The 25 best books of the 1930s
The 25 highest-ranked books first published in the 1930s 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 41 books of the 1930s in all. How we rank
- 1
Gone with the Wind94.6Must-Read ScoreGone with the Wind
It's 1861 in north Georgia, and sixteen-year-old Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled, scheming belle of the plantation Tara, cares about nothing but the man she can't have, Ashley Wilkes.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1937)One of the best-selling books ever (about 30 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (33 weeks at #1)TIME All-TIME 100 Novels - 2
How to Win Friends and Influence People89.7Must-Read ScoreHow to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie's 1936 guide to getting along with people is built on a few simple, practical principles: show genuine interest in others, remember their names, listen more than you talk, let people save face, and never criticize when you can encourage instead.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 37 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (32 weeks at #1)TIME All-TIME 100 NonfictionGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 3
I, Claudius86.3Must-Read ScoreI, Claudius
Claudius, a stammering, limping, scholarly member of Rome's imperial family whom everyone dismisses as a fool, narrates the history of his family from the reign of Augustus through Tiberius and the mad Caligula.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)TIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 4
The Grapes of Wrath85.5Must-Read ScoreThe Grapes of Wrath
When the Dust Bowl and the banks drive them off their Oklahoma farm in the 1930s, the Joad family, newly paroled Tom Joad, his determined mother, his grandparents and the rest, pile everything onto a truck and head west on Route 66 toward the promise of work in California.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1940)#1 New York Times bestseller (24 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1939 and 1940 (Publishers Weekly)TIME All-TIME 100 Novels - 5
Rebecca84.1Must-Read ScoreRebecca
A shy, unnamed young woman working as a paid companion in Monte Carlo meets Maxim de Winter, a wealthy, brooding widower, and within weeks she's his wife and the mistress of Manderley, his grand estate in Cornwall.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 30 million copies)#1 New York Times bestseller (9 weeks at #1)PBS Great American ReadBBC's The Big Read - 6
The Hobbit82.8Must-Read ScoreThe Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins is a comfortable, respectable hobbit who wants nothing more than his armchair and his pantry.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 100 million copies)BBC's The Big Read - 7
Out of Africa82.3Must-Read ScoreOut of Africa
Karen Blixen, writing as Isak Dinesen, ran a coffee farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills in Kenya from 1914 to 1931.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NonfictionTIME All-TIME 100 Nonfiction - 8
And Then There Were None82.0Must-Read ScoreAnd Then There Were None
Ten strangers are invited to a mansion on an isolated island off the coast of Devon by a host none of them has met.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 100 million copies)PBS Great American Read - 9
Homage to Catalonia79.1Must-Read ScoreHomage to Catalonia
In late 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to report on the civil war and joined a militia fighting Franco instead.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NonfictionTIME All-TIME 100 Nonfiction - 10
Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman77.9Must-Read ScoreMarie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman
Marie Antoinette was fourteen when she left Austria to marry the future Louis XVI of France.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (15 weeks at #1) - 11
The Man Without Qualities77.7Must-Read ScoreThe Man Without Qualities
In Vienna in 1913, on the eve of the First World War, Ulrich, a thirty-two-year-old mathematician and former soldier, decides to take a year off from life.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 12
Absalom, Absalom!77.6Must-Read ScoreAbsalom, Absalom!
In 1833, Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi, with nothing and sets out to build a dynasty: a plantation, a mansion and a family.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 13
Brave New World77.0Must-Read ScoreBrave New World
In the World State, six hundred years in the future, babies are grown in bottles and conditioned for their place in society, from the brilliant Alphas to the dull Epsilons.
Why it made the listModern Library 100 Best NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in EnglishBBC's The Big Read - 14
How Green Was My Valley74.8Must-Read ScoreHow Green Was My Valley
Huw Morgan, about to leave his home valley in South Wales forever, remembers his childhood there in the late 1800s, when it was green and the coal mines made men proud.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (13 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1940 (Publishers Weekly) - 15
Lust for Life74.6Must-Read ScoreLust for Life
Irving Stone's novel about Vincent van Gogh, drawn from his letters to his brother Theo.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 25 million copies) - 16
Journey to the End of the Night74.4Must-Read ScoreJourney to the End of the Night
Ferdinand Bardamu, a cynical, largely autobiographical antihero, travels from the trenches of the First World War to colonial Africa, to New York and the Ford factory in Detroit, and back to a medical practice in the Paris slums.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books)Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 17
Independent People74.1Must-Read ScoreIndependent People
Bjartur of Summerhouses has worked eighteen years as a servant to buy a piece of barren land in the Icelandic highlands, and now he's a free man, an independent sheep farmer who owes nothing to anyone.
Why it made the listBokklubben World Library (100 greatest books) - 18
The Road Back74.1Must-Read ScoreThe Road Back
The First World War is over, and Ernst and the few surviving men of his company come home to Germany.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 1931 (Publishers Weekly) - 19
The Good Earth72.8Must-Read ScoreThe Good Earth
Wang Lung, a poor farmer in rural China, marries O-lan, a slave from the great house in town, and together they work the land through drought, famine, revolution and, eventually, wealth.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1932)#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1931 and 1932 (Publishers Weekly) - 20
The Big Sleep72.6Must-Read ScoreThe Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe, a Los Angeles private detective, is hired by a dying millionaire, General Sternwood, to deal with someone blackmailing his wild younger daughter, Carmen.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsGuardian 100 Best Novels in EnglishLe Monde's 100 Books of the Century - 21
Light in August72.4Must-Read ScoreLight in August
Lena Grove, young, pregnant and unmarried, walks from Alabama to Jefferson, Mississippi, looking for the man who got her pregnant.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsModern Library 100 Best Novels - 22
Their Eyes Were Watching God72.3Must-Read ScoreTheir Eyes Were Watching God
Janie Crawford comes back to her small Florida town alone, and the townspeople gossip about what happened to her.
Why it made the listTIME All-TIME 100 NovelsPBS Great American Read - 23
Testament of Youth: One Woman's Haunting Record of the First World War72.0Must-Read ScoreTestament of Youth: One Woman's Haunting Record of the First World War
In 1914 Vera Brittain had fought her family to win a place at Oxford.
Why it made the listGuardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time - 24
Theatre70.5Must-Read ScoreTheatre
Julia Lambert is the greatest actress on the London stage, married to her handsome manager, and at forty-six she's grown a little bored.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (5 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1937 (Publishers Weekly) - 25
Murder on the Orient Express70.1Must-Read ScoreMurder on the Orient Express
Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in the mountains of the Balkans.
