What classic novels should everyone read? The most interesting books that everyone should read

What

Perhaps the main bestseller of the decade is a psychological thriller with more unexpected plot twists than even the most demanding reader could wish for.

Plot

On their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne's wife Amy goes missing under suspicious circumstances, leaving him the prime suspect in her possible murder.

Context

Critics have called Flynn's book a "novel of mirrors": nothing can be trusted here and on every page everything turns out to be not what it seems. It seems that the reader opens the book for this reason, so that he is thoroughly taken aback, but not only. Flynn writes, as it were, a fascinating read on the most favorite topic of a great novel - about family. She takes two absolutely glossy main characters, rips off all the covers from them, so what kind of marriage is it, it’s uncomfortable to stand next to them, but at the same time it implies that such an impossible union of unpleasant people is the ideal formula for a strong marriage.

Screen adaptation

Young, successful, beautiful and, most importantly, distinctly Hollywood protagonists are begging to be seen on the screen - it’s as if Flynn is writing a novel about the secret lives of American stars. In the novel, by the way, it is repeatedly emphasized how blonde they are - and it seems that the very choice of Ben Affleck for the main role hints that Fincher is up to something to spite the text. In any case, it will not be difficult for this film adaptation to become better than the original - there is nothing in the text except the plot, and Fincher is known for his ability to do beautiful things.

Tom McCarthy "When I Was Real"

What

An avant-garde novel, delightfully different from all other novels before and after it.

Plot

Main character, waking up in a hospital after an unnamed disaster, receives millions in compensation for damages and paranoid uncertainty about the reality of today - and spends a fortune recreating the “real” images that lie dormant in his mind. It all starts with the construction of an entire house, in which a team of special people recreates the smell of fried liver, the sounds of music from a pianist from above, and cats walking on the roof. But it doesn’t end there - behind the house the scene of a street robbery is recreated, and then something worse.

Context

Tom McCarthy came to literature from contemporary art, and his novel is not about fortune modern society, but rather about the state of contemporary art. Like an attempt to find out how far the art of actionism can go in its pursuit of reality. That is, what is important here is not only the fantasies of the hero, who suffers from the inability to light a cigarette with the ease of De Niro in “Mean Streets,” but also the fact that it helps him fulfill any whim a whole army professionals: from casting to literally choosing wallpaper. This alienation of the process from the result is reminiscent of cinema - is it worth adding that it was this book that Charlie Kaufman was inspired by when writing “New York, New York”.

Screen adaptation

It is logical that the adaptation of the novel was also undertaken not by a director, but by an artist, and not the last one: video artist Omer Fast became famous precisely for his works that groped the line between art and reality - in “Spielberg’s List” (2003) he interviews the team of the film “Schindler’s List” On the site of a concentration camp built outside Krakow as a movie set, in "Casting" a soldier talking about serving in Iraq turns out to be an actor auditioning for the role of a soldier. The author of the book and the director wrote the script for the film together - and, it seems, understood each other: the film, where Tom Sturridge, with the help of artistic reconstructions, tries to reach his own forgotten past, Fast describes as the story of an artist devoid of talent.

Laura Hillenbrand "Unbroken"

What

One of the main non-fiction bestsellers of the decade, the 2010 Time magazine book of the year is about a man who survived.

Plot

The incredible biography of Louis Zamperini, a street boy who was raised to be an Olympic runner and sent to the Games in Berlin. Then he became a pilot during World War II, survived a plane crash, drifted on a raft in the ocean for a month - all to be captured by the Japanese.

Context

Incredible and absolutely true story, which was found by Laura Hillenbrand; our time needs heroes and, not finding them in the present, finds them in the recent past.

Screen adaptation

The script for Angelina Jolie's film, which we will see at the end of the year, was written by the Coen brothers, a photograph of her together with the main character, taken shortly before his death, went around the Internet, but it may turn out that the desire to make socially responsible films will play a bad joke on her: this It’s easy to kill an already pathetic story with brutal seriousness.

Jeannette Walls "The Glass Castle"

What

A wonderful book about a difficult childhood in a strange family.

Plot

Dad drinks, mom draws pictures, no one works, there is often no food at home and never money, the children don’t go to school, but dad can tell them the best fairy tale in the world, and mom can teach them to play the piano - and everyone is happy.

Context

In fact, “The Glass Castle” is almost the best thing that happened to young adults literature this decade: instead of the fictional suffering of teenagers from dystopias, here is a real complex childhood, where the bohemian life of parents is not always a joy for their four children.

Screen adaptation

The main name of the upcoming film adaptation is already known - this is Jennifer Lawrence, for whom this book will be a chance to finally get out of the swamp of The Hunger Games somewhere closer to the arthouse. With all the love for Lawrence, a lot depends on her in this film adaptation: the whole book is built on very subtle details, and this should turn out well as “Tideland,” and not just another teenage thriller.

Colm Toibin "Brooklyn"

What

Irishman Colm Toibin, one of the most serious modern authors, tragically (for us) not translated into Russian, and his novel, which received the Costa Prize in 2009.

Plot

A young Irish woman leaves her home village for America for a better life - and although things are already difficult for her in Brooklyn, everything becomes even more difficult when tragic events at home they force her to return home.

Context

Colm Tóibín is one of the few authors capable of writing long, slow, unhurried texts and following his characters with close attention and exceptional sympathy, who have been forgotten by world literature for more than a hundred years. His novel, however, can be read more simply - as a novel about emigrants in reverse, where America becomes a place from which it is necessary to leave.

Screen adaptation

Saoirse Ronan, the apprentice pastry chef from The Grand Budapest Hotel, will play the lead role in John Crowley's upcoming - very Irish - film adaptation: it looks like the heroine's inability to take life into her own hands will be the main plot here.

Kevin Powers "The Yellow Birds"

What

A novel about returning from war, written by an Iraq war veteran, has become for Americans something like All Quiet on the Western Front in the 21st century.

Plot

Private John Bartle went to Iraq with his school friend Murph. At the beginning of the war, they swear to each other not to die - but the hero returns alone. Surviving is only half the battle: adapting back to peaceful life It turns out to be completely impossible.

Context

Kevin Powers' novel filled the empty niche of the Great Novel about Iraq; here, for the first time in literature, all soldiers’ injuries are fully described - both in the fields and after the fields: why they leave, what they experience and how they return.

Screen adaptation

Benedict Cumberbatch, who has been cast in the lead role in David Lowery's upcoming film, says too much about the upcoming film adaptation: he doesn't look much like an Iraqi mercenary, which means that in a text that is half poetry and the other half the call of blood, it has been decided only poetry was left.

Sebastian Barry "Tables of Fate"

What

A century of Irish history in notes from a madhouse.

Plot

A hundred-year-old woman, sitting in a madhouse, keeps a diary in which the tragedy of her own life is inseparable from tragic story Ireland, - and her attending physician sits around the corner and also keeps a diary, a little simpler. Sooner or later they meet.

Context

The 2008 Costa Prize, the Man Booker Prize shortlist and a host of other awards prove, if not the importance, then the literary excellence of the text, authored by one of the best living Irish writers and playwrights.

Screen adaptation

It’s a rare case when already at the stage of preparation of the film it is clear that it will pay tribute to the original: Jim Sheridan in the directors, in the roles of the patient and her doctor Vanessa Redgrave and Eric Bana - and a whole sea of ​​famous names in flashbacks.

Elizabeth Strout "Olivia Kitteridge"

What

A collection of stories from the life of the American province, in which the main character manages to remain a minor character almost to the end.

Plot

13 stories from a small town in New England that gradually form an image main character- an awkward, overbearing, aging high school math teacher. We meet Olivia Kitteridge as a middle-aged woman, and see her off as an old one - in general, this is a story, if not about aging, then about the loneliness that inevitably accompanies it.

Context

2009 Pulitzer Prize - and a whole bunch of other awards: Elizabeth Strout managed not only to find a new hero, but also to complete the more difficult task of telling the story of an inconvenient heroine with empathy.

Screen adaptation

Frances McDormand, performer leading role in the HBO miniseries, which will be released this fall, Kitteridge is not very suitable for the role: in the novel we are repeatedly pointed out what a large, physically awkward body she has. By making the heroine miniature, television cut off the novel itself, turning it into a story about what happens to a marriage after children grow up - a line that turns out to be far from the main one in the novel.

Jojo Moyes "Me Before You"

What

A sad story of impossible love that sells very well.

Plot

A girl at a crossroads loses her job and gets a job as a nurse for a smart, handsome man who is completely paralyzed after an accident.

Context

The social rom-com genre, which Jojo Moyes invented with this novel and has since exploited with might and main, is an undoubted success. Here, in general, it’s the same Jane Austen plus the problems of the first world in the 21st century. That is, poor beautiful girls have nothing to pay for loans, Mr. Darcys also cry, in between - there are many details of the hard life of the working class, laughter through tears, but still more tears. This is not required reading, just a good girl's novel, but it proves that literature can be in in a good way left, even without being too smart.

Screen adaptation

Estimated release - August 2015. Sentimental prose of this kind, as a rule, in film adaptations becomes something moderately marginal: it reaches its strong one hundred million (three times the budget), after which everyone tries to forget it as an annoying misunderstanding. Without counting on anything in particular, the studio gave itself the freedom to play a little: it invited Thea Sharrock, who is known more for her theatrical work, to the director’s chair (this will be her debut in a feature film, but she, as they say, is widely known on Broadway, in particular to her we owe it to Daniel Radcliffe naked with a horse), and Emilia Clarke aka Khaleesi was called to play the main female role. And Sharrock seems determined not to knock tears out of the audience, but to show them the injustice of the British class system.

Surely many people believe that classical works, by their definition, are long, boring, have been written for many years, and therefore are not always understandable to the modern reader. This is a common mistake. After all, in fact, classics are everything that is not subject to time. The themes revealed in such works are relevant for any century. And if a 19th century author wrote such a book now, it would again become a bestseller. We bring to your attention the best classic ones. They captivated millions of readers. And even those who claim that they are dissatisfied with the author’s creation, believe me, did not remain indifferent.

1.
The novel consists of two different but intertwined parts. The first one is set in modern Moscow, the second one is in ancient Jerusalem. Each part is filled with events and characters - historical, fictional, as well as scary and amazing creatures.

2. $
What forces move people? They are the result of the actions of individuals - kings, generals - or such feelings as patriotism, or there is a third force that determines the direction of history. The main characters are painfully searching for the answer to this question.

3. $
The novel is based on the experience that Dostoevsky received in hard labor. Student Raskolnikov, who has vegetated in poverty for several months, is convinced that a humane goal will justify the most terrible act, even the murder of a greedy and useless old money-lender.

4.
A novel that was ahead of its time and came out long before the emergence of such a cultural phenomenon as postmodernism. The main characters of the work - 4 sons born from different mothers - symbolize those irrepressible elements that can lead to the death of Russia.

5.
Should she stay with her husband, who was always indifferent to her inner world and never loved her, or should she give herself with all her heart to the one who made her feel happy? Throughout the entire novel, the heroine, the young aristocrat Anna, is tormented by this choice.

6.
The poor young prince returns home to Russia by train. On the way, he meets the son of one of the rich merchants, who is obsessed with a passion for one girl, a kept woman. In a metropolitan society obsessed with money, power and manipulation, the prince finds himself an outsider.

7. $
Despite the title, the work itself is in no way connected with the mysticism that is mainly inherent in the work of this writer. In the tradition of “harsh” realism, the life of landowners in the Russian province is described, where a former official comes to carry out his scam.

8. $
A young St. Petersburg rake, fed up with love and social entertainment, leaves for the village, where he strikes up a friendship with a poet who is in love with one of the daughters of a local nobleman. The second daughter falls in love with the rake, but he does not respond to her feelings.

9.
A famous Moscow surgeon decides to conduct a very risky experiment on a stray dog ​​in his large apartment, where he receives patients. As a result, the animal began to turn into a human. But at the same time he acquired all human vices.

10. $
People come to the provincial town who, it would seem, cannot be connected by anything. But they know each other, since they belong to the same revolutionary organization. Their goal is to create a political riot. Everything goes according to plan, but one revolutionary decides to quit the game.

11. $
A cult work of the 19th century. At the center of the story is a student who does not accept traditional public morality and opposes everything old and non-progressive. For him it only represents a price scientific knowledge, which can explain everything. Except love.

12.
He was a doctor by profession, a writer by vocation, whose talent was fully revealed when creating short humorous stories. They quickly became classics all over the world. In them accessible language– the language of humor – reveals human vices.

13.
This work is on a par with Gogol's poem. In it, the main character is also a young adventurer who is ready to promise everyone something that, in principle, cannot be done. And all for the sake of a treasure that several other people know about. And no one is going to share it.

14. $
After a three-year separation, young Alexander returns to the house of his beloved Sophia to propose to her. However, she refuses him and says that she now loves someone else. The rejected lover begins to blame the society in which Sophia grew up.

15.
What should a real nobleman do if the life of a young noble girl depends on him? Sacrifice yourself, but not lose your honor. This is what guides the young officer when the fortress in which he serves is attacked by the impostor king.

16. $
Terrible poverty and hopelessness are strangling the old resident of Cuba. One day, as usual, he goes to sea, not hoping for a big catch. But this time he catches a large prey on his hook, with which the fisherman fights for several days, not giving it the opportunity to escape.

17.
Ragin selflessly serves as a doctor. However, his zeal is fading; he sees no point in changing the life around him, because it is impossible to cure the madness that reigns around him. The doctor begins to visit the ward daily where the mentally ill are kept.

18. $
What is more destructive - to do nothing and just indulge in dreams about how to live, or to get off the couch and start implementing your plans? The young and lazy landowner Ilya Ilyich initially occupied the first position, but after he fell in love, he woke up from his sleepy state.

19. $
You can write magnificent works not only about the life of a big city, but also about the life of a small Ukrainian farm. During the day, the usual rules apply here, but at night, power passes to supernatural forces that can both help and at the same time destroy.

20.
A talented surgeon settles illegally in Paris, but is not prevented from practicing medicine. Before moving, he lived in Germany, from which he fled, but at the same time allowed his beloved to die. In a new place, he quickly begins another romance.

21. $
A Russian tutor goes on a trip with the family in which he serves. At the same time, he is secretly in love with the girl Polina. And so that she understands all his nobility, he begins to play roulette in the hope of getting big money. And he succeeds, but the girl does not accept the winnings.

22.
The world of family comfort, nobility and true patriotism is breaking under the onslaught of social catastrophe in Russia. The escaped Russian officers settled in Ukraine and hoped that they would not fall under the rule of the Bolsheviks. But one day the city's defenses weaken and the enemy goes on the offensive.

23. $
A series of small works written in different artistic styles. Here you can find a romantic duelist and sentimental stories about eternal love, and a harsh picture of reality in which money rules, and because of it a person can lose the most important thing.

24.
What Pushkin failed to do in his time, Dostoevsky did. The work is entirely a correspondence between a poor official and a young girl who also has a small income. But at the same time, the heroes are not poor in soul.

25. $
A story about the invincibility and perseverance of a man who does not want to be someone's faithful soldier. For the sake of freedom, Hadji Murat goes over to the side of the imperial troops, but does this in order to save not himself, but his family, which is captured by the enemy.

26. $
In these seven works, the author takes us through the streets of St. Petersburg, which was built with the help of strength and ingenuity on swampy terrain. Beneath its harmonious façade lies deception and violence. The inhabitants are confused by the city itself, giving them false dreams.

27.
This collection of short stories is the first major work to gain recognition for the author. It is based on personal observations while hunting on his mother's estate, where Turgenev learned about the mistreatment of peasants and the injustice of the Russian system.

28.
The main character is the son of a landowner, whose property was confiscated by a corrupt and treacherous general. After the death of his father, the hero becomes a criminal. To achieve the ultimate goal - revenge - he resorts to more cunning means: he seduces the daughter of his enemy.

29.
This classic war novel is written from the perspective of a young German soldier. The hero is only 18 years old, and under the pressure of his family, friends and society, he enters military service and goes to the front. There he witnesses such horrors that he dares not tell anyone about.

30.
Mischievous and energetic, Tom enjoys childhood pranks and games with his friends. One day, at the city cemetery, he witnesses a murder committed by a local tramp. The hero makes a vow that he will never talk about it, and so begins his journey into adulthood.

31.
The story of a pathetic St. Petersburg official whose expensive overcoat was stolen. No one wants to help him return the item, which eventually makes the hero seriously ill. Even during the author’s lifetime, critics adequately appreciated the work from which all Russian realism was born.

32.
The novel is on a par with another work of the author - “The Call of the Wild”. Much of White Fang is also written from the point of view of the dog whose name appears in the title. This allows the author to show how animals see their world and how they see humans.

33. $
The novel tells the story of 19-year-old Arkady, the illegitimate son of a landowner and a maid, as he struggles to improve his situation and “become a Rothschild,” despite the fact that Russia remains tied to its old value system.

34. $
The novel is about how a hero, who is very broken and disillusioned due to a failed marriage, returns to his estate and finds his love again - only to lose her. This reflects main topic: a person is not destined to experience happiness except something ephemeral.

35. $
A dark and engrossing tale that follows the struggle of an indecisive, alienated hero in a world of relative values. The innovative work introduced the moral, religious, political and social themes that would dominate the author's later masterpieces.

36. $
The narrator arrives in Sevastopol, which is under siege, and makes a detailed inspection of the city. As a result, the reader has the opportunity to study all the features of military life. We find ourselves at a dressing station, where horror reigns, and at the most dangerous bastion.

37. $
The work is partly based on the life experience of the author, who took part in the war in the Caucasus. A nobleman, disillusioned with his privileged life, enlists in the army to escape the superficiality of everyday life. A hero in search of a full life. 38.$
The author's first social novel, which is partly an artistic introduction for those who belonged to the previous era, but lived at a time when political and social movements began. This era has already been forgotten, but it is worth remembering.

39. $
One of the greatest and most successful dramatic works. A Russian aristocrat and her family return to their estate to oversee the public auction of their house and huge garden for debt. The old masters are losing in the struggle to new trends in life.

40. $
The hero was sentenced to death on charges of murdering his wife, but was subsequently exiled to Siberian penal servitude for 10 years. Life in prison is hard for him - he is an intellectual and experiences the anger of other prisoners. Gradually he overcomes his disgust and experiences a spiritual awakening.

41. $
On the eve of his wedding, a young aristocrat learns that his bride was having an affair with the king. This was a blow to his pride, so he renounces everything worldly and becomes a monk. This is how many years of humility and doubt pass. Until he decides to become a hermit.

42.
The editor falls into the hands of a manuscript that tells about a young and depraved man who worked as a forensic investigator. It becomes one of the "corners" in love triangle, in which a married couple is involved. The outcome of the story is the murder of his wife.

43.
A work banned until 1988, in which, through the fate of one military doctor, the story of a people who perished in the turmoil of the revolution is told. From the general madness, the hero, together with his family, flees into the interior of the country, where he meets someone whom he does not want to let go.

44.
The main character, like all his friends, is a war veteran. He is a poet at heart, but he works for a friend who runs a small tombstone manufacturing business. This money is not enough, and he earns additional income by giving private lessons and playing the organ at a local mental hospital.

45. $
In someone else's war, Frederic falls in love with a nurse and tries to seduce her, after which their relationship begins. But one day the hero is wounded by a fragment of a mortar shell, and he is sent to a Milan hospital. There, far from the war, he heals - both physically and mentally.

46. $
During breakfast, the barber discovers in his bread human nose. With horror, he recognizes him as the nose of a regular visitor who holds the rank of collegiate assessor. In turn, the injured official discovers the loss and submits an absurd advertisement to the newspaper.

47.
The main character, a boy, seeking independence and freedom, escapes from his alcoholic father by faking his own death. And so begins his journey through the south of the country. He meets a runaway slave and they float down the Mississippi River together.

48. $
The plot of the poem is based on the events that actually took place in St. Petersburg in 1824. The political, historical and existential questions that the author articulates with dazzling force and brevity continue to be the subject of controversy among critics.

49. $
To save his beloved, who was forcibly taken away by an evil sorcerer, the warrior Ruslan will have to go on an epic and dangerous journey, encountering many fantastic and terrible creatures. This is a dramatic and witty retelling of Russian folklore.

50. $
The most famous play describes a family of aristocrats who have difficulty finding any meaning in their lives. Three sisters and their brother live in a remote province, but they struggle to return to the sophisticated Moscow where they grew up. The play captures the decline of the “masters of life.”

51. $
The hero is obsessed with an all-consuming love for one princess, who is unlikely to know about his existence. One day, a society lady receives an expensive bracelet for her birthday. The husband finds a secret admirer and asks him to stop compromising a decent woman.

52. $
In this classic literary representation of gambling, the author explores the nature of obsession. Secret and otherworldly clues alternate with the story of the passionate Herman, who wants to make his fortune at the card table. The secret of success is known to one old woman.

53. $
Muscovite Gurov is married and has a daughter and two sons. At the same time, he is not happy in his family life and often cheats on his wife. While vacationing in Yalta, he sees a young lady walking along the embankment with her small dog, and is constantly looking for opportunities to get to know her.

54. $
This collection is in some ways the culmination of the work he did throughout his life. The stories were written on the eve of a terrible world war in the context of collapsing Russian culture. The action of each work concentrates on a love theme.

55. $
The story is told from the point of view of an anonymous narrator who recalls his youth, in particular his time in a small town west of the Rhine. Critics consider the hero to be a classic “superfluous person” - indecisive and undecided of his place in life.

56. $
The four laconic plays, later known as "Little Tragedies", were written at a time of heightened creative strength, and their influence cannot be overestimated. Being the author's adaptation of plays by Western European authors, "Tragedies" offers readers current problems.

57. $
This story takes place in Europe, in a hedonistic society during the Roaring Twenties. Rich girl A schizophrenic woman falls in love with her psychiatrist. As a result, a whole saga of troubled marriages unfolds, love affairs, duels and incest.

58. $
Some scholars identify three poems in the work of this author, which embody one original idea. One of them is, of course, “Mtsyri”. The main character is a 17-year-old monk who was forcibly taken away from his village as a child, and one day he escapes.

59. $
A completely young mongrel runs away from his permanent owner and finds a new one. He turns out to be an artist who performs in a circus with acts in which animals participate. Therefore, a separate number is immediately invented for the smart little dog.

60. $
In this story, among its many themes, such as Europeanized Russian society, adultery and provincial life, the theme of a woman, or rather, planning a murder by a woman, comes to the fore. The title of the work contains a reference to Shakespeare's play.

61. Leo Tolstoy - Fake coupon
Schoolboy Mitya desperately needs money - he needs to repay his debt. Depressed by this situation, he follows the evil advice of his friend, who showed him how to change the denomination of a banknote. This act sets off a chain of events that affects the lives of dozens of other people.

62.
Proust's most important work, known for its length and theme of involuntary memories. The novel began to take shape back in 1909. The author continued to work on it until his last illness, which forced me to stop working.

63. $
The lengthy poem tells the story of seven peasants who set out to ask various groups of the village population if they were happy. But wherever they went, they were always given an unsatisfactory answer. Of the planned 7-8 parts, the author wrote only half.

64. $
The story is about the sad life of a young girl who lived in extreme poverty and suddenly became an orphan, but she is adopted by a rich family. When she meets her new stepsister, Katya, she instantly falls in love with her and the two soon become inseparable.

65. $
The main character is a classic Hemingway hero: a violent guy, an underground liquor dealer who smuggles weapons and transports people from Cuba to the Florida Keys. He risks his life, dodges the Coast Guard's bullets and manages to outsmart them.

66. $
While traveling on a train, one of the passengers overhears a conversation going on in the compartment. When one woman argues that marriage should be based on true love, he asks her: what is love? In his opinion, love quickly turns into hatred, and tells its own story.

67. Leo Tolstoy - Notes of a Marker
The narrator is a simple marker, a person who keeps score and places the balls on the billiard table. If the game turns out well and the players are not stingy, then he gets a good reward. But one day a very gambling young man appears at the club.

68. $
The main character is looking for peace in Polesie, which should invigorate him. But in the end he ends up with unbearable boredom. But one day, having lost his way, he comes across a hut where an old woman and her beautiful granddaughter are waiting for him. After such a magical meeting, the hero becomes a frequent guest here.

69. $
The focus is on the janitor tall and powerful physique. He falls in love with a young washerwoman and wants to marry her. But the lady decides differently: the girl goes to the always drunk shoemaker. The hero finds his solace in caring for a small dog.

70. $
One evening, three sisters shared their dreams with each other: what they would do if they became the wives of the king. But only the third sister’s pleas were heard - Tsar Saltan took her in marriage and ordered her to give birth to an heir by a certain date. But envious sisters begin to play dirty tricks.

I'll quit smoking on Monday. Next week I'll start running and join the gym. This weekend I'll clean up my room and find a job. We should do something else, right?

2019 has fallen on our shoulders. It's time to get off the couch, open your eyes, drink mineral water and finally start. I have compiled for you 2 lists of books of world and Russian literature, which you should read at least in 2016, if you have not done so earlier. Let's start, perhaps, with the “boring” Russian classics. Listen!

Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Dream of a Funny Man"

Have you also thought about suicide at least once in your life? If not, then this is not a reason to ignore Dostoevsky’s story. Everyone knows this author purely from the book “Crime and Punishment,” however, in my opinion, in order to fully understand the essence of Dostoevsky, one should start with the story “The Dream of a Funny Man.” How can one understand the essence of human existence before the last shot in the head? How can you exchange paradise for world wars and hatred of your neighbor? And the main thing is how not to pull the trigger. The end of the story can be entitled with the expression “Cherchez la femme”; if you understand why, then everything was not in vain.

Anton Chekhov "Ward number 6"

Do you think Russian classics go better with a glass of vodka? I have about this subjective opinion, but how are things going with the views of Comrade Gromov? How to combine reading books, a glass of vodka, a psychiatric hospital and two brilliant people with completely different and at the same time identical views on existence in this world? This kind of oxymoron permeates the entire story about the sad truth of the cheerful Chekhov. Have you already figured out what to drink with your literature?

Evgeniy Zamyatin “We”

Evgeny Zamyatin can safely be considered the founder of the great genre of dystopia. I am sure that if you chose him, you simply must know such great dystopians as Orrwell and Huxley. If these names mean anything to you, then without even thinking, buy yourself Zamyatin and start devouring it by the tablespoonful. The construction system, coupon relations and all capital letters. Instead of people. Instead of names. Instead of life.

Leo Tolstoy "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"

On the cover of this book I would write in huge red letters: “Caution! Causes frustration, pain and awareness. Sentimental stupid people are strictly prohibited.” Forget about the hackneyed book "War and Peace", here is a completely different side of Leo Tolstoy, which is worth all the volumes of the huge novel. Trying to find deep semantic subtext in the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, you will miss the most important thing that lies on the surface. A banal, simple truth that is accessible to everyone, eludes us every time. If you found it in the story, and also learned to live by it, my bow and white envy to you.

Ivan Goncharov "Oblomov"

Here's something, and in the novel "Oblomov" it's easier than ever to find yourself. Alas. How wonderful it is to contemplate this life from the outside, when the stupid vanity of this world passes you by. The first love, which for some reason makes you get up from the sofa, obsessive friends who are always trying to drag your lazy ass into the world - how absurd this whole “bubbling life” is. Avoid it, contemplate, think and dream, dream, dream! If you are a like-minded person with this statement, congratulations, your soul mate has been found in the main character of the novel “Oblomov”.

Maxim Gorky "Passion-face"

It is no coincidence that Gorky’s work received such a symbolic name “Passion-Face”, because the story is impossible to read without trembling in the knees. If you love children too much, don't read. If you are impressionable and emotional, don’t read. If girls with syphilis absolutely disgust you, don’t read. In general, don’t listen to me now, open the book and begin to be afraid of the cruel realities of this life. The social bottom, dirt, vulgarity and yet truly happy, “clean” people in children's and adults' swords about impossible happiness.

Nikolai Gogol "The Overcoat"

A small man against a huge scary society, or how to lose everything that is dear to you, even if it’s a simple overcoat. A stingy official, an unnecessary environment, little happiness in exchange for great disappointment and death as the only logical conclusion. It is on the example of Akakiy Bashmachkin that we will consider a large, weighty and significant problem of society - the theft of an overcoat.

Anton Chekhov "Man in a Case"

How do you maintain relationships with your work colleagues, classmates or friends? I'll recommend one great way increase your sociability - come visit them and remain silent. I give you a 100% guarantee that society will be delighted with you. An umbrella in a case, a watch in a case, a face in a case. A kind of shell behind which a person tries to hide, to protect himself from the outside world. A man who even managed to stuff his sincere love into a cover and protect it not only from the object of love, but also from himself. So what about maintaining relationships? Shall we keep quiet?

Alexander Pushkin “The Bronze Horseman”

And again we meet big problem a little man, only this time in Pushkin’s work “The Bronze Horseman”. Evgeniy, Parasha, Peter and a love story, it would seem, what could be more ideal for the plot of a romantic drama? But no, this is not “Eugene Onegin”. We break love, we break a city, we break a person, we add a drop of symbolic image to this bronze horseman and we get perfect recipe one of best poems Pushkin.

Fyodor Dostoevsky "Notes from Underground"

And closing the list of Russian classics will be the one with whom we, in fact, started - the great beloved Dostoevsky. It is no coincidence that I put “Notes from the Underground” in the final place. After all, this work is not just exciting, it is wild in places, so to speak. Increased awareness of being - fatal disease. Activity is the lot of the limited and stupid. If you like these interpretations, then Dostoevsky will suit your taste, and if you have also humiliated prostitutes at least once in your life, then the “underground” will become your favorite place to stay.

Read about the 10 best foreign classic books in the second part of the list of books for 2016. Love Russian classics.

The friend feed brought something interesting. List of books, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, that you should read educated person. The first list is intended for 15-16 year olds, and the second list is for older children. From 17 years old. I was unpleasantly surprised by the presence of Pelevin, Coelho and Haruki Murakami, as well as T. Tolstoy and other pseudo-philosophical writers. I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of Gaiman, Castaneda, and Stoker. In general, I crossed out what I definitely finished reading. It’s depressing that, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, I cannot be considered an educated person. =(

1. J.D. Salinger “The Catcher in the Rye” and stories.
2. Franz Kafka “Castle”, “The Trial”.
3. Ken Kesey “Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”).
4. Venedikt Erofeev “Moscow-Petushki”.
5. Julio Cortazar “Winnings” (1960), “Hopscotch” (1963), “62. Model for assembly” (1968), “The Last Round” (1969), “The Book of Manuel” (1974).
6. F. M. Dostoevsky “Poor People”, “Demons”, “Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, “Crime and Punishment”.
7. S. Lem “Futurological Congress”, “Runny nose”, “Eden” and others.
8. Victor Pelevin “Chapaev and Emptiness”, “Omon Ra”, “Life of Insects”, “Yellow Arrow”, “Generation P” and others.
9. Tatyana Tolstaya “Kys”.
10. Ulitskaya L. “The Case of Kukotsky”, “Medea and Her Children”.
11. Boris Akunin “Azazel”, “Turkish Gambit”.
12. Yuri Mamleev “Connecting Rods”, “Moscow Gambit”, “Drown My Head”, “Eternal Home”, “Connecting Rods”.
13. Pavel Krusanov “Night Inside”, “Kalevala. Karelo-Finnish epic", "Angel's bite".
14. Strugatsky “Roadside Picnic”, “Snail on the Slope”, “It’s Hard to Be a God”.
15. Dale Carnegie “How to Build Confidence and Influence People by Speaking in Public.” How to win friends and influence people. How to stop worrying and start living."
16. Garcia Marquez G. “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, “Autumn of the Patriarch”, “Love in the Time of Plague”.
17. Lobsang Rampa “The Third Eye” (1. The Third Eye. 2. The Doctor from Lhasa. 3. The History of the Rampa. 4. The Caves of the Ancients. 5. You are Eternal. 6. The Wisdom of the Ancients. 7. The Hermit. 8. The Saffron Robe. 9. Chapters from life. 10. Life with Lama. 12. Beyond 1/10. 14. The Thirtieth Candle. 16. How it happened. 18. Tibetan sage.).
18. Alexandra David-Noel “Mystics and magicians of Tibet.”
19. Elizabeth Heich "Dedication".
20. Mario Puzo "The Godfather".
21. E. M. Remarque “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Three Comrades”, “Arc de Triomphe”, “Black Obelisk” (collected works).
22. L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina".
23. M. Sholokhov “Quiet Don”.
24. B. Pasternak “Doctor Zhivago”, poetry.
25. M. Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”, " Heart of a Dog", "White Guard", "Days of the Turbins", "Fatal Eggs".
26. Marietta Chudakova "Biography of Mikhail Bulgakov."
27. I. Bunin “Dark Alleys”, “The Life of Arsenyev”, “Cursed Days”.
28. V. N. Muromtseva “The Life of Bunin”, “Conversations with Memory”.
29. Ilf I. and Petrov E. “Twelve Chairs”, “Golden Calf”, “One-Storey America”.
30. Platonov A. “Pit”.
31. Zamyatin “We”
32. A. Solzhenitsyn “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, “In the First Circle”, “Cancer Ward”, “The Gulag Archipelago”, “Two Hundred Years Together”.
33. Galsworthy J. “The Forsyte Saga”
34. E. Hemingway “A Farewell to Arms!”, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”
35. E. Zola “Germinal”, “Belly of Paris”.
36. Choderlos de Lenclos “Dangerous Liaisons.”
37. Guy de Maupassant “Dear Friend”, stories.
38. G. Flaubert “Madame Bovary”.
39. Stendhal “Red and Black”, “The Parma Monastery”.
40. W. Thackeray “Vanity Fair.”
41. Alexander Mirer “House of Wanderers.”
42. M. Zoshchenko “Stories”.
43. Poems: O. Khayyam, W. Shakespeare, M. Basho, I. Krylov, N. Nekrasov, F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, I. Severyanin, S. Yesenin, O. Mandelstam, N. Gumilyov, M. Tsvetaeva, V. Mayakovsky, R. Rozhdestvensky, Bulat Okudzhava, Joseph Brodsky.
44. A. Akhmatova “Evening” (1912), “Rosary” (1914), “ White flock"(1917), "Plantain" (1921), "Anno Domini" (1922), "The Running of Time"
45. E. Gershtein "Anna Akhmatova and Lev Gumilyov", memoirs.
46. ​​Boris Nosik “Anna and Amadeo. The story of the secret love of Akhmatova and Modigliani, or Drawing in the interior."
47. A. Block “Poems” (“Stranger” and others).
48. M. A. Svetlov “Poems” (“Grenada”, “Song about Kakhovka” and others).
49. I.S. Turgenev
50. A.N. Ostrovsky
51. A.P. Chekhov
52. N. G. Chernyshevsky “What to do” “(for variety).
53. Kuprin “Garnet Bracelet”, “Shulamith”.
54. Teffi "Stories".
55. Orwell J. “1984.”
56. Yu. Nikitin “Three from the forest.”
57. Maria Semyonova “Wolfhound”, “Right to Duel”, “Istovik-Stone”, “Sign of the Path”, “Gem Mountains”, “Valkyrie”.
58. V. Pikul “Moonzund”, “Favorite”, “Requiem for the PQ-17 caravan”.
59. V. Voinovich “The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of the Soldier Ivan Chonkin”, “Fairy Tales for Adults”, “The Smell of Chocolate”.
60. V. Shukshin “Stories”.
61. Vasil Bykov, Polyakov, Kurochkin, Bogomolov (about the Great Patriotic War).
62. Obruchev “Sannikov’s Land”.
63. Walt Whitman "Poems".
64. S. Maugham “Theater”, “The Burden of Human Passions”.
65. A. Bely “Petersburg”.
66. Z. Gippius “Living Faces”, poetry.
67. Goncharov I. A. “Oblomov,” “Ordinary History.”
68. Michael Moorcock “The Waste Lands”, “The Ice Schooner, or the New York Expedition”, “The Chronicles of Cornelius”, “Elric of Melnibon”.
69. Vladimir Levi “The art of being yourself”, “The art of being different”, “Non-standard child”, “Confession of a hypnotist”.
70. Goethe I. V. “Faust.”
71. Dante “The Divine Comedy”.
72. Homer “Iliad”, “Odyssey”.
73. Stephen King “Pet Sematary”, “The Green Mile” and other novels.
74. W. Golding “Lord of the Flies.”
75. Alex Garland “Beach.”
76. Stoker B. “Dracula”.
77. Frank Herbert "Dune".
78. Philip Jose Farmer "Ismael's Flying Whales", "Anger?6?
79. Harlan Ellison “On the Road to Oblivion.”
80. M. Gorky “The Life of Klim Samgin.”
81. Moliere J. B. “Don Juan”, “Funny primps”, “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”, “The Misanthrope”, “Tartuffe”, “The Miser”.
82. Winston Groom "Forrest Gump".
83. John Wyndham "Day of the Triffids".

And another list
1. Marcel Proust “In Search of Lost Time.”
2. James Joyce "Ulysses".
3. Umberto Eco “The Name of the Rose”, “Foucault’s Pendulum”.

4. Eric Berne “People who play games. Games People Play", "Sex in human life", "Introduction to psychiatry and psychoanalysis for the uninitiated."
5. Sigmund Freud “The Interpretation of Dreams”, “Introduction to Psychoanalysis” (1910), “Psychopathology of Everyday Life” (1904), “I and the Id” (1923), “Totem and Taboo”, “Essays on the Psychology of Sexuality”.
6. Fromm E. “The Art of Loving”, “To Have or to Be”, “Escape from Freedom”.
7. Jung Carl Gustav “Psychology of the unconscious”, “Psychological types”, “Man and his symbols”, “Problems of the soul of our time”.
8. Viktor Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning.”
9. Abraham Harold Maslow “Motivation and Personality.”
10. M.E. Litvak “Psychological vampirism. Anatomy of a conflict."
11. Frederick Perls “Inside and Out of the Garbage Bin. Joy. Sadness. Chaos.Wisdom."
12. Robert Crooks, Karla Baur “Sexuality.”
13. Friedrich Nietzsche “Thus Spake Zarathustra.”
14. Books about world religions: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and others (for example: Erriker K. Buddhism; Bertrong D. and E. Confucianism; Besserman P. Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism; Wong E. Taoism; Kanitkar V.P. . (Hemant) Hinduism; Maqsood R. Islam; Oliver P. World. religious beliefs; Feurstein G. Tantra; Ernst K.V. Sufism; Young D. Christianity).
15. Bible.
16. Koran. Talmud. Rig Veda. Avesta. Brahmapada. Works of Confucius. Tao Te Jin. Vernadsky (about the noosphere). Kant (on idealism). Kendo. Bushido.Bodhittsattva. Mahamudra. Kabbalah. Bhagavad Gita.
17. V.V. Nabokov “The Defense of Luzhin”, “Mashenka”, “The Gift”, “Lolita” and others.
18. Patrick Suskind “Perfume”, “Dove”, “The Story of Mr. Sommer”.
19. Andre Gide “Earthly Dishes”, “Counterfeiters”, “The Narrow Gate”.
20. Jorge Luis Borges “The Garden of Forking Paths”, “The Book of Fictitious Creatures” and other stories. “Six riddles for Don Isidro Parodi”, “Seven Evenings”.
21. Carlos Castaneda “The Teachings of Don Juan of the Yaqui Tribe”, “A Separate Reality”, “Journey to Ixtlan”, “Tales of Power”, “The Second Ring of Power”, “The Gift of the Eagle”, “The Fire from Within”, “The Power of Silence” , "The Art of Dreaming".
22. Tibetan Book of the Dead - Bardo Thedol
23. Henry Miller “Tropic of Cancer” and others.
24. Andy Warhol “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and vice versa).”
25. G. Hesse “Demian”, “Steppenwolf”, “The Glass Bead Game”, “Siddhartha”.
26. Bernard Shaw “The House of the Widower”, “The Heartbreaker”, “The Profession of Mrs. Warren”, “The Devil’s Disciple”, “Arms and the Man”, “Candida”, “The Chosen One of Fate”, “We’ll see”, “Pygmalion”, “ The house where hearts break."
27. Albert Camus “The Plague”, “The Fall”, “The Stranger”.
28. Paul Verlaine "Poems" ("Sea", "Autumn Song", "Shadows of trees, hiding behind the gray fog...", "The sky over the city is crying...", "Melancholy", "Tired of suffering, I have wilted fell silent...", "More beautiful and silent...", "GREEN", "Grotesque", "As the day dawns, as the radiance returns...").
29. Jean-Paul Sartre “Nausea”, “Words”, “Freud”.
30. Arthur Rimbaud "Poems".
31. Virginia Woolf “Jacob’s Room”, “Orlando”, “To the Lighthouse”, “Mrs. Dalloway”.
32. Tom Sharp “Far Intent”, “Wilt”, “New Layout at the Poker House”.
33. Clifford D. Simak “Everything Living...”, “Almost Like People”, “Goblin Reserve”, “City”, “Ring Around the Sun”.
34. Ambrose Bierce "The Devil's Dictionary", stories.
35. Kobo Abe “Woman in the Sands”, “Stories” (“Box Man” and others).
36. Aldous Huxley “Crome Yellow”, “The Jester’s Round Dance”, “The Doors of Perception”, “Counterpoint”, “Brave New World” and others.
37. Haruki Murakami “Rat Trilogy” (“Listen to the Wind Song”, “Pinball 1973”, “Sheep Hunt”), “Dance-dance-dance”, “Kafka on the Beach”.
38. Alexander Mitta “Cinema between hell and heaven.”
39. Daniil Andreev "Rose of the World".
40. Milan Kundera “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, “Broken Wills”, “Immortality”, “Slowness / Authenticity”, “Farewell Waltz”.
41. Arsenyev V.K. "Along the Ussuri region", "Dersu Uzala".
42. Ryu Murakami, “All Shades of Blue,” “69.”
43. Paulo Coelho "The Alchemist", "Eleven Minutes".
44. Yukio Mishima “Confession of a Mask”, “Golden Temple”, “Thirst for Love”.
45. Anthony Burgess “A Clockwork Orange”, “Long Way to the Tea Party”, “Iron, Rusty Iron”.
46. ​​Max Frisch “I’ll call myself Gantenbein.”
47. W. Faulkner “The Village.”
48. T. Wilder “Ides of March”.
49. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, East of Eden.
50. F.S. Fitzgerald “The Great Gatsby”, “Tender is the Night”, Stories.
51. Knut Hamsun “Hunger”, “Juice of the Earth”.
52. R.M.Rilke Poems.
53. Francoise Sagan “Fish Blood”, “Hello, Sadness”. “Love Brahms’s Livs.” "A Little Sun in Cold Water", "Leash".
54. Aitmatov Ch. “Djamilya”, “My poplar in a red scarf”, “Camel’s eye”, “First teacher”, “Mother’s field”, “And the day lasts longer than a century”, “The block”, “Cassandra’s brand”, “The White Steamer”, “Pied Dog Running by the Edge of the Sea”.
55. Akutagawa Ryunosuke (Ryunosuke) “Hell of Loneliness,” “Tobacco and the Devil.”
56. Updike D. “Rabbit, Run,” “Centaur,” “Gertrude and Claudius,” “Let’s Get Married.”
57. Thomas Stearns Eliot “Poems”.
58. Neil Gaiman “American Gods”, “Coraline”, “Smoke and Mirrors”.
59. Apollinaire G. “Poems”.
60. Apuleius. "Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass."
61. Asturias M. A. “Young Owner of Treasures,” “Maize People.”
62. Babel I. “How it was done in Odessa”, “Cavalry”, stories.
63. V. Shalamov “Fourth Vologda”, Kolyma stories. Poetry.
64. Bart J. “The Floating Opera.”
65. Bach R. “A Seagull Named Jonathan Livingston.”
66. Böll G. “A house without a master.”
67. Bitov A. “Lessons of Armenia”, “Georgian Album”, “Pushkin House”, “Flying Monks”, “Catechumens”.
68. Blake W. “Songs of Innocence and Experience” (Poems).
69. Beauvoir S. de. "Lovely pictures."
70. Baudelaire S. “Flowers of Evil.”
71. Boccaccio G. “Decameron”.
72. Beaumarchais. "The Barber of Seville" "The Marriage of Figaro".
73. Iain Banks “Crow Road”, “Bridge”, “Wasp Factory”, “Steps on Glass”.
74. Boris Vasiliev “And the dawns here are quiet”, “Gambler and brute, duelist player”, “Quench my sorrows...”.
75. Vian B. “Autumn in Beijing,” “All the dead have the same skin.”
76. V. Vysotsky Poems.
77. Gan Bao. "Notes on the search for spirits."
78. I.A. Efremov "Thais of Athens", "The Razor's Edge", "On the Edge of the Oikumene".
79. Romain Gary “Promise at Dawn” / “Promise at Dawn”, “Guilty Head”.
80. Leslie Poels Hartley “Deadly Number” (stories).
81. Henri Barbusse “Tenderness”, “Fire”. Collection of short stories "Incidents", "True Stories".
82. Garcia Lorca F. “The song wants to become light.”
83. Gilyarovsky V. A. “Moscow and Muscovites.”
84. Alexey Didurov “Legends and myths of the Ancient Sovk.”
85. Günter Grass “Under Local Anesthesia”, “Tin Drum”, “A Dog’s Life”, “From the Diary of a Snail”, “Birth from the Head”.
86. Dali S. “Diary of a Genius.”
87. Amanda Lear “DALI through the eyes of Amanda.”
88. James G. “Turn of the Screw.”
89. Dovlatov S. “Life is short”, “Reserve”, “Zone: (Notes of a warden)”.
90. Dombrovsky Yu. “Faculty of unnecessary things.”
91. Du Maurier D. “The Scapegoat”, “Rebecca”, “French Cove”, “The Royal General”, “My Cousin Rachel”.
92. Euripides. "Medea". "Hippolytus." "Bacchae"
93. Sacher-Masoch L. von. "Venus in Furs"
94. Kazantzakis N. “The Last Temptation.”
95. Capote T. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”
96. Kane J. “Butterfly”, “The Postman Always Rings Twice”, “Double Indemnity”.
97. Confucius. Judgments and conversations.
98. Lawrence D. G. “Sons and Lovers”, “Rainbow”, “Women in Love”, “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”.
99. McCoy H. “There are no pockets in a shroud,” “They shoot driven horses, isn’t it?”
100. Marquis de Sade. "Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue"

We have prepared books that everyone should read, regardless of gender and age. Here you will find publications about travel, increasing personal productivity, the psychology of relationships between men and women, body language and more. Let's get started!

1. “Get out of your comfort zone. Change your life: 21 methods for increasing personal effectiveness"

About the author: Brian was a poor student and did not graduate from high school; he traveled the world for 8 years as part of a cargo ship crew. He worked as a sales agent (within a year he became the best in the company), two years later he became a sales manager, and after 3 years he became a vice president (at the age of 25). World famous consultant, speaker.

About the book: when you're looking for books to read, start with this one. World bestseller. The author provides the reader with 21 proven methods for increasing efficiency to get quick results in your personal and professional life. To implement them into your life, you need to develop the necessary habits. Brian identified three factors in creating a good habit:

• hardness;
• discipline;
• perseverance.

Anyone can develop all these qualities if they have the desire. This publication will help you do this easily and naturally. The roadmap for creating the right habits is in your hands. Readable in one go. One of the best-selling books in the world for increasing personal effectiveness (circulation of more than 1.3 million copies, translated into 40 languages). The publication is included in our TOP 10 books on self-development.

Feature of the book: simple and effective ways, accessible to everyone, will help you set and achieve goals in the shortest possible time. Motivates and inspires.

Who is it for: for everyone without exception. From the “Must Read” series.

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2. “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”

About the author: John's first marriage did not work out. The second was on the verge of divorce, until one day his wife remarked to him that he was not there when she really needed him. From that moment on, John realized how important any “little things” are in a relationship. One of the most famous specialists in human relationships. He has written more than 17 books on psychology. She has a doctorate in Human Psychology and Sexuality.

About the book: Most psychologists focus on the similarities between men and women, but John, on the contrary, draws attention to the differences between the sexes. For example, women are sure that men do not know how to listen, but the point is different. When a woman begins to talk about her problems to a man, the latter immediately tries to find a solution, but she needs to speak out and feel supported and that her difficulties matter to him.

Another example: a man is unable to complete some task on his own and a woman considers it her duty to help with advice, and at this moment he sees a lack of confidence in his abilities and an attempt to remake him.

The publication was included in the 10 most influential publications over the past 25 years. The total circulation since its first edition is more than 10 million copies. An undisputed bestseller and one of the best on the psychology of relationships between men and women. A book worth reading if you want to make yours better and understand what your partner wants.

Feature of the book: An interesting “points system” from the author allows you to roughly calculate the number of “points” for a particular action from both partners and understand which actions in a relationship are more important than others. As a result, you understand what is really important to your partner and what is expected of you.

Who is it for: for those who want to have a healthy relationship with their partner and understand each other better (16+).

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About the author: Ayn Rand (formerly Alisa Zinovievna Rosenbaum from St. Petersburg) was already reading and writing at the age of 4. In 1926 she moved to America, where she remained until the end of her life. She wrote a number of philosophical works, but the most popular books were Atlas Shrugged and The Source.

About the book:“Atlas Shrugged” is without a doubt deservedly included in the TOP 10 books worth reading. Bestseller, one of the most popular motivational and business publications in the world. It took 12 years of the author’s life to write the work, 2 of which were spent on the speech of the main character, John Galt. Included in the TOP 10 inspiring.

The plot is fictional: the events take place in America. The political elite is ousting business from all industries, destroying competition, and placing its people in leadership positions in large companies, although the latter do not understand anything about this. After this, large entrepreneurs begin to disappear without a trace, one by one. This continues until they all disappear and the country plunges into chaos. It is not surprising that sales of the book increased sharply after the 2008 crisis. People find answers to their questions in it precisely at such moments. Three inspiring volumes that intrigue, inspire and motivate.

Feature of the book: a surprisingly fascinating plot, the thoughts of the great philosophers of ancient Greece, allows you to look at the world with different eyes.

Who is it for: for all those who are successful and strive for success.

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4. “Everywhere is like home: how we sold our home, changed our lives and saw the world”

About the author: When Lynn was 69, she and her husband (Tim) decided they wanted to travel more before they got too old. They sold the house, got rid of unnecessary things, found new owners for their dog, collected all their savings, made a plan and went to travel the world.

About the book: undisputed bestseller. One of the best travel publications. This amazing, inspiring story about two retirees who decide to discover new, unexplored places huge world what surrounds us. They got rid of everything unnecessary, sold all their things and went on an unforgettable trip: Mexico, Argentina, France, Portugal, England, Ireland, Morocco, Turkey... All this despite their zodiac sign - Libra.

We guarantee that it will draw you in from the first pages. A fascinating and unforgettable story. Among other things, it is surprising how harmonious their relationship is and how much they love each other, and this at their advanced age. Readable in one go. Inspires, uplifts, energizes. The publication is included in our exciting top ten.

Feature of the book: in fact, this is an instruction for travelers: what needs to be done before the trip, what you will encounter and what nuances should be taken into account. Lynn shares some wisdom about her husband. They proved that there may not be a “retirement age” - it all depends on you.

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5. “Brain development: how to read faster, remember better and achieve greater goals”

About the author: Roger is a professional speaker and personal growth coach, used by employees of many large companies. Roger has a rare trait - he can easily and simply explain how to engage in personal growth and, best of all, he does it all in an entertaining way. No complicated recommendations or “water”. Perhaps this contributed to his past work– variety comedian (more than 8 years).

• set goals that inspire you;
• use your time effectively;
• train your brain;
• read 2-4 times faster;
• and... something else useful.

This is your personal trainer, serious, but with a sense of humor. He's not asking you to change, but to become a little better. Not 100%, but just change the degree under which you can see the situation differently. It can be read in one go, but you will have to stop and do exercises (very interesting and practical). You will improve your memory, reading speed, focus on your priorities and, ultimately, become a better person. Effective methods from the “here and now” series always delight and inspire. But “simple” does not mean “easy”. Be prepared to put in the work.

Feature of the book: simple, effective, “here and now” exercises will help at a fast pace develop basic skills for personal effectiveness. No "water".

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About the book:“An amazing book, it can change your life” - this is what Tom Peters said about this publication. The Times rated her as one of the 25 most influential business publications. Over 20 million sales worldwide. It is included not only in our TOP “Books Worth Reading”, but in many others. Seven skills that will take your standard of living to new heights:

1. Be proactive.
2. When you start, imagine your end goal.
3. Do what needs to be done first.
4. Think win-win.
5. Try to hear first and then be heard.
6. Achieve synergy (strive for creative, mutually beneficial interactions).
7. Sharpen your saw (constantly improve).

Stephen took the position that a person can always choose how to react to what is happening around him: someone stepped on your shoes on public transport, someone called you a fool, someone deceived you, etc. The point is that no one can hurt you without your consent. It will help you not only understand and shape your life goals, providing everything for this necessary tools, but also to achieve them. 100% guarantee that after reading you will become a better person. Use this masterpiece as a road map. The publication is included in our list of the best business books.

Feature of the book: well-structured material, vivid examples, simple recommendations.

Who is it for: for anyone who wants to increase their productivity levels and improve their lives. A must read for those who want to climb career ladder or create your own successful business.

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About the book:“The Psychology of Influence” is written in an easy and accessible manner. A lot of interesting and funny examples clearly illustrate the work of certain principles and techniques of persuasion. At the most modern scientific level, the mechanisms of motivation, assimilation of information and decision-making are analyzed. The author identifies 6 basic principles of persuasion:

1. Reciprocity: give something to someone else to get something in return.
2. Commitment: people want their beliefs to align with their values.
3. Social proof: there is nothing stronger feelings than a feeling based on observing the actions of other people.
4. Power: you will obey me!
5. Sympathy: The more you like someone, the stronger their impact on you.
6. Deficit: when you realize that something is missing, you will want it more.

If you are looking for books worth reading and want to clearly understand how to negotiate when you are being manipulated and improve your communication skills, then be sure to read this one. Included in the list of the best in psychology.

Feature of the book: in fact, it's training manual By social psychology, conflictology and management. Everything is extremely simple and clear.

Who is it for: for sales professionals, speakers, executives, entrepreneurs, anyone whose work involves persuading others.

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About the book: Tina teaches you to think outside the box, to see opportunities where most see only problems. One of the assignments she gave her students in class: You have 5 dollars and only 60 minutes to earn money. In the end, the winners received up to $650. Question: “What did they do to earn 600 in 60 minutes with 5 dollars?” You will learn the answer to this and many other questions on self-development by reading this publication.

Feature of the book: Each chapter is a challenge to everyday thinking, with suggestions and recommendations that will allow you to see problems as opportunities. Just practice.

Who is it for: for entrepreneurs and people who want to learn to think outside the box. A must read for entrepreneurs.

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About the authors: famous couple from Australia. Alan Pease wrote his first bestseller (Body Language, over 20 million copies sold worldwide) at the age of 26. The author now has dozens of popular books on psychology. Barbara – model and publisher fashion magazine in the past.

About the book: an expanded edition of the previous bestseller (Body Language). After reading, you will be able to easily determine when a person is unhappy, trying to deceive you, or showing genuine interest, and much more.

Feature of the book: everything about body movements, their interpretation, assessment, possible consequences. Everything is accompanied detailed description, examples and photographs.

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10. “Willpower. How to develop and strengthen willpower"

About the book: Who among us has not at least once wished to strengthen our willpower? After all her research, Kelly came to the conclusion that willpower is the same muscle as the biceps or chest muscles. It can and should be trained. Who would have thought that sleep and rest have such an impact on our willpower? From the book you will learn how to train, strengthen and develop it to unprecedented heights.

Feature of the book: Each chapter describes one key idea and how it can be applied to your goals. All together, this is a 10-week educational course on developing your willpower.

Who is it for: absolutely for everyone who was waiting for a “magic kick” and those who have problems with willpower.

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