Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book
Sign in with Facebook
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 |
|
The Great Gatsby
by
3.93 avg rating — 5,817,601 ratings
score: 551,
and
6 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 2 |
|
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 761,666 ratings
score: 485,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 3 |
|
Invisible Man
by
3.92 avg rating — 200,532 ratings
score: 483,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 4 |
|
Tender Is The Night
by
3.77 avg rating — 148,431 ratings
score: 440,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 5 |
|
Dubliners
by
3.84 avg rating — 172,987 ratings
score: 418,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 6 |
|
The Man in the High Castle
by
3.59 avg rating — 232,579 ratings
score: 406,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 7 |
|
Lolita
by
3.87 avg rating — 932,687 ratings
score: 392,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 8 |
|
A Room with a View
by
3.89 avg rating — 199,885 ratings
score: 379,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 9 |
|
The Day of the Triffids
by
4.01 avg rating — 116,438 ratings
score: 376,
and
5 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 10 |
|
Breakfast at Tiffany's
by
3.85 avg rating — 249,627 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 10 |
|
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by
4.04 avg rating — 542,100 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 12 |
|
The Thin Man
by
3.90 avg rating — 37,856 ratings
score: 368,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 13 |
|
On the Road
by
3.61 avg rating — 443,850 ratings
score: 349,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 14 |
|
Cold Comfort Farm
by
3.88 avg rating — 54,499 ratings
score: 346,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 15 |
|
Hideous Kinky
by
3.52 avg rating — 4,113 ratings
score: 345,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 16 |
|
The Diary of a Nobody
by
3.68 avg rating — 17,905 ratings
score: 344,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 17 |
|
The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)
by
3.94 avg rating — 166,702 ratings
score: 341,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 18 |
|
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by
3.70 avg rating — 60,279 ratings
score: 334,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 19 |
|
Wide Sargasso Sea
by
3.59 avg rating — 105,283 ratings
score: 323,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 20 |
|
Steppenwolf
by
4.13 avg rating — 211,167 ratings
score: 319,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 21 |
|
Brideshead Revisited
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 125,361 ratings
score: 318,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 22 |
|
Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog
by
3.83 avg rating — 79,330 ratings
score: 308,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 23 |
|
Lucky Jim
by
3.75 avg rating — 31,823 ratings
score: 303,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 24 |
|
Love in the Time of Cholera
by
3.94 avg rating — 541,706 ratings
score: 302,
and
4 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 25 |
|
A Passage to India
by
3.67 avg rating — 85,201 ratings
score: 277,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 26 |
|
Mrs. Dalloway
by
3.78 avg rating — 349,650 ratings
score: 264,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 27 |
|
My Family and Other Animals (Corfu Trilogy, #1)
by
4.17 avg rating — 62,805 ratings
score: 258,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 28 |
|
In the Country of Men
by
3.75 avg rating — 7,499 ratings
score: 245,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 29 |
|
Cat's Cradle
by
4.15 avg rating — 432,847 ratings
score: 240,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 30 |
|
I'm the King of the Castle
by
3.49 avg rating — 3,723 ratings
score: 238,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 31 |
|
A Handful of Dust
by
3.89 avg rating — 28,650 ratings
score: 236,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 32 |
|
A Kestrel for a Knave
by
4.07 avg rating — 7,898 ratings
score: 230,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 33 |
|
Regeneration
by
4.02 avg rating — 33,395 ratings
score: 225,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 34 |
|
Out of Africa
by
Isak Dinesen (Pseudonym)
3.91 avg rating — 47,571 ratings
score: 223,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 35 |
|
Heart of Darkness
by
3.43 avg rating — 552,311 ratings
score: 221,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 36 |
|
In Cold Blood
by
4.09 avg rating — 720,020 ratings
score: 218,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 37 |
|
Everything is Illuminated
by
Jonathan Safran Foer (Goodreads Author)
3.89 avg rating — 183,369 ratings
score: 214,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 38 |
|
Moon Tiger
by
3.91 avg rating — 18,794 ratings
score: 184,
and
3 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 39 |
|
A Month in the Country
by
4.09 avg rating — 25,963 ratings
score: 176,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 40 |
|
Bonjour Tristesse
by
3.74 avg rating — 70,621 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 40 |
|
Billy Liar
by
3.71 avg rating — 2,267 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 42 |
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
by
3.89 avg rating — 294,994 ratings
score: 162,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 43 |
|
The History of Love
by
3.92 avg rating — 140,081 ratings
score: 161,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 44 |
|
Eva Luna
by
Isabel Allende (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 58,553 ratings
score: 157,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 45 |
|
Goodbye to All That
by
3.93 avg rating — 15,443 ratings
score: 152,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 46 |
|
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by
3.50 avg rating — 136,438 ratings
score: 149,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 47 |
|
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
by
4.09 avg rating — 124,588 ratings
score: 144,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 48 |
|
The Millstone
by
3.90 avg rating — 3,940 ratings
score: 129,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 49 |
|
Foe
by
3.41 avg rating — 12,390 ratings
score: 128,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 50 |
|
Junky
by
3.84 avg rating — 70,724 ratings
score: 123,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 51 |
|
Embers
by
3.99 avg rating — 42,794 ratings
score: 113,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 52 |
|
The Help
by
Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 2,989,293 ratings
score: 108,
and
2 people voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 53 |
|
Asylum
by
3.97 avg rating — 40,311 ratings
score: 91,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 54 |
|
Hell's Angels
by
3.98 avg rating — 54,249 ratings
score: 82,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 55 |
|
The Mosquito Coast
by
3.81 avg rating — 13,800 ratings
score: 76,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 56 |
|
An Ice-cream War
by
3.92 avg rating — 4,482 ratings
score: 69,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 57 |
|
What a Carve Up!
by
Jonathan Coe (Goodreads Author)
4.11 avg rating — 12,974 ratings
score: 55,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 58 |
|
The Periodic Table
by
4.14 avg rating — 19,099 ratings
score: 48,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
| 59 |
|
How Many Miles to Babylon?
by
3.64 avg rating — 2,105 ratings
score: 45,
and
1 person voted
|
Error rating book. Refresh and try again.
Rate this book
Clear rating
|
59 books ·
10 voters ·
list created May 25th, 2016
by Not Well Read (votes) .
Not Well Read
3552 books
98 friends
98 friends
Sue
10677 books
82 friends
82 friends
Phillip
5754 books
139 friends
139 friends
Maria
5489 books
404 friends
404 friends
BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)
5442 books
64 friends
64 friends
Saturday's
2237 books
67 friends
67 friends
Edmund
2052 books
7 friends
7 friends
Catherine
1203 books
5 friends
5 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...)
(new)
Apr 01, 2019 11:13AM
Is this the same as (the later) Penguin Essentials?
reply
|
flag
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.
How to Vote
To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.
To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.
