The Pleasure List

Everyone knows the benefits of reading: it expands your world, sharpens your mind. It might even make you more creative or successful.

But fewer people are reading for pleasure in the UK. More and more people feel that books aren’t for them, or they don’t know where to begin.

We want to change that.

In 2026 – the UK’s National Year of Reading – we’re joining the Go All In campaign to celebrate the books that bring joy and offer new readers a way into a love of literature.

We’ve asked thousands of readers around the UK and beyond to share their favourite fiction – the books they couldn’t put down, the books they’ve re-read the most times, the books that started it all for them. 

And the results are in...

We’ve curated a selection of the most-chosen titles into The Pleasure List – 39 books (to mark our 39th year!) guaranteed to offer something for every budding book lover.

The Pleasure List in full

A Court of Thorns and Roses Sarah J Maas

A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara

A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman

A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini

David Copperfield Charles Dickens

Dune Frank Herbert

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman

Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros

Hamnet Maggie O’Farrell

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone J.K. Rowling

Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë

Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie

Night Watch Terry Prachett

Northern Lights Philip Pullman

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Marquez

Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett

Piranesi Susanna Clarke

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Rebecca Daphne du Maurier

Refugee Boy Benjamin Zephaniah

Riders Jilly Cooper

Right Ho, Jeeves P.G. Wodehouse

Small Things Like These Claire Keegan

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle

The Blue Book of Nebo Manon Steffan Ros

The Book Thief Marcus Zusak

The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

The Island of Missing Trees Elif Shafak

The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien

The Midnight Library Matt Haig

The Secret History Donna Tartt

The Shining Stephen King

The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller

The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman

Things We Lost in the Fire Mariana Enríquez

Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens

Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

1984 George Orwell