Famous aphorism says: "To become smart, it is enough to read ten books, but to find them, you need to read thousands." We have increased the list to 15 titles, selecting those that have had the greatest impact on the development of literature.
The Iliad by Homer
Peculiarity. The Iliad is the oldest surviving monument of ancient Greek literature. Along with The Odyssey, it is the world's first fantasy, thriller, action, and family drama poem.
A little about the book. The poem was probably written in the 8th or 7th century BC and describes the siege of Troy by the Achaeans. Folklore legends about the exploits of ancient heroes formed the basis. For a long time, researchers even argued about whether the poem is based on real events or the Trojan War is just fiction. However, during the excavations in Troy, a culture was found that matches the descriptions in the Iliad. And the deciphered Hittite inscriptions contained a number of names hitherto known only from a Greek poem.
The Adventures of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Peculiarity. The second novel by Charles Dickens and the first in English literature to feature a child as its protagonist.
A little about the book. The orphan boy Oliver will have to face baseness and betrayal, go through many adventures, try to avoid dangers, become the epicenter of criminal troubles, in order to find happiness and love in the family of relatives in the end. The genre is a sharp social novel.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Peculiarity. Jane Austen, who resented the dependent position of women in the Victorian era, was one of the first to create the image of a free woman. The heroine of her book makes decisions on her own, in particular, the decision to marry or not to marry this or that man, is able to overcome all life's difficulties and pressure from society with her head held high.
A little about the book. A seemingly simple love story between a poor but sensible and independent noblewoman, Elizabeth Bennet, and a noble aristocrat, Mr. Darcy. The plot develops in a spiral - from the first mutual unpleasant impression to a declaration of love and a reciprocal feeling in the two main characters.
"Faust" Goethe
Peculiarity. Goethe's Faust is a national drama. The most spiritual conflict of her hero, the obstinate Faust, who rebelled against the vegetative existence in German reality in the name of freedom of action and thought, is already national. Such were the aspirations of the people of the rebellious 16th century when the poem was being written. Faust is not only about Germany, but about all of humanity, called to transform the world through joint free and reasonable work. Thus, the author builds the plot not on one life conflict, as was customary before him, but on a consistent chain of deep conflicts throughout a single life path.
A little about the book. The novel "Faust" Goethe wrote throughout his adult life. The work is based on the famous German myth about Dr. Johann Faust, who made a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for worldly pleasures and eternal youth. According to the terms of the agreement, Mephistopheles will receive Faust's soul when he glorifies a moment. Both main characters believe that they will emerge victorious in the dispute. There is no doubt about the art of the devil to tempt, and many temptations fall to the lot of Faust.
Arc de Triomphe by Erich Maria Remarque
Peculiarity. The book became a kind of Remarque's confession, an attempt to recover from an unsuccessful romance with Marlene Dietrich, who became the prototype of the main female character, Joan Madu. But what is surprising is that the German writer portrayed a love story against the backdrop of the fight against fascism. It is not surprising that in his homeland he was under a strict ban.
A little about the book. The novel takes place in France in the late 1930s. The German surgeon Ravik, a participant in the First World War, who does not have French citizenship, lives and works in Paris. He is one of those emigrants who lives under the constant threat of arrest and expulsion from the country. He begins an affair with the Italian actress Joan Madu, in whose image many were inclined to see the features of Marlene Dietrich. Thus, love is intertwined with war.
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Peculiarity. Here the author first appeared as the creator of a fundamentally new novel in world literature, which was called polyphonic. Working on the work, the writer mainly sought to trace the "psychological process of the crime." Hence the peculiarity of the novel - the lack of consistency, consistency in the transfer of feelings, experiences of the characters, which is determined by their state of mind.
A little about the book. Paraphrasing the most important question in literature, “To be or not to be?”, Fedor Mikhailovich asks: “Who am I, having the right or a trembling creature?” With such an insidious dilemma, the writer confronts his hero Rodion Raskolnikov. The theory of crime, the murder of an old pawnbroker and her sister, the subtle psychologism of the investigator, the torment of the hero and saving love in the image of the fallen woman Sonechka Marmeladova.
"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
Peculiarity. The author was the first to comprehensively and historically correctly depict one of the most difficult periods our history - Patriotic war 1812. In the epic novel, world events are described in terms of plot and coverage, all classes of society are involved from the emperor and the royal family to ordinary soldiers, more than 550 characters in total, and the psychology of the Russian people is fully represented. It is known that Leo Tolstoy, before embarking on War and Peace, engaged in a serious study of the era, studying documents and materials that the historical, memoir and epistolary literature of that time had at its disposal.
A little about the book. The epic novel describes Russian society during the wars against Napoleon in 1805–1812. There are many chapters and parts in the work, most of which have a plot completeness. Short chapters and many parts allow the writer to move the narrative in time and space and thus fit hundreds of episodes into one novel.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Peculiarity. The novel by the Colombian writer is the epitome of magical realism. The work contains the main features of this trend of the 20th century: a kind of fusion of the real and the fictional, the ordinary and the fabulous, the obvious and the miraculous, a special way of seeing the world through the prism of folk mythological consciousness.
A little about the book. The book consists of twenty untitled chapters that describe a story looped in time: the events of Macondo and the Buendia family. The plot of the novel is woven using the patchwork technique, fantasy and reality are taken for granted, and it becomes more and more difficult to follow the fate of the characters with the advent of each new namesake and member of the Buendia family.
Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar
Peculiarity. The Argentine writer's experimental novel is his most famous work and one of the first examples of postmodern literature. Cortazar tries to go beyond the limits of the traditional work, provoking the birth of a creatively active reader, capable of not only thinking, but also conjecturing. The structure of the novel contributes to this. You can read it in the usual way, from beginning to end, or, following the prompts of the author, jump over chapters and parts, looking for your own key to the cipher.
A little about the book. According to the preface left by the writer himself, the book contains many books at once. Hence the two reading schemes. Although the plot seems simple: main character novel Horacio Oliveira indulges in reflections on the ins and outs of his existence and complex relationships with the outside world. The catalyst for his thoughts is communication with acquaintances: a beloved from Paris named Maga, the Parisian "Club" of intellectuals and Argentinean friends Treveler and Talita.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Peculiarity. The plot of Hamlet was probably the subject of a number of ancient traditions. But Shakespeare shifted his attention from the external struggle to the spiritual drama of the hero. If earlier the avengers were portrayed as energetic people, obsessed with the desire to accomplish the task facing them, then Shakespeare for the first time creates a hero of a completely different mental warehouse. Its extreme is reflection, introspection, which paralyzes a person's ability to act. It is no coincidence that Hamlet is an "eternal image" in world literature.
A little about the book. The tragedy is based on the legend of the Danish ruler named Amletus, recorded by the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammatik in the third book of the Acts of the Danes, and is devoted primarily to revenge - in it the protagonist seeks revenge for the death of his father. According to researchers, the plot was borrowed by Shakespeare from the play by Thomas Kidd.
"Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin
Peculiarity. The novel in verse, written in 1823-1831, is one of the most significant works of Russian literature. Alexander Pushkin was the first writer to create an encyclopedia novel from which you can learn everything about the era: about how they dressed and what was in fashion, what people valued most, what they talked about, what interests they lived. Briefly, but quite clearly, the author showed the fortress village, the lordly Moscow, secular St. Petersburg.
A little about the book. The book covers events from 1819 to 1825 - from the foreign campaigns of the Russian army after the defeat of Napoleon to the Decembrist uprising. These were the years of the development of Russian society, the reign of Alexander I. In the center of the plot is a love story.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Peculiarity. By genre, this is a philosophical novel written in a decadent style. The psychology of narcissism is perfectly revealed here. And the preface is a manifesto of aestheticism - a direction in art that emphasizes the predominance of aesthetic values over ethical and social problems.
A little about the book. The book tells about a young and beautiful guy Dorian, who absolutely does not want to grow old. One day, the talented artist Basil Hallward paints an incredibly beautiful portrait of a young man, looking at which Dorian Gray expresses a desire to remain forever young, even if the person in this picture is aging. It is interesting that in the plot of the novel there are significant similarities with the legend of Faust.
After the publication, a scandal erupted in society. All English critics condemned the novel as an immoral work, and some demanded that it be banned and the author subjected to judicial punishment. Wilde was accused of insulting public morality. However, it was enthusiastically received by ordinary readers.
"Transformation" by Franz Kafka
Peculiarity. The short story is the most vivid expression of the tragic attitude of Franz Kafka. He sharpens the hero's doom to the limit with the help of a terrible metonymy: he conveys his complete spiritual isolation through an incredible metamorphosis of appearance. The ambiguous symbolic and allegorical images, emphasizing the tragedy of human destiny, its loneliness and impotence in the face of the absurdity of the surrounding reality, make the work innovative.
A little about the book. One ordinary morning, young Gregor wakes up with a disgusting beetle, a terrible muck that his family is afraid to even look at. Thus, the story reveals the tragedy of a lonely, abandoned and guilty person in the face of an absurd and meaningless fate.
Jules Verne's "Fifteen-Year-Old Captain"
Peculiarity. The unusual situations that the characters find themselves in, the sharpness of the plot, full of mysteries, unexpected turns of events, make Jules Verne a master of the adventure novel. The peculiarity of the novel is that the author explains even amazing things with scientific accuracy, and the riddles that he offers do not contain anything mystical. In particular, the writer gives a true picture of the tragic fate of the indigenous population of Central Africa, even after the abolition of the slave trade.
A little about the book. The book describes the adventures of the passengers of the whaling schooner-brig "Pilgrim". One day, the entire crew of the ship dies and fifteen-year-old junior sailor Dick Sandu has to manage the schooner. Naturally, many adventures await travelers ahead.
The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger
Peculiarity. The work became a turning point in the history of world literature. The title of the book and the name of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, have become codes for many generations of young rebels, from beatniks and hippies to today's radical youth movements. Interestingly, the killer of John Lennon, Mark Chapman, told the police that he found the encrypted order to kill Lennon on the pages of The Catcher in the Rye. In this case, the man was declared sane.
A little about the book. The book, on behalf of the 17-year-old boy Holden, tells in a very frank form about his perception of American reality and the rejection of general canons and morality. modern society. True, at the same time he does not want and cannot change the world.
Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was the most banned book in American schools and libraries. Holden has been described as a "bad example" for young people, and has been said to encourage rebelliousness, drunkenness, and debauchery in children. Prohibitory actions often led to the opposite effect - the novel only attracted more interest.
The novel, on which Mikhail Afanasyevich worked for more than ten years, is read and re-read all over the world. The author was able to skillfully reveal not just a few storylines: love, historical and fantastic, but also raise such eternal questions as meaning and price. human life, Evil and Good, death and immortality and many others. Starting reading from the very first words, each of us, at any age, plunges headlong into the world of the Master, Margarita, Pontius Pilate, Woland and other heroes of the novel, discovering more and more of its facets.
George Orwell "1984"
Can there be anything worse and worse than total lack of freedom? It is this question that permeates every line of George Orwell's most famous dystopian novel. This work, whose name has already become a household name, is a brilliant satire that mercilessly denounces every form of totalitarianism. Every day a person, surrounded by political propaganda, lies and violence, loses his identity and individuality, plunging into a life full of fear and restrictions.
William Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet"
The immortal work of the great playwright and poet is one of the must-reads both in school years and in adulthood. The story of love and enmity between two ancient families, the Montagues and the Capulets, leaves an indelible mark on the soul of everyone. The main characters teach us kindness, selflessness and purity, inherent only in young romantics. The tragic story has become a classic, and the names of the heroes have become common nouns. "Romeo and Juliet" is a work that can revive faith in beauty, in love - a feeling that knows no misfortune, and even death.
Homer "Iliad"
The real name of the creator of the legendary poem of the VIII-VII centuries. BC, which is the source of ideas, plots, characters in all areas of art, is hidden in the fog of myths. The story of the Trojan War and the return of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, to his homeland, told by him in the smallest detail, for a long time raised doubts among researchers with its authenticity. However, after excavations in Troy, a culture was discovered that corresponded to that described in the Iliad. Thus, covered with age-old secrets and legends, the ancient Greek poem becomes that literary and, in many ways, historical school that every person must go through in his life.
Erich Maria Remarque "Arc de Triomphe"
This work is one of the most beautiful and saddest European novels of the 20th century. Its action develops in Paris, where the main character, a German surgeon Ravik, who survived the horrors of the First World War and is accustomed to fear and hatred, falls in love with an Italian actress who does not think about love and lives only in every minute victories. The born passion between two people who have lost themselves, doomed to tragedy in advance, gives each of them a particle of warmth that they will never be able to feel again.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment"
Having created a fundamentally new novel in world literature, called polyphonic, the author revealed in the work many themes that are most important for every person: crime and punishment, love and sacrifice, freedom and pride. An analysis of the psychological process of realizing and accepting guilt for a crime committed - that's what Dostoevsky wanted to say. This novel should be read several times - the deep psychologism of the characters contributes to a better understanding not only of the meaning of the novel, but also of one's own life.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The novel of the Colombian writer is the personification of magical realism, in the plot of which reality and fictional reality, everyday life and fabulous elements coexist. One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the greatest books of the 20th century, a whimsical story of the city of Macondo, lost somewhere in the jungle, and the lineage of the Buendia family, from creation to decline. The novel will take you to a very real parallel world, where miracles are commonplace, which you should not even pay attention to, men are strong and courageous, and women are proud and incredibly beautiful.
The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger
The only novel by an American writer became a turning point in the history of world literature, and the name of the main character, Holden Caulfield, became a code for many generations of young rebels. The book tells the personal perception of life by the 16-year-old hero himself: his rejection of modern American reality, established social canons and morality of modern society. This young man is the prototype of each of us at that age when we believed that we could change the world and go against all existing laws.
Alexander Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"
The novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" is one of the most significant works of Russian literature. From the encyclopedia of Russian life (as Belinsky rightly called the novel), one could learn almost everything about the era: the style of dress, the demeanor of people from high society, interests and moral attitudes. In the reflections of the characters, their emotions, hidden under the shell of education and imposed values, we recognize ourselves. This novel is required reading in school years and at a more conscious age.
Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
"All happy families similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, ”this is how one of the most famous and brilliant novels in the treasury of Russian literature begins. This is a book about eternal values: about family, love and faith, about human dignity, and the issues raised in it have been and remain relevant. A story about a conscious choice that every person must make, about an irreconcilable conflict between duty and feeling - a novel for centuries, for all times and for all generations.
A good book is much more than a way to kill time. Wishing to get acquainted with unusual worlds, mysterious and strong characters and incredible adventures, the reader should get acquainted with the work of the most popular modern writers. Below are the most striking and famous works of recent decades - top 10 the best modern books !
1. 11/22/63 (Stephen King)
Topping our list of the best modern books is Stephen King's sci-fi novel 11/22/63. The first publication of the work took place in 2011.
The assassination of J.F. Kennedy was one of the greatest tragedies in American society. A popular politician was shot right during a huge parade in front of thousands of Americans. Could the president have been saved? Surprisingly, the answer to this question remains to be known by a simple teacher! Jake Epping is an ordinary resident of a small town who works at a school and is not much different from thousands of his fellow citizens. However, by the will of fate, it is he who gets the chance to go through the time portal, which is located in the back of the cafe with his old friend Al. The owner of the device has long wanted to find the killer of Kennedy, but the disease upset all plans, so Jake must replace him! Go back, straight to the 60s, live there for several years, figure out the future executioner and stop him on the day of a terrible tragedy! Will he be able to change the course of history and even go back?
2 American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
American Gods is one of the best modern fantasy books ever written. English writer Neil Gaiman in 2001.
America. Shelter of a huge number of migrants from all over the world. In search of a better life, people went to an unknown continent, hoping to get settled there and find long-awaited happiness. However, they did not travel alone: each visiting guest brought with him a piece of his native culture. Gods, beliefs, rituals, customs - this is the true luggage of the settlers! Will different deities be able to get along together and what promises such a neighborhood? Shadows, the main character, who has recently been released from prison, will have to find out. Once free, he finds himself in a series of strange events and mysterious crimes that need to be unraveled.
3. The Wind Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
Closes the top three best book contemporary American writer Khaled Hosseini. The work was born in 2003.
What is true friendship? Sometimes adults find it very difficult to answer this question. Much easier for kids. Amir and Hasan are two completely different boys who are connected by true friendship. That's just one of them is an aristocrat, and the second is a poor servant! Coming from different social strata, they do not pay attention to the differences that are so important for adults. Playing, joking, sharing secrets and impressions, experiencing failures and knowing sorrow, the boys gradually grow up, and their friendship only becomes stronger. One day, serious changes are coming in the country that will test their strength and scatter friends on different sides. Can childhood friendship survive?
4. A Song of Ice and Fire (George Martin)
A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the most famous and best modern fantasy books. This is a whole series of works, consisting of five already published volumes. There are two more books in the pipeline. The first publication took place in 1996. The book gained particular popularity after the release of the series "Game of Thrones", filmed by HBO based on its motives.
The unique fantasy world is inhabited by far from good fairies and cheerful gnomes. This is a world of several powerful powers that are desperately fighting for their heart's content. Their goal is the throne of Westeros. Their means are weapons, intrigues, murders and rebellions. The palace of Verteros is filled with vile and greedy people who are eager to seize the throne at any cost. There is no place for honesty and nobility anymore. Arranging serious intrigues and organizing coups, the conspirators will do everything to undermine the situation in the kingdom. However, it is not only them that should be feared, because the cunning rulers of neighboring states are also not averse to snatching a "tidbit" during a cruel and blind turmoil! A real war for power is coming, ready to bury the old order forever.
5. The house in which ... (Mariam Petrosyan)
“The House Where…” is an interesting contemporary fantasy novel by the Armenian writer Mariam Petrosyan, published in 2009.
On the edge of the city is a boarding school for abandoned children. This old and gray place seems very inhospitable and gloomy, but everything is not so simple... Once inside, a person can discover a new, unusual world in which there is more kindness and light than on bright city streets. The pupils of the house are divided into groups, each of which has its own leader. There are no names and surnames here - only bright nicknames. There is a lot of unknown and very little familiar. These are miniature societies with their vices and virtues. Children learn about the world, growing up, changing and trying to find their place in it.
6. Book Thief (Markus Zuzak)
The Book Thief is a captivating contemporary novel written in 2006 by an Australian writer.
Liesel Meminger is a little German girl whose childhood fell on a truly monstrous time. In 1939, the Nazi regime reached its peak, destroying the recalcitrant and preparing to enslave the world. Horror, murders, robberies and terror became daily companions of the lives of those who did not suit the new government. After the death of her husband, Frau Meminger moves, trying to find a quieter place for her daughter. But in vain... Looking around, Liesel sees the ongoing chaos through the eyes of an innocent child who does not understand this cruel and strange world adults. Growing up quickly, she has a lot to learn and rethink.
7 Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
Gone Girl is one of the best modern thriller books. The work was published in 2012 and became the basis of the film of the same name.
How hard it is to know a person, even if you have lived with him for many years! An unusual incident turns the fate of the protagonist when his wife suddenly disappears. During a stormy celebration of their wedding anniversary, a woman mysteriously disappears. Arriving police discover blood and signs of a struggle, deciding that the man killed his wife and hid her body. Now the bewildered man is left to solve this incredible puzzle himself. Who knows, maybe the answer will turn out to be even more monstrous than the disappearance itself ...
8 Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)
The novel "Cloud Atlas" was written in 2004 by an English writer. Its plot is a complex interweaving of stories and destinies that, at first glance, nothing connects. An American lawyer stranded on a tropical island while a ship is being repaired; a young English musician forced to sell his music and body to earn a living; a brave Californian journalist fighting against a powerful corporation; a London publisher facing criminals after the release of yet another bestseller; a clone from a Korean anti-utopia and a Hawaiian old man watching the decline of human civilization. All events and characters go through a difficult path in different times gradually weaving together.
9. When I Was Real (Tom McCarthy)
Tom McCarthy's novel "When I Was Real" continues our top 10 best modern books.
A sudden catastrophe changed the life of a young man, crossing out his past. He finds himself in a long-term coma, from which he, fortunately, manages to get out. But such a long process did not pass without a trace: now he needs to learn to live anew. Walk, move, work with hands and talk. All past life comes in the form of vague memories, and the hero endlessly wants to return to his former self. Moreover, some large corporation is ready to pay him a lot of money to keep the cause of the incident a secret. How are they related? What happened that day? And how to become completely the same?
10 Anathem (Neil Stevenson)
And completes the top ten modern science fiction book "Anathem", written by American writer Neil Stevenson in 2008.
Arb is a distant and mysterious planet resembling Earth. People who worship science live here. Science, which completely replaced religion and managed to split society into two irreconcilable camps. Guardians of Science are monks who were once scientists. They once worked and created for the benefit of progress, but their work led to something terrible. Now the monks live in the monastery, closed off from the outside, secular world. Their life is simple, calm and measured, but every ten years there comes a special date - the day when the two sides can change places. The monks will see the outside world, and secular people will be able to join the monastic life and worldview. Once such a change led to horrific consequences, and now the two sides must unite to prevent the impending disaster!
Every educated person must have read many great books in their lifetime. No wonder there is a proverb: “To become smart, it is enough to read 10 books, but to find them, you need to read thousands,” because worthwhile works can greatly affect a person’s consciousness and form his vision of life.
Fiction is a storehouse of knowledge that has been collected for centuries and displayed in foreign and Russian classics. Many of the works are not only very interesting and informative, but also ideal for development in a variety of areas, helping to understand yourself and other people.
The best classical writers managed to create more than a hundred golden books that should be read in the life of absolutely every person. Below is a list of a hundred books included in the top best works of all time.
As evidenced by the world ranking, the list displays not only interesting books that are worth reading, but also those that carry a considerable life lesson and will surely help a person solve many problems or find a way to accept himself and the world.
So, the list of the 100 best literary works that must be read contains the following works:
1. Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"
2. Alexander Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"
3. Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Crime and Punishment"
4. Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace"
5. Antoine de Saint-Exupery "The Little Prince"
6. Mikhail Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time"
7. Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov "The Twelve Chairs"
8. George Orwell 1984
9. Gabriel Garcia Marquez One Hundred Years of Solitude
10. JK Rowling "Harry Potter"
11. Nikolai Gogol "Dead Souls"
12. Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
13. Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Idiot"
14. Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray
15. Alexander Griboyedov "Woe from Wit"
16. Ivan Turgenev "Fathers and Sons"
17. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
18. Catcher in the Rye by Jerome Salinger
19. Erich Maria Remarque "Three Comrades"
20. Boris Pasternak "Doctor Zhivago"
21. Mikhail Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog"
22. Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland"
23. Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Brothers Karamazov"
24. Arthur Conan Doyle"Sherlock Holmes" (60 works)
25. Alexandre Dumas The Three Musketeers
26. Alexander Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter"
27. Evgeny Zamyatin "We"
28. Nikolai Gogol "The Government Inspector"
29. William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet
30. Ernest Hemingway "The Old Man and the Sea"
31. Ivan Bunin "Dark Alleys"
32. Johann Wolfgang Goethe "Faust"
33. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
34. Bible
35. Franz Kafka "The Trial"
36. Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov "The Golden Calf"
37. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
38. Mikhail Sholokhov Quiet Flows the Don
39. Victor Pelevin "Generation "P""
40. William Shakespeare "Hamlet"
41. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
42. Veniamin Kaverin "Two Captains"
43. Ken Kesey Over the Cuckoo's Nest
44. Nikolai Nosov "Trilogy of Dunno"
45. Ivan Goncharov "Oblomov"
46. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Monday begins on Saturday"
47. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
48. Alexander Solzhenitsyn "The Gulag Archipelago"
49. Francis Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
50. Ray Bradbury "Dandelion Wine"
51. Alexander Volkov "The Wizard of the Emerald City"
52. Tove Jansson "All About the Moomins"
53. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin "History of one city"
54. Vladimir Nabokov "Lolita"
55. Erich Maria Remarque “All Quiet on the Western Front”
56. Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls
57. Erich Maria Remarque "Arc de Triomphe"
58. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "It's hard to be a god"
59. Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach
60. Alexandre Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo
61. Jack London "Martin Eden"
62. Venedikt Erofeev "Moscow - Petushki"
63. Alexander Pushkin "Tales of Belkin"
64. Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea
65. Daniel Keyes "Flowers for Algernon"
66. Mikhail Bulgakov "The White Guard"
67. Fyodor Dostoevsky "Demons"
68. Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy
69. Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
70. Anton Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard"
71. Franz Kafka "Castle"
72. Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose"
73. William Golding "Lord of the Flies"
74. Albert Camus "The Outsider"
75. Victor Hugo Notre Dame Cathedral
76. Albert Camus The Plague
77. Kurt Vonnegut "Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade"
78. Boris Vasiliev "The Dawns Here Are Quiet"
79. Nikolai Gogol "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka"
80. Anatoly Pristavkin “A golden cloud spent the night”
81. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Roadside Picnic
82. Leonid Filatov "About Fedot the Archer, a daring fellow"
83. George Orwell, Animal Farm
84. Margaret Mitchell Gone with the Wind
85. Alexander Grin "Scarlet Sails"
86. O. Henry "The Gift of the Magi"
87. Miguel de Cervantes "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha"
88. Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey"
89. Daniel Defoe "Robinson Crusoe"
90. Jerome K. Jerome "Three in a boat, not counting the dog"
91. Anton Chekhov "Ward No. 6"
92. Alan Milne, Winnie the Pooh and All, All, All
93. Alexander Blok "The Twelve"
94. Varlam Shalamov "Kolyma stories"
95. Andrey Platonov "Pit"
96. Joseph Brodsky "Letters to a Roman friend"
97. Sergei Yesenin "Black Man"
98. Osip Mandelstam "The Noise of Time"
99. Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels
100. Daniil Kharms "Cases"
What
Perhaps the biggest best-seller of the decade is a psychological thriller with more unexpected plot twists than even the most demanding reader could wish for.
Plot
On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunn's wife, Amy, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, and he becomes the prime suspect in her possible murder.
Context
Critics called Flynn's book a "novel of mirrors": nothing can be trusted here, and on every page everything turns out to be not what it seems. It seems that the reader opens the book for the sake of it, so that he is thoroughly taken aback, but not only. Flynn composes, as it were, a fascinating reading on the favorite topic of a great novel - about the family. She takes two completely glossy protagonists, rips off all the covers from them, so what kind of marriage is there, it’s uncomfortable to stand next to them, but at the same time she implies that such an impossible union of unpleasant people is the ideal formula for a strong marriage.
Screen adaptation
Young, successful, beautiful and, most importantly, emphatically Hollywood protagonists just ask to be on the screen - Flynn seems to be writing a novel about the secret life of American stars. In the novel, by the way, it is repeatedly emphasized what kind of blondes they are - and it seems that the very choice of Ben Affleck for the main role hints that Fincher is up to something out of spite of the text. In any case, this film adaptation will not be difficult to become better than the original - there is nothing in the text except the plot, and Fincher is just known for his ability to do beautifully.
Tom McCarthy "When I Was Real"
What
An avant-garde novel delightfully different from all other novels before and since.
Plot
The protagonist, waking up in the hospital after an unnamed disaster, is compensated for several million in damages and paranoid uncertainty about the reality of today - and spends a fortune to recreate the "real" pictures dormant in his mind. It all starts with the construction of an entire house in which a team of special people recreates the smell of fried liver, the sounds of music from a pianist from above, cats walking on the roof. But it doesn't end there - the scene of a street robbery is recreated behind the house, and then something worse.
Context
Tom McCarthy came to literature from modern art, and his novel is not about the state of modern society, but rather about the state of modern art. Like trying to find out how far Actionist art can go in its pursuit of reality. That is, not only the fantasies of the hero, who suffers from the inability to light a cigarette with the ease of De Niro in Mean Streets, are important here, but also the fact that a whole army of professionals helps him fulfill any whim: from casting to literally choosing wallpaper. This alienation of the process from the result is reminiscent of the movie - it is worth adding that Charlie Kaufman was inspired by this book when writing New York, New York.
Screen adaptation
It is logical that the film adaptation of the novel was also taken up not by the director, but by the artist, and not the last row: the video artist Omer Fast became famous precisely for his works, groping for the line between art and reality - in Spielberg's List (2003) he interviews the team of the film "Schindler's List" On the site of a concentration camp built near Krakow as a set for a film, in Casting, a soldier talking about his service in Iraq turns out to be an actor auditioning for the role of a soldier. The script for the film was written by the author of the book and the director together - and, it seems, they understood each other: Fast describes the movie, where Tom Sturridge tries to reach his own forgotten past with the help of artistic reconstructions, as the story of an artist devoid of talent.
Laura Hillenbrand "Unbroken"
What
One of the top non-fiction bestsellers of the decade, Time Magazine's 2010 Book of the Year is about a man who survived.
Plot
The incredible biography of Louis Zamperini, the street boy who was raised to be an Olympic runner and sent to the Berlin Games. After he became a pilot during World War II, survived a plane crash, drifted on a raft in the ocean for a month - and all to be captured by the Japanese.
Context
Incredible and absolutely real story found by Laura Hillenbrand; our time needs heroes and, not finding them in the present, finds them in the recent past.
Screen adaptation
The script for Angelina Jolie's film, which we will see at the end of the year, was written by the Coen brothers, her joint photo with the main character, taken shortly before his death, went around the Internet, but it may turn out that the desire to make socially responsible cinema will play a bad joke on her: this an already pretentious story is easy to kill with bestial seriousness.
Jeannette Walls "The Glass Castle"
What
A wonderful book about a difficult childhood in a strange family.
Plot
Dad drinks, mom paints pictures, no one works, there is often no food at home and never money, children don’t go to school, but dad can tell them the best fairy tale in the world, and mom teaches them to play the piano - and everyone is happy.
Context
In fact, "The Glass Castle" is almost the best thing that has happened in this decade with the literature of young adults: instead of the fictional suffering of teenagers from dystopias, there is a real difficult childhood, where the bohemian life of parents does not always turn out to be a joy for their four children.
Screen adaptation
The main name of the upcoming film adaptation is already known - this is Jennifer Lawrence, for whom this book will finally be a chance to get out of the Hunger Games swamp somewhere closer to the arthouse. With all the love for Lawrence, a lot depends on her in this film adaptation: the whole book is built on very subtle details, and the “Land of the Tides” should come out of this in a good way, and not just another teenage thriller.
Colm Toibin "Brooklyn"
What
Irish Colm Toybin, one of the most serious modern authors, tragically (for us) not translated into Russian, and his novel, which received the Costa Prize in 2009.
Plot
A young Irish woman leaves her native village for America for a better life - and although it is already difficult for her in Brooklyn, everything becomes even more difficult when tragic events in her homeland force her to return home.
Context
Colm Toibin is one of the few authors who can write long, slow, unhurried texts and follow his characters with close attention and exceptional sympathy, which have been forgotten by world literature for more than a hundred years. His novel, however, can be read in a simpler way - as a novel about emigrants in reverse, where America becomes a place where you need to leave.
Screen adaptation
Saoirse Ronan, an apprentice confectioner at the Grand Budapest Hotel, will star in an upcoming - very Irish - adaptation of John Crowley, which looks like her inability to take control of her life will be the main plot here.
Kevin Powers "The Yellow Birds"
What
A novel about returning from the war, written by an Iraq War veteran, has become for Americans something like “All Quiet on the Western Front” in the 21st century.
Plot
Private John Bartle went to Iraq with his high school friend Murph. At the beginning of the war, they swear to each other not to die - but the hero returns alone. Survival is still half the battle: it turns out to be completely impossible to adapt back to peaceful life.
Context
The novel by Kevin Powers filled the empty niche of the Greater Iraq Novel; here, for the first time in the literature, all soldier's injuries are fully described - both in the fields and after the fields: why they leave, what they experience and how they return.
Screen adaptation
Benedict Cumberbatch, who has been cast as the lead in David Lowery's forthcoming film, says too much about the upcoming film adaptation: he doesn't look much like an Iraqi mercenary, which means that in the text, which is half poetry and the other half blood call, it's decided was to leave only poetry.
Sebastian Barry "Tables of Destiny"
What
A century of Irish history in notes from a lunatic asylum.
Plot
A hundred-year-old woman, sitting in a madhouse, keeps a diary in which the tragedy of her own life is inseparable from the tragic history of Ireland - and her attending physician sits around the corner and also keeps a diary, a little easier. Sooner or later they meet.
Context
The 2008 Costa Prize, the Booker Prize shortlist and a host of other awards prove, if not the importance, then the literary excellence of a text written by one of the finest Irish writers and playwrights alive today.
Screen adaptation
A rare case when already at the stage of preparation of the film it is clear that he will do justice to the original: Jim Sheridan in the directors, in the roles of the patient and her doctor Vanessa Redgrave and Eric Bana - and a whole sea of famous names in flashbacks.
Elizabeth Strout "Olivia Kitteridge"
What
A collection of stories from the life of an American province, in which the main character manages to remain a minor character almost to the end.
Plot
13 stories from a small town in New England, from which the image of the main character gradually develops - an uncomfortable, domineering, aging school math teacher. We meet Olivia Kitteridge when she is not young, but we see her off as old - in general, this is a story, if not about aging, then about the loneliness that inevitably accompanies it.
Context
The 2009 Pulitzer Prize - and a whole host of other awards: Elizabeth Strout not only managed to find a new hero, but also completed the task of more difficult - with empathy to tell the story of an uncomfortable heroine.
Screen adaptation
Frances McDormand, who stars in the HBO miniseries due out this fall, doesn't fit well in the role of Kitteridge, as we're repeatedly told in the novel how big, physically uncomfortable her body is. By miniaturizing the heroine, television cut off the novel itself, turning it into a story about what happens to marriage after the children have grown up, a line that turns out to be far from the main one in the novel.
Jojo Moyes "Me Before You"
What
A sad story of impossible love that sells very well.
Plot
A girl at a crossroads loses her job and gets a job as a nurse for a smart, handsome and completely paralyzed man after an accident.
Context
The genre of social rom-com that Jojo Moyes invented with this novel and has been exploiting with might and main since then is an undoubted success. Here, in general, all the same Jane Austen, plus the problems of the first world in the XXI century. That is, poor beautiful girls have nothing to pay for loans, Mr. Darcy also cry, in the meantime - many details of the hard life of the working class, laughter through tears, but still more tears. It's not required reading, just a good girl's novel, but it proves that literature can be left-wing in a good way without even being too smart.
Screen adaptation
Estimated release - August 2015. Sentimental prose of this kind, as a rule, becomes something moderately marginal in film adaptations: it gains its strong hundred million (three times the budget), after which everyone tries to forget it, like an unfortunate misunderstanding. Without really counting on anything, the studio gave itself the freedom to play a little: it invited Thea Sharrock, who is more known for her theatrical work, to the director's chair (this will be her feature film debut, but she, as they say, is widely known on Broadway, in particular, it was her we owe naked Daniel Radcliffe with a horse), and called Emilia Clarke aka Khaleesi for the female lead. And Sharrock seems determined not to draw tears from the viewer, but to show him the injustice of the British class system.
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