Animal Farm by George OrwellLord of the Flies by William Golding
Must Read Classics
1,880 books — 4,669 voters
Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville
Best Literary Fiction
1,549 books — 1,336 voters

Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville
Best Books of the 19th Century
1,711 books — 6,884 voters
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century
102 books — 483 voters

Fight Club by Chuck PalahniukAngela’s Ashes by Frank McCourtHigh Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Best Books of the Decade: 1990s
3,140 books — 3,678 voters

The Firm by Robin Waterfield
Thrillers You Must Read!
4,857 books — 6,792 voters
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Best Books of 1995
431 books — 191 voters

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Best Plays Ever
856 books — 1,132 voters

The Stories of John Cheever by John CheeverWinesburg, Ohio by Sherwood AndersonNine Stories by J.D. SalingerThe Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest HemingwayCathedral by Raymond Carver
Collections of Short Stories
2,896 books — 2,041 voters
Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman MelvilleThe Grapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Great American Novel
672 books — 1,090 voters

Siddhartha by Hermann HesseAnimal Farm by George OrwellThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerEast of Eden by John SteinbeckAngela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Best Books of the 20th Century
7,899 books — 49,786 voters
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonThe Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Best Non-Fiction (no biographies)
6,241 books — 8,068 voters

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourtIn Cold Blood by Truman CapoteA Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonA Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Must Read Non-Fiction
5,276 books — 4,497 voters
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom WolfeGlengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
Best Books of the Decade: 1980s
2,259 books — 2,432 voters

High Fidelity by Nick HornbyA Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessChronicles, Volume One by Bob Dylan
Best Music Books
414 books — 189 voters

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony BurgessCatch-22 by Joseph HellerThe Bell Jar by Sylvia PlathOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynA Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Best Books of the Decade: 1960s
1,363 books — 1,776 voters
Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville
Big Fat Books Worth the Effort
1,873 books — 6,996 voters

Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay PenmanAtonement by Ian McEwan
Best Historical Fiction
7,471 books — 25,667 voters
Animal Farm by George OrwellMoby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman MelvilleThe Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Best Books Ever
76,905 books — 286,104 voters