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What books are currently the most popular and which are the all time classics? Here we present you with a mixture of those two criteria. We update this list once a month.
Gottfried Keller
Inspired by the suicides of two real-life sweethearts, this impassioned novel evokes the overwhelming beauty of young love and nature but is ultimately pessimistic about the possibility of such beauty surviving in the real world. Although it attracted controversy when it was …
Franz Kafka
The Blue Octavo Notebooks is a series of eight notebooks written by Franz Kafka from late 1917 until June 1919. The name was given to them by Max Brod, Kafka's literary executor, to differentiate them from the regular quarto-sized notebooks Kafka used as diaries. Along with the …
Joseph Roth
Confession of a Murderer details the interior life of a man consumed by jealousy and hatred. In a Russian restaurant on Paris's Left Bank, Russian exile Golubchik alternately fascinates and horrifies a rapt audience with a wild story of collaboration, deception, and murder in …
William S. Burroughs
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz is a closet screenplay by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs, first published in 1970. Based upon the life of 1930s German-Jewish-American gangster Dutch Schultz, the novel uses as its springboard Schultz's surreal last words, which were …
Susan Sontag
Under the Sign of Saturn is Susan Sontag's third collection of criticism, comprising seven essays. The collection was originally published in 1980. All of the essays were originally published in The New York Review of Books except for "Approaching Artaud," which was originally …
Andrew McGahan
Underground is a novel by Australian author Andrew McGahan. It is set in a near-future right-wing governed Australia.
Robert Reed
Beyond the Veil of Stars is a science-fiction novel by Robert Reed, first published in 1994. It describes a world in which the sky undergoes a transformation that prevents people from seeing the stars, giving them instead a view of the other side of the world, as if the Earth …
Isaac Asimov
The Best of Isaac Asimov is a collection of twelve science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. It begins with a short introduction giving various details on the stories, such as how they came to be written, or what significance merits their inclusion in a "best of" …
Paul Samuelson
Economics is an influential introductory textbook by American economists Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus. It was first published in 1948, and has appeared in nineteen different editions, the most recent in 2010. It was the best selling economics textbook for many decades and …
A. E. van Vogt
The Universe Maker is a science fiction novel by American author A.E. van Vogt, published in 1953 by Ace Books. It takes place 400 years into the future. The main character is Morton Cargill, a U.S. army officer who served in the Korean War.
Philip K. Dick
The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike is a realist, non-science fiction novel authored by Philip K. Dick. Originally completed in 1960, this book was initially rejected by potential publishers, and posthumously published by a small press in 1984, two years after Dick's …
Robert Silverberg
A Time of Changes is a 1971 science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg. It won the Nebula Award for that year, and was also nominated for the Hugo and Locus Awards for in 1972.
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Galíndez is a novel by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, published in 1991 that centres on a real, dramatic and dark episode of the history of the Dominican Republic: the kidnapping, torturing and murdering of Jesús de Galíndez in 1956, representative of the Basque government in exile …
Anthony Trollope
Ralph the Heir is a novel by Anthony Trollope, originally published in 1871. Although Trollope described it as "one of the worst novels I have written", it was well received by contemporary critics. More recently, readers have found it noteworthy for its account of a corrupt …
Hans Hellmut Kirst
The Night of the Generals: A Novel is the 15th novel by the German writer Hans Hellmut Kirst, published in 1962.
Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a …
Karl Marx
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 are a series of notes written between April and August 1844 by Karl Marx. Not published by Marx during his lifetime, they were first released in 1927 by researchers in the Soviet Union.
William S. Burroughs
Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs is a collection of diary entries made by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs between November 16, 1996 and July 30, 1997, only a few days before his death on August 2 at the age of 83. The collection was first …
Myra Friedman
Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin is a book written by Myra Friedman.
Michael P. Kube-McDowell
Emprise is a book published in 1985 that was written by Michael P. Kube-McDowell.
John Barnes
View our feature on John Barnes’s Directive 51. The first book in a new post-apocalyptic trilogy from "a master of the genre" Heather O'Grainne is the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Future Threat Assessment, investigating rumors surrounding something called "Daybreak." …
Avinash Dixit
Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life is a non-fiction book by Indian-American economist Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff, a professor of economics and management at Yale School of Management. The text was initially published by W. …
Harry Turtledove
Curious Notions is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is a part of the Crosstime Traffic series. In Curious Notions, the Central Powers won World War I prior to the United States entering the war. Subsequently, the German Empire invaded and conquered the United …
Michael Moorcock
The Land Leviathan is a sci-fi/alternate history novel by Michael Moorcock, first published in 1974. Originally subtitled A New Scientific Romance, it has been seen as an early steampunk novel, dealing with an alternative British Imperial history dominated by airships and …
Jane Mendelsohn
Innocence is a 2000 bestselling horror novel by Jane Mendelsohn. It was first released on 28 August, 2000 through Riverhead Books and follows a teen girl as she discovers that a pack of Lamias are out to use her blood in an attempt to retain their immortality and beauty. A film …
Jeffery Deaver
Death of a Blue Movie Star is a novel by crime writer Jeffery Deaver. First published in 1988, it is the second book in the Rune Trilogy.
Augusto Roa Bastos
I, the Supreme is a historical novel written by exiled Paraguayan author Augusto Roa Bastos. It is a fictionalized account of the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who was also known as "Dr. Francia." The book's title derives from the fact …
Carlos Fuentes
Where the Air Is Clear is a 1958 novel by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. His first novel, it became an "instant classic" and made Fuentes into an immediate "literary sensation". The novel's success allowed Fuentes to leave his job as a diplomat and become a full-time author. The …
Robert Coover
The Origin of the Brunists is Robert Coover's first novel. It tells the story of Giovanni Bruno, the lone survivor of a mine disaster that killed 97 of his co-workers, and the apocalyptic cult that forms around him. The main action of the novel is set in and around the fictional …
Tom Wolfe
Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine is a 1976 book by Tom Wolfe, consisting of eleven essays and one short story that Wolfe wrote between 1967 and 1976. It includes the essay in which he coined the term "the 'Me' Decade" to refer to the 1970s. In addition to the …
Joseph Heywood
The Berkut is a 1987 secret history novel by Joseph Heywood in which Adolf Hitler survives World War II. It is set in the period immediately after the fall of The Third Reich. This book pits a German colonel and a Russian soldier from a secret organization against each other. …
Joe Garner
We Interrupt This Broadcast is the title of a non-fiction book from 1998. It was written by Joe Garner; the foreword was written by the veteran American newscaster Walter Cronkite. In addition to many descriptions and pictures of notable news events from the 20th century, …
Whitley Strieber
Billy is a 1990 novel by Whitley Strieber. The novel tells the story of the abduction of a child and the terror of his experience.
George MacDonald Fraser
Mr American is a 1980 novel by George MacDonald Fraser who described it as longer and more "conventional" than his usual work.
Siegfried Kracauer
From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film is a book by film critic and writer Siegfried Kracauer, published in 1947. The book is considered one of the first major studies of German film between World War I and World War II. Among other things, the book …
G. K. Chesterton
The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond is G. K. Chesterton's final collection of detective stories, published after his death in 1936. Of the eight mysteries, seven were first printed in the Storyteller magazine. The Unmentionable Man was unique to the book. The stories revolve around a …
John Barth
LETTERS is an epistolary novel by the American writer John Barth, published in 1979. It consists of a series of letters in which Barth and the characters of his other books interact. In addition to the Author and Germaine Pitt, the correspondents are: Todd Andrews, Jacob Horner, …
James Baldwin
Blues for Mister Charlie is James Baldwin's second play, a tragedy in three acts. It was first produced and published in 1964. It is dedicated to the memory of Medgar Evers, and his widow and his children, and to the memory of the dead children of Birmingham." The play is …
Katherine Paterson
The Sign of the Chrysanthemum is a 1973 work of literature that was the first published work by the U.S. novelist Katherine Paterson. The novel is set in 12th century Japan and tells the story of Muna, a 14-year-old who searches for his long-absent father following his mother’s …
Ann Rinaldi
A Ride into Morning is a historical novel by Ann Rinaldi. It is part of the Great Episodes series. It is told in first-person narration.
Padraic Colum
The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles is a children's book by Padraic Colum, a retelling of Greek myths. The book, illustrated by Willy Pogany, was first published in 1921 and was a Newbery Honor recipient in 1922. The central myth retold is that of Jason …
James Gould Cozzens
Guard of Honor is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by James Gould Cozzens published during 1948. The novel is set during World War II, with most of the action occurring on or near a fictional Army Air Forces base in central Florida. The action occurs during a period of …
Danielle Steel
In her 53rd bestselling novel, Danielle Steel explores how a single shattering moment can change lives forever. The Kiss is at once a moving testament to the fragility of life and a breathtaking story about the power of love to heal, to free, to transform, and to make broken …
Margaret Kennedy
The Constant Nymph is a 1924 novel by Margaret Kennedy. It tells how a teenage girl falls in love with a family friend, who eventually marries her cousin. The two girls show mutual jealousy over their common love for the man. The novel was a best-seller after it was first …
Robert Cormier
In the Middle of the Night is a young adult suspense novel by Robert Cormier. It was published in 1995.
Robin Klein
Came Back to Show You I Could Fly is a novel by Robin Klein. It tells the story of a friendship between a lonely 11-year-old boy and a drug-addicted, pregnant 20-year-old woman. It was made into a film in 1993 called Say a Little Prayer, directed by Richard Lowenstein. It was …
Gary D. Schmidt
First Boy is a children's novel published in 2005 by Gary Schmidt. It was a Mark Twain Award nominee for the 2007–2008 year.
Philip K. Dick
Paycheck is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. Although the collection appears with a 2003 copyright, it was first published by Gollancz in February, 2004. Many of the stories had originally appeared in the magazines Imagination, Startling Stories, …
Poul Anderson
Hrolf Kraki's Saga is a fantasy novel by Poul Anderson. It was first published by Ballantine Books as the sixty-second volume of the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in October, 1973, and has been reprinted a number of times since. The novel was nominated for the …
David Malouf
Fly Away Peter is a 1982 novel by Australian author David Malouf. It won The Age Book of the Year award in 1982, and is often studied at senior level in Australian high schools.
Philip K. Dick
The Golden Man is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Berkley Books in 1980. The stories had originally appeared in the magazines If, Galaxy Science Fiction, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Worlds of Tomorrow, Science Fiction Stories, …
Franklin W. Dixon
What Happened at Midnight is Volume 10 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap. This book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by Leslie McFarlane in 1931. Between 1959 and 1973 the first 38 volumes of this series were systematically …
Enid Blyton
The Naughtiest Girl Is a Monitor is a children's novel by Enid Blyton published in 1945, the third in The Naughtiest Girl series of novels.
Jack Kerouac
Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings is an anthology of American Beat writer Jack Kerouac's early work, published by Viking Press in 1999. It includes writings from Kerouac's high school years, poetry, short stories, essays and other previously unpublished works. …
Peter O'Donnell
The Silver Mistress is the title of an action-adventure novel by Peter O'Donnell which was first published in the United Kingdom in 1973. It was the seventh book of adventures featuring O'Donnell's comic strip heroine, Modesty Blaise.
Will Eisner
Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative is a 1996 book by American cartoonist Will Eisner that provides an formal overview of comics. It is a companion to his earlier book Comics and Sequential Art.
Yukihiro Matsumoto
Ruby is an absolutely pure object-oriented scripting language written in C and designed with Perl and Python capabilities in mind. While its roots are in Japan, Ruby is slowly but surely gaining ground in the US. The goal of Yukihiro Matsumoto, creator of Ruby and author of this …
Jack Vance
To Live Forever is a science fiction novel by Jack Vance, first published in 1956. In the Vance Integral Edition, it was retitled Clarges.
Robert J. Sawyer
Foreigner is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, originally published in 1994 by Ace Books. It is the final book of the Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy, following Far-Seer and Fossil Hunter. The book depicts an Earth-like world on a moon which orbits a …
William McIlvanney
Laidlaw is the first novel of a series of crime books by William McIlvanney, first published in 1977. It features the eponymous detective in his attempts to find the brutal sex related murderer of a Glasgow teenager. Laidlaw is marked by his unconventional methods in tracking …
Steven Millhauser
In the Penny Arcade is one of seven short stories written by Steven Millhauser and published in 1986. These seven short stories were previously published in the early 1980s in venues such as the New Yorker, Grand Street, Antaeus, and the Hudson Review. Like Mr. Millhauser's two …
Eric Frank Russell
The Great Explosion is a satirical science fiction novel by Eric Frank Russell, first published in 1962. The story is divided into three sections. The final section is based on Russell's famous 1951 short story "...And Then There Were None." Twenty-three years after the novel …
Katherine Roberts
Song Quest is a fantasy novel by Katherine Roberts. It is the first book in The Echorium Sequence followed by Crystal Mask and Dark Quetzal. The novel was first published in 1999 by Chicken House as a hardback copy; later on in 2001, the first paperback was published. Song Quest …
Ekaterina Sedia
Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy is a 2008 speculative fiction anthology edited by Ekaterina Sedia.
Katherine Roberts
Spellfall is a fantasy novel by Katherine Roberts, published on 19 October 2000 by The Chicken House and aimed at pre-teens.
Roger Zelazny
The Mask of Loki is an epic science fiction/fantasy novel by Roger Zelazny and Thomas T. Thomas, detailing a centuries long struggle between the avatars of Loki and Ahriman.
Desmond Bagley
The Vivero Letter is a first-person narrative novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published in 1968. It was also made into a film in 1998 of the same name starring Robert Patrick and Chiara Caselli.
Desmond Bagley
Wyatt's Hurricane is a third person narrative thriller novel by English author Desmond Bagley, first published in 1966.
Eleanor Cameron
Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet is the second in the series of Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron, and was published in 1956, two years after the original. This children's book is set in a beach community in California, as well as on a tiny, habitable moon -- "Basidium"—in …
Leo Marx
The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America is a 1964 work of literary criticism written by Leo Marx and published by Oxford University Press. The title of the book refers to a trope in American literature representing the interruption of pastoral …
Anne Isaacs
Swamp Angel is a book written by Anne Isaacs and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky.
Mary Ann Hoberman
A House is a House for Me is a book written by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Betty Fraser.
Jack Vance
Lurulu is a science fiction adventure novel by Jack Vance, the followup to Ports of Call. It continues to follow Myron Tany on a picaresque journey through the Gaean Reach.
Nathalie Mallet
The Princes of the Golden Cage is Nathalie Mallet’s debut novel; the first installment in The Prince Amir Mystery series. It is a fantasy/mystery; however this novel has also been classified as historical fantasy, which is a subgenre of fantasy. The second book in the series, …
Roddy Doyle
The Dead Republic: A Novel is a 2010 novel by Irish author Roddy Doyle which concluded The Last Roundup trilogy. The first book in the trilogy was A Star Called Henry, and the second was Oh, Play That Thing!.
Ann M. Martin
Belle Teal is a novel written by Ann M. Martin in 2001. It tells the story of Belle Teal Harper, her mother Adele, her grandmother Belle Teal Rhodes, and their friends and community. Belle teal is now going into 5th grade, and this year is very special. she is going to have the …
Spider Robinson
Starmind is a science fiction novel by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson. It first appeared as a four-part serial in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1994, and in book form the following year.
Hal Fulton
The Ruby Way takes a “how-to” approach to Ruby programming with the bulk of the material consisting of more than 400 examples arranged by topic. Each example answers the question “How do I do this in Ruby?” Working along with the author, you are presented with the task …
Robin Cook
The Year of the Intern, the first novel by Robin Cook and very different from his thrillers, follows the journey of intern Dr. Peters through his year of placement.
David Gerrold
Jumping Off the Planet is a novella written by David Gerrold.
Amy Grant
One of America’s most popular music artists shares beautiful pieces of an unforgettable human mosaic, revealing pieces of a life in progress.With her unmistakable voice and honest lyrics, Amy Grant has captured a unique place in American music. As the bestselling Christian music …
Peter Goldsworthy
Three Dog Night is a 2003 novel by Australian author Peter Goldsworthy.
Jorge Amado
The War of the Saints is a Brazilian Modernist novel. It was written by Jorge Amado in 1988 and published in English in 1993, with a translation by Gregory Rabassa. The English version was first published in paperback in 1995. The novel, which takes place within a period of 48 …
Hugh Lofting
The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts, written and illustrated by Hugh Lofting, is the first of his Doctor Dolittle books, a series of children's novels about a man who learns to talk to animals …
Alejandro Casona
La dama del alba is a Spanish play, very popular in its own country, written by playwright Alejandro Casona in 1944. It is a fantasy-drama in which Death personified is the main character. It takes place in a small village in the Spanish Principality of Asturias. The play …
Toni Cade Bambara
The Salt Eaters is a 1980 novel, the first such work by Toni Cade Bambara. The novel is written in an experimental style and is explicitly political in tone, with several of the characters being veterans of the civil rights, feminist, and anti-war movements of the 1960s and …
W. E. B. Griffin
The Soldier Spies is a book published in 1986 that was written by W. E. B. Griffin.
David Zindell
The War in Heaven is a book published in 1998 that was written by David Zindell.
Nora Roberts
A story of misplaced expectations and unexpected passion from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts.For a change of pace, renowned anthropologist Kasey Wyatt takes a job working for bestselling author Jordan Taylor, who needs helps researching his latest novel about …
Erin Hunter
The Rise of Scourge is an original English-language manga book written by Erin Hunter and Dan Jolley as part of the Warriors series. The Rise of Scourge is a stand-alone manga that details the rise to power of the BloodClan leader, Scourge. It is drawn by Bettina Kurkoski.
H. B. Gilmour
Identical twins. Separated at birth. For one very good reason . . . Camryn Barnes Smart, upbeat and popular, Cam is all about friends, family, school, and soccer. She¹s best of breed all around. Except for one bone-chilling secret. Cam sees things happening before they happen. …
Francine Rivers
2009 Retailer's Choice Award winner!In this compilation of the five books in the best-selling Lineage of Grace series by Francine Rivers, we meet the five women whom God chose—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Each was faced with extraordinary—even scandalous—challenges. …
Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale …
Piers Anthony
Pet Peeve is the twenty-ninth book of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
Jacqueline Wilson
Worry Website is a popular children's novel written in 2002 by Jacqueline Wilson.
Friedrich Torberg
This is Friedrich Torberg's tribute to the largely Jewish coffeehouse world that flourished in Vienna amidst the afterglow of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its final collapse in 1938. Based on Torberg's personal memories of intellectuals and eccentrics of the time, including …
Francisco Coloane
"These stories, well translated from the Spanish, describe the severe beauty and cruelty of southern Chile—cold, inhospitable, full of craggy, treacherous channels—the end of the world. As in Jack London’s stories, the environment forms a crucible in which man’s true—or perhaps …
Guillermo Arriaga
From the award-winning, internationally acclaimed screenwriter of Amores perros, 21 Grams, and Babel, A Sweet Scent of Death is Guillermo Arriaga's tale of deception, passion, and violence fused together by the tragic killing of a young girl in a small Mexican village. Early …
Peter Stamm
Agnes asks her lover to write about her. As she sits for him, he begins to write everything that had happened to them, from the time they met at the Chicago Public Library. Soon the borders of fiction and non-fiction start to strain, as Agnes finds they remember events …
Jack Heath
The Lab is Australian writer Jack Heath's debut novel, first released as a paperback in 2006. Jack Heath started writing The Lab when he was 13 and attending Lyneham High School. Jack started writing The Lab to impress a girl at school who liked reading. He finished the first …
Larry Heinemann
Paco Sullivan is the only man in Alpha Company to survive a cataclysmic Viet Cong attack on Fire Base Harriette in Vietnam. Everyone else is annihilated. When a medic finally rescues Paco almost two days later, he is waiting to die, flies and maggots covering his burnt, …
Alex Capus
A little known backwater of the history of the Great War is vividly rendered by a great story-teller - the central characters and events of this book are based on fact, but their surroundings and experiences are richly drawn from the author's imagination and detailed research.
Sigmund Freud
This remarkable book takes as its subject one of the most outstanding men that ever lived. The ultimate prodigy, Leonardo da Vinci was an artist of great originality and power, a scientist, and a powerful thinker. According to Sigmund Freud, he was also a flawed, repressed …
Friedrich Hölderlin
Hyperion is a novel by Friedrich Hölderlin first published in 1797 and 1799. The full title is Hyperion oder Der Eremit in Griechenland. The work is composed of letters from Hyperion to his friend Bellarmin, along with a few letters between Hyperion and his love Diotima. It is …
Peter Sloterdijk
Critique of Cynical Reason is a book by the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, published in 1983 in two volumes under the German title Kritik der zynischen Vernunft. It discusses philosophical Cynicism and popular cynicism as a societal phenomenon in European history. In the …
Beatrix Potter
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter and first published by Frederick Warne & Co. in December 1918. The tale is based on the Aesop fable, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse", with details taken from Horace's Satires …