This list includes 69 Books that start with W, from “Waiting for Godot” to “Wuthering Heights”. These titles span classics, modern fiction, plays, and genre works, useful for reference, teaching, and discovery.
Books that start with W are titles whose first letter is W. They include canonical works like “Wuthering Heights” and landmark plays such as “Waiting for Godot”.
Below you’ll find the table with Title, Author, Year, Genre, and Notes.
Title: Contains the book’s full title so you can quickly identify and search for it.
Author: Shows the author’s name to help you locate editions and explore related works.
Year: Lists the original publication or first edition year to give historical context and era.
Genre: Identifies the primary genre so you can filter titles by mood, subject, or audience.
Notes: Provides brief details, such as awards, translations, edition notes, or a concise description.
Books that start with W
| Title | Author(s) | First publication year | Primary genre | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | 1869 | historical fiction | Epic novel of Napoleonic-era Russia blending battles, families, and philosophical reflection. |
| Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | 1847 | gothic fiction | Dark, passionate tale of love, revenge, and haunting on the Yorkshire moors. |
| Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel | 2009 | historical fiction | A vivid, character-driven reimagining of Thomas Cromwell’s rise in Tudor England. |
| Watership Down | Richard Adams | 1972 | fantasy | Adventure fable following rabbits seeking a new home with ecological and heroic themes. |
| Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | 1963 | children’s | Imaginative picture book about a boy’s journey to a land of monsters and emotions. |
| Wind-Up Bird Chronicle | Haruki Murakami | 1994 | literary fiction | Surreal, multilayered novel blending domestic drama, mystery, and magical realism. |
| Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | 1908 | children’s | Gentle, pastoral tales of Mole, Rat, and Toad celebrating friendship and adventure. |
| White Fang | Jack London | 1906 | adventure fiction | Harsh, moving tale of a wolf-dog’s survival and relationship with humans in the Yukon. |
| White Teeth | Zadie Smith | 2000 | contemporary fiction | Lively, multicultural family saga set in London with sharp social satire. |
| White Noise | Don DeLillo | 1985 | postmodern fiction | Darkly comic novel about death, media saturation, and modern anxieties. |
| Watchmen | Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons | 1986 | graphic novel | Groundbreaking deconstruction of superheroes mixing noir, politics, and moral complexity. |
| Woman in White | Wilkie Collins | 1859 | sensation fiction | Early mystery built from multiple narrators, full of deceit, identity twists, and intrigue. |
| Waves | Virginia Woolf | 1931 | modernist fiction | Lyrical, interior novel tracing six characters’ consciousness across life’s stages. |
| Wrinkle in Time | Madeleine L’Engle | 1962 | children’s fantasy | Sci‑fi fantasy about a girl’s cosmic quest to rescue her scientist father. |
| Woman Warrior | Maxine Hong Kingston | 1976 | memoir | Blends memoir and myth to explore Chinese‑American identity and storytelling. |
| Wild Swans | Jung Chang | 1991 | memoir/history | Family history spanning three generations of Chinese women through 20th‑century upheaval. |
| Wolves of Willoughby Chase | Joan Aiken | 1962 | children’s fantasy | Gothic adventure for young readers featuring brave children and villainous plots. |
| White Album | Joan Didion | 1979 | nonfiction | Sharp, personal essays capturing 1960s–70s American culture and fragmentation. |
| White Tiger | Aravind Adiga | 2008 | fiction | Satirical, gritty novel about social mobility and corruption in modern India. |
| Witching Hour | Anne Rice | 1990 | gothic fiction | Ambitious, multi‑generational tale of witches, family power, and New Orleans intrigue. |
| Windup Girl | Paolo Bacigalupi | 2009 | science fiction | Biopunk novel set in a climate‑ravaged Bangkok, exploring biotech and moral compromise. |
| Woman Who Walked Into Doors | Roddy Doyle | 1996 | fiction | Intimate, raw portrait of a woman confronting abuse, memory, and resilience. |
| Wasp Factory | Iain Banks | 1984 | literary fiction | Dark, unsettling debut about a disturbed young protagonist and rural secrets. |
| War of the Worlds | H. G. Wells | 1898 | science fiction | Iconic alien‑invasion novel blending social commentary and dramatic suspense. |
| War of Art | Steven Pressfield | 2002 | self-help | Motivational guide about overcoming creative blocks and embracing productive work habits. |
| Water Dancer | Ta-Nehisi Coates | 2019 | historical fiction | Lyrical novel about slavery, memory, and a man’s mysterious power to transport. |
| White Company | Arthur Conan Doyle | 1891 | historical adventure | Swashbuckling tale of English archers and chivalry during the Hundred Years’ War. |
| We | Yevgeny Zamyatin | 1921 | dystopian fiction | Early dystopia imagining a regimented state and a rebel’s awakening, precursor to Orwell and Huxley. |
| Wonder | R. J. Palacio | 2012 | middle-grade fiction | Tender story of a boy with facial differences learning school, empathy, and belonging. |
| Ways of Seeing | John Berger | 1972 | art criticism | Influential, accessible essays on visual culture and how we interpret images. |
| Weight of Water | Anita Shreve | 1996 | literary thriller | Dual narrative exploring murder, memory, and jealousy on a New England island. |
| Woman in Black | Susan Hill | 1983 | gothic horror | Atmospheric ghost story centered on a haunted house and chilling isolation. |
| Waiting for Godot | Samuel Beckett | 1952 | play | Absurdist play about two men in limbo, rich in dark humor and existential questions. |
| Walden | Henry David Thoreau | 1854 | memoir/nature | Classic reflection on simple living, nature, and self‑reliance beside Walden Pond. |
| Water-Babies | Charles Kingsley | 1863 | children’s fantasy | Victorian moral tale about a chimney sweep who becomes a water child, mixing whimsy and critique. |
| Water Knife | Paolo Bacigalupi | 2015 | climate fiction | Thriller about resource wars, water scarcity, and moral compromise in a dystopian American Southwest. |
| We Have Always Lived in the Castle | Shirley Jackson | 1962 | gothic fiction | Eerie novel about reclusive sisters and community mistrust after a family tragedy. |
| We the Living | Ayn Rand | 1936 | fiction | Semi‑autobiographical critique of Soviet society exploring love, freedom, and individualism. |
| Wicked | Gregory Maguire | 1995 | fantasy | Revisionist retelling of the Wicked Witch’s backstory with political and moral complexity. |
| World According to Garp | John Irving | 1978 | literary fiction | Quirky, tragicomic saga of a writer’s life, family dramas, and oddball characters. |
| World Without Us | Alan Weisman | 2007 | environmental nonfiction | Speculative nonfiction imagining how Earth would recover if humans vanished. |
| World as Will and Representation | Arthur Schopenhauer | 1818 | philosophy | Foundational philosophical work proposing the will as reality’s driving force. |
| Woman in the Window | A. J. Finn | 2018 | psychological thriller | Agoraphobic narrator spies on neighbors and becomes entangled in a dangerous mystery. |
| When Breath Becomes Air | Paul Kalanithi | 2016 | memoir | Poignant memoir by a neurosurgeon facing terminal illness and reflecting on life’s meaning. |
| When We Were Orphans | Kazuo Ishiguro | 2000 | literary fiction | Subtle detective‑style novel about memory, identity, and a missing childhood. |
| When Nietzsche Wept | Irvin D. Yalom | 1992 | historical fiction | Inventive fictional encounter between Nietzsche and a psychiatrist exploring philosophy and therapy. |
| When the Wind Blows | Raymond Briggs | 1982 | graphic novel | Stark, moving picture‑book tale of an elderly couple facing nuclear fallout. |
| Where’d You Go, Bernadette | Maria Semple | 2012 | comic fiction | Epistolary satirical novel about a missing, brilliant mother and family eccentricities. |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens | 2018 | literary mystery | Poignant coming‑of‑age and murder mystery set in North Carolina marshes. |
| Where’s Waldo? | Martin Handford | 1987 | children’s | Seek‑and‑find picture book inviting readers to spot Waldo in crowded scenes. |
| Whale Rider | Witi Ihimaera | 1987 | fiction | Poignant novel about Māori tradition, leadership, and a girl’s determination. |
| White Oleander | Janet Fitch | 1999 | literary fiction | Evocative tale of a mother‑daughter bond fractured by incarceration and foster care. |
| Wild | Cheryl Strayed | 2012 | memoir | Candid memoir of healing on a thousand‑mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. |
| World Without End | Ken Follett | 2007 | historical fiction | Epic medieval novel continuing Kingsbridge’s saga with politics, plague, and love. |
| World War Z | Max Brooks | 2006 | speculative fiction | Oral‑history style account of a global zombie apocalypse and societal responses. |
| Women, Race & Class | Angela Davis | 1981 | history/nonfiction | Critical analysis linking gender, race, and class in U.S. feminist and labor struggles. |
| Women Who Run with the Wolves | Clarissa Pinkola Estés | 1992 | psychology/mythology | Uses myths and stories to explore female psychology, creativity, and recovery. |
| Women in Love | D. H. Lawrence | 1920 | literary fiction | Complex study of relationships, desire, and industrial‑era tensions. |
| Woman in the Dunes | Kōbō Abe | 1962 | existential fiction | Surreal, claustrophobic novel about a man trapped in sand and a shifting sense of self. |
| White Queen | Philippa Gregory | 2009 | historical fiction | Tudor‑era novel about Elizabeth Woodville’s rise, politics, and dynastic struggle. |
| Way of Kings | Brandon Sanderson | 2010 | epic fantasy | Vast, character‑rich epic opening a modern fantasy saga with deep worldbuilding. |
| Way We Live Now | Anthony Trollope | 1875 | social satire | Satirical panorama of Victorian money, fraud, and social ambition. |
| White Goddess | Robert Graves | 1948 | mythology/poetry | Controversial study mixing poetry and myth theory about Europe’s ceremonial goddess archetype. |
| Wives and Daughters | Elizabeth Gaskell | 1866 | historical fiction | Social novel exploring family life, marriage, and class in Victorian England. |
| Winnie-the-Pooh | A. A. Milne | 1926 | children’s | Charming, gentle stories of Pooh and friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. |
| We Should All Be Feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 2014 | nonfiction/essay | Concise, personal essay adapted from a TED talk about modern feminism and equality. |
| We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves | Karen Joy Fowler | 2013 | literary fiction | Inventive novel about family secrets and human‑animal bonds with surprising emotional depth. |
| Wild Seed | Octavia E. Butler | 1980 | science fiction | Powerful speculative novel about immortals, power dynamics, and identity across centuries. |
| Why Nations Fail | Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson | 2012 | political economy | Influential analysis arguing political and economic institutions shape prosperity and failure. |