Goodreads Top 100 Literary Novels of All Time

"The Goodreads Top 100 Literary Novels of All Time List" represents a list of 100 literary novels recommended by the Goodreads Serious Literature Group for voting by all Goodreads Members via Listopia. PLEASE DO NOT ADD BOOKS TO THIS LIST.

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List Challenge
The average Goodreads member has read 16 out of 100 books on this list — how many have you read?

All Votes

1	Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 4.29 avg rating — 4,274,318 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	1984 by George Orwell 4.19 avg rating — 4,606,373 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3.93 avg rating — 5,245,630 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 4.15 avg rating — 2,096,242 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4.27 avg rating — 905,373 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 3.88 avg rating — 851,051 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 3.83 avg rating — 1,266,116 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 3.88 avg rating — 2,549,922 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 3.89 avg rating — 1,807,632 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 4.30 avg rating — 914,555 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 3.99 avg rating — 1,857,496 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez 4.11 avg rating — 972,310 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 4.09 avg rating — 848,919 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky 4.37 avg rating — 332,765 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	Catch-22 by Joseph Heller 3.99 avg rating — 831,679 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 4.01 avg rating — 907,279 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 4.10 avg rating — 1,370,639 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 3.87 avg rating — 947,810 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 3.80 avg rating — 1,149,836 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 4.16 avg rating — 328,468 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville 3.54 avg rating — 561,322 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 3.90 avg rating — 271,117 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	East of Eden by John Steinbeck 4.41 avg rating — 539,608 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka 4.04 avg rating — 55,636 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner 3.85 avg rating — 182,204 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 4.07 avg rating — 460,590 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
27	Ulysses by James Joyce 3.75 avg rating — 128,075 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco 4.14 avg rating — 364,945 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 3.43 avg rating — 865,815 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	Candide by Voltaire 3.76 avg rating — 276,831 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
31	The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 4.29 avg rating — 354,052 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 4.03 avg rating — 238,813 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
33	To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 3.80 avg rating — 183,630 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison 3.91 avg rating — 188,009 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
35	For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway 3.98 avg rating — 293,799 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy 3.83 avg rating — 283,759 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	The Plague by Albert Camus 4.02 avg rating — 264,160 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
38	The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 3.80 avg rating — 3,527,371 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
39	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers 3.99 avg rating — 110,300 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
40	Things Fall Apart (The African Trilogy, #1) by Chinua Achebe 3.73 avg rating — 372,346 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
41	Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 3.98 avg rating — 347,646 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
42	Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 113,568 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
43	A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 3.89 avg rating — 275,690 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
44	Blindness by José Saramago 4.17 avg rating — 290,175 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
45	I, Claudius (Claudius, #1) by Robert Graves 4.24 avg rating — 66,668 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
46	Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy 4.16 avg rating — 165,036 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
47	Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 4.26 avg rating — 91,986 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
48	The Awakening by Kate Chopin 3.68 avg rating — 208,854 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
49	Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence 3.64 avg rating — 53,159 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
50	My Ántonia by Willa Cather 3.83 avg rating — 137,994 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
51	In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust 4.35 avg rating — 12,655 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
52	Middlemarch/Silas Marner/Amos Barton by George Eliot 3.98 avg rating — 785 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
53	Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 3.80 avg rating — 128,213 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
54	Light in August by William Faulkner 3.94 avg rating — 61,950 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
55	All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren 4.09 avg rating — 63,539 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
56	The Tin Drum by Günter Grass 3.95 avg rating — 44,097 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
57	Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges 4.42 avg rating — 67,912 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
58	To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 4.26 avg rating — 6,130,839 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
59	Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov 4.17 avg rating — 50,826 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
60	The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann 4.13 avg rating — 49,533 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
61	The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton 3.97 avg rating — 98,008 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
62	Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol 3.98 avg rating — 85,095 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
63	Tropic of Cancer (Tropic, #1) by Henry Miller 3.66 avg rating — 72,406 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
64	The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding 3.75 avg rating — 33,368 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
65	The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett 4.30 avg rating — 1,939 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
66	The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne 3.73 avg rating — 21,804 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
67	Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 4.25 avg rating — 16,650 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
68	Gilead (Gilead, #1) by Marilynne Robinson 3.85 avg rating — 110,459 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
69	Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author) 3.94 avg rating — 68,331 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
70	The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow 3.84 avg rating — 18,134 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
71	An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser 3.96 avg rating — 36,859 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
72	Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather 3.96 avg rating — 37,642 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
73	Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels by John Updike 4.25 avg rating — 1,661 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
74	The Alexandria Quartet (The Alexandria Quartet, #1-4) by Lawrence Durrell 4.18 avg rating — 11,919 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
75	The Stranger by Albert Camus 4.02 avg rating — 1,096,924 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
76	A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul 3.81 avg rating — 21,106 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
77	Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac 4.16 avg rating — 11,176 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
78	V. by Thomas Pynchon 3.96 avg rating — 23,413 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
79	Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (Goodreads Author) 3.80 avg rating — 24,386 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
80	The Forsyte Saga (The Forsyte Chronicles, #1-3) by John Galsworthy 4.18 avg rating — 19,998 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
81	Adam Bede by George Eliot 3.82 avg rating — 25,372 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
82	Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry 3.77 avg rating — 25,021 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
83	Jazz (Beloved Trilogy, #2) by Toni Morrison 3.88 avg rating — 32,228 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
84	The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth 4.11 avg rating — 7,342 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
85	The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu 3.73 avg rating — 13,366 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
86	Therese Raquin by Émile Zola 3.73 avg rating — 32,640 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
87	Finnegans Wake (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) by James Joyce 3.68 avg rating — 12,889 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
88	The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith 3.46 avg rating — 10,164 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
89	The Recognitions by William Gaddis 4.20 avg rating — 5,687 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
90	The Tenth Man by Graham Greene 3.73 avg rating — 4,830 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
91	Life and Fate (Stalingrad, #2) by Vasily Grossman 4.45 avg rating — 13,060 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
92	Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon 4.12 avg rating — 11,329 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
93	Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow 3.85 avg rating — 9,486 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
94	J R by William Gaddis 4.31 avg rating — 3,394 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
95	1919 (U.S.A., #2) by John Dos Passos 3.96 avg rating — 3,043 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
96	The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch 4.15 avg rating — 1,525 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
97	Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides 4.03 avg rating — 639,414 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
98	Native Son by Richard Wright 4.03 avg rating — 99,162 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
99	The Tunnel by William H. Gass 4.03 avg rating — 1,755 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
100	Darconville's Cat by Alexander Theroux 4.27 avg rating — 549 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Get Results & Compare With Friends »

People Who Voted On This List (1033)

David 895 books
1911 friends

Dr. Zyllihapping 708 books
449 friends

Michael 6183 books
438 friends

Janet 69 books
3 friends

Gary 704 books
157 friends

Becky 1792 books
24 friends

Ben 1082 books
71 friends

Craig 348 books
56 friends

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Post a comment »
Comments Showing 1-50 of 169 (169 new)

date

newest »

message 1: by Ben (new)

Sep 15, 2011 01:49PM

How was this list created? (i.e. how was it determined which books would be on list and which wouldn't)?

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message 2: by David (new)

Sep 15, 2011 05:37PM

Our group accepted recommendations from Goodreaders and then debated the most worthy ones. Feel free to review the thread from the outset. It was essentially a collaborative effort among our group of Goodreaders of literary novels over a few weeks.

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message 3: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 06, 2011 06:59AM

Dr. Zyllihapping I-Don't-Have-A-Last-Name

Uh, David.........somebody is adding books to the list!

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message 4: by David (new)

Oct 06, 2011 07:41AM

Dear Tayyab,
Thanks. I have restored us back to the original list from the group.

reply | flag

message 5: by David (new)

Oct 11, 2011 02:21PM

Dear Goodreads,

"P+P" plus "Jane Eyre" at the top of our all-time list of literary novels? Really?
Can't we do better than this?

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message 6: by David (new)

Oct 11, 2011 02:36PM

"She makes me detest all her people, without reserve. Is that her intention? It is not believable. Then is it her purpose to make the reader detest her people up to the middle of the book and like them in the rest of the chapters? That could be. That would be high art. It would be worth while, too. Some day I will examine the other end of her books and see." - "Jane Austen," published in 2009 in "Who Is Mark Twain?"

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message 7: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (new)

Oct 11, 2011 02:41PM

Thirty-four voters is not a huge sample size.

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message 8: by David (new)

Oct 12, 2011 08:31AM

Thank you, Susanna. This is a great list with an odd ranking.

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message 9: by Dr. Zyllihapping (last edited Oct 12, 2011 08:37AM) (new)

Oct 12, 2011 08:37AM

Odd it certainly is, for "1984" is #2. I love that book, (I'm reading it nowadays, and I even voted for it) but #2 is too high. I would have expected Ulysses or Metamorphosis to do better.

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message 10: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (new)

Oct 12, 2011 10:40AM

1984, like the rest of the top five, is pretty frequently assigned in school, I think (I know I read all of them there), so a lot of people have actually read them. Frequency bias.

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message 11: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 13, 2011 04:16AM

Susanna wrote: "1984, like the rest of the top five, is pretty frequently assigned in school, I think (I know I read all of them there), so a lot of people have actually read them. Frequency bias."

Okay. I have no problem with Huck Finn in the top 5, though. Now THAT was a great book, totally. And, as I said before, Ulysses, Metamorphosis and Don Quixote should be higher.

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message 12: by Marieange (new)

Oct 15, 2011 07:20AM

What a great list! Makes me realise how many classics I still need to read though... a bit depressing :)

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message 13: by Colin (new)

Oct 15, 2011 08:30AM

Fantastic list! I feel reluctant to vote though. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read any Dostoyevsky yet, and I've only read James Joyce's short stories. Keep the list posted, and I'll come back when I feel better qualified!

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message 14: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 15, 2011 08:33AM

Colin wrote: "Fantastic list! I feel reluctant to vote though. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read any Dostoyevsky yet, and I've only read James Joyce's short stories. Keep the list posted, and I'll come back wh..."

Yes, it's a pretty good list. I contributed too. I feel proud of myself, sorta. And yes, I plan to read Dostoevsky too! I have Notes from Underground in my collection, read a bit, loved it.........so I guess he's a great author. And I've read some of Finnegans Wake online. It was awesome :)

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message 15: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 15, 2011 08:40AM

Wait, who added Breakfast of Champions and Atlas Shrugged now? Seriously, first Catcher in the Rye, then this..........next To Kill a Mockingbird will be popping up out of nowhere.

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message 16: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (new)

Oct 15, 2011 09:12AM

I got 'em.

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message 17: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 15, 2011 10:38AM

Personally, I love Catcher, but David didn't allow it in the list, along with TKAM.

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message 18: by David (new)

Oct 16, 2011 06:29AM

Catcher and TKAM are YA novels, which Tayyab has added to his top 100 list of books for younger readers. If we were to turn our existing list of literary novels upside down, it seems to me, then we would have a better ranking of true literary novels. I am deeply disappointed that Goodreaders appear to have so mis-ranked this particular list. We must be reading too many books about vampires, Harry Potter and romance. Come on, people, can't we dig deeper?

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message 19: by Colin (new)

Oct 16, 2011 07:30AM

Ah yes that makes sense. While Mockingbird is a very deserving novel, putting it in a separate catagory means more great books on great lists. I've added books from here to my "to read" list because of that, which is about the best contribution Goodreads can make.

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message 20: by David (new)

Oct 16, 2011 05:09PM

Dear Colin,
In case you haven't heard this enough lately, you're a good man. Thank you for your valued input on this list.
Cordially,
David

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message 21: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 04:40AM

David wrote: "Catcher and TKAM are YA novels, which Tayyab has added to his top 100 list of books for younger readers. If we were to turn our existing list of literary novels upside down, it seems to me, then we..."

It seems about right to me, but.........*gasp* Why are "Finnegans Wake", "Tristram Shandy" and "War and Peace" THAT low?

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message 22: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 04:42AM

Colin wrote: "Ah yes that makes sense. While Mockingbird is a very deserving novel, putting it in a separate catagory means more great books on great lists. I've added books from here to my "to read" list becaus..."

I was thinking the same, that Catcher and Mockingbird were more suited to a "Greatest Children's Books" list than a "Greatest Literary Novels" list. Oh, anyway, that reminds me, I really must be getting on with my list......

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message 23: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 04:44AM

Actually, David, looking over this list, I realized that while it does include "V." and "Mason & Dixon" by Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow" which is, I've heard, his most famous novel, is not included..........is this a case of "Well, nobody nominated it" or "Well, it didn't deserve a place on the list, therefore it was taken off"?

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message 24: by David (new)

Oct 19, 2011 06:47AM

I have read three of the Pynchon novels that you mention and all are great. Pynchon is worthy of a Nobel Prize for Literature for the body of his work. Pynchon is well represented on our list. I prefer "Mason & Dixon" of the three. This list isn't about what is "popular" because then it would be full of best-sellers. The intent of this list is to encourage people to get beyond popular works into truly great literary novels which have survived the test of time. Goodreaders seem obsessed by popular works with zero literary merit. Hence, this list.

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message 25: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 06:52AM

David wrote: "I have read three of the Pynchon novels that you mention and all are great. Pynchon is worthy of a Nobel Prize for Literature for the body of his work. Pynchon is well represented on our list. I pr..."

But this list is half filled with "popular" works. And I know it isn't about "popular", i also meant that it was the most critically acclaimed of the three.

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message 26: by David (new)

Oct 19, 2011 06:56AM

I understand your perfectly valid point. The most important aspect is that because of this list more Goodreaders will pick-up and read masterpieces. Thank you for your help in building this list, Tayyab.

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message 27: by Manny (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:00AM

Hm... why Slaughterhouse-Five and not Cat's Cradle? I am far from being the only person who thinks it's a much better book.

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message 28: by David (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:04AM

I would also like to add that the reason so many of the most popular books rank on top of this list is that many Goodreaders are younger and haven't yet gotten around to many of the more challenging masterpieces. I refer to "War and Peace," "Ulysses," "Don Quixote" and the novels of Proust, for example. Yet these young Goodreaders absolutely are on the right track and will be genuinely rewarded intellectually when they are ready take on the greatest novels.

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message 29: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:06AM

Manny wrote: "Hm... why Slaughterhouse-Five and not Cat's Cradle? I am far from being the only person who thinks it's a much better book."

Well, now that's the exact opposite of the Thomas Pynchon case. "Slaughterhouse-Five" is generally more popular.

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message 30: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:07AM

David wrote: "I would also like to add that the reason so many of the most popular books rank on top of this list is that many Goodreaders are younger and haven't yet gotten around to many of the more challengin..."

I agree on your point about "War and Peace", etc. I always thought that they should be MUCH higher...

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message 31: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:10AM

David wrote: "I understand your perfectly valid point. The most important aspect is that because of this list more Goodreaders will pick-up and read masterpieces. Thank you for your help in building this list, T..."

You're welcome. Anyway, I was thinking, could we update this list next year or something?

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message 32: by David (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:11AM

Dear Manny,
I'm comfortable with "Slaughterhouse Five" because of its epic scope during the bombing of Dresden in WWII. Vonnegut was a scout for the front lines and was actually captured and so his experience in the wake of this tragedy seems to emanate luminously from the book through the eyes of Billy Pilgrim, possibly one of the the greatest names ever for a character in a novel. My favorite Vonnegut book is actually the lesser read "Bluebeard," which is hilarious in many places and very highly recommended.

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message 33: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:13AM

David wrote: "Dear Manny,
I'm comfortable with "Slaughterhouse Five" because of its epic scope during the bombing of Dresden in WWII. Vonnegut was a scout for the front lines and was actually captured and so his..."

You just made me want to read Vonnegut even more.

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message 34: by David (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:16AM

Good man, Tayyab.

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message 35: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:20AM

Anyway, David, have you ever reviewed either Catcher, Lord of the Flies or Mockingbird? I noticed that you review many of the books that you mention in discussions and all.

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message 36: by David (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:25AM

I leave these great YA novels to you to review, Tayyab, as I read them so many years ago.

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message 37: by Dr. Zyllihapping (last edited Oct 19, 2011 07:29AM) (new)

Oct 19, 2011 07:29AM

David wrote: "I leave these great YA novels to you to review, Tayyab, as I read them so many years ago."

Well, actually, like Huck Finn, they were adult novels originally.

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message 38: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 19, 2011 08:21AM

It is sorta ironic to see "PLEASE DO NOT ADD BOOKS TO THIS LIST." right beside "Anyone can add books to this list."

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message 39: by Dr. Zyllihapping (new)

Oct 21, 2011 02:07AM

"1984" is #1 now! *gets worried*

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message 40: by David (new)

Nov 01, 2011 12:31PM

God, the ranking of this list is pitiful.

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message 41: by Ben (new)

Nov 01, 2011 12:33PM

David wrote: "God, the ranking of this list is pitiful."

Well David, it's like Homer Simpson said "When will people learn... democracy doesn't work!"

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message 42: by David (new)

Nov 01, 2011 12:36PM

Now I'm sorry I spent so much time building this damn list.

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message 43: by David (new)

Nov 01, 2011 12:37PM

How do I delete it?

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message 44: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Nov 01, 2011 02:36PM) (new)

Nov 01, 2011 02:35PM

No idea, David. Might take a SuperLibrarian, as I don't see that option on the edit page for this list.

ETA: You might also be happier with this being a "challenge" list, which people don't vote on directly. Which also freezes it from having new books added to it.

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message 45: by Ben (new)

Nov 01, 2011 03:03PM

Susanna wrote: "No idea, David. Might take a SuperLibrarian, as I don't see that option on the edit page for this list.

ETA: You might also be happier with this being a "challenge" list, which people don't vote ..."

Yeah, I think you can only delete a list you created if no one else voted on it yet. After that, it belongs to the people!

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message 46: by Shadab (new)

Nov 06, 2011 01:10PM

Dunno.. I'd say Atlas Shrugged deserves to be in this list, so do Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Rings

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message 47: by Mohammed (new)

Dec 09, 2011 02:22PM

David wrote: "How do I delete it?"

Why delete ? Are you surprised Jane Austen novel who is a popular classic, overrated novel is so high on the list? Other than that the top 15-20 books looks like impressive literary strong novels.

What do you got against 1984? Its not literary strong at all in your opinion ?

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message 48: by Byron 'Giggsy' (new)

Dec 09, 2011 08:16PM

I'm fine with 1984 as number 1

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message 49: by David (new)

Dec 10, 2011 07:03AM

"1984" belongs on the Top 100 Literary Novels List but surely not ranked ahead of "Ulysses", "War and Peace","In Search of Lost Time", "Finnegan's Wake", "Don Quixote", "Brothers K.", "Augie March", "Alexandria Quartet", "Life and Fate", "Moby Dick", "Lost Illusions", "Moby Dick", "Huckleberry Finn", "Anna Karenina"...

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message 50: by Byron 'Giggsy' (new)

Dec 10, 2011 03:13PM

1984 belongs number 1 when you ask readers, like this poll does. If you want a list created only by literary scholars, then you'll find Ulysses sitting at number 1

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