The 100 best moderately difficult books about technology and modernity

No. 11 on this list. The Rainbow · D.H. Lawrence · 1915

The Rainbow is firmly established in the English literary canon as one of Lawrence's major novels and a landmark of early modernism. It appears on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list, is a staple of university curricula covering British modernism, and is widely recognized as a foundational text in the novel of sexuality and consciousness.

No. 12 on this list. Saint Joan · George Bernard Shaw · 1923

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

In 1429, Joan, an illiterate seventeen-year-old peasant girl from Domrémy, arrives at the castle of Vaucouleurs claiming that saints' voices command her to crown the Dauphin and drive the English from France. Through sheer conviction, she persuades the skeptical Captain Robert de Baudricourt to send her to Chinon, where she astounds the French court. The weak Dauphin Charles, his cynical Archbishop, and the capable soldier Dunois all find themselves swept along by her extraordinary certainty. Joan leads French forces to lift the siege of Orleans and sees Charles crowned at Rheims, but her military boldness and claim to direct divine guidance threaten both Church hierarchy and feudal nobility. The English Earl of Warwick and the French Bishop Cauchon, neither villains nor fools, recognize that Joan's proto-Protestant insistence on individual conscience and her proto-nationalist loyalty to France above feudal allegiances endanger their entire world order. At her trial for heresy, Joan faces judges who believe sincerely that they serve God by destroying her. She recants briefly under threat of burning, then reclaims her voices and goes to the stake. Twenty-five years later, in Charles's dream, the rehabilitated and eventually canonized Joan asks when the world will be ready to receive its saints—and receives only silence.

No. 13 on this list. From Hell · Alan Moore · 1999

Widely regarded as one of the greatest graphic novels ever produced. A staple of comics criticism and increasingly taught in university courses.

No. 14 on this list. Nana · Émile Zola · 1880

Nana stands as a defining text of literary naturalism and a cornerstone of French 19th-century fiction. As the ninth novel in Zola's ambitious Rougon-Macquart cycle, it regularly appears in French literature curricula and surveys of European realism. While perhaps less universally assigned than Germinal or L'Assommoir, it remains essential to understanding naturalism, Second Empire social critique, and Zola's literary project.

No. 15 on this list. Fatelessness · Imre Kertész · 1975

Taught in schools: Hungarian literature curriculum (magyar nyelv és irodalom) (Hungary)

Fatelessness holds significant canonical status within Holocaust literature and Central European fiction, frequently taught in university courses on trauma literature and twentieth-century European novels. While not as universally assigned as Wiesel or Levi, it represents a crucial counter-narrative in Holocaust literature, challenging redemptive and metaphysical interpretations of the camps.

No. 16 on this list. The Master of Go · Yasunari Kawabata · 1954

Regularly taught in Japanese literature and world literature courses at university level, though less ubiquitous than Kawabata's Snow Country. Recognized as one of the key texts for understanding 20th-century Japanese prose and the aesthetic of mono no aware. Its inclusion in Nobel Prize retrospectives solidified its place in the world literature canon.

No. 17 on this list. Man and Superman · George Bernard Shaw · 1903

Man and Superman appears on 86 university syllabi (48th percentile by Open Syllabus data) and holds Wikipedia articles in 9 languages. It is taught in drama and modern literature courses but sits behind Pygmalion and Major Barbara in Shaw's own canon. The Wikipedia article includes dedicated Reception and Adaptations sections, indicating sustained critical discourse.

No. 18 on this list. The Guide · R.K. Narayan · 1958

Taught in schools: CSEC English B – Caribbean Examinations Council

The Guide is the central text of Indian English fiction before Rushdie and appears regularly in postcolonial, South Asian, and world literature courses. It was the first novel in English to win the Sahitya Akademi Award, India's national literary prize. Wikipedia articles in multiple languages; the 1965 Bollywood film adaptation signals deep cultural penetration within India.

No. 19 on this list. The River Between · Ngugi wa Thiong'o · 1965

Taught in schools: CSEC English B – Caribbean Examinations Council

Included in: Heinemann African Writers Series

A foundational text of African literature, The River Between appears regularly on postcolonial literature syllabi across universities in Africa, Europe, and North America. Written while Ngugi was still a student at Makerere University, it has accumulated canonical status as one of the earliest East African novels to address colonialism's cultural violence directly. It is consistently paired with Things Fall Apart in survey courses as a defining document of the African literary tradition.

No. 20 on this list. Loving · Henry Green · 1945

Ranked 89th on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels and included on TIME's All-TIME 100 Novels, with Wikipedia articles in 10 languages. It is taught in courses on modernist and wartime British fiction, though less widely than Woolf or Waugh.

No. 21 on this list. Vile Bodies · Evelyn Waugh · 1930

Vile Bodies is one of Waugh's most celebrated early novels and appears regularly on British literature syllabi and 'best of 20th century' lists. It lacks the mass-taught status of Brideshead Revisited but is considered essential reading for interwar British fiction. The Modern Library includes Waugh among major 20th-century novelists, and the novel appears in numerous canonical surveys of satirical fiction.

No. 22 on this list. Thousand Cranes · Yasunari Kawabata · 1949

Included in: UNESCO Collection of Representative Works

Thousand Cranes was explicitly cited in Kawabata's 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, cementing its canonical status. It appears regularly in Japanese literature surveys and courses on Japanese aesthetics. While Snow Country may be more famous internationally, Thousand Cranes is recognized as essential Kawabata, embodying mono no aware and the intersection of tradition with post-war disillusionment.

No. 23 on this list. The Makioka Sisters · Jun'ichirō Tanizaki · 1948

Included in: UNESCO Collection of Representative Works

The Makioka Sisters appears regularly on university world literature and Japanese literature syllabi, and is included in most critical surveys of the 20th-century novel. No syllabus count data is available, but the novel's inclusion in the Modern Library and its reputation as essential reading in Japanese fiction courses place it firmly in the upper tier of world literature canon. It is less universally taught than Western fixtures but central to any serious study of modern Japanese prose.

No. 24 on this list. Kusamakura · Natsume Sōseki · 1906

Included in: UNESCO Collection of Representative Works

Kusamakura occupies a firm place in the Japanese literary canon as one of Soseki's key early works, but its presence in world literature syllabi is limited. It appears in Japanese literature survey courses and occasionally in comparative aesthetics seminars. Outside Japan, it is known primarily to specialists and readers who seek it out through Soseki's broader reputation.

No. 25 on this list. Purple Hibiscus · Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 2004

Taught in schools: Leaving Certificate English – NCCA / State Examinations Commission (Ireland)

Appears on 255 university syllabi according to the Open Syllabus Project, placing it in the 60th percentile of taught works. Wikipedia articles exist in 13 languages with a dedicated reception section. The novel is a fixture in postcolonial literature and African fiction courses, though it has not yet reached the ubiquity of authors like Achebe or Morrison in broader curricula.

No. 26 on this list. The Magnificent Ambersons · Booth Tarkington · 1919

The great American novel of industrial change. The Amberson family's decline as automobiles transform their Midwestern city anticipated America's 20th century. Core text in American literature courses. Orson Welles's 1942 film adaptation is legendary.

No. 27 on this list. The Caves of Steel · Isaac Asimov · 1954

The Caves of Steel appears on university syllabi in science fiction literature courses and sits on nearly every canonical SF reading list, including the Science Fiction Encyclopedia's foundational texts. It lacks the cross-disciplinary syllabus presence of mainstream literary fiction but holds a secure place in the SF canon that has been stable for decades.

No. 28 on this list. Footsteps · Pramoedya Ananta Toer · 1985

The Buru Quartet holds a firm place in world literature and postcolonial studies curricula globally, though individual volumes like Footsteps are less universally taught than the quartet's opener, This Earth of Mankind. The series appears widely on Southeast Asian and postcolonial literature syllabi, with Pramoedya recognized as the preeminent Indonesian novelist of the 20th century. No formal syllabus or Wikipedia data was found in the database, but Pramoedya's broader literary footprint is well-documented across major encyclopedic and academic sources.

No. 29 on this list. Some Prefer Nettles · Jun'ichirō Tanizaki · 1929

Some Prefer Nettles is among Tanizaki's most-taught works in East Asian and world literature courses, included in Penguin Classics and Modern Library editions. It is a standard text in comparative modernism syllabi examining East-West cultural collision. While not as widely taught as European canonical novels, it occupies a secure position in global literary education.

No. 30 on this list. No Longer at Ease · Chinua Achebe · 1960

Taught in schools: Pacific Senior Secondary Certificate – English

Included in: Heinemann African Writers Series

No Longer at Ease is widely taught in African literature, postcolonial studies, and world literature courses as a standard companion to Things Fall Apart. Part of the Heinemann African Writers Series and regularly assigned across anglophone African and diaspora universities. Not at the level of Things Fall Apart's global reach but solidly canonical within postcolonial literature.