70 Classic Booker Prize-Nominated Novels, Recommended by our Readers

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Booker Prize Library Readers, 70 Books

The Booker Library's list of must-read classics, as selected by its newsletter subscribers and social media followers, highlights the enduring appeal of books that have been nominated for the Booker Prize since its inception in 1969. These books, described as classics by journalist and author Italo Calvino, are notable for their ability to continually communicate new ideas and insights. The selected titles, drawn from over 600 nominated works, range from intimate stories to epic narratives, demonstrating a depth that rewards multiple readings and leaves a lasting impression on readers. This curated selection includes both bestsellers and lesser-known treasures, providing a comprehensive guide through the historical and contemporary highlights of the Booker Prize nominations.

This list was originally published in 2024 and was added to this site about 2 years ago.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
1390 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
6365 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 1987 British English
14667 Sacred Hunger Barry Unsworth 1992 British English
549 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
1549 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
2919 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel 2012 British English
2413 Loitering With Intent Muriel Spark 1981 British English
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
644 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
17152 The Fishermen Chigozie Obioma 2015 Nigerian English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
255 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
132 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood 1985 Canadian English
14985 Every Man for Himself Beryl Bainbridge 1996 British English
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
2184 In a Free State V. S. Naipaul 1971 Trinidadian English
5339 Days Without End Sebastian Barry 2016 Irish English
2067 How Late It Was, How Late James Kelman 1994 Scottish English
1743 Life & Times of Michael K J. M. Coetzee 1983 South African English
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
64 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie 1981 Indian English
1765 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
266 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 British English
3130 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
5997 Paradise Abdulrazak Gurnah 1994 British English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
1028 Schindler's List Thomas Keneally 1982 Australian English
7757 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
2357 The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe 1992 Irish English
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
17152 The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald 1978 British English
1145 The Bone People Keri Hulme 1984 New Zealand English
5992 The Children's Book A. S. Byatt 2009 British English
3808 Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner 1984 British English
1144 A Month In The Country J. L. Carr 1980 British English
14985 The Enchantress of Florence Salman Rushdie 2008 British English
5737 The Ghost Road Pat Barker 1995 British English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
359 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy 1997 Indian English
2714 The Narrow Road to the Deep North Matsuo Bashō 1684 Japanese Japanese
663 The Siege of Krishnapur J. G. Farrell 1973 British English
3065 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
2967 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
14985 Bewilderment Richard Powers 2021 British English
1505 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
454 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978 British English
6986 The Testaments Margaret Atwood 2019 Canadian English
1569 Empire of the Sun J. G. Ballard 1984 British English
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
2518 Rites of Passage William Golding 1980 British English
6151 The Thousand Autumns Of Jacob De Zoet David Mitchell 2010 British English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
2958 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
8346 Swing Time Zadie Smith 2016 British English
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
2367 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
6906 Washington Black Esi Edugyan 2018 Canadian English
2973 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
1552 Waterland Graham Swift 1983 British English
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
4682 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
15910 Ending Up Kingsley Amis 1974 British English