Reading lists

Looking for the book that best fits your holiday? Find your next adventure in our series of four, hand-picked summer reading lists.

The British Library's Crime Classics series reprints detective novels and stories that were first published during the golden age of crime writing. Discover a selection of titles from the series.

The top fiction and non-fiction books of 2022. Our top picks for the best books of the year include Jennifer Egan, Ian McEwan, Kate Atkinson, Celeste Ng, NoViolet Bulawayo, and Brit Pop star Jarvis Cocker.

A complete list of the International Booker Prize-winning books since 2016. Find signed copies of the best modern novels.

From an aspiring rapper with the odds stacked against her and a captain of mining ship, to a circus performer and a child-soldier - these aren't your ordinary teens. These teen books will take young readers on adventures that are both out of this world and oddly familiar. Romance, fantasy, and drama - here are 15 spectacular books written just for teens (but sure to entice our adult readers, too).

From Silent Spring to Gorillas in the Mist, this list features books published between 1911 and 1999 that highlighted environments and species in danger. These authors showed concern for the environment, and demanded conservation and preservation.

This list celebrates African American writers from both the past and present, from Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes to Colson Whitehead.

What makes a good book club book? We think the best book club books are the ones you keep thinking about long after you've turned the last page - the ones that make you ask every friend and family member, "Have you read...?" just so you can talk about it.

Every winner of the Costa Book Novel Award since 1971 - a list full of bestsellers and page-turners by the UK and Ireland's most beloved authors including Kate Atkinson, Ali Smith, Colm Tóibín, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sally Rooney, and William Trevor.

Written for the stage but just as good a read as any novel, a plays book is a book that contains the script of one or more dramatic plays. This list of 15 plays books includes well-known classics like A Street car Named Desire and Twelve Angry Men alongside modern award-winners including Water by the Spoonful and Wit.

In these 20 must-read Greek mythology books, classic Greek myths are reimagined and retold by the likes of Margaret Atwood, Madeline Miller, Stephen Fry, Ali Smith, Colm Tóibín and more. From Achilles and Odysseus to Penelope, Helen and Paris, these are the stories of gods, goddesses, and mortals as you've never heard them before.

Books published by Black authors between 1850 and 1930 are rarely referenced in recommended reading lists and appear largely forgotten. Our list of 25 forgotten books by African American authors includes novels, memoirs, autobiographies, short stories and essays, poetry, and investigative journalism.

This selection of top books about leadership was carefully chosen from bestseller lists, Forbes, and even from the recommendations of Bill Gates and Barack Obama.

From the 1936 Olympics in Berlin to the football fields of Odessa, Texas to the summit of Mt. Everest, here are 10 incredible stories detailing the greatest sports moments in history.

The mythical, the magical, and the magnificent! Fairy tales are some of our earliest stories and for centuries, children and adults alike have pored over the tales of princes and princesses, beasts and fairies.

The top fiction and non fiction books of 2021. Our top picks for the best books of the year include Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners, New York Times bestsellers, and many titles shortlisted for the year's big book awards.

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time high fantasy series is epic in more ways than one. There are 14 novels where Jordan creates an imaginary magical world in immense detail and introduces thousands of good and evil characters.

Considered the most prestigious literary award in science fiction, the Hugo Award is awarded annually to the best science fiction or fantasy book from the previous year. Explore our list of every Hugo Award winner for best novel dating back to 1953.

“He who controls the spice controls the universe.” The Dune universe began in 1965 when Frank Herbert published Dune and changed the science fiction genre forever. This bestselling novel won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1965 and the 1966 Hugo Award, and launched an epic series.

A complete list of the Booker-winning books since 1969. Find copies of the best modern novels.

AbeBooks analysed sales information from 2000 - 2015 and found The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey topped the list ahead of numerous critically acclaimed examples of classic literature.

Few subjects garner more passionate aficionados than classic cars. Both book collectors and automotive enthusiasts recognize the cultural and historical significance of vintage maintenance manuals, promotional pamphlets, serious analyses of the automotive industry in its infancy, and riveting biographies of early race car drivers and the cars they drove.

Countless books about conflicts, soldiering and warfare have slipped into obscurity. This selection of forgotten gems includes a regimental history, memoirs from combatants, books from guerilla fighters, five-star generals and an Apache warrior, and even a contribution from Mrs. Custer.

Trilogies are the sign of a serious reader- people with true commitment to an author’s cause.

Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, the prince of darkness - call him what you will, but the devil is a such an intriguing force of evil that countless writers across many centuries have woven a devil, the devil or simply demonic themes into their work.

Impress your friends & family - read the bestselling book for each year in the Twentieth century.

Georgette Heyer is one of AbeBooks’ top bestselling authors, over the entire history of this company.

In many ways, our childhood defines the rest of our life. Books about childhoods shattered by pain and suffering – both fiction and non–fiction – are commonplace today but they have a long history dating back to the English tale of the Babes in the Wood in the 16th century.

For more than a century, mystery writers have been drawn to trains, railways and stations because they are wonderful places to set a crime. You may never make eye contact with a fellow train passenger again after reading some of these thrillers.

Biggles has been fighting off bandits at 2 o’clock since 1932. He’s legend of children’s literature and one of the great adventure heroes.