List :: 100 Books of the Past Century by Koen Books

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  #1

  To Kill a Mockingbird

  by Harper Lee

  (64 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 10

  701 points

  "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #2

  The Catcher in the Rye

  by J. D. Salinger

  (45 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...

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #3

  The Great Gatsby

  by F. Scott Fitzgerald

  (97 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 1

  994 points

  "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #4

  The Grapes of Wrath

  by John Steinbeck

  (35 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 2

  963 points

  "To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #5

  Catch-22

  by Joseph Heller

  (31 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 6

  823 points

  "It was love at first sight."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #6

  Nineteen Eighty-Four

  by George Orwell

  (69 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 3

  946 points

  "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #7

  Gone with the Wind

  by Margaret Mitchell

  (22 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 16

  606 points

  "Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm, as the Tarleton twins were."

  

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  #8

  The Color Purple

  by Alice Walker

  (15 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 28

  392 points

  "You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy."

  

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  #9

  Beloved

  by Toni Morrison

  (14 Reviews)

  Overall Rank: 8

  719 points

  "124 was spiteful. Full of baby's venom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It
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  #10

  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."

  

  I've Read It I Want To Read It