Reading lists

Where to start reading Ernest Hemingway’s books

Rachel Deeley
Image: Victoria Ford/Penguin

A Nobel literature laureate, Pulitzer Prize winner, pugilist, decorated war hero, adventurer, heavy drinker, and cat lover, American writer Ernest Hemingway was a complex man who left his mark on the literary world. His no-frills prose and incisive point of view cemented him as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century – if not all time.

Spanning decades and continents, Hemingway’s writing encompasses a whole host of genres, from short stories to non-fiction to sweeping novels, many of them informed by his own life experiences and penchant for traditionally macho sports like big-game hunting, deep-sea fishing and bullfighting. We've distilled the best selection to get you started on his extensive body of work.