Using the Goodreads website, I have rated every book I have ever read (the ones I can remember – I’m sure there are many missing, especially from the early years) on a scale of 1 to 5.  I’ve made a list of the books that I gave a five-star rating, which are set forth below in chronological order.

1. The Iliad. Homer (Ancient Greece, c. 800-750 BCE) [epic poem]
2. The Odyssey. Homer (Ancient Greece, c. 775-725 BCE) [epic poem]
3. The Oresteia. Aeschylus (Ancient Greece, 458 BCE) [drama]
4. The Histories. Herodotus (Ancient Greece, c. 460-420 BCE) [non-fiction: history]
5. Antigone. Sophocles (Ancient Greece, 441 BCE) [drama]
6. Oedipus the King. Sophocles (Ancient Greece, 429 BCE) [drama]
7. The Bacchae. Euripides (Ancient Greece, 405 BCE) [drama]
8. Great Dialogues of Plato. Plato. (Ed. by W.H.D. Rouse) (Ancient Greece, 400-350 BCE) [non-fiction: philosophy]
9. Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. Plutarch (Ancient Rome, 120 CE) [non-fiction: history/biography]
10. The Pillow Book. Sei Shonagon (Japan, 1002) [non-fiction: memoir/diary]
11. The Tale of Genji. Murasaki Shikibu (Japan, 1021) [fiction: novel]
12. The Divine Comedy. Dante Alighieri (Italy, 1308-1321] [epic poem]
13. The Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer (England, c. 1400) [poetry/fiction: stories]
14. Gargantua and Pantagruel. François Rabelais (France, 1532) [fiction: novel]
15. Essays. Michel de Montaigne (France, 1580) [non-fiction: essays]
16. The Comedy of Errors. William Shakespeare (England, 1589) [drama]
17. Richard III. William Shakespeare (England, 1591) [drama]
18. Romeo and Juliet. William Shakespeare (England, 1594) [drama]
19. Richard II. William Shakespeare (England, 1595) [drama]
20. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. William Shakespeare (England, 1595) [drama]
21. The Merchant of Venice. William Shakespeare (England, 1596) [drama]
22. King Henry IV, Part 1. William Shakespeare (England, 1597) [drama]
23. Julius Caesar. William Shakespeare (England, 1599) [drama]
24. Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare (England, 1599) [drama]
25. Hamlet. William Shakespeare (England, 1600) [drama]
26. Othello. William Shakespeare (England, 1604) [drama]
27. Macbeth. William Shakespeare (England, 1605) [drama]
28. King Lear. William Shakespeare (England, 1605) [drama]
29. Don Quixote. Miguel de Cervantes (Spain, 1605, 1615) [fiction: novel]
30. Two Treatises of Government. John Locke (England, 1689) [non-fiction: political philosophy]
31. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. John Locke (England, 1690) [non-fiction: philosophy]
32. Gulliver’s Travels. Jonathan Swift (Ireland, 1726) [fiction: novel]
33. A Treatise of Human Nature. David Hume (Scotland, 1740) [non-fiction: philosophy]
34. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. David Hume (Scotland, 1748) [non-fiction: philosophy]
35. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Henry Fielding (Great Britain, 1749) [fiction: novel]
36. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Laurence Sterne (Ireland, 1759) [fiction: novel]
37. Dream of the Red Chamber (The Story of the Stone) (China, 1763-1764) – Cao Xueqin and Guo E [fiction: novel]
38. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Immanuel Kant (Germany, 1783) [non-fiction: philosophy]
39. The Federalist Papers. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay (US, 1787-1788) [non-fiction: political philosophy]
40. The Complete Anti-Federalist. Herbert Storing, ed. (US, 1787-1788, pub. 1981) [non-fiction: political philosophy]
41. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen (UK, 1813) [fiction: novel]
42. Emma. Jane Austen (UK, 1815) [fiction: novel]
43. Ivanhoe. Walter Scott (UK, 1819) [fiction: novel]
44. The Red and the Black. Stendhal (France, 1830) [fiction: novel]
45. Le Père Goriot. Honoré de Balzac (France, 1835) [fiction: novel]
46. The Voyage of the Beagle. Charles Darwin (UK, 1839) [non-fiction: science/memoir]
47. Democracy in America. Alexis de Tocqueville (France, 1835-1840) [non-fiction: journalism/political philosophy]
48. Twice-Told Tales. Nathaniel Hawthorne (US, 1837-1842) [fiction: stories]
49. The Overcoat and Other Short Stories. Nikolai Gogol (Russia, 1842) [fiction: stories]
50. The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings. Edgar Allan Poe (US, 1843) [fiction: stories]
51. Mosses from an Old Manse. Nathaniel Hawthorne (US, 1846) [fiction: stories]
52. Cousin Bette. Honoré de Balzac (France, 1846) [fiction: novel]
53. Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë (UK, 1847) [fiction: novel]
54. Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë (UK, 1847) [fiction: novel]
55. Mardi, and a Voyage Thither. Herman Melville (US, 1849) [fiction: novel]
56. The Prelude. William Wordsworth (UK, 1850) [poetry: narrative]
57. Moby-Dick. Herman Melville (US, 1851) [fiction: novel]
58. Pierre: or, the Ambiguities. Herman Melville (US, 1852) [fiction: novel]
59. Walden, or Life in the Woods. Henry David Thoreau (US, 1854) [non-fiction: memoir/philosophy]
60. Leaves of Grass. Walt Whitman (US, 1st ed. 1855) [poetry]
61. Great Short Works. Herman Melville (US, 1850-1857) [fiction: stories/novellas]
62. On the Origin of Species. Charles Darwin (UK, 1859) [non-fiction: science]
63. Notes from Underground. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia, 1861) [fiction: novel]
64. Great Expectations. Charles Dickens (UK, 1861) [fiction: novel]
65. Fathers and Sons. Ivan Turgenev (Russia, 1862) [fiction: novel]
66. Crime and Punishment. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia, 1866) [fiction: novel]
67. The Last Chronicle of Barset. Anthony Trollope (UK, 1867) [fiction: novel]
68. The Idiot. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia, 1869) [fiction: novel]
69. War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1869) [fiction: novel]
70. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Jules Verne (France, 1869) [fiction: novel]
71. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. George Eliot (UK, 1871) [fiction: novel]
72. The Birth of Tragedy. Friedrich Nietzsche (Germany, 1872) [non-fiction: philosophy]
73. The Brothers Karamazov. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia, 1878) [fiction: novel]
74. Anna Karenina. Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1878) [fiction: novel]
75. The Return of the Native. Thomas Hardy (UK, 1878) [fiction: novel]
76. Life on the Mississippi. Mark Twain (US, 1883) [non-fiction: travel/memoir]
77. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain (US, 1884) [fiction: novel]
78. Beyond Good and Evil. Friedrich Nietzsche (Germany, 1886) [non-fiction: philosophy]
79. Kidnapped. Robert Louis Stevenson (UK, 1886) [fiction: novel]
80. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1886) [fiction: stories/novellas]
81. On the Genealogy of Morals. Friedrich Nietzsche (Germany, 1887) [non-fiction: philosophy]
82. The Maias. Eça de Queirós (Portugal, 1888) [fiction: novel]
83. Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Thomas Hardy (UK, 1891) [fiction: novel]
84. The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde (Ireland, 1894) [drama]
85. Jude the Obscure. Thomas Hardy (UK, 1895) [fiction: novel]
86. Dracula. Bram Stoker (Ireland, 1897) [fiction: novel]
87. Heart of Darkness. Joseph Conrad (UK, 1899) [fiction: novella]
88. Lord Jim. Joseph Conrad (UK, 1900) [fiction: novel]
89. Sister Carrie. Theodore Dreiser (US, 1900) [fiction: novel]
90. Kim. Rudyard Kipling (UK, 1901) [fiction: novel]
91. The Wings of the Dove. Henry James (US/UK, 1901) [fiction: novel]
92. The Ambassadors. Henry James (US/UK, 1903) [fiction: novel]
93. Great Short Works. Leo Tolstoy (Russia, 1859-1904, pub. 1967) [fiction: novellas]
94. The Golden Bowl. Henry James (US/UK, 1904) [fiction: novel]
95. Nostromo. Joseph Conrad (UK, 1904) [fiction: novel]
96. The House of Mirth. Edith Wharton (US, 1905) [fiction: novel]
97. Dubliners. James Joyce (Ireland, 1913) [fiction: stories]
98. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. Franz Kafka (Czechoslovakia, 1915) [fiction: story]
99. Sons and Lovers. D.H. Lawrence (UK, 1915) [fiction: novel]
100. The Good Soldier. Ford Madox Ford (UK, 1915) [fiction: novel]
101. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. James Joyce (Ireland, 1916) [fiction: novel]
102. Demian. Hermann Hesse (Germany, 1917) [fiction: novel]
103. The Magnificent Ambersons. Booth Tarkington (US, 1918) [fiction: novel]
104. Winesburg, Ohio. Sherwood Anderson (US, 1919) [fiction: stories]
105. Women in Love. D.H. Lawrence (UK, 1920) [fiction: novel]
106. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Ludwig Wittgenstein (Austria, 1921) [non-fiction: philosophy]
107. Six Characters in Search of An Author. Luigi Pirandello (Italy, 1921) [drama]
108. Siddhartha. Hermann Hesse (Germany, 1922) [fiction: novel]
109. Ulysses. James Joyce (Ireland, 1922) [fiction: novel]
110. Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph. T.E. Lawrence (UK, 1922) [non-fiction: memoir/history]
111. Billy Budd, Sailor. Herman Melville (US, pub. 1924) [fiction: novella]
112. The Magic Mountain. Thomas Mann (Germany, 1924) [fiction: novel]
113. The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald (US, 1925) [fiction: novel]
114. Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Woolf (UK, 1925) [fiction: novel]
115. The Trial. Franz Kafka (Czechoslovakia, 1925) [fiction: novel]
116. The Castle. Franz Kafka (Czechoslovakia, 1926) [fiction: novel]
117. Steppenwolf. Hermann Hesse (Germany, 1927) [fiction: novel]
118. Him. E.E. Cummings (US, 1927) [drama]
119. To the Lighthouse. Virginia Woolf (UK, 1927) [fiction: novel]
120. Death Comes for the Archbishop. Willa Cather (US, 1927) [fiction: novel]
121. Orlando: A Biography. Virginia Woolf (UK, 1928) [fiction: novel]
122. Look Homeward, Angel. Thomas Wolfe (US, 1929) [fiction: novel]
123. The Sound and the Fury. William Faulkner (US, 1929) [fiction: novel]
124. As I Lay Dying. William Faulkner (US, 1930) [fiction: novel]
125. Light in August. William Faulkner (US, 1932) [fiction: novel]
126. Mutiny on the Bounty; Men Against the Sea; Pitcairn’s Island. Charles Nordhoff & James Hall (US, 1932-1934) [fiction: novels]
127. Independent People. Halldór Laxness (Iceland, 1934) [fiction: novel]
128. Selected Poems. T.S. Eliot (US/UK, 1934) [poetry]
129. The Book of Disquiet. Fernando Pessoa (Portugal, 1935) [fiction: novel]
130. Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner (US, 1936) [fiction: novel]
131. U.S.A. John Dos Passos (US, 1930-1936) [fiction: novels]
132. Life Long Ago: The Story of Fossils. Carroll Lane Fenton (US, 1937) [non-fiction: science]
133. Babylon Revisited and Other Stories. F. Scott Fitzgerald (US, 1937) [fiction: stories]
134. The Hobbit. J.R.R. Tolkein (UK, 1937) [fiction: novel]
135. Nausea. Jean-Paul Sartre (France, 1938) [fiction: novel]
136. At Swim-Two-Birds. Flann O’Brien (Ireland, 1939) [fiction: novel]
137. An Inquiry Into Meaning and Truth. Bertrand Russell (UK, 1940 [non-fiction: philosophy]
138. American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman. F.O. Matthiessen (US, 1941) [non-fiction: literary criticism]
139. The Glass Bead Game. Hermann Hesse (Germany, 1943) [fiction: novel]
140. A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary. Anonymous (Marta Hillers) (Germany, 1945; pub. 1954) [non-fiction: diary]
141. Hiroshima. John Hersey (US, 1946) [non-fiction: journalism]
142. All the King’s Men. Robert Penn Warren (US, 1946) [fiction: novel]
143. Under the Volcano. Malcolm Lowry (UK, 1947) [fiction: novel]
144. A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Roger Tory Peterson (US, 1947) [non-fiction: birding]
145. The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It. Richard Hofstadter (US, 1948) [non-fiction: history]
146. Cry, the Beloved Country. Alan Paton (South Africa, 1948) [fiction: novel]
147. Intruder in the Dust. William Faulkner (US, 1948) [fiction: novel]
148. No Exit and Three Other Plays. Jean-Paul Sartre (France, 1949) [drama]
149. The Concept of Mind. Gilbert Ryle (UK, 1949) [non-fiction: philosophy]
150. Death of a Salesman. Arthur Miller (US, 1949) [drama]
151. The Myth of the Eternal Return, or Cosmos and History. Mircea Eliade (Romania/UK, 1949) [non-fiction: history/religion]
152. The Catcher in the Rye. J.D. Salinger (US, 1951) [fiction: novel]
153. Memoirs of Hadrian. Marguerite Yourcenar (France, 1951) [fiction: novel]
154. Invisible Man. Ralph Ellison (UK, 1952) [fiction: novel]
155. Language, Truth and Logic. A.J. Ayer (US, 1952) [non-fiction: philosophy]
156. Foundation; Foundation & Empire; Second Foundation. Isaac Asimov (US, 1951-1953) [fiction: novels]
157. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories. Flannery O’Connor (US, 1953) [fiction: stories]
158. Nine Stories. J.D. Salinger (US, 1953) [fiction: stories]
159. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Walter Kaufmann, ed. (US, 1953) [non-fiction: philosophy]
160. Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable: A Trilogy. Samuel Beckett (Ireland/France, 1951-1953) [fiction: novels]
161. Waiting for Godot. Samuel Beckett (Ireland/France, 1953) [drama]
162. Lucky Jim. Kingsley Amis (UK, 1954) [fiction: novel]
163. Lord of the Flies. William Golding (UK, 1954) [fiction: novel]
164. The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien (UK, 1954-1955) [fiction: novels]
165. Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov (USSR/US, 1955) [fiction: novel]
166. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction. J.D. Salinger (US, 1955) [fiction: novellas]
167. How to Do Things with Words. J.L. Austin (UK, 1955) [non-fiction: philosophy/linguistics]
168. The Inheritors. William Golding (UK, 1955) [fiction: novel]
169. The Stones of Florence. Mary McCarthy (US, 1956) [non-fiction: travel/history]
170. Great American Short Stories. Mary Stegner, ed. (US, 1957) [fiction: stories]
171. A Death in the Family. James Agee (US, 1957) [fiction: novel]
172. First Love and Other Sorrows. Harold Brodkey (US, 1958) [fiction: stories]
173. The Tin Drum. Günter Grass (Germany, 1959) [fiction: novel]
174. The Alexandria Quartet. Lawrence Durrell (UK, 1957-1960) [fiction: novels]
175. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. William L. Shirer (US, 1960) [non-fiction: history]
176. Franny and Zooey. J.D. Salinger (US, 1961) [fiction: novellas]
177. Catch-22. Joseph Heller (US, 1961) [fiction: novel]
178. A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess (UK, 1962) [fiction: novel]
179. The Golden Notebook. Doris Lessing (UK, 1962) [fiction: novel]
180. Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings. Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina, 1962) [fiction: stories/non-fiction: essays]
181. The Mentor Book of Major American Poets. Oscar Williams, ed. (US, 1962) [poetry]
182. Cat’s Cradle. Kurt Vonnegut (US, 1963) [fiction: novel]
183. V. Thomas Pynchon (US, 1963) [fiction: novel]
184. Metaphysics. Richard Taylor (US, 1963) [non-fiction: philosophy]
185. Giles Goat-Boy. John Barth (US, 1966) [fiction: novel]
186. Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. William Hinton (US, 1966) [non-fiction: history]
187. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Gabriel García Marquez (Colombia, 1967) [fiction: novel]
188. The Double Helix. James Watson (US, 1968) [non-fiction: science]
189. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Tom Wolfe (US, 1968) [non-fiction: journalism]
190. A Theory of Justice. John Rawls (US, 1971) [non-fiction: political philosophy]
191. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hunter S. Thompson (US, 1971) [non-fiction: journalism/memoir]
192. Diet for a Small Planet. Frances Moore Lappé (US, 1971) [non-fiction: food]
193. Invisible Cities. Italo Calvino (Italy, 1972) [fiction: novel]
194. Complete Poems 1913-1962. E.E. Cummings (US, 1972) [poetry]
195. Henry James: A Life (1 Vol.). Leon Edel (US/Canada, 1953-1972) [non-fiction: biography]
196. Breakfast of Champions. Kurt Vonnegut (US, 1973) [fiction: novel]
197. Gravity’s Rainbow. Thomas Pynchon (US, 1973) [fiction: novel]
198. The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (USSR, 1973) [non-fiction: history]
199. The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir. Alice S. Rossi, ed. (US, 1973) [non-fiction: history/sociology]
200. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. Robert M. Pirsig (US, 1974) [non-fiction: philosophy/memoir]
201. All the President’s Men. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (US, 1974) [non-fiction: journalism/history]
202. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Annie Dillard (US, 1974) [non-fiction: nature]
203. Ragtime. E.L. Doctorow (US, 1975) [fiction: novel]
204. The Selfish Gene. Richard Dawkins (UK, 1976) [non-fiction: science]
205. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Tom Robbins (US, 1976) [fiction: novel]
206. Song of Solomon. Toni Morrison (US, 1977) [fiction: novel]
207. The Stories of John Cheever. John Cheever (US, 1978) [fiction: stories]
208. The Family Crucible. Augustus Napier & Carl Whitaker (US, 1978) [non-fiction: psychology]
209. A Sierra Club Naturalist’s Guide to Southern New England. Neil Jorgensen (US, 1978) [non-fiction: science/nature]
210. On Human Nature. E.O. Wilson (US, 1978) [non-fiction: science]
211. The Snow Leopard. Peter Matthiessen (US, 1978) [non-fiction: travel/science/memoir]
212. So Long, See You Tomorrow. William Maxwell (US, 1979) [fiction: novel]
213. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Italo Calvino (Italy, 1979) [fiction: novel]
214. Cruel Shoes. Steve Martin (US, 1979) [non-fiction: humor]
215. A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present. Howard Zinn (US, 1980) [non-fiction: history]
216. Still Life with Woodpecker. Tom Robbins (US, 1980) [fiction: novel]
217. The Collected Stories. Eudora Welty (US, 1980) [fiction: stories]
218. Midnight’s Children. Salman Rushdie (UK/India, 1981) [fiction: novel]
219. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Raymond Carver (US, 1981) [fiction: stories]
220. The White Hotel. D.M. Thomas (UK, 1981) [fiction: novel]
221. The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Ernst Mayr (US, 1982) [non-fiction: science/history]
222. Philosophy in the Twentieth Century. A.J. Ayer (UK, 1982) [non-fiction: philosophy]
223. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. Robert Middlekauff (US, 1982) [non-fiction: history]
224. Natural Landscaping: Designing with Native Plant Communities. John Diekelmann & Robert Schuster (US, 1982) [non-fiction: gardening/science]
225. Love Is Hell. Matt Groening (US, 1982) [comic book]
226. Money: A Suicide Note. Martin Amis (UK, 1984) [fiction: novel]
227. Seven Plays. Sam Shepard. (US, 1984) [drama]
228. The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers. John Gardner (US, 1984) [non-fiction: writing]
229. White Noise. Don DeLillo (US, 1985) [fiction: novel]
230. Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. Anthony J. Lukas (US, 1985) [non-fiction: journalism/history]
231. Maus, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History. Art Spiegelman (US, 1986) [non-fiction: graphic memoir/history]
232. A Short History of the Movies. Gerald Mast (US, 1986) [non-fiction: film]
233. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Richard Rhodes (US, 1986) [non-fiction: history/science]
234. World’s End. T.C. Boyle (US, 1987) [fiction: novel]
235. Beloved. Toni Morrison (US, 1987) [fiction: novel]
236. The New York Trilogy. Paul Auster (US, 1987) [fiction: novels]
237. And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic. Randy Shilts (US, 1987) [non-fiction: journalism/history]
238. Oscar and Lucinda. Peter Carey (Australia, 1988) [fiction: novel]
239. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. James M. McPherson (US, 1988) [non-fiction: history]
240. The Power of Myth. Joseph Campbell (with Bill Moyers) (US, 1988) [non-fiction: philosophy/religion]
241. Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album By Album, Song By Song, The Sixties and After. Tim Riley (US, 1988) [non-fiction: music]
242. Where I’m Calling From: New and Selected Stories. Raymond Carver (US, 1988) [fiction: stories]
243. The Complete Birder: A Guide to Better Birding. Jack Connor (US, 1988) [non-fiction: birding]
244. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63. Taylor Branch (US, 1988) [non-fiction: biography/history]
245. The Oxford History of Britain. Kenneth O. Morgan (UK, 1988) [non-fiction: history]
246. John Kobal Presents the Top 100 Movies. John Kobal (Austria/UK, 1988) [non-fiction: film]
247. Modern Ireland: 1600-1972. R.F. Foster (Ireland, 1989) [non-fiction: history]
248. Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Frederick Hartt (US, 1989 – 3rd Edition) [non-fiction: art history]
249. The Things They Carried. Tim O’Brien (US, 1990) [fiction: stories]
250. Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The Story of the Scientific Quest for the Secret of the Universe. Dennis Overbye (US, 1991) [non-fiction: science]
251. Consciousness Explained. Daniel C. Dennett (US, 1991) [non-fiction: philosophy/neuroscience]
252. Mating. Norman Rush (US, 1991) [fiction: novel]
253. Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary. Tim Riley (US, 1992) [non-fiction: music]
254. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. Julie Cameron (US, 1992) [non-fiction: creativity]
255. Truman. David McCullough (US, 1992) [non-fiction: biography/history]
256. Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca–Bogart, Bergman, and World War II. Aljean Harmetz (US, 1992) [non-fiction: film]
257. Charles Darwin: Voyaging. Janet E. Browne (UK, 1995) [non-fiction: biography/science]
258. Ship Fever: Stories. Andrea Barrett (US, 1996) [fiction: stories]
259. Infinite Jest. David Foster Wallace (US, 1996) [fiction: novel]
260. The God of Small Things. Arundhati Roy (India, 1997) [fiction: novel]
261. American Pastoral. Philip Roth (US, 1997) [fiction: novel]
262. Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Richard Fortey (UK, 1997) [non-fiction: science]
263. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. Philip Gourevich (UK, 1998) [non-fiction: journalism/history]
264. Annals of the Former World. John McPhee (US, 1998) [non-fiction: science/journalism]
265. White Teeth. Zadie Smith (UK, 1999) [fiction: novel]
266. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. Tony Judt (UK, 1999) [non-fiction: history]
267. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Dave Eggers (US, 2000) [non-fiction: memoir]
268. John Adams. David McCullough (US, 2001) [non-fiction: biography/history]
269. Peace Like a River. Leif Enger (US, 2001) [fiction: novel]
270. Atonement. Ian McEwan (UK, 2001) [fiction: novel]
271. Austerlitz. W.G. Sebald (Germany, 2001) [fiction: novel]
272. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place. Janet E. Browne (UK, 2002) [non-fiction: biography/science]
273. Middlesex. Jeffrey Eugenides (US, 2002) [fiction: novel]
274. The Known World. Edward P. Jones (US, 2003) [fiction: novel]
275. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Bill Bryson (US/UK, 2003) [non-fiction: science]
276. They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967. David Maraniss (US, 2003) [non-fiction: history]
277. The Stories of English. David Crystal (UK, 2004) [non-fiction: history/linguistics]
278. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Steve Coll (US, 2004) [non-fiction: journalism/history]
279. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Charles C. Mann (US, 2005) [non-fiction: science/history]
280. Never Let Me Go. Kazuo Ishiguro (UK, 2005) [fiction: novel]
281. Europe Central. William T. Vollmann (US, 2005) [fiction: novel]
282. The Rough Guide To Classical Music. Duncan Clark (US, 2005) [non-fiction: music]
283. The Year of Magical Thinking. Joan Didion (US, 2005) [non-fiction: memoir]
284. What Is the What. Dave Eggers (US, 2006) [fiction: novel]
285. The Inheritance of Loss. Kiran Desai (India/US, 2006) [fiction: novel]
286. The Road. Cormac McCarthy (US, 2006) [fiction: novel]
287. James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. Julie Phillips (US, 2006) [non-fiction: biography]
288. American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now. Philip Lopate, ed. (US, 2006) [non-fiction: film]
289. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Michael Pollan (US, 2006) [non-fiction: food]
290. Cleopatra: A Life. Stacy Schiff (US, 2006) [non-fiction: biography/history]
291. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million. Daniel Mendelsohn (US, 2006) [non-fiction: history/memoir]
292. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. Alex Ross (US, 2007) [non-fiction: music]
293. The Hemingses of Monticello. Annette Gordon-Reed (US, 2008) [non-fiction: history/biography]
294. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. Mark Harris (US, 2008) [non-fiction: film]
295. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Isabel Wilkerson (US, 2010) [non-fiction: history]
296. There But For The. Ali Smith (UK, 2011) [fiction: novel]
297. Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music – The Definitive Life. Tim Riley (US, 2011) [non-fiction: biography/music]
298. Conversations with Scorsese. Richard Schickel (US, 2011) [non-fiction: film]
299. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. Robert K. Massie (US, 2011) [non-fiction: biography/history]
300. The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code. Margalit Fox (US, 2013) [non-fiction: history/archaeology]
301. Lawrence in Arabia; War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Scott Anderson (US, 2013)  [non-fiction: history/biography]
302. Tenth of December. George Saunders (US, 2013) [fiction: stories]
303. The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child. Elena Ferrante (Italy, 2011-2014) [fiction: novels]
304. Citizen: An American Lyric. Claudia Rankine (US, 2014)
305. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. David W. Blight (US, 2018) [non-fiction: biography]
306. Loving Orphaned Space: The Art and Science of Belonging to Earth. Mrill Ingram (US, 2022) [non-fiction: environmental science; art]