Witty and sometimes controversial selection of 194 books deemed by editors to be the best published since 1950, with the addition for this first paperback edition of six reader-nominated authors not included in the original hardback. Familiar names such as Bellow and Nabokov rub shoulders with some more surprising choices, Thomas Harris and Mario Puzo included, in a project which aims to encourage reading and stimulate debate. "Each day I look at it, "The Modern Library" grows in value, as a record of territory rediscovered, a map of journeys to come" "Irish Times".

Witty and sometimes controversial selection of 194 books deemed by editors to be the best published since 1950, with the addition for this first paperback edition of six reader-nominated authors not included in the original hardback. Familiar names such as Bellow and Nabokov rub shoulders with some more surprising choices, Thomas Harris and Mario Puzo included, in a project which aims to encourage reading and stimulate debate. "Each day I look at it, (The Modern Library) grows in value, as a record of territory rediscovered, a map of journeys to come" (Irish Times).