Hey Readers 🌹, let’s start with a WHAT IF… question!
What if a single bookshelf can rewrite your story? From timeless classics to modern masterpieces, the best must read books of all time 📚 just don’t tell stories. They shape minds, spark revolutions, and offer wisdom that outshines generations.
Are books still relevant? Yes, they are. Being a book lover, I’ve explored multiple libraries, like the Open Textbook Library, and digital literature to put together some of the best books to read.
I must say, these books are enough to transform your lifestyle! And if you are searching for: what are the must read books of all time, this list is your ultimate destination.
10 Must Read Books of All Time Self-Development
Here are the top ten must read books of all time for self-development to transform their lives positively.
- Author: Harper Lee
- Genre: Domestic Fiction, Thriller
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 4.2/5
To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, is set in a small town in Alabama. It covers themes of prejudice, justice, and racism.
Harper Lee
America
I wanted you to see what real courage is instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
- Author: Elif Shafak
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 5/5
There is a novel inside this novel that covers the spiritual story of Shams and Rumi. Both stories are parallel.
Elif Shafak
Turkey
Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we love, that means we haven’t loved enough.
- Author: George Orwell
- Genre: Fable, Political Sitare
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 4.9/5
This book is based on an anthropomorphic animal farm that rebels against their human farmer for a better future. Ultimately, becomes the worst decision of them.
George Orwell
England
Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals.
- Author: Gabriel García Márquez
- Genre: Magical Realism, Family Saga, Fiction
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 5/5
The story revolves around the 7th generation of the Buendía Family, who used to live in Macondo. Further, it covers the story of the town’s fate overall from the history, making it one of the must read books ever.
Gabriel García Márquez
Colombia
Then he made one last effort to search in his heart for the place where his affection had rotted away, and he could not find it.
- Author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- Genre: Gothic Fiction, Horror Fiction, Science Fiction
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 5/5
Frankenstein is a novel about a scientist who made a person out of his curiosity. Then, it became a problem for him.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Pennsylvania
There is love in me, the likes of which you’ve never seen. There is rage in me, the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied with the one, I will indulge the other.
- Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Genre: Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 5/5
Crime and Punishment explores the mind of an eccentric whose thoughts differ from the world. It covers his story of becoming a murderer with no guilt but pride.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Moscow
And the more I drink, the more I feel it. That’s why I drink too. I try to find sympathy and feeling in drink… I drink so that I may suffer twice as much!
- Author: Niccolò Machiavelli
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 4.9/5
The Prince is a book by Machiavelli on the topic of how to acquire political power. Further, the novel itself is a short political treatise.
Niccolò Machiavelli
Florence, Italy
The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves.
- Author: John Gray
- Genre: Self Help Book
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 5/5
Men Are from Mars and Women Are From Venus is a self help guide for relationships. A person who is facing issues in relationships should read this to handle them effectively.
John Gray
Pennsylvania
Men need to remember that women talk about problems to get close and not necessarily to get solutions.
- Author: Sadegh Hedayat
- Genre: Fiction, Novel
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 4.6/5
The Blind Owl is a fictional novel that explores the themes of a killer husband who killed her wife. It also delves into the mystery of an unknown lover to find the way out for her.
Sadegh Hedayat
Tehran, Iran
The person that I had been existed no longer. If I had been able to conjure him up and speak to him he would not have listened to me and, if he had, would not have understood what I said. He was like someone whom I had known once, but he was no part of me.
- Author: Dante Alighieri
- Genre: Narrative Poetry
- Personal Recommendation Scores: 4.8/5
The Divine Comedy was written by Dante during the age of Renaissance. Book is all about the journey of Devine with an angel 🧚. He meets souls in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.
Dante Alighieri
Italy
The man who lies asleep will never waken fame, and his desire and all his life drift past him like a dream, and the traces of his memory fade from time like smoke in air, or ripples on a stream.
Before You Go
You have made it… 😃
Now, you know which are the must read books of all time to transform your way of living. These books are still relevant in multiple aspects, whether science or art.
You can consider them your best guides to read for a real transformation. Many readers find these books in the market, but if they are unavailable, you can visit online book markets like Pango Books and BookFinder.
As they are related to different genres, you have a golden opportunity to improve your knowledge base about different topics.
