What books does John Green recommend?
Years spent talking to readers on YouTube and TikTok give John Green and his book recommendations the warmth of a novelist behind The Fault in Our Stars and co-creator of Crash Course. These 13 titles are gathered from his Vlogbrothers videos, his TikTok, and interviews with outlets like The Week, and they lead with fiction, followed by psychology, society and politics, and philosophy. The book he has been most vocal about is Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which moved him to become "briefly a booktokker" just to say how much he loved it. His literary tastes run deep and personal: he praises Toni Morrison's Sula for transforming "the way I thought about love and gender," and admires Infinite Jest for its understanding of "adolescent depression and anxiety." Green has also authored six books of his own, spanning novels and essays.
Last updated February 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
byGabrielle Zevin
2022401 Pages“I am briefly attempting to become a booktokker just to tell you how much I love this book... This book made me feel that feeling more intensely than I've ever felt it before.”
— John Green
Source: John Green's TikTok
byAngie Thomas
2017444 Pages(1,100,000)
“Stunning.”
— John Green
Source: Twitter / Official Blurb
byToni Morrison
1973192 Pages“The friendship between Sula and Nel transformed the way I thought about love and gender.”
— John Green
Source: The Week Interview
An Immense World
How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
byEd Yong
2022464 Pages“Wow this book really radically deepened my appreciation for and understanding of non-human animals.”
— John Green
Source: Vlogbrothers
Read by Rich Roll, John Green
byDavid Foster Wallace
19961079 Pages“What I loved most was the novel's deep understanding of adolescent depression and anxiety.”
— John Green
Source: The Week Interview
Read by John Green
byOctavia E. Butler
2019368 Pages“It has gotten better over the last 30 years because it helps us to understand that much of our now wasn't just foreseeable, it was foreseen.”
— John Green
Source: Vlogbrothers
Read by John Green
The Disordered Cosmos
A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
byChanda Prescod-Weinstein
2021336 Pages“I think about it every day... it is just brilliant i have never read anything like it.”
— John Green
Source: Vlogbrothers
Read by John Green, Kurt Cobain, Sarah Jessica Parker and 1 others
byJ.D. Salinger
1951277 Pages(3,600,000)
“God knows it's better than Lord of the Flies.”
— John Green
Source: Crash Course Literature
Read by Wong Kar Wai, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ralph Lauren and 5 others
byF. Scott Fitzgerald
2004180 Pages(4,896,000)
“You can't not like 'The Great Gatsby.' It's got the best sentences in, like, ever.”
— John Green
Source: Huffington Post Interview
Read by John Green
byLaurie Halse Anderson
2011224 Pages“Tells the story of the mute Melinda Sordino, who has survived an unspeakable trauma that must, finally, be shared.”
— John Green
Source: The Week Interview
Read by John Green
Pilgrim Bell
Poems
byKaveh Akbar
202180 Pages“In the last month I have read this book over and over and it just keeps giving me new gifts.”
— John Green
Source: Vlogbrothers
Read by John Green
The Blood of the Lamb
A Novel
byPeter De Vries
2005248 Pages“It is one of the most honest books I’ve ever read about the way that a crisis of the body is also a crisis of the spirit.”
— John Green
Source: The Week Interview
Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
byKatherine Boo
2012256 Pages“The most interesting and complex book about poverty he's ever read.”
— John Green
Source: Omnivoracious Interview
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Frequently asked questions
What books does John Green recommend?
His 13 recommendations include Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Sula by Toni Morrison, An Immense World by Ed Yong, and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.
What is John Green's favorite book?
His top pick is Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which he loved so much he tried to "become a booktokker just to tell you how much I love this book," saying it made him feel a particular feeling "more intensely than I've ever felt it before."
Where do John Green's book recommendations come from?
They come from his Vlogbrothers YouTube videos, his TikTok, and interviews with outlets including The Week, the Huffington Post, and Omnivoracious, as well as his work on Crash Course Literature.
Has John Green written any books?
Yes, six, including The Fault in Our Stars (2012), Looking for Alaska (2005), Turtles All the Way Down (2017), The Anthropocene Reviewed (2021), and Everything Is Tuberculosis (2025).
What genres does John Green read most?
Fiction dominates his list, followed by psychology and human behavior, society and politics, and philosophy. He recommends everything from literary classics like The Great Gatsby to contemporary novels, poetry collections, and the occasional science book such as An Immense World.
All 13 Books John Green Has Recommended
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow · Gabrielle Zevin
- The Hate U Give · Angie Thomas
- Sula · Toni Morrison
- An Immense World · Ed Yong
- Infinite Jest · David Foster Wallace
- Parable of the Sower · Octavia E. Butler
- The Disordered Cosmos · Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- The Catcher in the Rye · J.D. Salinger
- The Great Gatsby · F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Speak · Laurie Halse Anderson
- Pilgrim Bell · Kaveh Akbar
- The Blood of the Lamb · Peter De Vries
- Behind the Beautiful Forevers · Katherine Boo