In an effort to avoid the usual "Flavor of the Month" feel that "Best Ever" lists take on, this list may only include books that were originally published prior to 1950.
1

by
3.93 avg rating — 5,939,407 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,825,158 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,332,014 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,469,433 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,055,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.20 avg rating — 5,493,034 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,023,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,197,679 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,890,998 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,338,995 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.53 avg rating — 238,312 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,258,250 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.20 avg rating — 4,205,527 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.02 avg rating — 4,577,557 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.13 avg rating — 216,459 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,300,199 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.21 avg rating — 845,567 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,300,402 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.03 avg rating — 997,262 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,088,000 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.88 avg rating — 1,014,742 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
3.91 avg rating — 238,035 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.51 avg rating — 217,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.76 avg rating — 302,437 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
3.99 avg rating — 2,084,765 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.08 avg rating — 880,713 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.91 avg rating — 306,322 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.39 avg rating — 388,840 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.24 avg rating — 73,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,028,276 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,083,814 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.17 avg rating — 406,734 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
3.80 avg rating — 876,224 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.06 avg rating — 610,736 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,421 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.44 avg rating — 922,123 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.15 avg rating — 780,239 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
3.50 avg rating — 348,566 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.93 avg rating — 511,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.94 avg rating — 579,912 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,469,722 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.89 avg rating — 437,859 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.44 avg rating — 644,001 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,117,418 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,829,221 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,624,821 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.84 avg rating — 303,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,412,333 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.11 avg rating — 522,000 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.57 avg rating — 617,567 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.02 avg rating — 114,428 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.92 avg rating — 9,983 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.19 avg rating — 78,568 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.20 avg rating — 735,826 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.45 avg rating — 319,438 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.10 avg rating — 935,119 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.71 avg rating — 219,913 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.17 avg rating — 366,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.81 avg rating — 133,315 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.91 avg rating — 145,803 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
3.78 avg rating — 227,979 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.94 avg rating — 574,092 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.28 avg rating — 352,055 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.05 avg rating — 987,108 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.76 avg rating — 138,207 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.06 avg rating — 259,014 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.08 avg rating — 159,865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.12 avg rating — 46,162 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.10 avg rating — 347,518 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.14 avg rating — 389,626 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
4.03 avg rating — 206,881 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
4.29 avg rating — 183,028 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.01 avg rating — 261,117 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.03 avg rating — 82,032 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.99 avg rating — 319,060 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.87 avg rating — 115,836 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.27 avg rating — 3,667 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
4.15 avg rating — 183,828 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.04 avg rating — 179,743 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.02 avg rating — 219,580 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
3.70 avg rating — 102,402 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.31 avg rating — 14,596 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.81 avg rating — 89,230 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.89 avg rating — 202,201 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.68 avg rating — 177,565 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
3.94 avg rating — 397,719 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.90 avg rating — 2,847,128 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.92 avg rating — 39,535 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.03 avg rating — 396,926 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 513,562 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.75 avg rating — 119,528 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
3.86 avg rating — 196,505 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.01 avg rating — 55,767 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.59 avg rating — 17,867 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
3.82 avg rating — 354,882 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,021,520 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
3.81 avg rating — 215,720 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.19 avg rating — 32,214 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.96 avg rating — 95,036 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.04 avg rating — 259,389 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Ben 1082 books
70 friends
Alessandra 2196 books
62 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
851 friends
Thom 6022 books
294 friends
Autumn 1804 books
202 friends
Lazarus 3594 books
406 friends
Bettie 15679 books
19 friends
Denise 4591 books
97 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Do you want me to remove "The Death of Ivan Ilych," Ben? It's reading -1 voters.


message 2: by Ben (new)

Ben Susanna wrote: "Do you want me to remove "The Death of Ivan Ilych," Ben? It's reading -1 voters."

Very strange. I removed it. Thanks for letting me know.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Don't know why that happened, but it does happen occasionally.


message 4: by Capsguy (new)

Capsguy Whoa, I pretty much exclusively read books written prior to 1950.


message 5: by [deleted user] (new)

The Watchmen and The 13 Clocks removed. Both excellent, neither published prior to 1950.


message 6: by Susan (new)

Susan Sutton Editing problems- 214 is a contemporary YA sci-fi book. Monster Men is at 287 and 369 (we all love Edgar, but really,,,). Lists Swann's Way and In Search of lost Time separately. Is the German translation of 20,000 Leagues appreciably better than an English one? Perhaps a list of best 200 books from 1900-1950 would be more useful and manageable. We all know about Dickens already.


back to top



Related News

As you might expect, we are book people here at Goodreads World Headquarters—rather intense book people, actually. And when the holidays roll...

Anyone can add books to this list.