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Novels

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Date Title Author Country Type
1951 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar Belgium Novel
The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham England Novel
The End of the Affair Graham Greene England Novel
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger USA Novel
Lie Down in Darkness William Styron USA Novel
The Invisible Man Ralph Ellison USA Novel
From Here to Eternity James Jones USA Novel
Spartacus Howard Fast USA Novel
1951-75 A Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell England Novels
1951-93 Foundation Isaac Asimov USA Novels
1952 The Mountain and the Valley Ernest Buckler Canada Novel
A Many-splendoured Thing Han Suyin China Novel
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway USA Novel
Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor USA Novel
East of Eden John Steinbeck USA Novel
Charlotte’s Web E.B. White USA Novel
1953 Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke England Novel
The Adventures of Augie March Saul Bellow USA Novel
The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler USA Novel
The Demolished Man Alfred Bester USA Novel
1954 Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis England Novel
Lord of the Flies William Golding England Novel
Under the Net Iris Murdoch England Novel
The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir France Novel
Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin USA Novel
1954-55 Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien England Novels
1955 The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne Brian Moore Canada Novel
The Chrysalids John Wyndham England Novel
The Quiet American Graham Greene England Novel
Pedro Paramo Juan Rulfo Mexico Novel
The Recognitions William Gaddis USA Novel
The Ginger Man J.P. Donleavy USA Novel
The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith USA Novel
1956 The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester USA Novel
1956-57 The Cairo Trilogy Naguib Mahfouz Egypt Novels
1957 Voss Patrick White Australia Novel
Room at the Top John Braine England Novel
On the Beach Nevil Shute England Novel
Jealousy Alain Robbe-Grillet France Novel
Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak Russia Novel
The Wapshot Chronicle John Cheever USA Novel
On the Road Jack Kerouac USA Novel
Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand USA Novel
1957-60 The Alexandria Quartet Laurence Durrell England Novels
1958 Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon Jorge Amado Brazil Novel
The Leopard Giusseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa Italy Novel
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Nigeria Novel
The Once and Future King T.H. White England Novel
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe England Novel
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Russia Novel
Exodus Leon Uris USA Novel
Breakfast at Tiffany’s Truman Capote USA Novella
1959 The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Mordecai Richler Canada Novel
The Tin Drum Günter Grass Germany Novel
The Golden Notebook Doris Lessing England Novel
Goldfinger Ian Fleming England Novel
The Galton Case Ross MacDonald USA Novel
Naked Lunch William S. Burroughs USA Novel
Henderson the Rain King Saul Bellow USA Novel
1960 To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee USA Novel
A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller USA Novel
1960-90 Rabbit Angstrom John Updike USA Novel
1961 On Heroes and Tombs Ernesto Sabato Argentina Novel
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark England Novel
Solaris Stanislaw Lem Poland Novel
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
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess England Novel
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 The Clown Heinrich Boll Germany Novel
Hopscotch Julio Cortazar Argentina Novel
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John Le Carré England Novel
Another Country James Baldwin USA Novel
1964 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence Canada Novel
Herzog Saul Bellow USA Novel
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 Novels
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
1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez Colombia Novel
The Silent Cry Oe Kenzaburo Japan Novel
The Chosen Chaim Potok USA Novel
The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron USA Novel
Camp Concentration Thomas Disch USA Novel
1968 Cancer Ward Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russia Novel
The First Circle Alexander Solzhenitsyn Russia Novel
A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin USA Novel
The Armies of the Night Norman Mailer USA Novel
Myra Breckinridge Gore Vidal USA Novel
1969 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
Deliverance James Dickey USA Novel
1971 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 Novel
1972 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 Monkey Wrench Gang Edward Abbey USA Novel
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
Song of Solomon Toni Morrison USA Novel
1978 The Sea, the Sea Iris Murdoch England Novel
1978 -2004 The Dark Tower Stephen King USA Novels
1979 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 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
1982 Schindler’s List Thomas Keneally Australia Novel
Shoeless Joe W.P. Kinsella Canada Novel
Baltasar and Blimunda José Sagamago Portugal Novel
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
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
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
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 Trevor William 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
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-1999 works that may eventually be considered for the
Greatest Literature of All Time list, see New Literature

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