62 books
—
63 voters
Prose Books
Showing 1-50 of 26,997
The Great Gatsby (Paperback)
by (shelved 95 times as prose)
avg rating 3.93 — 5,865,083 ratings — published 1925
1984 (Paperback)
by (shelved 82 times as prose)
avg rating 4.20 — 5,402,959 ratings — published 1949
The Stranger (Paperback)
by (shelved 78 times as prose)
avg rating 4.03 — 1,381,682 ratings — published 1942
Animal Farm (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 78 times as prose)
avg rating 4.02 — 4,501,613 ratings — published 1945
The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)
by (shelved 76 times as prose)
avg rating 3.80 — 3,869,943 ratings — published 1951
To Kill a Mockingbird (Paperback)
by (shelved 72 times as prose)
avg rating 4.26 — 6,829,687 ratings — published 1960
Lolita (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 70 times as prose)
avg rating 3.87 — 939,792 ratings — published 1955
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback)
by (shelved 69 times as prose)
avg rating 4.13 — 1,856,723 ratings — published 1890
Crime and Punishment (Paperback)
by (shelved 68 times as prose)
avg rating 4.29 — 1,068,150 ratings — published 1866
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text (Paperback)
by (shelved 65 times as prose)
avg rating 3.90 — 1,863,394 ratings — published 1818
The Metamorphosis (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 64 times as prose)
avg rating 3.90 — 1,406,118 ratings — published 1915
Fahrenheit 451 (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 62 times as prose)
avg rating 3.97 — 2,807,230 ratings — published 1953
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
by (shelved 60 times as prose)
avg rating 4.45 — 2,719,551 ratings — published 1996
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 59 times as prose)
avg rating 4.12 — 1,096,801 ratings — published 1967
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (Paperback)
by (shelved 57 times as prose)
avg rating 4.30 — 4,429,260 ratings — published 1937
Brave New World (Paperback)
by (shelved 55 times as prose)
avg rating 3.99 — 2,063,099 ratings — published 1932
The Bell Jar (Paperback)
by (shelved 53 times as prose)
avg rating 4.05 — 1,206,455 ratings — published 1963
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
by (shelved 53 times as prose)
avg rating 4.47 — 11,318,073 ratings — published 1997
Of Mice and Men (Paperback)
by (shelved 53 times as prose)
avg rating 3.90 — 2,813,255 ratings — published 1937
Slaughterhouse-Five (Paperback)
by (shelved 52 times as prose)
avg rating 4.10 — 1,476,077 ratings — published 1969
Pride and Prejudice (Hardcover)
by (shelved 52 times as prose)
avg rating 4.29 — 4,759,563 ratings — published 1813
Wuthering Heights (Paperback)
by (shelved 51 times as prose)
avg rating 3.90 — 2,024,680 ratings — published 1847
Lord of the Flies (Paperback)
by (shelved 51 times as prose)
avg rating 3.70 — 3,178,551 ratings — published 1954
The Old Man and the Sea (Hardcover)
by (shelved 51 times as prose)
avg rating 3.81 — 1,301,942 ratings — published 1952
The Handmaid's Tale (Hardcover)
by (shelved 49 times as prose)
avg rating 4.15 — 2,398,118 ratings — published 1985
Heart of Darkness (Paperback)
by (shelved 47 times as prose)
avg rating 3.43 — 555,977 ratings — published 1899
Catch-22 (Paperback)
by (shelved 47 times as prose)
avg rating 3.99 — 883,951 ratings — published 1961
The Little Prince (Hardcover)
by (shelved 46 times as prose)
avg rating 4.33 — 2,450,584 ratings — published 1943
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
by (shelved 46 times as prose)
avg rating 4.43 — 4,456,138 ratings — published 1998
The Road (Hardcover)
by (shelved 44 times as prose)
avg rating 4.00 — 1,028,990 ratings — published 2006
The Trial (Paperback)
by (shelved 44 times as prose)
avg rating 3.94 — 391,489 ratings — published 1925
Ulysses (Paperback)
by (shelved 43 times as prose)
avg rating 3.76 — 137,412 ratings — published 1922
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
by (shelved 42 times as prose)
avg rating 4.58 — 4,800,230 ratings — published 1999
The Song of Achilles (Paperback)
by (shelved 40 times as prose)
avg rating 4.30 — 1,955,788 ratings — published 2011
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
by (shelved 40 times as prose)
avg rating 4.22 — 2,005,389 ratings — published 1979
Carrie (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 40 times as prose)
avg rating 3.99 — 839,205 ratings — published 1974
To the Lighthouse (Paperback)
by (shelved 39 times as prose)
avg rating 3.81 — 213,400 ratings — published 1927
Jane Eyre (Paperback)
by (shelved 38 times as prose)
avg rating 4.16 — 2,307,919 ratings — published 1847
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (Hardcover)
by (shelved 38 times as prose)
avg rating 4.01 — 399,157 ratings — published 2019
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
by (shelved 38 times as prose)
avg rating 4.35 — 9,819,808 ratings — published 2008
Anna Karenina (Paperback)
by (shelved 37 times as prose)
avg rating 4.10 — 925,545 ratings — published 1878
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
by (shelved 37 times as prose)
avg rating 4.58 — 3,634,841 ratings — published 2005
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)
by (shelved 37 times as prose)
avg rating 4.62 — 4,086,048 ratings — published 2007
A Clockwork Orange (Paperback)
by (shelved 36 times as prose)
avg rating 4.00 — 766,261 ratings — published 1962
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
by (shelved 36 times as prose)
avg rating 4.57 — 4,163,793 ratings — published 2000
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Paperback)
by (shelved 36 times as prose)
avg rating 4.11 — 540,110 ratings — published 1984
Dubliners (Paperback)
by (shelved 36 times as prose)
avg rating 3.83 — 174,934 ratings — published 1914
Siddhartha (Mass Market Paperback)
by (shelved 36 times as prose)
avg rating 4.08 — 870,662 ratings — published 1922
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
by (shelved 36 times as prose)
avg rating 4.50 — 3,770,238 ratings — published 2003
“The characters in my novels are my own unrealised possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has crossed a border that I myself have circumvented.”
―
―
“Take a shower. Wash away every trace of yesterday. Of smells. Of weary skin. Get dressed. Make coffee, windows open, the sun shining through. Hold the cup with two hands and notice that you feel the feeling of warmth.
You still feel warmth.
Now sit down and get to work. Keep your mind sharp, head on, eyes on the page and if small thoughts of worries fight their ways into your consciousness: threw them off like fires in the night and keep your eyes on the track. Nothing but the task in front of you.
Get off your chair in the middle of the day. Put on your shoes and take a long walk on open streets around people. Notice how they’re all walking, in a hurry, or slowly. Smiling, laughing, or eyes straight forward, hurried to get to wherever they’re going. And notice how you’re just one of them. Not more, not less. Find comfort in the way you’re just one in the crowd. Your worries: no more, no less.
Go back home. Take the long way just to not pass the liquor store. Don’t buy the cigarettes. Go straight home. Take off your shoes. Wash your hands. Your face. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. It’s still beating. Still fighting. Now get back to work. Work with your mind sharp and eyes focused and if any thoughts of worries or hate or sadness creep their ways around, shake them off like a runner in the night for you own your mind, and you need to tame it. Focus. Keep it sharp on track, nothing but the task in front of you.
Work until your eyes are tired and head is heavy, and keep working even after that.
Then take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine. You’re doing fine.
I’m doing just fine.”
― You're Doing Just Fine
Get off your chair in the middle of the day. Put on your shoes and take a long walk on open streets around people. Notice how they’re all walking, in a hurry, or slowly. Smiling, laughing, or eyes straight forward, hurried to get to wherever they’re going. And notice how you’re just one of them. Not more, not less. Find comfort in the way you’re just one in the crowd. Your worries: no more, no less.
Go back home. Take the long way just to not pass the liquor store. Don’t buy the cigarettes. Go straight home. Take off your shoes. Wash your hands. Your face. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. It’s still beating. Still fighting. Now get back to work. Work with your mind sharp and eyes focused and if any thoughts of worries or hate or sadness creep their ways around, shake them off like a runner in the night for you own your mind, and you need to tame it. Focus. Keep it sharp on track, nothing but the task in front of you.
Work until your eyes are tired and head is heavy, and keep working even after that.
Then take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine. You’re doing fine.
I’m doing just fine.”
― You're Doing Just Fine













