List :: 100 Greatest Novels of All Time by The Guardian

  • The Catcher in the Rye

    #61

    The Catcher in the Rye

    by J. D. Salinger

    (44 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 7

    735 points

    "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they...

  • Wise Blood

    #62

    Wise Blood

    by Flannery O'Connor

    (3 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 250

    84 points

    "Hazel Motes sat at a forward angle on the green plush train seat, looking one minute at the window as if he might want to jump out of it, and the next down the aisle at the other end of the car."

  • Charlotte's Web

    #63

    Charlotte's Web

    by E. B. White

    (26 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 75

    236 points

    "Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."

  • The Lord of the Rings

    #64

    The Lord of the Rings

    by J. R. R. Tolkien

    (36 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 11

    691 points

    "When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."

  • Lucky Jim

    #65

    Lucky Jim

    by Kingsley Amis

    (4 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 149

    133 points

    "They made a silly mistake, though," the Professor of History said, and his smile, as Dixon watched, gradually sank beneath the surface of his features at the memory.

  • Lord of the Flies

    #66

    Lord of the Flies

    by William Golding

    (43 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 20

    537 points

    "The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon."

  • The Quiet American

    #67

    The Quiet American

    by Graham Greene

    (3 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 461

    34 points

    "After dinner I sat and waited for Pyle in my room over the rue Catinat; he had said, ‘I’ll be with you at latest by ten,’ and when midnight struck I couldn’t stay quiet any longer and went down..."

  • On the Road

    #68

    On the Road

    by Jack Kerouac

    (14 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 18

    543 points

    "I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up."

  • Lolita

    #69

    Lolita

    by Vladimir Nabokov

    (35 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 5

    856 points

    "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palette to tap, at three, on the teeth."

  • The Tin Drum

    #70

    The Tin Drum

    by Günter Grass

    (4 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 93

    201 points

    "Granted: I'm an inmate of a mental institution; my keeper watches me, scarcely lets me out of his sight; for there's a peephole in the door, and my keeper's eye is the shade of brown that can't see..."