My categories are somewhat arbitrary, I’m afraid, but I think they do the job. The distinction between classics and modern literary fiction is particularly fine, and the line between literary and genre fiction can be blurry at the margins. I have just gone with my gut in most cases. I may break down the larger categories if necessary later.
* denotes a title I read or saw live with my kids
Classic Fiction
Pre-1700
Beware the Cat William Baldwin
Gilgamesh* Traditional (retold by Bernarda Bryson)
Mythology* Traditional
Voices of the Winds: Native American Legends* Margot Edmonds & Ella E. Clark
1700-1800
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle Tobias Smollett
Candide Voltaire
Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne
1800-1900
Agnes Grey Anne Bronte
Around the World in 80 Days* Jules Verne
The Aspern Papers Henry James
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
Best Short Stories by Black Authors Various (edited by Langston Hughes)
The Blithedale Romance Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Bostonians Henry James
Can You Forgive Her? Anthony Trollope
Captains Courageous* Rudyard Kipling
Castle Nowhere Constance Fennimore Woolson
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County* Mark Twain
A Christmas Carol* Charles Dickens
The Claverings Anthony Trollope
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court* Mark Twain
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (pere)
The Country of the Pointed Firs Sarah Orne Jewett
Cousin Henry Anthony Trollope
Daniel Deronda George Eliot
Democracy Henry Adams
Dr. Thorne Anthony Trollope
Dracula Bram Stoker
Eight Novellas and Short Stories Henry James
Far From the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Germinal Emile Zola
The Gilded Age Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
The Golden Lion of Granpere Anthony Trollope
The Haunted Hotel Wilkie Collins
The Haunted Man Charles Dickens
Heart of Midlothian Sir Walter Scott
He Knew He Was Right Anthony Trollope
Huckleberry Finn* Mark Twain
The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Journey to the Center of the Earth* Jules Verne
The Jungle Books* Rudyard Kipling
Kidnapped* Robert Louis Stevenson
King Solomon’s Mines* H. Rider Haggard
The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope
The Last Man Mary Shelley
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow* Washington Irving
A London Life Henry James
Martin Chuzzlewit Charles Dickens
Middlemarch George Eliot
Mirgorod Nikolai Gogol
The Moonstone* Wilkie Collins
The Mysterious Island Jules Verne
No Name Wilkie Collins
The Old Country Sholem Aleichem
Old Mortality Sir Walter Scott
Orley Farm Anthony Trollope
Phineas Finn Anthony Trollope
The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
The Portrait of a Lady Henry James
Pudd’nhead Wilson Mark Twain
The Reverberator Henry James
Rip Van Winkle* Washington Irving
The Rise of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells
The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
Selected Short Stories and Sketches Sarah Orne Jewett
Sevastopol Sketches & Other Early Stories Leo Tolstoy
Silas Marner George Eliot
The Small House at Allington Anthony Trollope
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* Robert Lewis Stevenson
The Three Clerks Anthony Trollope
Three Men In A Boat* Jerome K. Jerome
The Time Machine* H. G. Wells
Tom Sawyer* Mark Twain
Treasure Island* Robert Lewis Stevenson
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncollected Stories Willa Cather
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
Washington Square Henry James
1900 and after
The Adventures of Sally P. G. Wodehouse
The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
Alarms and Diversions James Thurber
All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque
Amsterdam Stories Nescio
Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen* P. G. Wodehouse
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
Best Short Stories by Black Authors Various (edited by Langston Hughes)
Biffen’s Millions P. G. Wodehouse
Big Sur Jack Kerouac
Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison
Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut
Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder
The Call of the Wild* Jack London
Cannery Row John Steinbeck
Catch-22 Joseph Heller
The Catherine Wheel Jean Stafford
Chronicle of a Death Foretold* Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Cocktail Time P. G. Wodehouse
The Code of the Woosters P. G. Wodehouse
Complete Stories Evelyn Waugh
A Curtain of Green Eudora Welty
David Golder Irene Nemirovsky
Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather
The Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac
East of Eden John Steinbeck
Elmer Gantry Sinclair Lewis
Exile and the Kingdom Albert Camus
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
The Fall Albert Camus
The 42nd Parallel John Dos Passos
For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway
The Flying Inn G. K. Chesterton
Giovanni’s Room James Baldwin
The Golden Bowl Henry James
Goodbye Columbus and Other Stories Philip Roth
Great Classic Women’s Fiction* Various
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Group Mary McCarthy
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
The House of Mirth Edith Wharton
Jailbird Kurt Vonnegut
Jeeves and the Mating Season* P. G. Wodehouse
Just So Stories* Rudyard Kipling
Love Among the Chickens* P. G. Wodehouse
The Luck of the Bodkins P. G. Wodehouse
The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann
Manalive G. K. Chesterton
The Man of Property John Galsworthy
The Man Who Knew Too Much G. K. Chesterton
Maurice E. M. Forster
The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka
Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West
Money in the Bank P. G. Wodehouse
My Antonia Willa Cather
1919 John Dos Passos
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
O Pioneers! Willa Cather
The Optimist’s Daughter Eudora Welty
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson
Outcry Lu Xun
Pale Horse, Pale Rider Katherine Anne Porter
Q. E. D. Gertrude Stein
The Red Pony John Steinbeck
The Sacred Fount Henry James
The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad
Selected Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer
A Separate Peace John Knowles
Seven Japanese Tales Junichiro Tanizaki
The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles
Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut
The Song of the Lark Willa Cather
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
The Subterraneans Jack Kerouac
Summer Lightning* P. G. Wodehouse
Tender is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald
Thank You Jeeves* P. G. Wodehouse
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
The 13 Clocks* James Thurber
This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn Betty Smith
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller
Ulysses James Joyce
Uncle Dynamite* P. G. Wodehouse
Uncle Fred in the Springtime P. G. Wodehouse
Uncollected Stories Willa Cather
The Uncollected Wodehouse P. G. Wodehouse
Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad
White Fang* Jack London
The Wide Net Eudora Welty
The Wind in the Willows* Kenneth Grahame
The Wings of the Dove Henry James
The Wreath Sigrid Undset
Young Men in Spats P. G. Wodehouse
Modern Literary Fiction
English Language
Absurdistan Gary Shteyngart
All the Names They Used for God Anjali Sachdiva
America Is Not The Heart Elaine Castillo
Bad News Edward St. Aubyn
Be Frank With Me Julia Claiborne Johnson
Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson
Black Swan Green David Mitchell
The Book Thief Markus Zusak
Brick Lane Monica Ali
The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka
The Buried Giant Kazuo Ishiguro
A Burning Megha Majumdar
Circe Madeline Miller
Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr
Commonwealth Ann Patchett
The Consequences Manuel Munoz
Crooked Hallelujah Kelly Jo Ford
Crossroads Jonathan Franzen
Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese
Deacon King Kong James McBride
Divisadero Michael Ondaatje
Ella Minnow Pea Mark Dunn
English Music Peter Ackroyd
Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng
Exit West Mohsin Hamid
Fates and Furies Lauren Groff
Five-Carat Soul James McBride
Florida Lauren Groff
The Forty Rules of Love Elif Shafak
Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi
The Folks That Live On The Hill Kingsley Amis
A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles
Gold Boy, Emerald Girl Yiyun Li
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt
The Golem and the Jinni Helene Wecker
Good Evening, Mrs. Craven Mollie Panter-Downes
Go Tell It On The Mountain James Baldwin
Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Adichie
Hall of Small Mammals Thomas Pierce
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship… Alice Munro
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store James McBride
Heavy Water and Other Stories Martin Amis
The Home-Maker Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Homegoing Yaa Gyasi
The House On Mango Street Sandra Cisneros
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Julia Alvarez
I Am the Messenger Markus Zusak
Interior Chinatown Charles Yu
Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri
In the Presence of the Sun N. Scott Momaday
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
James Percival Everett
July’s People Nadine Gordimer
Kindred Octavia Butler
The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro
LaRose Louise Erdrich
La’s Orchestra Saves the World* Alexander McCall Smith
Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann
Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng
Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli
Luster Raven Leilani
Mariana Monica Dickens
McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon Joseph Mitchell
The Merry Spinster Daniel Mallory Ortberg
Mr. Gallion’s School Jesse Stuart
Moonglow Michael Chabon
The Moons of Jupiter Alice Munro
My Ex-Life Stephen McCauley
Native Speaker Chang-Rae Lee
Never Mind Edward St. Aubyn
The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich
Normal People Sally Rooney
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong
Open City Teju Cole
Out of the Silent Planet C. S. Lewis
Pachinko Min Jin Lee
The Penelopiad Margaret Atwood
Perelandra C. S. Lewis
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Adichie
Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
Refuge Dina Nayeri
Reinventing the Enemy’s Language (Part1) Various
The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid
The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
The Round House Louise Erdrich
Saplings Noel Streatfeild
The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie
The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
A Single Pebble John Hersey
Sing To It Amy Hempel
Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury
The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller
Starting Over Elizabeth Spencer
Stories From Quarantine Various Authors
Stories from the Tenants Downstairs Sidik Fofana
Strange Fruit Lillian Smith
Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart
Swing Time Zadie Smith
A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozeki
That Constant Coyote Gerald Haslam
That Hideous Strength C. S. Lewis
There There Tommy Orange
The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien
Till We Have Faces C. S. Lewis
Time and Time Again James Hilton
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin
Too Far To Walk John Hersey
Trans Atlantic Colum McCann
Transcendent Kingdom Yaa Gyasi
Thirteen Ways of Looking Colum McCann
The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead
Unsheltered Barbara Kingsolver
The Vagrants Yiyun Li
The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett
Wandering Stars Tommy Orange
Where the Dead Sit Talking Brandon Hobson
Wind From the Carolinas Robert Wilder
A Winter’s Love Madeleine L’Engle
Young Mungo Douglas Stuart
In Translation
Cathedral of the Sea Ildefonso Falcones
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
The Cypresses Believe in God José María Gironella
Diary of a Void Emi Yagi
Earthlings Sayaka Murata
The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery
Faces in the Crowd Valeria Luiselli
Foucault’s Pendulum Umberto Eco
The Garlic Ballads Mo Yan
Gourmet Rhapsody Muriel Barbery
Hadriana In All My Dreams Rene Depestre
Hard- boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Haruki Murakami
Italian Short Stories Various (edited by Jhumpa Lahiri)
Kitchen Banana Yoshimoto
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov
The Memory Police Yoko Ogawa
A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry Fredrik Backman
The Noodle Maker Ma Jian
Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami
Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz
The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf
Signs Preceding the End of the World Yuri Herrera
Stories From Quarantine Various Authors
The Stories of Eva Luna Isabel Allende
The Vegetarian Han Kang
Visitation Jenny Erpenbeck
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
Genre Fiction, Science Fiction, Mysteries, and Miscellaneous
Mysteries
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust Alan Bradley
Blue Shoes and Happiness* Alexander McCall Smith
Dark Fire C. J. Sansom
The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey
The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches Alan Bradley
Dissolution C. J. Sansom
The Double Comfort Safari Club* Alexander McCall Smith
A Duty to the Dead Charles Todd
Eight Perfect Murders Peter Swanson
The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde
The Full Cupboard of Life* Alexander McCall Smith
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive* Alexander McCall Smith
The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place Alan Bradley
The Guest List Lucy Foley
Have His Carcase Dorothy Sayers
I am Half-sick of Shadows Alan Bradley
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies* Alexander McCall Smith
The Kalahari Typing School for Men* Alexander McCall Smith
The Lie Tree Frances Hardinge
The Maid Nita Prose
The Miracle at Speedy Motors* Alexander McCall Smith
Morality for Beautiful Girls* Alexander McCall Smith
A Morbid Taste for Bones Ellis Peters
Murder on the Leviathan Boris Akunin
A Red Herring Without Mustard Alan Bradley
Revelation C. J. Sansom
Sovereign C. J. Sansom
Speaking From Among the Bones Alan Bradley
The Sunday Philosophy Club Alexander McCall Smith
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Alan Bradley
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built* Alexander McCall Smith
The Tears of the Giraffe* Alexander McCall Smith
There is a Tide Agatha Christie
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d Alan Bradley
Trent’s Last Case* E. C. Bentley
The Turkish Gambit Boris Akunin
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers* Jesse Sutanto
The Violin Conspiracy Brendan Slocumb
The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag Alan Bradley
The Winter Queen Boris Akunin
Horror
American Fantastic Tales Volume One Various
Ghost Story Peter Straub
The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson
Interview With The Vampire Anne Rice
Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman
Rosemary’s Baby Ira Levin
The Shining Stephen King
We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson
The Werewolf of Paris Guy Endore
Zone One Colson Whitehead
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Acceptance Jeff Vandermeer
Annihilation Jeff Vandermeer
Artemis Andy Weir
Authority Jeff Vandermeer
The Best of Gene Wolfe Gene Wolfe
The Dispossessed Ursula Le Guin
The Emissary Yoko Tawada
Exhalation Ted Chiang
Gifts* Ursula Le Guin
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy* Douglas Adams
Kindred Octavia Butler
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro
The Lathe of Heaven Ursula Le Guin
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula Le Guin
Lest Darkness Fall L. Sprague de Camp
Life, the Universe, and Everything* Douglas Adams
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul Douglas Adams
The Man In The High Castle Philip K. Dick
The Memory Librarian Janelle Monae, et al.
The Midnight Library Matt Haig
Parable of the Sower Octavia Butler
The Past is Red Catherynne Valente
A Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe* Douglas Adams
Sea of Tranquility Emily St. John Mandel
Space Opera Catherynne Valente
Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel
This is How You Lose the Time War Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
The Time Machine* H. G. Wells
Historical Fiction
Blue at the Mizzen Patrick O’Brian
The Commodore Patrick O’Brian
The Heaven Tree Edith Pargeter
The Hundred Days Patrick O’Brian
Margaret the First Danielle Dutton
The Letter of Marque Patrick O’Brian
Mozart’s Last Aria Matt Rees
The Nutmeg of Consolation Patrick O’Brian
The Thirteen Gun Salute Patrick O’Brian
The Truelove Patrick O’Brian
The Wine Dark Sea Patrick O’Brian
The Yellow Admiral Patrick O’Brian
Other Light Fiction or Genres
The Air You Breathe Frances de Pontes Peebles
All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders
Brooklyn Colm Toibin
Children of Blood and Bone Tomi Adeyemi
Daisy Jones and the Six Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Dirty Job Christopher Moore
Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk