The Greatest Books Since 1900
How is this list generated?
This list is generated from 130 "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'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.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or corrections please feel free to e-mail me.
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2003
. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a 2013 novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The work was first published on 18 June 2013 through William Morrow and Company and follows an unnamed man who return...
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2005
. Mulligan Stew by Gilbert Sorrentino
Widely regarded as Sorrentino's finest achievement, Mulligan Stew takes as its subject the comic possibilities of the modern literary imagination. As avant-garde novelist Antony Lamont struggles to...
- Google
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2006
. The Rosy Crucifixion by Henry Miller
Henry Miller's Rosy Crucifixion, his second major trilogy, took more than 10 years for the author to complete. Beginning in 1949 with Sexus, a work so controversial all of Paris was abuzz with L'Af...
- Google
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2007
. Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman
Kaaterskill Falls is a 1998 novel by Allegra Goodman, set in a small Catskill Mountains, New York, USA, community of predominantly Orthodox Jews during summers in the mid-1970s.
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2009
. Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue
A 1599 Roman tennis match between the Italian painter Caravaggio and the Spanish poet Quevedo represents the way the world changed in their times, in a novel that goes from the execution of Anne Bo...
- Google
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2012
. Gaston by André Franquin
Gaston is a comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. The series focuses on the every-day life of Gaston Lagaffe (whose surn...
- Google
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2013
. Tours of the Black Clock by Steve Erickson
The course of a century is rewritten in this fabulously warped odyssey, named a best book of the year by the New York Times Tours of the Black Clock is a wild dream of the twentieth century as told...
- Google
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2014
. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Flight Behavior is a 2012 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It is her seventh novel, is a New York Times Bestseller, and was declared "Best book of the year" by the Washington Post and USA Today.
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2015
. In Memoriam to Identity by Kathy Acker
Kathy Acker's characteristically outrageous, lyrical, and hyperinventive novel concerns three characters who share an impulse toward self-immolation through doomed, obsessive romance. Teetering som...
- Google
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2016
. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Practical Magic is a novel by Alice Hoffman which was made into a film of the same name. The novel was published by Vintage Books in 1996.
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2017
. The Lost Leader by Mick Imlah
Michael Ogilvie Imlah (26 September 1956 – 12 January 2009), better known as Mick Imlah, was a Scottish poet and editor.
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2018
. The Position by Meg Wolitzer
The Position: A Novel (ISBN 0-7432-6178-X) is a 2005 novel by Meg Wolitzer. It tells the story of a book titled Pleasuring: One Couple's Journey to Fulfillment and the effects it has on a family.
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2019
. Hogg by Samuel Delany
The classic and controversial novel made available again; Acclaimed winner of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature, bestselling and award...
- Google
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2020
. Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara by Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American poet who, along with John Ashbery, James Schuyler, Barbara Guest and Kenneth Koch, was a key member of the New York School of...
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2024
. A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
A God in Ruins, the ninth novel by Kate Atkinson, was published in 2015. The main character, Teddy Todd is the younger brother of Ursula Todd, the protagonist in Atkinson's 2013 novel, Life After L...
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2025
. The Bird of Night by Susan Hill
The Bird of Night (ISBN 0241104092) is a novel by Susan Hill. It won the 1972 Whitbread Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Susan Hill commented in 2006: A novel of mine was shortliste...
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2026
. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes
Here, for the first time, is a complete collection of Langston Hughes's poetry - 860 poems that sound the heartbeat of black life in America during five turbulent decades, from the 1920s through th...
- Google
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2028
. The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán
"A kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room."--Jonathan Lethem An aging writer, disillusioned with the state of literary ...
- Google
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2029
. Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
Music and Silence is a novel written by the English author Rose Tremain. It is set in and around the court of Christian IV of Denmark in the years 1629 and 1630.
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2032
. Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson's landmark novel is an emotionally gripping and poignant look into race relations. The protagonist, a half-white, half-black man of very light complexion, known only as an ex-c...
- Google
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2033
. The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
Lexie Sinclair is plotting an extraordinary life for herself. Hedged in by her parents' genteel country life, she plans her escape to London. There, she takes up with Innes Kent, a magazine editor ...
- Google
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2036
. The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutola
The Palm-Wine Drinkard (subtitled "and His Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Dead's Town") is often considered the seminal work of modern African literature. It was the first work of print literature a...
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2037
. Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips
Jayne Anne Phillips (born July 1952) is an American novelist and short story writer, born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia.
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2038
. Restless by William Boyd
Restless, an espionage novel by William Boyd, was published in 2006 and won the Costa Prize for fiction. It is the story of a mother revealing to her daughter, in a series of written accounts, that...
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2039
. Saturday by Ian McEwan
In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perowne–a neurosurgeon...
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2040
. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
Using an ocean voyage as the setting, this novel shows people's lack of understanding of each other.
- Google
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2041
. A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke
Peter Handke (born 6 December 1942, in Griffen, Austria) is an avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright.
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2043
. The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934 by Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin (Spanish: [anaˈis ˈnin]; born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was an author born to Cuban parents in France, where she was a...
- Google
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2044
. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is a 1991 novel written by Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist Julia Alvarez. Told in reverse chronological order and narrated from shifting pers...
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2045
. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
“There it lay, the great pearl, perfect as the moon.” One of Steinbeck’s most taught works, The Pearl is the story of the Mexican diver Kino, whose discovery of a magnificent pearl from the Gulf be...
- Google
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2046
. Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells by H. G. Wells
Eighteen supernatural tales deal with such phenomena as an invisible man, a crystal egg from Mars, a blood-sucking orchid
- Google
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2048
. The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel is the first book by American author David Wroblewski. It became a New York Times Best Seller on June 29, 2008, and Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club on ...
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2050
. Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak
With Papa off to sea and Mama despondent, Ida must go outside over there to rescue her baby sister from goblins who steal her to be a goblin's bride.
- Google
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-
This list is generated from 130 "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'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.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or corrections please feel free to e-mail me.
-
-
-
2003 . The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a 2013 novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The work was first published on 18 June 2013 through William Morrow and Company and follows an unnamed man who return...
-
-
2005 . Mulligan Stew by Gilbert Sorrentino
Widely regarded as Sorrentino's finest achievement, Mulligan Stew takes as its subject the comic possibilities of the modern literary imagination. As avant-garde novelist Antony Lamont struggles to...
- Google -
2006 . The Rosy Crucifixion by Henry Miller
Henry Miller's Rosy Crucifixion, his second major trilogy, took more than 10 years for the author to complete. Beginning in 1949 with Sexus, a work so controversial all of Paris was abuzz with L'Af...
- Google -
2007 . Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman
Kaaterskill Falls is a 1998 novel by Allegra Goodman, set in a small Catskill Mountains, New York, USA, community of predominantly Orthodox Jews during summers in the mid-1970s.
-
-
2009 . Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue
A 1599 Roman tennis match between the Italian painter Caravaggio and the Spanish poet Quevedo represents the way the world changed in their times, in a novel that goes from the execution of Anne Bo...
- Google -
-
-
2012 . Gaston by André Franquin
Gaston is a comic strip created in 1957 by the Belgian cartoonist André Franquin in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou. The series focuses on the every-day life of Gaston Lagaffe (whose surn...
- Google -
2013 . Tours of the Black Clock by Steve Erickson
The course of a century is rewritten in this fabulously warped odyssey, named a best book of the year by the New York Times Tours of the Black Clock is a wild dream of the twentieth century as told...
- Google -
2014 . Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Flight Behavior is a 2012 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It is her seventh novel, is a New York Times Bestseller, and was declared "Best book of the year" by the Washington Post and USA Today.
-
2015 . In Memoriam to Identity by Kathy Acker
Kathy Acker's characteristically outrageous, lyrical, and hyperinventive novel concerns three characters who share an impulse toward self-immolation through doomed, obsessive romance. Teetering som...
- Google -
2016 . Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Practical Magic is a novel by Alice Hoffman which was made into a film of the same name. The novel was published by Vintage Books in 1996.
-
2017 . The Lost Leader by Mick Imlah
Michael Ogilvie Imlah (26 September 1956 – 12 January 2009), better known as Mick Imlah, was a Scottish poet and editor.
-
2018 . The Position by Meg Wolitzer
The Position: A Novel (ISBN 0-7432-6178-X) is a 2005 novel by Meg Wolitzer. It tells the story of a book titled Pleasuring: One Couple's Journey to Fulfillment and the effects it has on a family.
-
2019 . Hogg by Samuel Delany
The classic and controversial novel made available again; Acclaimed winner of the William Whitehead Memorial Award for a lifetime's contribution to gay and lesbian literature, bestselling and award...
- Google -
2020 . Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara by Frank O'Hara
Francis Russell O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American poet who, along with John Ashbery, James Schuyler, Barbara Guest and Kenneth Koch, was a key member of the New York School of...
-
-
-
-
2024 . A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
A God in Ruins, the ninth novel by Kate Atkinson, was published in 2015. The main character, Teddy Todd is the younger brother of Ursula Todd, the protagonist in Atkinson's 2013 novel, Life After L...
-
2025 . The Bird of Night by Susan Hill
The Bird of Night (ISBN 0241104092) is a novel by Susan Hill. It won the 1972 Whitbread Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Susan Hill commented in 2006: A novel of mine was shortliste...
-
2026 . The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes
Here, for the first time, is a complete collection of Langston Hughes's poetry - 860 poems that sound the heartbeat of black life in America during five turbulent decades, from the 1920s through th...
- Google -
-
2028 . The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán
"A kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room."--Jonathan Lethem An aging writer, disillusioned with the state of literary ...
- Google -
2029 . Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
Music and Silence is a novel written by the English author Rose Tremain. It is set in and around the court of Christian IV of Denmark in the years 1629 and 1630.
-
-
-
2032 . Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson
James Weldon Johnson's landmark novel is an emotionally gripping and poignant look into race relations. The protagonist, a half-white, half-black man of very light complexion, known only as an ex-c...
- Google -
2033 . The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
Lexie Sinclair is plotting an extraordinary life for herself. Hedged in by her parents' genteel country life, she plans her escape to London. There, she takes up with Innes Kent, a magazine editor ...
- Google -
-
-
2036 . The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutola
The Palm-Wine Drinkard (subtitled "and His Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Dead's Town") is often considered the seminal work of modern African literature. It was the first work of print literature a...
-
2037 . Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips
Jayne Anne Phillips (born July 1952) is an American novelist and short story writer, born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia.
-
2038 . Restless by William Boyd
Restless, an espionage novel by William Boyd, was published in 2006 and won the Costa Prize for fiction. It is the story of a mother revealing to her daughter, in a series of written accounts, that...
-
2039 . Saturday by Ian McEwan
In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perowne–a neurosurgeon...
-
2040 . The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
Using an ocean voyage as the setting, this novel shows people's lack of understanding of each other.
- Google -
2041 . A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke
Peter Handke (born 6 December 1942, in Griffen, Austria) is an avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright.
-
-
2043 . The Diary of Anais Nin, 1931-1934 by Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin (Spanish: [anaˈis ˈnin]; born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was an author born to Cuban parents in France, where she was a...
- Google -
2044 . How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is a 1991 novel written by Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist Julia Alvarez. Told in reverse chronological order and narrated from shifting pers...
-
2045 . The Pearl by John Steinbeck
“There it lay, the great pearl, perfect as the moon.” One of Steinbeck’s most taught works, The Pearl is the story of the Mexican diver Kino, whose discovery of a magnificent pearl from the Gulf be...
- Google -
2046 . Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells by H. G. Wells
Eighteen supernatural tales deal with such phenomena as an invisible man, a crystal egg from Mars, a blood-sucking orchid
- Google -
-
2048 . The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel is the first book by American author David Wroblewski. It became a New York Times Best Seller on June 29, 2008, and Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club on ...
-
-
2050 . Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak
With Papa off to sea and Mama despondent, Ida must go outside over there to rescue her baby sister from goblins who steal her to be a goblin's bride.
- Google