Best Novels of All Time – Chronological

I collected over 30 lists of “Best Novels of All Time” from books and the Internet and combined them into one meta-list. The results are below: every novel on that was on at least three of the original source lists, in chronological order. I have indicated in parentheses the number of original source lists that the novel is on.

Some of the lists I found included only novels written in English or novels written in the 20th Century, so I reached out to include the novels on other lists of great books, with an eye to including pre- and post-20th Century novels and novels written in languages other than English. The original source lists use somewhat differing definitions of ‘novel’ and purists may find books on the list that don’t meet one or more of those definitions. I decided that, if at least three listers defined a book as a novel, I wouldn’t argue.

To see the same list organized by rank (that is, with the novels on the most lists at the top), go here.

  1. The Tale of Genji (Japan, c. 1000-1020). By Murasaki Shikibu (on 7 lists)
  2. One Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights) (linked stories) (Arabia/Persia/India, c. 800-1500; first European pub. 1704-1717). By Anonymous (on 5 lists)
  3. Gargantua and Pantagruel (series of 5 novels) (France, 1532-1564). By François Rabelais (on 5 lists)
  4. Don Quixote (Spain, Pt. 1: 1605; Pt. 2: 1615). By Miguel de Cervantes (on 19 lists)
  5. The Pilgrim’s Progress (England, 1678). By John Bunyan (on 4 lists)
  6. Robinson Crusoe (Great Britain, 1719). By Daniel Defoe (on 12 lists)
  7. Moll Flanders (Great Britain, 1722). By Daniel Defoe (on 4 lists)
  8. Gulliver’s Travels (Ireland, 1726). By Jonathan Swift (on 13 lists)
  9. Clarissa (Great Britain, 1748). By Samuel Richardson (on 7 lists)
  10. The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (Great Britain, 1749). By Henry Fielding (on 14 lists)
  11. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Ireland/Great Britain, 1759). By Laurence Sterne (on 15 lists)
  12. Candide (novella) (France/Switzerland, 1759). By Voltaire (on 10 lists)
  13. The Vicar of Wakefield (Ireland/Great Britain, 1766). By Oliver Goldsmith (on 4 lists)
  14. The Sorrows of Young Werther (novella) (Germany, 1774, revised, 1787). By Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (on 6 lists)
  15. Dream of the Red Chamber (China, manuscripts c. 1764; book 1791). By Cao Xueqin (with additions by Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan) (on 3 lists)
  16. Pride and Prejudice (UK, 1813). By Jane Austen (on 18 lists)
  17. Emma (UK, 1816). By Jane Austen (on 12 lists)
  18. Persuasion (UK, 1817) By Jane Austen (on 6 lists)
  19. Frankenstein (UK, 1818). By Mary Shelley (on 14 lists)
  20. Nightmare Abbey (novella) (UK, 1818). By Thomas Love Peacock (on 3 lists)
  21. The Last of the Mohicans (US, 1826). By James Fenimore Cooper (on 5 lists)
  22. The Red and the Black (France, 1830). By Stendhal (on 14 lists)
  23. Le Pére Goriot (France, 1835). By Honore de Balzac (on 7 lists)
  24. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (US, 1838). By Edgar Allan Poe (on 6 lists)
  25. Oliver Twist (UK, 1838), by Charles Dickens (on 3 lists)
  26. The Charterhouse of Parma (France, 1839). By Stendhal (on 6 lists)
  27. Dead Souls (unfinished) (Russia, 1842). By Nikolai Gogol (on 10 lists)
  28. Lost Illusions (series of 3 novels) (France, 1837-1843). By Honoré de Balzac (on 4 lists)
  29. The Three Musketeers (France, 1844). By Alexandre Dumas (on 8 lists)
  30. The Count of Monte Cristo (France, 1846). By Alexandre Dumas (on 9 lists)
  31. Cousin Bette (France, 1846). By Honoré de Balzac (on 4 lists)
  32. Wuthering Heights (UK, 1847). By Emily Brontë (on 19 lists)
  33. Jane Eyre (UK, 1847). By Charlotte Brontë (on 18 lists)
  34. Vanity Fair (UK, 1848). By William Thackeray (on 11 lists)
  35. David Copperfield (UK, 1850). By Charles Dickens (on 13 lists)
  36. The Scarlet Letter (US, 1850). By Nathaniel Hawthorne (on 12 lists)
  37. Oblomov (Russia, 1850). By Ivan Goncharov (on 4 lists)
  38. Moby-Dick (US, 1851). By Herman Melville (on 19 lists)
  39. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (US, 1852). By Harriet Beecher Stowe (on 3 lists)
  40. Bleak House (UK, 1853). By Charles Dickens (on 11 lists)
  41. Madame Bovary (France, 1856). By Gustave Flaubert (on 20 lists)
  42. A Tale of Two Cities (UK, 1859). By Charles Dickens (on 9 lists)
  43. Great Expectations (UK, 1861). By Charles Dickens (on 13 lists)
  44. Silas Marner (novella) (UK, 1861). By George Eliot (on 5 lists)
  45. Les Misérables (France, 1862). By Victor Hugo (on 11 lists)
  46. Fathers and Sons (Russia, 1862). By Ivan Turgenev (on 7 lists)
  47. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (novella) (UK, 1865). By Lewis Carroll (on 10 lists)
  48. Crime and Punishment (Russia, 1866). By Fyodor Dostoyevsky (on 19 lists)
  49. The Moonstone (UK, 1868). By Wilkie Collins (on 5 lists)
  50. War and Peace (Russia, 1869). By Leo Tolstoy (on 15 lists)
  51. Little Women (US, 1869). By Louisa May Alcott (on 9 lists)
  52. Sentimental Education (France, 1869). By Gustave Flaubert (on 6 lists)
  53. The Idiot (Russia, 1869). By Fyodor Dostoevsky (on 6 lists)
  54. Middlemarch (UK, 1872). By George Eliot (on 18 lists)
  55. The Possessed (The Devils; Demons) (Russia, 1872). By Fyodor Dostoevsky (on 5 lists)
  56. The Way We Live Now (UK, 1875). By Anthony Trollope (on 3 lists)
  57. Daniel Deronda (UK, 1876). By George Eliot (on 3 lists)
  58. Anna Karenina (Russia, 1877). By Leo Tolstoy (on 21 lists)
  59. The Return of the Native (UK, 1878). By Thomas Hardy (on 5 lists)
  60. The Brothers Karamazov (Russia, 1880). By Fyodor Dostoevsky (on 16 lists)
  61. The Portrait of a Lady (US/UK, 1881). By Henry James (on 14 lists)
  62. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (US, 1884). By Mark Twain (on 20 lists)
  63. Germinal (France, 1885) By Émile Zola (on 6 lists)
  64. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (novella) (UK, 1886). By Robert Louis Stevenson (on 7 lists)
  65. The Death of Ivan Ilych (novella) (Russia, 1886). By Leo Tolstoy (on 4 lists)
  66. Three Men in a Boat (UK, 1889). By Jerome K. Jerome (on 3 lists)
  67. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Ireland, 1891). By Oscar Wilde (on 9 lists)
  68. Tess of the d’Urbervilles (UK, 1892). By Thomas Hardy (on 12 lists)
  69. Jude the Obscure (UK, 1895). By Thomas Hardy (on 7 lists)
  70. The Red Badge of Courage (US, 1895). By Stephen Crane (on 4 lists)
  71. Dracula (Ireland, 1897). By Bram Stoker (on 9 lists)
  72. The Turn of the Screw (novella) (US/UK, 1898). By Henry James (on 5 lists)
  73. The War of the Worlds (UK, 1898). By H.G. Wells (on 4 lists)
  74. Heart of Darkness (novella) (Poland/UK, serial 1899; book 1902). By Joseph Conrad (on 11 lists)
  75. The Awakening (novella) (US, 1899). By Kate Chopin (on 8 lists)
  76. Lord Jim (Poland/UK, 1900). By Joseph Conrad (on 5 lists)
  77. Sister Carrie (US, 1900). By Theodore Dreiser (on 5 lists)
  78. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (novella) (US, 1900) by L. Frank Baum (on 3 lists)
  79. Kim (UK, 1901). By Rudyard Kipling (on 7 lists)
  80. Buddenbrooks (Germany, 1901). By Thomas Mann (on 5 lists)
  81. The Hound of The Baskervilles (UK, 1902) By Arthur Conan Doyle (on 6 lists)
  82. The Wings of the Dove (US/UK, 1902). By Henry James (on 4 lists)
  83. The Call of the Wild (novella) (US, 1903). By Jack London (on 8 lists)
  84. The Ambassadors (US/UK, 1903). By Henry James (on 6 lists)
  85. Nostromo (Poland/UK, 1904). By Joseph Conrad (on 8 lists)
  86. The Golden Bowl (US/UK, 1904). By Henry James (on 6 lists)
  87. The House of Mirth (US, 1905). By Edith Wharton (on 8 lists)
  88. The Jungle (US, 1906). By Upton Sinclair (on 5 lists)
  89. The Wind in the Willows (UK, 1908). By Kenneth Grahame (on 5 lists)
  90. A Room with a View (UK, 1908). By E.M. Forster (on 3 lists)
  91. Howards End (UK, 1910) By E.M. Forster (on 8 lists)
  92. Sons and Lovers (UK, 1913). By D.H. Lawrence (on 7 lists)
  93. The Good Soldier (UK, 1915). By Ford Madox Ford (on 8 lists)
  94. The Rainbow (US, 1915). By D.H. Lawrence (on 5 lists)
  95. Of Human Bondage (UK, 1915). By W. Somerset Maugham (on 3 lists)
  96. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Ireland/Italy, 1916). By James Joyce (on 10 lists)
  97. My Ántonia (US, 1918). By Willa Cather (on 11 lists)
  98. Winesburg, Ohio (linked stories) (US, 1919). By Sherwood Anderson (on 5 lists)
  99. The Age of Innocence (US, 1920). By Edith Wharton (on 13 lists)
  100. Women in Love (UK, 1920). By D.H. Lawrence (on 5 lists)
  101. Main Street (US, 1920). By Sinclair Lewis (on 3 lists)
  102. Ulysses (Ireland/Switzerland/France, 1922). By James Joyce (on 18 lists)
  103. Babbitt (US, 1922) By Sinclair Lewis (on 5 lists)
  104. The Good Soldier Švejk (Czechoslovakia, 1921-1923). By Jaroslav Hašek (on 4 lists)
  105. Zeno’s Conscience (Confessions of Zeno) (Italy, 1923). By Italo Svevo (on 4 lists)
  106. A Passage to India (UK, 1924). By E.M. Forster (on 13 lists)
  107. The Magic Mountain (Germany, 1924). By Thomas Mann (on 12 lists)
  108. The Trial (unfinished) (Austria-Hungary/Czechoslovakia, 1914-1915; pub. 1925). By Franz  Kafka (on 18 lists)
  109. The Great Gatsby (US, 1925). By F. Scott Fitzgerald (on 24 lists)
  110. Mrs. Dalloway (UK, 1925). By Virginia Woolf (on 13 lists)
  111. An American Tragedy (US, 1925). By Theodore Dreiser (on 10 lists)
  112. The Sun Also Rises (US, 1926). By Ernest Hemingway (on 14 lists)
  113. The Castle (unfinished) (Czechoslovakia, 1924, pub. 1926). By Franz Kafka (on 4 lists)
  114. In Search of Lost Time (France, 1913-1927). By Marcel Proust (on 18 lists)
  115. To the Lighthouse (UK, 1927). By Virginia Woolf (on 15 lists)
  116. Death Comes for the Archbishop (US, 1927). By Willa Cather (on 6 lists)
  117. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (novella) (US, 1927). By Thornton Wilder (on 3 lists)
  118. Parade’s End (series of 4 novels) (UK, 1924-1928). By Ford Madox Ford (on 3 lists)
  119. Orlando: A Biography (UK, 1928). By Virginia Woolf (on 3 lists)
  120. The Sound and the Fury (US, 1929). By William Faulkner (on 17 lists)
  121. A Farewell To Arms (US, 1929). By Ernest Hemingway (on 9 lists)
  122. The Maltese Falcon (US, 1929). By Dashiell Hammett (on 7 lists)
  123. All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany, 1929). By Erich Maria Remarque (on 5 lists)
  124. Berlin Alexanderplatz (Germany, 1929). By Alfred Döblin (on 3 lists)
  125. As I Lay Dying (US, 1930). By William Faulkner (on 8 lists)
  126. Brave New World (UK, 1932). By Aldous Huxley (on 10 lists)
  127. Light in August (US, 1932). By William Faulkner (on 7 lists)
  128. Journey to the End of the Night (France, 1932). By Louis-Ferdinand Céline (on 6 lists)
  129. Cold Comfort Farm (UK, 1932). By Stella Gibbons (on 3 lists)
  130. Tropic of Cancer (US/France, 1934). By Henry Miller (on 7 lists)
  131. Tender Is the Night (US, 1934). By F. Scott Fitzgerald (on 5 lists)
  132. Appointment in Samarra (US, 1934). By John O’Hara (on 4 lists)
  133. I, Claudius (UK, 1934). By Robert Graves (on 4 lists)
  134. A Handful of Dust (UK, 1934). By Evelyn Waugh (on 3 lists)
  135. Call It Sleep (US, 1934). By Henry Roth (on 3 lists)
  136. Independent People (Iceland, 1934-1935). By Halldór Laxness (on 4 lists)
  137. Gone with the Wind (US, 1936). By Margaret Mitchell (on 8 lists)
  138. Absalom, Absalom! (US, 1936). By William Faulkner (on 8 lists)
  139. U.S.A. (trilogy) (US, 1930-1936). By John Dos Passos (on 7 lists)
  140. Their Eyes Were Watching God (US, 1937). By Zora Neale Hurston (on 12 lists)
  141. Of Mice and Men (novella) (US, 1937). By John Steinbeck (on 7 lists)
  142. The Hobbit (UK, 1937). By J. R. R. Tolkien (on 3 lists)
  143. Rebecca (UK, 1938). By Daphne du Maurier (on 6 lists)
  144. Scoop (UK, 1938). By Evelyn Waugh (on 4 lists)
  145. The Death of the Heart (UK, 1938). By Elizabeth Bowen (on 3 lists)
  146. Nausea (France, 1938). By Jean-Paul Sartre (on 3 lists)
  147. The Grapes of Wrath (US, 1939). By John Steinbeck (on 17 lists)
  148. The Big Sleep (US, 1939). By Raymond Chandler (on 10 lists)
  149. Finnegans Wake (Ireland/France, 1939). By James Joyce (on 5 lists)
  150. The Day of the Locust (US, 1939). By Nathanael West (on 4 lists)
  151. At Swim-Two-Birds (Ireland, 1939). By Flann O’Brien (on 3 lists)
  152. Native Son (US, 1940). By Richard Wright (on 11 lists)
  153. For Whom The Bell Tolls (US, 1940). By Ernest Hemingway (on 8 lists)
  154. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (US, 1940). By Carson McCullers (on 8 lists)
  155. The Power and the Glory (UK, 1940). By Graham Greene (on 4 lists)
  156. Darkness at Noon (UK, 1940). By Arthur Koestler (on 4 lists)
  157. The Man Who Loved Children (Australia, 1940). By Christina Stead (on 3 lists)
  158. The Master and Margarita (USSR, 1940, pub. 1967). By Mikhail Bulgakov (on 11 lists)
  159. The Stranger (novella) (France, 1942). By Albert Camus (on 14 lists)
  160. The Man Without Qualities (unfinished) (3 volumes with drafts and notes) (Germany, 1942). By Robert Musil (on 8 lists)
  161. The Little Prince (novella) (France, 1943). By Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (on 6 lists)
  162. The Fountainhead (US, 1943). By Ayn Rand (on 3 lists)
  163. The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) (Germany/Switzerland, 1943). By Herman Hesse (on 3 lists)
  164. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (US, 1943) by Betty Smith (on 3 lists)
  165. Brideshead Revisited (UK, 1945). By Evelyn Waugh (on 8 lists)
  166. Animal Farm (novella) (UK, 1945). By George Orwell (on 7 lists)
  167. Loving (UK, 1945). By Henry Green (on 4 lists)
  168. The Death of Virgil (Austria, 1945). By Hermann Broch (on 3 lists)
  169. All the King’s Men (US, 1946). By Robert Penn Warren (on 9 lists)
  170. Zorba the Greek (Greece, 1946). By Nikos Kazantzakis (on 3 lists)
  171. Under the Volcano (UK, 1947). By Malcolm Lowry (on 7 lists)
  172. The Plague (France, 1947). By Albert Camus (on 5 lists)
  173. The Naked and the Dead (US, 1948). By Norman Mailer (on 4 lists)
  174. The Heart of the Matter (UK, 1948). By Graham Greene (on 3 lists)
  175. Nineteen Eighty-Four (UK, 1949). By George Orwell (on 18 lists)
  176. The Sheltering Sky (US, 1949). By Paul Bowles (on 4 lists)
  177. The Catcher in the Rye (US, 1951). By J.D. Salinger (on 18 lists)
  178. Memoirs of Hadrian (France, 1951). By Marguerite Yourcenar (on 5 lists)
  179. The End of the Affair (UK, 1951). By Graham Greene (on 3 lists)
  180. Invisible Man (US, 1952). By Ralph Ellison (on 16 lists)
  181. The Old Man and the Sea (novella) (US, 1952). By Ernest Hemingway (on 9 lists)
  182. Charlotte’s Web (US, 1952). By E.B. White (on 5 lists)
  183. East of Eden (US, 1952). By John Steinbeck (on 3 lists)
  184. Go Tell It on the Mountain (US, 1953). By James Baldwin (on 10 lists)
  185. Malloy, Malone Dies, The Unnameable (trilogy) (Ireland/France, 1951-1953). By Samuel Beckett (on 7 lists)
  186. The Adventures of Augie March (US, 1953). By Saul Bellow (on 6 lists)
  187. Fahrenheit 451 (US, 1953). By Ray Bradbury (on 5 lists)
  188. Lord of the Flies (novella) (UK, 1954). By William Golding (on 9 lists)
  189. Lucky Jim (UK, 1954). By Kingsley Amis (on 4 lists)
  190. Under the Net (UK, 1954). By Iris Murdoch (on 3 lists)
  191. Lolita (USSR/US, 1955). By Vladimir Nabokov (on 22 lists)
  192. The Lord of the Rings (trilogy) (UK, 1954-1955). By J.R.R. Tolkien (on 9 lists)
  193. Pedro Páramo (novella) (Mexico, 1955). By Juan Rulfo (on 6 lists)
  194. The Recognitions (US, 1955). By William Gaddis (on 4 lists)
  195. The Chronicles of Narnia (series of 7 novels) (UK, 1950-1956). By C.S. Lewis (on 7 lists)
  196. The Cairo Trilogy (Egypt, 1956-1957). By Naguib Mahfouz (on 3 lists)
  197. On the Road (US, 1957). By Jack Kerouac (on 13 lists)
  198. Atlas Shrugged (US, 1957). By Ayn Rand (on 5 lists)
  199. Doctor Zhivago (USSR, 1957). By Boris Pasternak (on 5 lists)
  200. Things Fall Apart (Nigeria, 1958). By Chinua Achebe (on 15 lists)
  201. The Leopard (Italy, 1958). By Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (on 10 lists)
  202. The Tin Drum (Germany, 1959). By Günter Grass (on 8 lists)
  203. Naked Lunch (US, 1959). By William S. Burroughs (on 4 lists)
  204. Children of Gebelawi (Egypt, 1959). By Naguib Mahfouz (on 3 lists)
  205. The Alexandria Quartet (UK, 1957-1960). By Lawrence Durrell (on 3 lists)
  206. To Kill A Mockingbird (US, 1960). By Harper Lee (on 18 lists)
  207. Rabbit, Run (US, 1960). By John Updike (on 8 lists)
  208. The Sot-Weed Factor (US, 1960). By John Barth (on 3 lists)
  209. Catch-22 (US, 1961). By Joseph Heller (on 17 lists)
  210. A House for Mr. Biswas (Trinidad & Tobago/UK, 1961). By V.S. Naipaul (on 9 lists)
  211. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (novella) (UK, 1961). By Muriel Spark (on 8 lists)
  212. The Moviegoer (US, 1961). By Walker Percy (on 5 lists)
  213. Revolutionary Road (US, 1961). By Richard Yates (on 4 lists)
  214. The Golden Notebook (UK, 1962). By Doris Lessing (on 11 lists)
  215. Pale Fire (USSR/US, 1962). By Vladimir Nabokov (on 8 lists)
  216. A Clockwork Orange (novella) (UK, 1962). By Anthony Burgess (on 5 lists)
  217. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (US, 1962). By Ken Kesey (on 5 lists)
  218. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (novella) (USSR, 1962). By Aleksandr Solzhenistyn (on 4 lists)
  219. The Death of Artemio Cruz (Mexico, 1962). By Carlos Fuentes (on 4 lists)
  220. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (UK, 1963). By John le Carré (on 3 lists)
  221. Herzog (US, 1964). By Saul Bellow (on 7 lists)
  222. A Personal Matter (Japan, 1964). By Kenzaburo Oe (on 3 lists)
  223. Wide Sargasso Sea (novella) (Dominica/UK, 1966). By Jean Rhys (on 9 lists)
  224. The Bell Jar (US, 1966). By Sylvia Plath (on 5 lists)
  225. In Cold Blood (US, 1966). By Truman Capote (on 4 lists)
  226. Cancer Ward (USSR, 1966). By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (on 3 lists)
  227. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia, 1967). By Gabriel García Márquez (on 25 lists)
  228. The Confessions of Nat Turner (US, 1967). By William Styron (on 3 lists)
  229. Slaughterhouse-Five (US, 1969). By Kurt Vonnegut (on 9 lists)
  230. Portnoy’s Complaint (US, 1969). By Philip Roth (on 7 lists)
  231. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (UK, 1969). By John Fowles (on 5 lists)
  232. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (US, 1970). By Judy Blume (on 3 lists)
  233. Play It As It Lays (US, 1970). By Joan Didion (on 3 lists)
  234. Rabbit Redux (US, 1971). By John Updike (on 5 lists)
  235. Invisible Cities (Italy, 1972). By Italo Calvino (on 5 lists)
  236. Gravity’s Rainbow (US, 1973). By Thomas Pynchon (on 8 lists)
  237. A Dance to the Music of Time (series of 12 novels) (UK, 1951-1975). By Anthony Powell (on 4 lists)
  238. Ragtime (US, 1975). By E.L. Doctorow (on 6 lists)
  239. J R (US, 1975). By William Gaddis (on 3 lists)
  240. Song of Solomon (US, 1977). By Toni Morrison (on 9 lists)
  241. The World According to Garp (US, 1978). By John Irving (on 6 lists)
  242. The Stand (US, 1978). By Stephen King (on 4 lists)
  243. Life: A User’s Manual (France, 1978). By Georges Perec (on 3 lists)
  244. A Bend in the River (Trinidad & Tobago/UK, 1979). By V.S. Naipaul (on 5 lists)
  245. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (UK, 1979). By Douglas Adams (on 5 lists)
  246. If on a winter’s night a traveler (Italy, 1979). By Italo Calvino (on 4 lists)
  247. Sophie’s Choice (US, 1979). By William Styron (on 4 lists)
  248. The Name of the Rose (Italy, 1980). By Umberto Eco (on 8 lists)
  249. A Confederacy of Dunces (US, 1980). By John Kennedy Toole (on 4 lists)
  250. Waiting for the Barbarians (South Africa, 1980). By J. M. Coetzee (on 3 lists)
  251. Midnight’s Children (India/UK, 1981). By Salman Rushdie (on 14 lists)
  252. Housekeeping (US, 1981). By Marilynne Robinson (on 6 lists)
  253. Rabbit Is Rich (US, 1981). By John Updike (on 4 lists)
  254. The Color Purple (US, 1982). By Alice Walker (on 8 lists)
  255. The House of the Spirits (Chile, 1982). By Isabel Allende (on 5 lists)
  256. Schindler’s List (Schindler’s Ark) (Australia, 1982). By Thomas Keneally (on 3 lists)
  257. Money: A Suicide Note (UK, 1984). By Martin Amis (on 4 lists)
  258. The Lover (novella) (France, 1984). By Marguerite Duras (on 5 lists)
  259. Neuromancer (US/Canada, 1984). By William Gibson (on 5 lists)
  260. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Czechoslovakia, 1984). By Milan Kundera (on 5 lists)
  261. Love Medicine (US, 1984). By Lousie Erdrich (on 3 lists)
  262. The Handmaid’s Tale (Canada, 1985). By Margaret Atwood (on 9 lists)
  263. Love in the Time of Cholera (Colombia, 1985). By Gabriel García Márquez (on 8 lists)
  264. Blood Meridian (US, 1985). By Cormac McCarthy (on 8 lists)
  265. White Noise (US, 1985). By Don DeLillo (on 4 lists)
  266. Lonesome Dove (US, 1985). By Larry McMurtry (on 3 lists)
  267. The New York Trilogy (US, 1985-1986). By Paul Auster (on 4 lists)
  268. Beloved (US, 1987). By Toni Morrison (on 16 lists)
  269. Bonfire of the Vanities (US, 1987). By Tom Wolfe (on 3 lists)
  270. The Satanic Verses (India/UK, 1988). By Salman Rushdie (on 3 lists)
  271. The Joy Luck Club (US, 1989). By Amy Tan (on 5 lists)
  272. The Remains of the Day (UK, 1989). By Kazuo Ishiguro (on 3 lists)
  273. Rabbit at Rest (US, 1990). By John Updike (on 4 lists)
  274. The Things They Carried (linked stories) (US, 1990). By Tim O’Brien (on 4 lists)
  275. Bastard Out of Carolina (US, 1992). By Dorothy Allison (on 3 lists)
  276. Blindness (Portugal, 1995). By José Saramago (on 5 lists)
  277. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Japan, 1995). By Haruki Murakami (on 6 lists)
  278. Infinite Jest (US, 1996). By David Foster Wallace (on 6 lists)
  279. American Pastoral (US, 1997). By Philip Roth (on 8 lists)
  280. Underworld (US, 1997). By Don DeLillo (on 5 lists)
  281. The Savage Detectives (Chile, 1998). By Roberto Bolaño (on 5 lists)
  282. The Poisonwood Bible (US, 1998). By Barbara Kingsolver (on 3 lists)
  283. My Name Is Red (Türkiye, 1998). By Orhan Pamuk (on 4 lists)
  284. Disgrace (South Africa, 1999). By J.M. Coetzee (on 8 lists)
  285. White Teeth (UK, 2000). By Zadie Smith (on 7 lists)
  286. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (US, 2000). By Michael Chabon (on 3 lists)
  287. Atonement (UK, 2001). By Ian McEwan (on 8 lists)
  288. The Corrections (US, 2001). By Jonathan Franzen (on 7 lists)
  289. Austerlitz (Germany, 2001). By W.G. Sebald (on 5 lists)
  290. Middlesex (US, 2002). By Jeffrey Eugenides (on 3 lists)
  291. Never Let Me Go (UK, 2005). By Kazuo Ishiguro (on 3 lists)
  292. The Road (US, 2006). By Cormac McCarthy (on 5 lists)
  293. Half of a Yellow Sun (Nigeria, 2006). By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (on 3 lists)
  294. Harry Potter (series of 7 novels) (UK, 1997-2007). By J.K. Rowling (on 4 lists)
  295. Wolf Hall (UK, 2009). By Hilary Mantel (on 3 lists)
  296. A Visit from the Goon Squad (US, 2010). By Jennifer Egan (on 3 lists)
  297. My Brilliant Friend (first volume of the Neapolitan Novels) (Italy, 2011). By Elena Ferrante (on 4 lists)