Candidates

389 of 460 works
TitleYearLists
All the King's Men — Robert Penn Warren19473
Invisible Man — Ralph Ellison19533
Midnight's Children — Salman Rushdie19813
The Adventures of Augie March — Saul Bellow19543
The Bridge of San Luis Rey — Thornton Wilder19283
The Corrections — Jonathan Franzen20013
The Grapes of Wrath — John Steinbeck19403
The Moviegoer — Walker Percy19623
The Underground Railroad — Colson Whitehead20163
A Brief History of Seven Killings — Marlon James20152
A Clockwork Orange — Anthony Burgess—2
A Dance to the Music of Time — Anthony Powell—2
A Death in the Family — James Agee19582
A Fable — William Faulkner19552
A Handful of Dust — Evelyn Waugh—2
A House for Mr Biswas — V.S. Naipaul—2
A Passage to India — E.M. Forster—2
A Visit from the Goon Squad — Jennifer Egan20112
All the Light We Cannot See — Anthony Doerr20152
American Pastoral — Philip Roth19982
An American Tragedy — Theodore Dreiser—2
Angle of Repose — Wallace Stegner19722
Animal Farm — George Orwell—2
Appointment in Samarra — John O'Hara—2
At Swim-Two-Birds — Flann O'Brien—2
Atonement — Ian McEwan—2
Beloved — Toni Morrison19882
Brideshead Revisited — Evelyn Waugh—2
Bring Up the Bodies — Hilary Mantel20122
Call It Sleep — Henry Roth—2
Catch-22 — Joseph Heller—2
Death Comes for the Archbishop — Willa Cather—2
Deliverance — James Dickey—2
Demon Copperhead — Barbara Kingsolver20232
Dog Soldiers — Robert Stone19752
From Here to Eternity — James Jones19522
Gilead — Marilynne Robinson20052
Go Tell It on the Mountain — James Baldwin—2
Gone with the Wind — Margaret Mitchell19372
Herzog — Saul Bellow19652
I Claudius — Robert Graves—2
Ironweed — William Kennedy19842
James — Percival Everett20242
Light in August — William Faulkner—2
Lincoln in the Bardo — George Saunders20172
Lolita — Vladimir Nabokov—2
Lord of the Flies — William Golding—2
Loving — Henry Green—2
Middlesex — Jeffrey Eugenides20032
Native Son — Richard Wright—2
Olive Kitteridge — Elizabeth Strout20092
On the Road — Jack Kerouac—2
Pale Fire — Vladimir Nabokov—2
Portnoy's Complaint — Philip Roth—2
Possession — A.S. Byatt19902
Rabbit Is Rich — John Updike19822
Ragtime — E.L. Doctorow—2
Salvage the Bones — Jesmyn Ward20112
Sing Unburied Sing — Jesmyn Ward20172
Sophie's Choice — William Styron19802
The Age of Innocence — Edith Wharton19212
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay — Michael Chabon20012
The Berlin Stories — Christopher Isherwood—2
The Blind Assassin — Margaret Atwood20002
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao — Junot Diaz20082
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter — Katherine Anne Porter19662
The Color Purple — Alice Walker19832
The Confessions of Nat Turner — William Styron19682
The Day of the Locust — Nathanael West—2
The Death of the Heart — Elizabeth Bowen—2
The Fixer — Bernard Malamud19672
The Friend — Sigrid Nunez20182
The Goldfinch — Donna Tartt20142
The Great Gatsby — F. Scott Fitzgerald—2
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter — Carson McCullers—2
The Heart of the Matter — Graham Greene—2
The Known World — Edward P. Jones20042
The Line of Beauty — Alan Hollinghurst20042
The Magnificent Ambersons — Booth Tarkington19192
The Nickel Boys — Colson Whitehead20202
The Overstory — Richard Powers20192
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie — Muriel Spark—2
The Road — Cormac McCarthy20072
The Sellout — Paul Beatty20162
The Shipping News — E. Annie Proulx19932
The Sot-Weed Factor — John Barth—2
The Sound and the Fury — William Faulkner—2
The Sun Also Rises — Ernest Hemingway—2
The Sympathizer — Viet Thanh Nguyen20162
The Wapshot Chronicle — John Cheever19582
To Kill a Mockingbird — Harper Lee19612
To the Lighthouse — Virginia Woolf—2
Tree of Smoke — Denis Johnson20072
Tropic of Cancer — Henry Miller—2
Trust — Hernan Diaz20232
Under the Net — Iris Murdoch—2
Under the Volcano — Malcolm Lowry—2
White Noise — Don DeLillo19852
White Teeth — Zadie Smith—2
Wide Sargasso Sea — Jean Rhys—2
Wolf Hall — Hilary Mantel20092
10:04 — Ben Lerner—1
2666 — Roberto Bolano—1
A Bell for Adano — John Hersey19451
A Bend in the River — V.S. Naipaul—1
A Confederacy of Dunces — John Kennedy Toole19811
A Crown of Feathers — Isaac Bashevis Singer19741
A Farewell to Arms — Ernest Hemingway—1
A Frolic of His Own — William Gaddis19941
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain — Robert Olen Butler19931
A High Wind in Jamaica — Richard Hughes—1
A Manual for Cleaning Women — Lucia Berlin—1
A Mercy — Toni Morrison—1
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — James Joyce—1
A Room with a View — E.M. Forster—1
A Summons to Memphis — Peter Taylor19871
A Thousand Acres — Jane Smiley19921
Advise and Consent — Allen Drury19601
Alice Adams — Booth Tarkington19221
All Aunt Hagar's Children — Edward P. Jones—1
All the Pretty Horses — Cormac McCarthy19921
Americanah — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie—1
Amsterdam — Ian McEwan19981
An American Marriage — Tayari Jones—1
Andersonville — MacKinlay Kantor19561
Arrowsmith — Sinclair Lewis19261
As I Lay Dying — William Faulkner—1
Austerlitz — W.G. Sebald—1
Bel Canto — Ann Patchett—1
Blackouts — Justin Torres20231
Blood Meridian — Cormac McCarthy—1
Blood Tie — Mary Lee Settle19781
Brave New World — Aldous Huxley—1
Breathing Lessons — Anne Tyler19891
Charming Billy — Alice McDermott19981
Chimera — John Barth19731
Cloud Atlas — David Mitchell—1
Cold Mountain — Charles Frazier19971
Darkness at Noon — Arthur Koestler—1
Detransition Baby — Torrey Peters—1
Disgrace — J.M. Coetzee19991
Dragon's Teeth — Upton Sinclair19431
Early Autumn — Louis Bromfield19271
Elbow Room — James Alan McPherson19781
Empire Falls — Richard Russo20021
Erasure — Percival Everett—1
Europe Central — William T. Vollmann20051
Exit West — Mohsin Hamid—1
Falconer — John Cheever—1
Foreign Affairs — Alison Lurie19851
Fortune Smiles — Adam Johnson20151
G. — John Berger19721
Girl Woman Other — Bernardine Evaristo20191
Going After Cacciato — Tim O'Brien19791
Goodbye Columbus — Philip Roth19601
Gravity's Rainbow — Thomas Pynchon—1
Guard of Honor — James Gould Cozzens19491
Heart of Darkness — Joseph Conrad—1
Heat and Dust — Ruth Prawer Jhabvala19751
Hell of a Book — Jason Mott20211
Henderson the Rain King — Saul Bellow—1
His Family — Ernest Poole19181
Holiday — Stanley Middleton19741
Honey in the Horn — H.L. Davis19361
Hotel du Lac — Anita Brookner19841
House Made of Dawn — N. Scott Momaday19691
Housekeeping — Marilynne Robinson—1
How Late It Was How Late — James Kelman19941
How to Be Both — Ali Smith—1
Howards End — E.M. Forster—1
Humboldt's Gift — Saul Bellow19761
Hurricane Season — Fernanda Melchor—1
In a Free State — V.S. Naipaul19711
In America — Susan Sontag20001
In This Our Life — Ellen Glasgow19421
Independence Day — Richard Ford19961
Infinite Jest — David Foster Wallace—1
Interior Chinatown — Charles Yu20201
Interpreter of Maladies — Jhumpa Lahiri20001
Journey in the Dark — Martin Flavin19441
JR — William Gaddis19761
Kim — Rudyard Kipling—1
Lamb in His Bosom — Caroline Miller19341
Last Orders — Graham Swift19961
Laughing Boy — Oliver La Farge19301
Less — Andrew Sean Greer20181
Let the Great World Spin — Colum McCann20091
Life After Life — Kate Atkinson—1
Life and Times of Michael K — J.M. Coetzee19831
Life of Pi — Yann Martel20021
Lonesome Dove — Larry McMurtry19861
Lord Jim — Joseph Conrad—1
Lord of Misrule — Jaimy Gordon20101
Lucky Jim — Kingsley Amis—1
Main Street — Sinclair Lewis—1
March — Geraldine Brooks20061
Martin Dressler — Steven Millhauser19971
Mating — Norman Rush19911
Middle Passage — Charles Johnson19901
Milkman — Anna Burns20181
Money — Martin Amis—1
Moon Tiger — Penelope Lively19871
Morte d'Urban — J.F. Powers19631
Mr. Sammler's Planet — Saul Bellow19711
Mrs. Dalloway — Virginia Woolf—1
My Brilliant Friend — Elena Ferrante—1
Naked Lunch — William S. Burroughs—1
Night Watch — Jayne Anne Phillips20241
Nostromo — Joseph Conrad—1
Now in November — Josephine Winslow Johnson19351
Of Human Bondage — W. Somerset Maugham—1
Offshore — Penelope Fitzgerald19791
On Beauty — Zadie Smith—1
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest — Ken Kesey—1
One of Ours — Willa Cather19231
Orbital — Samantha Harvey20241
Oscar and Lucinda — Peter Carey19881
Outline — Rachel Cusk—1
Pachinko — Min Jin Lee—1
Paco's Story — Larry Heinemann19871
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha — Roddy Doyle19931
Parade's End — Ford Madox Ford—1
Paris Trout — Pete Dexter19881
Pastoralia — George Saunders—1
Plains Song — Wright Morris19811
Play It As It Lays — Joan Didion—1
Prophet Song — Paul Lynch20231
Rabbit at Rest — John Updike19911
Rabbit Run — John Updike—1
Red Harvest — Dashiell Hammett—1
Redeployment — Phil Klay20141
Revolutionary Road — Richard Yates—1
Rites of Passage — William Golding19801
Runaway — Alice Munro—1
Sabbath's Theater — Philip Roth19951
Sacred Hunger — Barry Unsworth19921
Saville — David Storey19761
Scarlet Sister Mary — Julia Peterkin19291
Schindler's Ark — Thomas Keneally19821
Scoop — Evelyn Waugh—1
Secondhand Time — Svetlana Alexievich—1
Septology — Jon Fosse—1
Shadow Country — Peter Matthiessen20081
Ship Fever — Andrea Barrett19961
Shuggie Bain — Douglas Stuart20201
Sister Carrie — Theodore Dreiser—1
Slaughterhouse-Five — Kurt Vonnegut—1
Small Things Like These — Claire Keegan—1
So Big — Edna Ferber19251
Something to Answer For — P.H. Newby19691
Sons and Lovers — D.H. Lawrence—1
Spartina — John Casey19891
Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel—1
Staying On — Paul Scott19771
Steps — Jerzy Kosinski19691
Tales of the South Pacific — James Michener19481
Ten North Frederick — John O'Hara19561
Tender Is the Night — F. Scott Fitzgerald—1
Tenth of December — George Saunders—1
The Able McLaughlins — Margaret Wilson19241
The Alexandria Quartet — Lawrence Durrell—1
The Ambassadors — Henry James—1
The Assistant — Bernard Malamud—1
The Big Money — John Dos Passos—1
The Big Sleep — Raymond Chandler—1
The Bone People — Keri Hulme19851
The Caine Mutiny — Herman Wouk19521
The Call of the Wild — Jack London—1
The Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger—1
The Centaur — John Updike19641
The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford — Jean Stafford19701
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis — Lydia Davis—1
The Collected Stories of William Faulkner — William Faulkner19511
The Complete Stories — Flannery O'Connor19721
The Conservationist — Nadine Gordimer19741
The Copenhagen Trilogy — Tove Ditlevsen—1
The Crying of Lot 49 — Thomas Pynchon—1
The Days of Abandonment — Elena Ferrante—1
The Echo Maker — Richard Powers20061
The Edge of Sadness — Edwin O'Connor19621
The Eighth Day — Thornton Wilder19681
The Elected Member — Bernice Rubens19701
The English Patient — Michael Ondaatje19921
The Executioner's Song — Norman Mailer19801
The Famished Road — Ben Okri19911
The Field of Vision — Wright Morris19571
The Finkler Question — Howard Jacobson20101
The Flamethrowers — Rachel Kushner—1
The French Lieutenant's Woman — John Fowles—1
The Gathering — Anne Enright20071
The Ghost Road — Pat Barker19951
The Ginger Man — J.P. Donleavy—1
The God of Small Things — Arundhati Roy19971
The Golden Notebook — Doris Lessing—1
The Good Earth — Pearl S. Buck19321
The Good Lord Bird — James McBride20131
The Good Soldier — Ford Madox Ford—1
The Great Believers — Rebecca Makkai—1
The Great Fire — Shirley Hazzard20031
The Hours — Michael Cunningham19991
The House of Mirth — Edith Wharton—1
The Human Stain — Philip Roth—1
The Inheritance of Loss — Kiran Desai20061
The Keepers of the House — Shirley Ann Grau19651
The Killer Angels — Michael Shaara19751
The Last Samurai — Helen DeWitt—1
The Late George Apley — John P. Marquand19381
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe — C.S. Lewis—1
The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien—1
The Luminaries — Eleanor Catton20131
The Magic Barrel — Bernard Malamud19591
The Maltese Falcon — Dashiell Hammett—1
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love — Oscar Hijuelos19901
The Man Who Loved Children — Christina Stead—1
The Man with the Golden Arm — Nelson Algren19501
The Naked and the Dead — Norman Mailer—1
The Narrow Road to the Deep North — Richard Flanagan20141
The Netanyahus — Joshua Cohen20221
The News from Paraguay — Lily Tuck20041
The Night Watchman — Louise Erdrich20211
The Old Devils — Kingsley Amis19861
The Old Man and the Sea — Ernest Hemingway19531
The Old Wives' Tale — Arnold Bennett—1
The Optimist's Daughter — Eudora Welty19731
The Orphan Master's Son — Adam Johnson20131
The Painted Bird — Jerzy Kosinski—1
The Plot Against America — Philip Roth—1
The Postman Always Rings Twice — James M. Cain—1
The Power and the Glory — Graham Greene—1
The Promise — Damon Galgut20211
The Rabbit Hutch — Tess Gunty20221
The Rainbow — D.H. Lawrence—1
The Recognitions — William Gaddis—1
The Reivers — William Faulkner19631
The Remains of the Day — Kazuo Ishiguro19891
The Return — Hisham Matar—1
The Round House — Louise Erdrich20121
The Savage Detectives — Roberto Bolano—1
The Sea — John Banville20051
The Sea the Sea — Iris Murdoch19781
The Secret Agent — Joseph Conrad—1
The Sense of an Ending — Julian Barnes20111
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida — Shehan Karunatilaka20221
The Sheltering Sky — Paul Bowles—1
The Siege of Krishnapur — J.G. Farrell19731
The Spectator Bird — Wallace Stegner19771
The Sportswriter — Richard Ford—1
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold — John le Carre—1
The Stone Diaries — Carol Shields19951
The Store — T.S. Stribling19331
The Stories of John Cheever — John Cheever19791
The Story of the Lost Child — Elena Ferrante—1
The Testaments — Margaret Atwood20191
The Town — Conrad Richter19511
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters — Robert Lewis Taylor19591
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible — Rabih Alameddine20251
The Vegetarian — Han Kang—1
The Waters of Kronos — Conrad Richter19611
The Way of All Flesh — Samuel Butler—1
The Way West — A.B. Guthrie Jr.19501
The White Tiger — Aravind Adiga20081
The Wings of the Dove — Henry James—1
The Yearling — Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings19391
Their Eyes Were Watching God — Zora Neale Hurston—1
them — Joyce Carol Oates19701
Things Fall Apart — Chinua Achebe—1
Three Junes — Julia Glass20021
Tinkers — Paul Harding20101
Tobacco Road — Erskine Caldwell—1
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow — Gabrielle Zevin—1
Train Dreams — Denis Johnson—1
Troubles — J.G. Farrell19701
True History of the Kelly Gang — Peter Carey20011
Trust Exercise — Susan Choi20191
Ubik — Philip K. Dick—1
Ulysses — James Joyce—1
USA Trilogy — John Dos Passos—1
Vernon God Little — DBC Pierre20031
Veronica — Mary Gaitskill—1
Victory over Japan — Ellen Gilchrist19841
Waiting — Ha Jin19991
Watchmen — Alan Moore—1
We the Animals — Justin Torres—1
When We Cease to Understand the World — Benjamin Labatut—1
Winesburg Ohio — Sherwood Anderson—1
Women in Love — D.H. Lawrence—1
World's Fair — E.L. Doctorow19861
Years of Grace — Margaret Ayer Barnes19311
Zuleika Dobson — Max Beerbohm—1