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

[Katsunami]

Removed...

[AnemicOak]

1901-1910: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery / 1908
1911-1920: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan / 1925
1921-1930: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque / 1929
1931-1940: Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa / 1935
1941-1950: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis / 1950
1951-1960: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury / 1953
1961-1970: Dune by Frank Herbert / 1965
1971-1980: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe / 1979
1971-1980: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara / 1974
1981-1990: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry / 1986
1991-2000: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin / 1996

Pretty hard to pick just one in each time span and for me it can change depending on when you ask. For example if not The Right Stuff I could just as easily say The Killer Angels or The Princess Bride or Roots or Shogun or The Thorn Birds or many others for the 1971-1980 span alone.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

1901-1910: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery / 1908
1911-1920: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan / 1925
1921-1930: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque / 1929
1931-1940: Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa / 1935
1941-1950: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis / 1950
1951-1960: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury / 1953
1961-1970: Dune by Frank Herbert / 1965
1971-1980: The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe / 1979
1981-1990: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry / 1986
1991-2000: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin / 1996

Pretty hard to pick just one in each time span and for me it can change depending on when you ask. For example if not The Right Stuff I could just as easily say The Killer Angels or The Princess Bride or Roots or Shogun or The Thorn Birds or many others for the 1971-1980 span alone.

Isn't The Right Stuff a non-fiction title anyway?

[gmw]

1901-1910: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame / 1908

1911-1920: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs / 1912

1921-1930: Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (illustrations by E.H.Shepard) / 1926

1931-1940: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie / 1939

1941-1950: Foundation by Isaac Asimov / 1942-1950

1951-1960: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien / 1954-55

1961-1970: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke / 1968

1971-1980: Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson / 1977

1981-1990: The Stonor Eagles by William Horward / 1982

1991-2000: Small Gods by Terry Pratchett / 1992


It is so hard to keep the nominations down to just one. I know LotR will be nominated many times, but I can't not have it on my list. It seems to me that my favourites list for 1991-2000 is dominated by Terry Pratchett, there were lots of choices but he has to be up there.

My 1901..1950 reading list record is a bit sparse. I've only been keeping track for the past 10 years, and that hasn't included much from then. For the 1920s I've picked Tarzan for two reasons: I've re-read some them recently and despite their reputation they are something of an icon from that period. So it was either Tarzan or Bulldog Drummond.

It seems strange to have "Winnie the Pooh" up there when I see something like "All Quiet on the Western Front" on AnemicOak's list for the same period, and may not be quite what was intended for this list ... but what the hell, I still think it's a wonderful little book.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Isn't The Right Stuff a non-fiction title anyway?

Yes, of course. Fixed

[jdege]

The greatest work of English fiction in the twentieth century is - to the everlasting horror of the literati - Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

70s The Complete Stories Flannery O'Conner
80s A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole

I've been mulling over the decades and I see that Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980 and hence belongs to the earlier decade.

The aught years got me, too. Twice having the decade start with the aught instead of the one would have resolved an issue for me.

Originally Posted by issybird

I've been mulling over the decades and I see that Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980 and hence belongs to the earlier decade.

The aught years got me, too. Twice having the decade start with the aught instead of the one would have resolved an issue for me.

Thanks, so it is. Caught up by how decades are defined in this thread. That's alright I've a ready replacement.

80s Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcí*a Márquez

I've edited my original post to help Paul keep track.

[Lynx-lynx]

Am I reading this correctly ... one can only post one entry per decade? One then can't come back and make a second set of entries per decade?

[ccowie]

I gave a lot of thought to my missing decades this weekend. This completes my 10 best:

1920-1929 Wild Geese by Martha Ostenso
1940-1949 Keys of the Kingdom by AJ Cronin
1950-1959 Tempest Tost by Robertson Davies
1970-1979 The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

[curtw]

OK, probably well off most folks' beaten paths, but here goes--

1901-1910 (1906)—The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
1911-1920 (1911)—The Devil’s Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce
1921-1930 (1921)—We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
1931-1940 (1939)—The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
1941-1950 (1941)—Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges
1951-1960 (1952)—Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
1961-1970 (1964)—The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein
1971-1980 (1980)—Riddley Walker, by Russell Hoban
1981-1990 (1982)—The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
1991-2000 (2000)—House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski


Non-fiction list after this one concludes voting?

[disconnected]

1921-1930 (1930) Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
1931-1940 (1934) The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
1941-1950 (1945) Appleby’s End by Michael Innes
1951-1960 (1955) Eloise by Kay Thompson
1961-1970 (1965) The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout
1971-1980 (1976) Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
1981-1990 (1982) A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson

[issybird]

1971 - 1980 (1971) Chronicle in Stone, Ismail Kadare.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Am I reading this correctly ... one can only post one entry per decade? One then can't come back and make a second set of entries per decade?

Spot on. If you really decide you've chosen incorrectly, you could come back and edit your original post.

Why would you nominate more than one entry per ten year period? Just choose the only you think is best.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I just updated my list on page two. A different one for 1970s.