CRĪ timeless plea for justice in the setting of America’s racist South during the depression years, Lee’s novel caused a sensation.
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First written in serial form, you barely have time to recover from one cliffhanger before the next one beckons, all told in Dickens’ luxuriant, humorous, heartfelt prose. Great Expectations is the roiling tale of the orphaned Pip, the lovely Estella, and the thwarted Miss Havisham. CHĭickens was the social conscience of the Victorian age, but don’t let that put you off. As atmospheric, psychological horror it just gets darker and darker. There she meets the housekeeper Mrs Danvers, formerly devoted to Rebecca, who proceeds to torment her. The second Mrs de Winter is the narrator of Du Maurier’s marvellously gothic tale about a young woman who replaces the deceased Rebecca as wife to the wealthy Maxim de Winter and mistress of the Manderley estate. Our hero, Winston, tries to resist a grey world where a screen watches your every move, but bravery is ultimately futile when the state worms its way inside your mind. Orwell was interested in the mechanics of totalitarianism, imagining a society that took the paranoid surveillance of the Soviets to chilling conclusions. But forget TV’s Big Brother or the trite travesty of Room 101: the original has lost none of its furious force. The ultimate piece of dystopian fiction, 1984 was so prescient that it’s become a cliché.
He wrote in English and took the title of his novel from a Yeats poem, but wove Igbo proverbs throughout this lyrical work.
By the time Achebe was born in 1930, missionaries had been settled in his village for decades. The main character, warrior-like Okonkwo, embodies the traditional values that are ultimately doomed. CHĪ classic exposé of colonialism, Achebe’s novel explores what happens to a Nigerian village when European missionaries arrive. From the overwhelming poverty experienced by Charlie Bucket and his family, to the spoilt, greedy, brattish children who join Charlie on his trip to Willy Wonka’s phantasmagorical sweet factory there is nothing artificially sweetened in Roald Dahl’s startling work of fantasy.
Harry Potter may be more popular, but Willy Wonka is altogether weirder. Ĭharlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
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Start your 30-day Audible trial and get this audiobook for free here. Beyond the majestic poetry and the pimples, there’s also a sharp satire of Thatcherist Britain. No one has lampooned the self-absorption, delusions of grandeur and sexual frustration of adolescence as brilliantly as Sue Townsend, and no one ever will. Read this one when you’re decrepit enough, and chances are you’ll die laughing. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend The 42 best films to watch while you’re self-isolating.The 40 best albums to listen to while you’re self-isolating.15 best podcasts to listen to while you’re self-isolating.Otherwise, decide what the best book of all time is by voting up what you think is a worthy choice. It's up to you to vote on or even add a book that isn't on this list. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, Thomas Pynchon's Gravity Rainbow and Stephen King's The Waste Lands are on here. That's not to say that modern books are neglected, in fact, they're well represented as well. Anything should not be on here.Ĭlassics like Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath are all on here and deservedly so as they've stood the test of the time and have become important pieces of literature.
The one criteria on this list is that we are only taking fiction books into account. For as long as books have been around, there has been debate amongst book enthusiasts over what truly is the best book ever. You can make the case for many books to be on this list, but only a few can be considered the best novel ever written. This is the ultimate list of the best novels of all time, which is based on influence, originality, popularity, and personal affections.