
Best Books of the Decade: 1920's

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4.23 avg rating — 210,808 ratings
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4.32 avg rating — 42,646 ratings
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3.77 avg rating — 117,310 ratings
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3.86 avg rating — 150,460 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 131,243 ratings
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4.23 avg rating — 48,235 ratings
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18

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4.14 avg rating — 98,935 ratings
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19

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3.68 avg rating — 62,916 ratings
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20

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3.73 avg rating — 102,262 ratings
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21

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3.87 avg rating — 50,207 ratings
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22

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4.33 avg rating — 2,513 ratings
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23

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4.29 avg rating — 206,269 ratings
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24

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4.24 avg rating — 123,150 ratings
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25

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4.36 avg rating — 5,033 ratings
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26

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4.14 avg rating — 31,041 ratings
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27

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3.99 avg rating — 214,246 ratings
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28

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4.06 avg rating — 1,334 ratings
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29

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4.11 avg rating — 13,577 ratings
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30

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4.31 avg rating — 6,462 ratings
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31

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3.50 avg rating — 92,200 ratings
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32

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3.67 avg rating — 55,131 ratings
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33

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4.48 avg rating — 4,619 ratings
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34

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3.90 avg rating — 27,831 ratings
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35

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3.94 avg rating — 60,600 ratings
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36

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3.80 avg rating — 6,433 ratings
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37

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3.80 avg rating — 28,000 ratings
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38

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3.92 avg rating — 32,903 ratings
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39

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4.27 avg rating — 18,132 ratings
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40

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4.37 avg rating — 78,237 ratings
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41

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3.75 avg rating — 40,480 ratings
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42

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3.66 avg rating — 20,401 ratings
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43

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3.88 avg rating — 39,229 ratings
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44

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4.40 avg rating — 2,418 ratings
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45

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3.67 avg rating — 28,029 ratings
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46

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3.96 avg rating — 39,302 ratings
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47

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4.18 avg rating — 36,488 ratings
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48

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3.77 avg rating — 23,077 ratings
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49

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3.87 avg rating — 6,259 ratings
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50

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4.02 avg rating — 16,473 ratings
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51

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4.52 avg rating — 971 ratings
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52

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3.95 avg rating — 30,646 ratings
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53

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4.11 avg rating — 31,745 ratings
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54

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4.30 avg rating — 21,455 ratings
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55

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56

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57

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58

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59

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60

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61

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62

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63

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64

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65

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66

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67

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68

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4.10 avg rating — 23,143 ratings
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69

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70

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71

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3.97 avg rating — 21,217 ratings
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72

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73

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74

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76

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77

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78

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79

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80

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81

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82

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83

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84

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85

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86

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3.86 avg rating — 14,178 ratings
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87

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3.86 avg rating — 7,054 ratings
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88

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3.99 avg rating — 4,661 ratings
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89

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3.88 avg rating — 7,671 ratings
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90

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3.75 avg rating — 21,144 ratings
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91

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3.11 avg rating — 13,981 ratings
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92

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3.85 avg rating — 6,345 ratings
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93

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3.79 avg rating — 7,992 ratings
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4.16 avg rating — 1,863 ratings
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95

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3.77 avg rating — 12,435 ratings
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96

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3.68 avg rating — 4,348 ratings
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97

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4.14 avg rating — 19,408 ratings
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98

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4.11 avg rating — 16,144 ratings
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99

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3.82 avg rating — 6,489 ratings
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100

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4.23 avg rating — 13,660 ratings
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503 books · 1,138 voters · list created June 22nd, 2008 by deleted user.
186 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Ashley 1121 books
44 friends
Wealhtheow 4066 books
672 friends
Jennifer 2420 books
50 friends
Pat 1009 books
256 friends
Steven 2108 books
2223 friends
Jonathan 339 books
76 friends
Rachel 207 books
142 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3142 books
828 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-19 of 19 (19 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Nov 06, 2009 01:03PM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Dada Almanach by Richard Huelsenbeck?

Original publication date changed to 1920. You should find it eligible now.


message 2: by KristenR (new)

KristenR If you're interested in a "Through the Decades" challenge come check out The Well-Rounded Reader challenge group!


message 3: by Chris (new)

Chris Johnson Great Gatsby's the mainstream best book choice, Sound And The Fury or Ulysses are probably the best, and Jean Toomer "Cane" is my favorite and most slept-on novel of the 1920's. First true classic book in in Black Literature of the Century (what is black lit? there's no "White Lit" lol, Literature is Literature, but yeah). The book is the best piece of the well famed Harlem Renaissance of the 20's.


message 4: by Ben (new)

Ben The Trial was first published in 1914.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Removed:

The Trial, by Franz Kafka (1914)


message 6: by Isaac (new)

Isaac Ben wrote: "The Trial was first published in 1914."

I believe this is false. It was written in 1914, but was published in 1925, after Kafka's death. Why would Kafka want to publish an unfinished work?


message 7: by Tamora (new)

Tamora Pierce How could anyone include Jew Suss in a best books list?! It's Nazi propaganda!


message 8: by Tamora (new)

Tamora Pierce How can anyone include Jew Suss by Lion Feuchtwanger in Best Books of the 1920s? It's Nazi propaganda!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads It appears to qualify by publication date, and this is a collective list, so it was obviously added by someone who liked it.


message 10: by Bettie (new)

Bettie Tamora wrote: "How can anyone include Jew Suss by Lion Feuchtwanger in Best Books of the 1920s? It's Nazi propaganda!"

Hmm - maybe not liked so much as important reading, I have it on one of my lists to get around to at some point as looking at all sides of a situation gains the clearest view dontcha fink.

About the author: Lion Feuchtwanger (1884-1958) was a German Jewish emigre. A renowned novelist and playwright who fled Europe during World War II and lived in Los Angeles from 1941 until his death.

A fierce critic of the Nazi regime years before it assumed power precipitated his departure, after a brief internment in France, from Europe.



Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Tamora wrote: "How can anyone include Jew Suss by Lion Feuchtwanger in Best Books of the 1920s? It's Nazi propaganda!"

It actually isn't -- it's a very insightful and differentiated philosophical novel based on a historic figure, a successful merchant named Joseph Süß Oppenheimer. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jud_S%C3... for further info on the novel and Feuchtwanger's own approach.

The Nazis subsequently stole the title of Feuchtwanger's book and had a director named Veit Harlan make a movie to specifically counter Feuchtwanger's portrayal of Oppenheimer. For further info on the movie, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jud_S%C3... .

From the two Wikipedia articles linked above:

"Although the story of Duke Karl Alexander and Joseph Süß Oppenheimer constituted a relatively obscure episode in German history, it became the subject of a number of literary and dramatic treatments over the course of more than a century; the earliest of these having been Wilhelm Hauff's 1827 novella. The most successful literary adaptation was Lion Feuchtwanger's 1925 novel titled Jud Süß based on a play that he had written in 1916 but subsequently withdrew. As a Jew, Feuchtwanger did not intend his portrayal of Süß to be antisemitic but rather as a study of the tragedy caused by the human weaknesses of greed, pride and ambition. With an interest in exploring the challenges confronting Jews in the Diaspora, Feuchtwanger was particularly concerned with the issues of conversion and anti-Semitism. He was particularly struck by the fact that Süß could have saved himself by converting to Christianity but had steadfastly refused to do so, opting instead to return to formal Jewish observance and piety."

"For Feuchtwanger, Süß was a forerunner that symbolized the evolution in European philosophy and cultural mentality, representing a shift towards Eastern philosophy, from Nietzsche to Buddha, from 'the old to the new covenant.' Karl Leydecker writes [in German Novelists of the Weimar Republic: intersections of literature and politics (2006)]:

'For Feuchtwanger, Jud Süss was primarily a novel of ideas, dealing with a number of philosophical oppositions such as vita activa versus vita contemplativa, outer versus inner life, appearance versus essence, power versus wisdom, the pursuit of one's desires vs. the denial of desires, Nietzsche vs. Buddha.' [...]

In Feuchtwanger’s play and novel Josef Süß Oppenheimer emerges as a father and his fictional daughter provides both an ideal centre and turning point of the narrative. In Harlan’s Nazi film, the central female figure Dorothea Sturm (played by Kristina Söderbaum) is, again, represented as ideal. However, her violation and subsequent suicide transform Josef Süß Oppenheimer’s execution (historically a miscarriage of justice) into a symbol of the judicial court’s true righteousness that is hailed by the masses. Like a negative image, the film is a tonal inversion of Feuchtwanger’s narrative as it mirrors the literary texts’ central elements in reverse; Lion Feuchtwanger’s depiction of Josef Süß Oppenheimer’s journey from a power-hungry financial and political genius to a more enlightened human being is turned into an anti-Semitic propaganda piece."



message 12: by Bettie (new)

Bettie Themis-Athena wrote: "Tamora wrote: "How can anyone include Jew Suss by Lion Feuchtwanger in Best Books of the 1920s? It's Nazi propaganda!"

It actually isn't -- it's a very insightful and differentiated philosophical..."


GREAT research TA! Thanks for taking the time...
:O)


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Bettie wrote: "GREAT research TA! Thanks for taking the time...
:O)"


Feuchtwanger is one of my favorite authors -- anything to clear his name! :)

Seriously, I don't even want to have to imagine how he must have felt about the Nazis' stealing his novel, of all things, and turning it into THE antisemitic show piece par excellence ...


message 14: by Joss (new)

Joss 202 The Diary of Anne Frank isn't from the 1920s. She was only just born in the decade!


message 15: by Zoe's Human (new)

Zoe's Human The following removed because they were originally published outside this date range:
The Story of Babar
Anne’s House of Dreams
In Search of Lost Time
The Edwardians
The Last Days of Mankind
Duplicate check run and 1 was removed.


message 16: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Checked for duplicates: none found.


message 17: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Removed #128, 'The Waste Land': already present at #14.


message 18: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Checked for duplicates: 3 books removed.


message 19: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Removed #113, 'Billy Budd': undetected duplicate of #95.

Checked for duplicates: 2 books removed.


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