Recs if you like Oblomov...

Based on the list/book published in 2006, general editor Peter Boxall.

Inspired to create a list by a post from @mmyth, I thought it would be nice to have a list of quest books you can download and read for free via Internet Archive. Recommendations gladly accepted. Happy reading ya'll!

(Please note this will ONLY contain books found through Internet Archive and no other sources, I don't want to run into possible mistakes and copyright headaches.)

Update: This list will also include books you can borrow through Open Library, a part of Internet Archive. In addition, this will only show English-language availability.

Books where apathy, disengagement, and idleness are central themes.

None of the characters in these books do themselves any favors in being the heroes of their own stories. Some may be more likable than others, but they all are students in the art of self sabotage. Featuring hubris, obsession, greed, apathy, vanity, addiction, power & fame, or just plain old psychopathy. Some are humorous and some are decidedly not and some have a happy endings and some are tragic through and through. Either way, you’re in for a fascinating ride. Recommendations encouraged!

books featured in high school curriculum. mandatory read and a source of immense suffering to a teen, they are also just some cool stories to experience as an adult

This is the compendium of books from the 2012 edition.

Limbo - Junji Ito "No Longer Human" Lust - Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina" Gluttony - Ivan Goncharov "Oblomov" Greed - John Steinbeck "The Grapes of Wrath" Wrath - Emily Bronte "Wuthering Heights" Heresy - Margret Atwood "The Handmaid's Tale" Violence - Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Demons" Fraud - Alexandre Dumas "The Count of Monte Cristo" Treachery - William Shakespeare "Macbeth"

Books from the characters of bungo stray dogs

goals for 2026