50 Books from Amazon's Books to Read in Your Lifetime ...

By Neecey

Whether you’re a bookworm or you just dip in and out of reading, book recommendations are always welcome. With millions of books to choose from, having a pointer towards something that you would enjoy or find relevant and edifying is a good thing – right? I’ve picked out 50 from the list of 100 as recommended by the book editors at Amazon:

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1

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen Winner of the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction where after 50 years of being a wife and mother, Enid want to have a little fun.
amazon.com

2

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler A crazy story about Marlowe, a war veteran, a nymphomaniac wife, Lennox, gangsters and cops.
amazon.com

3

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien The epic books on which they based some of the best films of all time of the same name.
amazon.com

4

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Moneyball by Michael Lewis This is a book on the quest for the secret of success in baseball.
amazon.com

5

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1 by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 1 by Jeff Kinney A funny book that loosely recounts the events of a wimpy kid’s life.
amazon.com

Famous Quotes

To give oneself earnestly to the duties due to men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom.

Confucius
6

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson All about the serial killer that used the 1893 World’s fair to lure in his victims.
amazon.com

7

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson What would happen if you could re-live your life in order to get it right this time?
amazon.com

8

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton A stunning piece of fiction set within a rich family in the 1870s.
amazon.com

9

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut A book that comes out against war.
amazon.com

10

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame An abridged version of the classic Wind in the Willows world.
amazon.com

11

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Meet Milo and follow his adventures within Lands Beyond with Tock, the captive princess and Humbug.
amazon.com

12

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot The story of how the cells of a poor black tobacco farmer were taken and eventually proved vital in medical science for cloning and vaccinations for polio.
amazon.com

13

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien A ground-breaking look at memory, war, imagination and storytelling.
amazon.com

14

Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware Take a look at the life of an emotionally impaired everyman who meets his father for the first time at the age of 36.
amazon.com

15

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: a Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: a Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson A book upon which there is based a classic movie about the time two drug soaked idiots take a trip to Vegas.
amazon.com

16

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking The smartest person of our time is a British man that is almost completely disabled. He gives his insight on time and the universe.
amazon.com

17

The Bad Beginning: or, Orphans!

The Bad Beginning: or, Orphans! Death, villains, cold porridge, threats and much more. A story about a bad beginning.
amazon.com

18

1984 by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell George Orwell’s classic where he explains his vision of the future in 1984. It remains a haunting view of a possible future.
amazon.com

19

The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank A classic piece of literature revolving around a young woman trapped in an attic hiding from Nazi troops.
amazon.com

20

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain A funny but true story about a chef and his life of sex, drugs and cooking.
amazon.com

21

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon This book features the escapist adventures of two young men in 1939.
amazon.com

22

Bel Canto (P.S.)

Bel Canto (P.S.) A captivating and romantic story.
amazon.com

23

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison The book upon which all the movies are based about the adventures of an invisible man.
amazon.com

24

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn The book upon which the movie of the same name is based where a young woman commits suicide in a way that frames her boyfriend as the killer.
amazon.com

25

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret A young girls having trouble growing up and choosing a religion talks things over with her own private god.
amazon.com

26

The Shining by Stephen King

The Shining by Stephen King The classic and scary tale of a family charged with looking after a hotel in a remote region are harassed by ghouls until the man is driven to insanity.
amazon.com

27

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince comes to life in a format perfect for teen readers.
amazon.com

28

The Liars' Club: a Memoir by Mary Karr

The Liars' Club: a Memoir by Mary Karr Memoirs of a childhood in Texas.
amazon.com

29

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers A college senior loses both of his parents to cancer, then inherits his eight-year-old brother and all within five weeks.
amazon.com

30

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides The story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family.
amazon.com

31

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie This novel is at once a fascinating family saga and an astonishing evocation of a vast land and its people.
amazon.com

32

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah A book on how children are given guns, drugs and used as soldiers.
amazon.com

33

Dune by Frank Herbert

Dune by Frank Herbert Set on a planet called Dune and the basis for the games and movies of the same name.
amazon.com

34

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat A look at life in Haiti as seen through the eyes of a young girl.
amazon.com

35

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan The book that started the movie saga of the same name.
amazon.com

36

Born to Run - a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

Born to Run - a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall A search to a tribe of distance runners.
amazon.com

37

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson This is a book about how the banning of DDT changed the ways that laws affect our land, air and people.
amazon.com

38

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri Dealing with a stillborn birth whilst undergoing nightly blackouts.
amazon.com

39

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin A history of Abraham Lincoln, the US president.
amazon.com

40

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry This notes a perfect world, or a seemingly perfect world.
amazon.com

41

The Stranger by Albert Camus

The Stranger by Albert Camus An ordinary man is somehow sucked into a murder case on the Algerian beach.
amazon.com

42

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris A humorist collects together his strongest work yet.
amazon.com

43

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright An expository look at the most famous terrorist organization and the run up to it.
amazon.com

44

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved by Toni Morrison A story around a slave that was freed but was still not free.
amazon.com

45

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury A piece of twentieth-century literature that is set in a bleak and dystopian future.
amazon.com

46

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green A life that is terminal is featured whilst undergoing a medical miracle that shrinks cancer.
amazon.com

47

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham An autobiographical story of an orphan that is eager for life.
amazon.com

48

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway A look at the disillusionment of the post-World War I generation.
amazon.com

49

The Omnivore's Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

The Omnivore's Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan How as omnivores in a world where we choose what to eat, we may be evolving ourselves into oblivion.
amazon.com

50

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks A great look at the world of neurological disorders and a real eye-opener that shows how bizarre some of the worlds are that some people live in.
amazon.com

There’s something here for all tastes. Anything of interest to you?

Feedback Junction

Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

Two great modern American classics that were left off this list are: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and One flew Over The Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey. I love those books.

Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison 👌

Thanks Desiree, I loved Farenheit 451 so I'm going to look up the others. Wasn't The Illustrated Man made into a movie?

I loved The Sun Also Rises. The title itself is motivational when you're having a bad day.

I must say there should be a spot on the list for Maya Angelou books. #gonebutnotforgotten

Jennapher, I didn't get very far into A Brief History of Time either, and I'm one to read university texts just for the fun of it.

I love how the shining and diary of a wimpy kid are on the same list. It makes me happy

The diary of anne frank is super sad

I'm glad to see that Ray Bradbury was included in the list, in my opinion he's one of the greatest American writers ever, but I think that there are much better books written by him than Fahrenheit, for example The Golden Apples of the Sun or The Illustrated Man. Sadly, it's hard to find editions of these books nowadays.

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