LibGuides: Banned Books: Banned 100 Best Novels

Modern Library's 100 Best Novels

Books On Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list available in COM Library that have been banned or challenged elsewhere.

Of the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels published since 1900 in the English language, 9 of the top 10 have been banned at some point and COM Library has all of them.
Find out the reasons for banning and get the call numbers from our library so you can locate the book in our library and read a banned book.

Print books can be checked out with a COM ID; eBooks must accessed on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

#1 Ulysses by James Joyce
Also available in print: PR 6019.O9 U4 1992

Why: Obscenity. Not just banned, but burned in US, Canada, England and Ireland, even after critical acclaim.
#2 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Also available in print: PS 3511.I9 G7 1992

Why: Language and sexual references in the book. Vulgarity/obscenity or sexually explicit.
#3 A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce
Also available in print: PR 6019 O9 P6454 1998

Publication Date: 1999-01-27

Why: Banned under the US Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (AKA Comstock Law). Source: FileRoom.
#4 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Also available in print: PS3527.A15 L6 1992

Why: Obscenity, sexual content, perversion.
#5 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Also available in print: PR6015.U9 B65 2004

Why: Obscenity, language, immoral, drug use. Source: From 100 Banned Books, Banned Books, Fileroom
#6 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Also available in print: PS3511.A86 S7 1992

The tragedy of the Compson family, their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy. The character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
Why: Banned under the US Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (AKA Comstock Law).
Winner of the Nobel Prize
#7 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Also available in print: PS 3558 E476 C3 1995

Why: Obscenity, violence.
#9 Sons and Lovers by David Herbert Lawrence
Also available in print: PR6023.A93 S6 1991

Why: Banned under the US Federal Anti-Obscenity Act (AKA Comstock Law); smut; sexuality
#10 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Also available in print: PS 3537 .T3234 G8 2000

A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, it captures the horrors of the Great Depression, probing into the very nature of equality and justice in America.
Why: Profanity, sexuality
Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature; Pulitzer Prize Winner
#13 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Also available in print: PR6029.R8 N49 1992

In 1984, London is a grim totalitarian state where Big Brother is watching, and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith, drawn into a forbidden love affair, joins the secret revolutionary organization The Brotherhood. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.
Why: Sexuality, political ideas
Prometheus Hall of Fame Award
#15 To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Why: Offensive language, mention of suicide.
#16 An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Also available in print: PS3507.R55 A7 2003

Why: sexual content, abortion, and murder.
#18 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Also available in print: PS3572.O5 S6 1999

Why: sexually explicit, depraved, immoral, and anti-Christian.
National Book Award Finalist
#19 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Also available in print: PS3555.L625 I5 1994

Follows an African American man's journey as he grapples with racism. After a series of humiliating experiences in the South, he moves to Harlem, where he becomes entangled with the Brotherhood. He then retreats to an underground hideout, where he reflects on the "invisibility" of his true self in a society that refuses to acknowledge his humanity.
Why: Profanity, violence, sexuality
National Book Award. #19 on Modern Library's 100 Best Novels
#20 Native Son by Richard Wright
Also available in print: PS 3545.R815 N25

Why: Sexually graphic and violent.
#31 Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell
Also available in print: PR6029.R8 A63 2003

The animals of Manor Farm have revolted and taken over. Upon the death of Old Major, the pigs revolt against Mr. Jones, driving him from the farm. The animals embrace the Seven Commandments of Animalism and life carries on, but they learn that a farm ruled by animals looks more human than ever.
Why: political theories
Retro Hugo Award
#33 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Also available in print: PS3507.R55 S5 1981

Why: Immorality, sexuality
#35 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Also available in print: PS3511.A86 A85 2000

Summary: Told through the perspectives of 15 different narrators, the novel explores themes of family, duty, grief, and the subjective nature of reality
Why: profanity, sexuality, anti-Christian.
Faulkner won the Nobel Prize in Literature
#39 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Also available in print: PS3552.A45 G6 1963

Why: Violence, sexuality, profanity
#41 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Also available in print: PR6013.O35 L6 2013

Why: profanity, racism, misogyny, portrayals of sexuality, use of racial slurs, and excessive violence
Golding received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.
#45 The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Also available in print: PS3515.E37 S8 2014

Why: Profanity, questions existence of God.
#49 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
Why: Obscenity, sexuality
#52 Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
Why: Explicit language, sexuality
#64 The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Also available in print: Main Collection PS3537.A426 C3 1951

Why: Use of profanity
# 67 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Also available in print: PR6005.O4 H4 1993

Why: Language, violence
#74 A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Also available in print: PS3515.E37 F3 1997

Why: Sexuality,
#96 Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Also available in print: PS 3569.T9 S67 1998

Why: Sexual content