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Genres › 20th Century

The Able McLaughlins
Margaret Wilson
22 days
1923 • Wully McLaughlin returns from the Civil War to his pioneer farming life in Iowa, only to find his sweetheart cold and traumatized.
The Absolute at Large
Karel Capek
16 days
1922 • A revolutionary new source of energy transforms society in this satirical sci-fi novel.
Alice Adams
Booth Tarkington
29 days
1921 • Alice Adams, a young woman from a lower middle-class family, sets out to win the love of the wealthy Arthur Russell.
The American Diary of a Japanese Girl
Yone Noguchi
13 days
1901 • A novel published as autobiography following the turn-of-the-century adventures of Tokyo belle Miss Morning Glory.
An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser
122 days
1925 • Ambitious Clyde Griffiths stumbles through romance and tragedy, struggling with taking responsibility. Based on an actual criminal case, it stands as a harsh commentary on the dark side of the American dream.
Antic Hay
Aldous Huxley
30 days
1923 • A humorous "novel of ideas" set in London in the turbulent times after WWI, among the self-absorbed cultural elite.
Arrowsmith
Sinclair Lewis
57 days
1925 • Described as the first "scientific" novel, Lewis follows the life of Martin Arrowsmith through the turbulence of his professional and romantic lives, satirizing those who pursue science for fortune at the expense of truth.
The Big Four
Agatha Christie
17 days
1927 • A surprise guest on the doorstep of Hercule Poirot pulls the famed detective into a web of mystery, murder, and international espionage.
The Black Opal
Katharine Susannah Prichard
36 days
1921 • A novel of a opal mining community in Australia and of the hardships and heartbreak found within, as American capitalism threatens their way of life.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
9 days
1927 • After a bridge collapses killing five people, a monk sets out to learn about each victim and uncover god's purpose in the tragedy.
Can Such Things Be?
Ambrose Bierce
29 days
1893 • A collection of Bierce's supernatural horror stories including "The Damned Thing", "The Moonlit Road", and "The Spook House."
Carry On, Jeeves
P.G. Wodehouse
25 days
1925 • The indispensable Jeeves continues to rescue Bertie Wooster from self-inflicted foibles, his intimidating aunts, and his friends' ridiculous pickles.
The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov
7 days
1904 • Faced with poverty, the Gayev family is urged to slash their treasured cherry orchard and sell the land. They struggle to rise out of their poverty in this tragic comedy.
Clouds of Witness
Dorothy L. Sayers
28 days
1926 • A shocking murder at Riddlesdale Lodge with the victim's own brother as the prime suspect leads to more twists, surprises, and deadly threats for Lord Wimsey.
Coming of Age in Samoa
Margaret Mead
20 days
1928 • A landmark anthropological work detailing the youth of Ta'u in the Samoan Islands.
Copper Sun
Countee Cullen
4 days
1927 • A poetry collection from a Harlem Renaissance great, including many works on love - love as a unifier, love for nature, religious love, love leading to death.
The Cosmic Computer
H. Beam Piper
22 days
1963 • Young Conn Maxwell arrives on the planet of Poictesme from Earth with news about Merlin, the super-computer fabled to have god-like abilities.
The Crux
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
20 days
1910 • A group of women head west to start a boarding house for men in this important early feminist work.
A Daughter of the Samurai
Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto
33 days
1925 • The haunting tale of a Samurai's daughter, raised in feudal Japan and sent to America to meet her future husband.
Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather
24 days
1927 • The tale of the life of Father Latour and the world he comes to know: 19th century New Mexico, a collision of cultures, lonely landscapes, and the gentle spread of his faith.
Decline and Fall
Evelyn Waugh
21 days
1928 • Forced out of Oxford for shameful behavior, Paul Pennyfeather moves to an obscure school to teach alongside other misfits in this satire of British society.
Deluge
S. Fowler Wright
39 days
1928 • The few survivors of a global flood struggle to rebuild society in this mix of post-apocalyptic fiction, sci-fi, and romance.
Early Autumn
Louis Bromfield
34 days
1926 • Winner of a 1927 Pulitzer Prize. Twenty years after fleeing Durham and a failed marriage, Sabine Callendar returns not defeated as expected but strong, insightful, and ready to upend society's stifling rules.
Elmer Gantry
Sinclair Lewis
52 days
1927 • The scandolous tale of a evangelist reverend, rising in the Methodist church while pursuing women, money, and self-indulgence.
The Everlasting Man
G.K. Chesterton
33 days
1925 • A Christian apologetics outline of human history, in which Chesterton argues for the uniqueness of human beings and the truth of Christian faith.
The Fatal Eggs
Mikhail Bulgakov
8 days
1925 • A chance scientific discovery leads to disaster in this satirical Soviet sci-fi novel.
Flemington
Violet Jacob
28 days
1911 • In the aftermath of the Jacobite rising, political turmoil rock the lives of those in Montrose, Scotland. Described as one of the best Scots romances.
Four Day Planet
H. Beam Piper
20 days
1961 • On the planet Fenris the climate shifts from deadly heat to killing cold and a day lasts thousands of hours. In such a harsh environment, revolution brews quickly.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Anita Loos
12 days
1925 • In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, charming gold digger Lorelei Lee chronicles her journey from New York through Europe amidst humorous encounters with her "gentleman friends."
The Good Soldier
Ford Madox Ford
26 days
1915 • The story of two couples, one American and one English, weaving in and out of passion, insanity, and comedy all through the lens of an unreliable narrator.
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
16 days
1925 • The Jazz Age story of lavish Long Island parties, a young mysterious millionaire, and the woman he loved. Arguably one of the greatest novels ever written, exploring themes of decadence, idealism, and the American dream.
Green Mansions
W.H. Hudson
28 days
1904 • After being driven into the jungles of Venezuela, Abel finds an unknown group of aboriginal people and falls in love with Rima the Bird Girl.
His Last Bow
Arthur Conan Doyle
2 days
1917 • On the eve of World War, a German spy aims to escape from England with the help of his informant Altamont. Can Sherlock Holmes foil their plans?
The History of Mr Polly
H.G. Wells
24 days
1910 • A charming comedy from Edwardian England, following a despairing man as his life is turned upside down.
Home to Harlem
Claude McKay
18 days
1928 • After deserting the army in WWI, Jake Brown dodges racial violence and struggles with different paths to confront the prejudice of American society.
The House Behind the Cedars
Charles W. Chesnutt
22 days
1900 • Two African American siblings move to a new city and begin new lives as white Americans, in this examination of racial identity and interracial relations in post-Civil War America.
The House of Pride
Jack London
11 days
1912 • A collection of six stories set in Hawaii.
The House on the Cliff
Franklin W. Dixon
13 days
1927 • The local haunted house sure seems legit to the Hardy boys, but a near fatal accidental soon gives them second thoughts.
In Our Time
Ernest Hemingway
15 days
1925 • Hemingway's first collection of short stories, exploring alienation, loss, and grief through acts of war and bullfighting.
The Iron Heel
Jack London
37 days
1908 • One of the earliest modern dystopian novels, London chronicles the oppressions of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States.
Josephine E. Butler
Josephine E. Butler
30 days
1909 • Autobiography of Victorian feminist and social reformer Josephine Butler, who fought for women's suffrage, against human trafficking and child prostitution.
Lady Athlyne
Bram Stoker
39 days
1908 • A joke and impersonation bring together Joy Ogilvie and Lord Athlyne from half a world away, leading to romance, misadventures, and deadly duels.
The Land of Mist
Arthur Conan Doyle
22 days
1926 • Professor Challenger and his comrades from the adventures of The Lost World explore the mysterious world of ghosts and spiritualism.
Last Post
Ford Madox Ford
20 days
1928 • The concluding entry in Ford's Parade's End series exploring the devastation and legacy of the First World War.
The Little White Bird
J.M. Barrie
23 days
1902 • A series of short fantasy episodes, including the introduction of Peter Pan.
Lolly Willowes
Sylvia Townsend Warner
16 days
1926 • Stifled by her family and the duties expected of a woman, Lolly Willowes shockingly moves alone to the countryside where a life of witchcraft awaits.
Lud-in-the-Mist
Hope Mirrlees
29 days
1926 • On the border of Dorimare and Fairyland, strange fruit is wreaking havoc. The mayor of Lud-in-the-Mist races to find answers in this masterpiece fantasy novel, described by Neil Gaiman as "a little golden miracle of a book."
The Machine Stops
E.M. Forster
4 days
1909 • Forced to live underground, humanity relies on a vast machine to communicate. Those who do not conform are forced out. A chilling prescient exploration of our reliance on social media and the internet.
Magic Shadows: The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures
Martin Quigley, Jr.
18 days
1960 • A walkthrough of historical developments, marching towards the advent of film and motion pictures, from ancient history to Edison.
The Making of Americans
Gertrude Stein
144 days
1925 • A modernist novel tracing the "history of a family's progress" through three generations.
A Man Could Stand Up
Ford Madox Ford
23 days
1926 • Christopher Tietjens returns to London at the close of World War I a changed man in this exploration of the lasting horrors of war.
Man and Superman
George Bernard Shaw
19 days
1905 • After her father’s death, Ann Whitefield is left in the care of two men: the old Roebuck Ramsden and young political firebrand Jack Tanner.
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo
John Henry Patterson
23 days
1907 • An account of the two lions who killed and consumed dozens of workers during the construction of a railway in Kenya.
Manhattan Transfer
John Dos Passos
42 days
1925 • Painting an "expressionistic picture of New York" from the Gilded Age to the Jazz Age, Dos Passos examines the lives of wealthy power brokers and struggling immigrants. Described as "the best modern book about New York."
The Mark of Zorro
Johnston McCulley
22 days
1919 • Hidden behind a mask, a deadly swordsman rides the highways of old California dealing justice to a corrupt governor and his army.
Martin Eden
Jack London
45 days
1909 • The semiautobiographical story of impoverished seaman Martin Eden who dreams of literary fame, pursuing his goals with aggression in a condemnation of individualism.
Men Without Women
Ernest Hemingway
13 days
1927 • A collection of short stories including some of Hemingway's best works: "The Killers", "Hills Like White Elephants", and "In Another Country"
Metropolis
Thea von Harbou
26 days
1925 • A futuristic technological city, and pampered rulers, is powered by the exploitation and suffering of a labor class. Love between members of the two groups lead to a clash of worlds.
A Mirror for Witches
Esther Forbes
14 days
1928 • During the height of the Salem witch hunts, young Doll Bilby is accused and begins to doubt her innocence.
Mistress Nell Gwyn
Marjorie Bowen
16 days
1926 • From orange seller to the stage to mistress of King Charles II, Bowen charts the rise of folk hero Nell Gwyn in this historical novel.
Mosquitoes
William Faulkner
32 days
1927 • A satirical novel skewering the artists, socialities, rich, and would-be-rich on a New Orleans boating trip.
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
22 days
1925 • Over the course of a single day, Clarissa Dalloway prepares for a high-society party and is struck with memories of the past. Considered Woolf's greatest novel.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Agatha Christie
25 days
1926 • Famed detective Hercule Poirot confronts a baffling case of death and blackmail with one of Christie's most startling and controversial conclusions.
My Inventions
Nikola Tesla
8 days
1919 • An autobiography of the famous inventor, engineer, and futurist Nikola Tesla, assembled from a series of articles Tesla wrote for "Electrical Experimenter."
My Mortal Enemy
Willa Cather
6 days
1926 • Youthful romance meet the constraints of everyday life and the poison of regret in this story of Myra and Oswald Henshawe's marriage.
My Reminiscences
Rabindranath Tagore
21 days
1912 • Renowned Bengali poet, composer, and artist Rabindranath Tagore provides brief autobiographical glimpses into his life.
The Mystery of the Blue Train
Agatha Christie
23 days
1928 • In the French Riveria, a train arrives with an American heiress murdered and her legendary jewel missing. Famed detective Hercule Poirot must unravel the deadly mystery.
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole
Matthew Henson
11 days
1912 • The thrilling memoir of Matthew Henson who traveled with Robert Peary on seven Arctic expeditions.
The New Negro
Alain Locke
44 days
1925 • An anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays on African and African-American art and literature, edited by Locke. Considered to be the definitive text of the Harlem Renaissance.
No More Parades
Ford Madox Ford
25 days
1925 • Christopher Tietjens returns to the outskirts of the First World War to train new troops, when he's surprised by a visit from his scandalous wife.
No. 17
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon
16 days
1926 • Down-on-his-luck sailor Ben stumbles across a dead body and is quickly thrown into a thrilling mystery.
Oil!
Upton Sinclair
67 days
1927 • A narrative inspired by the Teapot Dome Scandal diving into the bribery, politics, rivalries, and class warfare of oil production in California. Became the film There Will Be Blood.
On the Art of Reading
Arthur Quiller-Couch
21 days
1920 • A collection of lectures exploring the best ways to experience literature and build that appreciation in others.
Orlando
Virginia Woolf
24 days
1928 • The poet Orlando spans centuries and genders - taking inspiration from the family history of Woolf's friend and lover - in this feminist classic.
Out of Time's Abyss
Edgar Rice Burroughs
12 days
1918 • Bradley's expedition back to Fort Dinosaur is beset by a chilling banshee-like creature and death is not far behind, in this conclusion to the Caspak lost world trilogy.
The Outlaw of Torn
Edgar Rice Burroughs
20 days
1927 • In 13th-century England, torn unsunder by civil war, a skilled outlaw with a familiar face strives against the king.
The Painted Veil
W. Somerset Maugham
25 days
1925 • Finding herself in a disappointing marriage in Hong Kong, British socialite Kitty Fane is drawn to another man amidst a cholera epidemic.
Payment Deferred
C.S. Forester
19 days
1926 • Crushed by debt and his wife's expensive expectations, a bank clerk commits the perfect crime. But can he live with what he has done?
The People That Time Forgot
Edgar Rice Burroughs
13 days
1918 • Sequel to The Land That Time Forgot, an expedition heads out to rescue Bowen J. Tyler but soon finds their own lives in peril.
The Pit
Frank Norris
42 days
1903 • Greed and power drive a businessman to risk the futures of others as his wife is tempted to destroy their marriage.
The Plastic Age
Percy Marks
26 days
1924 • The story of Hugh Carver and his experiences as a Sanford college. It'd depictions of undergrad life - including smoking, drinking, and "petting" - got the book banned and made it a best-selling novel.
The Plumed Serpent
D.H. Lawrence
52 days
1926 • Irish tourist Kate Leslie travels through post-revolutionary Mexico, encountering a general and fascistic religious movement that seeks to remake the country.
Poetry
Voltairine de Cleyre
11 days
1911 • Collected works of prominent American anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre whose poetry touches on women's liberation, anti-capitalism, and anti-clericalism.
Pollyanna
Eleanor H. Porter
20 days
1913 • Though orphaned, 11-year-old Pollyanna still has her father's "Glad Game" positive life philosophy. This optimistic outlook is tested in her new Vermont home with the cold Aunt Polly.
The Professor's House
Willa Cather
20 days
1925 • The move to a new home sparks a crisis within Professor Godfrey St. Peter. The dusty study of his old home bring up memories of former students and current strains in his family.
The Prussian Officer
D.H. Lawrence
4 days
1914 • A captain, frustrated with his empty life, turns his anger towards his young orderly.
Queen Lucia
E.F. Benson
27 days
1920 • Lucia is social queen of her small delightful English village. But she must fend off challenges from neighbors and trendy new fads in this comedic novel.
The Rainbow
D.H. Lawrence
59 days
1915 • Follow three generations of the Brangwens, a vigorous family settled in the rural Midlands of England, from humble local beginnings to a larger industrial world.
Ralph 124C 41+
Hugo Gernsback
16 days
1926 • A visionary novel of the twenty-seventh century predicting technologies such as television, video conferencing, radar, and solar energy while pioneering many science fiction tropes.
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism
R.H. Tawney
30 days
1926 • An investigation into religion's impact on social and economic development since the Middle Ages and whether Christian morality has been made subordinate "to the pursuit of material wealth."
The Scarlet Plague
Jack London
6 days
1912 • A post-apocalyptic novel about an uncontrollable disease that causes denial, fear, and violence until society itself collapses.
The Sea Hawk
Rafael Sabatini
39 days
1915 • Cornish gentlemen falls from the victory over the Spanish Armada to betrayal at the hands of an unexpected foe. He travels to the Middle East seeking revenge.
Sea and Sardinia
D.H. Lawrence
25 days
1921 • Lawrence recounts his trip through Sicily to the interior of Sardinia alongside his wife.
The Secret of Chimneys
Agatha Christie
26 days
1925 • A reluctant weekend party transforms into a week of murder, foreign intrigue, and the hunt for a lost diamond.
The Secret of the Old Mill
Franklin W. Dixon
14 days
1927 • The new owners of an abandoned mill spark the suspicons of the Hardy boys who soon find themselves trapped.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
T.E. Lawrence
85 days
1926 • A dramatic memoir from "Lawrence of Arabia" including the Arab Revolt during the First World War.
Soldiers' Pay
William Faulkner
30 days
1926 • A soldier horribly injured in the First World War - nearly silent and blind - returns home to a family who thought him dead and a fiancé tired of waiting.
Some Do Not...
Ford Madox Ford
32 days
1924 • Christopher Tietjens, in the midst of a failing marriage and new love, is rocked by the opening of World War I. Praised as a groundbreaking work of WWI.
Spirits in Bondage & Dymer
C.S. Lewis
15 days
1919 • A collection of C.S. Lewis' earliest writings and poetry from before his conversion to Christianity.
Star Hunter
Andre Norton
13 days
1961 • A safari guide on the jungle planet Jumala kicks off a dangerous game of hide and seek and false memories with a fortune on the line.
The Star Rover
Jack London
34 days
1915 • To withstand torture in prison, Darrell Standing discovers he can escape to past lives and the stars through a mystic trance.
The Story of My Life
Helen Keller
12 days
1903 • Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing at a young age, recounts her life and in particular her experiences being taught by Anne Sullivan.
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway
23 days
1926 • A tale of the moral bankruptcy and disillusionment of the lost generation, of the Paris nightlife and bullfighting rings of the 1920s as seen through Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley.
Tales of Men and Ghosts
Edith Wharton
33 days
1910 • A collection of Wharton's supernatural and detective fiction, filled with psychological terror.
Tender Buttons
Gertrude Stein
8 days
1914 • A collection of poetry spotlighting everyday mundane objects. Described as a "masterpiece of verbal Cubism".
The Terror
Arthur Machen
14 days
1917 • Villagers in a small Welsh town are dying in unspeakable ways. Dr Lewis investigates what may be the cause, uncovering deep secrets.
Terror Out Of Space
Leigh Brackett
4 days
1944 • Beneath the seas of Venus waits a menace that drives men mad.
Tess of the Storm Country
Grace Miller White
37 days
1909 • In the squalid shanties of Ithaca, New York, a fishermen is accused of murder. His daughter Tess strives to prove his innocence.
Theodore Savage
Cicely Hamilton
19 days
1922 • A humble civil servant must survive in a harsh new reality after sudden war destroys modern civilization in this post-WWI novel by a celebrated women’s rights activist.
These Old Shades
Georgette Heyer
33 days
1926 • Dark pasts, intrigue, and secret identities swirl in this Georgian romance in which the notorious Duke of Avon happens upon the means of revenge in the form of a young runaway.
Those Barren Leaves
Aldous Huxley
42 days
1925 • A satirical work exploring the superficiality of the cultural elite. Mrs. Aldwinkle and her entourage, gathered in an Italian palace, are revealed to be less than sophisticated.
To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf
21 days
1927 • A gripping exploration of the tensions within a family -- between men and women, children and adults, past and future -- while on holiday to Scotland's Isle of Skye.
Tombstone
Walter Noble Burns
36 days
1927 • With a dash of fact and fiction, ride through the history of Western boomtown Tombstone, its infamous characters, and the famous showdown at the O.K. Corral.
The Torrents of Spring
Ernest Hemingway
8 days
1926 • A parody of the world of writers, satirizing tendencies from D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Sherwood Anderson and others that Hemingway refused to follow.
The Tower
W.B. Yeats
8 days
1928 • A collection of poetry including some of Yeats' most famous and influential works, including "Sailing to Byzantium," "Leda and the Swan," and "Among School Children."
The Tower Treasure
Franklin W. Dixon
14 days
1927 • The Hardy Boys are pulled into an escalating mystery of theft, fake identities, and false acquisations with a friend's livelihood on the line.
Twilight Sleep
Edith Wharton
26 days
1927 • A modernist satirical novel of the Jazz Age following a socialite New York family through parties, affairs, divorce, drugs, and murder.
Unravelled Knots
Emma Orczy
34 days
1926 • Thirteen short stories featuring armchair detective the Old Main in the Corner who delights in unraveling mysteries and crimes.
Visible and Invisible
E.F. Benson
24 days
1923 • A collection of ghostly supernatural stories from one of the medium's masters.
The Voyage Out
Virginia Woolf
53 days
1915 • In Woolf's first novel, Rachel Vinrace's sea voyage to South America becomes a journey of self-discovery. The story wraps together witty social satires with mythical lyricism.
The Well of Loneliness
Radclyffe Hall
54 days
1928 • Upper-class Englishwoman Stephen is a bestselling author and war hero, but her love of women collides with a close-minded society in this influential lesbian novel.
West-Running Brook
Robert Frost
6 days
1928 • A collection from the famed American poet including "Acquainted with the Night", "A Winter Eden", "Spring Pools", and more.
Whose Body?
Dorothy L. Sayers
19 days
1923 • In his first murder case, Lord Peter Wimsey strives to uncover the mystery of a slain body found in the bath.
The Worm Ouroboros
E.R. Eddison
56 days
1922 • On a remote world, the King of Witchland and Lords of Demonland strive for dominance amidst sorcerers, goblins, fantastic beats, and raging armies. A high fantasy novel that shaped modern sci-fi and fantasy, including Tolkien's own work.
The Writing of Fiction
Edith Wharton
9 days
1925 • Wharton shares brilliant advice on writing, her thoughts on the roots of modern fiction, as well as the construction of short stories, novels, and memorable characters.
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