Best novel of the 20th Century?

[Cindy87]

My nomination is The Bell Jar.

biblibio.blogspot.com/2019/08/witmonth-day-26-100-best-books-by-women.html?m=1This list is an interesting list, it's the results of a poll to vote for the best books by women in translation, I've read only 10 of these and have read other books by one or two of the authors but it's a good indication of the world of books that generally English speaking readers aren't aware of.

Thanks to everyone who has nominated a book or even a few. I am basically using this thread to remove the ones I have already read and then use the ones I haven't as suggestions of what to read next. It occured to me I haven't read anything from the 20th Century in quite a while and I prefer more literary novels.

With this in mind, no need to overthink the term "best", and if you feel disappointed with the lack of diversity in the suggestions, feel free to add a few of your own.

Thanks!

@MrsKeats

Middlemarch

Magnificent, but wrong century.

I’m a sucker for a bit of Daphne de Maurier. Have you read The scapegoat?

A few of my favourites have already been mentioned.

However I would urge EVERYONE to go and read We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Read it recently and it absolutely floored me. Incredible in lots of ways.

My DH saw an interview in the paper with an author he knows I like, they listed it as their favourite book of all time, so he ordered me a copy of it for Christmas. My favourite Christmas present by far!

Oooh, I just recently bought We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Now very much looking forward to it! Well, even more. It already sounded pretty great!

Lots of my favourites have already been mentioned here. I will have a think and come up with some of my less well known book loves.

I dont know about 'best' but, looking over my bookcase now, here are some that I thought were pretty brilliant:

The red tent-Anita Diamant
Giovanni's room- James Baldwin
The Copenhagen trilogy- Tove Ditlevsen
The lover- Marguarite Duras
The golden notebook- Doris Lessing
The God of small things- Arundhati Roy
Love in the time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Virginia Woolf- to the light house
The house of the spirits- Isabel Allende
The poisenwood bible- Barbara Kingsolver
The Balkan trilogy- Olivia Manning

@Bimblybomeyelash

I’m a sucker for a bit of Daphne de Maurier. Have you read The scapegoat?

I loved Rebecca but never got on with any of her others - haven't read The Scapegoat though, worth a go?

Another nomination from me - The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Ooh, one more
Cassandra at the wedding- Dorothy Baker.

Love this thread!

I really enjoyed Perfume by Patrick Suskind

@GCAcademic

Midnight's Children. It's not a book that I particularly enjoyed reading but in terms of its literary craftsmanship it's outstanding.

If I were to put actually enjoying reading it into the equation, I would say A Fine Balance. Mistry was robbed of the Booker Prize for that.

I agree - I have often thought of A Fine Balance in the many years since I read it. It is such a brilliantly told story but also just opened my eyes to experiences and places I had v little knowledge of in my 20s

I don't think these have been mentioned:

The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

A Little Life is an absolute masterpiece.

@JaninaDuszejko

And yet Sylvia Plath, Daphne du Maurier, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel and Pat Barker have been mentioned already.

All white, all ethnically European. This is a female dominated forum so I'd expect there to be more women recommended here but MN does not reflect the wider world. Most published books are written by men, most nominees for and winners of literary prizes are men and 'best 100 books' list are always dominated by men. This all despite middle aged women being the biggest consumers of books.

You, or whichever poster, said ‘as can already be seen, most people choose white European males’. I was pointing out that they hadn’t. In fact I read in five languages, and fairly widely in translation from languages I don’t read well, and those are still my top choices.

The Bell Jar was my first thought too.

The Handmaid’s Tale
Rebecca
The Great Gatsby
The Remains of the Day

@JaninaDuszejko I could have added many many books but this is about our perception of 'best'.

My top ten would include a diverse range of writers from Toni Morrison to Tan Twan Eng.

This week at school I have taught poems by Duffy, Angelou, Dharker and Agard. Most of us will have read from a huge range of writers

Things Fall Apart

I’m unable to decide between The Reader and Flowers for Algernon. Unforgettable.

Definitely Jane Eyre - I loved it 😊.

Jane Eyre is an amazing novel, but wrong century!

The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett.
Magnificent and I found it at the perfect time in my life.

Remains of the Day

The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann.

Difficult question!
Unless by Carol Shields
Catch 22
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Memoirs of a geisha is brilliant, although I reread it recently and wondered whether it would be published today.

Going to pop Slaughterhouse 5 in here.