2026 Reading Challenge

Listopia > 1940 Book Lists

1984 by George OrwellAnimal Farm by George OrwellThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryThe Stranger by Albert Camus
Best Books of the Decade: 1940s
819 books — 1,143 voters
The Book Thief by Markus ZusakCode Name Verity by Elizabeth WeinBetween Shades of Gray by Ruta SepetysSalt to the Sea by Ruta SepetysRose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
YA Fiction set in the 1940s
237 books — 159 voters

Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnA Man Called Ove by Fredrik BackmanHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. RowlingMatilda by Roald DahlEleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
52 Book Club 2024: #29 Published In A Year Of The Dragon
318 books — 126 voters
1984 by George OrwellSpace Cadet by Robert A. HeinleinOrphans of the Sky by Robert A. HeinleinEarth Abides by George R. StewartAnimal Farm by George Orwell
Classic Science Fiction - 1940-1949
91 books — 121 voters

The Rose Code by Kate QuinnThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Nightingale by Kristin HannahAll the Light We Cannot See by Anthony DoerrThe Book Thief by Markus Zusak
52 Book Club 2025: #50 Set in the 1940's (Includes WWII)
172 books — 92 voters
Number the Stars by Lois LowryThe War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker BradleyThe Hundred Dresses by Eleanor EstesSomeone Named Eva by Joan M. WolfLily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
Middle Grade Fiction set in the 1940s
385 books — 80 voters

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskeyPippi Longstocking by Astrid LindgrenLittle Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls WilderCurious George by H.A. ReyThese Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Best Children's Books of the 1940s
232 books — 63 voters
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. LewisFarmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. TolkienAnimal Farm by George OrwellStuart Little by E.B. WhiteThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Best Fantasy of the 40s
47 books — 50 voters

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest HemingwayThe Long Winter by Laura Ingalls WilderPat the Bunny by Dorothy KunhardtEvil Under the Sun by Agatha ChristieHorton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
Best books 1940
51 books — 33 voters
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper LeeBreathe by Sara FujimuraBreakfast at Tiffany's by Truman CapoteAnd Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Fetch Your White Gloves, and Swing to Jazz. Vintage and Vintage-esque Reads
62 books — 33 voters

A Winter Away by Elizabeth FairMrs. Tim Carries On by D.E. StevensonThe Lark by E. NesbitBramton Wick by Elizabeth FairSpam Tomorrow by Verily Anderson
Furrowed Middlebrow
95 books — 32 voters
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond ChandlerFor Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest HemingwayPat the Bunny by Dorothy KunhardtSad Cypress by Agatha ChristieDarkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
Best of 1940
48 books — 30 voters

They Called Us Enemy by George TakeiWeedflower by Cynthia KadohataThe Fences Between Us by Kirby LarsonDisplacement by Kiku HughesUnder the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Japanese American Internment in YA & Middle Grade Fiction
56 books — 26 voters
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid LindgrenThe Little White Horse by Elizabeth GoudgeThe Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du BoisThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryMrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
Children's Fantasy of the 1940s
38 books — 25 voters

The Let Them Theory by Mel RobbinsThe Wedding People by Alison EspachHere One Moment by Liane MoriartyEverything Is Tuberculosis by John GreenAll the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
2025: What PEOPLE born BEFORE 1970 Have Read So Far
335 books — 23 voters
The Emperor by Robert ReidHeaven Official's Blessing by Mò Xiāng Tóng XiùYumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon SandersonThe Sword of Kaigen by M.L. WangThe Burning God by R.F. Kuang
Great American Songbook
193 books — 18 voters

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Time of the Assassins by Henry MillerWest with the Night by Beryl MarkhamI Rode With Stonewall by Henry Kyd DouglasThe Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir
Non-Fiction Published in Decade: 1940s
92 books — 11 voters
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty SmithThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckForever Amber by Kathleen WinsorFather of the Bride by Edward StreeterHungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
1940s Bestselling novels in the United States
138 books — 6 voters

Practically Seventeen by Rosamond du JardinDreams of Glory by Janet LambertFriday's Child by Janet LambertStar Spangled Summer by Janet LambertBeany Malone by Lenora Mattingly Weber
Teen Romance of the 1940s
16 books — 5 voters
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankGod Passes by by Shoghi EffendiThe Life of Johnny Reb by Bell Irvin WileyThe Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L. StarkeyMythology by Edith Hamilton
History Published in Decade: 1940s
24 books — 5 voters

How Not to Die by Michael GregerTinkers by Paul HardingFamous Once by Jane GreenAnything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
2026: What PEOPLE born BEFORE 1970 have read so far
4 books — 3 voters
Fog Magic by Julia L. SauerThe Moonlight Traveler by Philip van Doren SternBorrobil by William Croft DickinsonBedknob and Broomstick by Mary NortonDream Gold by David Severn
Children's Time Travel Fiction of the 1940s
10 books — 2 voters

Mother Goose by Joseph HirschRide a cock-horse and other nursery rhymes by Mervyn PeakeAnimal Mother Goose by Ruth E. NewtonRuth Newton's Mother Goose by Ruth E NewtonNursery Rhymes by Louise Altson
Nursery Rhyme Collections of the 1940s
10 books — 2 voters
The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda TateThe Wartime Book Club by Kate ThompsonIndependence by Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniThe Three Lives of Alix St Pierre by Natasha LesterWhere the Wandering Ends by Yvette Manessis Corporon
BCE #23 Set in the 1940's
70 books — 2 voters

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard ThurmanBlack Gods of the Metropolis by Arthur Huff Fauset
Christian Religion Published by African-Americans in Decade: 1940s
2 books — 1 voter

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