In a uniquely powerful way reading fiction teaches us more about life than anything else
can. It allows us to see the world in a different way enriching our lives and making our
existence more meaningful. Here are some reasons why reading books from this list is
the most important thing you can do before you graduate:
Imagination: Reading literature cultivates the imagination more than any other
cognitive process. Tyrants and dictators hate literature. Cultures steeped in literature
have thrived.
Communication: Writing and talking about literature helps prepare people to write and
talk about anything. Reading is the only thing to improve vocabulary and literacy which
improves intelligence. When someone reads they work with words and carefully
consider language and they also consider how different kinds of people think and react
to and understand words.
Analysis: Literary works – whether fiction, poetry, drama – challenge readers to make
connections, to weight evidence, to question, to notice details, to make sense out of a
rich experience. These analytical abilities are fundamental life skills.
Empathy: Because literature allows us to inhabit different perspectives in different
times and places, we learn to think about how other people see the world. How other
people think and feel about the world. This knowledge helps to erase sexism and
racism and allows us to more compassionate.
Understanding: From the time we start to learn about our world we think in terms of
stories. People who have experienced more stores are better able to think about
actions and consequences.
Agility: Literary works often ask us to think in complex ways, to hold sometimes
contradictory, or apparently conflicting ideas in our minds. This allows us to be more
mentally flexible and open to new ideas.
Meaningfulness: Literary works often challenge us to think about our place in the
world, about the significance of what we are trying to do. If we think about the
motivations and values of the characters we read about it will lead to a richer life for
ourselves.
Pick something from this list that is appropriate and intensely entertaining. You will not
only become a more mature person but begin to enjoy reading and experience a much
richer life.
Author
Title
Reading Level
Points
Adams, Richard
Watership Down
6.2
25
Alcott, Louisa May
Little Women
7.9
33
Little Men
8.1
19
Adichie, Chimamanda
Purple Hibiscus
5.8
13
Allende, Isabel
City of Beasts
7.8
15
Forest of the Pygmies
7.9
11
The House of Spirits
8.4
32
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
8.3
17
The Stories of Eva Luna
8.8
16
Before We Were Free
5.6
8.0
In the Time of the Butterflies
5.8
18
But What of Earth?
6.1
12
Castle Roogna
6.1
18
Centaur Aisle
6.9
18
Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn
7.2
16
Demons Don’t Dream
6.4
16
Dragon on a Pedestal
7.7
17
Geis of the Gargoyle
5.4
16
Golem in the Gears
5.3
11
Harpy Thyme
5.4
16
Heaven Cent
5.6
17
Isle of View
5.3
16
Letters to Jenny
6.4
16
Man from Mundania
5.4
17
Mercycle
5.7
14
Night Mare
6.7
18
Ogre, Ogre
6.6
18
Prostho Plus
6.6
9
Question Quest
6.5
17
Race Against Time
5.3
7
Source of Magic, The
8.2
17
Alvarez, Julia
Anthony, Piers
Spell for Chameleon, A
6.2
18
Steppe
6.9
9
Through the Ice
6.1
11
Vale of the Vole
7.7
17
Forward the Foundation
6
19
Foundation
6.4
11
Foundation and Empire
6.4
12
Foundation’s Edge
6.8
22
Prelude to Foundation
6.1
21
Second Foundation
6.9
12
Alias Grace
6.9
28
Blind Assassin
6.8
30
Cat’s Eye
6.1
22
Lady Oracle
6.8
20
Oryx and Crake
6.2
16
The Penelopiad
6.9
5
The Robber Bride
6.3
30
Emma
9.3
30
Mansfield Park
12
35
Pride and Prejudice
12
27
Sense and Sensibility
8.4
22
Brainbridge, Beryl
Every Man For Himself
7
10
Banville, John
The Sea
7.5
11
Beagle, Peter S
The Last Unicorn
6.2
11
Box, C.J.
Open Season
6.3
12
Savage Run
6.4
13
Bray, Libba
A Great and Terrible Beauty
5.1
14
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
6.9
9
Bronte, Emily
Jane Eyre
10
39
Brooks, Terry
Antrax
7
21
Armageddon’s Children
6.3
22
Black Unicorn, The
6
15
Druid of Shannara, The
6.5
25
Asimov, Isaac
Attwood, Margaret
Austen, Jane
Elf Queen of Shannara, The
6.5
25
Elfstones of Shannara, The
6.4
31
Elves of Cintra, The
6
22
First King of Shannara
6.6
29
Ilse Witch
7.1
26
Jarka Ruus
6.6
21
Morgawr
6.5
22
Princess of Landover, A
6.1
18
Scions of Shannara, The
6.6
26
Sword of Shannara, The
8.7
42
Talismans of Shannara, The
6.6
27
Tanequil
6.7
21
Tangle Box, The
6.1
17
Wishsong of Shannara, The
7.2
37
Witches’ Brew
6
15
Wizard at Large
5.6
14
Buchan, John
The 39 Steps
7.4
7
Buck, Pearl S
The Good Earth
6.8
19
Burroghs, Edgar Rice
Tarzan of the Apes
9
16
Caldwell, Ian
The Rule of Four
5.9
18
Card, Orson Scott
Call of Earth, The
6.6
16
Children of the Mind
6.2
18
Earthborn
6.4
22
Earthfall
6.2
19
Ender’s Shadow
5.9
22
Lost Boys
5.7
26
Magic Street
4.9
18
Memory of Earth, The
6.1
15
Ruins
5.7
21
Shadow of the Giant
5.7
17
Shadow of the Hegemon
6.3
19
Ships of Earth, The
6.6
20
War of Gifts: An Ender Story
4.9
3
Carey, Peter
His Illegal Self
5.2
11
True History of the Kelly Gang
6.9
22
My Antonia
6.9
14
Ono of Ours
7.2
22
Cervantes
Don Quixote
13.2
91
Christie, Agatha
A.B.C. Murders, The
6.1
9
And Then There Were None
5.7
8
Appointment with Death
6.1
9
At Bertram’s Hotel
5.8
10
Body in the Library, The
6
8
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
7.2
11
Cards on the Table
6
9
Cat Among The Pigeons
5.9
11
Crooked House
5.8
9
Dead Man’ Folly
6.7
9
Elephants Can Remember
6
10
Funerals Are Fatal/After the Funeral
6.3
11
Mousetrap and Other Plays, The
5.3
33
Murder at the Vicarage
4.9
10
Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The
6.3
11
Murder on the Orient Express
6.2
9
Third Girl
6.1
12
Clarke, Austin
The Polished Hoe
6.7
26
Clarke, Breena
River Cross My Heart
6.5
11
Clark, Walter Tillburg
The Ox-Bow Incident
5.4
12
Clancy, Tom
Battle Ready
9.7
32
Cardinal of the Kremlin, The
6.7
33
Debt of Honor
7.2
58
End Game
6.2
10
Rainbow Six
6.7
51
Red Rabbit
6.4
36
Sum of all Fears, The
6.2
53
Teeth of the Tiger, The
6.4
25
Cather, Willa
Tom Clancy’s Net Force
5.8
16
Tom Clancy’s Net Force: Night Moves
5.7
15
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Balance of Power5.8
17
Tom Clancy’s Power Plays: Politika
7.7
15
Shadow Watch
8.8
18
Ultimate Escape, The
7
10
Without Remorse
6
40
Cleage, Pearl
What Look Like Crazy
6
12
Clement-Davies, David
Fell
6.1
22
Coetzee, J.M.
Life and Times of Michael K
6.1
11
Waiting for the Barbarians
6.5
11
Lord Jim
9.1
24
The Secret Agent
9.4
17
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer
9
10
Heretic
6.8
20
Sharpe’s Battle
7.4
16
Sharpe’s Devil
7.4
16
Sharpe’s Triumph
7.5
20
Sharpe’s Tiger
7.4
21
Girl in the Clockwork Collar, The
5.4
13
Girl in the Steel Corset, The
5.7
15
Datlow, Ellen
The Dark-New Ghost Stories
6
23
David, Peter
One Knight Only
6.9
19
Davis, Amand
Wonder When You’ll Miss Me
5
15
David, James
Ship of the Damned
6.3
20
Davies, Robertson
The Manticore
7.1
17
World of Wonders
7.2
22
The Rebel Angels
7.3
21
What’s Bred in the Bone
7.5
27
The Lyre of Orpheus
6.9
25
Bleak House
8.8
67
Hard Times
9.3
20
Little Dorrit
9.4
66
Conrad, Joseph
Cornwell, Bernard
Cross, Kady
Dickens, Charles
Nicholas Nickleby
11.9
71
Martin Chuzzlewit
10
68
Our Mutual Friend
8.8
61
Crime and Punishment
8.7
40
The Brothers Karamazov
10.4
74
Dubus III, Andre
House of Sand and Fog
6.3
23
Dumas, Alexandre
The Count of Monte Cristo
8.8
34
The Three Musketeers
11.3
42
DuMaurier, Daphne
Rebecca
6.8
26
Eddings, David
Belgarath the Sorcerer
5.9
42
Castle of Wizardry
5.9
19
Elder Gods, The
6.4
19
Enchanters’ End Game
6.3
19
Magician’s Gambit
5.7
15
Pawn of Prophecy
5.9
14
Queen of Sorcery
5.7
16
Edwards, Kim
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
5.8
22
Eliot, George
Middlemarch
10.4
64
Ellison, Ralph
Invisible Man
7.2
30
Erdrich, Louise
The Beet Queen
5.9
17
Erikson, Steven
Gardens of the Moon
5.5
31
Eugenides, Jeffrey
Middlesex
5.8
31
Faulkner, William
The Reivers
6.1
16
Findlay, Jamieson
The Blue Roan Child
5.4
13
Finney, Jack
Time and Again
6.8
26
Flynn, Michael
The Wreck of the River of Stars
6.2
33
Follet, Ken
The Pillars of the Earth
6.2
65
Whiteout
5.2
17
Freedman, Benedict
Mrs. Mile
5.3
16
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
5.2
28
Interworld
5.5
8
Smoke and Mirrors
5.7
15
7.1
5
Dostoevsky, Fyoder
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel Chronicle of a Death Foretold
One Hundred Years of Solitude
8.7
27
Geddes, John
The Sunday Season
5.9
8
Green, John
An Abundance of Katherines
5.6
10
Looking For Alaska
5.8
11
Paper Towns
5.4
13
Will Grayson Will Grayson
5.1
11
Greene, Graham
The Power and the Glory
5.9
12
Greenberg, Joanne
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
6.7
14
Gutterson, David
East of the Mountains
6.7
14
Harden, Blaine
Escape from Camp 14
8.1
10
Hardy, Thomas
Jude the Obscure
8.9
27
Mayor of Casterbridge
9.5
22
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
The Scarlet Letter
12
18
Healy, Karen
Guardian of the Dead
5.3
13
Hegi, Ursula
Stones From the River
7
34
Heller, Joseph
Catch – 22
7.1
30
Hemingway, Ernest
Farewell to Arms
6
13
For Whom The Bell Tolls
5.8
28
The Old Man and the Sea
5.1
4
The Sun Also Rises
4.4
10
Chapterhouse: Dune
5.4
22
Children of Dune
6.2
24
Dune
5.7
28
Dune Messiah
5.7
11
God Emperor of Dune
5.8
22
Heretics of Dune
6.2
26
Hidier, Tanuja Desai
Born Confused
5.9
23
Hirsh, Jeff
The Darkest Path
5
13
Hoffman, Alice
Ice Queen
4.9
9
Local Girls
6.2
7
Hosseini, Khaled
A Thousand Splendid Suns
5.4
16
Howard, A.G.
Splintered
5.2
16
Unhinged
5.5
17
Herbert, Frank
Hugo, Victor
Les Miserables
9.8
105
Ibboston, Eva
The Star of Kazan
6.1
16
Irani, Anosh
The Song of Kahunsha
4.5
9
Irving, John
The Cider House Rules
7.2
38
A Prayer For Owen Meany
7.7
42
Never Let Me Go
6.0
15
The Remains of the Day
7.9
13
Jin, Ha
Waiting
6.3
15
Jordan, Robert
Crossroads of Twilight
7.1
45
Crown of Swords, A
6.6
47
Eye of the World, The
5.9
49
Fires of Heaven, The
6.5
56
From The Two Rivers
5.7
23
Gathering Storm, The
5.5
46
Great Hunt, The
5.5
40
Hunt Begins
5.2
19
Knife of Dreams
6.6
52
Lord of Chaos
6.7
65
Path of Daggers, The
6.8
37
Shadow Rising, The
5.9
54
To the Blight
5.7
26
Winter’s Heart
6.6
40
11/22/63
5.4
42
Bag of Bones
6
32
Black House
6.8
32
Cell
5.7
19
Christine
6.6
30
Colorado Kid, The
6
5
Dark Half, The
6.1
25
Dark Tower, The
6.2
44
Dead Zone, The
5.5
23
Desperation
5.7
30
Doctor Sleep
5
24
Ishiguro, Kazuo
King, Stephen
Kingsolver, Barbara
Dolores Claiborne
5.3
14
Drawing of the Three
6
20
Dreamcatcher
6.4
36
Duma Key
5
31
Everything’s Eventual
6.1
26
Eyes of the Dragon
6.4
17
Firestarter
5,8
24
Four Past Midnight
5.9
46
From a Buick 8
5.8
19
Full Dark, No Stars
5.8
21
Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, The
6.4
10
Gunslinger, The
5.3
8
Insomnia
7.3
44
It
6.0
70
Joyland
5.2
12
Just After Sunset
5.9
21
Lisey’s Story
6.2
30
Needful Things
6
40
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
6.5
43
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
7.4
13
Rose Madder
7.5
34
Salelm’s Lot
5.4
23
Skeleton Crew
6
34
Song of Susannah
5.4
18
Stand, The
5.7
72
Tommyknockers, The
6.2
41
Under the Dome
5.1
50
Waste Lands, The
6
28
Wind Through The Keyhole, The
5.4
14
Wizard and Glass
5.9
40
Wolves of Calla, The
5.2
37
The Bean Trees
5.6
13
The Poisonwood Bible
6.6
29
Prodigal Summer
5.7
23
Kinsella, W.P.
Shoeless Joe
6.2
13
Kneale, Matthew
English Passengers
7.4
31
Knowles, John
A Separate Peace
6.9
10
Koontz, Dean
Brother Odd
7.2
15
Cold Fire
7.3
23
Dark Rivers of the Heart
7.4
34
False Memory
7.7
33
Fear Nothing
7.5
22
Forever Odd
7.1
13
Good Guy, The
5.7
13
House of Thunder, The
6.8
14
Husband, The
6.3
14
Icebound
7.1
14
Intensity
7.7
21
Lightning
7.5
24
Midnight
8.1
29
Odd Hours
6.9
14
Odd Thomas
7.3
18
Phantoms
5.9
21
Ticktock
7.2
13
Velocity
6.1
14
Winter Moon
6.8
19
Into Thin Air
8.9
17
Into The Wild
8.1
12
Krueger, Lesley
The Corner Garden
5.6
14
L’Amour, Louis
Last of the Breed
6.3
20
Lackey, Mercedes
Exile’s Valor
7.5
22
La Farge, Oliver
Laughing Boy
5.7
10
Laid, Elizabeth
Kiss the Dust
5.1
10
Lanagan, Margo
Red Spikes
5.4
6
Lamb, Wally
I Know This Much Is True
4.9
46
She’s Come Undone
5.2
22
Krakauer, John
Laurence, Margaret
The Stone Angel
4.8
13
Le Guin, Ursula
Gifts
5.8
9
The Other Wind
6
11
Powers
6
18
Tehanu
5.5
11
The Tombs of Atuan
5.9
7
Letts, Billie
Where The Heart Is
7.5
18
Levy, Andrea
Small Island
5.1
23
Ludlum, Robert
Bourne Supremacy
5.9
36
MacDonald, Ann-Marie
Fall on Your Knees
5.6
26
Maguire, Gregory
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
6.2
15
Lion Among Men, A
6.1
15
Mirror Mirror
7.2
12
Son of a Witch
6
18
Wicked
6.4
25
Chronicles of Pern: First Fall, The
7.2
15
Dolphins of Pern, The
6.3
15
Dragon Harper
5.4
13
Dragon’s Fire
5.8
17
Dragon’s Kin
5.4
12
Dragondrums
7.5
12
Dragonflight
6.9
14
Dragonquest
6.9
19
Dragonsdawn
7.5
25
Dragonseye
7
17
Dragonsinger
6.7
13
Dragonsong
6.8
9
Masterhaprer of Pern, The
6.7
23
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
6.4
19
Renegades of Pern, The
6.9
21
Skies of Pern, The
6.7
25
White Dragon, The
6.6
21
Mass, Sarah J
McCaffrey, Anne
McCarthy, Cormac
All the Pretty Horses
4.9
15
Cities of the Plain
4
13
Bill Budd, Sailor
10.6
6
Moby Dick
10.3
42
A Fine Balance
5.8
36
Such A Long Journey
5.9
19
Momaday, Scott
Hour Made of Dawn
6.2
11
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
6
15
The Bluest Eye
5.2
8
Jazz
6
11
Paradise
5.1
17
Song of Soloman
5
14
Sula
6.4
8
Mosley, Walter
47
5.3
8
November, Shayn
Firebirds
5.5
16
Firebirds Rising
5
20
The Falls
6.3
26
Foxfire
7.8
17
Freaky Green Eyes
5
7
We Were The Mulvaneys
7.4
30
Olds, Bruce
Bucking The Tiger
8.2
16
Ondatje, Michael
Anil’s Ghost
6.2
12
The English Patient
6.8
14
In The Skin of a Lion
6.1
10
Orczy, Baroness
The Scarlet Pimpernel
8
15
Orwell, George
Animal Farm
7.3
5
Nineteen Eighty-Four
8.9
17
Palahniuk, Chuck
Lullaby
5.4
10
Paton, Alan
Cry, The Beloved Country
6.2
14
Proulx, Annie
The Shipping News
4.8
16
Pullman, Philip
The Amber Spy Glass
6.7
26
The Golden Compass
7.1
19
The Subtle Knife
6.2
16
Melville, Herman
Mistry, Rohinton
Oates, Joyce Carol
Rice, Anne
Interview With A Vampire
6.9
22
Vampire Lestat
6.5
34
Queen of the Damned
6.5
32
Tale of the Body Thief
6.1
28
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight’s Children
8.4
38
Ryan, Carrie
Dark and Hollow Places, The
5.7
16
Dead-Tossed Waves, The
5.2
18
Divide and Conquer
6.4
7
Forest of Hands and Teeth, The
5,8
14
Saramago, Jose
Blindness
8.1
21
Setterfield, Diane
The Thirteenth Tale
5.9
21
Sebold, Alice
The Almost Moon
5.6
14
Selvadurai, Shyam
Swimming in The Monsoon Sea
5.8
10
Smith, Betty
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
5.8
23
Stegner, Wallace
Angle of Repose
6.9
35
Steinbeck, John
East of Eden
5.3
34
The Grapes of Wrath
4.9
25
Of Mice and Men
4.5
4
The Pearl
7.1
4
The Red Pony
6.1
6
Stevenson, Robert Louis Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
9.5
5
Stewart, Mary
The Crystal Cave
5.7
24
Stratton, Porter
A Girl of the Limberlost
6.1
18
Swift, Johathan
Gulliver’s Travels
13.5
20
Tatlock, Ann
I’ll Watch the Moon
6.1
16
Taylor G.P.
Shadowmancer
5.8
15
Wormwood
6.3
14
Taylor, Mildred
Let the Circle Be Broken
5.7
15
Temple, Frances
The Ramsay Scallop
5.6
10
Thackery, William
Vanity Fair
12.4
66
Thurlo, Aimee
The Spirit Line
5.6
7
Toews, Miriam
A Complicated Kindness
5.5
12
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Silmarillion
7.9
21
Tolstey, Leo
Anna Karenina
9.6
69
War and Peace
10.1
118
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
6.6
18
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
8.1
12
Court
9.2
21
The Prince and the Pauper
9.5
13
Tyler, Anne
Breathing Lessons
6.5
15
Updike, John
Rabbit at Rest
6.8
31
Vincent, Rachel
My Soul to Keep
5.6
13
My Soul to Save
5.7
12
My Soul to Steal
5.3
14
My Soul to Take
5.5
12
Voltaire
Candide
7.3
5
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse Five
6
8
Welcome To The Monkey House
5.7
16
Walker, Alice
The Colour Purple
4
9
Willimas, Lori Avrelia
When Kambia Elaine Flew in From
Neptune
5.3
12
The Midnight Palace
6.9
11
The Prince of Mist
6.5
7
Twain, Mark
A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s
Zafon, Carlos Ruiz