I would like to know the 100 or so best-known book titles in the United States.
It makes no difference whether they are recent or ancient classics.
There is proably no way to answer this question directly. The answer
would have to be inferred from a list of most popular books,
bestselling books of all time, etc.

---

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 25 Sep 2006 12:24 PDT

Copyguy,

Would the 100 Best Novels work for you?
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100best.html

--Bobbie7

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 25 Sep 2006 13:11 PDT

copyguy-ga,

I have a list of several hundred books that are the most popular in
terms of library holdings...the more libraries that have the book on
the shelves, the higher it ranks on the list.

Many of the books are easily recognizable...but others are a bit of a
surprise.  I've posted the Top 25 on the list, below.  Let me know if
you'd like the full list (of about 300 books) as an answer to your
question.

pafalafa-ga

========================


1.  In search of excellence :
lessons from America's best-run companies  
 Peters, Thomas J.; Waterman, Robert H.

  
2.  The closing of the American mind :
how higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls
of today's students
 Bloom, Allan David, 1930-1992.

  
3.  Roots  
 Haley, Alex.

  
4.  A brief history of time :
from the big bang to black holes  
 Hawking, S. W.

  
5.  Familiar quotations :
a collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs traced to their
sources in ancient and modern literature
 Bartlett, John, 1820-1905, comp.; Beck, Emily Morison.

  
6.  Iacocca :
an autobiography  
 Iacocca, Lee A.; Novak, William.

  
7.  Truman  
 McCullough, David G.

  
8.  Coming on home soon  
 Woodson, Jacqueline.; Lewis, Earl B.,

  
9.  Megatrends :
ten new directions transforming our lives  
 Naisbitt, John.

  
10.  The Polar Express  

  
11.  Lincoln :
a photobiography  
 Freedman, Russell.

  
12.  Lake Wobegon days  
 Keillor, Garrison.

  
13.  The Supreme Court of the United States :
its beginnings & its justices, 1790-1991. 

  
14.  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. 

  
15.  Kira-kira  

  
16.  The Penderwicks : a summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits, and
a very interesting boy

  
17.  A light in the attic  
 Silverstein, Shel.

  
18.  A passion for excellence :
the leadership difference  
 Peters, Thomas J.; Austin, Nancy.

  
19.  The Brethren :
inside the Supreme Court  
 Woodward, Bob.; Armstrong, Scott,

  
20.  A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations  

  
21.  The final days  
 Woodward, Bob.; Bernstein, Carl,

  
22.  The miraculous journey of Edward Tulane  

  
23.  Sarah, plain and tall  
 MacLachlan, Patricia.

  
24.  Show way  
 Woodson, Jacqueline.; Talbott, Hudson,

  
25.  Silent spring  
 Carson, Rachel, 1907-1964.; Darling, Lois.; Darling, Louis.

---

Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 25 Sep 2006 13:36 PDT

Hi copyguy,

How's this?

Bestselling Books for the Twentieth Century For Every Year
Publishers Weekly's entire list of the bestselling book for each year
from 1900 to 1998.
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Community/Featured/bestSellers20thCentury.shtml

Regards,
hummer

Hi again, copyguy,

I noticed that you haven't received an answer yet (or responded to our
clarifications) so I thought I'd have another look.  I found a
terrific list of links at the Calgary Public Library website, and I
decided to combine three of the lists that I found there to make a new
list for you: Time's All Time 100 Novels, Random House 100 Best Novels
Board's List, and Random House 100 Best Novels Readers' List. I think
between the three of these, we can come up with a pretty good idea of
what the most popular books have been, in particular the first 24 that
are on all three lists and the following 25-68 that are on at least
two of the lists. The remainder are on just one of the lists.

Time - All Time 100 Novels
The Complete List
In Alphabetical Order
http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html

Random House Modern Library
100 Best Novels
The Board's List / The Reader's List
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html


> On all three lists
 1. 1984 by George Orwell
 2. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
 3. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
 4. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
 5. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
 6. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
 7. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
 8. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
 9. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
10. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
11. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
13. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
14. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
15. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
16. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
19. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
20. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
21. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
22. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
23. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
24. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry

>On at least two of the lists
25. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
26. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
27. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
28. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
29. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
30. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
31. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
32. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
33. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
34. ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. AT SWIM-TWO-BIRDS by Flann O'Brien
37. BELOVED by Toni Morrison
38. BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy
39. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
40. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
41. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
42. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
43. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
44. GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
45. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
46. LOVING by Henry Green
47. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
48. NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs
49. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
50. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
51. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
52. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
53. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
54. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
55. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
56. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
57. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
58. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
59. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
60. THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN by John Fowles
61. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
62. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
63. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
64. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
65. THE RECOGNITIONS by William Gaddis
66.TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
67. ULYSSES by James Joyce
68. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
69. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys

> On Just One of the Lists
70. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
71. A Death in the Family by James Agee
72. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
73. American Pastoral by Philip Roth
74. A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
75. A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute
76. ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner
77. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
78. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
79. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
80. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by H.P. Lovecraft
81. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
82. Atonement by Ian McEwan
83. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
84. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
85. Call It Sleep by Henry Roth
86. CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY by Robert Heinlein
87. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
88. Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
89. DOUBLE STAR by Robert Heinlein
90. DUNE by Frank Herbert
91. ENDER'S GAME by Orson Scott Card
92. Falconer by John Cheever
93. FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
94. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
95. FIFTH BUSINESS by Robertson Davies
96. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
97. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
98. GREENMANTLE by Charles de Lint
99. GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton
100. Herzog by Saul Bellow
101. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
102. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
103. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
104. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
105. ILLUSIONS by Richard Bach
106. IT by Stephen King
107. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
108. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
109. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
110. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
111. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
112. MEMORY AND DREAM by Charles de Lint
113. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
114. Money by Martin Amis
115. MOONHEART by Charles de Lint
116. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
117. MULENGRO by Charles de Lint
118. MY ANTONIA by Willa Cather
119. MYTHAGO WOOD by Robert Holdstock
120. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
121. Neuromancer by William Gibson
122. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
123. ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute
124. ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane
125. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
126. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
127. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
128. Possession by A.S. Byatt
129. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
130. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
131. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
132. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh 
133. SHANE by Jack Schaefer
134. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
135. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
136. SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING by Charles de Lint
137. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury
138. SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION by Ken Kesey
139. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
140. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
141. STARSHIP TROOPERS by Robert Heinlein
142. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert Heinlein
143. SUTTREE by Cormac McCarthy
144. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
145. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
146. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
147. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
148. The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
149. The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
150. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
151. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
152. The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
153. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
154. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
155. THE CUNNING MAN by Robertson Davies
156. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER by Robert Heinlein
157. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
158. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
159. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
160. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
161. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
162. THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood
163. THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson
164. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
165. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
166. THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy
167. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
168. THE LITTLE COUNTRY by Charles de Lint
169. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington
170. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
171. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
172. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by Robert Heinlein
173. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
174. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
175. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
176. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
177. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
178. THE PUPPET MASTERS by Robert Heinlein
179. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
180. THE SATANIC VERSES by Salman Rushdie
181. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
182. The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
183. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
184. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
185. THE STAND by Stephen King
186. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
187. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
188. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
189. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
190. THE WOOD WIFE by Terri Windling
191. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving
192. THE WORM OUROBOROS by E.R. Eddison
193. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
194. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
195. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
196. TRADER by Charles de Lint
197. TRUSTEE FROM THE TOOLROOM by Nevil Shute
198. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
199. Ubik by Philip K. Dick
200. V. by Thomas Pynchon
201. Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
202. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
203. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
204. White Noise by Don DeLillo
205. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
206. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
207. WISE BLOOD by Flannery O'Connor
208. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
209. YARROW by Charles de Lint
210. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert Pirsig
211. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm

Additional Links of Interest:

CALGARY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Fiction and Leisure Reading List
Best Sellers
Literary Awards
E-Library Reader's Resources
Popular Reading Lists
Great Reads
Book News and Reviews
Fiction: the Readers' Nook
Genre Fiction
Series
http://www.calgarypubliclibrary.com/links/lkfictn.htm#GREAT%20READS

Random House Modern Library
100 Best Nonfiction
The Board's List / The Reader's List
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnonfiction.html

The Hungry Mind Review's 100 Best 20th Century Books
http://www.bookspot.com/listhungry100.htm

Bestseller Lists 1900-1995
http://www.caderbooks.com/bestintro.html

Bestselling Books for the Twentieth Century For Every Year
Publishers Weekly's entire list of the bestselling book for each year
from 1900 to 1998.
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Community/Featured/bestSellers20thCentury.shtml

I hope this is what you need. If not, or if you have any questions,
please post a clarification request and wait for me to respond before
closing/rating my answer.

Thank you,
hummer

---

Request for Answer Clarification by copyguy-ga on 19 Oct 2006 13:59 PDT

Hummer, I gave the rating but I just wanted to reiterate what an
excellent response this was to a difficult question. Sorry it took so
long to respond.

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 19 Oct 2006 19:42 PDT

Hello, copyguy, it's nice to near from you!  Thank you very much for
your nice note and tip, I'm glad to hear that you are happy the book
list. I thought it came out pretty good too, all things considered. 
Take care, hummer

Very helpful. Thank you!

"Best known book titles" could include a many that are widely known
but seldom read.  Do Shakespeare's plays count as books?  The
Canterbury Tales?
Nonfiction gets picked up on the 20th century best seller lists, which look good.
"Fanny Farmer's Cookbook" and "The Joy of Cooking", that other "The
Joy of ...", ..., Dr Spock's "Baby and Child Care", ...

The Bible must be on the list, of course.

Best known, best sellers "of all times" makes the selection very
difficult: the classics: Homer, philosophers, Freud's "The
Interpretation of Dreams",
British best sellers of the 18th and 19th centuries that are still
known; some translations:  "Don Quixote", books by Jules Verne, Dumas,
Goethe, ...

It's a hopeless task, but Copyguy expected that.

Good job, Hummer! Very interesting list.

--keystroke-ga

Thank you, keystroke, that's very nice of you! :)

Cheers, hummer