Book Lists That Should Exist

Lists have become one of the major formats through which we consume information on the internet. And why not? Lists are easy to read; they have lots of white space, plenty of bolded headlines, and often, pictures! Here at Book Riot we publish lots of helpful book lists, for a wide variety of readers, featuring a wide variety of voices and genres. If you haven’t used our lists to make lists of your own, I highly recommend you do so. You can often find exactly what you’re looking for. 7 of the Best Books to Read in the Hospital (And 2 To Avoid), 4 Feminist Books By Indian Writers That Are Redefining Myths, 6 Books Reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn Movies are some of our recent lists, just to give you an idea of the range. One that I wrote recently is about which books to pair with the cereal you are eating.

In crafting any good book list, there are a couple of questions you have to ask yourself. Is this list silly or serious? (Cereal versus feminist Indian writers.) Is this list utilitarian or is it for taste? (Books for the hospital versus books for Audrey Hepburn fans.) Is this list going to reach an audience of people who will think, “FINALLY! Someone who understands me!”? I personally think the examples I provided above do the trick—lots of people go to the hospital, eat cereal, and love Audrey Hepburn. The list of feminist books by Indian writers is about discovery, another thing people look for in a good list. There is nothing better than discovering a list of books that align with what you need, or want, in life and literature.

But I can’t help but think that not every single person has access to the list they are looking for. Science is getting close, but we haven’t yet discovered them all. To keep us on the right track, I have a few ideas for book lists that I have yet to see and which I think would be important contributions to the list canon. Here they are, spanning the spectrum of utility, discovery, and taste (in list format, for convenience):