53 Books Every College Student Should Read

With the exception of a few plays, book series and very long poems…

1. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow A realistic and satirical novel that captures the life of the main character from his childhood to his manhood through the realistic touches that make it universally relevant. Growing up during the Great Depression, Augie suffers through the slings and arrows of the world that many people can relate to.
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finnby Mark Twain Preceding Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer comes the classic American tale of Huck Finn and his adventures with Tom and Jim against criminals and the law. The novel covers the broad themes of freedom and slavery, encompassing the struggles in society in the context of racial discrimination.
3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Esther Greenwood, a woman just finishing  up college and an internship in New York City, struggles with all of the decisions that life brings while being pulled down by a descent into madness in this dark semi autobiography of Sylvia Plath’s own life.
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison A novel that allows readers to see into the pain and suffering of slaves through Sethe and her daughter Denver, as they work to rebuild their lives after escaping the torment of slavery. The novel examines many themes, along with the relationship between individuals and their community.
5. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott Practical advice on all aspects of the writer’s life, through wit, intelligence and personal experience. Referring to her younger brother’s procrastination and frustration towards an art project during their childhood; Lamott’s father reiterated the words, “Bird by bird. Just take it bird by bird.” Ann relates her ideas to writers on all levels, whether it be professionally or for a college essay.
6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Set in London A.D. 2450, a dystopian society that embodies futurism allows a society to be categorized under strict ranks, fleeing all modern senses of morality. The Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its 1999 list of Best English-Language novels of the 20th century.
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz Oscar is obsessed with science fiction, graphic novels and falling in love. He lives in New Jersey with his Dominican family, and in this narrative his US immigration experience is captured in this novel through its abundant use of science fiction and fantasy references and urban English slang.
8. Candide by Voltaire Candide is an optimist in a world where everything is falling apart. While war, disease and natural disaster break out, and the love of his life is torn away from him, Candide sticks to the optimistic philosophy of Dr. Pangloss. But realizes in the end that we must “cultivate our garden.”
9. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller A novel with separate anecdotes creating the whole novel of which Yossarian is the mediator of. Through his battles in the second half of World War II, he has a strong desire to be immortal, while struggling to survive in the war’s treachery and violence. A series of paradoxes to struggle with, Yossarian struggles to live in reality vs insanity.
10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger What earlier critics may have called a ‘risky’ novel, is a book narrated by Holden Caulfield who represents everything that is teenage rebellion. Seen as an unreliable narrator, Salinger uses Holden’s defiant personality to add to the book’s style of disjointed, colloquial speech.
11. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess The novel takes place in a futuristic England with a dystopian society where citizens have fallen into a complacency as the violent culture of the youth gets worse. Alex, the protagonist of the story, is a fifteen year old boy who is the leader of a gang who finds thrill in violence. The novel holds themes such as the exploration of freewill and the ability to conjoin with a society’s rules as a means of finding freedom.
12. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas An epic adventure story entailing justice, love, freedom and death. Edmond Dantès is faced with controversy as the criminal justice system allows his enemies to slyly get past the law, where in return Edmond is punished. He is ultimately challenged by morality of justice given through humans to other humans, or rather if it is something that is beyond the limits of humanity and should only be given through a higher power.
13. The Crucible by Arthur Miller In a representation of the Salem Witchcraft Trials is a play that challenges the morals and ethics of a society based on moral goodness and Puritanism when rumors and accusations spread like wildfire. The paranoia of witchcraft is another added layer to this novel which is essentially the core of controversy, which parallels the communist paranoia that permeated America in the 1950s.
14. Dune by Frank Herbert A classic science fiction novel that introduces the Dune series. The year is 10,191 and humans have spread out beyond the earth to inhabit other planets. Duko Leto’s son Paul is quickly faced with the reality that he holds the fate of the universe in his hands as he is the heir to the throne of the House of the Atreides. This leads on to a series of attacks upon him leading to mayhem.
15. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss A book that covers the complexities, the simplicities and the overall greatness of punctuation. This is a great reference book when facing an essay, a letter or curiosity. Her goal in writing the book is to make apparent the importance of punctuation in the English language.
16. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card At the age of six, Ender Wiggin is chosen by the International Fleet to help save mankind from the buggers. He is sent off to Battle school which is located on a ship far away from earth, and is instantly set apart from the others on the trip there due to his automatic understanding and knowledge of how things work. The complexities between what is a game and what is reality becomes more apparent to Ender through the novel as he is challenged against his awareness to finish what was started.
17. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan (who shares the book author’s name) is a young Jewish-American writer who is in search of information on his grandfather. He goes to Ukraine in search of Trachimbrod, his grandfather’s village to recover information on him. All that he has to locate information are a few maps and a photograph of a woman named Augustine who supposedly saved his grandfather from the Nazi liquidation in the village. The character Jonathan’s language within the novel seems as if he learned his English through a thesaurus but never heard it being used practically. This comedic story is split into chapters by different authors, sequencing different points of view in the story that makes up its hilarity.
18. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The futuristic society of America in this novel gives a whole new meaning to firemen. Rather than putting out fires, they create fires by burning books which is done for the betterment of humanity, enhancing the overall ethics of the society through pleasure and anti-intellectualism. The main character, Guy Montag is a fireman and starts questioning the society he lives in when he meets Clarisse McClellan who challenges his own happiness and ideals.
19. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley A novel that was connected to the romantic movement is the timely classic of Shelley who presents Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates what is much like a man, but stronger and larger. Frankenstein creating the monster questions the ability to surpass human limits and whether it is ethical to create something that man was not intended to create.
20. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn The novel documents the life of Olympia Binewski who manages a travelling carnival with her husband that starts going down hill, but is recovered by altering the genes of their own children through radioactive substances. The results are their son Arty, who is born with flippers for hands and feet, along with the Siamese twins and more. But later in their lives their mutations stop working to their advantage and more to their disadvantage where they have to cope with what they were born with.
21. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens The novel recounts the  life of Pip from his early years until he grows to a man of maturity. Beginning during his childhood on Christmas during 1812, as he sees a convict that tries to take advantage of him through stealing, the book begins with the heavy guilt of Pip in this encounter. Pip’s progression from childhood to adolescence to adulthood is documented and his changes are significant creating a well rounded character to carry the plot of Dickens’s classic.
22. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Set in the summer of 1922 is this engaging novel that symbolizes in several ways the American Dream and all that it does not have to offer through the materialism and decay of social and moral values. Nick Carraway is a young businessman from Minnesota who moves to the long island side of New York for business, and moves into a neighborhood full of young wealthy people who are too green to have developed any sort of business connections. Next door to Nick lives Jay Gatsby who is a wealthy and intriguing man who holds parties at his mansion every Saturday night. The wealth and glamour of the American Dream become hazy when characters realize that all of these dreams might not be the source to their happiness.
23. Hamlet by William Shakespeare “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” This is one of the best plays of Shakespeare that is well worth the read, first because of its content and ideas and secondly because it is so widely acclaimed throughout the media. When the King of Denmark is killed, his son Hamlet seeks vengeance upon his father’s throne by twisting and turning through his own struggles with going into situations blind sighted, dealing with the complexities of taking action.
24. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood In what was formerly the United States, now resides the Republic of Gilead formed through a revolution which overthrew the government by first killing the president, getting rid of Congress and then abolishing the US Constitution. The protagonist, Offred, is kept for the role of a handmaid who is used for reproductive purposes. The inhumane uses of women in the society reduce them to their ovaries and womb, depriving them of individuality and ultimately their purpose as humans created in, what the state believes, God’s image through orthodox and perfunctory belief.
25. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling A series that is an adventure to read, regardless of age. When Harry’s parents are killed in a tragic accident when he is a baby, he continues to live in an abusive home with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and pig-like cousin, Dudley until the age of eleven. It’s not until he starts receiving a series of letters, which Uncle Vernon does not give to Harry, that Harry realizes that there is something special about him. When Hagrid, a half giant, finally comes to deliver Harry the letter himself, Harry finds out the truth—that he is a wizard. The seven book series chronicles Harry’s school years at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where many adventures take place and he is ultimately given a daunting task all because of the lightning-shaped scar that was bore upon his forehead at the death of his parents when he was just a baby.
26. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad A story told within a story, Marlow recounts his tale as a ferry boat captain transporting ivory to Congo to a group of sailors. The book is rich with symbolism and an overall theme of darkness.
27. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien A classic that led to the Lord of the Rings is the quest of Bilbo Baggins and his journey to claim treasure being guarded by the dragon, Smaug. From light rural surroundings to deeper and darker settings such as Frodo experiences, Bilbo’s tale is a very popular and widely acclaimed children’s story.
28. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde The British upper class of the Victorian era are satirically portrayed in this play, as two main characters create lies to avoid social obligations. This leads to confusion and hostility through marriage proposals and refusals and proposals again. But it’s all for the sake of being earnest, of course.
29. Inferno by Dante Alighieri Dante’s journey into hell, with the help of his guide Virgil, is told in an almost dreamlike state. The descent brings knowledge and understanding while ironically being a literal descent to the depths of hell as well as a climb out the other end which is the ultimate goal for Dante. It all starts with his fear as he wanders from the path in a dark, obscured forest. The poem alludes to the spiritual journey of human life which makes an intriguing connection and parallel to the reader’s own life.
30. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Beginning in the middle of his life, an African American man who lives underground due to denied social acceptance and invisibility, tells his story of how he came to live underground and be essentially invisible to his community. The man is unnamed, mirroring his invisible attributes, and tells the story of his life up until the present.
31. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Orphaned and alone, Jane moves in with her cruel aunt and cousins where she is consistently verbally abused and treated poorly. She finally gets out of the abusive home into Lowood School where circumstances are just as bad, if not worse. Jane’s development throughout the novel is the essential core of the story, and her self-worth and integrity are tested and used as a block to build upon as the years go by and she grows into a woman facing different issues with different prospects.
32. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini The story of two boys, Amir and Hassan, who are both excellent kite runners in the city but end their friendship through an unfortunate set of events. Set in the falling monarchy of Afghanistan and subsequent years later, the guilt of the friendship leads Amir to revisit the issues of his own failures and the country which forced him to flee to America.
33. Life of Pi by Yann Martel Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi for short) tells the story of the experience that changed his life while he was stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. The aspect and importance of storytelling influence the way the story is portrayed through Pi, which is intentional, and gives the reader the opportunity to learn different truths through each piece of the story that Pi tells.
34. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry A pilot who has crashed his plane in the Sahara Desert meets the little prince, a little blond boy from Asteroid 325 who has left his planet due to his loneliness and search for deeper meaning. The little prince meets several grownups who he realizes are narrow minded and self seeking for their own gain through their occupation. The little prince’s meeting with a fox leads him to realizations and truths that make more sense than all of the adults’ aspirations.  A children’s classic that, again, regardless of age has depth and value.
35. Lord of the Flies by William Golding An allegorical novel of several British schoolboys who become stranded on a desert island and try to create a society in a chaotic situation where everyone is struggling for power. The novel is largely influenced by failing societies created by men, alluding to the idea that all cultures created by men will inevitably fail.
36. The Lord of the Rings Series by J.R.R. Tolkien The epic trilogy that brilliantly captures the journey of Frodo Baggins and the fellowship of the ring to Mordor to destroy the one ring, that holds the ability to rule over all of Middle Earth. The friendship, bravery and sacrifice through the relationships of Frodo, Sam and the rest of the fellowship is beautiful, and captures the treacherous circumstances it takes to have freedom. Tolkien’s descriptions through imagery, character development and plot sum up his brilliance in the form of one book, split into three parts, known as LoTR.
37. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare The entanglement of lovers through a few drops of juice from a magical flower cause chaos in a forest, where fairies have dominion and mortals are at their mercy. Dream and reality coincide in this play and retell the comedic misfortunes of the effects of love.
38. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Clarissa Dalloway is caught up in the beautiful life of classy parties and fashion and what is accepted in upper-class society. Yet with all of these interests she longs for deeper meaning and self worth. She questions her decision to marry Richard Dalloway, a safe bet, instead of Peter Walsh. She questions death and life, and hope itself.
39. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck George and Lenny are two migrant field workers during the Great Depression who run into trouble without meaning to. It all starts with Lenny, who is mentally disabled, and his fondness of touching soft things such as bunnies. George who is intelligent and cynical tries protecting him, but it doesn’t seem to help. They are forced to flee the ranch they work at because of what didn’t mean to be a  harmful gesture to a woman was mistaken as rape by Lenny. Their escape and the troubles presented with being two lower class males, on the run, and being filled with loneliness during the desolate zeitgeist of the depression era make this story a masterpiece.
40. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi A French autobiographical graphic novel about a girl’s life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and her struggle to find balance and living in life through resistance to the government and using education as a means of that resistance. The book’s format is split up into sections based on influential objects and places of each section.
41. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene The red coats have taken over Mexico, where religion is outlawed, and the whiskey priest is on the run. He’s not the ideal priest, as he is trying to flee the country and is an alcoholic. But as concurrent events happen, he finds that giving up his will gives him more freedom. The whiskey priest’s faith and belief opposes the ideologies of the state and the lieutenant, who is himself searching for hope and justice in a place of poverty and emptiness.
42. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen In a society where a family is as good as its income, Mrs. Bennet has five daughters who she is desperate to see married to well off men of large incomes. When Mr. Bingley, a wealthy young man, comes to stay in Netherfield Park near the village of Longbourn where the Bennets reside, Mrs. Bennet is determined to catch his attention with one of her daughters. But Elizabeth, the second oldest daughter, is not interested in the same issues as her mother. She is intelligent and quick-witted; she is the protagonist of the novel. And when she is faced with an unfavorable Mr. Darcy, she experiences his pride all while eventually realizing his love and tenderness towards her.
43. The River Why by David James Duncan Gus Orviston is frustrated with the life he has in Portland, as he would rather be fishing nonstop if circumstances allowed it. So he decides to move to the Oregon Coast Range to do nothing but eat, sleep and fish. After a while he starts connecting with his neighbors in his community and meets a woman who teaches him that life is not only about fishing, but so much more.
44. The Road by Cormac McCarthy A father and son are travelling through a post-apocalyptic setting where there are no signs of humanity, only barren wasteland. An unexplained disaster has left a thick layer of ash over the sun, so thick that the father and son must wear face masks to breathe. They are headed towards the sea where the father is hopeful that other good people remain, like them.
45. The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne Hester Prynne wears a scarlet cloth resembling the letter ‘A’ on her chest, symbolizing her act of adultery. Throughout the novel she is challenged to accept her past and find redemption in a new life. Set in Puritan Boston, Hester lives in a society where legalism and guilt are the effects of sin.
46. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd When Lily Owens goes to sleep during the hot North Carolina summer nights, the bees come through the cracks of the walls and their hum creates a comforting tune for Lily in her life of abuse by her father and the sadness of her mother’s death when Lily was a small child. When Lily and Rosaleen run into trouble with the law, they end up fleeing the town of Sylvan and head to Tiburon, South Carolina by the inspiration of a honey jar’s logo found in Lily’s mother’s belongings. The logo leads them to finding a community of women who teach Lily the feminine aspects of life that she never learned, growing up without a mother, and the simple lessons that can be learned from bees.
47. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Billy Pilgrim is a soldier in World War 2 who is taken captive by German soldiers and suddenly experiences a shift in time—experiencing past and future events that occur in his life. He is kidnapped by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, he lives a mundane married life in the 1950s and travels back to memories of his past. The importance of sight and point of view are huge themes in the novel, as Billy is an optometrist and is also seeing his past and future from a point of view that changes consistently.
48. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway With Hemingway’s timeless language of imagery and simplicity, is his first novel that is generally known to be his best work. The novel follows a group of war veterans and their new lives in Europe, facing post-war battle scars and realities.
49. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens The classic English novel of two similar men with a similar love interest, and their lives within two cities. Charles Darnay has abandoned the cruelty of the French for Britain, but must return to France during the brutal revolution to save the life of a faithful servant. Sydney Carton is a depressed lawyer, with sacrificial qualities which redeem and save his own life as well as the life of Charles Darnay, though Darnay’s wife is a factor towards Carton’s sadness and alcoholism. The novel’s protagonists vary between Darnay and Carton among others.
50. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Scout Finch is an imaginative girl living in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression with her brother Jem, and widowed father Atticus. Atticus is a lawyer and decides to take on the case of an African American man named Tom Robinson who had been accused of raping a white woman. Because of the case, Scout and Jem are teased by other kids at school, but they worry about other things such as Boo Radley, a man who lives in the eerie mansion at the end of the road and is said to have not left the house for years. Through the trial and the mysterious antics of Maycomb, Scout and Jem discover what true justice and innocence look like, through racial inequality and Atticus’s ability to put himself in their shoes during troubling situations.
51. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom Morrie Schwartz is not the ordinary college professor. He is engaged within his students’ lives, and gets to know them on a personal level. Sixteen years after Mitch has had him as a professor, he sees Morrie on Nightline and pays him a visit, discovering that he has Lou Gehrig’s disease. After the visit, Mitch continues to visit Morrie every Tuesday where a different kind of lesson is given. Lessons on love, values, acceptance and happiness. Each chapter encompasses a new Tuesday spent with Morrie, as his disease slowly takes away his ability to function his body.
52. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe An anti-slavery novel written in 19th century America, revolving around the life of a slave named Tom who is a faithful and genuine servant. The novel’s main theme is the immorality of slavery and how something as strong and destructive as slavery itself can be overcome by love.
53. Watership Down by Richard Adams A fantasy novel, encompassing the odyssey of a small group of rabbits who’s burrow has been destroyed and are in search of a new home. On their journey to seek a new home they encounter many epic trials and seek freedom in the novel’s title, Watership Down.