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Books That Changed My Life

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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The Master List

Rank     Name Author First Published Genre
  1. 1
    Up 166
    Down 19
    Harper Lee
    1960-07-11
    Fiction
  2. 2
    Up 101
    Down 40
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative fiction, Adventure novel, Chivalric romance, High fantasy More
    Most Listed
  3. 3
    Up 85
    Down 14
    Aldous Huxley
    Fiction, Children's literature, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Dystopia, Utopian and dystopian fiction More
  4. 4
    Up 113
    Down 49
    J. D. Salinger
    1951-07-16
    Novel, Fiction, Bildungsroman, First-person narrative
    Controversial
  5. 5
    Up 104
    Down 18
    George Orwell
    1945-08-17
    Fiction, Roman à clef, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Satire More
  6. 6
    Up 69
    Ken Kesey
    Novel, Fiction, Children's literature
  7. 7
    Up 44
    Albert Camus
    Fiction, Crime fiction, Suspense, Existentialism, Absurdist fiction
  8. 8
    Up 51
    Down 10
    Kurt Vonnegut
    1969
    Fiction, Philosophy, Science fiction, Time travel, Speculative fiction, Black comedy, War novel More
  9. 9
    Up 54
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    1943
  10. 10
    Up 51
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    1866
    Novel, Fiction, Suspense
  11. 11
    Up 45
    Down 12
    Hermann Hesse
    1922
    Fiction, Speculative fiction
  12. 12
    Up 33
    Gabriel García Márquez
    1985
    Novel
  13. 13
    Up 56
    Mark Twain
    1884
    Fiction, Children's literature, Adventure novel, Humour, Satire
  14. 14
    Up 33
    Gabriel García Márquez
    1967
    Novel, Speculative fiction
  15. 15
    Up 67
    Down 22
    F. Scott Fitzgerald
    1925-04-10
    Novel, Fiction
  16. 16
    Up 24
    Kurt Vonnegut
    1963
    Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Satire
  17. 17
    Up 58
    John Steinbeck
    1937
    Novella
  18. 18
    Up 45
    J. R. R. Tolkien
    1937
    Fantasy, Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Adventure novel, Juvenile fantasy More
  19. 19
    Up 61
    Down 24
    Ayn Rand
    1957-10-10
    Fiction, Mystery, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Dystopia
    Controversial
  20. 20
    Up 35
    Down 10
    Yann Martel
    2001-09
    Novel, Fiction
  21. 21
    Up 47
    William Golding, Leslie Denman
    1954
    Novel, Fiction, Speculative fiction, Young adult literature
  22. 22
    Up 21
    George Orwell
    1949
    Fiction, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Utopian and dystopian fiction, Social science fiction More
  23. 23
    Up 38
    Ernest Hemingway
    1952
    Fiction, Children's literature, Sea story, Novella
  24. 24
    Up 39
    Madeleine L'Engle
    1962
    Fantasy, Children's literature, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Young adult literature More
  25. 25
    Up 22
    Milan Kundera
    Fiction
  26. 26
    Up 41
    John Steinbeck, Frank Galati
  27. 27
    Up 25
    Joseph Heller
    1961-11-11
    Anti-war, World War II, Historical fiction, Black comedy, War novel, Satire, Absurdist fiction More
  28. 28
    Up 12
    John Kennedy Toole
    1980
    Comedy, Fiction
  29. 29
    Up 26
    Down 13
    Howard Zinn
    History, Non-fiction
    Controversial
  30. 30
    Up 32
    Down 10
    Charles Dickens
    1860
    Novel, Fiction
  31. 31
    Up 32
    Sylvia Plath
    1963
    Fiction, Roman à clef, Children's literature, Autobiography
  32. 32
    Up 25
    Cormac McCarthy
    2006-09-26
    Fiction, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, Literary fiction More
  33. 33
    Up 29
    Mary Shelley
    Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science fiction, Horror, Speculative fiction, Suspense, Gothic fiction, Epistolary novel More
  34. 34
    Up 14
    Down 10
    Robert M. Pirsig
    1974
    Biography, Philosophy, Non-fiction, Autobiography, Psychology, Travel
    Controversial
  35. 35
    Up 55
    Down 23
    J. K. Rowling
    1997
    Fantasy, Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction
  36. 36
    Up 25
    Franz Kafka
    1915
    Fantasy, Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Novella, Absurdist fiction More
  37. 37
    Up 24
    Down 12
    Ernest Hemingway
    1929
    Novel, Fiction
  38. 38
    Up 13
    Hunter S. Thompson
    Fiction, Roman à clef, Autobiographical novel
  39. 39
    Up 18
    Ernest Hemingway
    Novel, Fiction, Roman à clef, Children's literature
  40. 40
    Up 31
    Down 17
    Ayn Rand
    1943-12
    Fiction
  41. 41
    Up 22
    Victor Hugo
    1862
    Novel, Fiction
  42. 42
    Up 10
    Frank Herbert
    1965
    Fiction, Science fiction
  43. 43
    Up 20
    John Steinbeck
    1952-09
    Novel
  44. 44
    Up 11
    J. D. Salinger
    1961
    Novel, Fiction, Short story, Novella
  45. 45
    Haruki Murakami
    Novel, Fiction, Speculative fiction
  46. 46
    Up 20
    Down 10
    Jack Kerouac
    1957
    Novel, Fiction, Roman à clef
  47. 47
    Up 14
    Jerry Ahern, Kahlil Gibran
    Poetry, Speculative fiction
  48. 48
    Paulo Coelho, Donna Boyd
    1988
    Drama, Fantasy, Novel, Fiction, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Historical fiction, Adventure novel, Psychology More
  49. 49
    Up 11
    Arundhati Roy
    1997-06-09
    Novel, Fiction
  50. 50
    Aldous Huxley
    Fiction, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Utopian and dystopian fiction More
  51. 51
    Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    1880-11
    Novel, Fiction, Suspense
  52. 52
    Up 20
    John Knowles
    1959
    Novel, Fiction, Children's literature, Young adult literature, Bildungsroman More
  53. 53
    Up 13
    William Faulkner
    1929
    Fiction, Children's literature, Gothic fiction
  54. 54
    Up 20
    Henry David Thoreau
    1854
    Fiction, Children's literature, Philosophy, Speculative fiction, Autobiography, Nature, Inspirational More
  55. 55
    Up 22
    Down 10
    Judy Blume
    Young adult literature
  56. 56
    Up 10
    Chuck Palahniuk
    1996-08
    Novel, Fiction, Mystery, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Suspense, Satire More
  57. 57
    Marisha Pessl
    2006
    Novel, Fiction, Mystery, Crime fiction
  58. 58
    Up 14
    James Joyce
    1922-02-02
    Novel, Fiction
  59. 59
    Up 14
    John Irving
    1978
    Literary fiction
  60. 60
    Up 11
    Margaret Mitchell
    1936-06-30
    Novel, Fiction, Historical fiction
  61. 61
    Up 12
    Chinua Achebe
    Novel, Poetry, Fiction, Children's literature
  62. 62
    Joan Didion
    1970
    Fiction
  63. 63
    Up 17
    Stephen King
    1978
    Novel, Fiction, Children's literature, Science fiction, Horror, Speculative fiction, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction More
  64. 64
    Up 13
    John Irving
    1989-03
    Novel
    Controversial
  65. 65
    Tom Wolfe
    1968
    Sociology, Creative nonfiction
  66. 66
    Ray Bradbury
  67. 67
    Up 19
    William Shakespeare
    1600
    Comedy, Fantasy
  68. 68
    Up 12
    Down 14
    Richard Bach
    Fiction
    Controversial
  69. 69
    Jeffrey Eugenides
    2002-10-07
    Novel, Fiction, Transgender and transsexual fiction
  70. 70
    Up 16
    Jean M. Auel
    Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative fiction, Historical novel
  71. 71
    Salman Rushdie
    1981-04
    Novel, Speculative fiction, Historical fiction, Magic realism
  72. 72
    Neale Donald Walsch
    1995
    Non-fiction
  73. 73
    Madeleine L'Engle
    1980
    Fiction, Children's literature, Speculative fiction, Young adult literature More
  74. 74
    Dave Eggers
    2000
    Memoir
  75. 75
    Robert A. Heinlein
    1961-06-01
    Fiction, Science fiction
  76. 76
    Bram Stoker
    1897
    Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science fiction, Horror, Speculative fiction, Gothic fiction, Epistolary novel, Invasion literature More
  77. 77
    Rhonda Byrne
    2006-11
    Non-fiction, Self-help
  78. 78
    James Redfield
    1993
    Fiction, Philosophy, Speculative fiction, Inspirational
  79. 79
    F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald
    1920
    Novel, Fiction
  80. 80
    Viktor Frankl
    1984-10-23
    Psychology
  81. 81
    Erica Jong
    Novel, Fiction
  82. 82
    Up 10
    Down 11
    Barbara Ehrenreich
    Biography, Business, Autobiography, Economics, Sociology
  83. 83
    Norman Vincent Peale
    Children's literature, Philosophy, Inspirational
  84. 84
    Paul Auster
    1989-02
    Fiction, Speculative fiction, Picaresque novel
  85. 85
    Henry Miller
    1934
    Novel, Erotica
  86. 86
    Joan Didion
    2005
    Memoir
  87. 87
    Nevil Shute
    1957
    Novel, Fiction, Science fiction, Speculative fiction, Suspense, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction More
  88. 88
    Charles Bukowski
    1982-09-01
    Fiction, Autobiographical novel
  89. 89
    Tim O'Brien
    Fiction
  90. 90
    Richard Bach
    1977
    Biography, Speculative fiction, Autobiography, Self-help, Spirituality
  91. 91
    Michael Chabon
    2007-05-01
    Novel, Fiction
  92. 92
    Robert Caro
    2002-04
    Biography
  93. 93
    Malcolm Gladwell
    Non-fiction
  94. 94
    Madeleine L'Engle
    1965-01-01
    Fiction, Children's literature, Science fiction, Young adult literature More
  95. 95
    Marianne Williamson
    1992
    Fiction, Psychology, Self-help

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  1. N Daniel
    Books That Changed My Life at 1/03/2012 10:41 PM
    Glad a woman author topped the list.
  2. 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/
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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
  7. 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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