50 favorite novels of the past 50 years

This past weekend was my 50-year high school reunion. To honor that momentous event I decided to create a list of some of my 50 favorite novels (fiction) I've read since high school. In 2005 I became a high school librarian, which made reading part of my job. Therefore, more books on the list are from the last 20 years than the first 30. I hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane with me. Hyperlinks take you to reviews, if I wrote one.

This list is not ranked. I just listed the titles as they came to mind. I love them all.

1. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

2. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

3. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

4. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

5. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

6. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

7. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

8. Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

10. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

12. Persuasion by Jane Austen

13. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

14. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien 

15. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

16. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

17. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

18. Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

19. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

20. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

21. Antidote by Karen Russell

22. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

23. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

24. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

25. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

26. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

27. James by Percival Everett

28. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

29. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

30. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

31. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

32. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

33. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

34. Going Bovine by Libba Bray

35. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

36. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

37. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

38. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

39. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

40. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rawling

41. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

42. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

43. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

44. The Justice Trilogy by Louise Erdrich

45. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

46. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

47. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

48. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

49. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

50. The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater

Egads! I don't want to stop. I have so many other favorites I wish I could list, but I will stop here. (And this list doesn't even include my favorite nonfiction books from the past half century. Time for a second list?)

-Anne