Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
Sign in with Facebook
Pompous Books to Read in Public
Want to increase your literary hipster cred at the local coffeehouse?
Here is a list to get you started.
Conversely, do you suspect a close friend is an insufferable book snob?
Catch them reading the following in public and your suspicions are confirmed!
If you've read most of the books on this list, you may be a book snob... but don't panic! Wear the title with pride, you deserve it.
Here is a list to get you started.
Conversely, do you suspect a close friend is an insufferable book snob?
Catch them reading the following in public and your suspicions are confirmed!
If you've read most of the books on this list, you may be a book snob... but don't panic! Wear the title with pride, you deserve it.
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
|
Ulysses
by
3.77 avg rating — 139,073 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 2 |
|
Infinite Jest
by
4.25 avg rating — 99,422 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 3 |
|
War and Peace
by
4.17 avg rating — 359,209 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 4 |
|
Swann's Way
by
4.16 avg rating — 66,842 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 5 |
|
Crime and Punishment
by
4.28 avg rating — 1,038,906 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 6 |
|
Being and Time
by
4.05 avg rating — 27,267 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 7 |
|
The Brothers Karamazov
by
4.39 avg rating — 374,190 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 8 |
|
Gravity’s Rainbow
by
4.01 avg rating — 47,228 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 9 |
|
Finnegans Wake
by
3.68 avg rating — 13,490 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 10 |
|
Anna Karenina
by
4.10 avg rating — 913,120 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 11 |
|
The Man Without Qualities
by
4.19 avg rating — 7,235 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 12 |
|
The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso
by
4.08 avg rating — 168,577 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 13 |
|
Critique of Pure Reason
by
3.96 avg rating — 41,276 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 14 |
|
The Catcher in the Rye
by
3.80 avg rating — 3,824,998 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 15 |
|
Waiting for Godot
by
3.84 avg rating — 218,431 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 16 |
|
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
by
4.07 avg rating — 171,374 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 17 |
|
The Republic
by
3.97 avg rating — 221,666 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 18 |
|
The Trial
by
3.94 avg rating — 381,042 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 19 |
|
Pride and Prejudice
by
4.29 avg rating — 4,677,729 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 20 |
|
Jane Eyre
by
4.16 avg rating — 2,276,026 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 21 |
|
Don Quixote
by
3.91 avg rating — 299,350 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 22 |
|
Les Misérables
by
4.21 avg rating — 834,095 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 23 |
|
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
by
3.56 avg rating — 606,352 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 24 |
|
Madame Bovary
by
3.71 avg rating — 366,887 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 25 |
|
Bleak House
by
4.02 avg rating — 112,830 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 26 |
|
The Sound and the Fury
by
3.86 avg rating — 193,293 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 27 |
|
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by
3.64 avg rating — 161,869 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 28 |
|
Atlas Shrugged
by
3.69 avg rating — 403,941 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 29 |
|
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
by
3.93 avg rating — 9,738 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 30 |
|
The Odyssey
by
3.83 avg rating — 1,165,494 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 31 |
|
Faust, and the Urfaust
by
4.01 avg rating — 1,418 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 32 |
|
Time Regained
by
4.51 avg rating — 8,097 ratings
score: 855,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 33 |
|
Das Kapital
by
3.89 avg rating — 11,448 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 34 |
|
Foucault's Pendulum
by
3.91 avg rating — 74,038 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 35 |
|
The God Delusion
by
Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)
3.90 avg rating — 280,412 ratings
score: 826,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 36 |
|
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,659 ratings
score: 822,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 37 |
|
Mrs Dalloway
by
3.78 avg rating — 346,271 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 38 |
|
Middlemarch
by
4.03 avg rating — 176,183 ratings
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 39 |
|
The Sorrows of Young Werther
by
3.69 avg rating — 150,669 ratings
score: 734,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 40 |
|
Beyond Good and Evil
by
4.03 avg rating — 110,602 ratings
score: 712,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 41 |
|
The Art of War
by
3.95 avg rating — 555,999 ratings
score: 701,
and
9 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 42 |
|
Phenomenology of Spirit
by
3.96 avg rating — 20,143 ratings
score: 695,
and
8 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 43 |
|
Journey to the End of the Night
by
4.18 avg rating — 46,725 ratings
score: 637,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 44 |
|
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
by
4.29 avg rating — 51,884 ratings
score: 623,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 45 |
|
The Glass Bead Game
by
4.10 avg rating — 41,599 ratings
score: 618,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 46 |
|
The Guermantes Way (In Search of Lost Time, #3)
by
4.27 avg rating — 11,578 ratings
score: 606,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 47 |
|
Walden or, Life in the Woods
by
3.77 avg rating — 201,835 ratings
score: 601,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 48 |
|
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I
by
4.17 avg rating — 3,420 ratings
score: 591,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 49 |
|
Le Morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table
by
3.92 avg rating — 39,117 ratings
score: 578,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 50 |
|
The Decline of the West
by
4.06 avg rating — 2,188 ratings
score: 567,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 51 |
|
The Will to Power
by
4.07 avg rating — 11,086 ratings
score: 565,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 52 |
|
Our Mutual Friend
by
4.09 avg rating — 31,024 ratings
score: 553,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 52 |
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
by
3.89 avg rating — 293,448 ratings
score: 553,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 54 |
|
Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
by
4.19 avg rating — 78,165 ratings
score: 544,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 55 |
|
The Plague
by
4.02 avg rating — 304,056 ratings
score: 543,
and
7 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 56 |
|
Sodom and Gomorrah (In Search of Lost Time, #4)
by
4.32 avg rating — 9,623 ratings
score: 529,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 57 |
|
The Canterbury Tales
by
3.52 avg rating — 235,477 ratings
score: 525,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 58 |
|
Within a Budding Grove (In Search of Lost Time, #2)
by
4.39 avg rating — 17,314 ratings
score: 519,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 59 |
|
House of Leaves
by
Mark Z. Danielewski (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 193,652 ratings
score: 505,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 60 |
|
The Road
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,010,515 ratings
score: 498,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 61 |
|
Ethics
by
4.10 avg rating — 20,528 ratings
score: 493,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 62 |
|
Existentialism is a Humanism
by
3.98 avg rating — 44,746 ratings
score: 471,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 63 |
|
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by
3.96 avg rating — 111,457 ratings
score: 462,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 64 |
|
2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey, #1)
by
4.18 avg rating — 332,049 ratings
score: 461,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 65 |
|
The Sheltering Sky
by
3.89 avg rating — 30,260 ratings
score: 460,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 66 |
|
Of Grammatology
by
3.97 avg rating — 5,304 ratings
score: 446,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 67 |
|
The Fountainhead
by
3.89 avg rating — 334,872 ratings
score: 417,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 68 |
|
History of the Peloponnesian War
by
3.94 avg rating — 40,081 ratings
score: 388,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 69 |
|
Paradise Lost
by
3.85 avg rating — 179,008 ratings
score: 375,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 70 |
|
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
by
3.88 avg rating — 34,515 ratings
score: 366,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 71 |
|
Henderson the Rain King
by
3.76 avg rating — 15,958 ratings
score: 361,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 72 |
|
Nausea
by
3.93 avg rating — 135,701 ratings
score: 359,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 73 |
|
What Is Philosophy?
by
4.15 avg rating — 2,299 ratings
score: 353,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 74 |
|
The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages
by
3.87 avg rating — 3,571 ratings
score: 352,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 75 |
|
Mythology
by
4.03 avg rating — 59,233 ratings
score: 350,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 76 |
|
The Captive / The Fugitive (In Search of Lost Time, #5-6)
by
4.38 avg rating — 3,326 ratings
score: 340,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 77 |
|
The Corrections
by
3.84 avg rating — 195,402 ratings
score: 331,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 78 |
|
Twilight of the Idols / The Anti-Christ
by
4.15 avg rating — 9,589 ratings
score: 330,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 79 |
|
Ivanhoe
by
3.76 avg rating — 98,266 ratings
score: 320,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 79 |
|
The Society of the Spectacle
by
4.03 avg rating — 22,855 ratings
score: 320,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 81 |
|
Martin Heidegger: Between Good and Evil
by
3.87 avg rating — 1,759 ratings
score: 317,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 82 |
|
Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
by
4.19 avg rating — 12,957 ratings
score: 291,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 83 |
|
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume II
by
4.24 avg rating — 1,223 ratings
score: 290,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 84 |
|
Poetry, Language, Thought
by
4.11 avg rating — 3,646 ratings
score: 275,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 85 |
|
Under the Net
by
3.77 avg rating — 16,125 ratings
score: 272,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 86 |
|
Man and His Symbols
by
4.19 avg rating — 32,598 ratings
score: 262,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 87 |
|
To the Lighthouse
by
3.81 avg rating — 209,384 ratings
score: 261,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 88 |
|
Little Dorrit
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 49,490 ratings
score: 260,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 89 |
|
Complete Works of William Shakespeare
by
4.48 avg rating — 57,611 ratings
score: 258,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 90 |
|
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
by
4.04 avg rating — 92,338 ratings
score: 252,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 91 |
|
VALIS
by
3.91 avg rating — 32,235 ratings
score: 250,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 91 |
|
Confessions
by
3.59 avg rating — 9,227 ratings
score: 250,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 93 |
|
The Trial and Death of Socrates
by
4.12 avg rating — 45,060 ratings
score: 249,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 94 |
|
The Prague Cemetery
by
3.51 avg rating — 29,689 ratings
score: 247,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 95 |
|
The Iliad
by
3.93 avg rating — 498,670 ratings
score: 242,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 96 |
|
The Prince
by
3.84 avg rating — 374,594 ratings
score: 238,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 97 |
|
A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat
by
4.33 avg rating — 9,574 ratings
score: 236,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 98 |
|
The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction
by
4.02 avg rating — 25,141 ratings
score: 231,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 99 |
|
Utopia
by
3.55 avg rating — 81,227 ratings
score: 230,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 100 |
|
The Nibelungenlied
by
3.82 avg rating — 8,758 ratings
score: 223,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
307 books ·
153 voters ·
list created March 15th, 2012
by Holly Lindquist (votes) .
Holly
1716 books
61 friends
61 friends
Karen
1868 books
69 friends
69 friends
Adrianne
1710 books
1 friend
1 friend
Matthew
1285 books
25 friends
25 friends
Read Between The Lines
6180 books
61 friends
61 friends
buppyspek
382 books
13 friends
13 friends
Samuel
1106 books
74 friends
74 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
3384 books
853 friends
853 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-20 of 20 (20 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Limey
(new)
Nov 08, 2013 05:40PM
Here's a top tip: get hold of a hardback edition of one of these pompous books, cut out the middle couple of hundred or more pages of it, and then you can just put your usual, normal, real people's, non-hipster, pompless, friendly-neighborhood, genuinely readable, unpretentious, happybrow, fun, top-entertainment books inside it, so that people think you're ultra-hip and highbrow and can actually make sense of that wacko shit.
reply
|
flag
Read Ulysses today at the Social Security office (it's just what I happened to be reading!), so where do I pick up my pompous card?
Only two women in this list! A little bit unbalanced...
I count 5 female authors in the top hundred, but that's still a very masculine list.
I'm personally thankful that so few female authors have to resort to being overbearingly pompous in order to write quality literature. If they don't make the list, I think that's a success, not a failure...because face it, this list is obnoxious! Pew! PS: Although.. after some reflection I realize Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia belongs on the list. Very much so.
Perhaps a list for Genuinely Thought-Provoking Books or Deeply Intelligent Reading would have better diversity. I know several female authors that could wipe the floor with the competition in that case.
Um. Why is the "The Road" on this list? Its an easy-to-read page turner that was turned into a blockbuster movie, and by far Cormac McCarthy's most accessible mass audience genre novel...
ah yes, glenn beck, the most pompous of them all. riiiight...
must we be ironic and postmodern about good literature? perhaps you just want to read a good book when you read Ulysses.
Grant wrote: "must we be ironic and postmodern about good literature? perhaps you just want to read a good book when you read Ulysses."Well, we are still in the "postmodern" era, so... yes.
Mark wrote: "Here's a top tip: get hold of a hardback edition of one of these pompous books, cut out the middle couple of hundred or more pages of it, and then you can just put your usual, normal, real people's..."this has to be satire
But 'Ulysses' is flat out brilliant. It's one of a handful of books that make me laugh out loud, and yes several times in coffee shops. "Atlas Shrugged" is brilliant entertainment, but basically a pretentious soap opera! Proust is a magnificent writer!
Mark wrote: "Here's a top tip: get hold of a hardback edition of one of these pompous books, cut out the middle couple of hundred or more pages of it, and then you can just put your usual, normal, real people's..."Mark, well, in the 1st grade I had Agatha Christie books hidden within those silly readers like "See Jane Run." I had no other choice but to hide what I really wanted to read.
I'm glad to see Jacques Barzun on a list of pompous people. My only qualm is that he doesn't deserve to be on a list with writers of real ability and insight.
Anyone can add books to this list.
How to Vote
To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.
To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.
