MLA's 30 Books Every Adult Should Read Before They Die

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United Kingdom – "a World Book Day poll conducted by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), in which librarians around the country were asked the question, ‘Which book should every adult read before they die?’ "

Note: Some selections are trilogies, so there are actually more than 30 works on the list.

  1. 1.
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    by Harper Lee

    Drag me to re-order


  2. 2.
    The Bible

    Drag me to re-order


  3. 3.
    The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition
    by J.R.R. Tolkien

    Drag me to re-order


  4. 4.
    Nineteen Eighty-four (Penguin Modern Classics)
    by George Orwell

    Drag me to re-order


  5. 5.
    A Christmas Carol
    by Charles Dickens

    Drag me to re-order


  6. 6.
    Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics)
    by Charlotte Brontë

    Drag me to re-order


  7. 7.
    Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics)
    by Jane Austen

    Drag me to re-order


  8. 8.
    All Quiet on the Western Front
    by Erich Maria Remarque

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  9. 9.
    His Dark Materials
    by Philip Pullman

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  10. 10.
    Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War
    by Sebastian Faulks

    Drag me to re-order


  11. 11.
    The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition)
    by John Steinbeck

    Drag me to re-order


  12. 12.
    Lord of the Flies
    by William Golding

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  13. 13.
    The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
    by Mark Haddon

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  14. 14.
    Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Bantam Classics)
    by Thomas Hardy

    Drag me to re-order


  15. 15.
    Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh Original Edition)
    by A. A. Milne

    Drag me to re-order


  16. 16.
    Wuthering Heights (Bantam Classics)
    by Emily Brontë

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  17. 17.
    The Wind in the Willows
    by Kenneth Grahame

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  18. 18.
    Gone with the Wind
    by Margaret Mitchell

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  19. 19.
    Great Expectations (Penguin Classics)
    by Charles Dickens

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  20. 20.
    The Time Traveler's Wife
    by Audrey Niffenegger

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  21. 21.
    The Lovely Bones
    by Alice Sebold

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  22. 22.
    The Prophet
    by Kahlil Gibran

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  23. 23.
    David Copperfield (Penguin Classics)
    by Charles Dickens

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  24. 24.
    The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
    by Paulo Coelho

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  25. 25.
    The Master and Margarita
    by Mikhail Bulgakov

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  26. 26.
    Life of Pi
    by Yann Martel

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  27. 27.
    Middlemarch (Penguin Classics)
    by George Eliot

    Drag me to re-order


  28. 28.
    The Poisonwood Bible (Oprah's Book Club)
    by Barbara Kingsolver

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  29. 29.
    A Clockwork Orange
    by Anthony Burgess

    Drag me to re-order


  30. 30.
    One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (Signet Classics)
    by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

    Drag me to re-order


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Created by Misty on Mar 28, 2006.
 

Comments

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DarkRhapsody
East Aurora

Untitled — 6 weeks ago

Wow.. the Bible?
Really?

Jul 18, 07:12PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

tanstaafl

The Alchemist. — 6 weeks ago

My one word review of the Alchemist: Trite.

It was not the worst book I have ever read, but it was certainly in the bottom one or two percent. I could list several thousand books that I have read that i would recommend over reading The Alchemist. Makes me wonder if the librarians that selected these books ever bothered to actually read any of them.

Jul 12, 10:15AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

llull
Shambhala

MLA — 12 weeks ago

I prefer other acronyms: TLS for one. I betcha they would have a more adventurous list. Also, what’s with the morbidity? Are we not allowed to read some “in the next life (and don’t be late)”*?

  • Jimi Hendrix et al.

Jun 01, 07:10PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

brunswickian
Brooklyn

Fixed ... again — 16 weeks ago

As noted in the description, “Some selections are trilogies, so there are actually more than 30 works on the list.”

I fixed the list so that it reflects 30 selections instead of 36 books.

Yes, I know the title of the list given here is “MLA’s 30 Books Every Adult Should Read …” I was unable to find an official list from the MLA, only a press release stating the following:

In answer to the question “Which book should every adult read before they die?” the librarian survey received an eclectic response. ...

The press release uses the words “top 30.” I guess you’d have to take it up with the MLA or their public relations agency if you think they should have been more specific.

May 06, 08:30PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

countingpulses
Toronto

Untitled — 17 weeks ago

Somebody keeps changing the list. There are 34 books on the list.

May 01, 08:51PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Tamsinator
Spanish Fork

Golden Compass — 21 weeks ago

I’m sure Philip Pullman is a wonderful author and all, but does he really get to have THREE books on the list? Surely you need to be dead to get that kind of recognition!

Mar 31, 02:48PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

aplum1
California

Utterly goofy list compiled by a Tolkein Fiend — 27 weeks ago

Clearly. No Dostoevsky, no Nabokov, no Gogol – I was half expecting Terry Prachett to show up. The fact that so many books that are clearly not classics are on this list (The Curious Incident.., Lovely Bones) renders it even sillier. Who makes up this nonsense?

Feb 17, 01:42AM | 2 comments | Reply to this

rwhitney22
Golden

no Dostoyevsky? — 32 weeks ago

no “best of” list is complete without a Dostoyevsky…

Jan 15, 01:09PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

jamasianman
Vancouver

1984? — 36 weeks ago

There is no works on here from George Orwell?

Dec 20, 02:02PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

leila27

Untitled — 40 weeks ago

I did not like “The time travler’s wife at all!” it was very confusing.

Nov 18, 09:24PM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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