I have a bit of a passion for list making, goal setting, and self-improvement. That’s why I decided to share the books and plays I’ve read so far with you. If you enjoy these types of lists, you might also like my ranking of the best musicals of all time or my list of ranked theater TED talks.
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Rating: 5/5 – Books I Loved
The following books are some of my all-time favorites, and I would definitely recommend them.
1984 by George Orwell
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Die With Zero by Bill Perkins
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
How to Live by Derek Sivers
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Room by Emma Donoghue
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Sum: 40 Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
The Charisma Myth (reread) by Olivia Fox Cabane
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The One Thing by Gary Keller
The Power of Broke by Daymond John
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Tools of Titans by Timothy Ferriss
Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley
Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
Rating: 4/5 – Books I Really Enjoyed
The following books are ones that I really enjoyed reading. I would recommend them if they seem like your type of book.
11/22/1963 by Stephen King
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service by the Walt Disney Company
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, & the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
Frankie (*German*) by Jochen Gutsch and Maxim Leo
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Invisible Solutions by Stephen Shapiro
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
The Color of Milk by Nell Leyshon
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. DeMarco
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles
The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman
Think Like a Rock Star by Marc Collier
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Rating: 3/5 – Books I Appreciated or Kind of Liked
These books are ones I found to be moderately enjoyable/decent reads. I might recommend them based on an individual’s particular interests.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Disney War by James B. Stewart
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Kalmann by Joachim B. Schmidt
Life Without Envy by Camille DeAngelis
Marley and Me by John Grogan
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
Self-Made by Nely Galan
Set for Life by Scott Trench
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Studying Musical Theatre by Millie Taylor & Dominic Symonds
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Experience: 5 Principles of Disney Service by Bruce Loeffler
The Fran Lebowitz Reader by Fran Lebowitz
The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
The Mastery of Self by Miguel Ruiz Jr.
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life by Cheryl Strayed
Towards a Poor Theatre by Jerry Grotowski
Ultralearning by Scott Young
Upstairs at the White House by J.B. West
We Are All Weird by Seth Godin
Rating: 2/5 – Books I Didn’t Really Like
These books are ones that I didn’t particularly enjoy, but still was able to read to the end without too much struggle.
Acting: Advanced Techniques for the Actor, Director, and Teacher by Terry Schreiber
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd by Youngme Moon
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Smart Cuts by Shane Snow
The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander
The End of Loneliness by Benedict Wells
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Rating: 1/5 – Books I Struggled With
And finally, these are the books I found challenging to finish, couldn’t complete, or wouldn’t personally recommend.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success by Steve Harvey
Cat Brushing by Jane Campbell
The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
Plays Read:
⭐ = plays I found to be particularly special
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen ⭐
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare ⭐
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams ⭐
A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller ⭐
Black Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galván
Buried Child by Sam Shepard ⭐
Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
Deathtrap by Ira Levin ⭐
Equus by Peter Shaffer
God’s Ear by Jenny Schwarz ⭐
Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin Manuel Miranda ⭐
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill ⭐
Miss Julie by August Strindberg
No Man’s Land by Harold Pinter
Othello by William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard ⭐
Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello ⭐
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The Skriker by Caryl Churchill
Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett ⭐
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ⭐
Librettos Read:
⭐ = librettos I found to be particularly special
101 Dalmatians KIDS
A Christmas Story ⭐
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Anything Goes
Bonnie & Clyde
Carousel ⭐
Disney’s Descendants ⭐
Evil Dead
Fame
Junie B. Jones
Mamma Mia!
Matilda
Meet Me in St. Louis
Miracle on 34th Street
Moana Jr.
My Fair Lady
Parade ⭐
Ragtime ⭐
She Loves Me ⭐
Tarzan
The Scarlet Pimpernel