Meme: 20th-Century Literature

What follows is the 50 best English-Language books of the 20th Century, as compiled by Brian Kunde. The full list has 223 entries, along with information on how the rankings were compiled, but I have chosen (for brevity) to include only the top 50 contenders.

Mark the ones you've read in bold. My own assessment is that I'm woefully derelict in my reading.


Rank Author Title Date
1 Fitzgerald, F. Scott Great Gatsby, The 1925
2 Orwell, George Nineteen Eighty Four 1949
3 Heller, Joseph Catch 22 1961
4 Steinbeck, John Grapes of Wrath, The 1939
5 Nabokov, Vladimir Lolita 1955
6 Joyce, James Ulysses 1922
7 Orwell, George Animal Farm 1945
8 Golding, William Lord of the Flies 1954
9 Salinger, J. D. Catcher in the Rye, The 1951
10 Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Slaughterhouse Five 1969
11 Huxley, Aldous Brave New World 1932
12 Ellison, Ralph Invisible Man 1952
13 Faulkner, William Sound and the Fury, The 1929
14 Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird 1960
15 Joyce, James Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A 1916
16 Walker, Alice Color Purple, The 1982
17 Morrison, Toni Beloved 1987
18 Hemingway, Ernest Sun Also Rises, The 1926
19 Wright, Richard Native Son 1940
20 Mitchell, Margaret Gone With the Wind 1936
21 Kerouac, Jack On the Road 1957
22 Woolf, Virginia To the Lighthouse 1927
23 Tolkien, J. R. R. Lord of the Rings 1956
24 White, E. B. Charlotte's Web 1952
25 Wharton, Edith Age of Innocence, The 1920
26 Hemingway, Ernest Farewell to Arms, A 1929
27 Cather, Willa My Antonia 1918
28 Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God 1937
29 Hemingway, Ernest Old Man and the Sea, The 1952
30 Du Maurier, Daphne Rebecca 1938
31 Burgess, Anthony Clockwork Orange, A 1962
32 London, Jack Call of the Wild, The 1903
33 Buck, Pearl S. Good Earth, The 1931
34 Irving, John World According to Garp, The 1978
35 Wharton, Edith Ethan Frome 1911
36 Tolkien, J. R. R. Hobbit, The 1937
37 Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1962
38 Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451 1952
39 Atwood, Margaret Handmaid's Tale, The 1986
40 Faulkner, William As I Lay Dying 1930
41 Heinlein, Robert A. Stranger in a Strange Land 1961
42 Fitzgerald, F. Scott Tender is the Night 1934
43 Milne, A. A. Winnie the Pooh 1926
44 Forster, E. M. Passage to India, A 1924
45 Steinbeck, John Of Mice and Men 1937
46 Warren, Robert Penn All the King's Men 1946
47 Forster, E. M. Howard's End 1910
48 Lawrence, D. H. Sons and Lovers 1913
49 Baldwin, James Go Tell It on the Mountain 1953
50 Lawrence, D. H. Lady Chatterley's Lover 1928

[Edit: Added two I had forgotten about. They made us read Baldwin as a pre-College entrance requirement, but I didn't have the focus to get through it, so it doesn't count.]