Goodreads’ “From 1925 to 2024: 100 Years of Popular Books”

I thought I might do something fun today and take a look at Goodreads’ new list of the most popular book of each year between 1925 and 2024. It’ll be interesting to see how many I’ve read and how many I intend to read. If you want to do the same, the link is above!

How many of these 100 popular books have I read?

1925: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf – Read it twice!
1926: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie – Haven’t read it, but I’m interested. I’ve heard great things.
1927: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather – Read it, but don’t remember it.
1928: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque – Haven’t read it, but I want to.
1929: Passing by Nella Larsen – Read it pretty recently.
1930: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner – I started this, hated it, DNF’d it. Does it count as read? 🤔
1931: The Waves by Virginia Woolf – Haven’t read it but would like to.
1932: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – Read it a long time ago. Want to reread it.
1933: Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain – Never heard of this. WWI nonfiction written by a nurse? I’m interested!
1934: Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Haven’t read it, probably should.
1935: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers – Not really interested.
1936: Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot – Never heard of this play, but I’d like to read it.
1937: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston – Read it.
1938: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – Read it, LOVED IT.
1939: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck – Read it long before I fell in love with Steinbeck, didn’t like it. Must reread it!
1940: Native Son by Richard Wright – Need to read it.
1941: The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges – Haven’t read it, but it sounds up my street.
1942: The Stranger by Albert Camus – Read it, didn’t like it. I’ll probably reread it someday.
1943: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery – Read it in French!
1944: No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre – Hmm. I don’t know. Should I read this?
1945: The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams – Definitely want to read this.
1946: The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers – Never heard of it, not really interested.
1947: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank – Read this as a teen, need to reread it as an adult.
1948: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith – I think I want to read this? Not sure.
1949: 1984 by George Orwell – The one and only!
1950: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – Read the whole series.
1951: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger – Yep.
1952: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison – Read it.
1953: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – Yesssss! I’m due for a reread.
1954: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien – Read the whole series.
1955: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – Always thought I wouldn’t read it, but now I think I might one day.
1956: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin – Not really interested.
1957: On the Road by Jack Kerouac – Not really interested.
1958: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe – Struggled with it, but I read it.
1959: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson – Loved it!
1960: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – Read it.
1961: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller – Read it.
1962: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – Aha, another DNF. I’ll count these separately.
1963: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – I intend to read this soon!
1964: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl – Read it SO MANY TIMES. Love it.
1965: Dune by Frank Herbert – Read it twice, still working on finishing the series.
1966: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – Never read it, and I love Jane Eyre too much to want to.
1967: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Read it twice.
1968: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin – Not really interested.
1969: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – I’ll probably read it someday.
1970: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – Not really interested.
1971: The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty – Not gonna do that to myself.
1972: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin – Might be interested.
1973: The Princess Bride by William Goldman – Read it, watched the movie many times.
1974: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin – Keep meaning to read it.
1975: Shogun by James Clavell – Doesn’t sound like my kind of thing.
1976: Roots by Alex Haley – Need to read it!
1977: The Shining by Stephen King – Controversial opinion: I love horror, but I don’t like Stephen King. Not interested.
1978: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin – Not really interested.
1979: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – Love it!
1980: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco – Read it.
1981: Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Not interested.
1982: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende – Read it, didn’t like it.
1983: The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett – Not really interested.
1984: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros – Can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost read this.
1985: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – According to most, THE Canadian novel. Of course I’ve read it.
1986: Maus by Art Spiegelman – Read it recently, hoping to read the sequel soon.
1987: Beloved by Toni Morrison – Read it.
1988: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie – DNF’d it.
1989: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – Another one I’ve been meaning to read for years.
1990: V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd – Not really interested.
1991: Possession by A.S. Byatt – Not really interested.
1992: The Secret History by Donna Tartt – Can’t believe I haven’t read this yet!!
1993: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler – Read it.
1994: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa – Read it.
1995: Wicked by Gregory Maguire – Never been interested, but starting to feel like it’s a requirement.
1996: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – Not interested.
1997: Into Thin Air by John Krakauer – Too afraid of heights.
1998: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson – Interested.
1999: all about love by bell hooks – Not interested.
2000: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Interested. Actually thought this was a lot older.
2001: Atonement by Ian McEwan – DNF’d it, but might pick it up again someday.
2002: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides – I might read it eventually.
2003: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – Read it.
2004: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – No idea why I haven’t read this yet!
2005: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – Not my top Ishiguro priority, but it’s on my list.
2006: The Road by Cormac McCarthy – Hopefully this summer!
2007: In the Woods by Tana French – I do need to try this author.
2008: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – Love the whole franchise!
2009: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese – Never heard of it, but I think I’m interested?
2010: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot – Might read it, will probably disturb me.
2011: The Martian by Andy Weir – LOVE.
2012: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – Read it.
2013: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan – Not really interested.
2014: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – Read it, loved it.
2015: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin – Not really interested.
2016: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead – Interested.
2017: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee – Interested.
2018: Circe by Madeline Miller – Loved it.
2019: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong – Not interested.
2020: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – DNF’d it.
2021: Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner – Not really interested.
2022: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – The amount of times I’ve almost started this!
2023: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – Not interested.
2024: James by Percival Everett – And we end on a DNF!

My Final Tally

If I’m counting correctly, I think I’ve read 38, DNF’d 6, and want to read 31. Not too bad! What about you? I’d love to hear how many you have read!