Greatest Lit Home Editor Eric Toronto Reads Unsolvable Mysteries Skepticism

Late Twentieth Century
From 1961 C.E.

Click linked titles and authors for more information and Editor Eric's commentaries.
Date Title Author Country Type
1961 On Heroes and Tombs Ernesto Sabato Argentina Novel
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark England Novel
Solaris Stanislaw Lem Poland Novel
Zima Junction Yevegeny Yevtushenko Russia Poetry
A House for Mr Biswas V.S. Naipaul Trinidad Novel
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein USA Novel
Catch 22 Joseph Heller USA Novel
The Moviegoer Walker Percy USA Novel
1962 The Green House Mario Vargas Llosa Peru Novel
The Death of Artemio Cruz Carlos Fuentes Mexico Novel
Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov Russia Novel
The Changeling Thomas Middleton England Drama
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess England Novel
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? Edward Albee USA Drama
The Reivers William Faulkner USA Novel
Ship of Fools Katherine Anne Porter USA Novel
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey USA Novel
The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick USA Novel
1963 Hugh Garner’s Best Stories Hugh Garner Canada Stories
The Garden Party Vaclav Havel Czech. Drama
The Clown Heinrich Boll Germany Novel
Hopscotch Julio Cortazar Argentina Novel
Selected Poems Octavio Paz Mexico Poetry
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John Le Carré England Novel
The Crucible Arthur Miller USA Drama
Another Country James Baldwin USA Novel
1964 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence Canada Novel
Herzog Saul Bellow USA Novel
The Swimmer John Cheever USA Story
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick USA Novel
1965 Dune Frank Herbert USA Novel
1965-70 Sea of Fertility Yukio Mishima Japan Novel series
1966 Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen Canada Novel
St. Urbain’s Horseman Mordecai Richler Canada Novel
The Magus John Fowles England Novel
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys England Novel
The Crystal World J.G. Ballard England Novel
Giles Goat-Boy John Barth USA Novel
In Cold Blood Truman Capote USA Novel
The Fixer Bernard Malamud USA Novel
The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon USA Novel
Live or Die Anne Sexton USA Poetry
1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez Colombia Novel
The Silent Cry Oe Kenzaburo Japan Novel
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard USA Drama
The Chosen Chaim Potok USA Novel
The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron USA Novel
Camp Concentration Thomas Disch USA Novel
1968 Les Belles-Soeurs Michel Tremblay Canada Drama
Cancer Ward Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russia Novel
The First Circle Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russia Novel
The Lion in Winter James Goldman USA Drama
A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin USA Novel
The Armies of the Night Norman Mailer USA Novel
Couples John Updike USA Novel
Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal USA Novel
1969 Selected Poetry Irving Layton Canada Poetry
Little Painted Mouths Manuel Puig Argentina Novel
The French Lieutenant’s Woman John Fowles England Novel
Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut USA Novel
Portnoy’s Complaint Philip Roth USA Novel
Them Joyce Carol Oates USA Novel
The Godfather Mario Puzo USA Novel
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin USA Novel
1970 Fifth Business Robertson Davies Canada Novel
Kamouraska Anne Hébert Canada Novel
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou USA Memoir
Deliverance James Dickey USA Novel
1971 Power Politics Margaret Atwood Canada Poetry
Live of Girls and Women Alice Munro Canada Stories
Crow Ted Hughes England Novel
In a Free State V.S. Naipaul Trinidad Novel
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath USA Novel
Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner USA Novel
1971-83 Riverworld Philip José Farmer USA Novels
1972 More Poems for People Milton Acorn Canada Poetry
Selected Poems Al Purdy Canada Poetry
All Creatures Great and Small James Herriot England Stories
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hunter S. Thompson USA Novel
The Sunlight Dialogues John Gardner USA Novel
1973 The Rachel Papers Martin Amis England Novel
Gravity’s Rainbow Thomas Pynchon USA Novel
Burr Gore Vidal USA Novel
1974 The Diviners Margaret Laurence Canada Novel
The Conservationist Nadine Gordimer S. Africa Novel
The Black Prince Iris Murdoch England Novel
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert Pirsig USA Novel
1975 The Periodic Table Primo Levi Italy Memoir
The Monkey Wrench Gang Edward Abbey USA Novel
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror John Ashbery USA Poetry
Ragtime E.L. Doctorow USA Novel
1976 The World According to Garp John Irving USA Novel
Roots: The Saga of an American Family Alex Haley USA Novel
1977 The Invention of the World Jack Hodgins Canada Novel
The Wars Timothy Findlay Canada Novel
Aunt Julia and the Script-Writer Mario Vargas Llosa Peru Novel
The Gin Game D.L. Coburn USA Drama
Song of Solomon Toni Morrison USA Novel
1978 The Sea, the Sea Iris Murdoch England Novel
Buried Child Sam Shepard USA Drama
1978- The Dark Tower Stephen King USA Novels
1979 Jitters David French Canada Drama
If On a Winter’s Night A Traveller Italo Calvino Italy Novel
A Bend in the River V.S. Naipaul Trinidad Novel
The Burgher’s Daughter Nadine Gordimer S. Africa Novel
The Ghost Writer Philip Roth USA Novel
Sophie’s Choice William Styron USA Novel
1979-92 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams England Novels
1980 A Part of Speech Joseph Brodsky Russia Poetry
A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole USA Novel
Battlefield Earth L. Ron Hubbard USA Novel
1981 The Alley Cat Yves Beauchemin Canada Novel
Famous Last Words Timothy Findlay Canada Novel
Obasan Joy Kogawa Canada Novel
The White Hotel D.M. Thomas England Novel
Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie India Novel
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver USA Stories
1982 Schindler’s List Thomas Keneally Australia Novel
Shoeless Joe W.P. Kinsella Canada Novel
Noises Off Michael Frayn England Drama
Baltasar and Blimunda José Sagamago Portugal Novel
"Master Harold"...and the Boys Athol Fugard S. Africa Drama
The Changing Light at Sandover James Merrill USA Poetry
The Color Purple Alice Walker USA Novel
1983 A Time for Judas Morley Callaghan Canada Novel
The Life and Times of Michael K J.M. Coetzee S. Africa Novel
Ironweed William Kennedy USA Novel
Ancient Evenings Norman Mailer USA Novel
1984 Neuromancer William Gibson Canada Novel
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera Czech. Novel
Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner England Novel
Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney USA Novel
Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie USA Novel
Glengarry Glen Ross David Mamet USA Drama
1985 Black Robe Brian Moore Canada Novel
The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood Canada Novel
Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez Colombia Novel
Continental Drift Russell Banks USA Novel
White Noise Don DeLillo USA Novel
Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry USA Novel
The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler USA Novel
1985-86 Ender’s Game/Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card USA Novels
1987 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields Canada Novel
In the Skin of A Lion Michael Ondaatje Canada Novel
The Radiant Way Margaret Drabble England Novel
Ellen Foster Kaye Gibbons USA Novel
Misery Stephen King USA Novel
Beloved Toni Morrison USA Novel
The Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe USA Novel
1988 Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey Australia Novel
The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie India Novel
Freaky Deaky Elmore Leonard USA Novel
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan USA Novel
Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler USA Novel
1989 The Quincunx Charles Palliser England Novel
The Storyteller Mario Vargas Llosa Peru Novel
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving USA Novel
1990 Soul Mountain Gao Xingjian China Novel
Possession A.S. Byatt England Novel
V. and Other Poems Tony Harrison England Poetry
Omeros Derek Walcott St. Lucia Poetry
Six Degrees of Separation John Guare USA Drama
Get Shorty Elmore Leonard USA Novel
1991 Generation X Douglas Coupland Canada Novel
The Van Roddy Doyle Ireland Novel
The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa Portugal Novel
1991-95 Regeneration Pat Barker England Novels
1992 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje Canada Novel
The Crow Road Iain Banks Scotland Novel
Angels in America Tony Kushner USA Drama
Oleanna David Mamet USA Drama
1993 Away Jane Urquhart Canada Novel
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle Ireland Novel
1994 Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernieres England Novel
The Hippopotamus Stephen Fry England Novel
Felicia's Journey William Trevor Ireland Novel
1995 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry Canada Novel
The Information Martin Amis England Novel
1996 Harlot's Ghost Norman Mailer USA Novel
Fall on Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald Canada Novel
Selected Stories Mavis Gallant Canada Stories
1997 Underworld Don DeLillo USA Novel
Mason and Dixon Thomas Pynchon USA Novel
American Pastoral Philip Roth USA Novel
1998 On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon Kaye Gibbons USA Novel
A Man in Full Tom Wolfe USA Novel
1999 Barney’s Version Mordecai Richler Canada Novel
 

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For post-2000 works that may eventually be considered for the
Greatest Literature of All Time list, see New Literature

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