2018 British English
2076 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman 2011 Israeli English
10870 Invisible Women Caroline Criado Perez​​ 2019 British English
14983 Power Of Now Eckhart Tolle 1997 Canadian English
17119 Why Men Love Bitches Sherry Argov 2002 American English
6317 The Power Of Habit Charles Duhigg 2012 American English
14983 The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down Haemin Sunim 2012 Korean Korean
12868 Factfulness Hans Rosling 2018 Swedish English
14983 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
14892 The Intelligent Investor Benjamin Graham 1949 American English
17119 Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking Allen Carr 1985 British English
5640 Enlightenment Now Steven Pinker 2018 American English
17119 Otherlands Thomas Halliday 2022 British English
5778 Entangled Life Merlin Sheldrake 2020 British English
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
17119 Other Minds Peter Godfrey-Smith 2016 Australian English
14983 Humble Pi Matt Parker 2019 British English
14983 The Hidden Life Of Trees Peter Wohlleben 2015 German German
14983 The Body Bill Bryson 2019 American English
1122 A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking 1988 British English
17119 Wilding Isabella Tree 2018 British English
17119 Adventures Of A Young Naturalist Sir David Attenborough 2017 British English
14983 Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli 2015 Italian Italian
17119 The Rise And Fall Of The Dinosaurs Steven Brusatte 2018 American English
17119 Mudlarking Lara Maiklem 2019 British English
14323 How To Randall Munroe 2019 American English
1038 Cosmos Carl Sagan 1980 American English
2678 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
14983 Meadowland John Lewis-Stempel 2014 British English
17119 The Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen 2014 British English
17119 This Much Is True Miriam Margolyes 2021 British English
2115 Just Kids Patti Smith 2010 American English
1617 Ways Of Seeing John Berger 1972 British English
17119 Tall Tales And Wee Stories Bill Connolly 2019 Scottish English
14983 The Secret Lives Of Colour Kassia St. Clair 2016 British English
17119 Wall And Piece Banksy 2005 British English
17119 Playing To The Gallery Grayson Perry 2014 British English
8889 Chronicles Bob Dylan 2004 American English
14232 How Music Works David Byrne 2012 American English
14983 Me Elton John 2019 British English
14983 The Beauty Of Everyday Things Soetsu Yanagi 2019 Japanese Japanese
14983 Scar Tissue Anthony Kiedis 2004 American English
5844 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
17119 Art Matters Neil Gaiman 2018 British English
17119 Why Your Five Year Old Could Not Have Done That Susie Hodge 2012 British English
17119 Caravaggio Andrew Graham Dixon 2010 British English
14983 Cash Johnny Cash 1997 American English
17119 The Good, The Bad, And The Multiplex Mark Kermode 2011 British English
1388 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
2880 Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book One Rick Riordan 2005 American English
4655 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
1346 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
17119 Rooftoppers Katherine Rundell 2013 British English
3923 Wonder R. J. Palacio 2012 American English
5230 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
17119 How To Train Your Dragon Cressida Cowell 2003 British English
2170 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
2486 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
3150 A Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Lemony Snicket 1999 American English
8993 Inkheart Cornelia Funke 2003 German German
2987 Eragon Christopher Paolini 2002 American English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
15897 Gobbolino The Witch's Cat Ursula Williams 1942 British English
1548 Tom's Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce 1958 British English
6130 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
115 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
2436 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
2080 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English