The 10 Greatest Books Ever Written

Creating a list like this is no small feat, but thankfully, Norton (the creators of the Norton Anthologies) asked 125 of the most distinguished living writers to pick their top 10. Using their selections and some statistical analysis, they compiled a definitive list of the greatest books in history. I wholeheartedly agree with the majority of the choices. Here are the 10 greatest fictional works ever written – if you haven’t read them yet, now is the time.

10. Middlemarch George Eliot

Middlemarch is widely regarded by scholars as one of the crowning achievements of Victorian literature. Written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Anne Evans), it was first serialized between 1871 and 1872. Set in the 1830s in the fictional town of Middlemarch, a provincial English setting inspired by Coventry, the novel remains a landmark work.

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Anton Chekhov was a renowned Russian writer and playwright born in Taganrog, southern Russia, on January 29, 1860. His innovative approach is characterized by an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, which would later influence authors like Virginia Woolf and other modernists, alongside his rejection of the conventional moral conclusions typical of traditional storytelling.

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I recognize the immense artistic value in Proust's writing, but I must admit that I have never been able to get past the halfway point of the first book in this multi-part series. I found it excessively slow and, frankly, quite dull. Known for its length and its deep dive into the concept of involuntary memory, Proust’s masterpiece is most famous for the 'madeleine episode,' where he describes in painstaking detail the experience of dipping a madeleine into tea—a moment many readers find, well, tedious.

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I fully support the inclusion of this book—it's one of my personal favorites and a prime example of Fitzgerald’s literary brilliance. Set during the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby tells the story of the enigmatic and wealthy Jay Gatsby, whose life is shrouded in mystery. A captivating read from start to finish.

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It’s no surprise to see Shakespeare included on the list. Although I may not have selected Hamlet as his finest work, who am I to argue with 125 accomplished authors? Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare around 1599-1601, is a tragic play set in Denmark. It tells the tale of Prince Hamlet seeking vengeance against his uncle, who murdered Hamlet’s father, seized the throne through deceit, and then married Hamlet’s mother.

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It’s wonderful to see this influential book making its way to younger readers. Often regarded as one of the first Great American Novels, *Huckleberry Finn* was groundbreaking in its use of Local Color Regionalism, employing the vernacular of the time and told from the perspective of Huck Finn. As Tom Sawyer's close companion, Huck also plays a key role in several of Mark Twain’s other novels.

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First penned in English and released in 1955 in Paris, Nabokov's Lolita is celebrated for its groundbreaking style, but it is also notorious for its provocative topic: the story of Humbert Humbert's obsessive, inappropriate attraction to Dolores Haze, a twelve-year-old girl.

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War and Peace was first serialized between 1865 and 1869 in Russkii Vestnik, depicting the lives of Russian society during the Napoleonic Wars. It's widely regarded as one of Tolstoy’s two greatest works (the other being Anna Karenina) and is considered one of the finest novels in world literature.

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Madame Bovary faced public condemnation for obscenity when it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris from October 1, 1856, to December 15, 1856. This led to a trial in January 1857, which brought the novel widespread notoriety. The story centers on Emma Bovary, the wife of a country doctor, who engages in extramarital affairs and overspends in an attempt to escape the monotony and emptiness of provincial life. While the plot is simple and even archetypal, the novel's brilliance lies in its nuanced details and underlying structures.

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Anna Karenina is often hailed as a masterpiece of realist fiction, and Tolstoy himself regarded it as his first true novel. Despite early criticism from Russian reviewers who dismissed it as a 'trivial romance of high society,' Fyodor Dostoevsky praised it as 'flawless as a work of art.' Tolstoy's narrative style in this novel is seen by many as a bridge between realist and modernist literature.

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Clearly, a list like this is highly subjective and is bound to leave some people feeling uneasy. We’re fortunate on this site to have such a diverse group of intelligent readers. I’m eager to hear your own top 10, or even your number 1 book. Do you agree with this list? If not, let us know who you think belongs on it and explain why.