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The Catalogue

Books the library rates without holding their full text. Old ones link to free copies; books still in copyright get a score and a short review, never the text.

153 booksplus 314 works to read in full in the Open Stacks

The number is the librarian’s score, out of ten, from Claude, an AI. Readers’ scores appear beside it once five people have rated. Claude has not heard the albums: their scores come from what is documented about them.

Literature

Poems, stories, novels and plays, from the Book of Songs to now.

  1. Dream of the Red Chamber紅樓夢 Cao Xueqin 1760 9.8
  2. The Divine ComedyDivina Commedia Dante Alighieri c. 1320 9.7
  3. The IliadἸλιάς Homer c. 750 BCE 9.6
  4. Classic of Poetry詩經 Anonymous 600 BCE 9.5
  5. HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark William Shakespeare c. 1600 9.5
  6. Don QuixoteDon Quijote de la Mancha Miguel de Cervantes 1605, 1615 9.5
  7. Songs of the South楚辭 Qu Yuan 300 BCE 9.3
  8. The Tale of Genji源氏物語 Murasaki Shikibu c. 1010 9.3
  9. The OdysseyὈδύσσεια Homer c. 725 BCE 9.2
  10. Anna KareninaАнна Каренина Leo Tolstoy 1878 9.2
  11. In Search of Lost TimeÀ la recherche du temps perdu Marcel Proust 1913–1927 9.2
  12. Call to Arms吶喊 Lu Xun 1923 9.2
  13. Journey to the West西遊記 Wu Cheng'en 1592 9.1
  14. Moby-DickMoby-Dick; or, The Whale Herman Melville 1851 9.1
  15. Epic of GilgameshGilgameš Anonymous c. 1200 BCE 9.0
  16. The Peony Pavilion牡丹亭 Tang Xianzu 1598 9.0
  17. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio聊齋志異 Pu Songling 1700 9.0
  18. Middlemarch George Eliot 1871–1872 9.0
  19. One Hundred Years of SolitudeCien años de soledad Gabriel García Márquez 1967 9.0
  20. A New Account of the Tales of the World世說新語 Liu Yiqing 430 8.9
  21. Shahnameh (The Book of Kings)شاهنامه Ferdowsi 1010 8.9
  22. The Story of the Western Wing西廂記 Wang Shifu 1300 8.9
  23. Water Margin水滸傳 Shi Nai'an 1500 8.9
  24. Wild Grass野草 Lu Xun 1927 8.9
  25. Romances傳奇 Eileen Chang 1944 8.9
  26. The Scholars儒林外史 Wu Jingzi 1750 8.8
  27. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813 8.8
  28. Border Town邊城 Shen Congwen 1934 8.8
  29. Tales of Hulan River呼蘭河傳 Xiao Hong 1941 8.8
  30. Pedro Páramo Juan Rulfo 1955 8.8
  31. Teahouse茶馆 Lao She 1957 8.8
  32. Taipei People臺北人 Pai Hsien-yung 1971 8.8
  33. Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 8.8
  34. One Thousand and One Nightsألف ليلة وليلة Anonymous 9th–15th c. 8.7
  35. Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 8.7
  36. Wandering彷徨 Lu Xun 1926 8.7
  37. Fortress Besieged圍城 Qian Zhongshu 1947 8.7
  38. Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe 1958 8.7
  39. The Pillow Book枕草子 Sei Shōnagon c. 1002 8.6
  40. Romance of the Three Kingdoms三國演義 Luo Guanzhong 1400 8.6
  41. The Master and MargaritaМастер и Маргарита Mikhail Bulgakov 1966–1967 8.6
  42. Six Records of a Floating Life浮生六記 Shen Fu 1808 8.5
  43. A Doll’s HouseEt dukkehjem Henrik Ibsen 1879 8.5
  44. The Garden Party and Other Stories Katherine Mansfield 1922 8.5
  45. Rickshaw Boy駱駝祥子 Lao She 1937 8.5
  46. Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie 1981 8.5
  47. The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 8.5
  48. FrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus Mary Shelley 1818 8.4
  49. Snow Country雪国 Yasunari Kawabata 1935–1948 8.4
  50. If on a Winter’s Night a TravellerSe una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore Italo Calvino 1979 8.4
  51. The Chess Master棋王 Ah Cheng 1984 8.4
  52. To Live活着 Yu Hua 1993 8.4
  53. The Little PrinceLe Petit Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 8.2
  54. The Legend of the Condor Heroes射鵰英雄傳 Jin Yong 1957 8.2
  55. Red Sorghum红高粱家族 Mo Yan 1987 8.2
  56. The Song of Everlasting Sorrow长恨歌 Wang Anyi 1995 8.1
  57. The Sorrows of Young WertherDie Leiden des jungen Werthers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 8.0
  58. The Drunkard酒徒 Liu Yichang 1963 8.0
  59. Notes of a Desolate Man荒人手記 Chu T'ien-wen 1994 8.0
  60. The Vegetarian채식주의자 Han Kang 2007 8.0
  61. The Three-Body Problem三体 Liu Cixin 2008 8.0
  62. The Last Quarter of the Moon额尔古纳河右岸 Chi Zijian 2005 7.9
  63. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe 1719 7.8
  64. Memories of Peking: South Side Stories城南舊事 Lin Haiyin 1960 7.8
  65. Norwegian Woodノルウェイの森 Haruki Murakami 1987 7.8
  66. Family家 Ba Jin 1933 7.7
  67. Uncle Tom’s CabinUncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 7.4
  68. Stories of the Sahara撒哈拉的故事 Sanmao 1976 7.4

The full chart, with the Open Stacks →

Faith

Scripture, devotion and the books people wrote about believing.

  1. ConfessionsConfessiones Augustine of Hippo c. 397–400 9.5
  2. The Masnaviمثنوی معنوی Rumi c. 1258–1273 9.3
  3. The Divan of Hafezدیوان حافظ Hafez 14th century 9.2
  4. The Conference of the Birdsمنطق‌الطیر Attar of Nishapur 1177 8.9
  5. The Imitation of ChristDe imitatione Christi Thomas à Kempis c. 1418–1427 8.8
  6. The Varieties of Religious Experience William James 1902 8.8
  7. The Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan 1678 8.6
  8. The Poems of Hanshan (Cold Mountain)寒山詩 Hanshan Tang dynasty 8.5
  9. The Blue Cliff Record碧巖錄 Yuanwu Keqin c. 1125 8.5
  10. Songs of Kabir Kabir 1915 8.4
  11. I and ThouIch und Du Martin Buber 1923 8.3
  12. The Egyptian Book of the Deadrw nw prt m hrw Ancient Egyptian religion 1550 BCE 8.0
  13. Black Elk Speaks John G. Neihardt 1932 7.9
  14. The Prophet Kahlil Gibran 1923 7.6
  15. Rigvedaऋग्वेद Hinduism 1200 BCE Not scored
  16. The Upanishadsउपनिषद् Hinduism traditional Not scored
  17. Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible)תנ״ך Judaism traditional Not scored
  18. Dhammapada Buddhism traditional Not scored
  19. Bhagavad Gitaभगवद्गीता Hinduism traditional Not scored
  20. The BibleBiblia Christianity traditional Not scored
  21. The Lotus Sutraसद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्र Buddhism traditional Not scored
  22. The Diamond Sutraवज्रच्छेदिकाप्रज्ञापारमितासूत्र Buddhism traditional Not scored
  23. The Qur'anالقرآن Islam 7th century Not scored
  24. The Heart Sutra般若波羅蜜多心經 Buddhism traditional Not scored
  25. Kojiki古事記 Shinto 712 Not scored
  26. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch六祖大師法寶壇經 Chan (Zen) Buddhism 8th century Not scored
  27. Treatise of the Most High on Action and Response太上感應篇 Daoism Song dynasty Not scored

The full chart, with the Open Stacks →

History

How people have told what happened, and what they left for later.

  1. Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji)史記 Sima Qian 91 BCE 9.7
  2. History of the Peloponnesian WarἹστορίαι Thucydides 400 BCE 9.6
  3. The HistoriesἹστορίαι Herodotus c. 430 BCE 9.4
  4. Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance (Zizhi Tongjian)資治通鑑 Sima Guang 1084 9.3
  5. The Zuo Tradition (Zuo Zhuan)春秋左氏傳 Zuo Qiuming (traditionally attributed) 350 BCE 9.2
  6. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon 1776–1789 9.2
  7. If This Is a ManSe questo è un uomo Primo Levi 1947 9.2
  8. The AnnalsAnnales Tacitus 117 9.1
  9. The Muqaddimahالمقدمة Ibn Khaldun 1377 9.1
  10. Parallel LivesΒίοι Παράλληλοι Plutarch 110 9.0
  11. Book of Han漢書 Ban Gu (completed by Ban Zhao) 111 9.0
  12. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip IILa Méditerranée et le monde méditerranéen à l'époque de Philippe II Fernand Braudel 1949 8.9
  13. The Civilization of the Renaissance in ItalyDie Cultur der Renaissance in Italien Jacob Burckhardt 1860 8.8
  14. The Autumn of the Middle AgesHerfsttij der Middeleeuwen Johan Huizinga 1919 8.7
  15. Feudal SocietyLa Société féodale Marc Bloch 1939–1940 8.7
  16. The HistoriesἹστορίαι Polybius 150 BCE 8.6
  17. History of RomeAb Urbe Condita Livy c. 27–9 BCE 8.6
  18. Records of the Three Kingdoms三國志 Chen Shou 285 8.6
  19. The Gallic WarCommentarii de Bello Gallico Julius Caesar c. 50s BCE 8.5
  20. Book of the Later Han後漢書 Fan Ye c. 432–445 8.5
  21. The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 Eric Hobsbawm 1962 8.5
  22. AnabasisΚύρου Ἀνάβασις Xenophon c. 370 BCE 8.4
  23. Ecclesiastical History of the English PeopleHistoria ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum Bede c. 731 8.4
  24. 1587, a Year of No Significance1587, a Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline Ray Huang 1981 8.4
  25. Strategies of the Warring States戰國策 Liu Xiang (compiler) 20 BCE 8.3
  26. The True History of the Conquest of New SpainHistoria verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España Bernal Díaz del Castillo 1568 8.3
  27. Rajatarangini (The River of Kings)राजतरङ्गिणी Kalhana 1148–1149 8.2
  28. The AlexiadἈλεξιάς Anna Komnene c. 1148 8.2
  29. The Guns of August Barbara W. Tuchman 1962 8.2
  30. Essentials of Government of the Zhenguan Era貞觀政要 Wu Jing 720 8.0
  31. Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan)日本書紀 Prince Toneri (chief compiler) 720 7.9
  32. Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms)三國史記 Kim Busik 1145 7.6
  33. Guns, Germs, and SteelGuns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Jared Diamond 1997 7.6
  34. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankindקיצור תולדות האנושות Yuval Noah Harari 2011 7.0

The full chart, with the Open Stacks →

Aesthetics

Writing about beauty, art, poetry, gardens and taste.

  1. PoeticsΠερὶ ποιητικῆς Aristotle c. 335 BCE 9.5
  2. The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons文心雕龍 Liu Xie c. 501–502 9.4
  3. Critique of JudgmentKritik der Urteilskraft Immanuel Kant 1790 9.4
  4. Nāṭyaśāstraनाट्यशास्त्र Bharata Muni (traditional) 0 9.1
  5. On the SublimeΠερὶ ὕψους Longinus (author unknown) 1st century CE 9.0
  6. Poetic Remarks in the Human World人間詞話 Wang Guowei 1908–1909 9.0
  7. Lectures on AestheticsVorlesungen über die Ästhetik G. W. F. Hegel 1835 8.9
  8. Laocoön: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and PoetryLaokoon oder über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1766 8.8
  9. The Art of Poetry (Ars Poetica)Ars Poetica Horace c. 19 BCE 8.7
  10. Grades of Poets (Shipin)詩品 Zhong Rong 515 8.7
  11. The Twenty-Four Categories of Poetry二十四詩品 Sikong Tu (attributed) 900 8.6
  12. Canglang's Remarks on Poetry滄浪詩話 Yan Yu 1230 8.6
  13. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful Edmund Burke 1757 8.5
  14. In Praise of Shadows陰翳礼讃 Jun'ichirō Tanizaki 1933 8.5
  15. The Story of Art E. H. Gombrich 1950 8.5
  16. The Classic of Tea茶經 Lu Yu c. 760–780 8.4
  17. Casual Expressions of Idle Feeling閒情偶寄 Li Yu 1671 8.3
  18. Modern Painters John Ruskin 1843 8.2
  19. The Book of Tea Okakura Kakuzō 1906 8.1
  20. Intentions Oscar Wilde 1891 8.0
  21. Against Interpretation and Other EssaysAgainst Interpretation Susan Sontag 1966 8.0
  22. A Stroll Through Aesthetics美学散步 Zong Baihua 1981 8.0
  23. Ways of Seeing John Berger 1972 7.9
  24. What Is Art?Что такое искусство? Leo Tolstoy 1897 7.8

The full chart, with the Open Stacks →