the (almost) complete Bungou Stray Dogs reading list
as a dostoyevsky fan i first discovered bsd by being very confused whenever i saw pretty anime boys in the crime and punishment tag, so now i’m using bsd to discover more classic literature, and you can too!
this is my personal list straight from my phone notes app, of the most significant works mentioned in the series. italized titles are those that i really couldn’t find an english translation of but they’re there for completeness (if you’ve found one please comment!)
i’ve also got links to the french text of all works that are originally in french, because i read french and as said this list is just adapted from my personal notes hahaha
special shoutout goes to @bsd-bibliophile and their website from where i got many of the links, especially the works of the japanese authors, as well as the bsd recommended reading list ❤️
links are pdfs unless otherwise specified
the armed detective agency:
no longer human by dazai osamu
the moon over the mountain by nakajima atsushi (beast beneath the moonlight)
an encouragement of learning by fukuzawa yukichi (all men are equal)
o brother, you must not die by yosano akiko (thou shalt not die)
the makioka sisters by tanizaki junichirou (light snow)
naomi by tanizaki junichirou
be not defeated by the rain by miyazawa kenji [online]
demon pond by izumi kyouka (demon snow)
i am a cat by natsume souseki
rashoumon by akutagawa ryuunosuke (link includes o-gin that akutagawa gin is based on)
this soiled sorrow by nakahara chuuya (upon the tainted sorrow) [online]
golden demon by ozaki kouyou
falling camellia by hirotsu ryuurou
the dancing girl by mori ougai (elise)
vita sexualis by mori ougai [epub]
higuchi ichiyou’s works (no ability specified yet, but see for example encounters on a dark night)
midwinter memento by tachihara michizou
dogra magra by yumeno kyuusaku [website, incomplete translation] (it appears there’s a full french translation for like $1k if yall are interested lmao)
madness of george III by alan bennett (madness of the jewel king) pretty sure this one’s still copyrighted, hence why they couldn’t use alan bennett’s name for ace, and why i can’t find any pdf copies
the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald (the great fitzgerald)
little women by louisa m. alcott
the grapes of wrath by john steinbeck [online/pdf/epub]
the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne
gone with the wind by margaret mitchell [online/pdf/epub]
anne of green gables by l. m. montgomery (anne of the abyssal red)
moby dick by herman melville
the adventures of tom sawyer by mark twain (huck finn and tom sawyer)
the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain (huck finn and tom sawyer)
the black cat by edgar allan poe (the black cat in the rue morgue) [online]
the murders in the rue morgue by edgar allan poe (the black cat in the rue morgue) [online]
the call of cthulhu by h. p. lovecraft (the great old ones) [online]
the rats in the house of the dead:
crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky
a feast in time of plague by alexander pushkin [online/pdf/epub]
the precipice by ivan goncharov (this is an abridged translation please buy the new 2020 unabridged translation titled malinovka heights please it’s one of my all-time favourite books please thank you for your attention)
the perfect crime by oguri mushitarou
the overcoat by nikolai gogol
dracula by bram stoker [online/pdf/epub] (bram’s ability isn’t named yet but come on who are we kidding)
sigma has been speculated to be a reference to sigmund freud
mirror lion by fukuchi ouchi (online summary)
gasp of the soul by ookura teruko (see bewitching shadow which is the only work of anyone from the hunting dogs with full english translation!)
priceless tears by jouno saigiku
plum blossoms in snow by suehiro tetchou (wikipedia)
special division for unusual powers:
discourse on decadence by sakaguchi ango
hail in the begging bowl [online/pdf] (an essay by james abrams on the life and poetry of taneda santoka, from which the ability name is derived)
order of the clock tower:
and then there were none by agatha christie
strait is the gate by andré gide (french original, online)
flawless by oda sakunosuke (see his other works from the stories of osaka life collection that has been translated into english, which can be found on the @bsd-bibliophile website)
the time machine by h. g. wells
the mysterious island by jules verne (french original, online/epub)
matasaburou of the wind by miyazawa kenji [online] (atsushi’s alias)
johann wolfgang von goethe (mentioned)
william shakespeare (mentioned)
victor hugo (mentioned) les misérables french original
illuminations by arthur rimbaud [online] (french original, online/epub)
paul verlaine’s poetry [online/epub] (french original, online/epub)
frankenstein by mary shelley (adam frankenstein)
another by ayatsuji yukito (volume 1, volume 2, volume 3)
the summer in the ubume by kyougoku natsuhiko (an inherent drop)
yesterday’s shadow tag by tsujimura mizuki
shibusawa tatsuhiko’s works (referred to collectively as draconia, see fish scales which has been translated into english)
chapter titles and other references:
franz kafka’s works (our man asagiri) metamorphosis [online/epub] the trial [online/epub]
the setting sun by osamu dazai (have you seen all those dazai sunset scenes in the anime)
house of the dead by fyodor dostoevsky (the rats in the house of the dead) [online/epub]
the black lizard by hirotsu ryuurou
the case of murder on D hill by edogawa ranpo (murder on D street, ch 6)
poems of days past by nakahara chuuya (back in the day, ch 11) see poem collection
light, wind and dreams by nakajima atsushi (even if my head be mistaken, ch 29)
if you’re gonna read the above you should probably be acquainted with robert louis stevenson’s works, like the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde [online/epub]
tower of silence by mori ougai (the silent tower and the raven’s feast, ch 30)
husband and wife by nakajima atsushi (cherrirs, ch 43)
dreaming of butterflies by hagiwara sakutarou (ch 65-66)
the sheep song by nakahara chuuya (the chant to activate chuuya’s corruption)
les sœurs de charité by arthur rimbaud (the chant to activate verlaine’s corruption) french original
this is all the main works i could find, but naturally bsd is chock-full of literature references so please feel free to add to this list if you have anything! again i have to direct you to bsd-bibliophile’s online library for more complete resources and relevant authors that are not directly mentioned in bsd + a bunch of other useful content, i swear that page is one of my most-visited websites hahaha
other great resources for free books that have entered the public domain, where i got most of the links to the western book on this list:
stormborns
dailybridgerton
dededos
theartofmadeline
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
