The greatest book of the past 125 years, according to readers

The New York Times Book Review has revealed the winner of its reader poll on the best book of the past 125 years.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee won, probably to no one’s great surprise, but by a “narrow” margin (no further specifics provided).

It edged out The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1984 by George Orwell, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Beloved by Toni Morrison.

But what does “greatest” mean? That answer is as individual as our preferences, so the NY Times included a sampling of why readers nominated books.

Also in the grand reveal: stats that illustrate just how varied the nominations were, lists of the most-nominated authors, and a sampling of the not-as-expected nominations. 

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