Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century
In 1998 the Modern Library, a division of Random House, New York, released this list of "the 100 best novels written in the English language and published since 1900." There are actually two lists: the Modern Library Board’s Choice, and the Modern Library Readers’ Choice. The titles in bold are novels that I have read. The below list should be found on the Random House/ Modern Library site, however, the link sometimes does not work.
--The Editor
The Board’s List |
The Reader’s List |
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce |
1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand |
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
2. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand |
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce |
3. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard |
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov |
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien |
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley |
5. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee |
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner |
6. 1984 by George Orwell |
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller |
7. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand |
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler |
8. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand |
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence |
9. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard |
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck |
10. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard |
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry |
11. ULYSSES by James Joyce |
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler |
12. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller |
13. 1984 by George Orwell |
13. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves |
14. DUNE by Frank Herbert |
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf |
15. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein |
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser |
16. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein |
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers |
17. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute |
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut |
18. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley |
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison |
19. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger |
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright |
20. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell |
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow |
21. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon |
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara |
22. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck |
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos |
23. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut |
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson |
24. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell |
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster |
25. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding |
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James |
26. SHANE by Jack Schaefer |
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James |
27. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute |
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
28. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving |
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell |
29. THE STAND by Stephen King |
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford |
30. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles |
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell |
31. BELOVED by Toni Morrison |
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James |
32. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison |
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser |
33. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner |
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh |
34. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov |
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner |
35. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint |
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren |
36. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner |
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder |
37. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham |
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster |
38. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor |
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin |
39. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry |
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene |
40. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies |
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding |
41. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint |
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey |
42. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac |
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell |
43. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad |
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley |
44. YARROW by Charles de Lint |
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway |
45. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft |
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad |
46. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane |
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad |
47. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint |
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence |
48. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf |
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence |
49. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy |
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller |
50. TRADER by Charles de Lint |
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer |
51. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams |
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth |
52. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers |
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov |
53. THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood |
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner |
54. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy |
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac |
55. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess |
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett |
56. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute |
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford |
57. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce |
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton |
58. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint |
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm |
59. ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card |
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy |
60. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint |
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather |
61. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis |
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones |
62. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein |
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever |
63. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway |
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger |
64. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving |
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess |
65. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury |
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham |
66. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson |
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad |
67. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner |
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis |
68. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller |
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton |
69. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison |
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell |
70. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling |
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes |
71. THE MAGUS by John Fowles |
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul |
72. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein |
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West |
73. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig |
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway |
74. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves |
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh |
75. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London |
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark |
76. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien |
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce |
77. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury |
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling |
78. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis |
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster |
79. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams |
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh |
80. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs |
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow |
81. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy |
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner |
82. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton |
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul |
83. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein |
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen |
84. IT by Stephen King |
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad |
85. V. by Thomas Pynchon |
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow |
86. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein |
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett |
87. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein |
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London |
88. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh |
89. LOVING by Henry Green |
89. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner |
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie |
90. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey |
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell |
91. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway |
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy |
92. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles |
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles |
93. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey |
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys |
94. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather |
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch |
95. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint |
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron |
96. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy |
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles |
97. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock |
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain |
98. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach |
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy |
99. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies |
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington |
100. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie |
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