The Greatest Books: The Best Nonfiction Books

How is this list generated?

This list is generated from 119 "best of" book lists from a variety of great sources. An algorithm is used to create a master list based on how many lists a particular book appears on. Some lists count more than others. I generally trust "best of all time" lists voted by authors and experts over user-generated lists. On the lists that are actually ranked, the book that is 1st counts a lot more than the book that's 100th.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or corrections please feel free to e-mail me.

The Lists

If you're interested in the details about how the rankings are generated and which lists are the most important(in my eyes) please check out the list details page.

Top 100 Works in World Literature

The editors of the Norwegian Book Clubs, with the Norwegian Nobel Institute, polled a panel of 100 authors from 54 countries on what they considered the “best and most central works in world literature.” Among the authors polled were Milan Kundera, Doris Lessing, Seamus Heaney, Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, John Irving, Nadine Gordimer, and Carlos Fuentes. The list of 100 works appears alphabetically by author. Although the books were not ranked, the editors revealed that Don Quixote received 50% more votes than any other book.
Norwegian Book Clubs, with the Norwegian Nobel Institute
Great Books of the Western World

Great Books of the Western World is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. to present the western canon in a single package of 54 volume...
Great Books Foundation
Biblioteca

38 Argentinean Authors were polled by the Argentinean government for their favorite books. This is a tally of all books with more than 1 vote.
Argentina
El Pais Favorite Books of 100 Spanish Authors

El Pais ran A Poll of 100 Spanish Authors and Their Favorite Books. This is summary of all the books
El Pais
For The Love of Books

Ronald Schwartz polled 115 major writers about their favorite books, and published each of their ballots in the book “For the Love of Books”.
For The Love of Books
Pour une Bibliothèque Idéale

"In the early 1950s Raymond Queneau asked several dozen French authors and critics to list the hundred books they would choose if they had to limit themselves to that number. He reproduced all their responses in the book Pour une Bibliothèque Idéale (Gallimard, 1956), along with the overall top 100 list reproduced above."
Raymond Queneau
The 25 Favorite Books of 100 Francophone Writers

Télérama, a weekly French magazine, asked 100s of french authors to list their top 10 favorite books of all time.
Telerama
The Ideal Library

100 prominent cultural figures, mostly writers, were polled for their choice of an "ideal library". The following list is a tally of every book that received at least 2 votes.
Book
The Top 10: The Greatest Books of All Time

The Top 10 book chosen by 125 top writers from the book "The Top 10" edited by J. Peder Zane.
The Top 10 (Book)
The 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of the Century

The 100 best non-fiction books of all time judged by a panel of historians, authors, publishers, and experts for the National Review Magazine.
National Review
The 100 Greatest British Novels

BBC Culture polled book critics outside the UK, to give an outsider’s perspective on the best in British literature.
BBC
100 Life-Changing Books

National Book Award-winning authors got together to select what was, in their opinions, 100 life-changing books.
National Book Award
Finest Works of Fiction

In Novels and Novelists, A Guide to the World of Fiction (1980) Seymour-Smith and the other contributors selected about 55 works of fiction as receiving full marks on the four criteria used for evaluation: Readability, Characterization, Plot, and Literary Merit. These represent, for the contributors, the finest works of fiction that have been written.
Martin Seymour-Smith and Editors
Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century

Intended as a companion to the infamous Modern Library ranking of the top 100 books of the past century, this list represents a different viewpoint--that of the booksellers themselves. Compiled from the responses of over 150 Koen Book Distributors customers, the following titles represent the very best in modern literature.
themodernnovel.com
The 50 Best Books of the Century

ISI defined "best" as "volumes of extraordinary reflection and creativity in a traditional form, which heartens us with the knowledge that fine writing and clear-mindedness are perennially possible." All the books are non-fiction. The first 5 are ranked, the rest are alphabetical.
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
The Celebrity Reading List

The Gardiner Public Library, from 1988 to 2007, polled various famous figures from all around the world (writers, artists, filmmakers, politicians, actors, etc.) to ask for their book recommendations. This list is based on the books that received at least two mentions.
Gardiner Public Library
The New Lifetime Reading Plan

Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality. The New Lifetime Reading Plan provides readers with brief, informative and entertaining introductions to more than 130 classics of world literature. From Homer to Hawthorne, Plato to Pascal, and Shakespeare to Solzhenitsyn, the great writers of Western civilization can be found in its pages. In addition, this new edition offers a much broader representation of women authors, such as Charlotte Bront%, Emily Dickinson and Edith Wharton, as well as non-Western writers such as Confucius, Sun-Tzu, Chinua Achebe, Mishima Yukio and many others. This fourth edition also features a simpler format that arranges the works chronologically in five sections (The Ancient World; 300-1600; 1600-1800; and The 20th Century), making them easier to look up than ever before. It deserves a place in the libraries of all lovers of literature.
The New Lifetime Reading Plan
Recommended Books

"Discover which books made a difference in the early lives of the most eminent achievers of our times."
Academy of Achievement
The 16 Greatest Books of All Time

Two book editors for the nyulocal.com present their list of the 16 greatest books of all time, with a list of runner-ups as well.
NYU Local
Great Books

"Great Books is an hour-long documentary and biography program that aired on The Learning Channel. The series was a project co-created by Walter Cronkite and former child actor Jonathan Ward under a deal they had with their company Cronkite-Ward, the The Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel. Premiering on September 8, 1993, to coincide with International Literacy Day, the series took in-depth looks into some of literature's greatest fictional and nonfictional books and the authors who created them. The series is mostly narrated by Donald Sutherland." - Wikipedia
The Learning Channel
"Our Readable Century", The Best Books of the 20th Century

Literary publication January Magazine polled writers for their favorite works of 2oth century fiction. These were the most mentioned books.
January Magazine
The Bigger Read List

The English PEN staff compiled a list of the best works not written in the English language. This list combines their list with the suggestions made by Fred Armentrout, President of Hong Kong (English-Speaking) PEN.
English PEN
25 acclaimed international writers choose 25 of the best books from the last 25 years

The 25 books were chosen by 25 respected names in international writing, many of whom have contributed over the years to Wasafiri magazine, including Indra Sinha, Blake Morrison and Fred D’Aguiar. Note: I don't think the voters understood "the last 25 years" bit. There are many books that are much much older.
Wasafiri Magazine
A Premature Attempt at the 21st Century Canon

A panel of critics tells us what belongs on a list of the 100 most important books of the 2000s … so far.
Vulture
"Best Foreign Work of Fiction"

The French literary magazine Transfuge asked a group of francophone writers to pick their best foreign work of fiction. These are the results.
Transfuge
Best German Novels of the Twentieth Century

The Best German Novels of the Twentieth Century is a list of books compiled in 1999 by Literaturhaus München and Bertelsmann, in which 99 prominent German authors, literary critics, and scholars of German ranked the most significant German-language novels of the twentieth century. The group brought together 33 experts from each of the three categories. Each was allowed to name three books as having been the most important of the century.
Wikipedia
The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written

Easton Press's selection of the greatest books of the Western Canon.
Easton Press
The Modern Library | 100 Best Nonfiction

The Modern Library
The Modern Library | 100 Best Novels

Modern Library
Världsbiblioteket (The World Library)

Världsbiblioteket (The World Library) was a Swedish list of the 100 best books in the world, made in 1991 by the Swedish literary magazine Tidningen Boken. The list was compiled through votes from members of the Svenska Akademien, Swedish Crime Writers' Academy, librarian, authors and others. Approximately 30 of the books were Swedish.
Tidningen Boken
ZEIT-Bibliothek der 100 Bücher

Die Zeit
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime

Amazon UK editors select 100 books that they deem "essential".
Amazon.com (UK)
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime

A bucket list of books to create a well-read life, from Amazon Book Editors.
Amazon.com (USA)
110 Best Books: The Perfect Library

From classics and sci-fi to poetry, biographies and books that changed the world… we present the ultimate reading list.
The Telegraph
48 Good Books

Recommended literature by the Undergraduate Academies and Libraries of the University of Buffalo.
University of Buffalo
Select 100

"This list was compiled by tabulating nominations by UWM faculty, staff and students for the Select 100. It includes changes which have resulted from nominations received since the original list was released. We asked you to recommend books which you have found to be so useful and important that no one could consider himself/herself an educated or enlightened person without having read them. This is your cumulative response."
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Greatest 20th Century Novels

Waterstone’s 1999 poll of the greatest 20th century novels, according to British writers. This appeared to be the result of muddle in the way questions were put to and answered by the 47 authors, critics and media personalities who voted in the poll.
Waterstone
Top 100 World Literature Titles

The top 100 titles for the world literature classroom, ranked in order of popularity, chosen by literature teachers from across the country.
Perfection Learning
100 Best Books

Michael Sexson, English teacher at Montana State University, in 2000 had his class of 45 students compose a list of the 100 greatest works of literature ever written, in their collective opinions.
Montana State University
The 100 Favorite Novels of Librarians

Based on a survey of Librarians conducted by Brodart Co., September, 1998 - March, 1999. Brodart is an international company that services libraries around the world.
Bookman.com
The 21st Century's 12 Greatest Novels

The BBC polled a number of book critics to determine the greatest novels of the current century so far.
BBC Poll
The Great American Read

PBS and the producers worked with the public opinion polling service “YouGov” to conduct a demographically and statistically representative survey asking Americans to name their most-loved novel. Approximately 7,200 people participated. The results were tallied and organized based on our selection criteria and overseen by an advisory panel of 13 literary industry professionals. The criteria for inclusion on the top 100 list were as follows: Each author was limited to one title on the list (to keep the list varied). Books published in series or featuring ongoing characters counted as one eligible entry on the list (e.g. the Harry Potter series or Lord of the Rings)to increase variety. Books could be from anywhere in the world as long as they were published in English. Only fiction could be included in the poll. Each advisory panel member was permitted to select one book for discussion and possible inclusion on the top 100 list from the longer list of survey results.
PBS
The Millions: The Best Fiction of the Millennium

A poll of The Millions contributors and 48 of their favorite writers, editors, and critics, asking a single question: “What are the best books of fiction of the millennium(2000), so far?” The results were robust, diverse, and surprising.
The Millions
50 Books That Changed the World

"For centuries, books have been written in an attempt to share knowledge, inspiration, and discoveries. Sometimes those books make such an impact that they change the way the world thinks about things. The following books have done just that by providing readers an education in politics and government, literature, society, academic subjects such as science and math, and religion."
Open Education Database
50 Greatest Books of All Time

A list of the 50 greatest books of all time as determined by a panel of secret judges for Globe and Mail. The books are not ranked.
Globe and Mail
Books That Changed the World: The 50 Most Influential Books in Human History

A 208 page book written in 2009 by Journalist and Author Andrew Taylor. Books from every field of human creativity and intellectual endeavor - from poetry to politics, from fiction to philosophy, from theology to anthropology, and from economics to physics – have been selected to create a rounded and satisfying picture of how 50 towering achievements of the human intellect have built our societies, shaped our values, enhanced our understanding of the nature of the world, enabled technological advancements, and reflected our concerns and dilemmas, strengths and failings. In a series of engaging and lively essays, Andrew Taylor sets each work and its author firmly in historical context, summarizes the content of the work in question, and explores its wider influence and legacy. A fascinating and richly informative read.
Book
Great Books

A short list of essential works of the Western Canon, as selected scholar Anthony O'Hear.
Anthony O'Hear
How to Read and Why

Information is endlessly available to us; where shall wisdom be found?" is the crucial question with which renowned literary critic Harold Bloom begins this impassioned book on the pleasures and benefits of reading well. For more than forty years, Bloom has transformed college students into lifelong readers with his unrivaled love for literature. Now, at a time when faster and easier electronic media threatens to eclipse the practice of reading, Bloom draws on his experience as critic, teacher, and prolific reader to plumb the great books for their sustaining wisdom. - Amazon
Harold Bloom
How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Reading List

English professor Thomas C. Foster, at the end of his book, includes a recommended "reading list".
Thomas C. Foster
Masterpieces of World Literature

Scholar Frank N. Magill’s famous literary studies reference book. A selection of over 200 of the greatest works of literature of all time
Frank N. Magill
Radcliffe's 100 Best Novels

Radcliffe Publishing Course
The 100 Best Books in the World

German bookseller website AbeBooks.de makes their selection for the "100 greatest books ever written".
AbeBooks.de (in German)
The Great Books Reader

"In this volume you will be guided by esteemed professors and writers who have selected excerpts from the most important books in Western Civilization. A brief essay illuminates each excerpt and puts the work in context. Take your education to the next level by letting some of the best thinkers of today walk you through the most influential books in history."
Book
The New Vanguard

Our critics chose 15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.
New York Times
Third World Novels… The Top 10

There are many gifted Third World writers who can help you transcend barriers of language and tradition but you might find it difficult to know where to start. As a guide, the NI has chosen its ten best novels - the ones which are both enjoyable to read and give a vivid impression of life in developing countries. They are not listed in any significant order.
New Internationalist
100 Essential Books

The Brazilian cultural magazine Bravo! selects 100 essential books.
Bravo! Magazine
Best Books Ever

"Whatever it's called we love a list of what we think are the best books of all time so we've compiled an entirely arbitrary and personal selection of 100 titles below for you to disagree with."
bookdepository.com
The best books in Spanish for the last 25 years

50 critics, writers and booksellers from both sides of the Atlantic choose the milestones of the last quarter century.
El Pais
The Best Classics

The Times selection of the 100 best classic works of literature.
The Times
The College Board: 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers

The 101 great books recommended by "The College Board", an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education.
http://www.uhlibrary.net/pdf/college_board_recommended_books.pdf
What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years?

The New York Times Book Review's editor, Sam Tanenhaus, sent out a short letter to a couple of hundred prominent writers, critics, editors and other literary sages, asking them to please identify...
New York Times
50 Books to Read Before You Die

Complex Magazine's selection of 50 must-read books.
Complex
Books That Changed the World

Scholar Robert B. Downs selects the "great works that revolutionized our ideas about the universe - and ourselves".
Book
From Zero to Well-Read in 100 Books

100 books that, in the opinion of Bookriot.com editor-in-chief Jeff O'Neal, one should read before deeming themselves "well-read".
Jeff O'Neal at Bookriot.com
In Which These Are the 100 Greatest Novels

ThisRecording.com Editor Alex Carnevale selects his choices for the "100 Greatest Novels of All Time".
ThisRecording.com
Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe.[1] The winner of the Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and success and, for this reason, the prize is of great significance for the book trade.[2] It is also a mark of distinction for authors to be nominated for the Booker longlist or selected for inclusion in the shortlist.
Man Booker Prize
National Book Award - Fiction

The National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award". The purpose of the awards is "to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America.
National Book Foundation
National Book Award - Nonfiction

The National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award". The purpose of the awards is "to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America.
National Book Foundation
National Book Critics Circle Award - Fiction

The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote the finest books and reviews published in English.
National Book Critics Circle
National Book Critics Circle Award - Nonfiction

The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote the finest books and reviews published in English.
National Book Critics Circle
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the author of the best American work of fiction that year. The winner receives US $15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US $5000. The foundation brings the winner and runners-up to Washington, D.C. to read from their works at the Great Hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is an outgrowth of William Faulkner's generosity in donating his 1949 Nobel Prize winnings, "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers." Mary Lee Settle was also one of the founders after controversy at the 1979 National Book Award.[1] It is affiliated with the writers' organization International PEN. The award was first given in 1980.
PEN/Faulkner
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.
Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

All the books that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction from 1948 to the present.
Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for History

The Pulitzer Prize for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. Two people have won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice; Margaret Leech, for Reveille in Washington, 1860-1865 in 1941 and In the Days of McKinley in 1960, and Bernard Bailyn, for The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1968) and Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (1987).
Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction

The Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction has been awarded since 1962 for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category.
Pulitzer Prize
The 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time

After two years of careful reading, moving backwards through time, Robert McCrum has concluded his selection of the 100 greatest nonfiction books. Take a quick look at five centuries of great writing
The Guardian
The 100 Greatest Novels

Critic Ted Gioia's selection of the 100 greatest novels ever written.
greatbooksguide.com
The 100 Greatest Novels of All Time: The List

The list of essential fiction from the past 300 years from Robert McCrum of The Observer.
The Observer
The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written

The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: The History of Thought from Ancient Times to Today (1998) is a book of intellectual history written by Martin Seymour-Smith (1928–1998), a British poet, critic, and biographer.
Martin Seymour-Smith
The Best Southern Nonfiction of All Time

The best southern United States nonfiction books of all time judged by 130 literary experts and authors.
Oxford American
The Greatest Novel of All Time

Author William Faulkner named Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" as the single greatest novel of all time.
William Faulkner
The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time

The list below is from the book The Novel 100: A Ranking of Greatest Novels All Time (Checkmark Books/Facts On File, Inc.: New York, 2004), written by Daniel S. Burt.
The Novel 100
TIME Magazine All Time 100 Novels

Time critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo pick the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.
TIME Magazine
W. Somerset Maugham’s Ten Greatest Novels of All Time

Maugham's studies of the lives and masterpieces of ten great novelists are outstanding examples of literary criticism at its finest. Afforded here are some of the formulae of greatness in the genre, as well as the flaws and heresies which enfeeble it. Written by a master of fiction, "Ten Novels and Their Authors" is a unique and invaluable guide.
Great Novelists and Their Novels
100 Best Novels in English Since 1900

Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn's favorite novels since 1900.
Counterpunch
50 Books to (Re-)Read at 50

Your essential short list of novels, nonfiction and biographies Got some time on your hands? This list of 50 great books is a good way to raise your literary IQ. It's by no means the "definitive" list, but each of these masterpieces is at least as relevant and powerful today as when it was written. And they're all still terrific reads.
nextavenue
Donald Barthelme’s Reading List

81 books recommended by Author Donald Barthelme to his students at the University of Houston.
Believer Mag
Harvard Book Store Staff's Favorite 100 Books

In early 2010 Harvard Book Store employees worked together to come up with a list of our favorite books. Each staff member submitted a list of their favorite books of all time, in (rough) order of preference. Their selections were then weighted according to the order and the results were tabulated. It was by no means a perfect system, but it was the best way we could think of to quantify opinions that are in no way quantifiable. Now, we read a lot, so it was hard to narrow it down. What we came up with are the books that moved us, that changed the way we think about the world, and that we will happily read over and over again. We hope you enjoy them too.
Harvard Book Store
The Graphic Canon

The classic canon of Western civilization meets the artists and illustrators who have remade reading in the last years of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century in Russ Kick's magisterial, three-volume, full-color The Graphic Canon, volumes 1, 2, and 3. - Amazon
Book
The Telegraph’s 100 Novels Everyone Should Read

The best novels of all time from Tolkien to Proust and Middlemarch
Telegraph
Top 10 British, Irish or Commonwealth Novels from 1980 to 2005

The Observer asked 150 literary luminaries to vote for the best British, Irish or Commonwealth novel from 1980 to 2005.
The Observer
100 Best Novels Written in English

Respected literary critic Robert McCrum selects the definitive 100 novels written in English.
The Guardian
100 Major Works of Modern Creative Nonfiction

Essays, memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, travel writing, history, cultural studies, nature writing--all fit under the broad heading of creative nonfiction, and all are represented here: a list of 100 major works of creative nonfiction published by British and American writers over the past 80 years.
About.com
100 Most Influential Books of the Century

Boston Public Library's list of "The 100 Most Influential Books of the Century". A booklist for Adults.
Boston Public Library
20th Century's Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction

The 20th Century’s Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction is a popular "best of" list compiled by Larry McCaffery largely in response to Modern Library 100 Best Novels list (1999), which McCaffery saw as being out of touch with 20th-century fiction. McCaffery writes that he sees his list "as a means of sharing with readers my own views about what books are going to be read 100 or 1000 years from now".
Larry McCaffery
50 Books to Read Before You Die

Barnes and Noble's selection of the 50 most essential books.
Barnes and Noble
50 Memorable Books from 50 Years of Books to Remember

A representative selection from over 1500 titles on annual lists of Books to Remember from 1956 to 2005. Chosen by a group of librarians who are specialists in their genres, these outstanding works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry provide an informative or transformative reading experience, and are chosen for their literary excellence, uniqueness of concept and command of subject matter.
The New York Public Library
Books of the Decade

The 50 books that defined the decade(2000)
The Guardian
Costa Book Award - Best Novel

The Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, after which Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship. The awards, launched in 1971, are given both for high literary merit but also for works that are enjoyable reading and whose aim is to convey the enjoyment of reading to the widest possible audience. As such, they are a more populist literary prize than the Booker Prize.
Costa Coffee
D. G. Myers’ 50 Greatest English Language Novels

D. G. Myers’, critic and literary historian’s 50 Greatest English Language Novels. A critic and literary historian for nearly a quarter of a century at Texas A&M and Ohio State.
D. G. Myers
Entertainment Weekly's Top 100 Novels

Entertainment Weekly’s Top 100 Novels (2013), as selected by the EW staff in its July 5th 2013 issue
Entertainment Weekly
Extreme Classics: The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time

The 100 greatest adventure books chosen by National Geographic.
National Geographic Adventure Magazine
Greatest Prose Works of the 20th Century

Author Vladimir Nabokov's selection of the Top 4 greatest prose works of the 20th century.
Vladimir Nabokov
Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century

The 100 Books of the Century (French: Les cent livres du siècle) is a list of the one hundred best books of the 20th century, according to a poll conducted in the spring of 1999 by the French retailer Fnac and the Paris newspaper Le Monde. Starting from a preliminary list of 200 titles created by bookshops and journalists, 17,000 French voted by responding to the question, "Which books have stayed in your memory?" (« Quels livres sont restés dans votre mémoire ? »). The list of acclaimed titles mixes great novels with poetry and theatre, as well as the comic strip. The first fifty works on the list were the subject of an essay by Frédéric Beigbeder, The Last Inventory Before Liquidation, in which he notably drew attention to its French-centred character.
Le Monde
Modern classics: 11 novels that belong in the classroom

When we think of English lit classes, we usually think of Hawthorne, Melville, Austen, Tolstoy, Dickens. But the times, they are a-changin’ and so too are the books we read, both in and out of the classroom. Since the millennium, a lot of good—nay, great—books have been published by masterful authors, all of whom are deserving of a spot on a high school or college curriculum. And as evidenced by these 11 novels, whoever said there were no new ideas didn’t know what they were talking about.
Today.com
Paste Magazine's Best Books of the Decade(2000-2009)

The top 20 best books of the 2000s by Paste Magazine. It includes both fiction and nonfiction.
Paste Magazine
Robert McCrum's top 10 books of the twentieth century

Robert McCrum is The Observer's literary editor and the author of, among other books, My Year Off. This is a list of this top 10 books of the twentieth century.
The Guardian
The 100 Best Books of the Decade(2000)

The Time's list of the 100 Best Books of the 2000s. It's a mix of fiction and nonfiction.
Times
The 100 Greatest American Novels, 1893 – 1993

The 100 greatest american novels picked by Jeff O’Neal, Editor-in-Chief & Co-founder of Bookriot.com
Jeff O'Neal at Bookriot.com
The 10 Best of the Decade(2000)

Entertainment Weekly's top 10 best books of the 2000s
Entertainment Weekly
The 50 Books Everyone Needs to Read, 1963-2013

The choices here are influenced by the following: the stipulation that any specific author should not be chosen for more than one year, a general focus on fiction over other genres, and the tastes/whims/glaring prejudices of Flavorwire’s literary editor.
Flavor Wire
The 75 Best Books of the Past 75 Years

A list of voted on by 17 employees(book sellers) at Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN for Parade Magazine.
Parade Magazine
The 80 Books Every Man Should Read

An unranked, incomplete, utterly biased list of the greatest works of literature ever published.
Esquire
The Best Books of the 2000s

The Best Books of the 2000s according to the Onion AV club. Includes Fiction and Nonfiction.
The Onion AV Club
The Best Southern Novels of All Time

A list of the best southern novels of all time by Oxford American Magazine judged by 130 experts as well as authors.
Oxford American
The Book of Great Books: A Guide to 100 World Classics

Editor W. John Campbell provides explanations and summaries for 100 of the world's best books.
Book
The Dream of the Great American Novel

Writer Lawrence Buell discusses the primary contenders for the title of the "Great American Novel".
Book
The New Classics - 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008

Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.
Entertainment Weekly
Waterstone's Books of the Century

Waterstones is a bookstore chain with more than 200 stores in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Europe. In January 1997, Waterstones announced the results of its Books of the Century poll to find out what the public considered to be the hundred greatest books of the twentieth century. Over 25, 000 people took part in the poll and the Book of the Century was revealed as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
LibraryThing

The Greatest Nonfiction Books

1151 . The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald

1152 . The School and the Child by John Dewey

1153 . In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall

1154 . Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon

1155 . Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler

1156 . Motivation and Personality by Abraham Maslow

1157 . Psychology of the Unconscious by C.G. Jung

1158 . The Raw and the Cooked by Claude Lévi-Strauss

1159 . Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez

1160 . The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

1161 . The Wisdom Of Crowds by James Surowiecki

1162 . The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich

1163 . Taking the World in for Repairs by Richard Selzer

1164 . Reliable Essays: The Best of Clive James by Clive James

1165 . The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

1166 . Coleridge: Early Visions by Richard Holmes

1167 . For the Union Dead by Robert Lowell

1168 . The Big Sea by Langston Hughes

1169 . Uncertainty Principle by Werner Heisenberg

1170 . Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey

1171 . The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills

1172 . A Drinking Life: A Memoir by Pete Hamill

1173 . Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat

1174 . Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

1175 . Whoredom in Kimmage by Rosemary Mahoney

1176 . Recollected Essays by Wendell Berry

1177 . When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

1178 . On Aggression by Konrad Lorenz

1179 . Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred C. Kinsey

1180 . Snobbery: The American Version by Joseph Epstein

1181 . Little Wilson and Big God by Anthony Burgess

1182 . Function of the Orgasm by Wilhelm Reich

1183 . Our Bodies, Ourselves by Our Bodies, Ourselves

1184 . Looking at Dance by Edwin Denby

1185 . Crazy Salad: Some Things about Women by Nora Ephron

1186 . Parliament of Whores by P. J. O'Rourke

1187 . Nothing to be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes

1188 . In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Prose by Alice Walker

1189 . The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori

1190 . Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain by Dwight Macdonald

1191 . A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk

1192 . Picture by Lillian Ross

1193 . The Masters and the Slaves by Gilberto Freyre

1194 . Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L. Mencken

1195 . Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John Von Neumann

1196 . A Critique of the Theory of Evolution by Thomas Hunt Morgan

1197 . The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery

1198 . Enthusiasms by Bernard Levin

1199 . Reflections from Captivity by Ho Chi Minn

1200 . Happiness in Marriage by Margaret Sanger

How is this list generated?

The Lists