My favourite books of all time. These 200 books would be worth anyone’s time to read. It’s personal: it’s just my opinion and my only qualification to write this list is that I love books. It’s provisional: the list changes all the time. New books come come in. Old books get reread and re-evaluated. I change. The world changes. The list changes. What doesn’t change is that every one of the books on these lists are superb (in my provisional and personal opinion).
Top 200
Not every book on the top 200 list is an easy read. Not every book on this list has universal literary merit. Not every book on this list is well written. But I love each and every one of them, in their own special way.
At the time of writing there are 139 fiction type books split into these genres
- 42 Science Fiction
- 25 Contemporary Fiction
- 24 Literary Fiction
- 16 Fantasy
- 12 Historical Fiction
- 9 Romance
- 4 Women’s Fiction
- 3 Thrillers
- 2 Graphic Novels
- 2 Poetry Collections
And the rest are non-fiction, split into these categories
- 15 Religion
- 15 Biography
- 7 Science
- 6 Psychology
- 5 History
- 3 Philosophy
- 3 Business
- 3 Politics
- 3 Essay Collections
- 1 Travel
The large number of science fiction books reflects my love of fifties and sixties sci-fi. I read a lot less sci-fi now. Increasingly it’s contemporary and romantic fiction, with historical and literary fiction thrown in.
Top 50
Every book on the top 50 list is either hugely enjoyable, personally significant or wonderfully thought provoking. Many of them are all three.
Top 10
It was super difficult to winnow out all the books I’ve read into the final top 10. Many superb books were left out, and I’m still undecided about the list – I suspect I’ll be tinkering around with it for months, if not years. What I’m not undecided about is how amazing each book on this list is. They are timely, touching and have stayed with me long after I’ve read (and reread) them. All highly highly recommended.
