This is really difficult. I have read a lot of great books, mostly because my taste is picky and I don’t even bother finishing a book if it’s not great. I’m the guy who walks out of bad movies and I’m the guy who donates the worst books I have read to charity.

Nevertheless, here is what I think of as the top twenty greatest books I have ever read. I ranked these by enjoyment, not by importance. Mind you, they’re not the greatest of all time, just my favorites:

1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

2. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

4. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

5. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

6. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

8. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

9. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

10. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

11. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

12. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb

13. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

14. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

15. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

16. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

17. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

18. Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina

19. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

20. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

So there you have it. That was every bit as difficult as expected. I hope it wasn’t difficult for you to read or agree with.

Try posting your own list (if you’ve read 20 novels to rank.)