Greater Books

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The Daily Telegraph/ The Sunday Telegraph, 110 Best Books [2008]

186 entries: 174 monographical, 12 otherwise

Unranked—arranged topically

Of the three lists generated in recent years by collective personnel at major newspapers, the Telegraph's is closer to the Globe and Mail's in its decent coverage of Western literature, but also compares to the Guardian's in its inclusion of modern popular favorites. Some of those recent best sellers do not belong on a "great books" lists; they are too closely tied to contemporary events or tastes. Indeed, this list shows clearly the unfortunate side of publications getting into the habit of making book lists that cover all of literary history: as with lists of music albums, an excess of recent entries distracts from the stated purpose of the list and suggests excessive praise for those recent entries, when in fact the listmakers were unlikely to have wanted to make a bold claim about the significance of those works but rather simply aimed to include some suitable present-day companions to older works.

    Homer
  1. Iliad

    2. ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B C—Greek

  2. Odýsseia

    3. The Odyssey
    ca. Ninth-Eighth centuries B C—Greek

    Anthony Trollope
  3. The Warden

    4. 1855—English

  4. Barchester Towers

    5. 1857—English

  5. Doctor Thorne

    6. 1858—English

  6. Framley Parsonage

    7. originally published serially Jan. 1860-Apr. 1861 in Cornhill Magazine—English

  7. The Small House at Allington

    8. originally published serially Sep. 1862-Apr. 1864—English

  8. The Last Chronicle of Barset

    9. originally published serially Dec. 1866-Jul. 1867—English

  9. Jane Austen

    10. Pride and Prejudice
    originally anonymously published 1813—English

  10. Jonathan Swift

    11. Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships
    Gulliver's Travels
    1726; revised 1735—English

  11. Charlotte Brontë

    12. Jane Eyre: An Autobiography
    originally published under the pseudonym, Currer Bell, 1847—English

  12. Leo Tolstoy

    13. Voyna i Mir"
    War and Peace
    originally entitled 1805, published in part, 1865 and 1867; retitled and published in its entirety, 1869—Russian

  13. Charles Dickens

    14. The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account)
    originally published serially May 1849-Nov. 1850—English

  14. William Makepeace Thackeray

    15. Vanity Fair: A Novel Without a Hero
    originally published serially Jan. 1847-Jul. 1848—English

  15. Gustave Flaubert

    16. Madame Bovary
    originally published serially Oct. 1856-Dec. 1856 in La Revue de Paris—French

  16. George Eliot

    17. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life
    originally published serially Dec. 1871-Dec. 1872—English

  17. William Shakespeare

    18. Sonnets
    1609; two sonnets originally published in The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599—English

  18. Dante

    19. La Divina Commedia
    The Divine Comedy
    originally entitled La Commedia; written ca. 1308-21—Italian

  19. Geoffrey Chaucer

    20. Canterbury Tales
    1478—English

  20. William Wordsworth
    The Prelude or, Growth of the Poet's Mind: An Autobiographical Poem
    1850; earlier versions written 1799 and 1805—English

    John Keats
    • 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'

    originally anonymously published Jan. 1820 in Annals of the Fine Arts; included in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'Ode to a Nightingale'

    originally published Jul. 1820 in Annals of the Fine Arts; included in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'Ode on Indolence'

    originally published in The Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats, 1848—English

    • 'Ode on Melancholy'

    part of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'Ode to Psyche'

    part of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • 'To Autumn'

    part of Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, 1820—English

    • T S Eliot

    21. 'The Waste Land'
    originally published Oct. 1922 in the Criterion—English

    John Milton
  21. Paradise Lost

    22. 1667; revised 1674—English

  22. William Blake
    Songs of Innocence and Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul
    published in part, 1789, as Songs of Innocence; in its entirety, 1794—English

    William Butler Yeats
    • The Collected Poems of W B Yeats

    23. 1933; expanded 1950; revised 1956; includes The Wind Among the Reeds [1899]; The Shadowy Waters [originally published May 1900 in the North American Review; revised for inclusion in Poems, 1899-1905; theatrical version published separately 1906; both versions included here]; Michael Robartes and the Dancer [1921]; The Tower [1928]; The Winding Stair [1929]; Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems [1932]; New Poems [1938]; selections from The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, 1889; The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, 1892; In the Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age, 1904; The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910; Responsibilities, 1914; The Wild Swans at Coole, Other Verses and a Play in Verse, 1917, expanded 1919; A Full Moon in March, 1935; and Last Poems and Two Plays, 1939—English

  23. The Wind Among the Reeds

    24. 1899—English

  24. The Shadowy Waters

    25. 1900; originally published May 1900 in the North American Review; revised for inclusion in Poems, 1899-1905; theatrical version published separately 1906; both versions included in the author's collected poems—English

  25. Michael Robartes and the Dancer

    26. 1920—English

  26. The Tower

    27. 1928; originally published as Seven Poems and a Fragment, 1922; The Cat and the Moon, 1924; and October Blast, 1927—English

  27. The Winding Stair

    28. 1929—English

  28. Words for Music Perhaps and Other Poems

    29. 1932—English

  29. New Poems
    1938—English

    Ted Hughes
    • Collected Poems

    30. 2003; includes The Hawk in the Rain [1957]; Lupercal [1960]; Recklings [1966]; Crow [published as: Four Crow Poems, 1970; A Few Crows, 1970; Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow [1970--expanded 1971]; Crow Wakes, 1971; and as Hughes' part of Poems: Ruth Fainlight, Ted Hughes, Alan Silitoe, 1971--the Collected Poems version of Crow is counted as a monographic work, though in fact it has not been published on its own in such expanded form; in other words, the three shorter original monographic publications are not included in the master list]; Prometheus on His Crag [1973; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979]; Cave Birds [1975; expanded and revised 1978; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993]; Season Songs [1976; published in part, 1968, as Five Autumn Songs for Children's Voices; and as part of Spring Summer Autumn Winter, 1973; revised 1985]; Orts [1978; portions included as part of 'Earth-Numb' section of Moortown, 1979]; Moortown Elegies [1978; included in Moortown, 1979; expanded and retitled Moortown Diary, 1989]; Adam and the Sacred Nine [1979; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979]; Remains of Elmet [1979; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993; revised and entitled Elmet, 1994]; A Primer of Birds [1981; includes one poem from Crow Wakes, 1971]; River [1983; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993]; Flowers and Insects [1986]; Wolfwatching [1989; includes two poems from A Primer of Birds]; Capriccio [1990]; Rain-Charm for the Duchy [1992]; Birthday Letters [1998; published in part, 1995, in New Selected Poems 1957-1994]; Howls and Whispers [1998]; plus Tales From Ovid: Twenty-Four Passages From the Metamorphoses, 1997—published in part in After Ovid: New Metamorphoses, 1994; selections from Wodwo, 1967; and Gaudete, 1977; 'Earth-Numb', originally published in the collection Moortown [1979]; plus sections entitled Early Poems and Juvenilia (1946-57); Uncollected (1957-59); Uncollected (1960-1967); Uncollected (1967-70); Uncollected (1971-73); Uncollected (1974-75); Uncollected (1976-77); Uncollected (1977-78); Uncollected (1979); Uncollected (1980-81); Uncollected (1981-83); Uncollected (1983-86); Uncollected (1987-89); Uncollected (1992-97); Uncollected (1997-98)]—English

  30. The Hawk in the Rain

    31. 1957—English

  31. Lupercal

    32. 1960—English

  32. Recklings

    33. 1966—English

  33. Crow

    34. originally published as Four Crow Poems, 1970; A Few Crows, 1970; Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow, 1970, expanded 1971; Crow Wakes, 1971; and as Hughes’s portion of Poems: Ruth Fainlight, Ted Hughes, Alan Silitoe, 1971; only the author's Collected Poems, 2003, includes singular version of this work—English

  34. Prometheus on His Crag

    35. 1973; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979—English

  35. Cave Birds

    36. 1975; expanded and revised 1978; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993—English

  36. Season Songs

    37. 1976; published in part, 1968, as Five Autumn Songs for Children’s Voices; and as part of Spring Summer Autumn Winter, 1973; revised 1985—English

  37. Orts

    38. 1978; portions included as part of 'Earth-Numb' section of Moortown, 1979—English

  38. Moortown Elegies

    39. 1978; included in Moortown, 1979; expanded and retitled Moortown Diary, 1989—English

  39. Adam and the Sacred Nine

    40. 1979; revised for inclusion in Moortown, 1979—English

  40. Remains of Elmet

    41. 1979; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993; revised and entitled Elmet, 1994—English

  41. A Primer of Birds

    42. 1981; includes one poem from Crow Wakes, 1971—English

  42. River

    43. 1983; revised for inclusion in Three Books, 1993—English

  43. Flowers and Insects

    44. 1986—English

  44. Wolfwatching

    45. 1989; includes two poems from A Primer of Birds—English

  45. Capriccio

    46. 1990—English

  46. Rain-Charm for the Duchy

    47. 1992—English

  47. Birthday Letters

    48. 1998; published in part, 1995, in New Selected Poems 1957-1994—English

  48. Howls and Whispers
    1998—English

    • Tales From Ovid: Twenty-Four Passages From the Metamorphoses

    49. published in part in After Ovid: New Metamorphoses, 1994; in its entirety, 1997; English translations of selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses—English

  49. Henry James

    50. The Portrait of a Lady
    originally published serially Oct. 1880-Nov. 1881 in Macmillan's and Nov. 1880-Dec. 1881 in the Atlantic Monthly—English

  50. Marcel Proust

    51. À la Recherche du Temps Perdu
    In Search of Lost Time; In Remembrance of Things Past
    originally published in seven volumes, two of which originally published as two books each, 1913-27—French

  51. James Joyce

    52. Ulysses
    published in part serially Mar. 1918-Dec. 1920 in the Little Review; in its entirety, 1922—English

  52. Ernest Hemingway

    53. For Whom the Bell Tolls
    1940—English

    Evelyn Waugh
  53. Men at Arms

    54. 1952—English

  54. Officers and Gentlemen

    55. 1955—English

  55. Unconditional Surrender

    56. 1961—English

  56. Muriel Spark

    57. The Ballad of Peckham Rye
    1960—English

    John Updike
  57. Rabbit, Run

    58. 1960—English

  58. Rabbit Redux

    59. 1971—English

  59. Rabbit Is Rich

    60. 1981—English

  60. Rabbit at Rest

    61. 1990—English

  61. Gabriel García Márquez

    62. Cien Anõs de Soledad
    One Hundred Years of Solitude
    1967—Spanish

  62. Toni Morrison

    63. Beloved
    1987—English

  63. Philip Roth

    64. The Human Stain
    2000—English

  64. Daphne du Maurier

    65. Rebecca
    1938—English

  65. Thomas Malory

    66. Le Morte d'Arthur
    1485; revised through sixth edition, 1634—English

  66. Choderlos de Laclos

    67. Les Liaisons Dangereuses
    The Dangerous Liaisons
    1782—French

  67. Robert Graves

    68. I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B C, Murdered and Deified A D 54
    1934—English

    Mary Renault
  68. Fire From Heaven

    69. 1969—English

  69. The Persian Boy

    70. 1972—English

  70. Funeral Games

    71. 1981—English

  71. Patrick O'Brien

    72. Master and Commander
    1969—English

  72. Margaret Mitchell

    73. Gone With the Wind
    1936—English

  73. Boris Pasternak

    74. Dóktor Živágo
    Doctor Zhivago
    Italian translation, 1957; original Russian, 1958—Russian

  74. Thomas Hardy

    75. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented
    published in part serially Jul.-Dec. 1891 in the Graphic—English

    Jean Plaidy
  75. The Plantagenet Prelude

    76. 1976—English

  76. The Revolt of the Eaglets

    77. 1977—English

  77. The Heart of the Lion

    78. 1978—English

  78. The Prince of Darkness

    79. q978—English

  79. The Battle of the Queens

    80. 1978—English

  80. The Queen From Provence

    81. 1979—English

  81. Edward Longsharks

    82. 1979; retitled The Hammer of the Scots, 2008—English

  82. The Follies of the King

    83. 1980—English

  83. The Vow on the Heron

    84. 1980—English

  84. Passage to Pontefract

    85. 1981—English

  85. The Star of Lancaster

    86. 1981—English

  86. Epitaph for Three Women

    87. 1981—English

  87. Red Rose of Anjou

    88. 1982—English

  88. The Sun in Splendour

    89. 1982—English

  89. Arthur Ransome

    90. Swallows and Amazons
    1930—English

  90. C S Lewis

    91. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
    1950—English

  91. J R R Tolkien

    92. The Lord of the Rings
    published in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King, 1954-5—English

  92. Phillip Pullman

    93. His Dark Materials
    originally published in three volumes: Northern Lights, 1995 (U S title: The Golden Compass); The Subtle Knife, 1997; The Amber Spyglass, 2000—English

  93. Jean de Brunhoff

    94. Historie de Babar
    1931—French

  94. E Nesbit

    95. The Railway Children
    originally published serially in the London Magazine, 1905—English

  95. A A Milne

    96. Winnie-the-Pooh
    published in part serially 1924-5; in its entirety, 1926—English

    J K Rowling
  96. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

    97. 1997—English

  97. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    98. 1998—English

  98. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    99. 1999—English

  99. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    100. 2000—English

  100. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    101. 2003—English

  101. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

    102. 2005—English

  102. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

    103. 2007—English

  103. Kenneth Grahame

    104. The Wind in the Willows
    1908—English

  104. Robert Louis Stevenson

    105. Treasure Island
    originally entitled Treasure Island or, The Mutiny of the Hispaniola, published serially 1891-92 in Young Folks under the pseudonym, Captain George North—English

  105. Mary Shelley

    106. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
    originally anonymously published 1818—English

  106. Jules Verne

    107. Vingt Mille Lieues Souls les Mers
    Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
    1870—French

  107. H G Wells

    108. The Time Machine
    1895—English

  108. Aldous Huxley

    109. Brave New World
    1932—English

  109. George Orwell

    110. Nineteen Eighty-Four
    1949—English

  110. John Wyndham

    111. The Day of the Triffids
    1951—English

  111. Isaac Asimov

    112. Foundation
    1951; four of five chapters previously published: May 1942, as 'Foundation', in Astounding Science-Fiction; Jun. 1942, as 'Bridle and Saddle', in Astounding Science-Fiction; Oct. 1944, as 'The Wedge', in Astounding Science-Fiction; Aug. 1944, as 'The Big and the Little', in Astounding Science-Fiction—English

  112. Arthur C Clarke

    113. 2001: A Space Odyssey
    1968—English

  113. Philip K Dick

    114. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
    1968—English

  114. William Gibson

    115. Neuromancer
    1984—English

  115. Patricia Highsmith

    116. The Talented Mr. Ripley
    1955—English

  116. Dashiell Hammett

    117. The Maltese Falcon
    1930—English

    Arthur Conan Doyle
  117. A Study in Scarlet

    118. originally published 1887 in Beeton's Christmas Annual—English

  118. The Sign of the Four

    119. originally published Feb. 1890 in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine—English

  119. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    120. 1892; stories originally published Jul. 1891-Jun. 1892 in the Strand—English

  120. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

    121. 1894; stories originally published 1892-3 in the Strand—English

  121. The Hound of the Baskervilles

    122. 1902; originally published serially Aug. 1901-Apr. 1902 in the Strand—English

  122. The Return of Sherlock Holmes

    123. 1905; stories originally published 1903-4 in the Strand—English

  123. The Valley of Fear

    124. 1915; originally published serially Sep. 1914-Feb. 1915 in the Strand—English

  124. His Last Bow: Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes

    125. 1917; stories originally published Sep. 1908-Dec. 1913 in the Strand; except one published Sep. 1917 in Collier's Weekly—English

  125. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

    126. 1927; stories originally published Oct. 1921-Apr. 1927 in the Strand—English

  126. Raymond Chandler

    127. The Big Sleep
    1939—English

  127. John le Carré

    128. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
    1974—English

  128. Thomas Harris

    129. Red Dragon
    1981—English

  129. Agatha Christie
    Murder on the Orient Express
    Murder in the Calais Coach
    1934—English

    • Edgar Allan Poe

    130. 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'
    originally published Apr. 1841 in Graham's Magazine; revised for inclusion in The Prose Romances of Edgar A Poe, 1843—English

  130. Wilkie Collins

    131. The Woman in White
    originally published serially Nov. 1859-Aug. 1860 in All the Year Round—English

  131. Elmore Leonard

    132. Killshot
    1989—English

  132. Karl Marx

    133. Das Kapital, Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie
    published in three volumes: 1867, 1885, and 1894—German

  133. Thomas Paine

    134. The Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
    originally published in two volumes, 1791 and 1792—English

  134. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    135. Du Contrat Social ou Principes du Droit Politique
    The Social Contract
    1762—French

  135. Alexis de Tocqueville

    136. De la Démocratie en Amérique
    Democracy in America
    originally published in two volumes, 1835 and 1840—French

  136. Carl von Clausewitz

    137. Vom Kriege
    On War
    1832—German

  137. Niccolò Machiavelli

    138. Il Principe
    The Prince
    1532—Italian

  138. Thomas Hobbes

    139. Leviathan or, The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil
    1651—English

  139. Sigmund Freud

    140. Die Traumdeutung
    The Interpretation of Dreams
    1899—German

  140. Charles Darwin
    On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
    1859—English

    • Denis Diderot et al.

    141. Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers
    published in 28 volumes, 1751-72—French

  141. Robert M Pirsig

    142. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
    1974—English

  142. Richard Bach

    143. Jonathan Livingston Seagull
    1970—English

  143. Douglas Adams

    144. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    1979 novel based on 1978 radio play—English

  144. Malcolm Gladwell

    145. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
    2000—English

  145. Naomi Wolf

    146. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women
    1991; expanded 2002—English

    Delia Smith
  146. Delia's How to Cook Book One

    147. 1998—English

  147. Delia's How to Cook Book Two

    148. 1999—English

  148. Delia's How to Cook Book Three

    149. 2001—English

  149. Peter Mayle

    150. A Year in Provence
    1989—English

  150. David Pelzer

    151. A Child Called 'It'
    1995—English

  151. Lynne Truss

    152. Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
    2003—English

  152. Ben Schott

    153. Schott's Original Miscellany
    2002—English

  153. Edward Gibbon

    154. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
    originally published in six volumes: first, 1776; second-third, 1781; fourth-sixth, 1788—English

  154. Winston Churchill

    155. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
    published in four volumes, 1956-58—English

  155. Steven Runciman

    156. A History of the Crusades
    1951—English

  156. Herodotus

    157. Historiē
    History
    Fifth Century B C—Greek

  157. Thucydides

    158. History of the Peloponnesian War
    early Fifth Century B C—Greek

  158. T E Lawrence

    159. Seven Pillars of Wisdom
    1922—English

    --
  159. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

    160. Ninth-Twelfth centuries—English

  160. Orlando Figes

    161. A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924
    1997—English

  161. Simon Schama

    162. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
    1989—English

  162. A J P Taylor

    163. The Origins of the Second World War
    1961—English

  163. Augustine of Hippo

    164. Confessionum Libri Tredecim
    The Confessions of St. Augustine
    written 397-98—Latin

  164. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

    165. De Vita Caesarum
    The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
    written 121—Latin

  165. Giorgio Vasari

    166. Le Vite de' Più Eccellenti Pittori, Scultori, e Architettori da Cimabue Insino a' Tempi Nostri
    The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
    1550; expanded 1568—Italian

  166. Primo Levi

    167. Se Questo è un Uomo
    Survival in Auschwitz
    1947—Italian

  167. Siegfried Sassoon

    168. Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man
    1928—English

  168. Lytton Strachey

    169. Eminent Victorians
    1918—English

  169. Elizabeth Gaskell

    170. A Life of Charlotte Brontë
    1857—English

  170. Robert Graves

    171. Good-Bye to All That
    1929; revised 1957—English

  171. James Boswell

    172. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
    1791—English

    Alan Clark
  172. Diaries

    173. 1993—English

  173. Diaries: Into Politics 1972-1982

    174. 2000—English

  174. Diaries: The Last Diaries 1993-1999

    175. 2002—English