The following list combines both the Readers and the Board list of the
Modern
Library top-100-best-novels lists, re-indexed by combining the
position of books on both lists. Because of this, several novels may
occupy the same space. When this occurs, the novels are not displayed
in any particular order.
All novels have been color coded to state in which list they originally appeared:
the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald
catch-22 by joseph heller
brave new world by aldous huxley
the grapes of wrath by john steinbeck
lolita by vladimir nabokov
the sound and the fury by william faulkner
slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnegut
under the volcano by malcolm lowry
animal farm by george orwell
to the lighthouse by virginia woolf
lord of the flies by william golding
the heart is a lonely hunter by carson mccullers
the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger
invisible man by ralph ellison
i, claudius by robert graves
on the road by jack kerouac
as i lay dying by william faulkner
atlas shrugged by ayn rand
the fountainhead by ayn rand
the lord of the rings by j.r.r. tolkien
to kill a mockingbird by harper lee
the sun also rises by ernest hemingway
the moviegoer by walker percy
we the living by ayn rand
darkness at noon by arthur koestler
sons and lovers by d.h. lawrence
dune by frank herbert
the moon is a harsh mistress by robert heinlein
an american tragedy by theodore dreiser
stranger in a strange land by robert heinlein
tropic of cancer by henry miller
a town like alice by nevil shute
a clockwork orange by anthony burgess
native son by richard wright
gravity’s rainbow by thomas pynchon
henderson the rain king by saul bellow
appointment in samarra by john o’hara
u.s.a.(trilogy) by john dos passos
gone with the wind by margaret mitchell
a passage to india by e.m. forster
the wings of the dove by henry james
shane by jack schaefer
trustee from the toolroom by nevil shute
tender is the night by f. scott fitzgerald
a prayer for owen meany by john irving
the studs lonigan trilogy by james t. farrell
the stand by stephen king
the french lieutenant’s woman by john fowles
beloved by toni morrison
the golden bowl by henry james
the worm ouroboros by e.r. eddison
a handful of dust by evelyn waugh
moonheart by charles de lint
all the king’s men by robert penn warren
absalom, absalom! by william faulkner
the bridge of san luis rey by thornton wilder
wise blood by flannery o’connor
go tell it on the mountain by james baldwin
fifth business by robertson davies
the heart of the matter by graham greene
someplace to be flying by charles de lint
deliverance by james dickey
light in august by william faulkner
a dance to the music of time (series) by anthony powell
point counter point by aldous huxley
yarrow by charles de lint
at the mountains of madness by h.p. lovecraft
one lonely night by mickey spillane
memory and dream by charles de lint
the rainbow by d.h. lawrence
women in love by d.h. lawrence
trader by charles de lint
the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by douglas adams
the naked and the dead by norman mailer
portnoy’s complaint by philip roth
pale fire by vladimir nabokov
the handmaid’s tale by margaret atwood
blood meridian by cormac mccarthy
the maltese falcon by dashiell hammett
on the beach by nevil shute
parade’s end by ford madox ford
greenmantle by charles de lint
ender’s game by orson scott card
the little country by charles de lint
death comes for the archbishop by willa cather
the recognitions by william gaddis
from here to eternity by james jones
starship troopers by robert heinlein
the magus by john fowles
the wapshot chronicles by john cheever
a farewell to arms by ernest hemingway
the world according to garp by john irving
something wicked this way comes by ray bradbury
the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson
brideshead revisited by evelyn waugh
the house of mirth by edith wharton
the wood wife by terri windling
the alexandria quartet by lawrence durell
a high wind in jamaica by richard hughes
the door into summer by robert heinlein
a house for mr biswas by v.s. naipaul
the day of the locust by nathanael west
zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by robert pirsig
scoop by evelyn waugh
the prime of miss jean brodie by muriel spark
at swim-two-birds by flann o’brien
farenheit 451 by ray bradbury
finnegans wake by james joyce
arrowsmith by sinclair lewis
a room with a view by e.m. forster
watership down by richard adams
naked lunch by william s. burroughs
the adventures of augie march by saul bellow
the hunt for red october by tom clancy
angle of repose by wallace stegner
guilty pleasures by laurell k. hamilton
the puppet masters by robert heinlein
a bend in the river by v.s. naipaul
the death of the heart by elizabeth bowen
it by stephen king
v. by thomas pynchon
double star by robert heinlein
ragtime by e.l. doctorow
citizen of the galaxy by robert heinlein
the old wives’ tale by arnold bennett
the sheltering sky by paul bowles
loving by henry green
one flew over the cuckoo’s nest by ken kesey
midnight’s children by salman rushdie
tobacco road by erskine caldwell
ironweed by william kennedy
sometimes a great notion by ken kesey
wide sargasso sea by jean rhys
mulengro by charles de lint
under the net by iris murdoch
suttree by cormac mccarthy
sophie’s choice by william styron
mythago wood by robert holdstock
illusions by richard bach
the postman always rings twice by james m. cain
the cunning man by robertson davies
the ginger man by j.p. donleavy
the satanic verses by salman rushdie