Books

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I was very thrilled and excited when Amazon announced 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, which is a list of 100 best-read and reviewed books compiled by Amazon Book editors. This list contains books of every genre, from art, biography, children’s, crime, contemporary, history, philosophy, romance, science, and thriller.

If you, like me, do not recall the last time you read a print book, because you prefer reading ebooks on your Kindle. You don’t have to be worried because the 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime are available in almost every format: paperback or hardcover, audio, and ebook.

It is nice to know that you can also vote and have your say about 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime on Goodreads. The following are 10 of my favorite ebooks out of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, that you should be reading right now:

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel of such power that the reader will be unable to forget its images and its forecast.

Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans.

The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men in its population … Click here to read The Handmaid’s Tale.

2. Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped, and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River.

Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone … Click here to read Gone Girl.

3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has brought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love … Click here to read The Fault in Our Stars.

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country.

A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible … Click here to read To Kill a Mockingbird.

5. 1984 by George Orwell

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania, where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions.

Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match … Click here to read 1984.

6. Dune by Frank Herbert

Dune is the story of Paul Atreides, who would become known as Muad’Dib, and of a great family’s ambition to bring to fruition mankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science … Click here to read Dune.

7. The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1) by Suzanne Collins

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death … Click here to read The Hunger Games.

8. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared.

It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War … Click here to read Unbroken.

9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing … Click here to read The Book Thief.

10. Fahrenheit 451: A Novel by Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.”

But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has … Click here to read Fahrenheit 451.

Bonus tips:

• Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours from Amazon.com (US & International) or Amazon.de (Germany & Europe/EU).
• Need something to read? Read your favorite books on Amazon.com (US & International) or Amazon.de (Germany & Europe/EU).