MJ's Top 100 Books of All Time

Consider this an effervescent list. It will be updating as I read more, but I really just wanted to highlight my top 100 books. The order is also subject to change. I will also consider full series as one entry (series names will not be indented). Current order is as of September 18, 2026. Inclusion of an author is not an inherent promotion of their behavior or politics.

  1. Chlorine by Jade Song (magical realism)
  2. The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley (contemporary)
  3. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (classic)
  4. The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (science fiction)
  5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (classic)
  6. Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle (horror)
  7. The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling (historical fiction, fantasy, horror)
  8. Bunny duology by Mona Awad (contemporary, magical realism)
  9. Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie (science fiction)
  10. Great Cities duology by N.K. Jemisin (science fiction)
  11. The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams (theory, criticism)
  12. Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab (fantasy, historical fiction)
  13. Faebound trilogy by Saara El-Arifi (fantasy)
  14. Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter (dystopian)
  15. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (science fiction)
  16. Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta (contemporary)
  17. The Language of the Night: Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy by Ursula K. Le Guin (theory, criticism)
  18. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (science fiction)
  19. Future Home of the Living God Louise Erdrich (science fiction)
  20. Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All by Laura Bates (theory)
  21. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (historical fiction)
  22. The Expert of Subtle Revisions by Kirsten Menger-Anderson (magical realism)
  23. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (classic, paranomral, horror)
  24. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (classic)
  25. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (contemporary)
  26. Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers (science fiction)
  27. Orlando by Virginia Woolf (historical fiction, classic)
  28. James by Percival Everett (historical fiction)
  29. Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser (historical fiction, autofiction, criticism, theory)
  30. A Thousand Splended Suns by Khaled Hosseini (contemporary)
  31. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (contemporary)
  32. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (YA contemporary)
  33. Nightwood by Djuna Barnes (classic)
  34. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (contemporary)
  35. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (classic)
  36. This Movie Doesn't End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper (horror)
  37. Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin (horror, science fiction)
  38. Blood of Eden trilogy by Julie Kagawa (YA paranormal dystopian)
  39. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (YA contemporary)
  40. When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele (contemporary)
  41. Ash by Malinda Lo (YA fantasy)
  42. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (fantasy)
  43. The Book Thief by Marku Zusak (historical fiction)
  44. Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (dystopian)
  45. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (historical fiction)
  46. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (classic)
  47. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (fantasy)
  48. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (classic)
  49. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (YA magical realism)
  50. Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire (fantasy)
  51. These Letters End in Tears by Musih Tedji Xaviere (contemporary)
  52. A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper (horror)
  53. The Raven Cycle quartet by Maggie Stiefvater (YA fantasy)
  54. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (historical fiction)
  55. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (YA historical fiction)
  56. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa (theory, memoir, poetry)
  57. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (classic)
  58. Wound by Oksana Vasyakina (poetry, autofiction)
  59. The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates (memoir, theory)
  60. Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (YA contemporary)
  61. The Fifth Wound by Aurora Mattia (autofiction, contemporary)
  62. You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat (contemporary)
  63. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler (theory)
  64. Babel by R.F. Kuang (historical fiction, fantasy)
  65. I'm Glad my Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (memoir)
  66. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (historical fiction)
  67. Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor (YA fantasy)
  68. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (fantasy)
  69. Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler (theory)
  70. Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend by Rebecca Romney (biography, history, criticism)
  71. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (contemporary, fantasy)
  72. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (fantasy)
  73. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (fantasy)
  74. The Straight Mind and Other Essays by Monique Wittig (theory)
  75. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (classic)
  76. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (classic)
  77. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (classic)
  78. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (autofiction, theory)
  79. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (historical fiction, contemporary)
  80. Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt (horror)
  81. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (classic)
  82. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (fantasy, historical fiction, horror)
  83. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (contemporary)
  84. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (historical fiction)
  85. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (classic)
  86. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (classic)
  87. Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo (fantasy)
  88. Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (paranormal, historical fiction, horror)
  89. Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distresses that May Attend the Misconduct Both of Parents and Children, In Relation to Marriage by Samuel Richardson
  90. Persuasion by Jane Austen (classic)
  91. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (fantasy)
  92. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (classic)
  93. Woodworking by Emily St. James (contemporary)
  94. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (classic)
  95. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (science fiction)
  96. Emma by Jane Austen (classic)
  97. The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (fantasy, science fiction)
  98. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (contemporary, historical fiction)
  99. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (classic)
  100. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (fantasy)