BookFrontier
The Shelves

20th Century Books

A tight 20th century shortlist - built for quick decisions, not endless scrolling.

Last refreshed 2026-02-27. We keep tuning this list as new titles land and reader interest shifts.

  1. A Short History of Decay

    1. A Short History of Decay

    Emil M. Cioran, Richard Howard
    A Philosophy pick for readers exploring A Short History of Decay.
  2. The Weird and the Eerie

    2. The Weird and the Eerie

    Mark Fisher
    A Nonfiction pick for readers exploring The Weird and the Eerie.
  3. The Uncollected Louis Zukofsky

    3. The Uncollected Louis Zukofsky

    Jeffrey Twitchell-Waas, Mark Scroggins
    The Uncollected Louis Zukofsky: Poetry, Drama, Prose
  4. Wonder Confronts Certainty

    4. Wonder Confronts Certainty

    Gary Saul Morson
    Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter
  5. Language as Liberation

    5. Language as Liberation

    Toni Morrison, Claudia Brodsky
    Language as Liberation: Reflections on the American Canon
  6. Duchamp Is My Lawyer

    6. Duchamp Is My Lawyer

    Kenneth Goldsmith
    Duchamp Is My Lawyer: The Polemics, Pragmatics, and Poetics of UbuWeb
  7. The Dawn Watch

    7. The Dawn Watch

    Maya Jasanoff
    The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World
  8. The Great Gatsby (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)

    8. The Great Gatsby (Deluxe Hardbound Edition)

    F. Scott Fitzgerald
    A Classics pick for readers exploring The Great Gatsby (Deluxe Hardbound Edition).
  9. The Most Dangerous Book

    9. The Most Dangerous Book

    Kevin Birmingham
    The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses
  10. Ulysses Unbound

    10. Ulysses Unbound

    Terence Killeen
    Ulysses Unbound: A Reader's Companion to James Joyce's Ulysses
  11. Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce

    11. Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce

    James Joyce, Angus McFadzean
    Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce: A Critical Edition
  12. The Waste Land and Other Poems

    12. The Waste Land and Other Poems

    T.S. Eliot, Frank Kermode
    A Poetry pick for readers exploring The Waste Land and Other Poems.
  13. Du Bois's Telegram

    13. Du Bois's Telegram

    Juliana Spahr
    Du Bois's Telegram: Literary Resistance and State Containment
  14. On Reading the Grapes of Wrath

    14. On Reading the Grapes of Wrath

    Susan Shillinglaw
    On Reading the Grapes of Wrath: Paperback – February 19, 2014
  15. An Encyclopedia of Tolkien

    15. An Encyclopedia of Tolkien

    David Day
    An Encyclopedia of Tolkien: The History and Mythology That Inspired Tolkien's World
  16. Tolkien For Beginners

    16. Tolkien For Beginners

    Louis Markos, Jeff Fallow
    Tolkien For Beginners: Paperback – September 23, 2022
  17. On Frost and Eliot

    17. On Frost and Eliot

    William H. Pritchard
    A discovery pick for readers interested in On Frost and Eliot.
  18. Embracing Vocation

    18. Embracing Vocation

    Dianne C. Luce
    Embracing Vocation: Cormac McCarthy's Writing Life, 1959-1974
  19. Great Books

    19. Great Books

    David Denby
    Great Books: Paperback – September 25, 1997
  20. The Fury Archives

    20. The Fury Archives

    Juno Jill Richards
    The Fury Archives: Female Citizenship, Human Rights, and the International Avant-Gardes
  21. Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time

    21. Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time

    Patrick Alexander
    Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past
  22. James Joyce's Ulysses

    22. James Joyce's Ulysses

    Stuart Gilbert
    James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study
  23. The Temptation to Exist

    23. The Temptation to Exist

    Emil M. Cioran, Richard Howard
    A Philosophy pick for readers exploring The Temptation to Exist.
  24. S/Z

    24. S/Z

    Roland Barthes, Richard Miller
    S/Z: An Essay

Browse Related Genres

literary criticismliterary collectionsbiography and memoirartfictioneducation

If you want more in this direction