A curated list of essential books to read before you die, this piece explores how literature reveals core values and human complexity. From Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Orwell’s 1984 to Toni Morrison, Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie and more, it highlights works that confront power, trauma, love, loss, identity, colonialism and social hypocrisy across cultures and centuries.
Strike up a conversation with a literary fella and the conversation will at some point circle around so which is your favourite book. If you are not much of a reader yourself, you should know the question most certainly will open the pandora's box.
Not only will the answer expose the person's core values, if you may judge. But it is one of those most agonising questions every avid reader wishes to avoid. How the f*** does one pick a single novel out of all the books that they have been some of the greatest reads of their lifetimes.
While the reading list for every reading enthusiast will be different undoubtedly, here are some of the greatest reads that every one agrees deserve to be read at least once in a lifetime.
Of course, a play by Shakespeare is going to be on the list of books that you should read before you die. 'To be or not to be' on the list is definitely not a question to answer in this case.
One of the best dystopian novels to ever be written, Orwell's 1984 is the perfect book to pick up to understand the modern themes of surveillance, authoritative regime and what the idea of free will really means in contemporary times.
A dark comedy that plunges readers into the chaotic streets of Karachi, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, is masterfully tackles religion, class and misogyny in Pakistan with sharp writing that will keep you hooked on till the very end.
Until the book was published in 1958, there was little room for the African perspective. The western literature frequently portrayed Africa through the lens of colonial stereotypes, painting native societies as "primitive". Things Fall Apart is a direct response to that narrative.
Roy writes with a poet's pen in Booker Prize winner The God of Small Things to explore how rigid social structures and unwritten rules dictate and destroy lives. Set in Kerala, India, it tells the story of fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, whose childhood is shattered by a series of forbidden loves, family secrets, and tragic consequences.
How does one become a vegetarian in a culture that has no context or cultural roots in vegetarianism. Han Kang's The Vegetarian questions bodily agency, societal rebellion, and the devastating cost of conformity.
You think you are evolved and are in better times than those who grew up in the 19th century? Pride and Prejudice will make you rethink it. Austen skewers the gossips, snobs, and awkward social posturing of 19th-century England, proving that human nature—and the ways we annoy each other which hasn't changed
Frankenstein is a foundational masterpiece of science fiction and psychological horror. If you miss the read, you are really missing out on experiencing the original story behind the pop-culture caricature. Mary Shelley's story is a deeply philosophical exploration of unchecked ambition, societal rejection, and the ethics of creation.
The novel forces you to confront the devastating, internalised effects of racism. It challenges you to develop compassion for those cast aside by society and to understand how systemic trauma destroys the vulnerable.
Many a times, human understanding of loss and death is dictated by how it is portrayed in the mainstream. Joan Didion rejects it sharply by stripping down the santisied version of mourning when a sudden loss changes her life. Didion perfectly articulates the empty voids, visceral shock, and "magical thinking"—believing you can reverse death through sheer willpower.
You might know the confessional poet for the unfortunate way she passed away. But there is more to her story. The Bell Jar depicts just how brilliant the American poet and young author was.
Another Booker Prize novel, The Remains of the Day, is a quietly devastating novel about Stevens, an aging English butler who sacrifices his personal life, emotions, and dignity for decades of service to an employer who supported fascism.
You will cry your eyes out over the childhood friendship between two-young Afghan boys. The novel explores the burden of the past, the relationship between father and son, and the true cost of moral choices.
A Suitable Boy transports you directly into the soul of a newly independent India (1951–1952) navigating its first general elections, Hindu-Muslim tensions, and the abolition of the Zamindari system. It serves as a living, breathing time capsule.
Treating history in a way that doesn't sound like its just documenting what has transpired, Train to Pakistan provides a visceral, unfiltered look at the communal violence, displacement, and "ghost trains" that defined one of humanity's darkest hours.
Central to this gothic story is the uncompromising love between the protagonists Heathcliff and Catherine. It is an essential read for its haunting exploration of destructive passion, its complex, morally grey characters, and its brilliant subversion of the traditional Victorian romance.
A peasant girl Tess is victimised by men and unforgiving societal structures leading to just treatment. Hardy directly tackles the cruel moral hypocrisy of 19th-century society. Reading it will make you deeply reflect on how society judges and stigmatizes trauma and mistakes.
Wildly entertaining and deeply personal, Midnight's Children crafts a vibrant, dreamlike narrative through magical realism where the children born at the exact moment of independence are telepathically linked, serving as living metaphors for the nation's chaotic, diverse, and sprawling identity.
A harrowing true autobiography of a woman's desperate 18-month struggle to escape an abusive marriage and rescue her young daughter from Iran in 1984, Not Without My Daughter provides an edge-of-your-seat account.
Translated in English from Kannada, Vivek Shanbhag's slim novella is a chilling, masterfully plotted exploration of how wealth alters morality and human connection.
A biting and surreal masterpiece by Salman Rushdie that explores the dirty political history of Pakistan arguing that explosive, destructive violence (the "beast" of violence) is born directly out of unexpressed, repressed, or humiliated shame.
The novel follows Karim, a mixed-race, bisexual teenager born to an English mother and an Indian immigrant father. His frantic, often hilarious quest to navigate adolescence, discover who he is, and find his purpose makes for a gripping Bildungsroman.
You should read The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan-- a sweeping, emotional epic about a Chinese immigrant mother finally revealing her harrowing, abuse-filled past in pre-Communist China to her American-born daughter. Why? Because it is an ultimate masterclass in family reconciliation, female resilience, and understanding the hidden humanity of your parents.