After many years of oblivion, the book is again becoming a fashionable attribute in the hands of a person who wants to be known as an intellectual. Of course, today's popularity of literature cannot be compared with the reading boom of the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties, when children sometimes had to be torn away from the adventures of their favorite characters, but there is quite a logical explanation. There were no tablets, laptops and other computer miracles then, and something exciting was rarely shown on TV. The question of what is read today in Russia and the world requires a detailed answer. Different books have a target audience… you can’t call it an audience, audio is when they listen. In general, the reader of different genres is different, but they are all good, except for the boring one, as the classic said.

Classic

It is still popular, moreover, its scope has expanded significantly. Those writers who quite recently (in the historical sense, of course) were classified as fiction fell into its category. To the contemporaries of Jack London or Antosha Chekhonte, who lived at the beginning of the twentieth century, these wonderful masters of plot and words seemed ordinary people, contemporaries who successfully applied their talent (or even just abilities) in order to gain A.P. Chekhov himself believed that his works would be read and staged in the theater for at most a few years, and then forgotten. Fortunately, the classic was wrong. His stories and novels are still popular today, they are more popular than most of the creations of modern authors, those that are read today. It is he who leads the rating, and not only in Russia, but also in many other countries (in Japan, for example), where, in addition to selling books, performances based on his plays are most often staged, interpreting them each time in a new way. The inhabitants of the planet are also not indifferent to Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Dreiser, London, Dickens, Bulgakov. A few more are in the top ten favorite writers, but in different countries ah they occupy different positions. Classics are read most often from paper media, so it's more interesting.

Criteria

rate the most books read today is difficult. For this, different methods are used, the main of which is circulation. This method of analysis is of the greatest practical importance, especially for publishers and printers interested in the largest possible sales of their products. However, this approach has an approximate relation to the true state of affairs. A book in our time is not a cheap thing, and today it can be safely attributed to a truly “ the best gift”, with which it’s not a shame to come to a birthday or anniversary. Therefore, a printed edition is often lent to friends and acquaintances who do not want to spend money on such an expensive thing, and often a one-time thing. Home libraries in our time are rare people, volumes take up valuable space in the home, and then there is the Internet, where you can find almost everything, at least what is read today. The rating is looked for in the same place, in order not to get confused in the huge flow of modern and classical literature. So many people do it, drive texts into tablets and read everywhere, on buses, trams and subways.

Read frequency

The circulation of the publication is set executive, called a publisher, he often makes decisions based on his own ideas about how successful the project will be.

Another criterion by which literary ratings and lists are compiled best books, is a simple arithmetic addition of the number of hits to the author's page on the Internet, if there is one, of course. To do this, site creators install software counters that mark each visitor. The disadvantage of this method is the inferiority of information. It is not known whether the work was read in full, or it was simply glanced at and immediately closed. In addition, it is impossible to count all readers due to the fact that it and the same story can be presented on different sites, sometimes, alas, without the knowledge of the author, and not all of them provide for the function of cumulative counting. The number of downloads is also not always taken into account, and in this case we are very rarely talking about material rewards.

What do women read

The beautiful half of humanity is more likely than men to be friends with a book. What worries women, and what do they read today? The rating of the ten works most popular among ladies is closed by Eduard Asadov, a real poet and writer who sang true love. For half a century, the number of admirers of his talent has not decreased, but increased. In ninth place is a seemingly children's book called The Little Princess, or The Story of Sarah Crewe by Francis Burnett. The narrative is naive only at first glance, and mothers, introducing it to their daughters, themselves fall under the spell of the heroine's immediacy. Ustinova's detectives are buying somewhat more often, and Lauren Weisberger, the best-selling author of The Devil Wears Prada, is even higher. Further up the ladder of popularity ascend Joanna Lindsay, Tatyana Polyakova (again ladies' detectives) and with her " secret world shopaholic." Top positions are occupied by Stephenie Meyer with a vampire love story (Twilight) and a psychological novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Maybe the bottom positions are specific to Russian literature lovers, but the top ones completely repeat the rating of the most read books in the world among women.

What do men love?

If we discard money-obsessed entrepreneurs (who are more often characters in novels than their consumers) and the stronger sex, who have extremely low level intelligence, then the rest of the not very numerous male brethren are also not averse to holding free time turning pages. Which of the works for them is the most and most read? Many books have been written on the subject of courage. This is J. London, and E. M. Remarque, and historical chronicles, and literature of a military-technical nature. Everyone reads men, from Hemingway to Stephen King, but, as a rule, they cannot stand specific women's novels. However, there are exceptions. Women sometimes, too, in fairness, indulge in pleasure with some book, which is considered exclusively male.

Children

Children, as already mentioned, read little now, and the author needs to make a lot of effort, combined with talent, in order to interest them in something. And in this case, it does not matter how deep the thoughts of such a work are, as in general what they read. Today, the rating of teenage and literature is headed by Alexander Anderson's books "Alex and coins" and "All the most beloved fairy tales" by Grigory Oster. In addition to them, fantasy stories, novels and sagas are popular (roughly like science fiction in the past). It can take a long time to analyze the reasons why life in a fictional world seems more interesting to the younger generation than the real one, but such is the prose of life, and it must be reckoned with, which is what publishing houses are doing, interested in the profitability of their activities. Some consolation is the decline in the popularity of Harry Potter. And the nostalgic return to eternal values, expressed in the “Murzilka Archive”, published in two volumes (from 1966 to 1974), is very pleasing.

Humor

Literature, laughable- the hardest genre. Squeezing a tear out of a reader is much easier than making them even smile. The modern book lover reads Zhvanetsky with pleasure, especially the early one, pays tribute to Evgeny Petrov and is interested in contemporary authors. I was pleased with the book with the intriguing title “Plumber. Yours is my knee ”author Se Slava (obviously a pseudonym). Previously, this material was published on popular blogs, and now it came out "live". At the moment, these are the most read books in Russia on a humorous theme, and how to place them on the prize steps is up to the people to decide.

parables

In our country, as well as abroad, a large stratum of lovers of philosophical literature has formed. It's about not about any serious scientific research(they are also in demand). These most widely read books in Russia in their genre are designed to encourage a person to think about eternal values, escape from worldly fuss and, if possible, gain wisdom, time-honored. These include the “Prophet” by Khalil Gibran, the paternal moralizing of the holy elders, the instructive polemics of Kuraev, and similar literature. Sales ratings do not give a real picture of the popularity of these publications. It is possible that someone acquires them in order to put them on the shelf in order to create the image of an intellectual person, in other cases they are literally read to holes. When presenting such a book as a gift, one should remember that only a thoughtful person, prone to

Fashion Literature

There is such a capricious and windy lady, who is called fashion. Most often it is found in branded boutiques and car dealerships, but sometimes it is also found in bookstores. A number of authors, having created a certain work, strive for scandalous fame, and achieve it different methods. They generously saturate the speech of the characters with profanity, trying to give originality to the images, choose stories about cannibals, crazy people, drug addicts and other unsightly audiences, trying to surprise rather than please. For a rather short period of time, sellers tell buyers that these are the most read books in Russia. Today these are some authors, tomorrow others, and their succession does not dry out. It happens that stories do have certain artistic merit, but fashion writers who keep their nose to the wind of conjecture rarely create masterpieces.

It remains for the reader to evaluate his spiritual needs and choose his own among the boundless sea of ​​literature.

It's just that most people are wrong.

FROM light hand public opinion, reading has been elevated to the rank of an occupation that seems to be beneficial in itself. It is human nature to categorize and simplify everything, so there is nothing surprising in the existence of such a phenomenon. However, do not forget: reading is just one way of consuming information. Yes, reading helps us to be more focused and attentive, but in the end it all comes down to what information do we get.

Fortunately, no one seems to have problems with access to books now. But there was another problem... there are a lot of books, and only a few of them are worth spending time on.. Our job is to find the best ones, the kind of books that will help you reach your goals.

Don't be fooled: it's almost never a matter of taste when choosing a book to read!

Only if you are going to spend time on the beach and need something to keep your hands busy - only then you can choose something “to your taste”. And here you will have to be guided by the size rather than the content of the book.

I'm talking about those cases when you want to make a list of books to read in this way in order to get the most out of the time spent. Fortunately, despite the abundance of all kinds of literature, there are several types of books, among which you can definitely find those that the best way affect your erudition.

So…

“There will be no end to the compilation of many books, and getting carried away with them - tire…”

Be picky about which books you spend your valuable time on. Let if these are those books that will help you become better, smarter, and at the same time more pleasant in communication!

The book, written in the genre of a psychological thriller, pleasantly surprised readers of modern literature and lovers of detective stories. The story in it is conducted on behalf of three women - Rachel, Anna and Megan. The main character Rachel every day has to travel by train from the suburbs to London. Out of boredom, she watches from the window every day for a married couple who seems to her ideal. But one day she witnesses a strange scene, after which her husband goes missing. Rachel understands that only she will be able to unravel the mystery of the disappearance of a woman, but is it even possible to interfere in someone else's life, even in such situations.

The novel turned out to be so successful that Hollywood decided to film it. Emily Blunt and Rebecca Ferguson will play in it. The Girl on the Train will premiere in September 2016.

The beginning of the novel takes place in England in 1940. Flora Lewis receives a tempting offer from a mysterious "flower thief". She must go to England to find in the garden of an old manor extremely rare variety camellias. The circumstances are such that Flora is forced to enter the house of one lord as a nanny. And soon she finds an album for a herbarium with strange notes in the room of Lady Anna, who died under mysterious circumstances.

Then the reader is transported to modern New York, getting acquainted with the heroine named Addison. Her husband suggests going to the suburbs of London to be able to write a book there. After leaving there, Addison finds a story about a beautiful camellia that once grew in the garden of the queen herself. An interesting feature The book is an alternate story about Flora and Addison, which appears in the book through one chapter.

Haruki Murakami's new novel cannot go unnoticed, and so it happened with the book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and the years of his wanderings. The main character of his work was young and inexperienced. The new Tokyo world was very different from the environment in which the guy grew up. The metropolis turned out to be much larger than he imagined. Too much big choice things to do, too many people around, life moving too fast. But he had a place for the soul, where he happily returned - the so-called "indestructible stronghold of harmony and friendship." However, in his second year, he learns that the place has disappeared without a trace.

Author's work Jeannette Walls became a real sensation in the world of modern literature. The journalist decided to speak frankly about her difficult childhood and growing up in a large family. Her parents were supporters of strange parenting methods that raised many questions. From childhood, they were taught to stand up for themselves, go against the system of society, acquire useful skills and stick together. However, all these beliefs collapsed when the family began to have difficulties, the principles of unity sounded like a mockery, and existence practically in the garbage aggravated the situation. But all these trials taught Jeannette one thing - if you plunge into the world of dreams, one day you will create it with your reality.

Harper Lee is a writer best known for her book To Kill a Mockingbird. For many years, this novel was considered her only work, which upset many readers. However, the list of novelties of literature in 2015 unexpectedly stunned book lovers around the world - the writer was preparing to release a book, which takes place 20 years after the events described in To Kill a Mockingbird. It turns out that this work was written first, but the publishers lost interest in it.

According to the plot of the new book, the main character Scout is forced to deal with many problems, she is trying to understand her father's attitude to society and its structure, as well as to realize her true feelings towards the place where she was born and raised.

This detective novel, which became an instant bestseller, was written by "mother" - JK Rowling, hiding under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The book became the final part of a series of publications about the private detective Cormoran Strike. In her complicated story begins with a woman named Robin receiving a package containing a severed female leg. Her boss - the same Strike - outlined several suspects at once, capable of such a cruel act. While the police, focusing their attention on one of them, are trying to solve the crime, Kormoran realizes that this is a false trail. He takes matters into his own hands and plunges into a dark and confusing world, consisting of the mysteries of the past. The translation of the detective should appear in early 2016.

The author of the famous post-apocalyptic novel promised readers that he would turn the familiar and familiar world of his works upside down so that even for his fans there would be many discoveries. After such an announcement, a new book called "Metro 2035" was released, which describes the events on Earth after the third world war. The planet is completely empty, but at a depth of tens of meters, at stations and in tunnels, people are trying to wait out the end of the world. There they created new world ok instead of the lost huge world. They cling to life with all their might and refuse to give up. They dream of returning to the top - one day, when the background radiation from nuclear bombing subsides. And do not leave hope to find other survivors.

Mikhail Bulgakov: The Master and Margarita

The volume of Mikhail Bulgakov, standing on the bookshelf, testifies to the good taste of the reader. It is no coincidence that what was written by this author survived the death of Soviet literature without loss and today is read as a continuation of the golden fund of Russian classics of the 19th century. Fascinating plots (“fantasy, rooted in everyday life”), vivid images, moral problems raised to a universal scale - all this makes you return to what you read again and again.

Marquez Garcia: One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of the greatest books of the 20th century. A strange, poetic, whimsical story of the city of Macondo, lost in the jungle, from creation to decline. The history of the Buendía family - a family in which miracles are so everyday that they do not even pay attention to them. The Buendia clan produces saints and sinners, revolutionaries, heroes and traitors, dashing adventurers - and women too beautiful for ordinary life. Extraordinary passions boil in him - and incredible events take place.

George Orwell: 1984. Barnyard

"1984" A peculiar antipode of the second great dystopia of the XX century - "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. What, in essence, is more terrible: the “consumer society” brought to the point of absurdity, or the “idea society” brought to the absolute? According to Orwell, there is and cannot be anything more terrible than total lack of freedom ... "Animal Farm" A parable full of humor and sarcasm. Can a humble farm become a symbol of a totalitarian society? Of course yes. But… how this society will be seen by its “citizens” – animals doomed to slaughter.

Herman Melville: Moby Dick, or the White Whale

Herman Melville is a writer and sailor, in whose work and destiny the experience of a traveler and the mythopoetic worldview of the artist surprisingly organically melted. The realization of the magnitude of Melville's talent did not come immediately, and only a quarter of a century after the death of the writer, the outlines of the enormous contribution that he made to the treasury of world literature became visible. Melville's work - the grandiose "Moby Dick" - became one of the pinnacles of American literature.

Francis Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

“ The Great Gatsby” - the most famous novel by Francis Fitzgerald, which has become a symbol of the “Jazz Age”. America, 1925, the time of Prohibition and gangster showdowns, bright lights and bright life. But for Jay Gatsby, the epitomeamerican dreamturned into a real tragedy. And the way up, despite fame and fortune, led to a total collapse. After all, each of us, first of all, strives not for material goods, but for love, true and eternal ...

Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Crime and Punishment

“ Crime and Punishment” is a novel about one crime. A double murder committed by a poor student for money. It is difficult to find a simpler plot, but the intellectual and spiritual shock that the novel produces is indelible. And the question that main character set before himself to decide: “Am I a trembling creature, or do I have a right?” - terrifying.Abyssthe fall is explored by the writer in order to rise to the heights of the spirit.

Ray Bradbury: Dandelion Wine

“ Dandelion wine” Ray Bradbury is a classic work that has entered the golden fund of world literature.Enter the bright world of a twelve-year-old boy and live one summer with him, filled with joyful and sad, mysterious and disturbing events; summer, when amazing discoveries are made every day, the main of which is that you are alive, you breathe, you feel!

Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon

This fantastic story has amazing psychological power and makes you think about universal questions of morality: do we have the right to experiment on each other, what results can this lead to, and what price are we willing to pay to become “the smartest”. What about lonely?

Alexander Pushkin: Eugene Onegin

Novel "Eugene Onegin“ – “encyclopedia of Russian life” – presented in thisbookwith the famous comments by Yu.M. Lotman, allowing the reader to better understand the spirit and customs of the era and the novel, whose heroes have been loved by readers for the third century. The book is illustrated with drawings by A.S. Pushkin, made by the poet on the handwritten pages of the novel.

Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea. Beyond the river, in the shade of the trees

The story "The Old Man and the Sea" is one of the most famous and beloved by readers of Hemingway's works. She brought the author the Pulitzer Prize, and also played an important role in awarding him the title Nobel laureate. This is a story about “tragic stoicism” and courage, about how, in the face of a ruthless fate and loneliness, a person, even losing, must maintain dignity.

Jonathan Swift: The Travels of Lemuel Gulliver

Gulliver's Travels is Jonathan Swift's most significant work. Similar at first glance to a funny fairy tale, “Gulliver's Travels” is an allegory, a parable, the author of which is a ruthless and brilliant master of words, ridiculing human and social vices. Masterfully using all shades of the funny, from good-natured humor and mild irony to angry sarcasm and venomous ridicule, Swift created one of the greatest satirical books in world literature.

Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace

Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is a book for all time. It seems that it has always existed, the text seems so familiar, as soon as we open the first pages of the novel, many of its episodes are so memorable: hunting and Christmas time, the first ball of Natasha Rostova, a moonlit night in Otradnoye, Prince Andrei in the battle of Austerlitz ... Scenes of “peaceful” , family life are replaced by pictures that are important for the course of the entire world history, but for Tolstoy they are equivalent, connected in a single stream of time.

Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind is the only novel by Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) for which she - a writer, emancipe and advocate for women's rights - received a Pulitzer Prize. This is a book about what makes us live and fight - no matter what happens around. For more than 70 years we have been reading this novel, for more than 70 years we have admired Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in the film adaptation - and the story does not become outdated. Most likely, it is eternal.

Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

“ Lolita” was released in 1955. Causing scandal on both sides of the ocean, this book liftedauthorto the top of the literary Olympus and became one of the most famous and, without a doubt, the greatest works of the 20th century. Today, when the polemical passions around Lolita have long subsided, we can confidently say that this is a book about great love that has overcome illness, death and time, love that is open to infinity, “loveat first sight, from the last glance, from the eternal glance.

Daniel Defoe: The Life and Wonderful Adventures of the Sailor Robinson Crusoe

The famous novel by Daniel Defoe was published almost 300 years ago. But even now, after many, many decades, the exciting adventures of Robinson Crusoe still captivate readers. The life of a sailor who, by chance, ended up on a desert island, is full of amazing events. And how many difficulties fall to his lot!

Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers

Where can a poor Gascon nobleman go if all he has is courage, a noble heart and ambition? Well of course inParis! And of course, such a brave man has a place among the royal musketeers. However, the honor to be in this privileged regiment still needs to be earned, and the surest way is to make powerful enemies and make friends. D'Artagnan brilliantly succeeded in both in the shortest possible time ...

Ilf, Petrov: Twelve chairs

The famous feuilleton novel by Ilf and Petrov “The twelve Chairs ” was first published in 1928. The story of two swindlers who set off in search of Madame Petukhova's diamonds brought unprecedented success to the authors. But few people know that one of the most popular works of RussianliteratureThe twentieth century, which withstood hundreds of successful reprints, was mangled by Soviet censorship: not only individual phrases and episodes, but entire chapters were not allowed to print.

Ray Bradbury: 451° Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit 451 is a novel that brought the writer world fame. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites and burns. The philosophical dystopia of Ray Bradbury paints a hopeless picture of development post-industrial society; this is the world of the future, in which all written publications are mercilessly destroyed by a special detachment of firefighters, and the possession of books is prosecuted by law, interactive television successfully serves to fool everyone ...

Charles Dickens: The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself

The novel of the great English writer won the love and recognition of readers all over the world. Largely autobiographical, this novel follows the fate of a boy forced to fight alone against a cruel, bleak world populated by evil teachers, mercenary factory owners and soulless servants of the law. In this war, David can be saved only by moral firmness, purity of heart and a talent that can turn a ragamuffin into greatest writer England.

Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

One of the most fascinating novels by J. Verne. scientist biologist Pierre Aronnax and harpooner Ned Land set off in search of a strange fish spotted by sailors in different parts Sveta. The mysterious creature turns out to be a submarine designed by the mysterious Captain Nemo.

Arthur Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Peru of the English writer and journalist Arthur Conan Doyle owns historical, adventure, fantasy novels and works on spiritualism, but in world literature he entered as the creator of the Greatest Detective of all times and peoples - Sherlock Holmes. A noble and fearless fighter against Evil, possessing a sharp mind and extraordinary powers of observation, with the help of his deductive method, the detective solves the most intricate puzzles, often saving human lives.

Story modern classic Leonida Filatov is the best book for family reading, half of the text of which has already been parsed into aphorisms and anecdotes. Here is the first fully illustrated edition. Characteristic characters, witty mise-en-scenes - one of the most striking books of the 20th century is finally coming out in a wonderful design.

Antoine Saint-Exupery: The Little Prince

A touching, kind and philosophical work by Antoine de Saint-Exupery with author's drawings. A book addressed to children will accompany you all your life, each time revealing itself in a new way.

Strugatsky, Strugatsky: It's hard to be a god

Perhaps the most famous of the works of the Strugatsky brothers. One of the most famous stories of Russian science fiction. A fascinating, full of drama story of life, love and adventures of "Don Rumata" from the kingdom of Arkanar on a distant planet - a knight with two swords, under whose name Anton is a resident from the planet Earth of the XXII century.

Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland

Inga Mayakovskaya

Reading time: 8 minutes

A A

Despite the abundance e-books, tablets and audio formats, it is impossible to discourage a book lover from “rustling the pages”. Cup of coffee, easy chair, the incomparable smell of book pages - and let the whole world wait!

Your attention - TOP-20 most interesting books. Read and enjoy...

• Hurry to love (1999)

Nicholas Sparks

The genre of the book is a love story.

It is generally accepted that romance novels only women authors succeed. "Hurry to Love" is an exception in this specific genre. Sparks' book won the love of readers around the world and became one of his most popular works.

The touching and incredible love story of the priest's daughter Jamie and young man Landon. The book is about a feeling that intertwines the destinies of two halves only once in a lifetime.

• Foam of days (1946)

Boris Vian

The genre of the book is a surreal love story.

A deep and surreal love story based on real events from the life of the author. The allegorical presentation of the book and the unusual plane of events are the highlight of the work, which has become for readers a complete postmodern with a chronology of despair, spleen, shocking.

The heroes of the book are tender Chloe with a lily in her heart, the author's alter ego is Colin, his tiny mouse and the cook, friends of lovers. A work full of bright sadness that everything ends sooner or later, leaving only the foam of days.

Twice screened novel, in both cases unsuccessful - to convey the whole atmosphere of the book, without missing important details so far no one has succeeded.

• Hungry Shark Diaries

Stephen Hall

The genre of the book is fantasy.

The action takes place in the 21st century. Eric wakes up with the thought that all the events of his former life have been erased from his memory. According to the doctor, the cause of amnesia is a severe injury, and the relapse is already the 11th in a row. From that moment on, Eric begins to receive letters from himself and hide from the "shark" that devours his memories. His task is to understand what is happening and find the key to salvation.

Hall's debut novel, entirely consisting of puzzles, allusions, allegories. Not for the general reader. They don’t take such a book with them on the train - they don’t read it “on the run”, slowly and with pleasure.

• White Tiger (2008)

Aravind Adiga

The genre of the book is realism, romance.

The boy from the poor Indian village of Balram stands out from his sister-brothers with his unwillingness to put up with fate. A combination of circumstances throws the "White Tiger" (approx. a rare beast) into the city, after which the fate of the boy changes dramatically - from falling to the very bottom, his steep rise to the very top begins. Whether crazy or national hero, Balram struggles to survive in the real world and break out of his cage.

The White Tiger is not an Indian "soap opera" about the "prince and the pauper", but a revolutionary work that breaks stereotypes about India. This book is about the India that you will not see in beautiful films on the TV screen.

• Fight Club (1996)

Chuck Palahniuk

The genre of the book is a philosophical thriller.

An ordinary clerk, exhausted by insomnia and the monotony of life, by chance meets Tyler. The philosophy of a new acquaintance is self-destruction as the goal of life. An ordinary acquaintance quickly develops into friendship, crowned with the creation of " Fight club”, the main thing in which is by no means victory, but the ability to endure pain.

Palahniuk's special style gave rise not only to the popularity of the book, but also to the already well-known film adaptation with Brad Pitt in one of the main roles. The book is a challenge about a generation of people for whom the boundaries of good and evil have been erased, about the insignificance of life and the pursuit of illusions, from which the world is going crazy.

A work for people with already formed consciousness (not for teenagers) - for understanding and rethinking their lives.

• Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

Ray Bradbury

The genre of the book is science fiction, romance.

The title of the book is the temperature at which the paper burns. The action takes place in the "future", in which literature is prohibited, reading books is a crime, and the job of firefighters is to burn books. Montag, who just works as a firefighter, reads a book for the first time ...

A work that Bradbury wrote before and for us. More than fifty years ago, the author was able to look into the future, where fear, indifference to others and indifference completely replace the feelings that make us human. No unnecessary thoughts, no books - only mannequins.

• Complaint book (2003)

Max Fry

The genre of the book is a philosophical novel, fantasy.

No matter how hard it is for you, no matter how unsuccessful your life is, never curse it - neither in your thoughts nor out loud. Because someone near you will gladly live your own life for you. For example, that smiling girl over there. Or that old lady in the yard. These are the Nakhi, who are invariably by our side…

Self-irony, subtle banter, mysticism, an unusual plot, realistic dialogues (sometimes too much) - with this book, time flies by unnoticed.

• Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Jane Austen

The genre of the book is a love story.

The time of action is the 19th century. The Bennet family has 5 unmarried daughters. The mother of this poor family, of course, wants to marry them ...

The plot seems to be beaten to "eye calluses", but for more than one hundred years, Jane Austen's novel has been reread by people from various countries again and again. Because the characters of the book stick in the memory forever, and, despite the calm pace of development of events, the work does not let the reader go even after the final page. An absolute masterpiece of literature.

A nice “bonus” is a happy ending and the opportunity to steal away a tear from sincere joy for the heroes.

• Golden Temple (1956)

Yukio Mishima

The genre of the book is realism, philosophical drama.

The action takes place in the 20th century. The young man Mizoguchi, after the death of his father, finds himself in a school at Rinzai (approx. Buddhist academy). It is there that the Golden Temple is located - the legendary architectural monument of Kyoto, which gradually fills the mind of Mizoguchi, crowding out all other thoughts. And only death, according to the author, determines the Beautiful. And everything Beautiful, sooner or later, must die.

The book is based on the real fact of the burning of the Temple by one of the novice monks. On the bright path of Mizoguchi, temptations are constantly encountered, good fights evil, and in contemplation of the Temple, the novice finds peace after the failures that haunt him, the death of his father, the death of a friend. And one day Mizoguchi comes up with the idea - to burn himself along with the Golden Temple.

A few years after writing the book, Mishima, like his hero, made himself hara-kiri.

• Master and Margarita (1967)

Michael Bulgakov

The genre of the book is romance, mysticism, religion and philosophy.

The ageless masterpiece of Russian literature is a book worth reading at least once in a lifetime.

• Portrait of Dorian Gray (1891)

Oscar Wilde

The genre of the book is romance, mysticism.

Once thrown words of Dorian Gray (“I would give my soul for the portrait to grow old, and I was forever young”) became fatal for him. Not a single wrinkle on the eternally youthful face of the protagonist, and his portrait, according to the wish, grows old and gradually dies. And, of course, you have to pay for everything in this world ...

A repeatedly filmed book that once blew up a prim reading society with a Puritan past. A book about a deal with a tempter with sad consequences is a mystical novel that is worth re-reading every 10-15 years.

• Shagreen leather (1831)

Honore de Balzac

The genre of the book is a novel, a parable.

The action takes place in the 19th century. Rafael gets shagreen leather, with which you can fulfill your desires. True, after each wish fulfilled, both the skin itself and the life of the hero are reduced. Raphael's delight quickly gives way to insight - too little time has been allotted to us on this earth to waste it so mediocrely on unaccountable momentary "joys".

A time-tested classic and one of the most fascinating books from the word master Balzac.

• Three comrades (1936)

Erich Maria Remarque

Genre of the book - realism, psychological novel

The book about male friendship in the post-war period. It is with this book that one should begin acquaintance with the author who wrote it away from her homeland.

A work filled with emotions and events, human destinies and tragedies - heavy and bitter, but bright and life-affirming.

• Diary of Bridget Jones (1996)

Helen Fielding

The genre of the book is a love story.

Light "reading" for women who want a little smile and hope. You never know where you will fall into a love trap. And Bridget Jones, already desperate to find her soul mate, will wander in the dark for a long time before the light of her true love dawns.

No philosophy, mysticism, psychological spirals - just a love story.

• The Man Who Laughs (1869)

Victor Hugo

The genre of the book is a novel, historical prose.

The action takes place in the 17-18 century. One day in his childhood, the boy Gwynplaine (who was a lord by birth) was sold to the Comprachos bandits. During the fashion for freaks and cripples that amused the European nobility, the boy became a fair jester with a mask of laughter carved on his face.

Despite the trials that fell to his lot, Gwynplaine was able to remain a kind and pure person. And even for love, the mutilated appearance and life did not become an obstacle.

• White on black (2002)

Ruben David Gonzalez Gallego

The genre of the book is realism, an autobiographical novel.

The work is true from the first to the last line. This book is the life of the author. He cannot bear pity. And communicating with this person in a wheelchair, everyone immediately forgets that he is a disabled person.

The book is about the love of life and the ability to fight for every moment of happiness, against all odds.

• Dark tower

Stephen King

The genre of the book is epic romance, fantasy.

The Dark Tower is the cornerstone of the universe. And the last noble knight in the world, Roland, must find her...

A book that occupies a special place in the fantasy genre - unique twists from King, close interweaving with earthly reality, completely different, but united in one team and reliably described heroes, vivid psychologism of each situation, adventure, drive and the absolute effect of presence.

• Future (2013)

Dmitry Glukhovsky

The genre of the book is fantasy novel.

The recoded DNA at the output gave immortality and eternity. True, at the same time, everything that used to make people live was lost. Temples have become brothels, life has turned into an endless hell, spiritual and cultural values ​​are lost, everyone who dares to have a child is destroyed.

Where will mankind come to? A dystopian novel about the world of immortal, but "inanimate" people without a soul.

• Catcher in the Rye (1951)

Jerome Salinger.

The genre of the book is realism.

In the 16-year-old Holden, everything that is characteristic of a complex teenager is concentrated - harsh reality and dreams, seriousness, giving way to childishness.

The book is a story about a boy who is thrown into the cycle of events by life. Childhood suddenly ends, and the chick pushed out of the nest does not understand where to fly and how to live in a world where everyone is against you.

• You were promised to me

Elchin Safarli

The genre of the book is a novel.

This is a work that people fall in love with from the first pages and are pulled apart into quotes. A terrible and irreparable loss of the second half.

Is it possible to start living again? Will the main character cope with his pain?