| First posted 5/26/2018; updated 11/11/2025. |
 | All-Time Books:Top 100 |
Inspired by the 2018 PBS special The Great American Read, I assembled more than 170 best-of-books lists (see sources here) and aggregated them to create one master list of the all-time books. While these are mostly novels, there are some non-fiction books and even a few children’s picture books. Here are the results:
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| First posted 6/10/2020. |
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From LincolnLibraries.org: “In 2005, Time® magazine’s literary critics, Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo selected what they considered to be the top 100 English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005 (1923 being the year Time® began publishing). As usual, with any “top 100” list, these were their subjective choices, and obviously do not reflect the views of any other reader. However, their list inarguably includes numerous works of influential English-languge literature.” Note: the original list was unranked, presented alphabetically by book titles. The rankings here are based on GoodReads.com.
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| First posted 6/15/2020; updated 7/6/2020. |
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Lord of the FliesWilliam Golding
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First Publication: September 17, 1954 Category: young adult fiction/allegory Sales: ? |
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About the Book: “Before The Hunger Games there was Lord of the Flies,” BN “one of the greatest books ever written for young adults and an unforgettable classic for readers of any age.” AZ “Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse,” BN this “novel by Nobel Prize–winning British author William Golding” WK “has established itself as a true classic” BN which ”remains as provocative today as when it was first published.” BN “Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.” BN “At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate. This far from civilization they can do anything they want. Anything. But as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far removed from reality as the hope of being rescued.” AZ The book then becomes a “startling, brutal portrait of human nature” AZ as it focuses in on the boys’ “disastrous attempt to govern themselves.” WK Resources and Related Links:
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