The best captivating complete perfect reads of selfless importance and relevance read as of Mars 2025
I started reading through books and comics from best-of lists I had missed. The need to compare and rank all gave form to this list of best of both fiction and non-fiction books and comics.
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I’ve been searching for what’s considered the best reads of all time. A lot of best-of reads are classics, obviously. I felt the need to form my own opinion about them, compare them to new praised reads (that rarely appears on these kinds of lists), and, as a sci-fi and comics fan, compare them to genres and forms I appreciate?
My ranked list is below. The title, above, defines the scope for this list, which is basically a description of what I think is my taste in literature. My criteria seems to be that a great literary work or it’s literary importance is not enough, perhaps secondary. The work has to tell something of more unintuitive importance for the current world or a plausible future, through its story, themes or meanings. At the same time it has to captivate some what.
Untangling the scope
- Regarding “perfect”: stand alone books can maintain higher quality throughout and easier delivers all points top notch; a book series can vary more in quality; a better book tends to find the needed balance of it’s actors, settings, plots, themes and conflicts.
- Regarding “selfless”: I’m referring to books that matters more than the self; themes or meanings that matters for society, culture, humanity or the ‘world’.
- Regarding “relevance”: books should still bear great relevance in general, and preferably not have missed too much when envisioning the future — older classic sci-fi struggle with the latter — unless it ‘works’ on another plane.
The 20 best books and comics
The Road (Cormac McCarthy 2006)
The Road is a warning, it the road. After the novel presents it’s most horrific events, less horror becomes times of reflection on survival, mindset and life in the world after the apocalypse. Note: The movie did not have the same impact on me — the book gives you thoughts. The Road Folio edition cover, illustrated by Gérard DuBois
Moby Dick (Herman Melville 1851)
A colorful blue adventure from a real time gone by, for charming and less so sailship whale-hunting romanticism, of the then last human dangerous naive conquest of sea and the admired mightiest animal of an ecosystem, for greed and Ahab’s unrightful vindictive hunt of the fierce Moby Dick. Moby Dick art by Sergey Shikin
Child of God (Cormac McCarthy 1973)
Based on the real events of a murder case in the first half of the 1900s, Child of God paints the image of a poor outcast, lack of societal sympathy and his reaction and roaming above and below the ground. Child of God cover art by Ian Westwater (behance.net)
Minor Detail (Adania Shibli 2017)
An incident in the Negev desert when Israelin soldiers patrols for what they call infiltrators, exactly 25 years later a woman is born and when grown up she learns about this incident and is able to embark on a road trip from her often bombed neighborhood to learn more about this minor detail, in a military restricted Israel where the occupants in question fear being targets simply because of their less valued origin. Minor Detail Fitzcarraldo Editions cover
No Country for Old Men (Cormac McCarthy 2005)
A deadly no country for old men; the state of the modern world. No Country for Old Men Folio edition cover, illustrated by Gérard DuBois
Blindsight (Peter Watts 2006)
A hard sci-fi that starts off with earth being ‘visited’ by an alien phenomenon that manifests in the sky. A crew of transhumans travel aboard a unique space ship, built for the occasion, to a signal believed to be these visitors, to explore what they encounter. Blindsight (re)acquaintances us with the fragility of humans and how gullible we really are, and gives an unintuitive perspective on intelligent life and consciousness. Blindsight art by Dmitry Skolzki (artstation.com)
Happening (Annie Ernaux 1999)
Sharp, to the point, author’s experience of illegal abortion that timelessly depicts the mixed morality that can be involved in occupations manifested when something societally necessary is illegalized. Happening cover art by Laura Wächter
Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean (Morten A. Strøksnes 2015)
Originally titled Havboka which directly translates to “The Ocean Book” (the English title could be missleading and the translation have been mentioned to be subpar). It’s a book about the ocean and life in the north of Norway; life in the ocean, fishing and its effects, and about catching a large Greenland shark. Havboka cover art by Exil Design, Forlaget Oktober edition
Echopraxia (Peter Watts 2014)
In the same universe as Blindsight, a scientist accidentally finds himself aboard a spaceship on a journey exploring consciousness and defying physical reality. Note: Blindsight and Echopraxia has a connecting short story, The Colonel (Peter Watts 2014). Echopraxi and Blindsight cover art from Centipede Press‘ limited editions
Watchmen (Moore & Gibbons 1986-1987)
An intricate comic about an unusual, more real and flawed group of superheros – who watches the watchmen? Watchmen art – new – by Dave Gibbons
The Outsider (Albert Camus 1942)
Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.
Detach from emotional norms. Too short of social norms. We can’t be free of norms. They barely makes sense to the protagonist Meursault, but most submit to norms when living depends on it. Still a little part of the social and societal; each day at a time is what matters; observing; conveniently fulfilling little needs of body and mind, naively opportunistic of the simple; going along with what comes along without reflection, then plainly reflecting; retrospect of happiness; the inconvenience of bodily discomfort by any cause especially affects. The heating sun makes Meursault’s case boil. The Outsider art by Yeji Yun (behance.net)
Vertebrae (Thure Erik Lund 2023)
In a hard and different work of sci-fi that can be read standalone or as a continuation of Identity (Thure Erik Lund 2017), an artifical consciousness awakes inside another agent who’s agency has changed the world considerably apparently to the better, and the presence of a next level agent might be lurking. It is read from the consciousness’ wordstream; it lays out this world and tries to understand itself. When it references its human connections of sorts, realities and what it’s really trying to grasp starts to blend. Vertebrae cover art by Aina Griffin, based on a font by pialhovik/Istock
Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion (Dan Simmons 1989, 1990)
The first two books of the Hyperion Cantos (which includes an ending) is epic sci-fi with a mysterious galaxy expanded world and how a seemingly democratic power is threatened by it’s own dystopia. Featuring the main cast of six pilgrims — the second book accompanied by an android — on the perhaps crucial last crusade to the mystic creature known as the Shriek and its planet Hyperion. Hyperion art by Tsabo6 (deviantart.com)
Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (Kurt Vonnegut 1969)
An anti-war book about the World War II soldier Billy Pilgrim, his experiences in the war and the attack on Dresden, his affected life that follows, all the while he jumps in time between his different life experiences. Slaughterhouse-Five art by Derek Heldenbergh (behance.net)
Swimming With Sharks: My Journey into the World of the Bankers (Joris Luyendijk 2016)
In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 Joris Luyendijk interviewed around 200 people that works in London’s financial center, City of London. This book collects interview transcripts and Luyendijk’s interpretation of a culture like an airborne plane with an empty cockpit that will crash for another financial crisis. Image from The Joris Luyendijk’s banking blog at The Guardian
Hilda and the Troll (Luke Pearson 2010)
A simple beautiful fantasy comic album for all ages that’s not ‘black and white’ in any way. Hilda cover art by Luke Pearson
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster (Jon Krakauer 1997)
A season in the human attraction to and craziness of extremes, in the case of Mount Everest, the pressure to expose those involved of more danger in a competitive business, histories of life changing death and survival stories, and the pressure and the especially dangerous and high paying jobs that is tempting the poor locals to a high death toll. Into Thin Air cover art by Christian Grey Hawkins
The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway 1952)
A dramatic fishingtrip with the old unlucky fisherman with his old ways and joys and love of the ocean, and the underlying currents of temptation for industrialization. The Old Man and the Sea art by RHADS (deviantart.com)
Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West (Cormac McCarthy 1985)
It’s been called McCarthy’s magnum opus. Half the book is a slow macabre and masterful painting into the second half of the inevitable ending of a gang formed by times of merciless progress, again and again taken by the power and addiction of evil. Blood Meridian Folio edition cover illustrated by Gérard DuBois
Sad Tiger (Neige Sinno 2023)
So it’s bearable, we are spared of all the devastating details of sexual child abuse. The author describes her experiences as a victim to make a point, even warning the reader in advance. How the abuse started and continued, like how a dictator controls and manipulates, her stepfather’s controlling manner in everything, finding excuses then and later for his actions by any narrative. The usual male abusers monster psychic and what the victims are to them, and has to become for them, victims damaged for life, and the abusers usually know it. The effects on mind and body, even for this incredibly strong victim, after 6 years of often daily abuse as kid, as a slave, to evil. Sad tiger goes beyond, to worse evils. It brings real insight, reflection, impressively it even gives a bigger context. A unique, insightful perspective. It even gave me a sane recipe on reading Lolita. Photo by Marta Bevacqua, used for the Neri Pozza edition
Honorable mentions
Fire Upon the Deep (Vernor Vinge 1992)
The non-human point of view chapters are true works of art that gives the experience of being a differenet species, the rest is epic smart space opera in the Zones of Thought. Fire Upon the Deep cover art by ahaas (deviantart.com)
Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer 1996)
It starts with the death of Chris McCandless in the Alaskan wilderness, Into the Wild presents his life and explorations through its interviewees, reflecting on his motivation for escaping modern society and his way of living on the edge of it, further his final months and way of getting “into the wild” on a developed earth. Into the Wild art by Shiyamdev S. (behance.net)
We who are about to… (Joanna Russ 1976)
A dark work of feministic sci-fi, with hints of satire, and social philosophy. From a future earth in many ways similar to the western society of the forth quarter of the 1900s (perhaps 1976), a spaceship is stranded on an unknown earth-like planet, more barren, leaving the crew for hard survival. All are expected to partake in building a colony, while they will be rescued or not, the leading men figures making children as well mostly to enhance the odds of a surviving colony, but the protagonist refuses, rather choosing an unrescued already doomed colony, in what seems like simple choice, to die out. The simplicity comes back to the protagonist. We who are about to… cover art, Galaxy magazine January 1976, by Rick Sternbach
Solaris (Stanislaw Lem 1961)
Classic, sometimes thrilling, sometimes slow deep, hard sci-fi, featuring the unique Solaris’ alien. Solaris art by Kwanchai
The Dispossessed (Ursula K. Le Guin 1974)
A slow pondering unique explorative read about an anarchistic society and one of it’s researcher’s journey to the twin capitalistic planet, his time before in the anarchistic society, and a slowly unfolding truth of both societies. The Dispossessed art by Jedrzej Nyka (artstation.com)
We (Yevgeny Zamyatin 1921). Unflattening (Nick Sousanis 2015). Nine Stories (J. D. Sallinger 1953). The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien 1954-1955). My Struggle: Book 1 (Karl Ove Knausgård 2009). Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866). The Freeze-Frame Revolution (Peter Watts 2018). One Hundred Years of Solitude (García Márquez 1967). Stoner (John Williams 1965). Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Philip K. Dick 1968). A Shining (Jon Fosse 2023). Morning and Evening (Jon Fosse 2000).
B-tier – B for below
Lanzarote (Michel Houellebecq 2000). Soft City (Pushwagner 1969-1975). My brilliant friend (Elena Ferrante 2011). The Vegetarian (Han Kang 2007). Dune (Frank Herbert 1965). Remembrance of Earth’s Past (Cixin Liu 2006, 2008, 2010). 2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur C. Clarke 1968). The Incal (Jodorowsky & Moebius 1980-1988). The Arrival (Shaun Tan 2006). Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Miyazaki 1982-1994). Metabarons (Jodorowsky & Giménez 1992-2003). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari 2011). The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943). Dark Matter (Blake Crouch 2016). Neuromancer. 1984 (George Orwell 1949). Brave New World (Aldous Huxley 1932). This Is How You Lose the Time War (Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone 2019). Foundation (Isaac Asimov 1951).
Ignore-tier
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925). Mentioned as a “must read” several places, but actually has no real relevance (except literary) for anyone (anymore?). It’s a shallow drama, presenting shallow insights of its victims, in a shallow upper class setting.
Reflection
This little obsession started when I explored what sci-fi I ‘needed’ to read and looked at best-of lists of sci-fi. I’ve been reading those I thought possibly could make this list. Then I continued exploring what’s considered the best books of all time in the same way. And then comics, graphical novels and mangas.
Classics are naturally more easily widely regarded as best-ofs, perhaps unique when published, and over a longer time are mentioned as great books and becomes more read, and for people reading less modern they still appear as great books. Some aggregated best-of lists are too colored of other older lists and classics. But some classics, like Moby Dick!, really hold up though. Some appear flat, barely telling us anything today, like The Great Gatsby. A list is more likely to be an actual best-of list when there’s a mix of old classics, modern classics and newer. And preferably the list presents the criteria/scope — what separates a great book from the best books on this list.
There were some surprises along the way for me, e.g., how Ernaux and Hemingway ended up in my top 20 was read more by accident, but finding the, to me, unknown, Blindsight on top of a sci-fi list — I’ve later seen it on top of another list — really made this exploration worth it.
For my top pick, The Road hasn’t been on top of any list, but it’s present on several both sci-fi and general best-of lists, but still a bit by chance I borrowed and read the best book ever written. A book I’m not sure I have the stomach to read again. Luckily there’s apparently many great books to continue this journey with.