Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century

Given by Koen Book Distributors

100 Works 2,039,997 Books 35,049 Reviews 4.0

Intended as a companion to the infamous Modern Library ranking of the top 100 books of the past century, this list represents a different viewpoint–that of the booksellers themselves. Compiled from

show more the responses of over 150 Koen Book Distributors customers, the following titles represent the very best in modern literature.
show less
WorkOrder Label
To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee
1
The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger
2
The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
4
Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
5
1984 (1949) by George Orwell
6
Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell
7
The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker
8
Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison
9
The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien
10
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston
11
Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding
12
Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell
13
Stranger in a Strange Land (Uncut Edition) (1991) by Robert A. Heinlein
14
A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole
15
Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison
16
The Handmaid's Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
17
Ulysses (1922) by James Joyce
18
The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway
19
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut
20
The Good Earth (1931) by Pearl S. Buck
21
The Hobbit (1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien
22
On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac
23
Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley
24
Ethan Frome (1911) by Edith Wharton
25
Angela's Ashes (1996) by Frank McCourt
26
Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury
27
Rebecca (1938) by Daphne Du Maurier
28
The Golden Notebook (1962) by Doris Lessing
29
The Sound and the Fury (1929) by William Faulkner
30
Lolita (1955) by Vladimir Nabokov
31
Charlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. White
32
Bastard Out of Carolina (1992) by Dorothy Allison
33
My Ántonia (1918) by Willa Cather
34
The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton
35
The Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara
36
The Shipping News (1993) by E. Annie Proulx
37
The World According to Garp (1978) by John Irving
38
To the Lighthouse (1927) by Virginia Woolf
39
Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand
40
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) by James Joyce
41
The Call of the Wild (1903) by Jack London
42
Snow Falling on Cedars (1997) by David Guterson
43
Watership Down (1972) by Richard Adams
44
The Red Badge of Courage (1894) by Stephen Crane
45
Of Mice and Men (1937) by John Steinbeck
46
The House of the Spirits (1982) by Isabel Allende
47
Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert
48
A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess
49
A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) by John Irving
50
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (1995) by James McBride
51
The Bean Trees (1988) by Barbara Kingsolver
52
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys
53
Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
54
The Old Man and the Sea (1950) by Ernest Hemingway
55
Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright
56
A Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway
57
The House of Mirth (1905) by Edith Wharton
58
Kane and Abel (1979) by Jeffrey Archer
59
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) by Betty Smith
60
A Room with a View (1908) by E. M. Forster
61
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke
62
White Noise (1984) by Don DeLillo
63
A Thousand Acres (1991) by Jane Smiley
64
The Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan
65
Tender is the Night (1934) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
66
Little Women (1868) by Louisa May Alcott
67
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) by Ernest Hemingway
68
Ellen Foster (1987) by Kaye Gibbons
69
Cold Sassy Tree (1984) by Olive Ann Burns
70
The Remains of the Day (1989) by Kazuo Ishiguro
71
War and Remembrance (1978) by Herman Wouk
72
Where the Wild Things Are (1963) by Maurice Sendak
73
Centennial (1974) by James A. Michener
74
Call It Sleep (1934) by Henry Roth
75
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) by Hunter S. Thompson
76
The Road from Coorain (1989) by Jill Ker Conway
77
Sula (1973) by Toni Morrison
78
The Stand (1978) by Stephen King
79
Time and Again (1970) by Jack Finney
80
The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath
81
The Fountainhead (1943) by Ayn Rand
82
The Godfather (1969) by Mario Puzo
83
Howards End (1910) by E. M. Forster
84
Naked Lunch (1962) by William S. Burroughs
85
The Thorn Birds (1977) by Colleen McCullough
86
Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson
87
The Alienist (1994) by Caleb Carr
88
Talk Before Sleep (1997) by Elizabeth Berg
89
The Shell Seekers (1987) by Rosamunde Pilcher
90
Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) by Rita Mae Brown
91
Rabbit, Run (1960) by John Updike
92
The Prince of Tides (1986) by Pat Conroy
93
Possession (1990) by A. S. Byatt
94
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey
95
Main Street (1920) by Sinclair Lewis
96
I, Claudius (1934) by Robert Graves
97
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1993) by Louis De Bernières
98
Hawaii (1959) by James A. Michener
99
The Education of Little Tree (1976) by Forrest Carter
100

Tags

1001(4,928) 1001 books(5,308) 20th century(16,038) adventure(4,269) America(3,278) American(11,218) American fiction(3,069) American literature(18,398) animals(3,211) British(4,584) British literature(4,606) children's(3,275) classic(39,156) classic literature(4,467) classics(37,600) coming of age(3,852) dystopia(13,442) dystopian(3,715) ebook(4,536) England(3,640) English(4,197) English literature(4,958) family(4,113) fantasy(25,794) favorite(3,335) favorites(5,816) fiction(185,324) goodreads(4,663) historical fiction(13,213) Kindle(3,666) literary fiction(3,222) literature(28,293) memoir(3,571) non-fiction(3,390) novel(31,046) own(8,623) owned(4,215) paperback(4,419) politics(3,439) read(24,488) Roman(4,214) romance(6,382) satire(4,434) science fiction(30,637) to-read(66,308) Tolkien(4,281) unread(6,709) usa(5,368) war(4,476) wwii(4,393)

Top Members

e-zReader (92 works), sandrikoti (92), erohwedd (90), mick745 (90), PaulCranswick (90), Clio12 (89), AntT (88), GrettelTBR (88), cctesttc1 (86), Keelz09 (86), SleepySheep (86), Anietzerck (85), biblio99 (85), erinalbion (85), piano3646 (85), stephmo (85), Themis-Athena (85), tootstorm (85), alaskabookworm (84), Cassabass (84), weird_O (84), absurdeist (83), Chandna_Agarwal (83), ELiz_M (83), EmilyD1037 (83), shvizdos (83), azulaco (82), Councillor3004 (82), ericandsue (82), Mz.Balma (82), SeriousGrace (82), aimg (81), Castlelass (81), jasbro (81), ljhliesl (81), mediterraneobcn (81), SandraBrower (81), Yells (81), bookworm12 (80), boookywooky (80), Dorritt (80), drmom62 (80), mattorsara (80), phoebekw (80), steevohenderson (80), dawnlovesbooks (79), FurfuralAndVanillin (79), Hillside_Library (79), Pages_Aplenty (79), rdurie (79), RLNunezKPL (79), Schmerguls (79), Smiler69 (79), wademlee (79), beckyrenner (78), davidabrams (78), hemlokgang (78), jarvenpa (78), Kaethe (78), Phaer1 (78), saeccher (78), thatguyzero (78), Connie-D (77), Jimbookbuff1963 (77), Kristelh (77), mr._sammy (77), tstan (77), agille37 (76), angelrose (76), emleemay (76), EmScape (76), Floyd3345 (76), hazzabamboo (76), kcnjamie (76), parasolofdoom (76), Patient (76), emaestra (75), Estragon1958 (75), FlaglerBeachLibrary (75), KelMunger (75), maryhollis (75), michaelg16 (75), pdubya62 (75), Berly (74), clairefun (74), ednasilrak (74), eppp (74), Katie_H (74), kristincedar (74), sibylline (74), alo1224 (73), andael (73), inunonaizo (73), OperaMan_22 (73), ShanLand (73), SuzyK222 (73), TigerBeast79 (73), tyrosine (73), aprille (72), charlottem (72), dharmalita (72), Dureo (72), JennysBookBag.com (72), jfurshong (72), kamintra (72), KrisR (72), SpareOom (72), sprainedbrain (72), StanleyBalsky (72), SwatiRavi (72), Tom.Schneitter (72), weber93 (72), AmanteLibros (71), AmieB7 (71), Buchvogel (71), buriedinprint (71), daisyq (71), DeltaQueen50 (71), DrFuriosa (71), griffinel (71), harrietlouise (71), JVioland (71), leesh_rowly (71), littlebear514 (71), MAR67 (71), pinklady60 (71), rmckeown (71), smithtm (71), Valdon (71), Ashley_Hoss_820 (70), billytoast (70), booksandwine (70), DonaldPowell (70), GSLulos (70), PamelaReads (70), Robert_Musil (70), SCPeterson (70), soffitta1 (70), aylin1 (69), bluelittlegirl (69), caitief (69), cataloga (69), dehaansg (69), eatsnacksreadbooks (69), georgebexley (69), HeatherMoss (69), JBarringer (69), Jwagensveld98 (69), KarenRice (69), Kimberlyhi (69), KJRoeth (69), leslie.98 (69), LindaLeeJacobs (69), llibresantjoan (69), night_owl13 (69), RaggedyMandy (69), Serrana (69), skavlanj (69), Spoto-Media (69), SudolTerri (69), SusanJT (69), emrsalgado (68), Espey1 (68), ifjuly (68), jaeminuf (68), marxones (68), Robert.Zimmermann (68), tmhicken (68), Tom.Shubrook (68), wm3395 (68), Yardape (68)