Joseph Brodsky’s Reading List For Having an Intelligent Conversation

1.
Hamlet
Hamlet 4.03 avg rating — 1,020,142 ratings
2.
The Odyssey
The Odyssey
by: Homer
3.82 avg rating — 1,156,631 ratings
3.
Meditations: With Selected Correspondence
Meditations: With Selected Correspondence 4.25 avg rating — 661 ratings
4.
Don Quixote
Don Quixote 3.91 avg rating — 297,025 ratings
5.
The Republic
The Republic
by: Plato
3.96 avg rating — 220,194 ratings
6.
The Aeneid
The Aeneid
by: Virgil
3.87 avg rating — 139,141 ratings
7.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh
by: Anonymous
3.75 avg rating — 114,177 ratings
8.
Gulliver’s Travels
Gulliver’s Travels 3.59 avg rating — 293,919 ratings
9.
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso 4.08 avg rating — 167,102 ratings
10.
Beowulf
Beowulf
by: Unknown
3.50 avg rating — 338,029 ratings
11.
Macbeth
Macbeth 3.89 avg rating — 992,091 ratings
12.
The Iliad
The Iliad
by: Homer
3.92 avg rating — 494,649 ratings
13.
Oresteia
Oresteia
by: Aeschylus
4.02 avg rating — 45,634 ratings
14.
The Prince
The Prince 3.84 avg rating — 371,403 ratings
15.
The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha
The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha
by: Anonymous
3.87 avg rating — 774 ratings
16.
The Nicomachean Ethics
The Nicomachean Ethics
by: Aristotle
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 57,307 ratings
17.
The Complete Essays
The Complete Essays 4.23 avg rating — 21,559 ratings
18.
Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses
by: Ovid
4.10 avg rating — 76,400 ratings
19.
On the Nature of the Universe
On the Nature of the Universe
by: Lucretius
3.97 avg rating — 14,246 ratings
20.
The Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers 4.10 avg rating — 41,559 ratings
21.
Medea and Other Plays
Medea and Other Plays
by: Euripides
4.11 avg rating — 755 ratings
22.
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 2: The Symposium
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 2: The Symposium
by: Plato
4.09 avg rating — 85,852 ratings
23.
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost 3.85 avg rating — 177,950 ratings
24.
Poetics
Poetics
by: Aristotle
3.83 avg rating — 28,472 ratings
25.
Confessions
Confessions 3.99 avg rating — 71,260 ratings
26.
The Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita 4.19 avg rating — 78,219 ratings
27.
Pensées
Pensées 3.94 avg rating — 14,064 ratings
28.
Antigone, Oedipus the King and Electra
Antigone, Oedipus the King and Electra
by: Sophocles
3.95 avg rating — 16,391 ratings
29.
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov 4.38 avg rating — 369,514 ratings
30.
Discourse on Method and The Meditations
Discourse on Method and The Meditations 3.77 avg rating — 35,918 ratings
31.
The Twelve Caesars
The Twelve Caesars
by: Suetonius
4.02 avg rating — 22,149 ratings
32.
The Mahābhārata
The Mahābhārata 4.32 avg rating — 11,794 ratings
33.
The Histories
The Histories
by: Herodotus
4.01 avg rating — 54,681 ratings
34.
Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
Either/Or: A Fragment of Life 4.16 avg rating — 9,939 ratings
35.
Devils
Devils 4.30 avg rating — 59,723 ratings
36.
The Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War 3.94 avg rating — 39,936 ratings
37.
The Consolation of Philosophy
The Consolation of Philosophy
by: Boethius
4.05 avg rating — 17,140 ratings
38.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman 3.73 avg rating — 22,670 ratings
39.
Fear and Trembling
Fear and Trembling really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 29,957 ratings
40.
Notes from the Underground & The Gambler
Notes from the Underground & The Gambler 4.12 avg rating — 1,337 ratings
41.
Birds and Other Plays
Birds and Other Plays 4.11 avg rating — 1,656 ratings
42.
Democracy in America
Democracy in America 4.05 avg rating — 26,630 ratings
43.
The Red and the Black
The Red and the Black
by: Stendhal
3.86 avg rating — 81,051 ratings
44.
The Major Works
The Major Works 3.75 avg rating — 152 ratings
45.
The Eudemian Ethics
The Eudemian Ethics
by: Aristotle
3.98 avg rating — 446 ratings
46.
Les Liaisons dangereuses
Les Liaisons dangereuses 4.05 avg rating — 57,183 ratings
47.
The Analects
The Analects
by: Confucius
3.81 avg rating — 23,508 ratings
48.
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 1: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Gorgias, Menexenus
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 1: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Gorgias, Menexenus
by: Plato
4.17 avg rating — 148 ratings
49.
Leviathan
Leviathan 3.70 avg rating — 51,350 ratings
50.
The Love Poems
The Love Poems
by: Ovid
4.07 avg rating — 2,487 ratings
51.
De Anima
De Anima
by: Aristotle
4.03 avg rating — 6,549 ratings
52.
Physics
Physics
by: Aristotle
3.98 avg rating — 4,370 ratings
53.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3 4.02 avg rating — 15,256 ratings
54.
The Complete Poems
The Complete Poems
by: Catullus
4.10 avg rating — 11,443 ratings
55.
The Elder Edda: Myths, Gods, and Heroes from the Viking World (Legends from the Ancient North)
The Elder Edda: Myths, Gods, and Heroes from the Viking World (Legends from the Ancient North)
by: Unknown
4.26 avg rating — 11,712 ratings
56.
King Henry V
King Henry V 3.85 avg rating — 52,293 ratings
57.
Discourses and Selected Writings
Discourses and Selected Writings
by: Epictetus
4.41 avg rating — 10,864 ratings
58.
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Gargantua and Pantagruel 3.65 avg rating — 16,003 ratings
59.
The Major Works: Including Songs & Sonnets & Sermons
The Major Works: Including Songs & Sonnets & Sermons 4.19 avg rating — 392 ratings
60.
George Herbert: The Complete English Poems
George Herbert: The Complete English Poems 4.18 avg rating — 1,166 ratings
61.
The Eclogues and The Georgics
The Eclogues and The Georgics
by: Virgil
3.77 avg rating — 738 ratings
62.
The Little Flowers of St. Francis: An Entirely New Version, with 20 Additional Chapters, of the Christian Classic of the Ages
The Little Flowers of St. Francis: An Entirely New Version, with 20 Additional Chapters, of the Christian Classic of the Ages really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,690 ratings
63.
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Jason and the Golden Fleece 3.83 avg rating — 11,058 ratings
64.
Heroides
Heroides
by: Ovid
4.12 avg rating — 3,717 ratings
65.
The Education of Henry Adams
The Education of Henry Adams 3.63 avg rating — 4,868 ratings
66.
The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine
The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine
by: Eusebius
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4,722 ratings
66.
Selected Philosophical Writings
Selected Philosophical Writings 3.85 avg rating — 322 ratings
68.
Greek Lives
Greek Lives
by: Plutarch
4.05 avg rating — 691 ratings
69.
Roman Lives
Roman Lives
by: Plutarch
4.08 avg rating — 814 ratings
70.
The Complete Odes and Epodes
The Complete Odes and Epodes
by: Horatius
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,078 ratings
70.
The Letters of the Younger Pliny
The Letters of the Younger Pliny 3.92 avg rating — 1,999 ratings
72.
Two Treatises of Government
Two Treatises of Government 3.87 avg rating — 19,408 ratings
73.
Selected Essays
Selected Essays 3.96 avg rating — 436 ratings
74.
Fragments
Fragments 4.18 avg rating — 7,706 ratings
75.
A Treatise of Human Nature
A Treatise of Human Nature 3.95 avg rating — 12,538 ratings
76.
Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature
Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature 4.29 avg rating — 3,679 ratings
77.
Ethics
Ethics 4.10 avg rating — 20,278 ratings
77.
Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure Reason 3.96 avg rating — 40,916 ratings
79.
The Wealth of Nations, Books 1-3
The Wealth of Nations, Books 1-3 3.88 avg rating — 1,480 ratings
80.
My Life
My Life 3.98 avg rating — 3,496 ratings
81.
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra 3.71 avg rating — 42,725 ratings
82.
Essential Dialogues of Plato
Essential Dialogues of Plato
by: Plato
4.06 avg rating — 4,971 ratings
83.
The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings
The Labyrinth of Solitude and Other Writings 4.10 avg rating — 14,441 ratings
84.
The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies 4.22 avg rating — 2,502 ratings
85.
Crowds and Power
Crowds and Power 4.07 avg rating — 2,054 ratings
86.
The Complete Poems
The Complete Poems 3.99 avg rating — 1,732 ratings
87.
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 3: Ion, Hippias Minor, Laches, Protagoras
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 3: Ion, Hippias Minor, Laches, Protagoras
by: Plato
4.33 avg rating — 36 ratings
88.
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 4: Plato’s Parmenides
The Dialogues of Plato, Volume 4: Plato’s Parmenides
by: Plato
4.01 avg rating — 2,998 ratings
88.
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.14 avg rating — 11,765 ratings
90.
The Greek Anthology: And Other Ancient Greek Epigrams
The Greek Anthology: And Other Ancient Greek Epigrams
by: Peter Jay
4.26 avg rating — 84 ratings
91.
Selected Poems
Selected Poems really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings
91.
Defence of Socrates/Euthyphro/Crito
Defence of Socrates/Euthyphro/Crito
by: Plato
4.05 avg rating — 1,246 ratings
93.
Phaedo
Phaedo
by: Plato
4.07 avg rating — 15,815 ratings
93.
Plutarch's Lives
Plutarch's Lives
by: Plutarch
4.16 avg rating — 1,997 ratings
95.
The Annals/The Histories
The Annals/The Histories
by: Tacitus
4.04 avg rating — 358 ratings
96.
Idylls
Idylls 3.84 avg rating — 716 ratings
96.
The Song of Roland
The Song of Roland
by: Unknown
3.50 avg rating — 18,739 ratings
98.
The Charterhouse of Parma
The Charterhouse of Parma
by: Stendhal
3.79 avg rating — 19,482 ratings
98.
The Life of Henry Brulard
The Life of Henry Brulard
by: Stendhal
3.79 avg rating — 316 ratings
100.
The Histories
The Histories
by: Tacitus
4.13 avg rating — 3,900 ratings
Next