| Titles | Order |
| 1984 by George Orwell | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| 52 Pick-Up by Elmore Leonard | Crime |
| Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes | State of the nation |
| The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler | Love |
| According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge | Comedy |
| Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Adam Bede by George Eliot | Love |
| The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow | Comedy |
| The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom by Tobias Smollett | Comedy |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain | War and travel |
| The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett | Comedy |
| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain | State of the nation |
| Affinity by Sarah Waters | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The African Queen by C. S. Forester | War and travel |
| After London: Or, Wild England by Richard Jefferies | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell | State of the nation |
| The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton | Love |
| Air: Or, Have Not Have by Geoff Ryman | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel | Family and self |
| Ali and Nino by Kurban Said | Love |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque | War and travel |
| All Souls' Day by Cees Nooteboom | Love |
| All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy | War and travel |
| Alms for Oblivion, Volume 1 by Simon Raven | Comedy |
| I Am Legend by Richard Matheson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Ambassadors by Henry James | Family and self |
| American Gods by Neil Gaiman | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| American Pastoral by Philip Roth | State of the nation |
| American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis | Crime |
| An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser | Crime |
| Amongst Women by John McGahern | State of the nation |
| And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie | Crime |
| Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor | War and travel |
| The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton | Crime |
| Angel by Elizabeth Taylor | Family and self |
| Anglo-Saxon Attitudes by Angus Wilson | Comedy |
| Animal Farm by George Orwell | State of the Nation |
| Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy | Love |
| Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe | State of the nation |
| Any Human Heart by William Boyd | Family and self |
| Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne | War and travel |
| Arturo's Island by Elsa Morante | Love |
| As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner | Family and self |
| Ascent by Jed Mercurio | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W. E. Bowman | Comedy |
| The Asphalt Jungle by William Riley Burnett | Crime |
| The Assistant by Bernard Malamud | Family and self |
| Asterix the Gaul by René Goscinny | War and travel |
| At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien | Family and self |
| Atonement by Ian McEwan | Love |
| Augustus Carp, Esq., By Himself: Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man by Henry Howarth Bashford | Comedy |
| Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald | War and travel |
| Auto-da-Fe by Elias Canetti | War and travel |
| The Awakening by Kate Chopin | Family and self |
| Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis | State of the nation |
| Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild | Family and self |
| The Bamboo Bed by William Eastlake | War and travel |
| Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope | Comedy |
| The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray | Comedy |
| The Beach by Alex Garland | War and travel |
| The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake | Crime |
| The Beast Within by Émile Zola | State of the nation |
| Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata | Love |
| Before Lunch by Angela Thirkell | Comedy |
| The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro | Family and self |
| Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson | Family and self |
| Being Dead by Jim Crace | Family and self |
| Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant | State of the nation |
| The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath | Family and self |
| The Belles Lettres Papers by Charles Simmons | Comedy |
| Beloved by Toni Morrison | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul | State of the nation |
| Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin | State of the nation |
| The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni | State of the nation |
| Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Big Blowdown by George Pelecanos | Crime |
| The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy | Crime |
| The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler | Crime |
| Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse | State of the nation |
| Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks | War and travel |
| Black and Blue by Ian Rankin | Crime |
| Black Beauty by Anna Sewell | War and travel |
| Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh | Comedy |
| The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch | Family and self |
| Black Sunday by Thomas Harris | Crime |
| Blacklist by Sara Paretsky | Crime |
| The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín | Family and self |
| Bleak House by Charles Dickens | State of the nation |
| The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Blindness by José Saramago | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy | War and travel |
| Blood Shot by Sara Paretsky | Crime |
| Blott on the Landscape by Tom Sharpe | Comedy |
| The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald | Love |
| The Blue Room by Georges Simenon | Crime |
| The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison | Family and self |
| Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Bomber by Len Deighton | War and travel |
| Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill | Crime |
| The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe | State of the nation |
| Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan | Love |
| The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow | State of the nation |
| The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera | Love |
| The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge | Comedy |
| The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum | Crime |
| Bouvard and Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert | Comedy |
| Brave New World by Aldous Huxley | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote | Love |
| Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut | Comedy |
| Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler | Love |
| Brewster's Millions by George Barr McCutcheon | Comedy |
| Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding | Comedy |
| Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney | Comedy |
| Brighton Rock by Graham Greene | Crime |
| The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky | Family and self |
| Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann | Family and self |
| The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi | Family and self |
| Burmese Days by George Orwell | War and travel |
| The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart | Love |
| The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk | War and travel |
| Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham | Comedy |
| Call It Sleep by Henry Roth | Family and self |
| The Call of the Wild by Jack London | War and travel |
| Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Candide by Voltaire | War and travel |
| A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Caprice by Ronald Firbank | Comedy |
| Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini | War and travel |
| I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith | Love |
| Carrie's War by Nina Bawden | War and travel |
| The Case of Comrade Tulayev by Victor Serge | State of the nation |
| The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin | Comedy |
| Casino Royale by Ian Fleming | Crime |
| The Castafiore Emerald by Hergé | War and travel |
| The Castle by Franz Kafka | Comedy |
| The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth | State of the nation |
| Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood | Family and self |
| Catch-22 by Joseph Heller | Comedy |
| The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger | Family and self |
| Changing Places by David Lodge | Comedy |
| Charade by John Mortimer | Comedy |
| The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal | War and travel |
| The Chateau by William Maxwell | Family and self |
| Cheese by Willem Elsschot | Comedy |
| The Child in Time by Ian McEwan | Love |
| Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Children of Men by P. D. James | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Children of the New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat | War and travel |
| Chronicle in Stone by Ismail Kadare | State of the nation |
| The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Chéri by Colette | Love |
| Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee | Family and self |
| Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson | Love |
| Claudine at School by Colette | Love |
| Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett | State of the nation |
| A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse | Comedy |
| Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons | Comedy |
| Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier | War and travel |
| The Color Purple by Alice Walker | Family and self |
| The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Commitments by Roddy Doyle | Comedy |
| The Compleet Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans | Comedy |
| The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman | War and travel |
| A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole | Comedy |
| Confederates by Thomas Keneally | War and travel |
| A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Constant Gardener by John le Carré | Crime |
| Cop Hater by Ed McBain | Crime |
| The Corpse in the Snowman by Nicholas Blake | Crime |
| The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen | State of the nation |
| La coscienza di Zeno by Italo Svevo | Family and self |
| Count Belisarius by Robert Graves | War and travel |
| The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père | Crime |
| The Counterfeiters by André Gide | State of the nation |
| Couples by John Updike | State of the nation |
| Covenant with Death by John Harris | War and travel |
| Cover Her Face by P. D. James | Crime |
| The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé | War and travel |
| Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell | State of the nation |
| Crash by J. G. Ballard | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky | Crime |
| The Crime of Father Amaro by José Maria Eça de Queirós | Crime |
| Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley | Love |
| The Crow Road by Iain Banks | Family and self |
| The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat | War and travel |
| Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton | State of the nation |
| The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon | Crime |
| Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson | War and travel |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon | Comedy |
| A Dance to the Music of Time: First Movement, Spring by Anthony Powell | Comedy |
| Daniel Deronda by George Eliot | Love |
| A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine | Crime |
| Darkmans by Nicola Barker | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler | War and travel |
| Darkness Falls from the Air by Nigel Balchin | War and travel |
| Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey | Crime |
| Day by A. L. Kennedy | War and travel |
| The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth | Crime |
| The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West | State of the nation |
| The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin | Crime |
| Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol | Comedy |
| Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov | Comedy |
| Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes | Crime |
| Death in Summer by William Trevor | Family and self |
| Death in Venice by Thomas Mann | Love |
| Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington | War and travel |
| The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen | Love |
| The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch | Family and self |
| The Debacle by Émile Zola | War and travel |
| The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester | Comedy |
| Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh | Comedy |
| Deliverance by James Dickey | War and travel |
| Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin | Love |
| Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley | Crime |
| The Devil to Pay in the Backlands by João Guimarães Rosa | War and travel |
| Diary of a Mad Old Man by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki | Love |
| The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith | Comedy |
| Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield | Comedy |
| Dirty Tricks by Michael Dibdin | Crime |
| Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee | State of the nation |
| Dissolution by C. J. Sansom | Crime |
| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak | Love |
| Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King | Crime |
| Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis | Love |
| Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens | State of the nation |
| Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra | Comedy |
| Double Indemnity by James M. Cain | Crime |
| Dracula by Bram Stoker | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark | Comedy |
| The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| A Dry White Season by André Brink | State of the nation |
| Dune by Frank Herbert | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess | State of the nation |
| East Lynne by Ellen Wood | Love |
| East of Eden by John Steinbeck | Family and self |
| The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann | Love |
| Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane | State of the nation |
| The Egoist by George Meredith | Love |
| The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delany | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis | State of the nation |
| Emma by Jane Austen | Love |
| Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard | War and travel |
| The End of the Affair by Graham Greene | Love |
| The End of the World News by Anthony Burgess | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Enduring Love by Ian McEwan | Crime |
| Enemies, A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer | Love |
| Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau | Family and self |
| England, Their England by A. G. Macdonell | Comedy |
| The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje | Love |
| Enigma by Robert Harris | War and travel |
| Ennui by Maria Edgeworth | Comedy |
| Epileptic by David B. | Family and self |
| Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler | Crime |
| Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis | State of the nation |
| Erewhon by Samuel Butler | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac | Family and self |
| Evelina by Frances Burney | Family and self |
| Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer | War and travel |
| Excellent Women by Barbara Pym | Comedy |
| Exit Music by Ian Rankin | Crime |
| Extinction by Thomas Bernhard | Family and self |
| The Face of Another by Kōbō Abe | Family and self |
| Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Fair Stood the Wind for France by H. E. Bates | War and travel |
| A Fairy Tale of New York by J. P. Donleavy | Comedy |
| Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry | Family and self |
| The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer | Family and self |
| The Famished Road by Ben Okri | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Fantômas by Marcel Allain | Crime |
| A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark | Comedy |
| Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy | Love |
| The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye | Love |
| A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway | Love |
| A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine | Crime |
| Fatherland by Robert Harris | Crime |
| Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev | Family and self |
| The Female Man by Joanna Russ | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry | State of the nation |
| Fingersmith by Sarah Waters | Crime |
| Finnegans Wake by James Joyce | Comedy |
| Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul | Comedy |
| A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone | War and travel |
| Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser | War and travel |
| Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes | Comedy |
| Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway | War and travel |
| Foreign Affairs: A Novel by Alison Lurie | Love |
| The Forever War by Joe Haldeman | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson | Family and self |
| Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Foundation by Isaac Asimov | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West | Family and self |
| The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace | Crime |
| Frankenstein by Mary Shelley | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles | Love |
| Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman | Crime |
| The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins | Crime |
| From Here To Eternity by James Jones | War and travel |
| Frost in May by Antonia White | Family and self |
| Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel | Family and self |
| G. by John Berger | Family and self |
| The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani | Love |
| Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Gathering by Anne Enright | Family and self |
| GB84 by David Peace | State of the nation |
| Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -and- But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady by Anita Loos | Love |
| Germinal by Émile Zola | State of the nation |
| Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard | Crime |
| The Getaway by Jim Thompson | Crime |
| Gil Blas by Alain René Le Sage | Comedy |
| Gilead by Marilynne Robinson | Love |
| Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin | Love |
| A Girl in Winter by Philip Larkin | State of the nation |
| Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark | Comedy |
| The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett | Crime |
| A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin | State of the nation |
| The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley | Love |
| The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy | Family and self |
| God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembene | State of the nation |
| The Godfather by Mario Puzo | Crime |
| The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing | Family and self |
| Goldfinger by Ian Fleming | Crime |
| Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell | Love |
| Good Behaviour by Molly Keane | Family and self |
| The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley | Family and self |
| A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd | Comedy |
| The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford | Love |
| The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek | War and travel |
| Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood | State of the nation |
| Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith | Crime |
| The Graduate by Charles Webb | Love |
| Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier | Love |
| The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck | State of the nation |
| The Grass Is Singing by Doris Lessing | State of the nation |
| Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon | War and travel |
| Great Apes by Will Self | Comedy |
| Great Expectations by Charles Dickens | Family and self |
| The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning | War and travel |
| The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Love |
| The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim | Crime |
| Green Mansions by W. H. Hudson | Love |
| Greenmantle by John Buchan | Crime |
| The Group by Mary McCarthy | State of the nation |
| Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift | War and travel |
| A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene | Crime |
| The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean | War and travel |
| A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh | Comedy |
| Handley Cross by R. S. Surtees | Comedy |
| The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Hanging Garden by Ian Rankin | Crime |
| Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton | Crime |
| Hard Revolution by George P. Pelecanos | Crime |
| Hard Times by Charles Dickens | State of the nation |
| The Harpole Report by J. L. Carr | Comedy |
| Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Headlong Hall by Thomas Love Peacock | State of the nation |
| The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington | Comedy |
| The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers | Love |
| Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad | War and travel |
| A Heart So White by Javier Marías | Love |
| The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen | Love |
| Heavy Weather by P. G. Wodehouse | Comedy |
| Hello Summer, Goodbye by Michael G. Coney | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Herzog by Saul Bellow | Family and self |
| Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud | Family and self |
| High Fidelity by Nick Hornby | Comedy |
| A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes | War and travel |
| His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| History by Elsa Morante | War and travel |
| The History Man by Malcolm Bradbury | Comedy |
| The History of Mr. Polly by H. G. Wells | Family and self |
| The History of Pompey the Little by Francis Coventry | War and travel |
| A History of the World in 10½ Chapters by Julian Barnes | Comedy |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore | State of the nation |
| The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary | Comedy |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | Crime |
| A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul | Family and self |
| House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton | State of the nation |
| The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn | Family and self |
| How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman | State of the nation |
| How the Dead Live by Will Self | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Howards End by E. M. Forster | Family and self |
| The Human Comedy by Honoré de Balzac | State of the nation |
| The Human Stain by Philip Roth | State of the nation |
| Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow | Family and self |
| Humphry Clinker (Norton Critical Edition) by Tobias Smollett | Comedy |
| Hunger by Knut Hamsun | Family and self |
| The Hunters by James Salter | War and travel |
| Hurrah For St. Trinians! by Ronald Searle | Comedy |
| Hyperion by Dan Simmons | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| I'll Go to Bed at Noon by Gerard Woodward | Family and self |
| An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd | War and travel |
| The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky | State of the nation |
| If Not Now, When? by Primo Levi | War and travel |
| Illywhacker by Peter Carey | Comedy |
| The Immoralist by André Gide | Family and self |
| In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust | Family and self |
| In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Independence Day by Richard Ford | State of the nation |
| An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer | Love |
| Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace | Comedy |
| The Influence by Ramsey Campbell | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Information by Martin Amis | Comedy |
| Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Insult by Rupert Thomson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino | War and travel |
| Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison | State of the nation |
| Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann | Family and self |
| The Ipcress File by Len Deighton | Crime |
| The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells | War and travel |
| Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott | War and travel |
| Jacques the Fatalist by Denis Diderot | Comedy |
| Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë | Love |
| Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware | Family and self |
| Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding | Comedy |
| Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler | Crime |
| Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne | War and travel |
| Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline | War and travel |
| Joy in the Morning by P. G. Wodehouse | Comedy |
| Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy | Love |
| A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell | Crime |
| Julie, or the New Héloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau | Family and self |
| July's People by Nadine Gordimer | State of the nation |
| The Jungle by Upton Sinclair | State of the nation |
| Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton | Crime |
| Just William by Richmal Crompton | Comedy |
| Justine by Lawrence Durrell | War and travel |
| A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines | State of the nation |
| Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson | War and travel |
| Kim by Rudyard Kipling | Crime |
| A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow | State of the nation |
| Kindred by Octavia E. Butler | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The King of Torts by John Grisham | Crime |
| King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine | Crime |
| King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard | War and travel |
| The Kingdom of this World by Alejo Carpentier | State of the nation |
| The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini | War and travel |
| The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks | Family and self |
| L. A. Confidential by James Ellroy | Crime |
| Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon | Crime |
| Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence | Love |
| Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor | Comedy |
| Lanark by Alasdair Gray | State of the nation |
| Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson | Family and self |
| The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope | State of the nation |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn by Jr Hubert Selby | State of the nation |
| Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter | Crime |
| The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen | State of the nation |
| The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjöwall | Crime |
| The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout | Crime |
| The Lecturer's Tale by James Hynes | Comedy |
| The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| A Legacy by Sybille Bedford | Family and self |
| The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa | State of the nation |
| Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym | Comedy |
| Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos | Love |
| Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman | War and travel |
| The Life and Loves of a She Devil by Fay Weldon | Comedy |
| The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne | Comedy |
| Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec | Comedy |
| Light by M. John Harrison | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Light Years by James Salter | Love |
| The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst | State of the nation |
| Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens | State of the nation |
| The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | Family and self |
| Little Women / Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott | Family and self |
| The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovannino Guareschi | Comedy |
| Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell | Crime |
| Living by Henry Green | Love |
| Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark | Comedy |
| Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov | Love |
| Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| London Fields by Martin Amis | State of the nation |
| The Lonely Londoners by Samuel Selvon | State of the nation |
| The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore | Family and self |
| Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry | War and travel |
| The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler | Crime |
| A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry | War and travel |
| Look at Me by Anita Brookner | Love |
| Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad | War and travel |
| Lord of the Flies by William Golding | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore | Love |
| A Lost Lady by Willa Cather | Love |
| Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Love for Lydia by H. E. Bates | Love |
| Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford | Love |
| Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez | Love |
| Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood | State of the nation |
| Love Story by Erich Segal | Love |
| The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh | Comedy |
| The Lover by Marguerite Duras | Love |
| Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis | Comedy |
| Lush Life by Richard Price | Crime |
| The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall | War and travel |
| Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert | Love |
| The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon | Crime |
| The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann | State of the nation |
| The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington | Family and self |
| The Magus by John Fowles | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Main Street by Sinclair Lewis | State of the nation |
| Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles | Crime |
| Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett | Family and self |
| The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett | Crime |
| The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Man of Property by John Galsworthy | Family and self |
| The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead | Family and self |
| The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren | Crime |
| The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil | Family and self |
| Man's Fate by André Malraux | War and travel |
| The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon | Crime |
| The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir | Family and self |
| Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost | Love |
| Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett | Family and self |
| Mansfield Park by Jane Austen | Love |
| The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif | Love |
| The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley | War and travel |
| Married Man by Piers Paul Read | Family and self |
| Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens | Comedy |
| Martin Eden by Jack London | Family and self |
| Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell | Family and self |
| The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler | Crime |
| Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian | War and travel |
| The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge | War and travel |
| Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson | Love |
| The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy | State of the nation |
| McTeague: A Story of San Francisco by Frank Norris | State of the nation |
| Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers | Family and self |
| Memed, My Hawk by Yasar Kemal | Family and self |
| Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf by David Madsen | Comedy |
| The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh | War and travel |
| Microserfs by Douglas Coupland | State of the nation |
| Middlemarch by George Eliot | State of the nation |
| Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides | Family and self |
| Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie | State of the nation |
| The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Mighty Walzer: A Novel by Howard Jacobson | Comedy |
| The Military Philosophers by Anthony Powell | War and travel |
| The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot | Love |
| Millennium People by J. G. Ballard | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Millstone by Margaret Drabble | Family and self |
| The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene | Crime |
| Misery by Stephen King | Crime |
| Mister Johnson by Joyce Cary | Comedy |
| Les Misérables by Victor Hugo | State of the nation |
| Moby Dick by Herman Melville | War and travel |
| Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe | State of the nation |
| Molloy by Samuel Beckett | Comedy |
| Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis | Comedy |
| The Monk by Matthew Lewis | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Monkey: A Journey to the West by David Kherdian | War and travel |
| A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr | Love |
| Moo by Jane Smiley | Comedy |
| The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavese | State of the nation |
| Moon over Africa by Pamela Kent | Love |
| The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins | Crime |
| More Die of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow | Love |
| Morvern Callar by Alan Warner | Family and self |
| Mother by Maxim Gorki | State of the nation |
| Mother London by Michael Moorcock | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem | Crime |
| The Moviegoer by Walker Percy | Family and self |
| Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood | Comedy |
| Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins | Comedy |
| Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf | Family and self |
| The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie | Crime |
| Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers | Crime |
| The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie | Crime |
| Music & Silence by Rose Tremain | Love |
| My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier | Crime |
| My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell | Family and self |
| My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok | Family and self |
| My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk | Crime |
| My New York Diary by Julie Doucet | Family and self |
| My Search for Warren Harding by Robert Plunket | Comedy |
| My Ántonia by Willa Cather | Love |
| The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie | Crime |
| The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories by Mark Twain | Comedy |
| The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer | War and travel |
| Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco | Crime |
| Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse | Family and self |
| Native Son by Richard Wright | Crime |
| The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke | Crime |
| Neuromancer by William Gibson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| New Grub Street by George Gissing | State of the nation |
| The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster | Crime |
| News from Nowhere by William Morris | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Nice Work by David Lodge | Comedy |
| Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens | Comedy |
| The Night Sessions by Ken MacLeod | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Night Watch by Sarah Waters | Love |
| Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Nightwood by Djuna Barnes | Love |
| Nineteen seventy four by David Peace | Crime |
| Nineteen Seventy-Seven by David Peace | Crime |
| De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage | War and travel |
| No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahms | Comedy |
| No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy | Crime |
| No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase | Crime |
| Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell | State of the nation |
| Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen | Love |
| Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami | Love |
| Nostromo by Joseph Conrad | War and travel |
| Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky | State of the nation |
| Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith | State of the nation |
| Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov | Comedy |
| The Odd Women by George Gissing | State of the nation |
| Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham | Love |
| Of Love and Hunger by Julian Maclaren-Ross | State of the nation |
| Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck | Crime |
| Office Politics by Wilfrid Sheed | Comedy |
| Old Goriot by Honoré de Balzac | Family and self |
| The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway | Family and self |
| The Old Men at the Zoo by Angus Wilson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett | Family and self |
| Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens | State of the nation |
| On Beauty by Zadie Smith | Family and self |
| On the Road by Jack Kerouac | War and travel |
| One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn | State of the nation |
| One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey | Family and self |
| One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez | War and travel |
| One of Ours by Willa Cather | War and travel |
| Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson | Family and self |
| The Ordeal of Richard Feverel by George Meredith | Family and self |
| Orlando by Virginia Woolf | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Oroonoko by Aphra Behn | State of the nation |
| Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey | Love |
| Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene | Comedy |
| The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosiński | War and travel |
| The Painter of Signs by R. K. Narayan | Love |
| Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz | Family and self |
| Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov | Comedy |
| Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson | Love |
| Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford | War and travel |
| The Parasites by Daphne Du Maurier | Love |
| A Passage to India by E. M. Forster | State of the nation |
| Passing by Nella Larsen | State of the nation |
| The Passion by Jeanette Winterson | Love |
| The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller | Love |
| Peace in War by Miguel de Unamuno | Family and self |
| Penrod by Booth Tarkington | Comedy |
| Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind | Crime |
| Personality by Andrew O'Hagan | State of the nation |
| Persuasion by Jane Austen | Love |
| The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek | Love |
| Piccadilly Jim by P. G. Wodehouse | Comedy |
| The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens | Comedy |
| The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde | Family and self |
| Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell | Comedy |
| Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation by Marie Darrieussecq | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Pilgrimage I: Pointed Roofs / Backwater / Honeycomb by Dorothy M. Richardson | Family and self |
| The Plague by Albert Camus | State of the nation |
| Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion | State of the nation |
| The Pledge by Friedrich Dürrenmatt | Crime |
| Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov | Comedy |
| Poetic Justice by Amanda Cross | Crime |
| The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley | Crime |
| The Polyglots by William Gerhardie | Comedy |
| Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe | Comedy |
| Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth | Comedy |
| The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James | Love |
| A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce | Family and self |
| Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt | Love |
| The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain | Crime |
| Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell | Crime |
| The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene | Family and self |
| A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving | Family and self |
| The Prestige by Christopher Priest | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | Love |
| The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark | Comedy |
| A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette | Love |
| The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope | War and travel |
| The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Professor's House by Willa Cather | Family and self |
| Puckoon by Spike Milligan | Comedy |
| Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain | Crime |
| The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford | Love |
| Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh | War and travel |
| Quarantine by Jim Crace | Family and self |
| Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson | Comedy |
| A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory | Crime |
| A Rabbit Omnibus by John Updike | Family and self |
| The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth | State of the nation |
| The Ragazzi by Pier Paolo Pasolini | State of the nation |
| A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes | Crime |
| The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell | State of the nation |
| The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence | Love |
| Rasselas by Samuel Johnson | War and travel |
| Ratking by Michael Dibdin | Crime |
| The Reader by Bernhard Schlink | Love |
| Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier | Love |
| The Recognitions by William Gaddis | State of the nation |
| The Rector's Daughter by F. M. Mayor | Family and self |
| The Red and the Black by Stendhal | State of the nation |
| The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane | War and travel |
| Red Dragon by Thomas Harris | Crime |
| Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett | Crime |
| The Red Room by August Strindberg | State of the nation |
| Red Shift by Alan Garner | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer | Love |
| Regeneration by Pat Barker | War and travel |
| The Reluctant Orphan = Orphan Bride by Sara Seale | Love |
| The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro | Love |
| Remembering Babylon by David Malouf | State of the nation |
| The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter | Crime |
| The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills | Comedy |
| The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West | State of the nation |
| Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Les Revenentes by Georges Perec | Comedy |
| Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates | Love |
| A Rich Full Death by Michael Dibdin | Crime |
| Rickshaw Boy by She Lao | State of the nation |
| The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers | Crime |
| Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald | War and travel |
| Ringworld by Larry Niven | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Road by Cormac McCarthy | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | War and Travel |
| Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett | Comedy |
| Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household | Crime |
| Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Room at the Top by John Braine | State of the nation |
| Room Temperature by Nicholson Baker | Family and self |
| A Room with a View by E. M. Forster | Love |
| Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress by Daniel Defoe | Family and self |
| Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown | Love |
| Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell | Love |
| The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Viktor Pelevin | Comedy |
| Samarkand by Amin Maalouf | Love |
| Sanctuary by William Faulkner | Crime |
| The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe | State of the nation |
| The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño | War and travel |
| The Scar by China Miéville | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini | War and travel |
| The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne | Love |
| The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy | War and travel |
| Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally | War and travel |
| Scoop by Evelyn Waugh | Comedy |
| A Season in Sinji by J. L. Carr | Comedy |
| The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie | Crime |
| The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad | Crime |
| The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend | Family and self |
| The Secret History by Donna Tartt | Crime |
| Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen | Love |
| Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert | State of the nation |
| A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne | War and travel |
| I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal | Comedy |
| Shame by Salman Rushdie | State of the nation |
| Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell | War and travel |
| She by H. Rider Haggard | War and travel |
| The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles | War and travel |
| The Shining by Stephen King | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Ship by C. S. Forester | War and travel |
| The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx | Family and self |
| Shirley by Charlotte Brontë | State of the nation |
| The Shrimp and the Anemone by L. P. Hartley | Family and self |
| Sidetracked by Henning Mankell | Crime |
| The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell | War and travel |
| The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle | Crime |
| Silas Marner by George Eliot | State of the nation |
| Silence by Shūsaku Endō | Family and self |
| Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason | Crime |
| The Silent Duchess by Dacia Maraini | Love |
| Silver Stallion by Jung-Hyo Ahn | War and travel |
| The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser | State of the nation |
| Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut | War and travel |
| The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton | War and travel |
| Slouching Towards Kalamazoo by Peter De Vries | Comedy |
| Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg | Crime |
| Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico | Love |
| So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell | Love |
| Solaris by Stanisław Lem | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell | War and travel |
| Solomon Gursky Was Here by Mordecai Richler | Comedy |
| Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse | Comedy |
| Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison | Family and self |
| Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence | Family and self |
| Sophie's Choice by William Styron | War and travel |
| The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh | War and travel |
| The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Love |
| The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner | Family and self |
| The Sound of My Voice by Ron Butlin | Family and self |
| Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo | Family and self |
| South Riding by Winifred Holtby | State of the nation |
| South Wind by Norman Douglas | War and travel |
| The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Spies by Michael Frayn | Family and self |
| A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter | Love |
| The Sportswriter by Richard Ford | Family and self |
| The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré | Crime |
| Squire Haggard's Journal (Prion Humour Classics) by Michael Green | Comedy |
| Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Staying On by Paul Scott | State of the nation |
| Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse | Family and self |
| Strait is the Gate by André Gide | Love |
| The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent by E. Phillips Oppenheim | Crime |
| The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Stranger by Albert Camus | Family and self |
| Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith | Crime |
| A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle | Crime |
| A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth | Family and self |
| Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky | War and travel |
| Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon | Love |
| The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe | War and travel |
| The Swimming-Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst | Love |
| The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss | Family and self |
| The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Sybil, or The Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli | State of the nation |
| A Tale of a Tub and Other Works by Jonathan Swift | Comedy |
| A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens | State of the nation |
| The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith | Crime |
| Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin | Comedy |
| Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener | War and travel |
| A Taste for Death by P. D. James | Crime |
| Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels by Kenzaburō Ōe | Family and self |
| Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Love |
| Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy | Love |
| Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse | Comedy |
| Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston | Love |
| They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy | State of the nation |
| The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett | Crime |
| Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe | State of the nation |
| The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien | War and travel |
| The Third Man by Graham Greene | Crime |
| The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan | Crime |
| This Sporting Life by David Storey | State of the nation |
| A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley | Family and self |
| The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr | Crime |
| Three Men in a Boat—To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome | Comedy |
| The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas | War and travel |
| The Three Paradoxes by Paul Hornschemeier | Family and self |
| The Three Sisters by May Sinclair | Family and self |
| Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos | War and travel |
| Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola | Crime |
| The Time Machine by H. G. Wells | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Time of Indifference by Alberto Moravia | State of the nation |
| The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| A time to be born by Dawn Powell | Comedy |
| A Time to Kill by John Grisham | Crime |
| The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Tin Drum by Günter Grass | War and travel |
| The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke | Crime |
| Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré | Crime |
| Tintin in Tibet by Hergé | War and travel |
| Titmuss Regained by John Mortimer | Comedy |
| Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| To Each His Own by Leonardo Sciascia | State of the nation |
| To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee | Crime |
| To the Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy by William Golding | War and travel |
| To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf | Family and self |
| Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell | State of the nation |
| Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes | Family and self |
| Tom Jones by Henry Fielding | Comedy |
| Tono-Bungay by H. G. Wells | Comedy |
| Topper Takes a Trip by Thorne Smith | Comedy |
| The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins | Family and self |
| Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen | Crime |
| Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn | Comedy |
| The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay | Comedy |
| A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute | War and travel |
| Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh | State of the nation |
| The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard | Love |
| Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene | Comedy |
| Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson | War and travel |
| The Tree of Man by Patrick White | Family and self |
| Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley | Crime |
| The Trial by Franz Kafka | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller | Love |
| Tropic of Ruislip by Leslie Thomas | Comedy |
| True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey | Crime |
| The Turn of the Screw by Henry James | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles | Family and self |
| U.S.A. by John Dos Passos | State of the nation |
| Ulysses by James Joyce | Family and self |
| The Unbearable Bassington by Saki | Comedy |
| The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera | Love |
| Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe | State of the nation |
| The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett | Comedy |
| The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Under the Net by Iris Murdoch | Comedy |
| Under the Skin by Michel Faber | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry | Family and self |
| Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad | Crime |
| Underworld by Don DeLillo | State of the nation |
| The Unfortunates by B. S. Johnson | Family and self |
| Unless by Carol Shields | Family and self |
| Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand | State of the nation |
| V. by Thomas Pynchon | Crime |
| The Vagabond by Colette | Family and self |
| The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell | War and travel |
| Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann | Love |
| Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray | State of the nation |
| Vathek by William Beckford | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Vatican Cellars by André Gide | Family and self |
| Vendetta by Michael Dibdin | Crime |
| Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip José Farmer | Comedy |
| The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith | Family and self |
| The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Victory by Joseph Conrad | Love |
| Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh | Comedy |
| Vineland by Thomas Pynchon | State of the nation |
| The Virgin in the Garden by A. S. Byatt | State of the nation |
| The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides | Love |
| The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains by Owen Wister | War and travel |
| A Void by Georges Perec | Comedy |
| Voss by Patrick White | War and travel |
| A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Vurt by Jeff Noon | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee | State of the nation |
| The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever | Family and self |
| War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | War and travel |
| The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Washington Square by Henry James | Family and self |
| The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Waterland by Graham Swift | Love |
| The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler | Family and self |
| The Way We Live Now (Wordsworth Classics) by Anthony Trollope | State of the nation |
| We by Yevgeny Zamyatin | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver | Family and self |
| The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann | Love |
| Weaveworld by Clive Barker | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall | Love |
| The Westminster Alice by Saki | Comedy |
| What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe | State of the nation |
| When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs | War and travel |
| Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie | Comedy |
| White Man Falling by Mike Stocks | Comedy |
| White Noise by Don DeLillo | State of the nation |
| White Teeth by Zadie Smith | State of the nation |
| Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers | Crime |
| Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys | Love |
| Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Williwaw by Gore Vidal | War and travel |
| The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams | Comedy |
| The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Comedy |
| The Wings of the Dove by Henry James | Love |
| Wise Children by Angela Carter | Family and self |
| The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike | Comedy |
| A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins | Crime |
| Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence | Love |
| The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy | Love |
| Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë | Love |
| The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming | Crime |
| The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw | War and travel |
| Z by Vassilis Vassilikos | State of the nation |
| Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde | Love |
| Zazie in the Metro by Raymond Queneau | Comedy |
| Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig | War and travel |
| Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis | Love |
| Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm | Comedy |
