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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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