The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerAtlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Best Books of the Decade: 1950s
1,180 books — 1,506 voters
1984 by George OrwellAnimal Farm by George OrwellDeath of a Salesman by Arthur MillerBrideshead Revisited by Evelyn WaughFor Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Best Books of the Decade: 1940s
830 books — 1,143 voters

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. TolkienBrave New World by Aldous HuxleyAs I Lay Dying by William FaulknerTender Is the Night by F. Scott FitzgeraldLight in August by William Faulkner
Best Books of the Decade: 1930s
903 books — 1,252 voters
The Metamorphosis by Franz KafkaA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James JoyceMy Ántonia by Willa CatherThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems by T.S. EliotThe American Language by H.L. Mencken
Best Books of the Decade: 1910s
530 books — 773 voters

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldAll Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueThis Side of Paradise by F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Best Books of the Decade: 1920s
766 books — 1,134 voters