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This collection includes the titles of the 20th century considered the most vital to a personal library, all in a beautiful, compact format.
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
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The Great Gatsby
by
3.93 avg rating — 5,822,901 ratings
score: 551,
and
6 people voted
|
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| 2 |
|
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 762,350 ratings
score: 485,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 3 |
|
Invisible Man
by
3.92 avg rating — 200,643 ratings
score: 483,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 4 |
|
Tender Is The Night
by
3.77 avg rating — 148,522 ratings
score: 440,
and
5 people voted
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| 5 |
|
Dubliners
by
3.84 avg rating — 173,213 ratings
score: 418,
and
5 people voted
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| 6 |
|
The Man in the High Castle
by
3.59 avg rating — 232,774 ratings
score: 406,
and
5 people voted
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| 7 |
|
Lolita
by
3.87 avg rating — 933,554 ratings
score: 392,
and
4 people voted
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| 8 |
|
A Room with a View
by
3.89 avg rating — 200,045 ratings
score: 379,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 9 |
|
The Day of the Triffids
by
4.01 avg rating — 116,520 ratings
score: 376,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 10 |
|
Breakfast at Tiffany's
by
3.85 avg rating — 249,753 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 10 |
|
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by
4.04 avg rating — 542,946 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 12 |
|
The Thin Man
by
3.90 avg rating — 37,887 ratings
score: 368,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 13 |
|
On the Road
by
3.61 avg rating — 444,151 ratings
score: 349,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 14 |
|
Cold Comfort Farm
by
3.88 avg rating — 54,551 ratings
score: 346,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 15 |
|
Hideous Kinky
by
3.53 avg rating — 4,118 ratings
score: 345,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 16 |
|
The Diary of a Nobody
by
3.69 avg rating — 17,919 ratings
score: 344,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 17 |
|
The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)
by
3.94 avg rating — 166,832 ratings
score: 341,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 18 |
|
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by
3.70 avg rating — 60,355 ratings
score: 334,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 19 |
|
Wide Sargasso Sea
by
3.59 avg rating — 105,414 ratings
score: 323,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 20 |
|
Steppenwolf
by
4.13 avg rating — 211,443 ratings
score: 319,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 21 |
|
Brideshead Revisited
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 125,473 ratings
score: 318,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 22 |
|
Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog
by
3.83 avg rating — 79,380 ratings
score: 308,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 23 |
|
Lucky Jim
by
3.75 avg rating — 31,836 ratings
score: 303,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 24 |
|
Love in the Time of Cholera
by
3.94 avg rating — 542,041 ratings
score: 302,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 25 |
|
A Passage to India
by
3.67 avg rating — 85,255 ratings
score: 277,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 26 |
|
Mrs. Dalloway
by
3.78 avg rating — 350,251 ratings
score: 264,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 27 |
|
My Family and Other Animals (Corfu Trilogy, #1)
by
4.17 avg rating — 62,868 ratings
score: 258,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 28 |
|
In the Country of Men
by
3.75 avg rating — 7,507 ratings
score: 245,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 29 |
|
Cat's Cradle
by
4.15 avg rating — 433,123 ratings
score: 240,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 30 |
|
I'm the King of the Castle
by
3.49 avg rating — 3,724 ratings
score: 238,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 31 |
|
A Handful of Dust
by
3.89 avg rating — 28,667 ratings
score: 236,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 32 |
|
A Kestrel for a Knave
by
4.07 avg rating — 7,910 ratings
score: 230,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 33 |
|
Regeneration
by
4.02 avg rating — 33,430 ratings
score: 225,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 34 |
|
Out of Africa
by
Isak Dinesen (Pseudonym)
3.91 avg rating — 47,604 ratings
score: 223,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 35 |
|
Heart of Darkness
by
3.43 avg rating — 552,762 ratings
score: 221,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 36 |
|
In Cold Blood
by
4.09 avg rating — 720,717 ratings
score: 218,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 37 |
|
Everything is Illuminated
by
Jonathan Safran Foer (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 183,402 ratings
score: 214,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 38 |
|
Moon Tiger
by
3.91 avg rating — 18,819 ratings
score: 184,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 39 |
|
A Month in the Country
by
4.09 avg rating — 26,104 ratings
score: 176,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 40 |
|
Bonjour Tristesse
by
3.74 avg rating — 70,781 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 40 |
|
Billy Liar
by
3.71 avg rating — 2,269 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 42 |
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
by
3.89 avg rating — 295,213 ratings
score: 162,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 43 |
|
The History of Love
by
3.92 avg rating — 140,132 ratings
score: 161,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 44 |
|
Eva Luna
by
Isabel Allende (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 58,589 ratings
score: 157,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 45 |
|
Goodbye to All That
by
3.93 avg rating — 15,453 ratings
score: 152,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 46 |
|
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by
3.50 avg rating — 136,537 ratings
score: 149,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 47 |
|
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
by
4.09 avg rating — 124,723 ratings
score: 144,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 48 |
|
The Millstone
by
3.90 avg rating — 3,946 ratings
score: 129,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 49 |
|
Foe
by
3.41 avg rating — 12,396 ratings
score: 128,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 50 |
|
Junky
by
3.84 avg rating — 70,761 ratings
score: 123,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 51 |
|
Embers
by
3.99 avg rating — 42,886 ratings
score: 113,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 52 |
|
The Help
by
Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 2,990,939 ratings
score: 108,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 53 |
|
Asylum
by
3.97 avg rating — 40,400 ratings
score: 91,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 54 |
|
Hell's Angels
by
3.98 avg rating — 54,286 ratings
score: 82,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 55 |
|
The Mosquito Coast
by
3.81 avg rating — 13,805 ratings
score: 76,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 56 |
|
An Ice-cream War
by
3.92 avg rating — 4,486 ratings
score: 69,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 57 |
|
What a Carve Up!
by
Jonathan Coe (Goodreads Author)
4.11 avg rating — 12,987 ratings
score: 55,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 58 |
|
The Periodic Table
by
4.14 avg rating — 19,119 ratings
score: 48,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 59 |
|
How Many Miles to Babylon?
by
3.64 avg rating — 2,107 ratings
score: 45,
and
1 person voted
|
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59 books ·
10 voters ·
list created May 25th, 2016
by Not Well Read (votes) .
Not Well Read
3552 books
98 friends
98 friends
Sue
10680 books
82 friends
82 friends
Phillip
5754 books
139 friends
139 friends
Maria
5492 books
404 friends
404 friends
BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)
5442 books
64 friends
64 friends
Saturday's
2238 books
67 friends
67 friends
Edmund
2073 books
7 friends
7 friends
Catherine
1203 books
5 friends
5 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
date
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message 1:
by
BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)
(new)
Apr 01, 2019 11:13AM
Is this the same as (the later) Penguin Essentials?
reply
|
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Booklovinglady wrote: "Is this the same as (the later) Penguin Essentials?"It looks like they're the same to me, but the other one has some newer additions.
Erica wrote: "It looks like they're the same to me, but the other one has some newer additions."Thanks! I noticed it had more books on it than this one but I wasn't sure it was the same.
Anyone can add books to this list.
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