The 25 best books of the 1920s
The 25 highest-ranked books first published in the 1920s 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 36 books of the 1920s in all. How we rank
- 1
A Room of One's Own86.0Must-Read ScoreA Room of One's Own
In 1928, Virginia Woolf gave two lectures on women and fiction at the women's colleges of Cambridge, and turned them into this extended essay.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NonfictionTIME All-TIME 100 NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 2
All Quiet on the Western Front81.0Must-Read ScoreAll Quiet on the Western Front
In 1914, a classroom of idealistic German schoolboys, urged on by their schoolmaster, volunteer for the "glorious war." Paul Bäumer, one of them, tells what follows: the horror of the trenches, the deaths of his friends, and a growing disillusionment that leaves him unable to return to the life he knew.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1929 (Publishers Weekly)BBC's The Big Read - 3
Gypsy Ballads79.2Must-Read ScoreGypsy Ballads
Federico García Lorca's book of eighteen poems, published in 1928, sets the old Spanish ballad form in Andalusia, among the Romani people of the region.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 4
The Age of Innocence79.2Must-Read ScoreThe Age of Innocence
New York, the 1870s.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1921)One of the ten best-selling books of 1921 (Publishers Weekly)Modern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in English - 5
The Great Gatsby78.7Must-Read ScoreThe Great Gatsby
In the summer of 1922 Nick Carraway rents a small house on Long Island next door to the mansion of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire who throws enormous parties.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 30 million copies)One of the ten best-selling books of 2013 (Publishers Weekly)TIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 6
So Big76.8Must-Read ScoreSo Big
In the 1880s, Selina Peake, orphaned and penniless at nineteen, takes a teaching job in a Dutch farming community outside Chicago.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1925)One of the ten best-selling books of 1924 (Publishers Weekly) - 7
The Magic Mountain76.6Must-Read ScoreThe Magic Mountain
Before the First World War, Hans Castorp, a young German engineer, goes to visit his cousin at a tuberculosis sanatorium high in the Swiss Alps, planning to stay three weeks.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 8
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd75.8Must-Read ScoreThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd
In a quiet English village, a wealthy widow dies of an overdose, and a day later the rich Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed in his study.
Why it made the listLe Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 9
Death Comes for the Archbishop73.6Must-Read ScoreDeath Comes for the Archbishop
In 1851, after the United States has taken New Mexico, a French priest named Jean Marie Latour is sent to lead the Catholic Church in the vast, dry territory, with his lifelong friend Father Joseph Vaillant.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 10
The Sound and the Fury72.0Must-Read ScoreThe Sound and the Fury
The Compsons were once a great family in Mississippi, and they are falling apart.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best NovelsBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 1171.4Must-Read Score
The Waste Land - 12
Babbitt71.2Must-Read ScoreBabbitt
George F.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1923 (Publishers Weekly)Guardian 100 Best Novels in English - 13
Siddhartha71.0Must-Read ScoreSiddhartha
Siddhartha, a gifted young man in ancient India, leaves his family to search for enlightenment.
Why it made the listPBS Great American Read - 14
The Bridge of San Luis Rey70.5Must-Read ScoreThe Bridge of San Luis Rey
On July 20, 1714, the finest bridge in Peru, an old rope bridge woven by the Incas, breaks and throws five travelers into the gorge below.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1928)One of the ten best-selling books of 1928 (Publishers Weekly)TIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 15
Goodbye to All That70.1Must-Read ScoreGoodbye to All That
Robert Graves, later the author of I, Claudius, tells his life up to the age of thirty-three: an unhappy time at an English public school, then the First World War, where he served as an officer in the trenches, was wounded so badly at the Somme that his family was told he was dead, and befriended the poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 16
The Sun Also Rises69.9Must-Read ScoreThe Sun Also Rises
In the 1920s, Jake Barnes, an American journalist in Paris, was wounded in the war in a way that leaves him unable to make love.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best NovelsPBS Great American Read - 17
Ulysses69.7Must-Read ScoreUlysses
One ordinary day in Dublin, June 16, 1904.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Guardian 100 Best Novels in English - 18
To the Lighthouse69.2Must-Read ScoreTo the Lighthouse
The Ramsay family and their guests spend summers at a house on the Isle of Skye before the First World War.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best NovelsBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 19
One of Ours68.5Must-Read ScoreOne of Ours
Claude Wheeler is a restless, sensitive young man on a Nebraska farm, unhappy at college, trapped in a cold marriage and sure there must be something more to life.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1923) - 20
The Trial68.2Must-Read ScoreThe Trial
One morning, on his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., a respected bank officer, is arrested in his room.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 21
The Maltese Falcon68.1Must-Read ScoreThe Maltese Falcon
A beautiful woman hires San Francisco private detective Sam Spade and his partner to follow a man.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in English - 22
Mrs. Dalloway67.8Must-Read ScoreMrs. Dalloway
On a June day in 1923, Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of a politician, walks through London buying flowers for the party she's giving that night.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Guardian 100 Best Novels in English - 23
Red Harvest66.7Must-Read ScoreRed Harvest
The Continental Op, a tough, nameless private detective, is called to Personville, a mining town so corrupt it's known as Poisonville.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 Novels - 24
A Passage to India65.8Must-Read ScoreA Passage to India
Adela Quested, a young Englishwoman, and Mrs.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in English - 25
Berlin Alexanderplatz65.3Must-Read ScoreBerlin Alexanderplatz
Franz Biberkopf, a former transport worker, is released from prison in 1920s Berlin determined to live decently.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)
