What books does Stephen Fry recommend?
Few public figures wear their bibliophilia as openly as Stephen Fry, and his book recommendations reflect a modern Renaissance man equally at home with Greek myth and the digital age. An award-winning actor, broadcaster, and author, Fry has assembled 25 titles here, sourced from interviews, forewords he has written, Five Books conversations, and posts on his own Twitter feed. The selection is anchored in fiction and literature, with rich veins of philosophy, history, and psychology. His comfort reading returns again and again to P.G. Wodehouse, with The Code of the Woosters singled out for its "wonderful cast of characters running amok in the English countryside." Elsewhere he praises David Eagleman's Sum so highly that he vowed to "eat 40 hats" if a reader remained unenchanted. Having authored a dozen books of his own, Fry recommends as a writer who knows the craft.
Last updated February 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
byP.G. Wodehouse
1938224 Pages“There's plenty to choose from, but on balance I'd go for The Code of the Woosters. Written in 1938, the book has, as do almost all of them, a wonderful cast of characters running amok in the English countryside.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Quora answer by Stephen Fry, April 2013
Read by Stephen Fry
byP.G. Wodehouse
2008304 Pages“Probably Right Ho, Jeeves. It is a book that provides solace for times of everything from flu to fractured fibulae.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Papier interview, '12 questions with Stephen Fry'
Read by Stephen Fry
Sum
Forty Tales from the Afterlives
byDavid Eagleman
2009128 Pages“You will not read a more dazzling book this year than David Eagleman’s Sum. If you read it and aren't enchanted I will eat 40 hats.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Stephen Fry's Twitter/X (@stephenfry)
Read by Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Stephen Hawking and 2 others
byDouglas Adams
1995216 PagesSource: Foreword to the 25th Anniversary Edition by Stephen Fry
byOscar Wilde
2003256 Pages“To read The Picture of Dorian Gray for the first time is overwhelming... it wakes up things inside you that you didn't know were in there fast asleep.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: YouTube interview, 'Which books would Stephen Fry sell his soul to read again?'
bySiddhartha Mukherjee
2016592 Pages“It's a completely mind expanding book written from someone who only writes exceptional, culture shifting books.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Interview with Yuval Noah Harari, September 2024
Read by Tim Ferriss, Barack Obama, Ray Dalio and 21 others
byYuval Noah Harari
2014443 Pages(1,100,000)
“I'm sure many of you will have read the book that catapulted his name into world fame... which involved many extraordinary insights and a kind of thrilling narrative of its own.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Octopus Energy Tech Summit 2024
Nexus
A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
byYuval Noah Harari
2024528 Pages“I highly recommend anybody that's listening to this conversation... to go and get this book right now.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Interview with Yuval Noah Harari, September 2024
byJames Joyce
1922783 Pages(182,000)
“It may be that The Great Gatsby is as perfect, word for word, just in terms of English... but Ulysses is deeper, richer, wider – and is comic.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Academy of Achievement Interview
Read by Wong Kar Wai, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ralph Lauren and 5 others
byF. Scott Fitzgerald
2004180 Pages(4,896,000)
“It may be that The Great Gatsby is as perfect, word for word, just in terms of English.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Academy of Achievement Interview
Read by Stephen Fry
The Silent Patient
A Novel
byAlex Michaelides
2019336 Pages(3,226,726)
“Absolutely brilliant... I read it in a state of intense, breathless excitement.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Publisher Endorsement
Brideshead Revisited
The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
byEvelyn Waugh
2000480 Pages“Evelyn Waugh thought 'Brideshead Revisited' misunderstood... Waugh, a devout Catholic convert, insisted it was about 'the Operation of Grace.'”
— Stephen Fry
Source: New York Times 'By the Book' Interview
Read by Stephen Fry
Chokepoint Capitalism
How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back
byRebecca Giblin, Cory Doctorow
2022312 Pages“This book really gets it... In Orwellian Animal Farm terms, the digital, media & startup pigs are now wearing trousers.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Stephen Fry's Twitter/X (@stephenfry)
Read by Stephen Fry
Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women
Unique, Eccentric and Amazing Entertainers
byRicky Jay
1986352 PagesSource: Foreword to 'Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women' by Stephen Fry
Read by Stephen Fry
byMalcolm Lowry
2007448 PagesSource: Charlie Rose Interview
Read by Stephen Fry
byRobert Louis Stevenson
2003144 Pages“It would be lovely to read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde again without knowing what was going to happen... if you reread them as I often do you're astonished by how great they are.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: YouTube interview, 'Which books would Stephen Fry sell his soul to read again?'
Read by Stephen Fry
byL.P. Hartley
1953336 Pages“Captures the Norfolk skies and fields—not to mention the baffling business of childhood.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Papier interview, '12 questions with Stephen Fry'
Read by Stephen Fry
The Wide Wide Sea
Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
byHampton Sides
2024432 Pages“Just finishing Hampton Sides’ The Wide Wide Sea. A beautifully written account of Captain Cook’s third and final voyage. Astonishing.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Papier interview, '12 questions with Stephen Fry'
Read by Stephen Fry
byChristopher Hitchens
2010448 Pages“He records in his marvelous book Hitch-22 how he ducked out... to have a cigarette.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Intelligence Squared tribute speech
Read by Stephen Fry
byDouglas Adams, Mark Carwardine
1990256 Pages“Last Chance To See is a majestic tour d'horizon... a work of rare power and beauty.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Stephen Fry's Blog, 'Don't Quote Me'
byArthur Conan Doyle
1892307 Pages“Heroes with remarkable gifts are as in vogue now as they have been... his superpower was that he had trained his mind into a uniquely powerful weapon.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Introduction to 'Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection' by Stephen Fry
The Song of Achilles
A Novel
byMadeline Miller
2011416 Pages(2,000,000)
“One of the modern writers I most admire... It's a wonderful, wonderful book.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Five Books interview
Read by Stephen Fry
The Greek Myths
Complete Edition
byRobert Graves
2012832 Pages“For many of us, it was the portal. He writes with such extraordinary confidence and authority.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Five Books interview
Read by Stephen Fry
Tales from Ovid
24 Passages from the Metamorphoses
byTed Hughes
1997257 Pages“It’s as if Hughes was born to translate Ovid. It’s muscular, earthy and absolutely thrilling.”
— Stephen Fry
Source: Five Books interview
Loading more
Also recommends books in
Frequently asked questions
What books does Stephen Fry recommend?
His 25 recommendations include The Code of the Woosters, Right Ho, Jeeves, Sum by David Eagleman, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Song of Achilles, spanning comic fiction, philosophy, and Greek myth, the last a lifelong passion of his own writing.
What is Stephen Fry's favourite book?
P.G. Wodehouse's The Code of the Woosters is among his top picks; asked to choose, he said "on balance I'd go for The Code of the Woosters," praising its "wonderful cast of characters running amok in the English countryside."
Where do Stephen Fry's book recommendations come from?
They come from interviews such as Five Books and the New York Times "By the Book," forewords and introductions he has written, his blog, and his Twitter/X account, where he called Sum "a dazzling book."
Has Stephen Fry written any books?
Yes. He has authored 12 books, including the memoirs Moab Is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles, and More Fool Me, and his bestselling Greek mythology retellings Mythos, Heroes, Troy, and Odyssey.
Which classic novels does Stephen Fry most admire?
He reveres The Picture of Dorian Gray, saying it "wakes up things inside you," and ranks Ulysses above The Great Gatsby, calling Joyce's novel "deeper, richer, wider - and is comic."
All 25 Books Stephen Fry Has Recommended
- The Code of the Woosters · P.G. Wodehouse
- Right Ho, Jeeves · P.G. Wodehouse
- Sum · David Eagleman
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · Douglas Adams
- The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde
- The Gene: An Intimate History · Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind · Yuval Noah Harari
- Nexus · Yuval Noah Harari
- Ulysses · James Joyce
- The Great Gatsby · F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Silent Patient · Alex Michaelides
- Brideshead Revisited · Evelyn Waugh
- Chokepoint Capitalism · Rebecca Giblin
- Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women · Ricky Jay
- Under the Volcano · Malcolm Lowry
- The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde · Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Go-Between · L.P. Hartley
- The Wide Wide Sea · Hampton Sides
- Hitch-22: A Memoir · Christopher Hitchens
- Last Chance to See · Douglas Adams
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes · Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Song of Achilles · Madeline Miller
- The Greek Myths · Robert Graves
- Tales from Ovid · Ted Hughes
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone · J.K. Rowling