We’ve had polls about romances, about horror and thriller; we’ve asked for your favourite, your most hated and your most disappointing and we have lists of recommendations of Irish, Welsh and female authors to name just a few.
Our Social Media polls are a very popular aspect of what we do here at For Reading Addicts and now we have asked for your ultimate choice; that one novel that just has to be in the all time Top 50 Books everyone should read.
Lord of the Rings – J.R.R Tolkien
It was very close at the top but Tolkien’s Epic tale just snatched first place with 43 votes.
Harry Potter – J.K Rowling
The King (yes it is intentional) of modern day fantasy ran Tolkien a very close second, Harry Potter was just 2 votes behind.
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Orwell’s critically acclaimed novel of power crazed pigs and the oppression of the masses is in third place.
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
If you’re only going to release one novel in fifty years, then you won’t do much better than TKAMB.
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
A novel that so many of us hold dear, Markus Zusak’s tale of a young girl in war torn Germany is your choice for fifth.
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
It goes without saying that no ultimate literary top 50 would be complete without Elizabeth and Mr Darcy.
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde’s cautionary tale of vanity is in seventh place.
Gone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
Frankly my dear, 20 of you most definitely give a damn about Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War saga.
The Hobbit – J.R.R Tolkien
With The Hobbit being his second appearance in the top ten, J.R.R Tolkien really does know how to spin a tale.
Shakespeare
Completing our featured Top ten is Shakespeare, or rather the Complete Shakespeare which was the choice of 16 of you.
11. The Bible
12. Dracula – Bram Stoker
13. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
14. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
15. The Stand – Stephen King
16. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
17. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
18. Catcher in the Rye – J.D.Salinger (review)
19. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
20. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov (review)
And after the featured top 20, here we take the list to the full top 50:
The life-changing Magic of Tidying up – Marie Kondo
Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
Don Quixote – Miguel Cervantes
1984 – George Orwell
Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Complete Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables – L. M. Montgomery
The Dragonbone Chair – Tad Williams
IT – Stephen King
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Caroll
The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
Half of a Yellow Sun – Chiamanda Adichi
Chocolat – Joanne Harris
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
The Hiding Place – Corrie ten Boom
The Shining – Stephen King
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls
Watership Down – Richard Adams
Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
How many of For Reading Addict’s Ultimate Top 50 have you read?
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I find it hard to believe that The ragged trousered philanthropists didn’t make the cut. A life and mind changing book if ever there was one.
Hi.
I love these lists!! There is only ONE thing that would make them better (in my opinion) – if the list was available in a downloadable PDF!
Hope you consider it!!
Kindly,
Chrisann
Seriously? The crazy tidying lady who urges people to THROW AWAY BOOKS (madness, I tell you!) came in ahead of Gatsby?
…bangs head on keyboard in despair!!