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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 — 5,825,651 ratings
score: 551,
and
6 people voted
|
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| 2 |
|
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 762,626 ratings
score: 485,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 3 |
|
Invisible Man
by
3.92 avg rating — 200,683 ratings
score: 483,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 4 |
|
Tender Is The Night
by
3.77 avg rating — 148,561 ratings
score: 440,
and
5 people voted
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| 5 |
|
Dubliners
by
3.84 avg rating — 173,340 ratings
score: 418,
and
5 people voted
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| 6 |
|
The Man in the High Castle
by
3.59 avg rating — 232,878 ratings
score: 406,
and
5 people voted
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| 7 |
|
Lolita
by
3.87 avg rating — 934,051 ratings
score: 392,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 8 |
|
A Room with a View
by
3.89 avg rating — 200,104 ratings
score: 379,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 9 |
|
The Day of the Triffids
by
4.01 avg rating — 116,554 ratings
score: 376,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 10 |
|
Breakfast at Tiffany's
by
3.85 avg rating — 249,807 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 10 |
|
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by
4.04 avg rating — 543,318 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 12 |
|
The Thin Man
by
3.90 avg rating — 37,898 ratings
score: 368,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 13 |
|
On the Road
by
3.61 avg rating — 444,300 ratings
score: 349,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 14 |
|
Cold Comfort Farm
by
3.88 avg rating — 54,563 ratings
score: 346,
and
4 people voted
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| 15 |
|
Hideous Kinky
by
3.53 avg rating — 4,121 ratings
score: 345,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 16 |
|
The Diary of a Nobody
by
3.69 avg rating — 17,926 ratings
score: 344,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 17 |
|
The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)
by
3.94 avg rating — 166,903 ratings
score: 341,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 18 |
|
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by
3.70 avg rating — 60,383 ratings
score: 334,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 19 |
|
Wide Sargasso Sea
by
3.59 avg rating — 105,484 ratings
score: 323,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 20 |
|
Steppenwolf
by
4.13 avg rating — 211,824 ratings
score: 319,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 21 |
|
Brideshead Revisited
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 125,519 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 — 79,405 ratings
score: 308,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 23 |
|
Lucky Jim
by
3.75 avg rating — 31,850 ratings
score: 303,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 24 |
|
Love in the Time of Cholera
by
3.94 avg rating — 542,249 ratings
score: 302,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 25 |
|
A Passage to India
by
3.67 avg rating — 85,282 ratings
score: 277,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 26 |
|
Mrs. Dalloway
by
3.78 avg rating — 350,543 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 — 62,900 ratings
score: 258,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 28 |
|
In the Country of Men
by
3.75 avg rating — 7,511 ratings
score: 245,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 29 |
|
Cat's Cradle
by
4.15 avg rating — 433,283 ratings
score: 240,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 30 |
|
I'm the King of the Castle
by
3.49 avg rating — 3,725 ratings
score: 238,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 31 |
|
A Handful of Dust
by
3.89 avg rating — 28,678 ratings
score: 236,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 32 |
|
A Kestrel for a Knave
by
4.07 avg rating — 7,919 ratings
score: 230,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 33 |
|
Regeneration
by
4.02 avg rating — 33,445 ratings
score: 225,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 34 |
|
Out of Africa
by
Isak Dinesen (Pseudonym)
3.91 avg rating — 47,616 ratings
score: 223,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 35 |
|
Heart of Darkness
by
3.43 avg rating — 552,960 ratings
score: 221,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 36 |
|
In Cold Blood
by
4.09 avg rating — 721,051 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 — 183,424 ratings
score: 214,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 38 |
|
Moon Tiger
by
3.91 avg rating — 18,832 ratings
score: 184,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 39 |
|
A Month in the Country
by
4.09 avg rating — 26,169 ratings
score: 176,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 40 |
|
Bonjour Tristesse
by
3.74 avg rating — 70,867 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 40 |
|
Billy Liar
by
3.71 avg rating — 2,270 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 42 |
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
by
3.89 avg rating — 295,319 ratings
score: 162,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 43 |
|
The History of Love
by
3.92 avg rating — 140,143 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 — 58,609 ratings
score: 157,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 45 |
|
Goodbye to All That
by
3.93 avg rating — 15,461 ratings
score: 152,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 46 |
|
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by
3.50 avg rating — 136,587 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 — 124,796 ratings
score: 144,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 48 |
|
The Millstone
by
3.90 avg rating — 3,947 ratings
score: 129,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 49 |
|
Foe
by
3.41 avg rating — 12,403 ratings
score: 128,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 50 |
|
Junky
by
3.84 avg rating — 70,783 ratings
score: 123,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 51 |
|
Embers
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 42,943 ratings
score: 113,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 52 |
|
The Help
by
Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 2,991,598 ratings
score: 108,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 53 |
|
Asylum
by
3.97 avg rating — 40,448 ratings
score: 91,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 54 |
|
Hell's Angels
by
3.98 avg rating — 54,300 ratings
score: 82,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 55 |
|
The Mosquito Coast
by
3.81 avg rating — 13,809 ratings
score: 76,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 56 |
|
An Ice-cream War
by
3.92 avg rating — 4,489 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 — 12,991 ratings
score: 55,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 58 |
|
The Periodic Table
by
4.14 avg rating — 19,130 ratings
score: 48,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 59 |
|
How Many Miles to Babylon?
by
3.64 avg rating — 2,110 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
10684 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
1205 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?
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|
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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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