10 Greatest Books of the Last 100 Years

Image via MovieStillsDB Published Jul 30, 2026, 1:18 PM EDT Dyah (pronounced Dee-yah) is a Senior Author at Collider, responsible for both writing and transcription duties. She joined the website in 2022 as a Resource Writer before stepping into her current role in April 2023. As a Senior Author, she writes Features and Lists covering TV, music, and movies, making her a true Jill of all trades. In addition to her writing, Dyah also serves as an interview transcriber, primarily for events such as San Diego Comic-Con, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film Festival. Dyah graduated from Satya Wacana Christian University in October 2019 with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, concentrating on Creative Writing. She is currently completing her Master's degree in English Literature Studies, with a thesis on intersectionality in postcolonial-feminist studies in Asian literary works, and is expected to graduate in 2026. Born and raised between Indonesia and Singapore, Dyah is no stranger to different cultures. She now resides in the small town of Kendal with her husband and four cats, where she spends her free time cooking or cycling. Sign in to your Collider account The last 100 years have been a wild ride for literature. From the lead-up to World War II and the rise of counterculture to modernization and globalization, the idea of what makes a great book has grown far beyond the borders of any one country. Every culture has its own stories to tell, and some of the most unforgettable ones come from places readers may never have expected. Even though these books come from different countries and time periods, the emotions and ideas behind them are surprisingly universal. Whether they're about war, family, identity, or love, they continue to resonate with readers decades later. With that in mind, here are the 10 greatest books of the last 100 years. 1 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' (1967) Image via Harper Perennial Modern Classics Now a celebrated Netflix adaptation, One Hundred Years of Solitude is the magical realist masterpiece of Latin American literary icon Gabriel García Márquez. Set in the mythical town of Macondo, the novel follows seven generations of the Buendía family, beginning with founders José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán. Trapped in a cycle of obsession and tragedy, history continuously repeats itself among the Buendías. As its title suggests, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a story about the cycle of loneliness, with each generation of the Buendía family experiencing it differently as they're swept up in everything from civil wars to the Banana Massacre. As for the magic itself — inspired by local myths and folklore — the supernatural acts as an external manifestation of their inner turmoil. 2 'Babel, or the Necessity of Violence' (2022) Image via Harper Voyager Like currency, words hold power. Set in an alternate 1830s Britain, Babel by R.F. Kuang follows Robin Swift, a Canton-born orphan adopted by Oxford professor Richard Lovell and trained as a translator. At Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation, magical silver bars fuel the British Empire through language. As Robin digs deeper into Babel's role in colonial oppression, he and his friends are forced to choose sides. Babel reinforces the idea that language is never neutral. The more languages a nation knows, the more powerful it becomes. The British Empire extracts value from other cultures' languages the same way it extracts natural resources. With academia complicit in these exchanges, readers are left to reconsider whether these educational institutions are truly progressive or provocative. 3 'On the Road' (1957) Image via Viking Press A product of the hazy Beat Generation, On the Road by Jack Kerouac portrays another side of postwar America — one that's outside the idealized white-picket-fence mold. Aspiring writer Sal Paradise's life changes when he meets the reckless Dean Moriarty. Together, they crisscross the United States and Mexico in search of freedom, jazz, love, and meaning, with no one to tame them. On the Road is the antithesis to the American Dream. While many revel in the victory of winning the war, the reality is that others are caught up in a sense of uncertainty. On the Road thus becomes an adventure not of looking for answers or self-discovery, but of simply living in the present. However, if not careful, there may be consequences. Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz Which Lord of the RingsCharacter Are You? One Quiz · Ten Questions · Your Fate Revealed The road goes ever on. From the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Ten questions stand between you and the truth of who you are. Answer honestly — the One Ring has a way of revealing what we most want to hide. 💍Frodo 🌿Samwise 👑Aragorn 🔥Gandalf 🏹Legolas ⚒️Gimli 👁️Sauron 🪨Gollum BEGIN YOUR QUEST → 01 You are handed a responsibility that could destroy you. What do you do? The weight of the world falls on unlikely shoulders. AAccept it. Someone has to, and running changes nothing. BStay by the side of whoever carries it. They shouldn't go alone. CStep forward and lead. This is exactly what I was made for. DIt's mine now. I won't let anyone else have it. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Your closest companion is heading into terrible danger. You: True loyalty is revealed not in comfort, but in crisis. AFollow them without hesitation. I'd rather die beside them than live without them. BRally others and forge a plan to help — strength in numbers. COffer wisdom and guidance. My counsel may save them where swords cannot. DLet them go. Only the strong survive, and sentiment is a weakness. NEXT QUESTION → 03 Enormous power is within your reach. Your instinct is: Power corrupts — but only those who reach for it. ADestroy it. Nothing good comes from power this absolute. BUse it to protect those I love — just this once. CWield it wisely. I have the will and the knowledge to do good with it. DSeize it. I have waited long enough. It belongs to me. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What does "home" mean to you? Where we long to return reveals who we truly are. AA simple, peaceful place — green hills, good food, no adventure required. BWherever the people I love are. Home is a feeling, not a place. CA kingdom I must earn before I can truly claim it as mine. DI lost it long ago. That loss is what drives everything I do. NEXT QUESTION → 05 When a battle is upon you, your approach is: War reveals what we are made of — whether we like it or not. ASurvive by any means. I'm not a fighter — but I'll do what I must. BFight for the person beside me, not for glory or honour. CLead the charge. Nothing inspires an army like a king at the front. DStrike from range, fast and precise — never let them get close. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Someone comes to you for advice in their darkest hour. You: Wisdom is not knowing all the answers — it's knowing which questions to ask. AListen, then offer honest encouragement. Sometimes people just need belief. BGive them practical help — words are fine, but action is better. CSpeak carefully. I have seen much, and I know what counsel can cost. DTell them what they want to hear. Trust is a tool like any other. NEXT QUESTION → 07 How do you see yourself, honestly? Self-knowledge is the most dangerous kind. ASmall and ordinary — but perhaps that's exactly why I was chosen. BDefined entirely by who I serve and love. I am nothing without them. CForged by hardship into something the world has not yet fully seen. DDiminished from what I once was — and consumed by the need to reclaim it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 Which of these best describes your relationship with the natural world? Middle-earth speaks to those who know how to listen. AI find peace in it — forests, rivers, open skies. Nature restores me. BI prefer the earth underfoot — stone, mines, solid and real things. CI have watched the world change for longer than most can comprehend. DNature offers hiding places, cold water, raw fish. That's enough for me. NEXT QUESTION → 09 You encounter a wretched, pitiable creature who has done terrible things. You: How we treat the fallen reveals the height of our character. AShow mercy. Even the most broken souls deserve a chance at redemption. BPity them — but never trust them. They made their choices. CSee them as a tool. Their knowledge or skills may still serve a purpose. DDestroy them before they can cause more harm. Mercy is a luxury we cannot afford. NEXT QUESTION → 10 When the quest is over and the songs are sung, what do you hope they say about you? In the end, we are all just stories. AThat an ordinary person did an extraordinary thing — and came home. BThat I never abandoned the person who needed me most. CThat I was worthy of the crown — and everything it demanded. DNothing. I don't need songs. I needed it, and now it's gone. REVEAL MY FATE → The Fellowship Has Spoken Your Place in Middle-earthThe scores below reveal your true character. Your highest number is your match. Even a tie tells a story — the Fellowship was never made of simple people. 💍 Frodo 🌿 Samwise 👑 Aragorn 🔥 Gandalf 🏹 Legolas ⚒️ Gimli 👁️ Sauron 🪨 Gollum You carry something heavy — and you carry it alone, even when you don't have to. You were not born for greatness, and that is precisely why greatness chose you. Your courage is not the roaring, sword-swinging kind; it is quiet, stubborn, and terrifying in its refusal to quit. The Ring weighs on you more than anyone can see, and still you walk toward the fire. That is not weakness. That is the rarest kind of strength there is. You are, without question, the best of them. Not the most powerful, not the most celebrated — but the most essential. Your loyalty is not a trait; it is a force of nature. You would carry the person you love up the slopes of Mount Doom if it came to that, and we both know you'd do it without being asked. The world needs more people like you, and the world is lucky it has even one. You were born to lead, and you have spent years running from it. The crown is yours by right, but you know better than anyone that right means nothing without the will and the worthiness to back it up. You are tempered by loss, shaped by long roads, and defined by a code of honour you hold to even when no one is watching. When you finally step forward, the world shifts. Because it was always waiting for you. You have seen more than you let on, and you say less than you know — which is exactly as it should be. You are a catalyst: you do not fight the battles yourself, you ignite the people who can. Your wisdom comes not from books but from an age of watching what happens when it is ignored. You arrive precisely when you mean to, and your presence alone changes what is possible. A wizard is never late. Graceful, perceptive, and almost preternaturally calm under pressure — you see things others miss and act before others react. You do not need to make a scene to be remarkable; your presence speaks for itself. You are loyal to those you choose to stand beside, and that choice is not made lightly. You have lived long enough to know that the most beautiful things in this world are also the most fragile, and that is why you fight to protect them. You are loud, proud, and absolutely formidable — and beneath all of that is one of the most fiercely loyal hearts in Middle-earth. You don't do anything by half measures. Your friendships are forged like iron, your grudges run as deep as mines, and your courage in battle is the kind that makes legends. You came into this fellowship suspicious of everyone and ended it willing to die for an elf. That is not a small thing. That is everything. You think in centuries and act in absolutes. Order, dominion, control — not because you are cruel by nature, but because you have decided that the world left to itself always falls apart, and you are the only one with the vision and the will to hold it together. You were not always this. Something was lost, or taken, or betrayed, and the version of you that stands now is the answer to that wound. The tragedy is that you're not entirely wrong — just entirely too far gone to course-correct. You are a study in contradiction — pitiable and dangerous, cunning and broken, capable of both cruelty and something that once resembled love. You are defined by loss: of innocence, of self, of the one thing that gave your existence meaning. Two voices war inside you constantly, and the tragedy is that the better one sometimes wins, just not often enough, and never at the right moment. You are a warning, yes — but also a mirror. We are all a little Gollum, given the right ring and enough time. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 4 'To Kill A Mockingbird' (1960) Image via J. B. Lippincott & Co. One of the most timeless books in American literature, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee transports readers to 1930s Alabama, where racism bleeds through the very soil. Six-year-old Scout Finch and her brother, Jem, are raised by their principled father, Atticus Finch. When Atticus defends Tom Robinson, a Black man falsely accused of rape, Scout witnesses firsthand the prejudice in the place she calls home. To Kill a Mockingbird brilliantly portrays racism through the perspective of a child. No child is born hateful; their beliefs are shaped by the world around them. As curiosity gives way to understanding, the children realize how unfair society can be. Yet, despite its bleakness, the novel reminds readers that meaningful change begins with the simplest thing: empathy. 5 'And Tango Makes Three' (2005) Image via Image via Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers Based on a true story, And Tango Makes Three follows Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at New York City's Central Park Zoo who form a lifelong bond. When zookeeper Mr. Gramsay gives them an abandoned egg to raise, it hatches into a chick named Tango. Together, the three become a loving family, showing that families can take many different forms. It's a simple children's picture book, yet it became the most frequently challenged book from 2006 to 2010 because of its depiction of same-sex marriage through animals. Its message is equally simple: while not everyone is in a same-sex relationship, some people and families are, and they deserve the same respect and empathy as anyone else. 6 'The Sympathizer' (2015) Image via Grove Press Set during and after the fall of Saigon in 1975, The Sympathizer follows an unnamed half-Vietnamese, half-French communist spy planted within the South Vietnamese army. After fleeing to Los Angeles with fellow refugees, he secretly reports on exiled military leaders while struggling with divided loyalties. His mission eventually leads him back to Vietnam, where he risks imprisonment and brutal re-education. Historically, the Vietnam War has typically been viewed through an American lens. The Sympathizer subverts that perspective by showing how complicated the conflict was on a personal level. With the narrator's many dual identities — whether of race, loyalty, or country — he's constantly pulled in different directions, making him a shapeshifting chameleon who's as dangerous to others as he is conflicted within himself. 7 'Lord of the Flies' (1954) Image via Faber and Faber Limited Lord of the Flies follows a group of British schoolboys stranded on a deserted island after a wartime plane crash. As the elected leader, Ralph struggles to maintain order, while Jack forms a rival tribe obsessed with hunting the imagined "beast." Fear and savagery consume the boys, leading to shocking deaths on the shore. Lord of the Flies gets provocative by using children, rather than adults, as the embodiment of savagery. Young boys are arguably more dangerous because, apart from being hormonal, they're highly impressionable. Their sense of right and wrong often depends on whether they want to be liked or feared by their peers. It sounds immature, but they're really just mirroring the adult world. 8 'The Color Purple' (1982) Image via Penguin Books Set in early 1900s rural Georgia, The Color Purple follows Celie, a young Black woman who endures years of abuse at the hands of her stepfather and abusive husband, Mister. Through her bond with blues singer Shug Avery and the long-lost letters from her sister Nettie, Celie uncovers her family's hidden past and gradually finds her voice. For all of The Color Purple's graphic depictions of violence, its true power lies in Celie's journey from a silenced girl to a confident woman. With the support of Shug, Nettie, and Sofia, she learns to reclaim her life. Through their stories, Alice Walker confronts racism, sexism, and trauma while showing that healing can be found even in the darkest moments. 9 'The Handmaid's Tale' (1986) Image via Anchor Books The Handmaid's Tale is set during the dictatorship of Gilead, where a religious regime takes over the United States. Because widespread infertility has made fertile women scarce, women like Offred are forced to become Handmaids. With her personal agency stripped away, her only role is to bear children for the country's ruling elite. While Margaret Atwood's novel is fiction, it's hard to ignore the parallels between The Handmaid's Tale and real life. Women are still shamed and scrutinized for exercising their reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. While the U.S. isn't a nationwide dictatorship, several states still enforce total abortion bans, showing how governments can intrude on some of women's most private decisions. 10 'Pachinko' (2017) Image via Grand Central Publishing Min Jin Lee's Pachinko is a multigenerational epic following three generations of a Korean family living under Japanese annexation. Beginning in the early 1900s, Kim Sunja's life changes when she becomes pregnant with a wealthy married man who refuses to wed her. To escape shame, she accepts a marriage proposal from the kind but frail pastor Isak and begins a new life in Japan. Pachinko shows that there's no right or wrong way to survive. For Sunja, a Korean woman living in Japan during World War II who is pushed to the bottom of society, there are choices she's forced to make that eventually impact her future generations. Whatever the outcomes, the only goal is to keep living, no matter the cost. Release Date 2022 - 2024-00-00 Based on the New York Times bestseller, this sweeping saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive.