These are the books that we've all either HAD to read, or chose to read to see if we could. Some of these selections are re-reads; a new perspective gained with each page. These books run the gamut from confusing to difficult. Feel free to add your personal "nightmare" reading material!
1

by
3.76 avg rating — 137,484 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
3.43 avg rating — 556,458 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,045,009 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.44 avg rating — 915,876 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,028,798 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.17 avg rating — 364,354 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.68 avg rating — 13,598 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.53 avg rating — 237,379 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.93 avg rating — 7,025 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.03 avg rating — 205,299 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.93 avg rating — 507,158 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.10 avg rating — 926,618 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.91 avg rating — 236,747 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.86 avg rating — 181,790 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.84 avg rating — 301,867 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.86 avg rating — 195,476 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.99 avg rating — 47,870 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.50 avg rating — 345,096 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.46 avg rating — 98,385 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.89 avg rating — 336,822 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.05 avg rating — 29,861 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.96 avg rating — 275,843 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.39 avg rating — 383,583 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.84 avg rating — 221,511 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.45 avg rating — 315,917 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.01 avg rating — 48,006 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.03 avg rating — 333,648 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
3.99 avg rating — 2,065,441 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.44 avg rating — 631,914 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.38 avg rating — 179,217 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.21 avg rating — 215,792 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.11 avg rating — 540,857 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.09 avg rating — 198,941 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,412,818 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.57 avg rating — 613,776 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.03 avg rating — 990,079 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,477,337 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.98 avg rating — 124,715 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,868,083 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.96 avg rating — 21,747 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.98 avg rating — 129,772 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.69 avg rating — 406,311 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.07 avg rating — 332,490 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.94 avg rating — 66,577 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.76 avg rating — 98,929 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.89 avg rating — 362,572 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.19 avg rating — 19,561 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.14 avg rating — 459,627 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.28 avg rating — 417,233 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.10 avg rating — 53,535 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.17 avg rating — 28,194 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.85 avg rating — 11,260 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,854,725 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.15 avg rating — 435,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.87 avg rating — 254,397 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.98 avg rating — 105,571 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.87 avg rating — 940,807 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.86 avg rating — 11,770 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.48 avg rating — 157 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.53 avg rating — 7,962 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.28 avg rating — 341,679 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.43 avg rating — 8,292 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.73 avg rating — 23,008 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.02 avg rating — 8,672 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.80 avg rating — 5 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,354 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.83 avg rating — 112 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.46 avg rating — 2,824 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.17 avg rating — 94,336 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.77 avg rating — 12,350 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.77 avg rating — 149,299 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.84 avg rating — 35,223 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,789 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.77 avg rating — 9,293 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.85 avg rating — 3,340 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.86 avg rating — 498 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.25 avg rating — 2,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,309 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.95 avg rating — 720 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.27 avg rating — 701 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.11 avg rating — 570 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.58 avg rating — 342 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.79 avg rating — 24,237 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.89 avg rating — 2,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.39 avg rating — 263 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.94 avg rating — 33,962 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.83 avg rating — 3,398 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.62 avg rating — 6,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.18 avg rating — 225 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.05 avg rating — 17,832 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
3.85 avg rating — 1,638 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.98 avg rating — 13,147 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.97 avg rating — 13,875 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.60 avg rating — 30 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
liked it 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.02 avg rating — 6,341 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,383 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.75 avg rating — 7,199 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,236 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
3.85 avg rating — 4,291 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
102 books · 102 voters · list created June 18th, 2009 by Tara Lynn (votes) .
36 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Tara 2340 books
189 friends
Cristen 234 books
45 friends
A.M. 1430 books
311 friends
Leslie 2866 books
181 friends
Charlie 154 books
3 friends
Bradley 2372 books
4993 friends
Tamar 760 books
23 friends
Elise 5039 books
240 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by A.M. (new)

A.M. Great list; I always feel so guilty when I don't finish a book, but sometimes it is just impossible!


message 2: by Whitney FI (new)

Whitney FI I finished all the books for which I voted, but all took ample research, contemplation and discussion. It's those books that challenge, which are more rewarding, at least for me, in the end.


message 3: by Andrew (last edited Apr 22, 2014 11:40PM) (new)

Andrew Obrigewitsch Who is voting on this list? The Phantom of the Opera is only hard to read if you think Twilight is high literature.

Same goes for Brave New World, 1984, anything by John Steinbeck, The Shadow of the Torturer (not hard but it is weird), Fahrenheit 451 (this book is super easy to read actually) and I'm sure at least half the books I haven't read on this list are not that hard.

I would say that, "Heart of Darkness and the Congo Diary" is medium difficulty, above those listed above, but I didn't find it difficult either. The only book on hear I didn't finish was The Silmarillion, because it was just boring and felt like reading a really dry history book taken from the Bible.


message 4: by Milo (new)

Milo I agree with The Silmarillion, Andrews, but am surprised anyone found Fahrenheit 451 hard to read. Perhaps the list also includes books people were forced to read in class, when they weren't in the mood.


message 5: by A.M. (new)

A.M. Andrew wrote: "Who is voting on this list? The Phantom of the Opera is only hard to read if you think Twilight is high literature."

I think the list has changed since I last looked at it - just reviewed it all now and there's quite a few titles on there that I've read and not found difficult. But I suppose each person has their own standards of what they find difficult...


message 6: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jun 30, 2019 05:50AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Andrew wrote: "Who is voting on this list? The Phantom of the Opera is only hard to read if you think Twilight is high literature.

Same goes for Brave New World, 1984, anything by John Steinbeck, The Shadow of t..."


I'm sorry to disagree but Nineteen Eighty-Four (#48) was not exactly an 'easy' read for me either. I read books which others found difficult and vice versa. I agree with A.M. on this, what's easy for some isn't easy for another.

Beowulf (#20), for instance, is a great read, but to say it is easy? Not in my opinion....

Besides, the description clearly says These books run the gamut from confusing to difficult.


back to top