From Hemingway to Hughes, vote for the best book of 1926 — and share your pick for a modern book that might resonate in 2126.
A person passes the Boston Public Library Boston, MA on May 21, 2020. (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
September 5, 2025 | 2:28 PM
1 minute to read
Are once-popular books from a century ago still relevant today? That’s the question at the heart of the Hundred-Year Book Debate, a lively annual series hosted by the Associates of the Boston Public Library. Each year, panelists revisit titles published 100 years ago, and readers vote on which one resonates most today.
The debate between three books published in 1925 — F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” Franz Kafka’s “The Trial,” and Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” — concluded in the spring with the latter crowned as the best.
Now, the spotlight shifts to 1926 with eight contenders on the table:
“My Mortal Enemy” by Willa Cather
“Showboat” by Edna Ferber
“Preface to Life” by Zona Gale
“The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway
“The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes
“Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph” by T. E. Lawrence
“Winnie-the-Pooh” by A. A. Milne
“The Plough and the Stars” by Sean O’Casey
Readers can vote to narrow the list by Sept. 27. A live debate will take place at the Boston Public Library on Feb. 10, 2026.
We want to know: Which of these titles from 1926 books deserves the crown? To take it a step further, which book that’s published in the past year or so do think will still matter a century from now?
Share your picks by filling out the form or e-mailing us at [email protected], and your response may appear in a future Boston.com article.
What’s the best book of 1926?
Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.
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