10 Books To Read Before You Die

Every reader has to have that lifetime "must read" list. Those books that they have to get to before they die. Legendary works of literature, massive bestsellers past and present, and, most importantly, books that can actually help readers grapple with their mortality, in one way or another. That applies to all kinds of authors and all types of novels. In fact, it highlights the nexus point between literary and genre fiction. There are lots of ghosts on this list, because the ghost is one of fiction's most effective devices for talking about death. There are also monsters and vampires, psychics and spirit guides, family sagas and doomed romances, and more. Gathered here are classics, along with contemporary novels that count as classics-in-the-making, each of which should be on everyone's to-read list no matter what. That said, we'll make the case for why they are all books readers shouldn't live without. Frankenstein Written By Mary Shelley; Published In 1818 Written and published over 200 years ago, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein still has a death grip on modern popular culture, so to speak. Virtually everyone knows the story of Shelley's novel, or some version of it: a "mad" scientist stiches together body parts and pumps the body he's created full of electricity and brings it to life. Things proceed to go horribly for everyone involved. Frankenstein, in its original form, is proto-science fiction as much as genre-defining horror. In the 19th century. Shelley's protagonist Dr. Victor Frankenstein didn't have to be mad to try to use science to triumph over death; multiple iterations of the story across generations have shifted how Dr. Frankenstein, and his monster, are perceived, which is why it's worth going back to the novel. The most striking difference between Shelley's monster and Frankenstein's monster in pop culture is how radically smart and emotionally astute he is. Frankenstein is a mournful treatise on the meaning of life and also the meaning of death. As I Lay Dying Written By William Faulkner; Published In 1930 As I Lay Dying is a masterpiece of American fiction by one of the 20th century's greatest authors, William Faulkner. It is an innovative and challenging piece of literary fiction, exactly the kind of book readers need to stop avoiding and at least try to read before it is too late. If you were forced to read it in school, but it has been years, it's time to give Faulkner's novel another shot. With As I Lay Dying, Faulkner pioneered the contemporary use of stream-of-consciousness style prose, attempting to (and in Faulkner's case, brilliantly succeeding at) capturing the interiority of his characters. As I Lay Dying is the story of Addie Bundren, a dying woman who starts the book watching her son build her coffin. After she passes, the novel focuses on her family's grief as they take her body to be buried. The novel features multiple POV characters, including Addie, before and after her death. Faulkner's novel is spellbinding from start to finish, and for readers who might struggle with As I Lay Dying on the page, it's worth alternatively trying as an audiobook. One Hundred Years Of Solitude Written By Gabriel García Márquez; Published In 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude is Gabriel García Márquez's Nobel Prize-winning magical realist novel about the town of Macondo and its inhabitants. As the title suggests, the book spans a century, focusing on generations of the Buendía, who are among Macondo's founders and are still there 100 years later to witness the town's fate. In fact, the inciting incident for the founding of Macondo is a ghost story. Ghosts and spirits pop up periodically in the novel as it progresses, but the real remarkable feat of Solitude is how Márquez makes readers invest in each generation of Buendías and then mourn their loss like relatives when they're gone. One Hundred Years of Solitude loves its characters dearly, but knows exactly when it is time for each of them to go. It is family saga, and also a novel about loss, from individual loss to cultural loss to historical loss, but also about how things endure. At least, until they don't anymore. Interview With The Vampire Written By Ann Rice; Published In 1976 Ann Rice's Vampire novels are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Rice's books have been a pop culture phenomenon since they were released, and thanks to a '90s film adaptation of Interview With a Vampire and AMC's present-day slew of Rice adaptations for TV, interest in her vampire protagonists Louis and Lestat and the franchise's other iconic characters seems to compound every generation. Which is to say, for anyone who hasn't read Interview yet, it's not "now or never," but now is the perfect time. Rice's writing still crackles on the page. Her prose has a poetic tinge to it and the plot is intense. It is still an absolute pageturner, delivering a calibrated mix of Gothic horror vibes, tragic romance, historical fiction, and of course, a genre-shifting spin on vampire lore. It's also a moving meditation on death. Rice turned to working on Interview With the Vampire after a catastrophic personal loss. Interview is a product of grief that uses vampires as a way of blurring the boundary between life and death and exploring the consequences. The Dead Zone Written By Stephen King; Published In 1979 You need to read at least one Stephen King novel before you die, that's for sure. But King can be intimidating, often just from the page count of his books alone. His bibliography is huge, too. Where should a reader start, especially if they don't want to start with IT, or The Shining, or The Stand? Enter, The Dead Zone. The Dead Zone is the story of a traumatic near-death experience that leaves protagonist Johnny Smith with supernatural powers. As it goes on, the novel also morphs into a political thriller. When Johnny shakes a presidential candidates hand, he receives a terrifying glimpse of what will happen if he's elected. This puts Johnny on the path to a heroic, but grim, future of his own. The Dead Zone is long, but not too long. It is frightening, but not too scary. And like most of King's best novels, it has an iconic film adaptation, directed by David Cronenberg and starring Christopher Walken. Beloved Written By Toni Morrison; Published In 1987 Beloved is a must-read in absolutely any capacity. Beloved ranks among the best novels of all time, no question. Beloved is a ghost story, but its ghosts go far beyond the ones that appear on the page. Set in 1873, Morrison's novel confronts the bitter ghost of America's slaveholding past through a haunting tale of loss and love. Beloved starts with an exorcism. Freedwoman Sethe and her family have been haunted for years by the spirit of her daughter, who she killed. When the ghost is expelled from their home, it seemingly returns in the form of a young girl named Beloved. This causes all the family's buried secrets, trauma, and pain to come to the surface. Morrison's novel is a monumental work of literature. If you were to read one book, and one book only this year, or even for the rest of your life, you couldn't go wrong picking Beloved. Timequake Written By Kurt Vonnegut; Published In 1997 The conventional Kurt Vonnegut pick for this list would be Slaughterhouse-Five. Which is totally fair. Slaughterhouse's central character is "unstuck in time," resulting in him knowing exactly when and how he will die, granting him a degree of serenity about his fate. Yet Vonnegut's later book Timequake builds on these same ideas in ways that make it a can't-miss work of fiction. For what it's worth, Timequake is also a bit more accessible for casual readers than Slaughterhouse-Five. It is still weird and experimental, but the language is simpler and the themes are more textual than subtextual. In the novel, time resets itself back 10 years, forcing everyone in the world to relive their lives over again, minute-by-minute, with the foreknowledge of what has already happened. For many people, that includes dying, or losing loved ones again. It's a gripping premise, but Timequake is flush with Vonnegut's characteristic humor. It is a melancholy and contemplative novel, but also a highly enjoyable read, a balancing act only expert writers like Kurt Vonnegut can pull off. Elsewhere Written By Gabrielle Zevin; Published In 2005 Elsewhere is a Young Adult novel that was critically acclaimed at the time of its release, but doesn't have as strong of a reputation 20 years later as it should. Curiously, it has never been adapted for film or TV, even though it boasts a fascinating premise that allows for a thematically potent take on life, death, and rebirth. The protagonist is a teenage girl killed in a hit-and-run, who is transported to the eponymous "Elsewhere," a bardo where the inhabitants age backward until they are newborns, at which point they're reincarnated on Earth. That's author Gabrielle Zevin's stroke of genius, putting a metaphysical ticking clock on Elsewhere's characters' ability to process their deaths and move on. Elsewhere is funny and poignant, the kind of elevated YA that blurs the line between young adult and adult fiction. It is a powerful book for processing death, one that is waiting for a new generation of readers to rediscover it. The Human Origins Of Beatrice Potter And Other Essential Ghosts Written By Soraya Palmer; Published In 2023 The Human Origins of Beatrice Potter and Other Essential Ghosts is one of the many modern heirs to One Hundred Years of Solitude and Beloved, and also As I Lay Dying. And one of the best in years. Soraya Palmer's novel is a family story, first and foremost, but also a tale of grief, a tale of wonder, and much more. The Human Origins focuses on two sisters, Sasha and Zora, who are coping with grief in different ways, as they come to terms with their mother Beatrice's terminal illness. The novel is very much about the way the ties that bind together family fray as everyone ages, and as people die. That theme, executed at such a high level, alone makes Palmer's novel a must-read. On top of that, The Human Origins of Beatrice Potter and Other Essential Ghosts is a beautifully written debut from an author who is going to be producing spellbinding literary work for a long time to come. Vigil Written By George Saunders; Published In 2026 Vigil is George Saunders' second novel, but he has been one of the living legends of American fiction going back 35 years now, working primarily as a short story writer for most of his career. His first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, also warrants a spot on this list. But Vigil, Saunders' brand-new novel, takes the themes and ideas about life and the afterlife from Bardo and fine-tunes them, with more accessible prose, and set in the modern world. (Bardo is a period piece set during the Civil War, with Abraham Lincoln as a prominent character.) The result is a meditation on contemporary death, dying, and morality that readers will be talking about for a long time. Vigil is about a dying oil executive being guided into the afterlife by another spirit, confronting the choices he has made along the way. It doubles down on Saunders' reputation as one of the leading moralists in modern fiction. Tell us your top "must read before you die" books, readers! We want to hear from you.