Once Upon a Bestseller
This bestselling 1980 Stephen King novel tells the story of a young girl named Charlie McGee who possesses pyrokinetic abilities.
Firestarter
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, this American author adopted a pen name that referred to a riverboat measurement of two fathoms, or 12 feet, of water.
Mark Twain
This British author's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, appeared in 1920 and introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. She later created the equally famous Miss Marple.
Agatha Christie
Published in 1974, Stephen King's debut novel centers on this bullied teenager, whose telekinetic powers erupt into a deadly rampage following a cruel prank at her high school prom.
Carrie
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, Harry's original wand contains a phoenix feather core surrounded by wood from this tree, traditionally associated with protection.
Holly
This 1847 Charlotte Brontë novel tells the story of an orphaned governess who falls in love with the mysterious master of Thornfield Hall, only to uncover his shocking marital secret.
Jane Eyre
In Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, this mischievous boy, dressed in a wolf costume, sails to an island of monsters and becomes their king.
Max
In this Shakespeare tragedy set in Denmark, a young prince encounters his father's ghost, stages a performance to expose a murderer, and participates in a deadly fencing match.
Hamlet
This 1991 John Grisham legal thriller follows young attorney Mitch McDeere, who discovers his prestigious Memphis law firm is connected to organized crime.
The Firm
Before becoming internationally famous, this Victorian author published Sketches by Boz under a nickname derived from a childhood nickname of his younger brother.
Charles Dickens
This pioneering African American crime novelist introduced Blanche White, a sharp-eyed housekeeper and amateur detective, in her award-winning 1992 debut Blanche on the Lam. She was named a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master in 2020.
Barbara Neely
In King's second published novel, writer Ben Mears returns to a small Maine town and discovers that its residents are falling victim to an epidemic of vampirism.
Salems Lot
Unlike the famous ruby slippers in the 1939 movie, Dorothy's magical shoes in L. Frank Baum's original 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are this color.
Silver
This 1991 Diana Gabaldon novel follows a married World War II nurse who travels through ancient standing stones and finds herself in 1743 Scotland, where she falls in love with a Highland warrior.
Outlander
Margery Williams wrote this 1922 classic about a stuffed toy who learns from the wise Skin Horse that a child's love can make a toy real.
The Velveteen Rabbit
In this tragedy set partly in Cyprus, a jealous military commander is deceived into believing his wife is unfaithful after a handkerchief is used as false evidence of an affair.
Othello
This E. L. Doctorow bestseller, published in 1975, intertwines fictional families with historical figures such as Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, and Evelyn Nesbit.
Ragtime
This reclusive American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, wrote nearly 1,800 poems, but only a handful appeared in print during her lifetime.
Emily Dickinson
This American journalist secretly wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew mystery books under the shared pen name Carolyn Keene, helping shape one of fiction's most recognizable teenage detectives.
Mildred Wirt Benson
In this 1979 novel, former teacher Johnny Smith awakens from a five-year coma with the ability to glimpse a person's past or future through physical contact.
The Dead Zone
In Le Guin's Earthsea novels, this island is home to the famous school where young men study wizardry and learn the power of true names.
Roke
This 2003 Audrey Niffenegger novel explores the unusual marriage of librarian Henry DeTamble and artist Clare Abshire, complicated by his involuntary journeys into the past and future.
The Time Traveler's Wife
In this 1955 Crockett Johnson picture book, a young boy draws a moon, a winding path, and his own adventures before eventually finding his way back to bed.
Harold and the Purple Crayon
In this tragedy about an aging British monarch, a king divides his kingdom between two flattering daughters after his youngest daughter refuses to exaggerate her love for him.
King Lear
Erich Segal wrote this 1970 romantic bestseller about Oliver Barrett IV and Jennifer Cavilleri, whose love story ends tragically.
Love Story
In 1993, this poet and author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became the first African American and first woman to read a poem at a U.S. presidential inauguration.
Maya Angelou
This American novelist created aristocratic Scotland Yard detective Thomas Lynley, the eighth Earl of Asherton, and his working-class partner Barbara Havers in her debut mystery A Great Deliverance.
Elizabeth George
Published in 1992, this Stephen King novel follows Jessie Burlingame, who becomes trapped while handcuffed to a bed after her husband suddenly dies during a weekend at their secluded summer home.
Gerald's Game
In Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle, the Witch of the Waste places a spell on this young hatmaker, transforming her into an elderly woman.
Sophie Hatter
In this Taylor Jenkins Reid bestseller, an aging Hollywood actress reveals the truth behind her multiple marriages, the secrets of her career, and the great forbidden love of her life.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, this 1999 rhyming picture book features a clever mouse who invents a terrifying woodland monster to frighten a fox, owl, and snake.
The Gruffalo
This Shakespeare history play centers on England's victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and includes the famous Saint Crispin's Day speech.
Henry V
This Paula Hawkins bestseller from 2015 revolves around Rachel Watson, an alcoholic commuter who becomes entangled in a missing-person investigation after observing a couple from her train.
The Girl on the Train
This Colombian Nobel Prize-winning author created the fictional town of Macondo and chronicled generations of the Buendía family in his 1967 masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Gabriel García Márquez
This American psychological suspense author created Tom Ripley and wrote the 1950 novel Strangers on a Train, about two men who discuss exchanging murders. Alfred Hitchcock adapted the latter into a 1951 film.
Patricia Highsmith
In 11/22/63, schoolteacher Jake Epping discovers a portal inside a diner's storeroom that transports him to this particular year, giving him several years to prepare to prevent President Kennedy's assassination.
1958
In Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, the wizard Gandalf was originally known by this Quenya name in Valinor before he came to Middle-earth as one of the Istari.
Olórin
This Boris Pasternak novel, first published in Italy in 1957, explores the romance between Yuri and Lara during the turmoil of revolution and civil war in Russia.
Doctor Zhivago
In this 1961 Norton Juster fantasy novel, a bored boy named Milo drives through a mysterious magical gateway and encounters Dictionopolis, a ticking watchdog, and the princesses Rhyme and Reason.
The Phantom Tollbooth
This Shakespeare play features a moneylender named Shylock, a contract demanding a pound of human flesh, and a wealthy heiress whose suitors must choose between gold, silver, and lead caskets.
The Merchant of Venice