10 Books You Must Read Before You Die

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.” -George R.R. Martin

Reading is one of the most important and priceless activities. If you have ever read a book in life you will know the pleasure and perks of reading. Reading not only provides knowledge but also develops our imagination and reduces stress. Books take us to a whole new journey. We experience a new world and feel the way the protagonist does. Some books uplift our mood while some leave us crying and achingly moving for the tragedies. Some books leave an ever-lasting effect on us and become our all-time favourite. So, here is a list of books that will certainly bewitch you and make you fall in love with.

1.To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, was published in 1960. Lee is believed to be one of the most influential authors to have ever existed. The novel examines racism in the America through the innocent wide eyes of a clever young girl named Jean Louise (“Scout”) Finch. She watches her father, a sympathetic and just lawyer; defend a black man in the court. It changed the perspectives in the United States at a time when tensions regarding race were high. This novel beautifully deals with the issue of racism, righteousness, and dignity that earned it the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. Also, it was made into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962, giving the story and its characters further life.

2.The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger's classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion, was first published in 1951.The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. He narrates his story of how he left his preparatory school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York for three days. We learn about his life and his attempt to make sense of himself, meaning, and the events that have shaped him. This novel included in the Time’s 2005 list of 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, is a perfect articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure.

3.The Lord of The Rings

The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein is a fantasy-based fictional novel that leaves you wanting for more. The title of the novel is named after the story’s main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Poweras the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. But the One Ring was taken from him and despite his efforts, it remained lost to him. After many ages, it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. The adventure starts when the Bilbo disappears on his birthday and the quest for the rings began. The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955. The three volumes were titledThe Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers andThe Return of the King. In 2003, it was named Britain's best novel of all time in the BBC's The Big Read.

4.Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina is a novel written by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy and published in 1878. The eight-part towering work of fiction tells the story of two major characters: a tragic, disenchanted housewife, the titular Anna, who runs off with her young lover, and a love-struck landowner named Konstantin Levin, who struggles in faith and philosophy. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and must endure the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness. This award-winning team's authoritative edition also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. Beautiful, vigorous, and eminently readable, this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for generations to come.

5.One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude is the most famous work of the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. The novel, first published in Spanish as Cien años de soledad in 1967, is a tale of seven generations of the Buendía family that also spans 100 years of turbulent Latin American history. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity. You witness life in Latin America- its history, myths, and growth. The novel beautifully journeys through the establishment of Macondo town until its destruction along with the family’s last descendants. The novel won many awards for Márquez, ultimately winning the Nobel Prize for Literature 1982. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.

6.The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, distinguished as one of the greatest texts, is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set among the rich of the 1920’s New York City, the novel depicts the story of the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby who pursues his quixotic passion and obsession for the former debutante Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and thus gives the insider look of the “roaring” Jazz Age of 1920s.

7.Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 fantasy novel authored by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pen name Lewis Carroll. The novel depicts the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole in a mysterious place with peculiar creatures. The book contains wonderfully eccentric characters like the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter who will certainly leave their impression on your mind. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children.

8.Jane Eyre

This Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece was published in 1847 under the pen name Currer Bell. Jane Eyre is a first-person narrative of the title character, a small, plain-faced, intelligent and honest English orphan. The novel goes through five distinct stages: Jane's childhood at Gateshead, where she is abused by her aunt and cousins; her education at Lowood School, where she acquires friends and role models but also suffers privations; her time as the governess of Thornfield Manor, where she falls in love with her Byronic employer, Edward Rochester; her time with the Rivers family at Marsh's End (or Moor House) and Morton, where her cold clergyman-cousin St John Rivers proposes to her; and her reunion with and marriage to her beloved Rochester at his house of Ferndean. The work combines themes from both Gothic and Victorian literature, revolutionizing the art of the novel by focusing on the growth in Jane’s sensibility with internalized action and writing.

9.Midnight’s Children

Midnight's Children is a1981 novelbyBritish Indian author Salman Rushdie. It deals with India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of British India. The novel beautifully explores the essence of postcolonial, postmodern and magical realist literature. Saleem Sinai, the narrator of Midnight’s Children, opens the novel by explaining that he was born on midnight, August 15, 1947, at the exact moment India gained its independence from British rule.The novel goes on with Saleem’s story that is set in the context of actual historical events. Midnight's Children won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981. In 2003, the novel was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novels".

10.Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The series consists of 7 novels that depict the magical tale of a young boy named Harry Potter. Orphan Harry learns he is a wizard on his 11th birthday when Hagrid escorts him to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The story is about Harry’s struggle against Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who intends to become immortal. The novel is not only loved by “Potterheads”, but also by adults and kids. The series has been adapted into an eight-part namesake film series by Warner Bros. Pictures, making Harry Potter one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

So, this was the list of some books you should definitely read. As we all have different tastes, so the list may vary a bit for you. But whatever book it is, it transports us to a different world. As quoted by Jhumpa Lahiri, “That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” So next time when you grab a book, make sure you completely immerse in it.