author/journalist · 7/10 picks in the top 100
"Of course the ranking is almost random; it's impossible to set these books against one another. There were others bubbling under all the time, but in the end these ones kept rising up. When I went back to them as I was writing up this list, I was always surprised by how much more alive and vivid they were than I remembered. Rereading is always the test. But I feel strongly aware that there are so many books, so many writers, that could be on this list – including so many that I haven't yet read. "
| # | Title | Author | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Years | Annie Ernaux | |
| 2 | Beloved | Toni Morrison | #2 |
| 3 | War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | #7 |
| 4 | All Our Yesterdays | Natalia Ginzburg | |
| 5 | Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe | #22 |
| 6 | To the Lighthouse | Virginia Woolf | #4 |
| 7 | My Brilliant Friend | Elena Ferrante | #51 |
| 8 | Nervous Conditions | Tsitsi Dangarembga | #74 |
| 9 | The Golden Notebook | Doris Lessing | #45 |
| 10 | Sons and Lovers | D. H. Lawrence |
Voters with the most books in common.