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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 — 5,817,365 ratings
score: 551,
and
6 people voted
|
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| 2 |
|
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 761,640 ratings
score: 485,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 3 |
|
Invisible Man
by
3.92 avg rating — 200,529 ratings
score: 483,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 4 |
|
Tender Is The Night
by
3.77 avg rating — 148,427 ratings
score: 440,
and
5 people voted
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| 5 |
|
Dubliners
by
3.84 avg rating — 172,972 ratings
score: 418,
and
5 people voted
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| 6 |
|
The Man in the High Castle
by
3.59 avg rating — 232,571 ratings
score: 406,
and
5 people voted
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| 7 |
|
Lolita
by
3.87 avg rating — 932,637 ratings
score: 392,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 8 |
|
A Room with a View
by
3.89 avg rating — 199,872 ratings
score: 379,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 9 |
|
The Day of the Triffids
by
4.01 avg rating — 116,433 ratings
score: 376,
and
5 people voted
|
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| 10 |
|
Breakfast at Tiffany's
by
3.85 avg rating — 249,622 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 10 |
|
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by
4.04 avg rating — 542,052 ratings
score: 370,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 12 |
|
The Thin Man
by
3.90 avg rating — 37,858 ratings
score: 368,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 13 |
|
On the Road
by
3.61 avg rating — 443,830 ratings
score: 349,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 14 |
|
Cold Comfort Farm
by
3.88 avg rating — 54,498 ratings
score: 346,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 15 |
|
Hideous Kinky
by
3.52 avg rating — 4,113 ratings
score: 345,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 16 |
|
The Diary of a Nobody
by
3.68 avg rating — 17,903 ratings
score: 344,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 17 |
|
The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)
by
3.94 avg rating — 166,695 ratings
score: 341,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 18 |
|
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by
3.70 avg rating — 60,277 ratings
score: 334,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 19 |
|
Wide Sargasso Sea
by
3.59 avg rating — 105,275 ratings
score: 323,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 20 |
|
Steppenwolf
by
4.13 avg rating — 211,146 ratings
score: 319,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 21 |
|
Brideshead Revisited
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 125,358 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 — 79,325 ratings
score: 308,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 23 |
|
Lucky Jim
by
3.75 avg rating — 31,823 ratings
score: 303,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 24 |
|
Love in the Time of Cholera
by
3.94 avg rating — 541,684 ratings
score: 302,
and
4 people voted
|
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| 25 |
|
A Passage to India
by
3.67 avg rating — 85,195 ratings
score: 277,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 26 |
|
Mrs. Dalloway
by
3.78 avg rating — 349,620 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 — 62,803 ratings
score: 258,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 28 |
|
In the Country of Men
by
3.75 avg rating — 7,497 ratings
score: 245,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 29 |
|
Cat's Cradle
by
4.15 avg rating — 432,830 ratings
score: 240,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 30 |
|
I'm the King of the Castle
by
3.49 avg rating — 3,723 ratings
score: 238,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 31 |
|
A Handful of Dust
by
3.89 avg rating — 28,648 ratings
score: 236,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 32 |
|
A Kestrel for a Knave
by
4.07 avg rating — 7,898 ratings
score: 230,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 33 |
|
Regeneration
by
4.02 avg rating — 33,394 ratings
score: 225,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 34 |
|
Out of Africa
by
Isak Dinesen (Pseudonym)
3.91 avg rating — 47,567 ratings
score: 223,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 35 |
|
Heart of Darkness
by
3.43 avg rating — 552,287 ratings
score: 221,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 36 |
|
In Cold Blood
by
4.09 avg rating — 719,992 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 — 183,370 ratings
score: 214,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 38 |
|
Moon Tiger
by
3.91 avg rating — 18,790 ratings
score: 184,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 39 |
|
A Month in the Country
by
4.09 avg rating — 25,953 ratings
score: 176,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 40 |
|
Bonjour Tristesse
by
3.74 avg rating — 70,608 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 40 |
|
Billy Liar
by
3.71 avg rating — 2,267 ratings
score: 166,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 42 |
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
by
3.89 avg rating — 294,978 ratings
score: 162,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 43 |
|
The History of Love
by
3.92 avg rating — 140,080 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 — 58,549 ratings
score: 157,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 45 |
|
Goodbye to All That
by
3.93 avg rating — 15,442 ratings
score: 152,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 46 |
|
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by
3.50 avg rating — 136,429 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 — 124,573 ratings
score: 144,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 48 |
|
The Millstone
by
3.90 avg rating — 3,939 ratings
score: 129,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 49 |
|
Foe
by
3.41 avg rating — 12,389 ratings
score: 128,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 50 |
|
Junky
by
3.84 avg rating — 70,719 ratings
score: 123,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 51 |
|
Embers
by
3.99 avg rating — 42,789 ratings
score: 113,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 52 |
|
The Help
by
Kathryn Stockett (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 2,989,210 ratings
score: 108,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 53 |
|
Asylum
by
3.97 avg rating — 40,307 ratings
score: 91,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 54 |
|
Hell's Angels
by
3.98 avg rating — 54,249 ratings
score: 82,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 55 |
|
The Mosquito Coast
by
3.81 avg rating — 13,799 ratings
score: 76,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 56 |
|
An Ice-cream War
by
3.92 avg rating — 4,482 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 — 12,973 ratings
score: 55,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 58 |
|
The Periodic Table
by
4.14 avg rating — 19,099 ratings
score: 48,
and
1 person voted
|
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| 59 |
|
How Many Miles to Babylon?
by
3.64 avg rating — 2,105 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
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
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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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