# The Dope List of 100 books of the 20th Century **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639 "2002-08-19T20:21:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/21 "2002-08-20T02:14:30Z")
ULYSSES–Joyce FICCIONES–Borges MOLLOY, MALONE DIES, THE UNNAMEABLE (A TRILOGY)–Beckett GRAVITY’S RAINBOW–Pynchon V–Pynchon LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA–Gabriel Garcia Marquez IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME–Proust THE THIRD POLICEMAN–Flann O’Brien CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY–Roald Dahl PALE FIRE–Nabakov IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELLER…–Italo Calvino 1984–Orwell THE RECOGNITIONS–William Gaddis COLLECTED WORKS–Raymond Roussel ---
**Author:** ![Frankovich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Frankovich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankovich)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/22 "2002-08-20T02:37:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Waiting for Godot (Beckett) Die. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/23 "2002-08-20T02:41:50Z")
Nice way to introduce yourself Frankovich. And wasn’t Godot a play, not a book? ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/24 "2002-08-20T03:37:56Z")
Gone with the Wind ---
**Author:** ![Frankovich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Frankovich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankovich)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/25 "2002-08-20T03:43:04Z")
Huk huk huk don’t be so uptight? Heres some links to help you out: [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=jesting](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=jesting) [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=sarcasm](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=sarcasm) [http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=cynicism](http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=cynicism) I don’t plan on sticking around anyway. A contact informed me of the gross misuse of the word influenctial and important, so I felt the need to rectify the situation immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/26 "2002-08-20T03:54:15Z")
I’ll second/third/whatever these: _Animal Farm_ _A Tree Grows in Brooklyn_ _To Kill a Mockingbird_ New nominations: **Maus** by Art Spiegelman **The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** by Douglas Adams **Dragonflight** by Anne McCaffrey **Where the Sidewalk Ends** by Shel Silverstein **The Princess Bride** by William Goldman Would _The Wizard of Oz_ squeak in, having been published in 1900? ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/27 "2002-08-20T03:54:49Z")
Forgot one: WHITE NOISE–Don Delillo ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/28 "2002-08-20T03:55:22Z")
_Flim Flam!_-James Randi And another vote for \* The Demon Haunted World\*. Oh, yeah, and **Frankovich**? Ya might wanna use your dictionary link on the word “influential”. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Frankovich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Frankovich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankovich)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/29 "2002-08-20T04:10:24Z")
See Muad, humor is good. _gives Buck a cookie_ I can’t edit my posts anyway, it always says I don’t have enough access or something. I should post something on topic though. Lord of the Rings and 1984 would be my nominations. If what people tell me is true, the book 1984 stirred up a lot of different reactions and the such in the first few decades after it was written. ---
**Author:** ![Frankovich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Frankovich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankovich)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/30 "2002-08-20T04:13:19Z")
After reading the thread I see both books have been mentioned several times. Since I can’t edit my post, I am forced to post again. Pardon the multiple postings in a row. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/31 "2002-08-20T04:32:11Z")
_The Mismeasure of Man_, Stephen J. Gould _The Schroedinger’s Cat Trilogy_, Robert Anton Wilson And a very strong seconding to the nominated titles by Nabakov, Borges and Calvino. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/32 "2002-08-20T04:48:57Z")
The Maltese Falcon _Hammett_ 1984 _Orwell_ Animal Farm _Orwell_ The Sun Also Rises _Hemingway_ The Right Stuff _Wolfe_ In Cold Blood _Capote_ Portnoy’s Complaint _Roth_ ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/33 "2002-08-20T06:00:02Z")
_The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers_, Kennedy _Lolita_, Nabokov _Watership Down_. Adams _The Cancer Pavilion_, Solzhenytsin _Ten Days that Shook the World_, Reed _The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich_, Shirer Now, the next three titles are definitely controversial, not to say repugnant for most people, but they sure were influential in the 20[sup]th[/sup] century : _Mein Kampf_, Hitler Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book (or whatever its real title is) _Dianetics_, Hubbard. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/34 "2002-08-20T07:14:21Z")
Strictly adhering to the OP, these are my choices, although I reserve the right to put more in, since I’ve been nutsing with this post for almost ten minutes: **Ulysses** Joyce **Youth** (Conrad’s book which included “Heart of Darkness,” 1904 **Kim** Kipling **Winesberg, Ohio** Anderson **Lady Chatterly’s Lover** \*\*The Great Gatsby \*\* Fitzgerald **The Sun Also Rises** Hemingway \*\*The Grapes of Wrath \*\*Steinbeck **Catcher in the Rye** Salinger **Power and the Glory** Graham Greene **The Floating Opera** Barth **On the Road** Kerouac **The Housebreaker of Shady Hill** Cheever **The Counterlife** Roth **Democracy and Education** Dewey **New Viewpoints in American History** Schlesinger **Eminent Victorians** Strachey **Civilization and its Discontents** Freud **The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich** Shirer ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/35 "2002-08-20T07:27:28Z")
\*\*The Grapes of Wrath \*\*Steinbeck **1984** Orwell \*\*Animal Farm \*\*Orwell \*\*The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy \*\*Douglas Adams **The Stand** Stephen King \*\*Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance \*\*Pirsig \*\*Lord of the Flies \*\*Golding \*\*Of Mice and Men \*\*Steinbeck ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/36 "2002-08-20T07:30:48Z")
The single most important book of the 20th century is definitely **Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance** by Robert Pirsig. **Slaughterhouse Five** and **Cat’s Cradle** by Kurt Vonnegut are right up there. As are **Of Mice and Men** by John Steinbeck and **To Kill a Mockingbird** by Harper Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/37 "2002-08-20T07:55:02Z")
Can you add negative votes to have books removed from the growing list? I submit that [ul]\* “Catcher in the Rye” “Lord of the Flies” “The Stand” [/ul]\* should not be on any classics list anywhere. But I would add votes for: non-fiction: **Architecture: A Critical History** by Frampton **The Selfish Gene** by Dawkins also **The Labyrinth of Solitude** by Octavio Paz ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/38 "2002-08-20T09:50:37Z")
Orwell’s 1984, of course, but HOW can anyone ignore… Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD!!! I also vote for (\* denotes, I have not read but either know enough about it or concede to its popular acclaim or that it’s influenced people who have influenced me) Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM Tolkien’s LOTR & THE HOBBIT CS Lewis’s CHRONICLES OF NARNIA+ SPACE TRILOGY (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, & best of all That Hideous Strength+) TILL WE HAVE FACES A GRIEF OBSERVED+ (and maybe MERE C’NITY & SCREWTAPE LETTERS… maybe) Ayn Rand’s THE FOUNTAINHEAD ATLAS SHRUGGED+ Vonnegut’s SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE WIND\* Walker Percy’s LOVE IN THE RUINS+ THE SECOND COMING+ LANCELOT Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Stephen King’s CARRIE THE STAND+ Ray Bradbury Collected Works (yeah, I’m cheating there _L_ but if nothing else- read the story I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC+) Flannery O’Connor WISE BLOOD Elie Wiesel’s NIGHT+ David Chilton’s THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE (Commentary on The Book of Revelation from a Preterist Postmillenial perspective)+ Frederich Von Hayek’s THE ROAD TO SERFDOM\* Rousas John Rushdoony’s INSTITUTES OF BIBLICAL LAW\* M Scott Peck’s THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED+ Milton Friedman’s FREE TO CHOOSE Not particularly the best books on their subjects but these are books which really influenced me at certain times in life- Taylor Caldwell’s CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN Erich Von Daniken’s CHARIOTS OF THE GODS+ Brad Steiger’s MYSTERIES OF TIME AND SPACE+ Hal Lindsey’s THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH+ John Stormer’s NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON+ Gary North’s NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY+ That’s all I can think of at this time. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/39 "2002-08-20T10:12:29Z")
Just adding a few that I’m surprised no one mentioned: How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, John Gray ---
**Author:** ![\_LX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/67e7ee/32.png) [@\_LX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_LX)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639/40 "2002-08-20T11:41:12Z")
1984 - Orwell Brave New World - Huxley Mein Kampf - Hitler (indeed influential) Illuminatus - Wilson & Shea [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-100-books-of-the-20th-century/124639.md?page=3)