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Books That Changed My Life

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The most life changing books, ranked by the wisdom of the crowd of hundreds of people. Anyone can add their picks to this list of books that will change your life, making it an accurate, real-time ranking of the best life changing books, as picked by the people who love them. Ask yourself the question "what are the most life-changing books?" and then vote for the books that you read cover to cover, the novels that changed the way you see the world and the stories you still can't stop thinking about. Share your favorites, and see how your taste stacks up against other readers.

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Rank     Name Author First Published Genre
  1. 1
    Up 136
    Down 51
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative fiction, Adventure novel, Chivalric romance, High fantasy More
    Most Listed
  2. 2
    Up 211
    Down 26
    Harper Lee
    1960-07-11
    Fiction
  3. 3
    Up 143
    Down 61
    J. D. Salinger
    1951-07-16
    Novel, Fiction, Bildungsroman, First-person narrative
    Controversial
  4. 4
    Up 112
    Down 23
    Aldous Huxley
    Fiction, Children's literature, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Dystopia, Utopian and dystopian fiction More
  5. 5
    Up 82
    Down 36
    Ayn Rand
    1957-10-10
    Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Dystopia
  6. 6
    Up 74
    Down 17
    Kurt Vonnegut
    1969
    Fiction, Philosophy, Science Fiction, Time travel, Speculative fiction, Black comedy, War novel More
  7. 7
    Up 96
    Down 30
    F. Scott Fitzgerald
    1925-04-10
    Novel, Fiction
  8. 8
    Up 85
    Down 13
    John Steinbeck
    1937
    Novella
  9. 9
    Up 75
    Down 14
    William Golding, Leslie Denman
    1954
    Novel, Fiction, Speculative fiction, Young adult literature
  10. 10
    Up 80
    Down 13
    Mark Twain
    1884
    Fiction, Children's literature, Adventure novel, Humour, Satire
  11. 11
    Up 92
    Down 12
    Ken Kesey
    Novel, Fiction, Children's literature
  12. 12
    Up 133
    Down 25
    George Orwell
    1945-08-17
    Fiction, Roman à clef, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Satire More
  13. 13
    Up 70
    Down 14
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    1937
    Fantasy, Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Adventure novel, Juvenile fantasy More
  14. 14
    Up 63
    Down 20
    Hermann Hesse
    1922
    Fiction, Speculative fiction
  15. 15
    Up 48
    Down 25
    Ayn Rand
    1943-12
    Fiction
  16. 16
    Up 59
    Down 13
    Madeleine L'Engle
    1962
    Fantasy, Children's literature, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Young adult literature More
  17. 17
    Up 42
    Down 12
    Joseph Heller
    1961-11-11
    Anti-war, World War II, Historical fiction, Black comedy, War novel, Satire, Absurdist fiction More
  18. 18
    Up 55
    Down 12
    John Steinbeck, Frank Galati
  19. 19
    Up 49
    Sylvia Plath
    1963
    Fiction, Roman à clef, Children's literature, Autobiography, Autobiographical novel More
  20. 20
    Up 23
    Down 12
    John Kennedy Toole
    1980
    Comedy, Fiction, Tragicomedy
    Controversial
  21. 21
    Up 24
    Down 14
    Hunter S. Thompson
    Fiction, Roman à clef, Autobiographical novel
  22. 22
    Up 70
    Down 12
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    1866
    Novel, Fiction, Suspense
  23. 23
    Up 73
    Down 19
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    1943
  24. 24
    Up 34
    Down 15
    Jack Kerouac
    1957
    Novel, Fiction, Roman à clef
  25. 25
    Up 52
    Down 16
    Charles Dickens
    1860
    Novel, Fiction
  26. 26
    Up 59
    Down 18
    Albert Camus
    Fiction, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Existentialism, Absurdist fiction
  27. 27
    Up 80
    Down 32
    J. K. Rowling
    1997
    Fantasy, Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction
  28. 28
    Up 61
    Down 15
    Ernest Hemingway
    1952
    Fiction, Children's literature, Sea story, Novella
  29. 29
    Up 45
    Down 15
    Franz Kafka
    1915
    Fantasy, Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Novella, Absurdist fiction More
  30. 30
    Up 44
    Down 21
    Gabriel García Márquez
    1967
    Novel, Speculative fiction
  31. 31
    Up 46
    Down 11
    Mary Shelley
    Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Horror, Speculative fiction, Suspense, Gothic fiction, Epistolary novel More
  32. 32
    Up 40
    Down 22

    A People's History of the United States

    Howard Zinn
    History, Non-fiction
    Controversial
  33. 33
    Up 35
    Down 14
    Kurt Vonnegut
    1963
    Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Satire
  34. 34
    Up 47
    George Orwell
    1949
    Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Utopian and dystopian fiction, Social science fiction More
  35. 35
    Up 27
    Down 19
    Robert M. Pirsig
    1974
    Biography, Philosophy, Non-fiction, Autobiography, Psychology, Travel
  36. 36
    Up 36
    Down 10
    Henry David Thoreau
    1854
    Fiction, Children's literature, Philosophy, Speculative fiction, Autobiography, Nature, Inspirational More
  37. 37
    Up 40
    Down 19
    Gabriel García Márquez
    1985
    Novel
  38. 38
    Up 31
    Down 16
    Milan Kundera
    Fiction
  39. 39
    Up 32
    Down 14
    Ernest Hemingway
    Novel, Fiction, Roman à clef, Children's literature
  40. 40
    Up 28
    Down 17
    Judy Blume
    Young adult literature
  41. 41
    Up 27
    Chinua Achebe
    Novel, Poetry, Fiction, Children's literature
  42. 42
    Up 50
    Down 18
    Yann Martel
    2001-09
    Novel, Fiction
  43. 43
    Up 38
    Down 14
    Cormac McCarthy
    2006-09-26
    Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, Literary fiction More
  44. 44
    Up 24
    Down 14

    The Clan of the Cave Bear

    Jean M. Auel
    Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative fiction, Historical novel
  45. 45
    Up 27
    Down 13

    Fight Club

    Chuck Palahniuk
    1996-08
    Novel, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Speculative fiction, Suspense, Satire More
  46. 46
    Up 24
    Down 21
    Richard Bach
    Fiction
  47. 47
    Up 19
    Bram Stoker
    1897
    Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Horror, Speculative fiction, Gothic fiction, Epistolary novel, Invasion literature More
  48. 48
    Up 30
    Down 11
    Stephen King
    1978
    Novel, Fiction, Children's literature, Science Fiction, Horror, Speculative fiction, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction More
  49. 49
    Up 25
    Down 12
    Frank Herbert
    1965
    Fiction, Philosophy, Science Fiction, Military science fiction, Planetary romance More
  50. 50
    Up 14
    Down 16
    Arundhati Roy
    1997-06-09
    Novel, Fiction
  51. +Add New Item

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Books That Changed My Life

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    1. omar
      Books That Changed My Life at 3/19/2012 6:33 AM
      The Prophet by Khalil Gibron
    2. N Daniel
      Books That Changed My Life at 1/03/2012 10:41 PM
      Glad a woman author topped the list.
    3. marc.zandersons
      Books That Changed My Life at 6/06/2011 12:39 PM
      Interesting list ... I made my personal list for self development books which actually have changed my life: http://www.thebooksthatchangedmylife.com/2011/06/04/50-personal-development-books-that-changed-my-life/
    4. N. Daniel
      Books That Changed My Life at 1/03/2012 10:37 PM
      Glad that a book written by a woman has topped the list.
    5. ruben
      Island at 8/22/2010 11:42 PM
      One of my favorite books of all time. I reread it at least twice a year
    6. Anonymous
      Books That Changed My Life at 1/12/2011 7:22 PM
      Why do people think that books that change your life have to be highly hailed classics? For real, most of the life changing books I can think of struck a chord in me - not with critics.
    7. ingcold cause
      Books That Changed My Life at 1/18/2012 8:41 AM
      To Kill a Mockingbird deserves to be at the top of this list, it influenced generations of people to open their eyes and walk in another's shoes. The social themes in it are still relevant today, and the language borders on the poetic
    8. Anonymous
      Books That Changed My Life at 1/12/2011 7:25 PM
      OK - why would you want to read some of these boring books. I mean there are so many great books out there, but people feel they must put down the books that are considered classics. Be true to yourself.

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