The best modern books. The best modern books The most popular works that

Books are one of the greatest legacies of mankind. And if before the invention of printing, books were available only to a select caste of people, then books began to spread everywhere. In each new generation, talented writers were born who created world masterpieces of literature.

Great works have come down to us, but we are reading the classics less and less. The literary portal of Hedwig presents to your attention the 100 best books of all times and peoples that you must read. In this list you will find not only classical works, but also modern books that have left their mark on history quite recently.

1 Mikhail Bulgakov

A novel that does not fit into the usual literary framework. Philosophy and everyday life, theology and fantasy, mysticism and realism, mysticism and lyrics are mixed in this story. And all these components are intertwined by skillful hands into a coherent and vibrant story that can turn your world upside down. And yes, this is Buckley's favorite book!

2 Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky

A book from the school curriculum that is difficult to understand in a tender adolescence. The writer showed the duality of the human soul, when black is intertwined with white. The story of Raskolnikov, who is going through an internal struggle.

3 Antoine de Saint-Exupery

A short story with a lot of meaning in life. A story that makes you look at familiar things in a different way.

4 Michael Bulgakov

A surprisingly subtle and sarcastic story about people and their vices. The story of an experiment that proved that it is possible to make a person out of an animal, but it is impossible to make an “animal” out of a person.

5 Erich Maria Remarque

It is impossible to tell what this novel is about. The novel needs to be read, and then the understanding will come that this is not just a story, but a confession. Confession about love, friendship, pain. A story of despair and struggle.

6 Jerome Salinger

The story of a teenager who, with his own eyes, shows his perception of the world, his point of view, the renunciation of the usual principles and foundations of the morality of society, which do not fit into his individual framework.

7 Mikhail Lermontov

A lyric-psychological novel that tells about a man with a complex character. The author shows it from different angles. And the broken chronology of events makes you completely immerse yourself in the story.

8 Arthur Conan Doyle

The legendary investigations of the great detective Sherlock, which reveal the meanness of the human soul. Stories told by friend and assistant detective Dr. Watson.

9 Oscar Wilde

A story about pride, selfishness and a strong soul. A story that clearly shows what can happen to the soul of a person tormented by vices.

10 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

A fantastic trilogy about people and non-humans who fell under the power of the Ring of Omnipotence and its lord Sauron. The story of those who are ready to sacrifice the most precious and even their lives for the sake of friendship and saving the world.

11 Mario Puzo

A novel about one of the most powerful mafia families in America of the last century - the Corleone family. Many people know the movie, so it's time to start reading.

12 Erich Maria Remarque

After the First World War, many emigrants ended up in France. Among them is the talented German surgeon Ravik. This is the story of his life and love against the backdrop of the war.

13 Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol

The history of the Russian soul and stupidity. And the amazing style and language of the author makes the sentences sparkle with colors and shades that fully reveal the history of our people.

14 Colin McCullough

An amazing novel that tells not only about the love of a man and a woman and complex relationships, but also about feelings for family, native places and nature.

15 Emily Bronte

In a secluded estate lives a family whose house is filled with a tense atmosphere. Difficult relationships have deep roots that are hidden in the past. The story of Heathcliff and Catherine will not leave indifferent any reader.

16 Erich Maria Remarque

A book about war from the perspective of a simple soldier. A book about how war breaks and cripples the souls of innocent people.

17 Hermann Hesse

The book simply turns all ideas about life upside down. After reading it, it is already impossible to get rid of the feeling that you have become one step closer to something incredible. This book has answers to many questions.

18 Stephen King

Paul Edgecomb is a former prison officer who served on the death row block. He tells the story of the life of suicide bombers who were destined to walk the Green Mile.

20 Victor Hugo

Paris 15th century. On the one hand, it is full of grandeur, and on the other, it looks like a sewer. Against the backdrop of historical events, a love story unfolds - Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Claude Frollo.

21 Daniel Defoe

Diary of a sailor who was wrecked and lived alone on the island for 28 years. He had to endure too many trials.

22 Lewis Carroll

A strange and mysterious story about a girl who, in pursuit of a white rabbit, finds herself in a different and wonderful world.

23 Ernest Hemingway

There is war on the pages of the book, but even in a world full of pain and fear, there is a place for beauty. A wonderful feeling called love that makes us stronger.

24 Jack London

What can love do? Martin's love for the beautiful Ruth made him struggle. He overcame many obstacles to become something big. A story about spiritual development and personality formation.

25 Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

A fantastic and captivating tale in which magic is intertwined with reality.

26 We are Evgeny Zamyatin

The novel is a dystopia that describes an ideal society where there is no personal opinion, and everything happens according to a schedule. But even in such a society there is a place for freethinkers.

27 Ernest Hemingway

Frederick volunteered for the war, where he became a doctor. In the sanitary unit, where even the air is saturated with death, love is born.

28 Boris Pasternak

Beginning of the XX century. The Russian Empire has already embarked on the path of revolution. The story about the life of the intelligentsia of that time, as well as the book, raises questions of religion and touches on the mystery of life and death.

29 Vladimir Nabokov

A cautionary tale about people who betrayed their ideals. The book is about how light and beautiful feelings evolve into something dark and disgusting.

30 Johann Wolfgang Goethe

The greatest work that draws you into the story of Faust, who sold his soul to the Devil. By reading this book, you can go on the path of knowing life.

31 Dante Alighieri

The work is in three parts. First we go to Hell, so that all 9 circles are against us. Then Purgatory awaits us, after passing which you can atone for your sins. And only when you reach the top you can get to Paradise.

32 Anthony Burgess

Not the most pleasant story, but it shows the human nature. A story about how you can make an obedient and silent doll out of any person.

33 Victor Pelevin

A complex story that is difficult to understand the first time. A story about the life of a decadent poet who is looking for his own path, and Chapaev leads Peter to enlightenment.

34 William Golding

What will happen to the children if they are all alone? Children have a delicate nature, which is quite prone to vices. And cute kind children turn into real monsters.

35 Albert Camus

36 James Clavell

Story English sailor, which, by the will of fate, ended up in Japan. An epic novel, where there are historical realities, intrigues, adventures and secrets.

37 Ray Bradbury

A collection of fantasy stories about the life of people on Mars. They almost destroyed the Earth, but what awaits another planet?

38 Stanislav Lem

This planet has an ocean. He is alive and has a mind. The researchers face the difficult task of transferring knowledge to the ocean. He will help make their dreams come true...

39 Hermann Hesse

The book is about an internal crisis that can happen to anyone. Inner devastation can destroy a person, if one day you don’t meet a person on the way who will give you just one book in your hands ...

40 Milan Kundera

Immerse yourself in the world of sensations and feelings of the libertine Tomasz, who is used to changing women so that no one dares to take away his freedom.

41 Boris Vian

Each of the company of friends has its own destiny. Everything goes easy and simple. Friendship. Love. Conversations. But one event can change everything and destroy the usual life.

42 Ian Banks

Frank tells the story of his childhood and describes the present. He has his own world, which can collapse at any moment. Unexpected turning points in the plot give a special flavor to the whole story.

43 John Irving

This book raises themes of family, childhood, friendship, love, betrayal and betrayal. This is the world in which we live with all the problems and shortcomings.

44 Michael Ondaatje

This book contains many topics - war, death, love, betrayal. But the main leitmotif is loneliness, which can take on a variety of forms.

46 Ray Bradbury

Books are our future, but what will happen if they are replaced by TV and one opinion? The answer to this question is given by a writer who was ahead of his time.

47 Patrick Suskind

The story of a crazy genius. His whole life is enclosed in smells. He will go to any lengths to create the perfect fragrance.

48 1984 George Orwell

Three totalitarian states where even thoughts are controlled. A world of hate, but there are people who can still resist the system.

49 Jack London

Alaska, late 19th century. The era of the gold rush. And among human greed lives a wolf named White Fang.

50 Jane Austen

There are only daughters in the Bennet family, and a distant relative is the heir. And if the head of the family dies, young girls will be left with nothing.

51 Evgeny Petrov and Ilya Ilf

Who does not know Ostap Bender and Kisa Vorobyaninov and their eternal failures, which are associated with the search for the ill-fated diamonds.

52 Fedor Dostoevsky

53 Charlotte Bronte

Jane became an orphan early, and life in her aunt's house was far from happy. And love for a strict and gloomy man is far from a romantic story.

54 Ernest Hemingway

A small story from the life of the most ordinary person. But reading this work, you penetrate into an amazing world that is full of emotions.

55 Francis Scott Fitzgerald

A wonderful novel filled with emotion. The pages of the book are waiting for the beginning of the 20th century, when people were full of illusions and hopes. This story is about values and true love.

56 Alexandr Duma

We are all familiar with the adventures of d'Artagnan and his closest friends. A book about friendship, honor, devotion, fidelity and love. And of course, like other works of the author, it was not without intrigue.

57 Ken Kesey

This story will be told to the reader by a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Patrick McMurphy ends up in prison, in a psychiatric ward. But some people think that he is just feigning his illness.

59 Victor Hugo

The novel describes the life of a runaway convict who is hiding from the authorities. After the flight, he had to go through a lot of hardships, but he was able to change his life. But police inspector Javert is ready to do anything to catch the criminal.

60 Victor Hugo

The actor-philosopher met on his way a mutilated boy and a blind girl. He takes them under his care. Against the background of physical shortcomings, the perfection and purity of souls are clearly visible. And also this is a great contrast to the life of the aristocracy.

61 Vladimir Nabokov

The novel draws on its unhealthy web of passion and unhealthy love. The main characters are gradually going crazy, subject to their base desire, like all of them. the world. This book will definitely not have a happy ending.

62 Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

A fantastic story that describes the life of the stalker Redrick Shewhart, who extracts extraterrestrial artifacts from the anomalous Zones on Earth.

63 Richard Bach

Even a simple seagull can get bored with a gray life, and the routine has become boring. And then Chaika devotes his life to a dream. The seagull gives all his soul on the way to the cherished goal.

64 Bernard Werber

Michel got to the court of the archangels, where he will have to undergo the weighing of the soul. After the trial, he faces a choice - to go to earth in a new incarnation or become an angel. The path of an angel is not easy, just like the life of mere mortals.

65 Ethel Lilian Voynich

A story about freedom, duty and honor. And also about different types of love. In the first case, this is the love of a father for his son, which has survived many trials and will pass through generations. In the second case, it is love between a man and a woman, which is like a fire, then it goes out, then it flares up again.

66 John Fowles

He is a simple town hall attendant, lonely and lost. He has a passion - collecting butterflies. But one day he wanted a girl in his collection who conquered his soul.

67 Walter Scott

The narrative of the novel will take readers into the distant past. During the time of Richard the Lionheart and the first crusades. This is one of the first historical novels that everyone should read.

68 Bernhard Schlink

There are a lot of unanswered questions in the book. The book makes you think and analyze not only what is happening on the pages, but also your life. This is a story about love and betrayal that will not leave anyone indifferent.

69 Ayn Rand

Socialists come to power and head for equal opportunities. The authorities believe that the talented and wealthy should improve the well-being of others. But instead of a happy future, the familiar world plunges into chaos.

71 Somerset Maugham

The story of an actress who has been working in the theater all her life. And what is reality for her - a game on stage or a game in life? How many roles do you have to play every day?

72 Aldous Huxley

A dystopian novel. A satire novel. A world where Henry Ford became God, and the creation of the first Ford T car is considered the beginning of time. People are simply grown, but they know nothing about feelings.

75 Albert Camus

Meursault lives a detached life. It seems that his life does not belong to him at all. He is indifferent to everything and even his actions are saturated with loneliness and renunciation of life.

76 Somerset Maugham

Philip's life story. He is an orphan and throughout his life he is not only looking for the meaning of life, but also for himself. And the main thing is to understand the world and people.

77 Irvine Welsh

The story of friends who one day discovered drugs and euphoria. Each character is unusual and quite smart. They valued life and friendship, but exactly until the moment when heroin came first.

78 Herman Melville

Ahab, the captain of a whaling ship, has made it his life's goal to take revenge on a whale named Moby Dick. Wit ruined too many lives to keep him alive. But as soon as the captain starts hunting, mysterious and sometimes terrible events begin to occur on his ship.

79 Joseph Heller

One of the best books about World War II. In it, the author was able to show the senselessness of war and the monstrous absurdity of the state machine.

80 William Faulkner

Four characters, each of which tells his version of events. And in order to understand what is at stake, you need to read to the end, where the puzzles will form a single picture of life and secret desires.

82 Joanne Rowling

83 Roger Zelazny

Classic fantasy genre. The chronicles are divided into two volumes of 5 books. In this cycle, one can find travel in space and time, wars, intrigues, betrayal, as well as loyalty and courage.

84 Andrzej Sapkowski

One of the best fantasy series. The series includes 8 books, while the last one is "Season of Thunderstorms", it is better to read after the first or second book. This is a story about the Witcher and his adventures, his life and love, and also about the girl Ciri, who can change the world.

85 Honore de Balzac

An amazing story about the boundless and sacrificial love of a father for children. About a love that was never reciprocated. About the love that killed Father Goriot.

86 Günther Grass

The story is about a boy named Oskar Macerath who, with the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany, refuses to grow up in protest. Thus, he expresses his protest against the changes in German society.

87 Boris Vasiliev

A poignant tale of war. About true love for parents, friends, and the Motherland. This story must be read to feel the whole emotional component of this story.

88 Stendhal

The story of Julien Sorel and the soul, in which there is a confrontation between two feelings: passion and ambition. The two feelings are so intertwined that it is often impossible to tell them apart.

89 Lev Tolstoy

An epic novel that describes an entire era, delving into the historical realities and the artistic world of that time. War will be replaced by peace, and the peaceful life of the characters depends on the war. Many heroes with unique characters.

90 Gustave Flaubert

This story is recognized as the greatest work of world literature. Emma Bovary dreams of a beautiful social life, but her husband, a provincial doctor, cannot satisfy her requests. She finds lovers, but can they fulfill Madame Bovary's dream?

91 Chuck Palahniuk

No matter how much the work of this author was scolded, it cannot be denied that his book "Fight Club" is one of the symbols of our generation. This is a story about people who decided to change this dirty world. A story about a man who was able to resist the system.

92 Markus Zusak

Winter Germany in 1939, when Death has too much work to do, and six months later there will be more work to do. A story about Liesel, about fanatical Germans, about a Jewish fighter, about thefts and about the power of words.

93 Alexander Pushkin

The novel in verse tells the story of the fate of the noble intelligentsia with their vices and selfishness. And at the center of the story is a love story without a happy ending.

94 George Martin

A fantastic story about another world ruled by kings and lived by dragons. Love, betrayal, intrigue, war and death, and all for the sake of power.

95 David Mitchell

History of the past, present and future. Stories of people from different times. But these stories form a single picture of our entire world.

96 Stephen King

Fantastic cycle of novels of the master of horrors. In this series there is an interweaving of genres. The books closely coexist with horror, western, science fiction and other genres. This is the story of the gunslinger Roland, who is looking for the Dark Tower.

97 Haruki Murakami

A story about human destinies in Japan in the 60s of the twentieth century. A story about human loss. Memoirs of Tooru, which will introduce the reader to different people and their stories.

98 Andy Weir

By chance, an astronaut is left alone on a space base on Mars. He has a limited amount of resources, but there is no connection with people. But he does not give up, he believes that they will return for him.

100 Samuel Beckett

An amazing play where everyone defines the mysterious personality of Godot for himself. The author makes it possible to find the answer to the question "who is he?". Specific person? Strong personality? Collective image? Or God?

There are many more books that I would like to include in this list. Therefore, dear readers, write in the comments about those books that you consider the best. We will add books to the top and with your help we will expand it to the top 1000 books of all time.

In "NG - ExLibris" in the issue dated 31.01.2008 under the heading "From the Divine Bottle of Master Francois Rabelais to the scandalous "Blue Fat" by Vladimir Sorokin" a very curious and indisputable list of "100 novels, which, according to the editorial staff of" NG-Ex libris" shocked the literary world and influenced the entire culture."

“The millennium has just begun, we can sum up the results. including literary ones. The year is also at the very beginning, we bring to your attention a list of the 100 best, in the opinion of the editors of NG-EL, novels of all times and peoples.
After all, why are we worse? The English/Americans make their lists of great novels, including either boring modern English fiction or even more boring but long forgotten English fiction. Adding "for objectivity" a few Russian novels, a few things from world literature. We are also tendentious, we also include only what we know, what we are sure of - after all, this is our choice. We really want to be objective, but absolute objectivity in such lists is impossible. Although we, of course, have much more English-language novels than the English-Russians. We are not touchy. And if we like something, we say so - we like it.
Of course, the novels of living (or recently deceased) authors are closer to us, more understandable, therefore there are more of them than we should. If we had written our list 100 years ago, we would certainly have included Artsybashov, Veltman, Chernyshevsky, Pisemsky, Krestovsky, Leskov and Merezhkovsky (they should still be included now, but their stories and stories, like those of many others not included, perhaps all is better), etc. Of course, many did not enter. Those without which literature is unthinkable. Ivan Bunin, for example. Or Edgar Poe. Or Anton Chekhov. Or Knut Hamsun, the author of many great novels. But his best thing is “Hunger” - a story! A similar story, by the way, with Yuz Aleshkovsky. He has novels, but his "calling cards" - "Disguise" and "Nikolai Nikolaevich" - stories, if they are three times wrong!
Others, on the contrary, entered "by pull". For example, Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" is a poem, but the author called his work "a novel in verse." So romance. On the other hand, both “Dead Souls” by Gogol and “Moscow-Petushki” by Erofeev, according to the authors, are poems. Yes, poems. But if these are not novels, then what are novels? What do Sergei Minaev and Oksana Robski write? So our position is not a contradiction, it is a dialectic, our editorial arbitrariness.
Despite the exceptional prevalence of the novel genre, its boundaries are still not clearly defined. Most literary scholars believe that the genre of large narrative works, called the novel, arose in Western European literature of the 12th-13th centuries, when the literary work of the third estate began to take shape, headed by the merchant bourgeoisie. As a result, the heroic epic and the legend that dominated ancient and feudal-chivalric literature were replaced by the genre of the novel. Hegel called the novel a "bourgeois epic" for a reason. Therefore, you will not find in our list either Apuleius' Golden Ass or Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parsifal. An exception is made only for the works of Rabelais and Cervantes, which can be considered embryonic novels, or proto-novels.
We repeat: this is solely our choice, subjective and biased. We, as is customary, included some in vain, while others, on the contrary, were unfairly ignored. Make up your own version. The one who does nothing makes no mistakes.
You can see the list itself in today's issue of NG-EL. With brief comments. We have arranged the novels in chronological order(either by time of writing, or by date of first publication).

"100 novels that, according to the editorial staff of NG - Ex libris, shocked the literary world and influenced the entire culture"

1. Francois Rabelais. "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (1532-1553).
An extravaganza of mental health, rough and good jokes, a parody of parodies, a catalog of everything. How many centuries have passed, but nothing has changed.

2. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. "The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" (1605-1615).
A parody that survived for many centuries parodied works. A comic character that has become tragic and a household name.

3. Daniel Defoe. “The life and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived for twenty-eight years all alone on a desert island off the coast of America near the mouth of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship except him died; with an account of his unexpected release by pirates, written by himself ”(1719).
An extremely accurate embodiment in the artistic form of the ideas of humanism of the Renaissance. A fictionalized proof that a single person has an independent value.

4. Jonathan Swift. Travels of Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships (1726).
The biography of a man who encountered incredible forms of intelligent life - midgets, giants, intelligent horses - and found not only a common language with them, but also many common features with his fellow tribesmen.

5. Abbe Prevost. "The Story of the Chevalier de Grieux and Manon Lescaut" (1731).
In fact, "Manon ..." is a story, an inserted chapter in the multi-volume novel "Notes of a noble man who retired from the world." But it was this inserted chapter that became the masterpiece of a love story that struck not so much contemporaries as descendants, a masterpiece that overshadowed everything else written by Prevost.

6. Johann Wolfgang Goethe. "The Suffering of Young Werther" (1774).
They say that in the 18th century, young people committed suicide after reading this novel. And today the story of a vulnerable person, unable to defend his "I" in the face of hostile reality, leaves no one indifferent.

7. Lawrence Stern. "The Life and Beliefs of Tristram Shandy" (1759-1767).
A charming game of nothing and never. Subtle postmodernism, cheerful and light struggle of witty and risky. The whole text is on the brink, hence, from the opinions of the gentleman Shandy, not only Sasha Sokolov, not only Bitov, but even Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky arose, alas, a storyteller, not a novelist.

8. Choderlos de Laclos. "Dangerous Liaisons" (1782).
A moralizing novel in letters from the life of a courtly 18th century. Vice weaves cunning intrigues, forcing to exclaim: “O times! Oh manners! However, virtue still prevails.

9. Marquis de Sade. "120 days of Sodom" (1785).
The first computer game in the history of world literature with cut off parts of the bodies and souls of puppet characters, a multi-level cutter-choker-burner. Plus black-black humor in a black-black room on a black-black night. Scary, creepy.

10. Jan Potocki. "Manuscript found in Zaragoza" (1804).
Labyrinth-like novel-box in short stories. The reader gets from one story to another without having time to take a breath, and there are only 66 of them. Amazing adventures, dramatic events and mysticism of the highest standard.

11 Mary Shelley "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" (1818).
A gothic story that unleashed a "brood" of themes and characters, subsequently picked up by many and still exploited. Among them are an artificial person, and a creator who is responsible for his work, and a tragically lonely monster.

12. Charles Maturin. "Melmoth the Wanderer" (1820).
A true gothic romance full of mystery and horror. Paraphrase on the theme of the Eternal Jew Ahasuerus and the Seville Seducer Don Juan. And also a novel of temptations, varied and irresistible.

13. Honore de Balzac. "Shagreen leather" (1831).
The most terrible novel by Balzac, the first and best author of serials to date. “Shagreen Skin” is also part of his big series, just a piece is getting smaller and smaller, I really don’t want to finish reading it, but it already irresistibly leads me into the abyss.

14. Victor Hugo. "Notre Dame Cathedral" (1831).
An apology for romance and social justice based on the material of the French Middle Ages, which still has a lot of fans - at least in the form of a musical of the same name.

15. Stendhal. "Red and Black" (1830–1831).
Dostoevsky made from this - from a newspaper criminal chronicle - a tendentious accusatory pamphlet with philosophy. Stendhal has a love story where everyone is to blame, everyone is sorry, and most importantly - passion!

16. Alexander Pushkin. "Eugene Onegin" (1823-1833).
A novel in verse. The story of love and the life of an "extra person" and an encyclopedia of Russian life, which, thanks to the critic Belinsky, we know from school.

17. Alfred de Musset. "Confessions of a Son of the Century" (1836).
"A Hero of Our Time", written by Eduard Limonov, only without obscenities and loving African Americans. Lovingness, however, is enough here too, full of melancholy, despair and self-pity, but there is also a sober calculation. I'm the last bastard, says the lyrical hero. And he is certainly right.

18. Charles Dickens. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837).
Surprisingly funny and positive work of the English classic. All of old England, all the best that was in it, was embodied in the image of a noble, good-natured and optimistic old man - Mr. Pickwick.

19. Mikhail Lermontov. "A Hero of Our Time" (1840).
The story of the “superfluous person”, who nevertheless became, or rather, precisely because of this, an example to follow for many generations of pale young men.

20. Nikolai Gogol. "Dead Souls" (1842).
It is difficult to find a larger picture of Russian life at its deepest, mystical level. Moreover, written with such a combination of humor and tragedy. In her heroes they see both accurate portraits painted from life and images of evil spirits that burden the nation.

21. Alexandre Dumas. "Three Musketeers" (1844).
One of the most famous historical adventure novels is an encyclopedia of French life in the era of Louis XIII. Musketeer heroes - romantics, revelers and duelists - still remain the idols of young men of primary school age.

22. William Thackeray. "Vanity Fair" (1846).
Satire, only satire, no humor. All against all, snobs sit on snobs and accuse each other of snobbery. Some contemporaries laughed because they did not know that they were laughing at themselves. Now they also laugh, and also because they don’t know that time has changed, not people.

23. Herman Melville. "Moby Dick" (1851).
A novel-parable about American whalers and the consequences of obsession with a single unfulfilled desire that completely enslaves a person.

24. Gustave Flaubert "Madame Bovary" (1856).
A novel that ended up in the dock in the form of a magazine publication - for insulting morality. The heroine, who sacrificed family ties and reputation for love, is tempted to call the French Karenina, but "Madame" was ahead of "Anna" by more than twenty years.

25. Ivan Goncharov. "Oblomov" (1859).
The most Russian hero of the most Russian novel about Russian life. There is nothing more beautiful and more destructive than Oblomovism.

26. Ivan Turgenev. "Fathers and Sons" (1862).
The anti-nihilistic satire, which became a revolutionary guide to action, then satire again, will soon be a guide again. And so without end. Because Enyusha Bazarov is eternal.

27. Mine Reid. "Headless Horseman" (1865).
The most tender, the most American, the most romantic of all American novels. Because, probably, that the Briton wrote, really in love with Texas. He scares us, but we are not afraid, for this we love him even more.

28. Fyodor Dostoevsky. "Crime and Punishment" (1866).
A novel of contrasts. The Napoleonic plans of Rody Raskolnikov lead him to the most vulgar crime. No scope, no grandeur - only abomination, dirt and an unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth. He can't even use stolen goods..

29. Leo Tolstoy. "War and Peace" (1867–1869).
War, peace and the inhabited universe of the human spirit. An epic about any war, about any love, about any society, about any time, about any people.

30. Fyodor Dostoevsky. "Idiot" (1868–1869).
An attempt to create an image of a positively beautiful person, which can be considered the only successful one. And that Prince Myshkin is an idiot, that's just normal. As well as the fact that everything ends in failure.

31. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. "Venus in furs" (1870).
The work on the eroticization of suffering, begun by Turgenev, was continued by his Austrian admirer. In Russia, where suffering is one of the “most important, most fundamental spiritual needs” (according to Fyodor Dostoevsky), the novel is of unflagging interest.

32. Fyodor Dostoevsky. "Demons" (1871–1872).
About Russian revolutionaries - atheists and nihilists - of the second half of the 19th century. Prophecy and warning, which, alas, was not heeded. And besides, murders, suicides, vagaries of love and passion.

33. Mark Twain. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876) / "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884).
A novel in two books. Forerunner of postmodernism: the same events are shown through the eyes of two boys - younger (Tom) and older (Huck).

34. Leo Tolstoy. "Anna Karenina" (1878).
A violent love story, a married woman's rebellion, struggle and defeat. Under the wheels of the train. Even militant feminists are crying.

35. Fyodor Dostoevsky. "The Brothers Karamazov" (1879-1880).
Parricide, in which - one way or another - all the sons of Fyodor Karamazov are involved. Freud read and came up with the Oedipus complex. For Russians, the main thing is: is there a God and the immortality of the soul? If there is, then not everything is permitted, and if not, then I'm sorry.

36. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. "Gentlemen Golovlevs" (1880-1883).
The pinnacle of the literary activity of the toughest Russian satirist of the 19th century, the final verdict on the feudal system. An unusually relief image of an ugly family - people, distorted by a combination of physiological and social conditions.

37. Oscar Wilde. "Portrait of Dorian Gray" (1891).
A magical, fabulous, wonderful, touching and airy story of the rapid transformation of a young scoundrel into an old bastard.

38. HG Wells. "Time Machine" (1895).
One of the pillars of modern social fiction. He was the first to demonstrate that you can move back and forth in time, and also that the light genre can raise very serious problems.

39. Bram Stoker. "Dracula" (1897).
A bridge between measured Victorian literature and energetic adventure prose of the 20th century. A work that first turned a petty Orthodox prince, balancing between Islamic Turkey and Catholic Germany, into the embodiment of absolute Evil, and then made him a movie star.

40. Jack London. "Sea Wolf" (1904).
Maritime romance is just the background for the portrait of Captain Larson, an amazing personality that combines brute force and philosophical thought. Later, such people became the heroes of the songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.

41. Fedor Sologub. "Small demon" (1905).
The most realistic thing in all decadent literature. A story about what envy, anger and extreme selfishness lead to.

42. Andrey Bely. "Petersburg" (1913-1914).
A novel in verse written in prose. In addition, about terrorists and Russian statehood.

43. Gustav Meyrink. "Golem" (1914).
A bewitching occult novel, the action of which takes place on the verge of reality and sleep, the gloomy streets of the Prague ghetto and the intricate labyrinths of the author's consciousness.

44. Evgeny Zamyatin. "We" (1921).
An ideal totalitarian state seen through the eyes of a mathematician. Literary proof that social harmony cannot be verified by algebra.

45. James Joyce. "Ulysses" (1922).
A novel is a labyrinth from which, to date, no one has managed to get out alive. Not a single literary Theseus, not a single literary Minotaur, not a single literary Daedalus.

46. Ilya Ehrenburg. "The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito" (1922).
A satire in which the 20th century is displayed as the protagonist Julio Jurenito. A book, some pages of which turned out to be prophetic.

47. Yaroslav Gashek. "The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik during the World War" (1921-1923).
Common sense during the plague. A hero who is declared an idiot for being the only normal one. Funniest war book ever.

48. Mikhail Bulgakov. "White Guard" (1924).
The sinking ship of the past is nothing and no one can save. The more tempting is the toy house, where real soldiers who lost the war against their people will be truly killed.

49. Thomas Mann. "Magic Mountain" (1924).
Tomorrow was the war. Only World War I. And indeed - the Magic Mountain. Up there, where the mountains are, you want to sit out, to escape from the plague (any, it is approximately the same at all times and in all countries), but you just can’t. The magic does not work, they are already waiting downstairs, and they have very good arguments.

50. Franz Kafka. "Process" (1925).
One of the most complex and multifaceted novels of the 20th century, which gave rise to hundreds of mutually exclusive interpretations ranging from an entertainingly told dream to an allegory of a metaphysical search for God.

51. Francis Scott Fitzgerald. "The Great Gatsby" (1925).
A novel from the era of the American Jazz Age. Literary critics are still arguing: whether the author buried the great American dream in him, or simply regrets the eternal delay of today, sandwiched between the memory of the past and the romantic promise of the future.

52. Alexander Green. "Running on the waves" (1928).
A beautiful-hearted romantic extravaganza that has already helped a generation of young people and girls to survive the puberty period and gain faith in the Good and the Light and in their own higher destiny.

53. Ilya Ilf, Evgeny Petrov. "Twelve Chairs" (1928).
A picaresque novel of the era of building socialism with the main character-adventurer Ostap Bender. A satire on Soviet society in the 1920s is on the verge of anti-Sovietism, fortunately almost unnoticed by the censors of those years.

54. Andrey Platonov. "Chevengur" (1927-1929).
The history of building communism in a single village. Perhaps the most disturbing novel about the explosion of messianic and eschatological sentiments in the first post-revolutionary years.

55. William Faulkner. "The Sound and the Fury" (1929).
The discreet charm of the magical American South. Legends, fairy tales, myths. They don't let go, they still call back to the Americans, because you have to be afraid of the past. Faulkner comes up with the American Zurbagan, only there you can be saved.

56. Ernest Hemingway. "A Farewell to Arms!" (1929).
Military prose, overseas military prose. War without war, world without peace, people without faces and eyes, but with glasses. The glasses are full, but they drink from them slowly, because the dead don't get drunk.

57. Louis Ferdinand Celine. "Journey to the End of the Night" (1932).
Stylish and sophisticated black. Without hope. Slums, poverty, war, dirt, and no light, no ray, one dark kingdom. Even the corpses are not visible. But they are, the journey must continue while Charon is having fun. Especially for tolerant optimists.

58. Aldous Huxley. "Oh Brave New World" (1932).
Interpreters argue: is it a utopia or a dystopia? Be that as it may, Huxley was able to anticipate the blessings and plagues of the modern "consumer society".

59. Lao She. "Notes on the Cat City" (1933).
Cats have nothing to do with it. Even foxes, traditional for the Chinese, also have nothing to do with it. This is power, this is plainclothes readers who come and knock on the door. It begins cheerfully and allegorically, and ends with a Chinese torture chamber. Very beautiful, very exotic, you just want to howl and growl, not meow.

60. Henry Miller. Tropic of Cancer (1934).
The groan and howl of the male, longing for cities and years. The most physiologically crude prose poem.

61. Maxim Gorky. "The Life of Klim Samgin" (1925–1936).
Almost an epic, a political leaflet written almost in verse, the agony of the intelligentsia at the beginning of the century - relevant both at the end of it and in the middle.

62. Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind" (1936).
A harmonious combination of women's prose with an epic picture of American life during the Civil War of the North and South; deservedly became a bestseller.

63. Erich Maria Remarque. "Three comrades" (1936–1937).
One of the most famous novels on the theme of the "lost generation". People who have gone through the crucible of war cannot escape the ghosts of the past, but it was the military brotherhood that rallied the three comrades.

64. Vladimir Nabokov. "The Gift" (1938–1939).
The piercing theme of exile: a Russian emigrant lives in Berlin, writes poetry and loves Zina, and Zina loves him. The famous chapter IV is the biography of Chernyshevsky, the best of all existing ones. The author himself said: “The Gift” is not about Zina, but about Russian literature.

65. Mikhail Bulgakov. "Master and Margarita" (1929-1940).
A unique synthesis of satire, mystery and love story, created from a dualistic perspective. A hymn to free creativity, for which you will definitely be rewarded - even after death.

66. Mikhail Sholokhov. "Quiet Don" (1927-1940).
Cossack "War and Peace". The war during the Civil War and the world, which we will destroy to the ground, so that later we will never build anything again. The novel dies towards the end of the novel, a surprising occurrence in literature.

67. Robert Musil "A Man Without Qualities" (1930–1943).
For many years, Musil adjusted one to the other polished lines to the limit. It is not surprising that the filigree novel remained unfinished.

68. Hermann Hesse. "The Glass Bead Game" (1943).
A philosophical utopia written in the midst of the most terrible war of the 20th century. Anticipated all the main features and theoretical constructions of the era of postmodernism.

69. Veniamin Kaverin. "Two Captains" (1938–1944).
A book that called on the Soviet youth to "fight and seek, find and not give up." However, the romance of distant wanderings and scientific research captivates and attracts so far.

70. Boris Vian. "Foam of days" (1946).
The elegant French Kharms, an ironist and postmodernist, dumped all the culture of his time in feathers and diamonds. Culture cannot be washed off until now.

71. Thomas Mann. "Doctor Faustus" (1947).
Composer Adrian Leverkühn sold his soul to the devil. And he began to compose magnificent, but terrifying music, where hellish laughter and a pure children's choir sound. His fate reflects the fate of the German nation, which succumbed to the temptation of Nazism.

72. Albert Camus. "Plague" (1947).
A metaphorical novel about the "plague of the 20th century" and the role that the invasion of evil plays in the existential awakening of man.

73. George Orwell. "1984" (1949).
A dystopia imbued with Western society's hidden fear of the Soviet state and pessimism about the human ability to resist social evil.

74. Jerome D. Salinger. "The Catcher in the Rye" (1951).
Touching teenager Holden Caulfield, who does not want (and cannot) be like everyone else. That is why everyone immediately loved him. Both in America and in Russia.

75. Ray Bradbury. "451 Fahrenheit" (1953).
A dystopia that came true a long time ago. Books are not burned now, they are simply not read. We switched to other media. Bradbury, who always wrote about the village (well, Martian or whatever, but still - the village), is especially furious here. And he is absolutely right in his rage.

76. John R. R. Tolkien. "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-1955).
A three-volume saga-tale about the struggle between Good and Evil in a fictional world, which most accurately reflected the aspirations of the people of the twentieth century. Made millions of readers worry about the fate of the gnomes, elves and furry hobbits, as for their fellow tribesmen. Formed the fantasy genre and spawned many imitators.

77. Vladimir Nabokov. "Lolita" (1955; 1967, Russian version).
A shocking, but literary sophisticated story about the criminal passion of an adult man for a youngster. However, lust here strangely turns into love and tenderness. Lots of touching and funny stuff.

78. Boris Pasternak. "Doctor Zhivago" (1945-1955).
A novel by a brilliant poet, a novel that received Nobel Prize according to literature, the novel that killed the poet is the one that killed physically.

79. Jack Kerouac "On the road" (1957).
One of the cult compositions of the beatnik culture. The poetics of the American freeway in all its raw charm. A hipster chase that ends in nothing. But the chase is interesting.

80. William Burroughs. "Naked Lunch" (1959).
Another cult composition of beatnik culture. Homosexuality, perversions, glitches and other horrors. Interzone populated by secret agents, mad doctors and all sorts of mutants. But in general - a hysterical rhapsod, repulsive and bewitching.

81. Witold Gombrowicz. "Pornography" (1960).
Despite the fact that the provocative title does not match the content, none of those who mastered this sensual-metaphysical novel was left disappointed.

82. Kobo Abe. "Woman in the Sands" (1962).
Russian melancholy without Russian expanses. Vertical escape. From skyscrapers to the sand pit. Escape with no right to return, no right to stop, no right to rest, no rights whatsoever. A woman can only cover with sand, only fall asleep. Which she does. The escape is considered successful: the fugitive is not found.

83. Julio Cortazar. "Playing Hopscotch" (1963).
A novel made up of novels. Interactive games, call, mister reader, live, I'll do as you say. Latin Americans love to play, they are very reckless. This novel is a big game of literary gambling. Some win.

84. Nikolay Nosov. "Dunno on the Moon" (1964-1965).
A novel is a fairy tale. Only there is very little fairy tale, but a lot of funny and scary. The most accurate, most come true dystopia of the twentieth century. And now this book is still coming true and coming true.

85. John Fowles Magus (1965).
The life and terrifying adventures of the soul and meaning of modern Robinson Crusoe on, alas, an inhabited island of sheer nightmares. No one will ever forgive anyone or anything.

86. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).
The story of the fictional city of Macondo, full of drama, was founded by a passionate tyrant leader interested in the mystical secrets of the Universe. A mirror reflecting the real history of Colombia.

87. Philip K. Dick. "Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep" (1968).
A work that asks the question “Are we who we take ourselves to be, and is the reality as our eyes see it?”. It forced serious philosophers and culturologists to turn to fantasy and at the same time infected several generations of writers and filmmakers with a specific paranoia.

88. Yuri Mamleev. "Connecting Rods" (1968).
A metaphysical novel about a mysterious esoteric circle, whose members try in various ways to escape from the ordinary world into the beyond.

89. Alexander Solzhenitsyn. "In the first circle" (1968).
A novel about a “good” camp, a novel about what, it would seem, is not so scary, which, apparently, is why it has such a strong effect. In a complete nightmare, you no longer feel anything, but here - when "you can live" - here you understand that there is no life and cannot be. The novel is not even devoid of humorous scenes, and this also acts even more strongly. Let's not forget that the circle may be the first, but this is not a lifeline, but one of the circles of the Kolyma hell.

90. Kurt Vonnegut "Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade" (1969).
A funny and crazy novel in a schizophrenic-telegraphic style. The bombing of Dresden by the Americans and the British in 1945, aliens dragging Billy Pilgrim to the planet Tralfamador. And "things like that," said every time someone dies.

91. Venedikt Erofeev. "Moscow-Petushki" (1970).
Underground encyclopedia of Russian spiritual life of the second half of the twentieth century. The funny and tragic Bible of a dervish, an alcoholic and a passion-bearer - whoever is closer.

92. Sasha Sokolov "School for Fools" (1976).
One of those rare novels in which it is not what is more important, but how. The protagonist is by no means a schizophrenic boy, and the language is complex, metaphorical, musical.

93. Andrey Bitov. "Pushkin House" (1971).
About the charming conformist, philologist Lev Odoevtsev, who leaves the vile "Soviet" 1960s for the golden 19th century, so as not to get dirty. Truly an encyclopedia of Soviet life, an organic part of which is the great Russian literature.

94. Eduard Limonov. "It's me - Eddie" (1979).
A novel-confession, which became one of the most shocking books of its time thanks to the utmost frankness of the author.

95. Vasily Aksenov. "Island of Crimea" (1979).
The Taiwanese version of Russian history: the Bolsheviks did not get the Crimea in Civil War. The plot is fantastic, but the feelings and actions of the characters are real. And noble. For which they have to pay very dearly.

96. Milan Kundera "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1984).
Intimate life against the background of political cataclysms. And the conclusion - any choice is unimportant, "what happened once, could not happen at all."

97. Vladimir Voinovich. "Moscow 2042" (1987).
The most sophisticated work of the writer. Four utopias inserted into each other like nesting dolls. Tricks with the chronotope and other fun. And also - the most eccentric manifestations of the Russian mentality in all its glory.

98. Vladimir Sorokin. "Romance" (1994).
This book is primarily for writers. Roman, the hero of "Roman", arrives in a typical Russian village, where he lives a typical village life - everything is like in the realistic novels of the 19th century. But the ending - special, Sorokinsky - symbolizes the end of traditional novel thinking.

99. Victor Pelevin. "Chapaev and Void" (1996).
Buddhist thriller, mystical thriller about two eras (1918 and 1990s). Which of the eras is real is unknown, and it doesn’t matter. A keen sense of life in different dimensions, flavored with signature irony. Sometimes even breathtaking. Scary and fun.

100. Vladimir Sorokin. "Blue fat" (1999).
The most scandalous novel by this author. A stormy plot, a whirlpool of events. A fascinating play with language - like in a symphony. Chinaized Russia of the future, Stalin and Hitler in the past, and much more. But in general, when you finish reading, it breaks to tears.

A good book is much more than a way to kill time. Wishing to get acquainted with unusual worlds, mysterious and strong characters and incredible adventures, the reader should get acquainted with the works of the most popular contemporary writers. Below are the most striking and famous works of recent decades - top 10 best modern books!

1. 11/22/63 (Stephen King)

Topping our list of the best modern books is Stephen King's sci-fi novel 11/22/63. The first publication of the work took place in 2011.

The assassination of J.F. Kennedy was one of the greatest tragedies in American society. A popular politician was shot right during a huge parade in front of thousands of Americans. Could the president have been saved? Surprisingly, the answer to this question remains to be known by a simple teacher! Jake Epping is an ordinary resident of a small town who works at a school and is not much different from thousands of his fellow citizens. However, by the will of fate, it is he who gets the chance to go through the time portal, which is located in the back of the cafe with his old friend Al. The owner of the device has long wanted to find the killer of Kennedy, but the disease upset all plans, so Jake must replace him! Go back, straight to the 60s, live there for several years, figure out the future executioner and stop him on the day of a terrible tragedy! Will he be able to change the course of history and even go back?

2 American Gods (Neil Gaiman)

American Gods is one of the best modern fantasy books that was written by English writer Neil Gaiman in 2001.

America. Shelter of a huge number of migrants from all over the world. In search of a better life, people went to an unknown continent, hoping to get settled there and find long-awaited happiness. However, they did not travel alone: each visiting guest brought with him a piece of his native culture. Gods, beliefs, rituals, customs - this is the true luggage of the settlers! Will different deities be able to get along together and what promises such a neighborhood? Shadows, the main character, who has recently been released from prison, will have to find out. Once free, he finds himself in a series of strange events and mysterious crimes that need to be unraveled.

3. The Wind Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

Closes the top three best book by contemporary American writer Khaled Hosseini. The work was born in 2003.

What is true friendship? Sometimes adults find it very difficult to answer this question. Much easier for kids. Amir and Hasan are two completely different boys who are connected by true friendship. That's just one of them is an aristocrat, and the second is a poor servant! Coming from different social strata, they do not pay attention to the differences that are so important for adults. Playing, joking, sharing secrets and impressions, experiencing failures and knowing sorrow, the boys gradually grow up, and their friendship only becomes stronger. One day, serious changes are coming in the country that will test their strength and scatter friends on different sides. Can childhood friendship survive?

4. A Song of Ice and Fire (George Martin)

A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the most famous and best modern fantasy books. This is a whole series of works, consisting of five already published volumes. There are two more books in the pipeline. The first publication took place in 1996. The book gained particular popularity after the release of the series "Game of Thrones", filmed by HBO based on its motives.

The unique fantasy world is inhabited by far from good fairies and cheerful gnomes. This is a world of several powerful powers that are desperately fighting for their heart's content. Their goal is the throne of Westeros. Their means are weapons, intrigues, murders and rebellions. The palace of Verteros is filled with vile and greedy people who are eager to seize the throne at any cost. There is no place for honesty and nobility anymore. Arranging serious intrigues and organizing coups, the conspirators will do everything to undermine the situation in the kingdom. However, it is not only them that should be feared, because the cunning rulers of neighboring states are also not averse to snatching a "tidbit" during a cruel and blind turmoil! A real war for power is coming, ready to bury the old order forever.

5. The house in which ... (Mariam Petrosyan)

“The House Where…” is an interesting contemporary fantasy novel by the Armenian writer Mariam Petrosyan, published in 2009.

On the edge of the city is a boarding school for abandoned children. This old and gray place seems very inhospitable and gloomy, but everything is not so simple... Once inside, a person can discover a new, unusual world in which there is more kindness and light than on bright city streets. The pupils of the house are divided into groups, each of which has its own leader. There are no names and surnames here - only bright nicknames. There is a lot of unknown and very little familiar. These are miniature societies with their vices and virtues. Children learn about the world, growing up, changing and trying to find their place in it.

6. Book Thief (Markus Zuzak)

The Book Thief is a captivating contemporary novel written in 2006 by an Australian writer.

Liesel Meminger is a little German girl whose childhood fell on a truly monstrous time. In 1939, the Nazi regime reached its peak, destroying the recalcitrant and preparing to enslave the world. Horror, murders, robberies and terror became daily companions of the lives of those who did not suit the new government. After the death of her husband, Frau Meminger moves, trying to find a quieter place for her daughter. But in vain... Looking around, Liesel sees the ongoing chaos through the eyes of an innocent child who does not understand this cruel and strange world of adults. Growing up quickly, she has a lot to learn and rethink.

7 Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)

Gone Girl is one of the best modern thriller books. The work was published in 2012 and became the basis of the film of the same name.

How hard it is to know a person, even if you have lived with him for many years! An unusual incident turns the fate of the protagonist when his wife suddenly disappears. During a stormy celebration of their wedding anniversary, a woman mysteriously disappears. Arriving police discover blood and signs of a struggle, deciding that the man killed his wife and hid her body. Now the bewildered man is left to solve this incredible puzzle himself. Who knows, maybe the answer will turn out to be even more monstrous than the disappearance itself ...

8 Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)

The novel "Cloud Atlas" was written in 2004 by an English writer. Its plot is a complex interweaving of stories and destinies that, at first glance, nothing connects. An American lawyer stranded on a tropical island while a ship is being repaired; a young English musician forced to sell his music and body to earn a living; a brave Californian journalist fighting against a powerful corporation; a London publisher facing criminals after the release of yet another bestseller; a clone from a Korean anti-utopia and a Hawaiian old man watching the decline of human civilization. All events and characters go through a difficult path at different times, gradually intertwining together.

9. When I Was Real (Tom McCarthy)

Tom McCarthy's novel "When I Was Real" continues our top 10 best modern books.

Sudden disaster changed life young man, crossing out his past. He finds himself in a long-term coma, from which he, fortunately, manages to get out. But such a long process did not pass without a trace: now he needs to learn to live anew. Walk, move, work with hands and talk. All past life comes in the form of vague memories, and the hero endlessly wants to return to his former self. Moreover, some large corporation is ready to pay him a lot of money to keep the cause of the incident a secret. How are they related? What happened that day? And how to become completely the same?

10 Anathem (Neil Stevenson)

And completes the top ten modern science fiction book "Anathem", written by American writer Neil Stevenson in 2008.

Arb is a distant and mysterious planet resembling Earth. People who worship science live here. Science, which completely replaced religion and managed to split society into two irreconcilable camps. Guardians of Science are monks who were once scientists. They once worked and created for the benefit of progress, but their work led to something terrible. Now the monks live in the monastery, closed off from the outside, secular world. Their life is simple, calm and measured, but every ten years there comes a special date - the day when the two sides can change places. The monks will see the outside world, and secular people will be able to join the monastic life and worldview. Once such a change led to horrific consequences, and now the two sides must unite to prevent the impending disaster!

Among the largest publishing companies in the world, those operating in the field of professional and scientific publishing, with a strong focus on digital products, are leading. In addition, the rapidly developing Asian publishing houses of South Korea and China are getting closer to the European and American companies that traditionally dominate the world book market. This is evidenced by the next rating of the largest publishing companies in the world, published on the eve of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

The next ranking of world book publishing leaders was prepared by consultant Rudiger Wischenbart as part of the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry project. This is a joint project of the French professional magazine Livres Hebdo and the German company Ruediger Wischenbart Content and Consulting. Since 2007, the rating has been published annually by the professional journals Livr Ebdo, Buchreport (Germany), Bookseller (UK), Publishers Weekly (USA). The rating includes publishing groups with a turnover in 2008 of over $250 million.

Rank Rank Company name Name Country Turnover, million euros
2008 2007 "parent" 2008 2007 2006
Groups

1 2 Pearson Pearson UK 5.044 4.812 5.616

2 4 Reed Elsevier Reed Elsevier UK- 4,586 4,217 5,851

(Reed Elsevier) Holland

3 1 Thomson Reuters The Woodbridge Canada 3,485 4,998 —

(Thomson Reuters) Company Ltd

4 5 Walters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer Holland 3.374 3.413 3.693

(Wolters Kluwer)

5 3 Bertelsmann Bertelsmann Germany 2.980 4.392 4.612

(Bertelsmann)

6 6 Ashette livre Lagardere France 2.159 2.130 1.975

(Hachette Livre)

7 7 McGraw-Hill McGraw-Hill USA 1,794 1,853 —

Education (McGraw-

Hill Education

8 13 Grupo Planeta Grupo Planeta Spain 1,760 1,000 1,015

(Group Planeta)

9 10 De Agostini Editore Gruppo Italy — — 1,668

(De Agostini Editore) De Agostini

10 11 Scholastic Scholastic Corp USA 1.499 1.493 —

11 9 Hughton Mifflin Education Media USA- 1,712 —

Harcourt (Houghton and Publishing Cayman

Mifflin Harcourt) Group Islands

12 12 Holzbrink Verlagsgruppe Germany — — 1,324

(Holtzbrinck) Georg von

Holtzbrinck

13 15 Sengage learning Apax Partners UK 1,172,968 —

(Cengage Learning) et al.

14 21 Wiley John Wiley USA 1,139,846 —

& sons

15 14 Informa Informa United Kingdom 1,028 997 978

16 16 HarperCollins News Corp USA-Australia 944 923 —

(Harper Collins)

17 18 Shokakukan Shokakukan Japan 927 901 —

(Shokakukan)

18 20 Shueisha Shueisha Japan 902 852 —

19 19 Kodansha Kodansha Japan 886 885 908

20 17 Springer Science Cinven UK- 880 906 924

And business media and Candover Germany-Italy-

(Springer Science France

And Business Media)

Analysis shows that only five of the top ten major publishing groups are seriously engaged in publishing books for the general public: Pearson (Penguin), Bertelsmann (Random House), Ashett livre”, “Planet” (which recently absorbed the French publishing house “Editis” (Editis)) and “De Agostini”. By the way, the headquarters of all these groups are located in Europe.

Many publishing corporations are now experiencing economic difficulties associated with the crisis, and reorganization. For example, last year the Thomson group sold its educational division, which now operates under the name Sungeage Learning and ranks 13th in the ranking. Even so, the traditional publishing business at Thomson kept the group in the top three.

Most of the leading publishing groups define their business as "professional information" rather than "book publishing" and are actively pursuing new digital opportunities. At the same time, digitalization creates many difficulties, especially for those companies that operate in the field of educational book publishing. Traditional book publishing has now become only one, and far from being the most important, pillar of the largest publishing corporations.

Anna Karenina. Lev Tolstoy

The greatest love story of all time. A story that has not left the stage, filmed countless times - and still has not lost the boundless charm of passion - a destructive, destructive, blind passion - but all the more bewitching with its grandeur.