What books does Harold Bloom recommend?
The Harold Bloom book recommendations here come from Yale's Sterling Professor of Humanities and author of The Western Canon, who spent his life defending the aesthetic power of classic literature. Sixteen titles are drawn largely from The Western Canon, plus interviews with the Los Angeles Review of Books and TIME, book introductions, and literary tributes. Fiction and literature overwhelmingly dominate, with philosophy and psychology woven through. At the summit stands Shakespeare's Hamlet; Bloom writes that Shakespeare is the canon, setting the standard and the limits of literature. He pairs it with Cervantes's Don Quixote, arguing that the true use of Shakespeare or Cervantes is to augment one's own growing inner self, and calls Dante the only poet since Shakespeare adequately compared to him. He also singles out John Crowley's Little, Big as the most enchanting twentieth-century book he knows. Bloom authored six of his own works here, including The Western Canon and The Anxiety of Influence.
Last updated February 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
Hamlet
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
byWilliam Shakespeare
2003432 Pages“Shakespeare is the canon. He sets the standard and the limits of literature.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
Read by Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and 3 others
Don Quixote
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha
byMiguel de Cervantes
2003976 Pages“The true use of Shakespeare or of Cervantes... is to augment one's own growing inner self.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
The Divine Comedy
Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
byDante Alighieri
2013752 Pages(169,113)
“Dante is the most aggressive and polemical of the major Western writers... He is the only poet since Shakespeare who is adequately compared to him.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
Little, Big
or, The Fairies' Parliament
byJohn Crowley
1981538 Pages“I always regularly reread a book that I wish more people would read: Little, Big. It is literally the most enchanting twentieth-century book I know.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: Introduction to Little, Big (25th Anniversary Edition)
Moby Dick
or, The Whale
byHerman Melville
1851720 Pages“One of the two greatest novels [alongside In Search of Lost Time].”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
Read by Harold Bloom
Book of Numbers
A Novel
byJoshua Cohen
2015592 Pages“Shatteringly powerful. I cannot think of anything by anyone in your generation that is so frighteningly relevant and composed with such continuous eloquence.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: Los Angeles Review of Books Interview
Read by Harold Bloom
byPhilip Roth
1995451 Pages“His two greatest novels, American Pastoral and Sabbath's Theater, have a controlled frenzy, a high imaginative ferocity.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: Library of America Tribute
Read by Harold Bloom
byPhilip Roth
1997432 Pages“His two greatest novels, American Pastoral and Sabbath's Theater, have a controlled frenzy, a high imaginative ferocity.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: Library of America Tribute
Read by Harold Bloom
byJosé Saramago
1994400 Pages(65,400)
“My own favorites among his books include the darkly comic The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and the frightening Blindness.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: TIME Magazine
Read by Harold Bloom
byJosé Saramago
1997326 Pages“The frightening Blindness... His achievement is one of the enlargements of life.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: TIME Magazine
Read by Harold Bloom
byJosé Saramago
1992368 Pages“I have more pleasure in returning to his deeply comic works... most of all, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: TIME Magazine
Read by Harold Bloom
Call It Sleep
A Novel
byHenry Roth
2005480 Pages“One of the four best books by Jewish writers in America.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: Los Angeles Review of Books Interview
Read by Harold Bloom
Hadji Murad
A Masterpiece of 19th-Century Caucasian Warfare
byLeo Tolstoy
2003192 Pages“The best story in the world, or at least the best that I have ever read.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
Read by Harold Bloom
byWalt Whitman
185580 Pages“The greatest American poem.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
byJohn Milton
1667512 Pages(184,500)
“The greatest of all epic poems.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: The Western Canon
Read by Harold Bloom
byLewis Carroll
1865192 Pages“The two Alice books by Lewis Carroll are the finest literary fantasies ever written.”
— Harold Bloom
Source: Hogwarts Professor Interview
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Frequently asked questions
What books does Harold Bloom recommend?
His 16 recommendations include Shakespeare's Hamlet, Cervantes's Don Quixote, Dante's The Divine Comedy, John Crowley's Little, Big, and Melville's Moby Dick, drawn heavily from the Western literary canon he spent his career defending and interpreting for readers.
What is Harold Bloom's most important book?
Bloom placed Shakespeare above all, writing that Shakespeare is the canon and sets the standard and the limits of literature, with Hamlet as a central text alongside Cervantes's Don Quixote and Dante's Divine Comedy.
Which modern novel did Harold Bloom love most?
He championed John Crowley's Little, Big, saying he regularly rereads it and wishes more people would, calling it literally the most enchanting twentieth-century book he knows, a rare modern favorite among his canonical picks.
Has Harold Bloom written any books?
Yes. Six of his own works appear here, including The Western Canon, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, How to Read and Why, The Anxiety of Influence, and The Book of J.
What genres did Harold Bloom read most?
His list is overwhelmingly fiction and literature, from Shakespeare and Dante to Philip Roth and José Saramago, with philosophy and psychology threaded through his readings of poetry and the novel.
All 16 Books Harold Bloom Has Recommended
- Hamlet · William Shakespeare
- Don Quixote · Miguel de Cervantes
- The Divine Comedy · Dante Alighieri
- Little, Big · John Crowley
- Moby Dick · Herman Melville
- Book of Numbers · Joshua Cohen
- Sabbath's Theater · Philip Roth
- American Pastoral · Philip Roth
- The Gospel According to Jesus Christ · José Saramago
- Blindness · José Saramago
- The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis · José Saramago
- Call It Sleep · Henry Roth
- Hadji Murad · Leo Tolstoy
- Song of Myself · Walt Whitman
- Paradise Lost · John Milton
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · Lewis Carroll