There are many forms of literature--fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, myths and more.
Fiction is all about imagination. Short stories and novels that are about imaginary people in imaginary situations in imaginary places and times. There are different genres of fiction--mystery or crime fiction, romance, western, ... speculative fiction includes science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, horror, etc.
Best known:
- Mystery/Crime:
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, considered the very first detective story
- Books by John Grisham
- Romance:
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Books by Nora Roberts
- Western:
- Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
- Books by Louis L'Amour
- Speculative Fiction:
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
There are so many wonderful books out there for you to choose from, so give them a try.
Nonfiction can be essays or memoirs, journalism and autobiographies, self-help and journals, so many types of nonfiction exist and it's all information that is, hopefully, true. Truth is the backbone of nonfiction, just like imagination is at the heart of fiction.
Best known:
- Essays:
- Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
- A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
- You and the Atomic Bomb by George Orwell
- Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
- Memoirs:
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
- Journalists
- Bob Woodward
- Carl Bernstein
- Walter Cronkite
- Tom Brokaw
- Nellie Bly
- Katharine Graham
- Autobiographies:
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Bossypants by Tina Fey
- Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis
- Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
- Self-Help
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
- The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
- The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck
- Journals
- Journal of a Novel: the East of Eden Letters by John Steinbeck
- The Diary of Samuel Pepys
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Motorcycle Diaries : Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto Che Guevara