The 101 Favorite Novels of 'Le Monde' Readers

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

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  • Man's Fate by Andre Malraux

    Cover of 'Man's Fate' by Andre Malraux

    Set in 1920s Shanghai during a time of political upheaval, the novel explores the existential themes of life, death, and the human condition through the experiences of a group of revolutionaries. The narrative follows their struggles and sacrifices for their cause, the Communist revolution, and their inevitable confrontation with their own mortality and the harsh realities of life. The book delves into the complexities of political ideologies, human relationships and the constant struggle between hope and despair.

    The 172nd Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org or Amazon
About this list

Le Monde, 101 Books

After compiling a list of the 100 greatest novels according to Le Monde's critics, the newspaper decided to engage its readership by asking them to vote for their favorite novels. A total of 26,000 readers participated, each submitting up to five titles. This exercise was both challenging and enjoyable for the participants, who had to reflect on their reading experiences and make difficult choices to narrow down their selections.

From these contributions, Le Monde collected 70,000 book titles, out of which 11,000 unique books were mentioned. The final list consists of the top 101 novels, reflecting the diverse tastes and personal literary "Pantheons" of the readers. Notably, this list differs significantly from the critics' list, with only 17 titles appearing on both. The selection process was free from algorithms, focusing instead on the personal connections and memories that readers have with these works.

This list was originally published in 2019 and was added to this site almost 2 years ago.

How Good is this List?

This list has a weight of 25%. To learn more about what this means please visit the Rankings page.

Here is a list of what is decreasing the importance of this list:

  • Voters: not critics, authors, or experts
  • List: only covers mostly "Western Canon" books
  • Voters: are mostly from a single country/location

If you think this is incorrect please contact us.

List Information

Number of Voters:
26000
Voter Count Unknown:
No
Voter Names Unknown:
No
High Quality Source:
No
Location Specific:
No
Category Specific:
No