Modern Library 100 The best novels of the 20th century refer to the 20th century100 English novels selected by American Modern Library 1998 in July, and the selection panel is composed of the editors of The Book of the Century of New York Public Library and Random House Contemporary Library. Among the 100 novels, Ulysses by James Joyce ranks first. Joseph Conrad, a Polish-born English writer, was chosen as the biggest winner of the four books. In addition to the list selected by the editors, Modern Book Company also conducted a public opinion survey on readers' 20th century 100 English novels, which was published on 1999, and the total number of votes exceeded 200,000. Among them, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged ranks first.