Apropos of nothing, I decided to put together a list of a book I’d recommend for every year of the 20th century. Because, why not! And also, I’m musing over doing A Century of Books again next year, and it’s good to throw out some suggestions now in case anybody fancies joining me. I tried not to repeat authors, but there were some years where I couldn’t manage without a bit of repetition. I’m grateful to Elizabeth von Arnim for the first decade of the century.
As I decided to do this, I had a vague memory of having done it before… and, yes, I compiled a list back in 2011. I’m going to make my new list without looking back at that one – and when I’m done, I’ll see how much crossover there is.
So, here are 100 books I think are great from 1900-1999! (I’m going by the dates in my LibraryThing catalogue, so if you spot any discrepancies, let me know and I’ll sub something else in.)
1900: Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome
1901: The Benefactress by Elizabeth von Arnim
1902: The Red House by E. Nesbit
1903: Oxford by Edward Thomas
1904: The Canon in Residence by V.L. Whitechurch
1905: Lovers in London by A.A. Milne
1906: The Man of Property by John Galsworthy
1907: Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim
1908: Crossriggs by Jane and Mary Findlater
1909: The Caravanners by Elizabeth von Arnim
1910: Howards End by E.M. Forster
1911: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1912: The Unbearable Bassington by Saki
1913: Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil G. Brinton
1914: The Three Sisters by May Sinclair
1915: Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs
1916: Further Foolishness by Stephen Leacock
1917: Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
1918: Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
1919: Poor Relations by Compton Mackenzie
1920: Tension by E.M. Delafield
1921: Dangerous Ages by Rose Macaulay
1922: The Heir by Vita Sackville-West
1923: A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
1924: The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
1925: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
1926: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
1927: The Love-Child by Edith Olivier
1928: War Among Ladies by Eleanor Scott
1929: Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott
1930: Miss Mole by E.H. Young
1931: The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson
1932: Economy Must Be Our Watchword by Joyce Dennys
1933: Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge
1934: A Pin To See The Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse
1935: Mr Pim Passes By by A.A. Milne
1936: Greengates by R.C. Sherriff
1937: They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
1938: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
1939: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
1940: Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
1941: The Empty Room by Charles Morgan
1942: One Year’s Time by Angela Milne
1943: O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith
1944: Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp
1945: Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts
1946: Miss Ranskill Comes Home by Barbara Euphan Todd
1947: One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
1948: The Foolish Gentlewoman by Margery Sharp
1949: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
1950: Murder Included by Joanna Cannan
1951: Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols
1952: The Equations of Love by Ethel Wilson
1953: Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
1954: Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
1955: Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett
1956: Tea at Four O’Clock by Janet McNeill
1957: A House in the Country by Ruth Adam
1958: The Lost Europeans by Emanuel Litvinoff
1959: The Unspeakable Skipton by Pamela Hansford Johnson
1960: The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
1961: Told in Winter by Jon Godden
1962: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
1963: A Day in Summer by J.L. Carr
1964: The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor
1965: The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
1966: A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
1967: At The Jerusalem by Paul Bailey
1968: A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
1969: Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene
1970: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
1971: The Home by Penelope Mortimer
1972: The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
1973: In the Springtime of the Year by Susan Hill
1974: The Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne
1975: Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
1976: The Doctor’s Wife by Brian Moore
1977: The House By The Sea by May Sarton
1978: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
1979: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
1980: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
1981: Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession by Janet Malcolm
1982: The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson
1983: Heartburn by Nora Ephron
1984: The Only Problem by Muriel Spark
1985: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
1986: Family Skeletons by Henrietta Garnett
1987: Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
1988: Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale
1989: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
1990: Temples of Delight by Barbara Trapido
1991: Wise Children by Angela Carter
1992: The Devil’s Candy by Julie Salamon
1993: Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
1994: Follow Your Heart by Susanna Tamaro
1995: Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham
1996: Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
1997: The Year of Reading Proust by Phyllis Rose
1998: Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
1999: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Now that my list is complete, how many overlaps did I have with my list from 15 years ago? By a rough count, I make it 21 (including Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead, which I attributed to the wrong year last time). I think that is still a good list, but I’m more pleased with this one – it doesn’t rely so heavily in the later century on books about the earlier century!
How many of my hundred have you read?
Where is Anthony Powell?–could be 12 books.
If you start listing the books I haven’t included, I can confirm there are rather more than 100!
I have read 24 and many more are not only on my TBR but will shortly be joining my TBR as I always like your recommendations. I would never have found Margery Sharp had it not been for Tea Or Books. Eternally grateful
Ah what a lovely comment! I was so delighted to hear Cluny Brown chosen on Radio 4’s A Good Read recently.
Oddly enough I’ve just listened to that! Harriette Gilbert made such a good case for the book, I thought, and unusually didn’t give most of the plot away!
30 – I’m really surprised! I somehow expected it to be fewer.
I think 32, so a lot of catching up to do.
68 treats in store!
I think I’ve read around 40 of them. It did cross my mind though how different in tone ‘1984’ is to many of the other choices on your list! I just recently read ‘Turtle Diary’ and loved it; I couldn’t believe how different it was from ‘Riddley Walker’, which is the only other book by him I’ve read!
That’s an interesting point! I think my only criterion was ‘goods I think are good’, but they lean towards a type. And yes, I’ve only read two Hoban novels, and Linger Awhile could scarcely be more different from Turtle Diary.
24 – which is better than I thought I’d do at first (most fall in the second half of the century!). There’s so many books I have been intrigued by or planned to read that I could probably reach 50 if we made it how many books exist on your internal reading map of the universe, hah. I will make a note of this list – it’s full of good stuff and I’m very impressed. I don’t think I could do this – all my reading would end up in clumps!
Haha, our internal reading map of the universe, precisely that! I definitely had a lot more options in 1920s-1950s to choose from. Would love to see any list you did make!
Intriguing and exciting list. Thank you! I’ve only read 27 of these titles, but just put 12 on my TBR.
Oh wonderful! I wonder which grabbed your attention?
The Benefactress
The Caravanners
Sally in the Rocks
Tension
Lolly Willowes
War Among Ladie
O, the Brave Music
Lady Living Alone
The Equations of Love
Tea at Four O’Clock
The Unspeakable Skifton
The Optimist’s Daughter
Flesh and Blood
This is from Beverly! Thanks again.
Am reading Regime Change by Maggie Haberman. Brilliant but depressing.
I suppose I love all the ones on the original list, but seeing these still made my heart sing!
33 for me. My focus at university was American lit, so a lot of my reading isn’t British. Lately, I’ve been enjoying Canadian writers. And I have barely dipped a toe into Australian and Kiwi lit. So many books, so little time left!
What a fun idea!
Sorry to say this list is a bit anglo-centric, which is why I haven’t read most of the books listed. (Only 12)
Did you purposely focus on English-speaking lit?
I guess I focused on my own reading tastes/habits, and I read about 95% books in English – it’s definitely a very personal list, rather than an objective one.
I am definitely in a Canadian binge at the moment, though not many of those on the list yet.
Around 27 from me (but I can never be sure…) – what an interesting list!!
Thanks Karen!
Great idea for a post; you might even persuade me to join you in a century of books next time.
43 I think (I have a feeling a couple might have been DNFs (me or my mood not a reflection on your choice I’m sure as being the first blogger I discovered I have many many books to thank you for your inspiration to read). I also have several others in one of my tbrs so this is a prompt to read more and/or shuffle the heaps!
Unlike Litlov, I have more in the second half of the century. After the sixties revolution for fiction I find I must choose more carefully.
A list with three von Arnims (even without Enchanted April since she was in competition with Vita Sackville West) is a wonderful list! Thank you!
I finally finished my current Car Book yesterday – 1936: Greengates by R.C. Sherriff – thank goodness for Persephone Books!
It’s a long book and it took me a long time because at most I was able to read 3 or 4 pages at a time, since I kept it in the car and only read it waiting for someone or in an office waiting for an appointment.
I thought you might have a few of them on Mount TBR!
34 thanks to the British Library Women Writers, Persephone, your recommendations in general
Ah lovely, thanks Barbara!
How many have i read? A dismal 11 – all of them from after 1925. I clearly have some catching up o do.
Think of it as 89 treats waiting for you!
I’ve just discovered your blog (googling smth about Barbara Trapido) – we clearly share the same tastes in books so I am delighted to find some more ideas for the tbr pile- I’ve bought 84 Charing Cross Rd by chance last week!
Not sure of all my list but it would def include I Capture the Castle 1948 and The Pursuit of Love 1945 and I think Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont would take 1971; I feel sure you’ve enjoyed those too?.
Welcome, Tessa! I’m so glad to have you here – and yes indeed, I love all three of those novels! I Capture the Castle should probably have been on my list – too many good options.
Great list, congrats!
I have read only 10, and one planned for next October!
I plan to do a similar list. I started it, need to take time to finish it
Oo I look forward to seeing your list.
Pedanticism ahead: You should really go from 1901-2000. Those are the years of the twentieth century. The rule is that n00 is the last year of the nth century. This is because there is no year zero in our conventional calendars.
Good point! Well, I’ll throw in The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart for 2000.
This is fun, especially to compare against your original list! I’ve read 38 of these (and DNFed a handful of others). The only weakness of this list is that there is no Wodehouse! What did Psmith do to fall from favour from one list to the next?
I hope this lures new participants to do ACOB next year!
That is such a good point – Wodehouse kept being an almost-choice for many years, but I was conscious of trying to use each author only once, if I could, so was saving him. And that meant he someone never made it!
I have read only 27 of them … shame on me but have jotted down the names of a few I shall search for & order as soon as I have sent this.
Excellent! Let me know if it leads you onto any fun reading experiences.
I thought I had posted … I have read only 27 of them but have written down the names of a few that I will looking for when next at abe books / Heffers in town.
25 or thereabouts. What a fascinating list, I’ve made lots of notes of books to look out for. The most recent of these I’ve read was The Canon in Residence which is a gem. This list has also sent me searching the house for Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther…I know they’re here somewhere! Thanks Simon for a lot of fun.
Oh I’m glad someone else has read The Canon in Residence! I hadn’t remembered it being quite so early. I’ve read one or two more by him that weren’t quite as good, but he is really fun.
Great list Simon! Sadly I’ve only read 35 but there are 7 listed which I have in the TBR so I’m delighted to have some wonderful reads ahead.
Ah excellent! Hope they creep up the pile.
What a gift! Thank you, Simon. It’s also quite an eclectic list: Miss Mole and 1984 on the same list.
I’ve read only 18 so I need to get reading. I am reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle right now and find it brilliant!
Oh isn’t it wonderful! I love her gothic-inspired fiction that isn’t too scary.
A great list, but “a century of brilliant English language books”, I take it – apart from 3, 4 titles? I still cannot believe I haven’t read any Elizabeth von Arnim. I wanted to read The Enchanted April and Father, but after your list, I am so tempted by The Caravaners and The Benefactress, too. Great to see on your list Cather’s A Lost Lady. Such a great novel, and I want everyone to read it.
Oh, I’d be more specific than that – ‘a century of books that Simon loves’ is probably a better title, as it definitely lays no claim to being objective or global. I would say that Father is the best of those options, but had other competition for this list – somewhere, I did a blog post ranking the books I’ve read by her. And yes, A Lost Lady is so brilliant in such a short space.
Having just put publication dates on all my Librarything entries, I’ve done my own top 100.
1900: Sister Carrie (Theodore Dreiser)
1901: Buddenbrooks (Thomas Mann)
1902:Anna of 5 Towns (Arnold Bennett)
1903: The Murderess (Alexandria Papadiamantis)
1904:-
1905: The House of Mirth (Edith Wharton)
1906:The Prodigy (Herman Hesse)
1907: Frl Schmidt and Mr Anstruthet (Elizabeth von Arbil)
1908: The Old Wives’ Tale (Arnold Bennett)
1909:-
1910: The Getting of Wisdom (Henry Handel Richardson)
——-
1911: Margaret Ogilvie (JM Barrie)
1912: Alexander’s Bridge (Willa Cather)
1913:The third Miss Symons (FM Mayor). Or Le Grand Meaulnes (H Alain Fournier)
1914 : The Pastor’s Wife (Elizabeth von Arnim)
1915: The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin (PD Ouspensky)
1916: Bunner Sisters (Edith Wharton)
1917:The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney (Henry Handel Richardson)
1918: My Antonia (Willa Cather)
1919: Mary Olivier: a Life (May Sinclair)
1920: Hungry Hearts: (Anna Yezierska)
———
1921:Vera (Elizabeth von Arnim)
1922: Harriet Frean (May Sinclair)
1923: Riceyman Steps (Arnold Bennett)
1924: The Matriarch (Gladys Stern) with a nod too to Augustus Carp (HH Bashforth)
1925: An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser)
1926: Alberta and Jacob (Cora Sandal)
1927:Death comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather)
1928:All Quiet on the W Front (Erich Remarque)
1929:Pather Panchali (B Bandopadhyay)
1930: Miss Mole (EH Young)
———-
1931: Susan Spray (S Kaye Smith)
1932: Radetzky March (Joseph Roth)
1933: The Gowk Storm (Nancy Bryson Morrison)
1934:Burmese Days (George Orwell)
1935: A Simple Story ((SY Agnon)
1936:Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
1937: They Came like Swallows (WM Maxwell)
1938:Princes in the Land (Joanna Cannan)
1939: Beware of Pity (Stefan Zweig)
1940: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
———
1941: The Land of Spices (Kate O Brien)
1942:The 7th Cross (Anna Seghers)
1943: The Makioka Sisters (Junichiro Tanazaki)
1944: The Great Divorce (CS Lewis)
1945: Bridge over the Drina (Ivo Andric)
1946: Independent People (Halldor Laxness) or Miss Ranskill Comes Home (Barbara Euphan Todd)
1947: One Fine Day (Mollie Panter Downes)
1948: Time will Darken it (WM Maxwell)
1949: Khirbet Khizeh (S Yizhar)
1950:Portrait of a Turkish Family (Orga)
———
I’ve read 14.5 of your first 50, and so lots to explore! Alberta and Jacob (Cora Sandal) particularly intrigues me.
1951: Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) or Ballad of the Sad Cafe (Carson McCullers)
1952: Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
1953: Adventures of Augie March (Saul Bellow)
1954: The Flint Anchor (S Townsend Warner)
1955: A Good Man is Hard to Find (Flannery O Connor)
1956: The Fountain Overflows (Rebecca West) or Palace Walk (Mahfouz)
1957: A Death in the Family (James Agee)
1958: Alfred and Guinevere (James Schuyler)
1959: Mrs Bridge (Evan S Connell )
1960: We Think the World of You (JR Ackerley)
———-
1961 : A House for Mr Biswas (Naipaul) or Clock Without Hands (Carson McCullers)
1962. We have always lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson)
1963: The Centaur (John Updike)
1964: The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
1965: Stoner (John Williams)
1966: Silence (Sushaku Endo)
1967. A Garden of Earthly Delights (JC Oates)
1968: Couples (John Updike) or Cancer Ward (Solzhenitsyn)
1969: In this House of Brede (Rumer Godden)
1970: 5th Business (Robertson Davies)
——-
1971: Wonderland (JC Oates)
1972: Harriet Said (Beryl Bainbridge)
1973:: The Chip Chip Gatherers (Shiva Naipaul)
1974: :The Little Town where Time stood Still (B Hrabal)
1975: In the Beginning (Chaim Potok)
1976: Darkness casts no Shadows (Arnost Lustig)
1977: Quartet in Autumn (Barbara Pym)
1978: What’s for Dinner? (James Schuyler)
1979: So long, see you tomorrow (WM Maxwell(
1980:A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
————
1981: The Book of Ebenezer le Page (GB Edward’s)
1982: A Pale View of Hills (K Ishiguro)
1983: Crisis of Conscience (Raymond Franz)
1984: This Real Life (Rebecca West)
1985: Love in the Time of Cholera (G Marquez)
1986: An Artist of the Floating World (K Ishiguro)
1987: Beloved (Toni Morrison)
1988: Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey)
1989: A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving).
1990: Possession (AS Byatt)
——
1991: Cloudstreet (Tim Winton)
1992: The Enigrants (WG Sebald)
1993: The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
1994: The Lost Heart of Asia (Colin Thubron)
1995: A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
1996: A Debt to Pleasure (John Lanchester) or Alias Grace ( Margaret Atwood)
1997: Voices of Chernobyl (S Alexeivich)
1998: The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
1999: No Great Mischief (Alastair Macleod)
Can I just say: thanks so much for your blog. Just this year I’ve read two by Solvej Balle and got a book by Magnus Mills on order – all courtesy to your suggestions! Xx:
Definitely recommend the Alberta trilogy… -and best book this year so far was Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead”
This is such a good and fun idea Simon! I’m copying so I have it for reference (as I do your 50 books list). A good point about not having so many of the later books relying on the past for story, I do like books to have a sense of their own time – The Home is great for that, and also One Afternoon by Sian James 1975 (Persephone)
Speaking of Persephone titles, I can report that I have read more of them (70, all sitting on two dedicated shelves of my library) than the books on Simon’s list. I love reading everyone’s lists as I don’t want to miss anything.
Excellent, thank you! And I haven’t read One Afternoon yet, but have heard such good things.
I can count a paltry 18 that I’ve read and I think seven of those were recommendations from you. There are many here though that have been sitting on my to-read list for ages and now you’ve added even more to that list. I think I’m most interested in A House in the Country by Ruth Adam and A Day in Summer by J.L. Carr. This is a really fun list. Thanks for it!
Thanks Dominika! Carr is mostly known for A Month in the Country, but I think A Day in Summer is fascinating – quite dark, and very thought-provoking.
I’ve read 39 of these which leaves me a lot to explore!
A good total!
Great list, Simon. I’ve read a fair few. Loved Guard Your Daughters!
Thanks Nicola!
9, could be 10 but I can’t remember how far through the Galsworthy books I got.
A thought-provoking post and a devilish thing to do to my wishlist!
That is the first Forsyte Saga book, so you can probably claim 10!
What a great list, Simon – I’ve read 32, which still gives me a lot of scope for discovering new favourites.
It’s lovely to see The Caravanners, One Fine Day, and The Bookshop here, alongside other 20th-century gems!
Thanks Jacqui! It was really fun to put together
49 for me, but what a wonderful list! I STILL haven’t finished my original century of books I started in 2014!!!
Oo I think 49 is the highest so far! And ha, Liz, maybe 2026 is the year to finish ACOB finally :D