One book from each decade and I hope you like them all. Hello everybody, welcome to my new post and my first post about books of this 2025. Step inside, glad to have you back.
“Books are the greatest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.” – Charles Eliot
The 20th century represented a period of global transition, dominated by the impact of social and political upheaval and the redefinition of national boundaries and identities. It witnessed two world wars, the end of European colonialism, and the rise of the United Stated as the new global superpower. Also, events like the Suez Canal Crisis, The Vietnam War, the Arab oil embargo, and the Cold War, shaped, for better or worse, the world as we now know it. It has been said that the 20th century was relatively short, really starting with World War I in 1914 and ending in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism. All of these events left their mark in today’s world and shaped the lives and thoughts of artists and authors.
But we’re here to discuss literature.
And the 20th century marked a period of extraordinary literary productivity, giving the world some of the best works ever written, works that this 21st century hasn’t been able to replicate or surpass.
On this list you will find one great work from each one of the ten decades. You will read about an adventure novel set in Alaska; a story about British colonialism in Asia; a wild ride into time, space and other worlds; the first book of a controversial writer; a great collection of both fiction and non-fiction works by a flamboyant author, and many works that will catch your attention and won’t leave you indifferent.
So, without further ado, let’s begin our reading journey.
1900s
The Call of the Wild (1903)
By Jack London
Despite dying at age 40 in 1916, Jack London left a prolific body of work and reflected like nobody else the harsh life in Alaska at the end of the 19th century. The hero of The Call of the Wild is a dog named Buck who lives a quiet but meaningless life as the dog of a rich judge in California. His life will be completely altered when he is stolen, sold, and taken to Alaska to work as a sled dog. Buck will face all kinds of hardships, different owners, will have to fight for his life with the other dogs. After many more adventures, Buck will find his destiny and the true nature of itself.
One of the best adventure novels ever written, this is considered Jack London’s masterpiece and certainly is his most famous work. This tale of fighting and survival has been adapted many times for the movies, but none of them has ever captured its true spirit. A great and easy to read novel for you to start also your reading journey.
1910s
The Metamorphosis (1915)
By Franz Kafka
Although I think Kafka is a bit overrated, The Metamorphosis is a short book I always recommend to someone who wants to acquire the reading habit; if you’re interested in fantasy, horror, and human nature, then, this is the book for you. It tells the story of a simple employee of an insurance company who suddenly wakes up and finds himself transformed into a horrible insect. His name is Gregor Samsa, he has become now a disgrace to his family and an alienated creature with no sense of direction which will lead the reader into a philosophical reflection. Franz Kafka was born from a Jewish family in Prague in 1883 and always wrote in the German language. He started to work on The Metamorphosis, his most famous work, on November 17, 1912, and he finished it by December that year; it was published in 1915.
Like all of the few works he published in his lifetime The Metamorphosis attracted scant public attention. It was after the author’s death in 1924 and the end of World War II, that Kafka’s work started to gain notoriety. Many interpretations have been suggested about the story of man turned into an insect, with many references in pop culture, and this work still enjoys a not-so-deserving praise and cult-following.
1920s
The Prophet (1923)
By Kahlil Gibran
The biblical region of Lebanon is a land known for its sacred cedars and its rich past; but it has also been the focus of many conflicts throughout the ages, conflicts that last until this day.
There, Kahlil Gibran was born in 1883. He migrated with his family to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1894. He returned briefly to the Lebanon to study, but later went back to Boston and dedicated himself to painting and poetry. He moved to New York City where he would remain permanently. He published a few poetry books and in 1923 his masterpiece, The Prophet, appeared in the English language. This short but great book of poetry is told in the form of fables that a foreign prophet named Al Mustafa gives the people of a small city before boarding a ship which will carry him home. He speaks briefly, but in magnificent way, about life, love, friendship, liberty, law, work, and even food and drink.
This is a book I’m glad to have discovered when I was a young man in my twenties looking for wisdom. Along with other books by Kahlil Gibran, I always go back to it from time to time. Gibran was a superb poet who managed to blend the best of both Western and Eastern cultures in his work. He died in New York City in 1931; his remains were later taken to Lebanon. After Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu, Kahlil Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time.
1930s
Burmese Days (1934)
By George Orwell
This was George Orwell’s first novel and was inspired by his own experiences as a police officer in 1920’s Burma, then part of the British Empire. A group of Englishmen live a quiet life in a little town were there’s nothing much to do except for hunting in the jungle, playing cards at the club and drinking lots of booze. When the order of admitting a native to the English Club is given, John Flory, a melancholic man in his thirties who works for a timber company, will recommend his good friend, the mild-mannered doctor Veraswami who is an admirer of the British Empire. But the corrupt chief of the local police, a fat despicable man named U Po Kyin, also wants that place for himself. Then, U Po Kyin will set in motion plan to crush John Flory’s plans.
Gossiping, hunting, adventures, festivals, young native prostitutes and a mutiny, will be part of this story in which the hypocrisy of the British is combined with the grossness and corruption of the natives. This is one of the best underrated novels I have ever read and, together with Tolkien’s The Hobbit, it is probably the best novel of the 1930s.
Born in India in 1903, educated at Eton, George Orwell worked in Burma for five years; upon his return to England he became a writer, published several non-fiction works and six novels. He died in 1950 after gaining recognition for his two most famous works: Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). But give Burmese Days a chance; it is a must read.
1940s
L'Étranger (1942)
By Albert Camus
“Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday: I can’t be sure.”, are the immortal words which open one of the most important French novels of the last century. Published in 1942 amidst World War II, The Stranger or The Outsider in English, was the first of only three novels Albert Camus, born in Algeria in 1913, ever published in his lifetime.
Meursault, a young French man, lives a quiet life in Algiers. He works as a clerk, has a circle of friends, a pretty girlfriend, likes to go to the beach and to the movies. But he has a fault: he doesn’t seem to have the basic emotions of a normal human being. Later, a tragedy will occur which results in a trial and jail time. The man has time to reflect in prison; but his conclusions will outrage society.
Together with Le Mythe de Sisyphe (1942), L'Étranger brought its author instant notoriety and fame. The well-written novella deals with themes of nihilism and existentialism. It has become a cult classic over the years, it was one of David Bowie’s favorite books, and even inspired the great debut single by that great band that is The Cure. In 1957, Albert Camus was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in a car accident in 1960.
1950s
Goodbye, Columbus (1959)
By Philip Roth
This was the first ever published book by the controversial Philip Roth (1933-2018); it won the National Book Award in 1960, made its author suddenly famous, and for some was his best book. Written when Roth was just 27 years old, this is a collection of fiction works that includes the title novella, and five other short stories.
Goodbye, Columbus tells the story of the summer affair of a young Jewish couple. One day, while at a local swimming pool, the listless library employee Neil Klugman will meet the beautiful and bratty Brenda Patimkin, a girl from an upper-class Jewish family owner of a bathroom business. The two will engage in a torrid romance, Neil will stay at Brenda’s house for the summer while he continues with his job at a public library, where a curious black teenager likes to masturbate while passing the pages of an art book with paintings by Gaugin. The obvious class differences will emerge between the young couple; Neil will also persuade Brenda to get a diaphragm, and this little object will unchain a series of events that will put their relationship to the test.
The remaining five short stories are all about Jewish people living their lives in a post-World War II United States. Their troubles, relationships, family conflicts, friends and neighbors, are told in an entertaining way with an acid sense of humor. A great debut work, Goodbye, Columbus is considered by many as the best novella of all time. And it’s certainly one of my favorite books of the 1950s.
1960s
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
By Kurt Vonnegut
This is one of the most hallucinating stories ever written. Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran from the state of New York, returns to Germany in 1967 to see what has changed after the war and communist dominion. But he will be later abducted by aliens and taken to the planet of Trafalmadore; then, Billy will travel through time, space, and parts of his own life until he arrives to Dresden in the times of the war. Narrated in both first and third person, this novel is a tale where the loss of innocence is confronted with a bitter reality, all sprinkled with an acid sense of humor.
Slaughterhouse-Five was the breakthrough novel that made Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) famous and a reference in post-World War II literature. He wrote several other novels also considered classics of American culture, short-story collections and essays. He participated in the war and part of his experiences are narrated in Slaughterhouse-Five. One of the best things about the novel is the description of the Bombing of Dresden, an air operation that occurred in 1945 and one of the worst crimes committed by the allies during the war in which 25,000 people were killed. There’s also the part where the protagonist is taken prisoner by the Germans and is left impressed at how pristine and tidy are the cells of the British prisoners. This is one of the craziest books you will ever read in your life. So it goes.
1970s
Post Office (1971)
By Charles Bukowski
After years of rejections, odd jobs, troubles with the law, and wandering in a country that doesn’t give a fuck about him, the cantankerous alcoholic Henry Chinaski finds out that they are always hiring people at the local Post Office. He will have all kinds of misadventures, some really funny, while others so sad and pathetic. After twelve years of a miserable life he’s poorer than when he started. Then, he will have to decide what will he do with what is left of his life.
Born in Germany in 1920, Charles Bukowski later migrated with his family to Los Angeles, California. In his teenage years he had a bad relationship with his father and developed a strange case of acne that left permanent scars on his face. A heavy drinker who had trouble keeping jobs, he began writing poetry at the age of thirty five. He wrote dozens of poetry books, several short story collections and six novels. Many of his works tell the misadventures of the alcoholic, self-obsessed Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s magnificent alter ego. Charles Bukowski died in Los Angeles of Leukemia in 1994.
1980s
Music for Chameleons (1980)
By Truman Capote
Despite not being exactly prolific as a fiction writer and never finishing another novel after the great In Cold Blood of 1966, in 1980 Truman Capote managed to release this collection of curious short works, of both fiction and non-fiction, all somewhat inspired by real-life events of his colorful life. It is divided into three parts; part one includes the fiction stories; part two is a short novel about a murder; and part three is about encounters and portraits of people, and one is about Marilyn Monroe before her death.
Among my favorite works from this book is the story that shares the title of the book and is about a lady that lives a quiet life in a Caribbean island who relaxes listening to music and has a bunch of iguanas as pets; Handcarved Coffins is about a real-life murder where Capote himself plays a character; a story about a random encounter with a Russian spy is also included; and A Day's Work, is about a cleaning lady who works in New York City while she lets Truman watch everything she does. All of these showcase the author’s poetic instincts, his acute photographic memory, and his whimsical sense of humor. Music for Chameleons was the last book he published in his lifetime. Truman died of liver disease in Los Angeles in 1984.
1990s
American Psycho (1991)
By Bret Easton Ellis
A book that caught my attention at the end of the 1990s and later was adapted into a very good film with an excellent portrait by Christian Bale as the murderer Patrick Bateman.
This is the very superficial life of an investment banker who works at his father’s firm while also commits murders just to alleviate his boredom. This controversial novel is set in the late 1980s and has the city of New York as its background. The descriptions of places, restaurants, luxurious items, designer clothes and even the skin care products Patrick Bateman uses are detailed in a very exquisite and ironic way. But along with the gruesome deaths, bloodbaths, and killings, what is really curious about this novel are the parts about music. In a pseudo-intellectual and sort of funny way, Patrick Bateman describes the career and music of artists such as Huey Lewis and the News, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins and Genesis, and each of those sort of reviews take a whole chapter of the book; also the U2 concert during their Joshua Tree tour is superbly narrated.
Author Bret Easton Ellis received 13 death threats before this book was even published and had to sign a declaration in case someone murdered him, so his parents couldn’t sue the publisher. Violent, gruesome, snob, disturbing, with a somewhat confusing ending, this novel may not reach the heights of the other books on this list, but it’s one of the best of the 1990s and you cannot miss it.
Conclusion
That’s it for my first book post of this 2025, guys. I hope you have discovered something new, and I hope you consider adding a few of these titles to your reading list of this year. Books and reading are one of the most rewarding forms of entertainment that exist, so do yourself a favor and read more books.
One of the books I consulted before writing this post was one I found at my local library. Here’s the title:
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Volume 1: A-D (ISBN: 1-55862-374-4)
So far I have written 13 posts about books on this platform. I want to know what you think in the comment section. Have you ever read any of this great books? What do you think about literature in the 20th century? Which one of these books caught your attention the most? Which one do you plan to read first? I’ll be waiting for your answers.
Since you’re here, check now 5 Great books I hope will never made into a movie:
@thereadingman/5-amazing-books-i-hope
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Until Next Time
Take care
Orlando Caine.