TeachersFirst's Lifetime Reading LIst

Here's our list of all-time great works for students young and old. While this list contains many classics for adult and young adult readers, it also includes many contemporary works, as well as material suitable for milddle school students.

Looking for more specialty reading lists? Check out the TeachersFirst Reading Lists page.

 

 

 

 

Author Title
Adams, Richard Watership Down
Adams, Douglas Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, A
Adamson, Joy Born Free
Albee, Edward Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Alcott, Louisa May Little Women
Aligheri, Dante Divine Comedy
Allende, Isabel House of the Spirits, The
Austen, Jane Northanger Abbey, others
Beckett, Samuel Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul Humbolt's Gift, Henderson the Rain King
Blake, William Poems
Boccaccio Decameron, The
Bolt, Robert A Man for All Seasons
Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
Bradley, Marion Zimmer Mists of Avalon
Bronte, Emily Wuthering Heights
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre - Lesson Plan
Browning, Robert Poems
Buck, Pearl Good Earth, The
Burgess, Anthony Clockwork Orange, A
Burnett, Frances H. Secret Garden, The
Burnford, Sheila Incredible Journey, The
Burns, Olive Ann Cold Sassy Tree
Byatt, A.S. Possession
Byron, George Gordon Lord Poems
C.S. Lewis Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, The
Camus, Albert Plague, The
Card, Orson Scott Ender's Game
Cather, Willa My Antonia, Song of the Lark
Cervantes Don Quixote
Chaucer, Geoffrey Canterbury Tales
Chekov, Anton Cherry Orchard, The
Chinua, Achebe Things Fall Apart
Chopin, Kate Awakening, The
Cisneros, Sandra House on Mango Street, The
Coleridge, Samuel Poems
Collins, Wilkie Moonstone, The
Conrad, Joseph Secret Sharer, Heart of Darkness
Crane, Stephen Red Badge of Courage, The
Craven, Margaret I Heard the Owl Call My Name
Crichton, Michael Andromeda Strain, The, others
Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe
Descartes, Rene Discourse on Method, A
Dickens, Charles Tale of Two Cities, A
Dickinson, Emily Poems
Dillard, Annie Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Dinesen, Isak Out of Africa
Donleavy, J.P. Ginger Man, The
Dostoevsky, Feodor Crime and Punishment
Douglas, Lloyd C. Robe, The
Doyle, Arthur Conan Hound of the Baskervilles, others
Dreeiser, Theodore An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo
DuMaurier, Daphne Rebecca
Eliot, George Adam Bede, Mill on the Floss
Eliot, T.S. Murder in the Cathedral, Poems
Ellison, Ralph Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo Poems
Esquivel, Laura Like Water for Chocolate
Euripides Tragedies
Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary
Forster, E. M. Passage to India, A Room With a View
Fowles, John French Lieutenant's Woman, others
Frank, Pat Alas, Babylon
Franklin, Benjamin Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Frazer, James Golden Bough, The
Frazier, Charles Cold Mountain
Freud, Sigmund any work
Fromm, Erich Escape from Freedom, others
Frost, Robert Poetry
Gaines, Ernest A Gathering of Old Men
Gaines, Ernest Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman, The
Galsworthy, John Forsythe Saga, The
Goethe, Wolfgang Faust
Golding, William Lord of the Flies
Goldsmith, Oliver She Stoops To Conquer
Green, Hannah I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Greene, Graham Power and the Glory, The
Hawthorne, Nathaniel Scarlet Letter, The
Heinlein, Robert Stranger in a Strange Land
Heller, Joseph Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest Old Man and the Sea, The, others
Herriot, James All Creatures Great and Small, others
Hesse, Herman Siddartha, others
Hilton, James Lost Horizon
Homer Iliad, The - The Odyssey
Hudson, W.H. Green Mansions
Hugo, Victor Les Miserables
Hume, David Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrick Hedda Gabler, others
Irving, Washington Stories
Irving, John A Prayer for Owen Meany
The World According to Garp
James, Henry Turn of the Screw, The
Jean-Paul Sarte No Exit
Jones, James From Here To Eternity
Joyce, James Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz Metamorphosis
Kant, Immanuel Kant Metaphysics
Keats, John Poems
Keller, Helen Story of My Life, The
Kerouac, Jack On the Road
Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Kesselring, Joseph Arsenic and Old Lace
Kinsella, W.P. Shoeless Joe
Kinston, Maxine Hong Woman Warrior, The
Kipling, Rudyard Kim, others
Knowles, John A Separate Peace
Koestler, Arthur Darkness at Noon
Lamb, Charles Essays
Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers, others
Lee, Harper To Kill A Mockingbird
LeGuin, Ursula A Wizard of Earthsea
Llewellyn, Richard How Green Was My Valley
London, Jack Call of the Wild, The
Machiavelli, Nicolo Prince, The
MacLeish, Archibald J.B.
Malamud, Bernard Assistant, The
Malory, Thomas Le Morte d' Arthur
Mann, Thomas Magic Mountain, The
Marlowe, Christopher Dr. Faustus
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude
Marshall, Catherine Christy
Maugham, Somerset Of Human Bondage
McCourt, Frank Angela's Ashes
McCullers, Carson Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The
Melville, Herman Moby Dick, Billy Budd
Michener, James Hawaii
Mill, John Stuart On Liberty
Miller, Walter M. Canticle for Leibowitz, A
Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman
Milton, John Paradise Lost
Mitchell, Margaret Gone With the Wind
Moliere Misanthrope, The
Momaday, M. Scott Ancient Child, The
Montaigne Essays
Montgomery, Lucy Maud Anne of Green Gables series
Morrison, Toni Beloved
Nordhof, Charles B. Bounty triology, The
O'Connor, Flannery Wise Blood
Orwell, George 1984, Animal Farm
Paine, Thomas Rights of Man
Pasternak, Boris Dr. Zhivago
Paton, Alan Cry the Beloved Country
Percy, Walker Moviegoer, The
Pirsig, Robert Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Plato Dialogues
Plutarch Lives
Poe, Edgar Allen Short Stories and Poems
Pope, Alexander Rape of the Lock, The
Porter, Katherine Anne Ship of Fools
Potok, Chaim Chosen, The - The Promise, others
Proulx, Annie Shipping News, The
Proust, Marcel Remembrance of Things Past
Pynchon, Thomas Gravity's Rainbow
Rand, Ayn Anthem, The Fountainhead
Rawlings, Marjorie Cross Creek, The Yearling
Rawls, Wilson Where the Red Fern Grows
Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front
Rhys, Jean Wide Sargasso Sea
Richard D. Blakemore Lorna Doone
Rostand, Edmond Cyranno de Bergerac
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Confessions
Rusdie, Salman Midnight's Children
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de Little Prince, The
Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey
Scott, Sir Walter Ivanhoe
Shakespeare, William All!
Shaw, G. B. Pygmalion, others
Shelley, Percy Bysshe Poems
Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
Shute, Nevil On the Beach
Silone, Ignazio Bread and Wine
Sinclair, Upton Jungle, The
Singer, Isaac Bashevis Short Stories
Smith, Betty Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander First Circle, The - others
Sophocles Oedipus Rex, Antigone
Soto, Gary Pacific Crossing
Steinbeck, John Grapes of Wrath, others
Stendhal Red and the Black, The
Sterne, Laurence Tristram Shandy
Stevenson, Robert Louis Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, others
Stoker, Bram Dracula
Stone, Irving Agony and the Ecstasy, The
Stoppard, Tom Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Swift, Jonathan Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal
Tan, Amy Joy Luck Club, The
Ten Boom, Corrie Hiding Place, The
Tennyson, Alfred Lord Poems
Thackery, William Vanity Fair
Theroux, Paul Mosquito Coast, The
Thurber, James Stories
Tolkein, J.R.R. Hobbit, The
Tolkien, J.R.R. Lord of the Rings
Tolstoy, Leo Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Illich, others
Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Tyler, Anne Accidental Tourist, The
Undset, Sigrid Kristin Lavansdatter
Updike, John Rabbit, Run, others
Uris, Leon Trinity
Verne, Jules Around the World in Eighty Days, others
Virgil Aeneid, The
Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway
Voltaire Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse 5, others
Walker, Alice Color Purple, The
Walker, Alice Temple of my Familiar, The
Waltari, Mika The Egyptian, The Roman, The Etruscan
Warren, Robert Penn All The Kings Men
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery
Waugh, Evelyn Brideshead Revisited
Welty, Eudora Optimist's Daughter, The
Wharton, Edith Ethan Frome
White, T.H. Once and Future King, The
Whitman, Walt Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar Picture of Dorian Gray, The
Wilder, Thornton Our Town
Williams, Tennessee Glass Menagerie, The
Wister, Owen Virginian, The
Wolfe, Thomas Look Homeward, Angel
Wordsworth Poems
Wouk, Herman Caine Mutiny, The
Wright, Richard Black Boy
Wyss, Johann Swiss Family Robinson