at random | 100 best nonfiction | 100 best novels | history | the board | readers' forum | catalog | reading group guides | proust | subscribe | home new series: harlem renaissance | war | exploration | the movies
		modern library | 100 best novels
		the lists | the books | the radcliffe list | in the news | talking points

Ten of the 100 Best novels selected by the Board have been published in new editions by the Modern Library. | Also be sure to check out the Radcliffe Publishing Course's list of 100 novels. | Read about the Modern Library in the news. | To comment on The Board's list of the "100 Best" novels and on the readers' poll, please visit our Forum. | Or, for a more structured discussion, why not try our talking points. | The readers' poll for the best novels published in the English language since 1900 opened on July 20, 1998 and closed on October 20, 1998, with 217,520 votes cast. | The results are below.

the board's list 1.   ULYSSES by James Joyce 2.   THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3.   A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce 4.   LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov 5.   BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley 6.   THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner 7.   CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller 8.   DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler 9.   SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence 10.   THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck 11.   UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry 12.   THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler 13.   1984 by George Orwell 14.   I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves 15.   TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf 16.   AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser 17.   THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers 18.   SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut 19.   INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison 20.   NATIVE SON by Richard Wright 21.   HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow 22.   APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara 23.   U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos 24.   WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson 25.   A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster 26.   THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James 27.   THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James 28.   TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald 29.   THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell 30.   THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford 31.   ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell 32.   THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James 33.   SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser 34.   A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh 35.   AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner 36.   ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren 37.   THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder 38.   HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster 39.   GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin 40.   THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene 41.   LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding 42.   DELIVERANCE by James Dickey 43.   A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell 44.   POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley 45.   THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway 46.   THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad 47.   NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad 48.   THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence 49.   WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence 50.   TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller 51.   THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer 52.   PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth 53.   PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov 54.   LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner 55.   ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac 56.   THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett 57.   PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford 58.   THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton 59.   ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm 60.   THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy 61.   DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather 62.   FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones 63.   THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever 64.   THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger 65.   A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess 66.   OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham 67.   HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad 68.   MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis 69.   THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton 70.   THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell 71.   A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes 72.   A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul 73.   THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West 74.   A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway 75.   SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh 76.   THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark 77.   FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce 78.   KIM by Rudyard Kipling 79.   A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster 80.   BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh 81.   THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow 82.   ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner 83.   A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul 84.   THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen 85.   LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad 86.   RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow 87.   THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett 88.   THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London 89.   LOVING by Henry Green 90.   MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie 91.   TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell 92.   IRONWEED by William Kennedy 93.   THE MAGUS by John Fowles 94.   WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys 95.   UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch 96.   SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron 97.   THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles 98.   THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain 99.   THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy 100.   THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

the readers' list 1.   ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand 2.   THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand 3.   BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard 4.   THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien 5.   TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee 6.   1984 by George Orwell 7.   ANTHEM by Ayn Rand 8.   WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand 9.   MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard 10.   FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard 11.   ULYSSES by James Joyce 12.   CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller 13.   THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald 14.   DUNE by Frank Herbert 15.   THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein 16.   STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein 17.   A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute 18.   BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley 19.   THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger 20.   ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell 21.   GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon 22.   THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck 23.   SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut 24.   GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell 25.   LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding 26.   SHANE by Jack Schaefer 27.   TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute 28.   A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving 29.   THE STAND by Stephen King 30.   THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles 31.   BELOVED by Toni Morrison 32.   THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison 33.   THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner 34.   LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov 35.   MOONHEART by Charles de Lint 36.   ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner 37.   OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham 38.   WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor 39.   UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry 40.   FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies 41.   SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint 42.   ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac 43.   HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad 44.   YARROW by Charles de Lint 45.   AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft 46.   ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane 47.   MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint 48.   TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf 49.   THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy 50.   TRADER by Charles de Lint 51.   THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams 52.   THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers 53.   THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood 54.   BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy 55.   A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess 56.   ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute 57.   A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce 58.   GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint 59.   ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card 60.   THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint 61.   THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis 62.   STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein 63.   THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway 64.   THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving 65.   SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury 66.   THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson 67.   AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner 68.   TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller 69.   INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison 70.   THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling 71.   THE MAGUS by John Fowles 72.   THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein 73.   ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig 74.   I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves 75.   THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London 76.   AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien 77.   FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury 78.   ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis 79.   WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams 80.   NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs 81.   THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy 82.   GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton 83.   THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein 84.   IT by Stephen King 85.   V. by Thomas Pynchon 86.   DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein 87.   CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein 88.   BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh 89.   LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner 90.   ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey 91.   A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway 92.   THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles 93.   SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey 94.   MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather 95.   MULENGRO by Charles de Lint 96.   SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy 97.   MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock 98.   ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach 99.   THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies 100.   THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie