The 100 Best English-Language Novels since 1900

Some friends and I decided to try our hand at making one of those “Top 100 novels” lists. So here is our list of the 100 Best English-Language Novels since 1900. Suggestions welcome.

1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)
2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
3. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)
4. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)
5. The Secret History by Donna Tartt (1992)
6. A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd (1981)
7. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)
9. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006)
10. Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser (1969)
11. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (2001)
12. Heartburn by Nora Ephron (1983)
13. Burr by Gore Vidal (1973)
14. Little Big Man by Thomas Berger (1964)
15. I, Claudius by Robert Graves (1934)
16. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)
17. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
18. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn (1946)
19. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)
20. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (2005)
21. A Mercy by Toni Morrison (2008)
22. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004)
23. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1995)
24. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1972)
25. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (1962)
26. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)
27. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene (1958)
28. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955)
29. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (1940)
30. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (1931)
31. The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa (2003)
32. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (1937)
33. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (1938)
34. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
35. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (2003)
36. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)
37. Doc by Mary Doria Russell (2012)
38. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)
39. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
40. July's People by Nadine Gordimer (1981)
41. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)
42. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962)
43. The Winds of War by Herman Wouk (1971)
44. Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell (1993)
45. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)
46. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1974)
47. Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker (1992)
48. Roots by Alex Haley (1976)
49. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (1911)
50. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (1988)
51. On Gold Mountain by Lisa See (1995)
52. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (1989)
53. Regeneration by Pat Barker (1991)
54. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (1991)
55. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (1987)
56. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (1989)
57. In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje (1987)
58. The Persian Boy by Mary Renault (1988)
59. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
60. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951)
61. The Grass Is Singing by Doris Lessing (1950)
62. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)
63. The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor (1960)
64. King Rat by James Clavell (1962)
65. Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce (1965)
66. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)
67. Grendel by John Gardner (1971)
68. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)
69. Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)
70. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
71. The Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali (1998)
72. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1980)
73. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (2008)
74. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (1999)
75. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
76. Watership Down by Richard Adams (1972)
77. The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat (1998)
78. Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally (1982)
79. The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor (1989)
80. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (2001)
81. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1985)
82. The African Safari Papers by Robert Sedlack (2002)
83. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
84. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1983)
85. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
86. Wild Ginger by Anchee Min (2002)
87. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (2004)
88. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (2005)
89. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2006)
90. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (2008)
91. People of the Deer by Farley Mowat (1952)
92. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)
93. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (2009)
94. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943)
95. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903)
96. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927)
97. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (1997)
98. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (2003)
99. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (1983)
100. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore (2002)

See here for the last twenty touchstones.

Robert

Here are the Touchstones for books 81-100 (the Touchstone system seems to max out and not work if you put more than around 80 in any one posting):

81. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1985)
82. The African Safari Papers by Robert Sedlack (2002)
83. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
84. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1983)
85. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
86. Wild Ginger by Anchee Min (2002)
87. Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (2004)
88. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (2005)
89. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2006)
90. A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (2008)
91. People of the Deer by Farley Mowat (1952)
92. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (1966)
93. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (2009)
94. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943)
95. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903)
96. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927)
97. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling (1997)
98. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (2003)
99. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (1983)
100. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore (2002)