Dan Simmons' Must Reads for Writers

1.
Moll Flanders
Moll Flanders 3.51 avg rating — 48,076 ratings
2.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice 4.29 avg rating — 4,633,176 ratings
3.
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre 4.16 avg rating — 2,259,789 ratings
4.
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights 3.90 avg rating — 1,959,175 ratings
5.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 3.83 avg rating — 1,318,915 ratings
6.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Tess of the D'Urbervilles 3.84 avg rating — 297,807 ratings
7.
Gulliver’s Travels
Gulliver’s Travels 3.59 avg rating — 293,919 ratings
8.
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe 3.68 avg rating — 324,970 ratings
8.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling 3.75 avg rating — 34,037 ratings
10.
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park 3.86 avg rating — 371,687 ratings
11.
Emma
Emma 4.05 avg rating — 950,103 ratings
12.
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter 3.44 avg rating — 901,338 ratings
13.
David Copperfield
David Copperfield 4.04 avg rating — 253,091 ratings
14.
The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #1)
The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #1) 3.75 avg rating — 18,170 ratings
15.
Silas Marner
Silas Marner 3.69 avg rating — 91,975 ratings
16.
The Return of the Native
The Return of the Native 3.88 avg rating — 39,905 ratings
17.
The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence 3.97 avg rating — 189,916 ratings
18.
Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game
Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game 4.10 avg rating — 41,299 ratings
19.
Sons and Lovers
Sons and Lovers 3.64 avg rating — 55,119 ratings
20.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby 3.93 avg rating — 5,731,351 ratings
21.
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms 3.82 avg rating — 344,474 ratings
22.
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath 4.02 avg rating — 971,582 ratings
23.
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men 3.89 avg rating — 2,751,907 ratings
24.
The Plague
The Plague 4.02 avg rating — 300,321 ratings
25.
The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso
The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso 4.08 avg rating — 167,103 ratings
26.
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales 3.52 avg rating — 234,627 ratings
26.
Animal Farm
Animal Farm 4.01 avg rating — 4,356,280 ratings
28.
Don Quixote
Don Quixote 3.91 avg rating — 297,023 ratings
29.
Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady
Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady 3.39 avg rating — 8,499 ratings
29.
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies 3.70 avg rating — 3,117,439 ratings
31.
Tristam Shandy
Tristam Shandy 3.73 avg rating — 22,670 ratings
31.
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 753,913 ratings
33.
The Vicar of Wakefield
The Vicar of Wakefield 3.46 avg rating — 10,543 ratings
34.
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer 3.65 avg rating — 12,184 ratings
35.
Persuasion
Persuasion 4.15 avg rating — 752,798 ratings
36.
The Red and the Black
The Red and the Black
by: Stendhal
3.86 avg rating — 81,051 ratings
37.
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
Frankenstein: The 1818 Text 3.89 avg rating — 1,772,198 ratings
38.
Père Goriot
Père Goriot 3.85 avg rating — 64,956 ratings
39.
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities 3.88 avg rating — 996,424 ratings
40.
Great Expectations
Great Expectations 3.80 avg rating — 857,537 ratings
41.
Bleak House
Bleak House 4.02 avg rating — 112,456 ratings
42.
Barchester Towers (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #2)
Barchester Towers (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #2) 4.05 avg rating — 17,409 ratings
43.
Middlemarch
Middlemarch 4.03 avg rating — 174,973 ratings
44.
The Mill on the Floss
The Mill on the Floss 3.83 avg rating — 58,101 ratings
45.
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary 3.71 avg rating — 363,652 ratings
46.
Sentimental Education
Sentimental Education 3.81 avg rating — 24,079 ratings
47.
Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment 4.28 avg rating — 1,024,576 ratings
48.
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov 4.38 avg rating — 369,513 ratings
49.
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina 4.10 avg rating — 906,261 ratings
50.
Theresa Raquin
Theresa Raquin 3.73 avg rating — 36,721 ratings
51.
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge 3.86 avg rating — 65,074 ratings
52.
Jude the Obscure
Jude the Obscure 3.83 avg rating — 74,822 ratings
53.
The Ambassadors
The Ambassadors 3.63 avg rating — 12,857 ratings
54.
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady 3.80 avg rating — 84,057 ratings
55.
Lord Jim
Lord Jim 3.61 avg rating — 32,456 ratings
56.
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness 3.43 avg rating — 545,735 ratings
57.
Nostromo
Nostromo 3.81 avg rating — 17,603 ratings
58.
The Custom of the Country
The Custom of the Country 4.06 avg rating — 15,423 ratings
59.
Kim
Kim 3.70 avg rating — 39,386 ratings
60.
My Ántonia
My Ántonia 3.84 avg rating — 144,866 ratings
61.
A Lost Lady
A Lost Lady 3.72 avg rating — 7,898 ratings
62.
Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf 4.13 avg rating — 206,733 ratings
63.
The Jungle
The Jungle 3.78 avg rating — 152,235 ratings
64.
The Red Badge of Courage
The Red Badge of Courage 3.30 avg rating — 108,686 ratings
65.
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 3.31 avg rating — 9,338 ratings
66.
Howards End
Howards End 3.96 avg rating — 93,448 ratings
67.
A Passage to India
A Passage to India 3.68 avg rating — 84,383 ratings
68.
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway 3.78 avg rating — 341,938 ratings
69.
To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse 3.81 avg rating — 207,175 ratings
70.
A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man 3.64 avg rating — 160,995 ratings
71.
Ulysses
Ulysses 3.77 avg rating — 138,341 ratings
72.
The Castle
The Castle 3.92 avg rating — 71,985 ratings
73.
The Trial
The Trial 3.94 avg rating — 377,300 ratings
74.
The Rainbow
The Rainbow 3.70 avg rating — 21,411 ratings
75.
Women in Love
Women in Love 3.66 avg rating — 33,142 ratings
76.
Arrowsmith
Arrowsmith 3.84 avg rating — 8,373 ratings
77.
Babbitt
Babbitt 3.69 avg rating — 24,525 ratings
78.
Tender Is the Night
Tender Is the Night 3.77 avg rating — 146,419 ratings
79.
The Sound and the Fury
The Sound and the Fury 3.86 avg rating — 192,270 ratings
80.
Sanctuary (Faulkner novel)
Sanctuary (Faulkner novel) 3.63 avg rating — 14,459 ratings
81.
Light in August
Light in August 3.94 avg rating — 65,243 ratings
82.
Absalom, Absalom!
Absalom, Absalom! 3.99 avg rating — 47,014 ratings
83.
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises 3.79 avg rating — 482,028 ratings
84.
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea 3.81 avg rating — 1,265,648 ratings
85.
Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust
Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust 3.89 avg rating — 10,372 ratings
86.
1984
1984 4.20 avg rating — 5,226,181 ratings
87.
Brighton Rock
Brighton Rock 3.69 avg rating — 34,851 ratings
88.
All the King's Men
All the King's Men 4.09 avg rating — 65,741 ratings
89.
Native Son
Native Son 4.04 avg rating — 103,287 ratings
90.
The Stranger
The Stranger 4.03 avg rating — 1,315,481 ratings
91.
The Fixer
The Fixer 3.98 avg rating — 11,820 ratings
92.
The Tenants
The Tenants 3.60 avg rating — 1,167 ratings
93.
Herzog
Herzog 3.76 avg rating — 22,522 ratings
94.
Mr. Sammler's Planet
Mr. Sammler's Planet 3.75 avg rating — 3,816 ratings
95.
Humboldt's Gift
Humboldt's Gift 3.84 avg rating — 9,914 ratings
96.
The Moviegoer
The Moviegoer 3.64 avg rating — 30,277 ratings
97.
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 3.99 avg rating — 116,838 ratings
98.
The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories
The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories 3.79 avg rating — 25,467 ratings
99.
Nothing Like the Sun
Nothing Like the Sun 3.77 avg rating — 1,300 ratings
100.
The Good Apprentice
The Good Apprentice 3.85 avg rating — 1,707 ratings