The 20 best books of the 1900s
The 20 highest-ranked books first published in the 1900s in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 20 books of the 1900s in all. How we rank
- 1
Anne of Green Gables84.0Must-Read ScoreAnne of Green Gables
Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, an aging brother and sister on Prince Edward Island, send for an orphan boy to help on their farm, and instead get Anne Shirley: a talkative, red-haired, imaginative eleven-year-old girl with a gift for drama and getting into scrapes.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 50 million copies)PBS Great American ReadBBC's The Big Read - 2
The Source80.9Must-Read ScoreThe Source
At an archaeological dig at Tell Makor, an ancient mound in the Galilee, a team led by an American Catholic archaeologist and an Israeli colleague excavates layer after layer of a city that was settled for thousands of years.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (41 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1965 (Publishers Weekly) - 379.9Must-Read Score
The Souls of Black Folk - 4
Buddenbrooks77.5Must-Read ScoreBuddenbrooks
Four generations of the Buddenbrooks, a wealthy merchant family in the German port city of Lübeck, from the 1830s to the 1870s.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 5
The Hound of the Baskervilles76.9Must-Read ScoreThe Hound of the Baskervilles
Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his estate on the bleak moors of Devon, his face twisted in terror, and near his body are the footprints of a gigantic hound.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1902 (Publishers Weekly)BBC's The Big ReadLe Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 6
Martin Eden76.4Must-Read ScoreMartin Eden
Martin Eden is a rough young sailor in Oakland when he meets Ruth Morse, a refined university woman, and falls for her and her world.
Why it made the listLe Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 774.6Must-Read Score
Up From Slavery - 8
The Secret Garden74.4Must-Read ScoreThe Secret Garden
Mary Lennox is a sour, spoiled ten-year-old when her parents die in a cholera outbreak in India and she is sent to live with her gloomy uncle at Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire moors.
Why it made the listBBC's The Big Read - 9
An American Tragedy73.0Must-Read ScoreAn American Tragedy
Clyde Griffiths, the restless son of poor street preachers in Kansas City, wants money, status and beautiful things.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 10
The House of Mirth72.8Must-Read ScoreThe House of Mirth
Lily Bart is twenty-nine, beautiful and charming, but she has no money of her own in the glittering high society of 1900s New York.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1905 and 1906 (Publishers Weekly)Modern Library 100 Best Novels - 11
The Varieties of Religious Experience72.8Must-Read ScoreThe Varieties of Religious Experience
In lectures given in Scotland in 1901 and 1902, the psychologist William James studied religion not as doctrine but as experience: conversions, mystical visions, saintliness, prayer, and the difference between 'healthy-minded' people who feel the world is good and 'sick souls' who must be reborn.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 12
The Call of the Wild72.6Must-Read ScoreThe Call of the Wild
Buck, a big, pampered dog living on a judge's estate in California, is stolen and sold to work as a sled dog in the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsPBS Great American ReadGuardian 100 Best Novels in English - 13
The Forsyte Saga69.9Must-Read ScoreThe Forsyte Saga
John Galsworthy's trilogy follows three generations of the Forsytes, a wealthy upper-middle-class London family, from the late Victorian era into the 1920s.
Why it made the listBBC's The Big Read - 14
Nostromo65.8Must-Read ScoreNostromo
In Costaguana, an imaginary South American republic, the San Tomé silver mine owned by an Englishman, Charles Gould, is the most valuable thing in the country.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 15
A Room with a View65.5Must-Read ScoreA Room with a View
Lucy Honeychurch, a sheltered young Englishwoman, visits Florence with her fussy older cousin.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best Novels - 16
Sister Carrie64.7Must-Read ScoreSister Carrie
In 1889, eighteen-year-old Caroline Meeber leaves her small Wisconsin town for Chicago, hungry for pretty things and a better life.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in English - 17
Kim64.2Must-Read ScoreKim
Kim is an orphan of an Irish soldier, growing up as a street boy in Lahore, in British India, at home in many languages and religions.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in EnglishBBC's The Big Read - 18
The Golden Bowl63.1Must-Read ScoreThe Golden Bowl
Adam Verver, an immensely rich American art collector living in Europe, and his devoted daughter Maggie are inseparable.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in English - 19
The Jungle60.3Must-Read ScoreThe Jungle
Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, arrives in Chicago with his family, hoping for the American dream.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1906 (Publishers Weekly) - 20
The Wings of the Dove59.7Must-Read ScoreThe Wings of the Dove
Kate Croy and Merton Densher, a journalist, are secretly engaged in London, but neither has money.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best Novels
