Books That Everyone Needs to Read Once

This is one of those lists that will continue to grow over the years with the more I read. Right now they are books I’ve recommended hundreds of times as a former bookseller whenever someone asked me the various forms of the question:“if there was one book I have to read what would it be?”

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created by Lit_Script

last updated July, 2026

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Comments

Not Neil Gaiman 👎🚫🙅😬

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I can fully say I don’t condone his behaviors, and I generally don’t recommend his titles anymore. It was previously one that I would have before the news on him broke because the book itself tackles adult themes through a boy’s lens of imagination and it offers a very cathartic, oddly healing experience for victims of DV, mental abuse, and the trauma that comes with it. I completely understand the upset and I totally overlooked it while I threw this together last night from an old one I had put together on another app. I took it off the list because I don’t want to normalize it. I’m so sorry!

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Agreed. This would best be just be a personal shelf.

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