Nominate MobileRead's 10 best fiction books of the 20th Century

[pdurrant]

The best books of the 21st century thread made me think that a MobileRead list of the ten best books of the 20th century would be fun.

To avoid, as much as possible, recentness bias, let's go for the best book of each decade of the 20th century. That is books first published:

1901-1910, 1911-1920, 1921-1930, 1931-1940, 1941-1950, 1951-1960, 1961-1970, 1971-1980, 1981-1990, 1991-2000

So this is the nomination thread. Please post your nominations for the best book of each decade of the 20th century. If you don't have a nomination for a particular decade that's fine. Please identify the decade for every nomination. No more than one nomination per decade per person.

Please only nominate books that you have actually read: don't nominate based on reviews, TV programmes or films.


After there have been sufficient nominations, I'll make a voting thread, either one thread per decade (if there are LOTS of nominations) or one thread for the whole 20th century.

Let's see what books the collective wisdom of Mobileread thinks were the best of the 20th century!

[EDIT: Please keep this thread just for nominations. You'll be able to discuss the nominations in the voting threads.]

[EDIT2: Title changed to clarify that this is for a list of fiction, not non-fiction]

[EDIT3: Nominations will be open until the end of April, or until a full 7 days have passed since the last nomination, whichever comes SOONER.]

[EDIT4: Consolidated list:]
Here's the list I have of nominations and first nominator. Please check it to make sure your nominations are in here and in the right decade! Voting threads go up starting next weekend.

1901-1910
Kim (pdurrant)
The Golden Bowl (issybird)
Anne of Green Gables (BearMountainBooks)
Hound of the Baskervilles (frddgls)
Buddenbrooks (knuthmeyer)
The Jungle (obs20)
The Call of the Wild (Synamon)
The Psaemmead Trilogy (EndlessWaves)
The Diaries of Adam and Eve (spellbanisher)
The Wings of the Dove (sun surfer)
Nostromo (everlod)
Before Adam (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Getting of Wisdom (Lynx-lynx)
The Virginian (GA Russell)
Howards End (missimpossible)
Where Angels Fear to Tread (ccowie)
The Riddle of the Sands (bfisher)
The Wind in the Willows (gmw)

1911-1920
The Nightland (Rizla)
The Metamorphosis (dickloraine)
Kokoro (HomeInMyShoes)
The Good Soldier (issybird)
Ethan Frome (frddgls)
Der Untertan (knuthmeyer)
The Mysterious Stranger (Ralph Sir Edward)
Main Street (obs)
The Secret Garden (Synamon)
The 39 steps (EndlessWaves)
Of Human Bondage (spellbanisher)
Under Fire (BelleZora)
Death in Venice (sun surfer)
The Magnificent Ambersons (Hamlet53)
Songs of the Sentimental Bloke (Lynx-lynx)
A la recherche du temps perdu (pynch)
You Know Me Al (GA Russell)
Sons and Lovers (missimpossible)
Tarzan of the Apes (gmw)

1921-1930
The Great Gatsby (issybird)
The Trial (HomeInMyShoes)
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Clock (BearMountainBooks)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (treadlightly)
Siddhartha (frddgls)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (knuthmeyer)
Red Harvest (Ralph Sir Edward)
An American Tragedy (spellbanisher)
A Passage to India (BelleZora)
Ulysses (sun surfer)
Steppenwolf (everlod)
The Passage (Lynx-lynx)
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (caleb72)
Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (pynch)
The Maltese Falcon (GA Russell)
To the Lighthouse (missimpossible)
The Sound and the Fury (bfisher)
All Quiet on the Western Front (AnemicOak)
Winnie the Pooh (gmw)
Wild Geese (ccowie)
Murder at the Vicarage (disconnected)
Carry on Jeeves (Bilbo1967)

1931-1940
The Grapes of Wrath (Bilbo1967)
Brave New World (treadlightly)
The Power and the Glory (issybird)
Lost Horizon (crich70)
La Nausée [English: Nausea] (GeoffR)
The Big Sleep (Rizla)
The Hobbit (HomeInMyShoes)
Schloß Gripsholm (knuthmeyer)
Odd John (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Good Earth (obs20)
At the mountains of madness (EndlessWaves)
Gone with the Wind (Catlady)
Of Mice and Men (spellbanisher)
And Then There Were None (sun surfer)
Musashi (Katsunami)
Blinky Bill (Lynx-lynx)
Good-bye, Mr. Chips (pdurrant)
The Waves (pynch)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (GA Russell)
Sunset Song (missimpossible)
The Nine Tailors (disconnected)

1941-1950
The catcher in the Rye (dickloraine)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (treadlightly)
Cannery Row (HomeInMyShoes)
Tales of The South Pacific (Ralph Sir Edward)
Animal Farm (grumbles)
I, Robot (EndlessWaves)
The Stranger/L'Étranger (spellbanisher)
Brideshead Revisited (issybird)
The Victim (mandy314)
The Makioka Sisters (Hamlet53)
Spartacus (Rizla)
All the King's Men (Jeff L)
Ride on Stranger (Lynx-lynx)
The Little Grey Men (banjomike)
The Third Man (GA Russell)
Gormenghast (missimpossible)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (AnemicOak)
Foundation (gmw)
Keys of the Kingdom (ccowie)
Ficciones (curtw)
Appleby’s End (disconnected)
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said (HomeInMyShoes)

1951-1960
The Lord Of The Rings (cadele)
The Broken Sword (svenlind)
Lolita (issybird)
To Kill a Mockingbird (treadlightly)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (GeoffR)
The Long Goodbye (Rizla)
Rabbit Run (HomeInMyShoes)
The Stars My Destination (Geralt)
The Charioteer (Alsicole)
Fièvre au Marais (knuthmeyer)
Atlas Shrugged (Ralph Sir Edward)
Lord of The Flies (obs20)
The Daughter of Time (Synamon)
Childhood's End (EndlessWaves)
On the Road (spellbanisher)
East of Eden (Grey Ram)
Things Fall Apart (sun surfer)
The Stories of Frank O'Connor (BelleZora)
Star Diaries (mandy314)
The Adventures of Augie March (Jeff L)
All The Rivers Run (Lynx-lynx)
Querelle de Brest (pynch)
The Day of the Triffids (banjomike)
The Once and Future King (Catlady)
A Question of Upbringing (A Dance To the Music of Time # 1) (bfisher)
Fahrenheit 451 (AnemicOak)
Tempest Tost (ccowie)
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison (curtw)
Eloise (disconnected)
Lucky Jim (Bilbo1967)

1961-1970
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (treadlightly)
Brandbilen som försvann [English: The Fire Engine That Disappeared] (GeoffR)
Farewell Gul'sary (HomeInMyShoes)
Spring Snow (issybird)
The Master and Margarita (Geralt)
A Moment In Time (Alsicole)
Ringworld (Apache)
Dune (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Man in the High Castle (grumbles)
Slaughterhouse-Five (obs20)
Flowers for Algernon (Synamon)
Catch 22 (EndlessWaves)
Where the Wild Things Are (spellbanisher)
Cien Años de Soledad (One hundred years of solitude) (Grey Ram)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (BelleZora)
The Godfather (drofgnal)
The Stone Angel (ccowie)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (sunsurfer)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Hamlet53)
The Alexandria Quartet (everlod)
My Brother Jack (Lynx-lynx)
The Left Hand of Darkness (caleb72)
A Wizard of Earthsea (pdurrant)
Franny and Zooey (pynch)
The Witches of Karres (banjomike)
Otley Victorious (GA Russell)
Cancer Ward (bfisher)
2001: A Space Odyssey (gmw)
The Giving Tree (curtw)
The Doorbell Rang (disconnected)

1971-1980
Roadside Picnic (Rizla)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (poohbear_nc)
Crocodile on the Sandbank (BearMountainBooks)
The Stand (treadlightly)
The Book of Morgaine (GeoffR)
If On a Winter's Night a Traveller (HomeInMyShoes)
To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Apache)
The Mote in God’s Eye (gbm)
Deathbird Stories (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin (obs20)
The Princess Bride (Synamon)
Rendezvous with Rama (EndlessWaves)
The Dispossessed (spellbanisher)
The Shining (Grey Ram)
Watership Down (drofgnal)
The Magus (revised version) (ccowie)
Flowers in the Attic (sun surfer)
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Conner (Hamlet53)
Schilten (mandy314)
Shogun (Katsunami)
Beloved (everlod)
Gossip from the Forest (Lynx-lynx)
The Gods Themselves (caleb72)
A Morbid Taste For Bones (pdurrant)
Chronicle in Stone (issybird)
Gravity’s Rainbow(pynch)
The Spike (GA Russell)
Dragon's Egg (bfisher)
The Killer Angels (AnemicOak)
Lord Foul's Bane (gmw)
The Ghost Writer (ccowie)
Riddley Walker (curtw)
Lady Oracle (disconnected)

1981-1990
Lyonesse Trilogi (svenlind)
The Pillars of the Earth (treadlightly)
Mythago Wood (GeoffR)
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (HomeInMyShoes)
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (Geralt)
House of the Spirits (Alsicole)
Red Storm Rising (gbm)
Last of the Breed (Ralph Sir Edward)
The Bonfire of The Vanities (obs20)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (Synamon)
In the Skin of a Lion (Rizla)
The Hunt for Red October (EndlessWaves)
Neuromancer (Grey Ram)
Skinny Legs and All (BelleZora)
Watchmen (sun surfer)
Love in the Time of Cholera (Hamlet53)
The Handmaid's Tale (issybird)
Martin Amis: Money (mandy314)
The Elfstones of Shannara (Katsunami)
City of Glass (Jeff L)
An Indecent Obsession (Lynx-lynx)
Skallagrigg (caleb72)
The Misenchanted Sword (pdurrant)
White Noise (pynch)
The Beiderbecke Affair (banjomike)
The Remains of the Day (missimpossible)
Midnight's Children (ccowie)
Agent of Change (bfisher)
Lonesome Dove (AnemicOak)
The Stonor Eagles (gmw)
The Color Purple (curtw)
A Short History of a Small Place (disconnected)

1991-2000
Publieke werken (Zetmolm)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (dickloraine)
Cryptonomicon (GeoffR)
A Suitable Boy (HomeInMyShoes)
A Game of Thrones (Geralt)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (obs20)
The English Patient (Synamon)
Perdido Street Station (EndlessWaves)
Snow Crash (spellbanisher)
O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (The gospel according to Jesus Christ) (Grey Ram)
A Fine Balance (ccowie)
Persepolis (sun surfer)
The Windup Bird Chronicle (Hamlet53)
Hit Man (mandy314)
Blindness (everlod)
The Gold Bug Variations (Jeff L)
Grand Days (Lynx-lynx)
Stardust (pdurrant)
No Greater Love (pynch)
Raptor Red (bfisher)
Parable of the Sower (Purple Lady)
Small Gods (gmw)
House of Leaves (curtw)
Crow Road (Bilbo1967)

[cadele]

1951-1960 The Lord Of The Rings (1954/1955)

[Bilbo1967]

1931 - 1940 The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

[svenlind]

1951-1960 Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword (1954)
1981-1990 Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogi (1983-1989)

[pdurrant]

1901-1910: Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901)

[Zetmolm]

Five nominations, and already it looks like the collective wisdom of MobileRead is blind to books published in other languages than English.

My nomination:
1991-2000 Publieke werken by Thomas Rosenboom (1999)

[Rizla]

1912: The Nightland, William Hope Hodgson.

1971: Roadside Picnic, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

[poohbear_nc]

1971-1980 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979) - Douglas Adams

[dickloraine]

1910-20: "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka.
1940-50: "The catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
1950-60: "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien
1910-60: The lyric of Berthold Brecht (and the dramas too, pic one. Maybe put it in the 30-40 range)

[issybird]

1911 - 1920 The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford
1921 - 1930 The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

[dickloraine]

Oh, another one: Harry Potter. Just for spreading love for reading

[issybird]

1951 - 1960 Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

[Catlady]

Am I the only one who thinks the decades should be listed as 1900-1909, 1910-1919, 1920-1929, etc.? Don't most people think of the decades that way--e.g., the sixties are 1960-1969, not 1961-1970.

[issybird]

1901 - 1910 The Golden Bowl, Henry James

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Am I the only one who thinks the decades should be listed as 1900-1909, 1910-1919, 1920-1929, etc.? Don't most people think of the decades that way--e.g., the sixties are 1960-1969, not 1961-1970.

Yep!

Now we're screwed!