Best Books Ever at Project Gutenberg

I can’t say enough about the riches found in Project Gutenberg! I have found, downloaded and happily read loads of their books in Kindle format, online, or in pdf form–ALL for FREE.

Here I want to whet your appetite by pointing you to some lists of books. But before you delve into the lists below, keep in mind that you can subscribe to their monthly newsletter here, and learn some of the history of their beginnings starting in 1971.

Go ahead and dive into one of these books that you’ve heard of and always meant to read. Challenge yourself to read straight through to at least the end of the first chapter before you decide whether to keep reading or not.

I have done that challenge many, many times with classic books that I was convinced would be dry and dense, and repeatedly been pleasantly surprised by how quickly I became engaged in the story, and what an uplifting experience it was through to the end!

Whether you need a certain classic, or are just looking for your next quality read, here are the top books as of today in their “Best Books Ever” category, sorted by popularity. (Check out my recommendations after the lists!)

I concur with the recommendations of …

Pride and Prejudice (believe me, the book is far better than any of the movie adaptations!),

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (my sons laughed throughout the book as I read it out loud for bedtime),

Great Expectations (had to read it for high school and assumed it would be awful, but it turned out I just couldn’t put it down, loved it),

Treasure Island (not just for boys! this middle-aged woman loved it)

Don Quixote (see my reviews here and here)

[However, I did not enjoy reading Heart of Darkness. It was miserable and depressing and I didn’t find any redeeming qualities to make the misery worthwhile.]

OR…

Looking for a top quality author? Or more to read by a favorite author?

Check out their Top 100 Authors listing below. Here’s the listing for the past 30 days (showing how many downloads in parentheses).

I have taken the liberty of highlighting authors I am familiar with, who–in MY opinion–are well worth checking out!
Dickens, Charles (81172)
Austen, Jane (80746)
Doyle, Arthur Conan (61764)
Rizal, José (53999)
Twain, Mark (53385)
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (52126)
Wilde, Oscar (52108)
Carroll, Lewis (42389)
Shakespeare, William (39548)
Stevenson, Robert Louis (36602)
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor (32567)
Tolstoy, Leo, graf (31347)
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George) (31254)
Garnett, Constance (30801)
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott) (26219)
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (25917)
Stoker, Bram (25517)
Melville, Herman (25289)
Homer (24437)
Swift, Jonathan (24071)
Joyce, James (23551)
Ibsen, Henrik (23352)
Dumas, Alexandre (22586)
Verne, Jules (21986)
Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) (21911)
Derbyshire, Charles E. (20733)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel (20472)
Poe, Edgar Allan (20391)
Plato (20198)
Conrad, Joseph (20073)
Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) (20052)
Kipling, Rudyard (19601)
Jowett, Benjamin (18832)
Poblete, Pascual Hicaro (18331)
Doré, Gustave (17892)
Maude, Aylmer (17481)
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (17243)
London, Jack (17154)
Dante Alighieri (17126)
Kafka, Franz (16810)
Maude, Louise (16807)
Hugo, Victor (16457)
Russell, Bertrand (16273)
James, Henry (15588)
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith) (15522)
Brontë, Charlotte (15493)
Lang, Andrew (15453)
Alcott, Louisa May (15174)
Christie, Agatha (15079)
Grimm, Jacob (14913)
Grimm, Wilhelm (14913)
Wyllie, David (Translator) (14731)
Pope, Alexander (14606)
Widger, David (14370)
Shaw, Bernard (14218)
Smith, George O. (George Oliver) (13910)
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de (13495)
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich (13465)
Townsend, F. H. (Frederick Henry) (13061)
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville) (12939)
Defoe, Daniel (12384)
Kemble, E. W. (Edward Windsor) (12317)
Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew) (12303)
Thoreau, Henry David (12279)
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (12162)
Butler, Samuel (12038)
Balzac, Honoré de (12009)
Morley, Henry (11852)
Machiavelli, Niccolò (11814)
Burnett, Frances Hodgson (11444)
Leech, John (11381)
Thompson, Max C. (11273)
Craig, Austin (11177)
Hapgood, Isabel Florence (10761)
Hardy, Thomas (10757)
Emshwiller, Ed (10504)
Foote, Mary Hallock (10472)
Maupassant, Guy de (10459)
Marriott, W. K. (William Kenaz) (10443)
Scott, Walter (10377)
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir (10361)
Ipsen, Ludvig Sandöe (10344)
Anthony, A. V. S. (Andrew Varick Stout) (10344)
Mariano, Patricio (10191)
Bacon, Alice Mabel (10092)
Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) (10064)
Irving, Washington (10058)
Wharton, Edith (9947)
Buckley, Theodore Alois (9908)
Cary, Henry Francis (9638)
Robertson, James Alexander (9558)
Ormsby, John (9378)
Milne, A. A. (Alan Alexander) (9168)
Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) (9006)
Eliot, George (8998)
Ogden, C. K. (Charles Kay) (8808)
Wittgenstein, Ludwig (8770)
Blair, Emma Helen (8735)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice (8671)
Bourne, Edward Gaylord (8592)

HAPPY READING!