100 Books You Should Read Before You Die

Posted on by Shelby

In the early Noughties the BBC released a list of 100 books that were nominated for the nation’s favorite novel. Actually, I guess it would be “favourite”. Hahaha!

Anyway, I’ve decided to compile a list of 100 books I’ve found important/good reads during my quarter of a century on this earth in no particular order.

100 Books You Should Read Before You Die:

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  2. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  3. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
  4. Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
  5. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
  6. Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff
  7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  8. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  9. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
  10. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
  11. A Manuel for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
  12. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
  13. Irish Girl by Tim Johnston
  14. Tenth of December by George Saunders
  15. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
  16. The Cider House Rules by John Irving
  17. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
  18. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
  19. Smut by Alan Bennett
  20. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
  21. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  22. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
  23. Drown by Junot Diaz
  24. Girl, Interrupted by Suzanna Kaysen
  25. Don’t Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff
  26. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
  27. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
  28. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
  29. The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra
  30. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
  31. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
  32. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
  33. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  34. The Eden Express: A Memoir of Insanity by Mark Vonnegut
  35. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  36. Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson
  37. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
  38. Just Kids by Patti Smith
  39. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
  40. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  41. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
  42. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
  43. Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman
  44. The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
  45. American Housewife by Helen Ellis
  46. Little Birds by Anais Nin
  47. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
  48. Fried Green Tomatos at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
  49. Jenny and the Jaws of Life by Jincy Willett
  50. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  51. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
  52. Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
  53. The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
  54. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
  55. Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman
  56. The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
  57. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
  58. The History Boys by Alan Bennett
  59. Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff
  60. Holes by Louis Sachar
  61. The First Bad Man by Miranda July
  62. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
  63. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
  64. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
  65. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  66. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
  67. Beloved by Toni Morrison
  68. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  69. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
  70. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote by Truman Capote
  71. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
  72. The World According to Garp by John Irving
  73. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
  74. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
  75. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
  76. Choke by Chuck Palahnuik
  77. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
  78. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
  79. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
  80. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
  81. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  82. Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff
  83. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
  84. Mislaid by Nell Zink
  85. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
  86. The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
  87. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
  88. The Girls by Emma Cline
  89. Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody
  90. The Tao of Bill Murray by Gavin Edwards
  91. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
  92. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
  93. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
  94. Gonzo Girl by Cheryl Della Pietra
  95. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  96. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik
  97. The God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza
  98. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
  99. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
  100. On Beauty by Zadie Smith

I had a bit of a tough time completing this list. I tried not to duplicate authors, but it happened anyway. I also snuck a few plays in there as well, but whatever. It’s my list, and I can do what I want with it! Do you have any books you would like to add to this list? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it!

2 thoughts on “100 Books You Should Read Before You Die”

    1. Hi! This list isn’t in any real order. I just kind of went through my goodreads, and picked books I thought were important to read. I tried not to be biased and pick my personal favorite ones, but rather a good starting place for a particular author. For instance, I think Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle is a good book to start with, so it’s on the list. While Cat’s Cradle is a good book, my personal favorite Vonnegut is Bluebeard. They’re both on the list, but that’s because I was kind of grasping to finish it, and just thought what the hell? So what if I duplicate authors!

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