List of the 15 Best Books of all time:
1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878.
Synopsis: The plot revolves around Anna’s extramarital affair with dashing cavalry officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, which causes scandal in Saint Petersburg’s social circles and forces the young lovers to flee to Italy in search of happiness, but their lives unravel even more when they return to Russia.
Buy from Amazon
Anna Karenina was adapted as Hollywood film in 2012 and released in US box office in 9 November 2012 , Keira Knightley played role as Anna Arkadievna Karenina and Jude Law as Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813. It is both a romance and a satire, despite the fact that it is commonly referred to as such.
SYNOPSIS – Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a wealthy aristocratic landowner, have a tumultuous relationship in Pride and Prejudice. In order to fall in love and married, they must conquer the eponymous sins of pride and prejudice.
Buy from Amazon
Pride and Prejudice was first adapted as Hollywood film in 1940, starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.
In 2005 it was again adapted as Hollywood film by Joe Wright, and released in US box office in 11 November 2012, Keira Knightley played role as Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy.
The official trailer of Pride and Prejudice film:
3. A Passage to India
E. M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India was published in 1924 and is set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence struggle in the 1920s. The novel depicts racism and colonialism, as well as a concept that Forster explored in many of his previous writings, namely the necessity to maintain both physical and mental ties to the soil.
SYNOPSIS – The novel focuses on the changing dynamic between British colonials and native Indians in India of during the 1920s. When an outing to see magnificent caves ends with English tourist Adela Quested accusing Indian doctor Aziz Ahmed of rape, the incident leads to a significant court case that exacerbates tensions between the British Empire and India’s budding independence movement.
Buy from Amazon
A Passage to India was also adapted as a film in 1984. Judy Davis played a role as Adela and Victor Banerjee as Aziz Ahmed.
The official trailer of A Passage to India film:
4. To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the United States. It was published in 1960 and was a huge hit. It is extensively read in high schools and middle schools in the United States.
SYNOPSIS – To Kill a Mockingbird is about Atticus Finch’s efforts to defend the innocence of Tom Robinson, a black man wrongfully accused of raping a white lady in 1930s Alabama.
Buy From Amazon
To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted as a film by Robert Mulligan in 1962. Gregory Peck Mary Badham Phillip Alford John played lead roles in the film.
The official trailer of To Kill a Mockingbird film:
5. Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
Madame Bovary, often known as Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners, is Gustave Flaubert’s debut novel, first published in 1856.
SYNOPSIS – Emma Rouault imagines that once she married Charles Bovary, she will enter a life of luxury and passion that she has read about in sentimental novels and women’s magazines. But Charles is a drab country doctor, and rural life is nothing like the romantic adventure Kate craves.
Madame Bovary was first adapted as a film in 1991 and last adapted in 2014, Starring: Jennifer Jones; Van Heflin;
The official trailer of Madame Bovary film:
6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov, a Russian-American novelist, wrote Lolita in 1955. The novel is renowned for its controversial subject matter.
SYNOPSIS – The protagonist and unreliable narrator, a French middle-aged literature professor named Humbert Humbert, is infatuated with a 12-year-old American girl named Dolores Haze, whom he sexually molests after becoming her stepfather.
Lolita was adapted as a film in 1997.
The Official Trailer of Lalita (1997) film:
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain, that was first published in December 1884 in the UK and February 1885 in the USA.
SYNOPSIS – A little boy from a Mississippi River Hamlet recalls his exploits as he goes down the river with a runaway slave, encountering a feuding family, two scoundrels posing as royalty, and Tom Sawyer’s aunt who mistook him for Tom.
The book was also adapted into a film. The official trailer of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn film:
8. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare somewhere between 1599 and 1601.
SYNOPSIS – Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most well-known and perplexing play. It is written in the style of a “revenge tragedy,” in which Hamlet seeks vengeance on his father’s killer, his uncle Claudius, who is now King of Denmark.
Hamlet was adapted as a film in 1990.
The Official trailer of Hamlet film:
9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fizgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. Set on Long Island, near New York City, during the Jazz Age.
SYNOPSIS – The story revolves around Jay Gatsby, a young and mysterious millionaire, and his irrational obsession with Daisy Buchanan, a gorgeous former debutante.
The Great Gatsby was adapted as a film again in 2012.
The Official trailer of Great Gatsby(2012) film:
10. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Sparks’ love novel The Notebook was published in 1996. The novel was eventually turned into a well-received film of the same name released in 2004.
SYNOPSIS –The story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner freshly returned from WWII, begins amid the stark grandeur of the North Carolina coast. Noah is rebuilding a plantation mansion to its former glory, and he is haunted by thoughts of a lovely girl he met fourteen years ago, a girl he adored. Noah is pleased to live with only memories, unable to find her and unwilling to forget the summer they spent together… until she unexpectedly returns to his town to meet him once more.
Nicholas Spark’s first successful novel The Notebook was adapted as a film in 2004.
The Official trailer of The Notebook film:
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under the pen name “Currer Bell”, on 16 October 1847, by Smith, Elder & Co. of London.
SYNOPSIS – The novel tells the story of Jane, an apparently ordinary young woman who fights with life’s challenges. Jane faces numerous challenges in her life, including her cruel and violent Aunt Reed, the deplorable conditions at Lowood School, her feelings for Rochester, and Rochester’s marriage to Bertha.
The Jane Eyre was adapted again as a film in 2011.
The Official trailer of Jane Eyre film:
12. Beloved by Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved was published in 1987 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
SYNOPSIS – The book follows the life of a Black lady named Sethe from her pre-Civil War days as a slave in Kentucky through her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873, as she confronts the terrible legacy of slavery.
The Beloved was adapted as a film in 1998.
The Official trailer of Beloved film:
13. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Women is a coming-of-age novel written by Louisa May Alcott, an American novelist. Alcott wrote the book over several months at the request of her publisher, and it was first published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869.
SYNOPSIS – The novel covers the lives of the four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, as they grow from girls to women. It is classified as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical work because it is loosely based on the author’s life and the lives of her three sisters.
This novel was adapted as a film in 2019.
The Official trailer of Little Women film:
14. The Fault in our stars
John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars is one of his most well-known works. It’s his fourth solo book and his sixth overall. On the 10th of January, 2012, it was released.
SYNOPSIS – The Fault in Our Stars is a wonderful novel about a young adolescent girl who is diagnosed with lung cancer and attends a cancer support group. Hazel, 16, is hesitant to attend the support group, but she soon realizes that she made the right decision. Augustus Waters, a little child, is introduced to Hazel.
John Green’s novel The Fault In Our Stars was adapted as a film in 2014.
The Official trailer of The Fault In Our Stars film:
15. The God Father by Mario Puzo
Mario Puzo’s crime novel “The Godfather” was first published in 1969 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons. P. Putnam’s Sons is a publishing house based in New York City.
SYNOPSIS – This is a story of a fictional Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City, led by Don Vito Corleone, who became associated with the Italian Mafia.
The Godfather was adapted as a film in 1972 and released later two more sequels of the film: