NotLegitBroseph so would deserve clockworld orange and fahrenheit 451

@@arikavilasboas9272 I agree.Those are one of my favorite books

Brave new world is amazing and may i say the author was correct the more we know about human brains the more we are understanding that we are nothing more than the chemical and electric signal in our brains hence it just a matter of time till we can hack the human brain and control it

@@bhismakoirala3840 you should read Orwell's 1984, it's a great elaboration of this theme

Whose names are unknown -senora babb

I want to save this

Borges didn’t write novels

olddirtymongrrel i dont get how LOTR is on the top 10 but Harry Potter got an HM. I mean it was literally a global phenomenon when it first came out

NvRxShot x Easy. Harry Potter is just too commercial.

olddirtymongrrel Absolutely agree with you on Dune. Asimov's Foundation trilogy deserves an honorable mention, as does Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. Clarke was great, I just don't know which book I would pick. 2001: A Space Odyssey perhaps, simply because of the impact it had on culture and the cinema.

NvRxShot x phenomenon as a children's book, they're different. LOTR was a better more serious series and written better

One very underrated book in my opinion is 'Among The Hidden' anyone else here agree?

Tronic LT yeah, but the literatture world is so vast that when you make a list like this you're always going to be bound to your point of view ... i guess this where the most influential in american culture.

Tronic LT *Mostly American Novelists: James Joyce was Irish, Tolkien British, Marquez was Latin; I guess and even better title would be Top 10 Western Novelists Who would you suggest from wherever you are from, or from anywhere?

Jeffrey Clemmons Kafka could've had at least an honorable mention.

Tronic LT harry potter ain't american

hiimindstate You are totally forgetting the Europeans, the continental part... What about French, Germans and Italian novelists? On 10 authors, 9 of them wrote in English, and the tenth was put at the tenth place... It should have been titled "top ten books of English XIX century literature (with one exception)" at least

bubba Probably because it has never been made into a movie.

It was a movie I watched it in the 7th grade

Not a movie that made it big, plus that was a criticism of Mojo not you, I love animal farm, I even used it for my senior quote

bubba maybe because 1984 made it and they're both from the same author and i think they applied the 1 book per author rule

Nice, I did "Remember it's a sin to kill a mocking bird" from To Kill a Mocking Bird

I felt happy of that because I'm from Colombia and I think that Gabo is one of the few colombians that change the image that other countries have about my country.

GreatWonderMoose IKR or even The Fountainhead.

GreatWonderMoose no Atlas Shrugged, Dune, Song of Ice an Fire. and most offensive of all they put that over-glorified soap opera Gatsby at number 1!

GreatWonderMoose coz it fucking bullshit, you should haven't enough brain to read it!!

GreatWonderMoose Ayn Rand is notably controversial.

no2party "Song of Ice an Fire" HAHAHA

AZ Adyghe Almost all of them were American, and while America did some pretty great work, America isn't the best at everything, Orwell, and a few others on this list weren't American, but you should rename the list to "From the Western perspective"

Sliver Sithx even from western perspective it is not really correct yes a huge problem is the total lack of chinese and japanese autors but europe seams to be just poorly known as well exept of the one latinamerican one all books on this list were written in english that says pretty much everything +AZ Adyghe the lack of russian autors also has to do with the timespan the 20th century was not the greatest time for russian literature but in a 19th century list there would have to be tolstoi and dostoyevski

elendis16 but it doesn't surprise me american culture and whatsmojo as well are pretty much know for being ignorant and not really being able to see beyond one's own nose

The country with the most Nobel prizes for Literature is France. Yet not one French novel on the list, but Harry Potter makes it to the HM.

AZ Adyghe true but its not only their foult the list is made by them and then there are polls that fans vote one since most fans are americans american/brittish books are going to own the list i mean Harry Potter HM seriusly dont get me wrong i love the book but it dose not belong here it sold well but its not that great artistically

phoenix1985 It continues to hold that title. You are absolutely correct.

@@mcraig1969 Thanks for the confirmation!

Yea no one over the age of 14 would enjoy Harry Potter more than blood meridian

Collier Browne Not particularly influential, and, somewhat, it was a successor to _1984_, plus I really don't see it's independent cultural significance, not enough to justify it at the top 10 of a century wide list, so I can understand it's not being on here.

Collier Browne As much as i love Fahrenheit 451, i don't think it is a Novel, more like a novella

Two years later, a kind but scolding reply: "Fahrenheit 451" burns with a writer's defiance against censorship. The Fire Chief's extraordinary speech at the heart of the novel should be required reading in every free society. "No relevant plot"? You seem to have no clue just how relevant an anti-censorship story was in 1950s America. It was so hard for Bradbury to find a publisher that he turned to the unknown publisher of a new magazine to gain a serialized venue for his story. It appeared in issues 2, 3 and 4. The publisher? Hugh Hefner. The magazine? Playboy. Read about HUAC and the Red Scare and see if the novel's theme seems so pointless. And re-consider it in light of today's atmosphere of "fake news" accusations and "alternative facts" claims. Relevance, elegance and thematic heat are why "Fahrenheit 451" has become a mainstay of contemporary literature.

TeamMastaPr2 i'm not sure but maybe they did like usual with the 1 book per author rule, and 1984 made the list so animal farm couldn't p.s. my english literature this year in school was special, i had to read animal farm first, one of the best novels ever, then tangerine, one of the most boring books i've ever read

TeamMastaPr2 that's NOT a novel!

plazasta Fair point. Should have been mentioned at least just like Of Mice and Men was.

roraio It's definitely not a short story, so what is it then? plazasta Maybe they did, but I don't recall her saying it. We actually read that book in English class, and watched the film version. I really liked it. At least they could have mentioned it along with "1984".

TeamMastaPr2 "Animal Farm" is indeed fantastic, but it's one of his underrated works. More underrated novels are "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, "Watership Down" by Richard Adams, "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer, "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury, and many more.

Dominic Uccelli Really? I thought the film was really good

I hate Lurman's directing. He loses the art of subtlety. It may be accurate to the book but I think it was put together and executed poorly.

Dominic Uccelli I do´t think the movie was shitty, but the book is so good that anything based on it has to be perfect or will be considered crap. PS. I think that movie needed more Jordan Baker, we all need more Jordan Baker in our lives.

Dominic Uccelli I've seen the movie first, then read the book. The movie did everything by the god-damn letter. Its usually the opposite, but no. Gatsby just copied everything, so kinda wierd you say this.

soundtrack was great though better than the movie

Agreed, we are not fully living in it... yet.

We are now. Who would have thought it?.

I'm just a bit irate that White Noise didn't show up on the list

Well, what do you know? Other people have different tastes than you!

+dsanzo they are wrong opinions.

Nicholas Luu Why exactly? Because other people say so? That's not enough to make something wrong.

+dsanzo I think The Recognitions has maybe just a tad bit more literary merit than something like To Kill a Mockingbird. The books/authors I listed are more influential and affect literature/philosophy far greater than something like To Kill a Mockingbird. They are also.... Better.... They say more, what they say is more profound and more novel (pun intended), and they are just.... Better novelist and have written far better novels than the ones listed.

TRUE

Indeed

Thats so true

gerben ferwerda but it really didn`t tbh.

gerben ferwerda Yes, that might be true, I couldn't say, but that whole genre is not as "big" as you'd like to think it is. It's deserving of the 9th spot, nothing more. Realism still trumps over fantasy in most media, even with the contemporary popularity of LotR and George R R Martin's "a Song of Ice and Fire", and their corresponding adaptations.

kuledinho Dude, look, i really like ASoIaF, but it's nothing compared to LotR. LotR created the genre itself, it inspired many other works that followed him, including ASoIaF. ASoIaF wouldn't even exist without LotR. The sales, the prizes, the impact on litarature and pop culture that LotR had is WAY, WAAY bigger than ASoIaF. And we must remember that ASoIaF is a unfinished novel and most of it's books were written in the 21th century. And all the rest of the list, are legendary, awesome pieces of literature, better than ASoIaF...

Dude the lord of the rings built the fantasy genre

1504Shawn except a song of ice and fire wasn't really inspired by Lord of the Rings; they're completely different.

MegaDragonslayer1997 7 ASoIaF was directly influenced by Lord of the Rings, as well as many different events throughout actual history. George R. R. Martin is on record saying this.

MegaDragonslayer1997 Sort of. The setting is inspired by mythology from all over the world, and Tolkien is a part of that inspiration. George has also frequently said that the world and plot was inspired by what he thought didn't work in LOTR. "What was Aragorns tax policy? How did he deal with the orc problem?" I think ASOIAF is more inspired by sci-fi and drama than fantasy, but it would not have been the same without tolkien.

LOTR is great fantasy novel, but it did not have as huge an impact in literature as the other novels on this list have.

Chris Robinson i disagree. It is the DNA on which all fantasy novels since have been based. Especially today, it has more an impact on english culture than the rest of the books on here.

LOTR may not have had a huge impact in literature as the other novels on the list but it had a massive impact in many generations of readers and i think that is a very importan fact that could land LOTR in a better spot on the list

Magma Mage I can see your reasoning behind your statement, but when you think 20th century novels LOTR isn't the first thing that comes to mind. I wholeheartedly believe that LOTR is the superior novel to the ones mentioned on this list, but it doesn't capture what the 20th century was like the other novels on this list did.

Chris Robinson So the 2nd most sold book ever didn't have an impact? And America isn't the world.

In what world is Gabriel Garcia Marquez an American Author?Or Tolkein?Nabokov? James Joyce? George Orwell? Did we watch the same list?

She's just pissd because an American book made the number one spot

Yes

Maddie Storms I think the person didn't see the same list we saw.

That's my question too... Blood Meridian got ignored. Catch 22 too

The Outsider, my husband received it for getting an A in English Language in year 1979 at Sultan Omar Secondary School, Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia.

Really? Hmm that book is boring af

Gabriel Ainsley Maybe to you, but I actually find it interesting :3

Had to read twice and on both occasions never got through it. I prefer Animal Farm but to each it's own

Gabriel Ainsley Haven't read Animal Farm yet but I will once I read The Great Gatsby :)

Cool

they never mention it

They’re making a movie coming out in 2020

Tech Innuendo SHUT UP......the video is starting

The movie was made in 2000, not the book

seanceltics15 I think he is talking about the year

***** hes right. 20th century lasted from jan 1 1901- december 31st 2000. watchmojo probabley got confused between the 1900s and the 20th century. so either they should have considered novels from 2000 or it should have been titled top 10 novels of the 1900s.

Akshay Gavini I know that...I was joking

Jeffrey Clemmons how did you write in itallic?

You use the underscore around the text that you want to be italicized, so: _Invisible Man_ = underscore[Invisible Man] underscore, without the brackets, that's just to show where the text goes.

Jeffrey Clemmons ok so like _This should be itallic according to you?_ ok thanks!

Yeah, you got it; Np.

Jeffrey Clemmons War of the worlds is better i think, but then again it was written in 1898. Don't get me wrong though, I love invisible man, just not as much as war of the worlds. Apart from that Kurt Vonnegut is my favourite sci-fi author.

What about child hoods End ?

I agree with you with all of these works. Atlas Shrugged was voted Time and Time and Time and Again greatest book of all time by so many book of the month clubs Fortune 500 executives, it's been read by more presidents were astronauts more sports figures than any other book and the list.

@@saux4sale4444 atlas shrugged is for morons.

I loved how officer barburady feels about Atlas Shrugged

Retarded book for babies, zero literature value

is it though? HP broke records upon records. totally shifted the landscape for fantasy like nothing else since lotr. i definitely think it deserves to be in the conversation with these other novels listed.

Aza Jabar GoT is a follow-up from these books, esp. LotR, without it, GoT would've never excisted.

Aza Jabar it is an unfinished series, and most of it was already written in the 21st century

Aza Jabar A Song Of Ice And Fire *

xstoofpeer the first book was called GoT, he may be refering to that

the first book isn't a standalone though. All entries are either full finished series, or standalones

Fuck that shit niggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Necromaster2077 The Cthulhu mythos is not a novel, but a common theme contained within a collection of works by H.P. Lovecraft, and then other authors. Everything Lovecraft wrote was short, often only a few pages long. "Call of Cthulhu" is only about 30 pages long, "At the Mountains of Madness" less than 100. Therefore, the longest of his works would be considered noveellas or short stories.

Necromaster2077 Really, you're advocating for one of the most terrible writers (Rand) but you can't even spell the name of her fucking novel?

I know I'm going to get a lot of shit about this but based on what I've seen of WatchMojo, they do not like conservatives much and Atlas Shrugged is highly held by conservative groups

Necromaster2077 Even no The Gulag Archipelago

whitettwhitett The alchemist is pretty bad, but I seem to be the onlyone thinking that.. (._.)

gerben ferwerda As a novel it is not spectacular, but the message the novel sends to the reader can be life changing for some.

Chris Robinson The Alchemist is a poorly written novel that proclaims pseudo intellectual and new age hippy beliefs ... it is not a good novel put it that way.

***** As a novel, no it isn't very well written, but that personal legend mumbo jumbo really helped some people out. I personally thought it was bullshit, but it has changed lives like it or not.

Chris Robinson That doesn't make it good literature

That was a fucking great book. I've read it at least 3x.

amazing book, I read that a few times

YES! I LOVE THAT BOOK SO MUCH!

lol, Dante is a 20th century writer?

You are right. This is all opinion and nothing more. peterjpuleo.blogspot.com

susanka susan Many of the author's people are listing are not 20th century writers.

susanka susan Watchmojo are Canadians you moron. Before you blame Americans and America you should get your facts right.

Lol Dostoevsky, Dumas, Dante? Uhh not really 20th century there bud. I get what you mean though on the strictly American/English books.

You're not the only one

ThePoppie08 Harry Potter does not reflect anything of the era it came out of, it does not reflect any era, and it never will. It is a well written fantasy, and in a century where you have the great epic fantasy world of J.R.Tolkien, with such artistic fervor, that it continues to amaze to this day considering it is the only fantasy novel on this list that had no literary purpose, and wasn't written to convey a part of the current world that the author wanted to bring attention to, when comparing Harry Potter with Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, considering The Lord of the Rings got ninth (which I personally do not agree with) Harry Potter does not deserve a place on this list it is not of great literary merit, it is not rich with complexity, the only reason it made this list as an honorable mention is because of the mass fan dome that thinks it is the best thing ever, most of those people are not well read, and only read Harry Potter because it is something that everyone does. It is not read because it is of significant literary merit it is simply read because of its popularity. While competing against other silly meaningless books, Harry Potter would do well in a competition, but when competing against some of the greatest literary works of all time, it falls way down the list behind so many greater books.

Sliver Sithx It's a childrens book tho

Charlie Brown you do know Watchmojo are Canadians? every video there's some children, like you, crying about America despite the fact that the people who create this shit channel are Canadians.

Sorry for a Canadian.

Atom Heart Mother Suite it's a novella (a very good one), maybe that's the reason.

Krzysztof Ka I mean, arguably _The Great Gatsby_ is a novellas well, the thing is roughly 130 pages, in the edition that I have, which to me is just on the cusp of novel length, yet it stands at the top of the list.

Jeffrey Clemmons that's interesting. here's what i have found considering this issue www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-a-short-story-and-a-novella. looks like it's not just the lenght of a written story.

Atom Heart Mother Suite Written in 1899

half of these are graphic novels

Ciaran IL Hororable Mention, I agree.

I haven't read GR (yet), but I love Lot 49 by Pynchon. GR is typically considered his greatest novel, and among serious literary critics and historians I think it would make a top ten 20th century novels list. I mean, Proust wasn't even mentioned on here, or Blood Meridian. But then WatchMojo is very populist and seems aimed at increasingly young audiences. I mean, everyone on here is complaining Harry Potter and Game of Thrones aren't on the list....

Edward Chamberlin I, being of that younger audience, probably would have been upset if they seriously put Harry Potter on the list, mostly because while I understand that it's been a cultural phenomenon, I don't find it to be a particular gem in contrast to a lot of other works; and going on the idea that it's a phenomenon, it's a highly modern phenomenon with the bulk of the series' popularity being in the 21st century. Same with A Song of Ice and Fire, specifically _A Game of Thrones_; while the book is great, not only is it part of an unfinished story, but it's too highly influenced by the fantasy literature that preceded it.

Edward Chamberlin Not to mention Albert Camu, Jean Genet or Sartre.

Jeffrey Clemmons Good comments, Jeffrey. Even if one was really into Harry Potter (and, believe me, I was very into all of them when they came out) and Song of Ice and Fire (I haven't read these yet...but it goes without saying that I need to!), you are right that the majority of the books came out in the 21st century, and therefore maybe they should be placed there (they grouped Lord of the Rings together as one entry, so I'm guessing they would have for Harry Potter or Song of Ice and Fire as well). And, JayVBear, Camus and Sartre are great (I remember reading The Plague in college). I've actually never heard of Jean Genet! I'm guessing someone I should read?

Super_sonic_moo Go watch some peter jackson movies. i bet u dont even know the 8 following books after lotr was mentioned

Super_sonic_moo While I agree it is a wonderful fantasy novel, it did not have as big of an impact on american literature than the other books on the list

Hunter Mauldin Correct, even *if* the book was amazing literature it did not impact the American people greatly at the time. Was Stephen King's The Stand on this?

I've never read it and I still agree...

kyle alves So what?? The book need to impress American people now? LOL

***** i am almost 17, i just like the fantasy genre little bitch :)

jermaine vink fantasy is for wimps like you.

jermaine vink wtf you'er talking about, if l like SW it dosn't mean that I have in minde it, l'm talking about all literature, that have social or political, both themes, metafors to disclose these issues, connotation that are used to make writing more interesting, innovative, not just full of meaningless action. LOTR have some of it, HP not so.

masterokaslt30000 come on, even you have to admit lort is much more fun then boring politics. i mean. if you say politics i say SNORE

Cause u don't know what the 20th century is

^

Well, the series hasn’t been finished yet. Only 2 books came out during the 20th century. So that means it’s a series of the 21st century, not 20th.

How does anyone read finnegans wake, been trying for months

Don't forget Under The mo-fo Volcano, Duuuudez