10 Books Turning 100 This Year

How many have you read?

The popular culture of an era often says something about the character of the time it inhabits. Today, we're revisiting ten of the most notable books turning one hundred this year. By all accounts 1925 was a banner year for literature! Some of these titles tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of that moment in history. Others offer something universal that speaks to us all. Whatever the reason, they still have a place on our shelves.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Considered the quintessential novel of the Jazz Age, this classic is set in the opulent 1920s. The story follows the titular self-made millionaire, pining for his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. With themes of nostalgia, ambition, and disillusionment, the book has inspired several adaptations including this star-studded 2013 film.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Woolf's working title was, "The Hours," a title reclaimed by Michael Cunningham for his 1998 novel (and the 2002 film adaptation), which pays homage to Woolf and her classic. The story follows the upper-class Clarissa Dalloway across a single day as she prepares to host a party. Deftly shifting between perspectives and time periods, the stream-of-consciousness narrative unfolds with quiet, devastating drama.  

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Written in 1914, this novel wasn't published until after the author's 1924 death. One of his best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor to the reader. Like Kafka's other novels, it was never completed, but his friend and literary executor, Max Brod, published it posthumously.

In Our Time: Stories by Ernest Hemingway

A Nobel Prize winner, Hemingway forever changed the style of English-language fiction with his economical prose and terse, declarative sentences that conceal more than they reveal. This collection, his first publication, contains many of his most iconic stories, including "Indian Camp," "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife," "The Three-Day Blow," "The Battler," and "Big Two-Hearted River."

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

In this page turner from the Queen of Crime, a young drifter finds himself drawn into a web of intrigue. Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the center of a deadly conspiracy. As the knot tightens around him, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté converge on Chimneys, a great country estate that hides a shocking secret.

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

This landmark novel is the basis for the 1951 film A Place in the Sun. Clyde Griffiths is an ambitious young man who begins an illicit affair with Roberta, a worker at the factory he manages. At the same time, he is courting Sondra, a glamorous socialite. When Roberta confronts him with her pregnancy, he conceives a desperate plan to preserve his dream.

Carry On, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse

These ten uproariously amusing tales include the introduction of the highly competent Jeeves when he comes to replace Bertie Wooster's previous, thieving valet. Wooster is a wealthy young Londoner surrounded by a comedic cast of foppish friends and airy aristocratic acquaintances. As they haplessly navigate life's complexities, the clever, capable Jeeves quietly comes to their rescue.

Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos

This series of overlapping stories focuses on the development of urban life in New York City in the 1920s. From Fourteenth Street to the Bowery, Delmonico's to the underbelly of the city waterfront, the novel portrays a Manhattan that is merciless yet teeming with energy and restlessness, chronicling the lives of characters struggling to become a part of modernity before they are destroyed by it.

Emily Climbs by L. M. Montgomery

Emily Starr was born with the desire to write. As an orphan living on New Moon Farm, writing helped her face difficult times. But as her friends prepare for high school in nearby Shrewsbury, her strict Aunt Elizabeth says she can only go if she stops writing. The second novel in the luminous middle-grade Emily series finds her facing expansive opportunities and life-changing choices.

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis

Written during a period of widespread reforms in medical education, the story traces the trials and tribulations of Martin Arrowsmith, a brilliant doctor and scientist trying to stop the plague virus from spreading. But the price comes at a cost. The novel won the author the Pulitzer Prize, which Lewis declined. The book was adapted as a 1931 film starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes.

Whether these books are new to you or favorites from your past, please join us in celebrating their continued relevance and resonance after a hundred years! How many have you read?

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily book recommendations, literary tidbits, and more.

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon