Skip to main content

The Guardian's 100 greatest novels of all time

Description: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/12/features.fiction

Rank Title Author Added

1

43,932 members

567 reviews

4.1

10 Members: oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, linnzsue, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

2

by Mary Shelley

50,937 members

813 reviews

3.8

10 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

3

The Woman in White

by Wilkie Collins

14,516 members

374 reviews

4

10 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, cej1027, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

4

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Brontë

61,849 members

810 reviews

3.9

10 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

5

To Kill a Mockingbird

89,720 members

1,557 reviews

½ 4.4

10 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

6

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll

32,421 members

534 reviews

4

10 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

7

by Charlotte Brontë

67,768 members

1,016 reviews

4.2

10 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

8

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

82,668 members

1,301 reviews

3.8

10 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

9

The Annotated Huckleberry Finn

359 members

2 reviews

½ 4.7

9 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

10

Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe

28,931 members

360 reviews

½ 3.6

8 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

11

The Picture of Dorian Gray

46,993 members

749 reviews

4

9 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

12

A Passage to India

by E. M. Forster

13,922 members

167 reviews

3.8

9 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

13

Nineteen Eighty-Four

by George Orwell

93,986 members

1,449 reviews

4.2

9 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

14

by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

35,737 members

531 reviews

4.1

6 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, ManWithAnAgenda

15

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

61,331 members

867 reviews

3.9

9 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

16

by Raymond Chandler

11,472 members

314 reviews

4

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda

17

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

by Robert Louis Stevenson

19,657 members

367 reviews

½ 3.7

8 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

18

by William Makepeace Thackeray

16,352 members

201 reviews

3.9

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda

19

The Scarlet Letter

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

41,662 members

417 reviews

½ 3.4

8 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

20

by Gustave Flaubert

29,721 members

426 reviews

½ 3.7

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, NinieB, Cubanana, steller0707

21

Northern Lights

by Philip Pullman

40,045 members

791 reviews

4.1

7 Members: oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

22

The Thirty-Nine Steps

5,971 members

205 reviews

½ 3.5

7 Members: aprille, oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana

23

The Lord of the Rings

by J. R. R. Tolkien

56,862 members

496 reviews

½ 4.5

7 Members: oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

24

The Call of the Wild

22,751 members

345 reviews

3.8

8 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

25

The Catcher in the Rye

by J. D. Salinger

76,982 members

1,195 reviews

3.8

8 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

26

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

by Henry Fielding

8,985 members

104 reviews

3.9

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda

27

Gulliver's Travels [Dover Thrift Editions]

by Jonathan Swift

411 members

6 reviews

½ 3.5

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda

28

The Wind in the Willows

by Kenneth Grahame

27,690 members

365 reviews

4.1

7 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

29

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

by Muriel Spark

5,860 members

189 reviews

½ 3.7

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, steller0707

30

by Albert Camus

21,021 members

282 reviews

3.9

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

31

by Virginia Woolf

23,199 members

376 reviews

3.8

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, ahef1963, leslie.98, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

32

Little Women & Good Wives

by Louisa May Alcott

19,035 members

216 reviews

4.1

6 Members: oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB

33

43,931 members

695 reviews

4.1

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana, steller0707

34

David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens

24,071 members

324 reviews

4.1

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB

35

by Joseph Heller

44,248 members

578 reviews

4.1

6 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, leslie.98, Cubanana

36

Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

56,732 members

811 reviews

½ 3.7

7 Members: oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana

37

The New York Trilogy

10,809 members

174 reviews

3.9

7 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

38

Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard

by Joseph Conrad

5,311 members

70 reviews

3.8

6 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98

39

The Quiet American

by Graham Greene

8,702 members

206 reviews

4

5 Members: aprille, oleonard, ahef1963, leslie.98, ManWithAnAgenda

40

23,234 members

347 reviews

4.1

6 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, rretzler, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

41

Things Fall Apart

by Chinua Achebe

23,306 members

459 reviews

3.8

6 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

42

by Herman Melville

41,591 members

619 reviews

3.8

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda

43

Charlotte's Web

41,361 members

1,069 reviews

4.2

6 Members: oleonard, rretzler, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, steller0707

44

The Pilgrim's Progress

20,361 members

197 reviews

½ 3.7

4 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda

45

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

by Italo Calvino

14,218 members

283 reviews

4

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, ahef1963, leslie.98, Cubanana, steller0707

46

Clarissa; or, The History of a Young Lady

by Samuel Richardson

1,592 members

29 reviews

½ 3.5

5 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, ahef1963, leslie.98

47

27,395 members

375 reviews

4

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98

48

The Good Soldier

by Ford Madox Ford

5,329 members

122 reviews

3.8

5 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98

49

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

by Laurence Sterne

8,552 members

125 reviews

3.9

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, ahef1963, leslie.98, ManWithAnAgenda

50

by Vladimir Nabokov

35,184 members

633 reviews

4.1

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98, Cubanana, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

51

Jude the Obscure

by Thomas Hardy

11,218 members

157 reviews

3.9

6 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana

52

Oscar and Lucinda

4,479 members

73 reviews

3.8

5 Members: oleonard, bryanjstephenson, gypsysmom, leslie.98, NinieB

53

Les Liaisons Dangereuses

by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

7,327 members

106 reviews

4.1

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, Cubanana

54

The Brothers Karamazov

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

34,352 members

393 reviews

½ 4.4

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98, Cubanana, steller0707

55

5,693 members

68 reviews

½ 3.7

5 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98, Cubanana

56

The Diary of a Nobody

by George Grossmith

3,603 members

100 reviews

½ 3.7

5 Members: oleonard, ahef1963, leslie.98, NinieB, Cubanana

57

Three Men in a Boat

by Jerome K. Jerome

8,645 members

327 reviews

3.9

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, steller0707

58

In Search of Lost Time

by Marcel Proust

4,351 members

50 reviews

½ 4.6

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98

59

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

30,719 members

493 reviews

½ 4.3

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, Cubanana

60

22,840 members

267 reviews

4

4 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

61

Song of Solomon

by Toni Morrison

12,532 members

137 reviews

4

5 Members: hipdeep, oleonard, gypsysmom, leslie.98, steller0707

62

The Portrait of a Lady [Norton Critical Edition]

458 members

4 reviews

4.2

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98, NinieB, ManWithAnAgenda

63

by John Dos Passos

1,709 members

14 reviews

4

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98

64

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

49,585 members

779 reviews

4.2

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, NinieB

65

by Marilynne Robinson

7,068 members

235 reviews

3.9

5 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98, steller0707

66

by Jack Kerouac

30,614 members

423 reviews

½ 3.6

5 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98, Cubanana

67

The Pursuit of Love

by Nancy Mitford

2,131 members

84 reviews

3.9

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98, steller0707

68

The Way We Live Now

by Anthony Trollope

3,203 members

64 reviews

4.2

4 Members: oleonard, leslie.98, NinieB, steller0707

69

Waiting for the barbarians

by J. M. Coetzee

4,880 members

83 reviews

4

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom

70

A Bend in the River

by V. S. Naipaul

3,471 members

59 reviews

½ 3.7

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, gypsysmom, leslie.98

71

The Bottle Factory Outing

by Beryl Bainbridge

598 members

23 reviews

½ 3.3

4 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98, steller0707

72

by Günter Grass

8,390 members

104 reviews

4

4 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom, leslie.98

73

Nightmare Abbey

by Thomas Love Peacock

484 members

15 reviews

½ 3.4

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98

74

28,726 members

663 reviews

3.9

4 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, ahef1963, leslie.98

75

Journey to the End of the Night

by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

6,868 members

86 reviews

4.2

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner

76

Sybil, or The Two Nations

by Benjamin Disraeli

837 members

6 reviews

3.1

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98

77

The Riddle of the Sands

by Erskine Childers

2,877 members

71 reviews

½ 3.6

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98

78

The Periodic Table

4,498 members

73 reviews

4.2

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, thecoroner

79

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

by Elizabeth Taylor

1,513 members

68 reviews

4.1

2 Members: oleonard, -Pia-

80

by D. H. Lawrence

4,650 members

54 reviews

½ 3.7

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98

81

by William Faulkner

16,852 members

238 reviews

3.9

3 Members: oleonard, leslie.98, steller0707

82

by Kingsley Amis

6,387 members

161 reviews

½ 3.7

3 Members: oleonard, ahef1963, leslie.98

83

by George Eliot

4,180 members

61 reviews

3.9

3 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, leslie.98

84

by Angela Carter

2,084 members

46 reviews

4

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98

85

Money: A Suicide Note

3,582 members

59 reviews

½ 3.6

3 Members: aprille, oleonard, leslie.98

86

American Pastoral

8,869 members

188 reviews

3.9

3 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, gypsysmom

87

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

by John le Carré

9,727 members

253 reviews

4

3 Members: oleonard, gypsysmom, leslie.98

88

by W. G. Sebald

4,780 members

117 reviews

4.1

3 Members: oleonard, thecoroner, leslie.98

89

The Black Sheep

by Honoré de Balzac

732 members

13 reviews

3.9

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

90

The Charterhouse of Parma

4,947 members

82 reviews

½ 3.7

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

91

by Evelyn Waugh

4,218 members

93 reviews

3.8

2 Members: oleonard, leslie.98

92

by Samuel Beckett

976 members

21 reviews

3.8

2 Members: oleonard, leslie.98

93

Men Without Women

by Ernest Hemingway

1,841 members

30 reviews

½ 3.6

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

94

The Executioner's Song

by Norman Mailer

3,188 members

50 reviews

4

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

95

by Flannery O'Connor

4,368 members

124 reviews

3.8

2 Members: oleonard, steller0707

96

by Alasdair Gray

2,377 members

41 reviews

4

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

97

An Artist of the Floating World

by Kazuo Ishiguro

4,395 members

115 reviews

3.8

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

98

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

by Milan Kundera

6,632 members

65 reviews

3.9

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

99

L. A. Confidential

by James Ellroy

3,700 members

41 reviews

4.1

2 Members: aprille, oleonard

100

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

by Salman Rushdie

5,421 members

95 reviews

4

Member: oleonard

About This List

Started: oleonard
March 2017
Type: Numbered, Adding restricted

Related Lists

Literature About Social Class

The 150 Greatest Novels of All Time

Works with inappropriate subject headings on LibraryThing

Western World's Greatest Books - Project Gutenberg

Lamont's Hundred Best Novels (1947)

Very Long Novels

Current Discussions

None

Related Tags

1001 books (5,488) 19th century (12,416) 20th century (10,591) adventure (5,434) American (5,299) American literature (9,282) British (7,939) British literature (8,450) classic (44,278) classic literature (5,774) classics (47,178) dystopia (7,339) England (6,888) English literature (9,450) fantasy (19,352) fiction (168,334) historical fiction (6,367) literature (34,260) novel (32,433) own (6,711) read (19,511) romance (7,162) science fiction (11,751) to-read (66,960) unread (6,462)

Verdana Standard Verdana Small The Lorax System Standard System Large Georgia Large Text Atkinson