The percentage of adult Americans reading literature has dropped dramatically over the past 20 years. 'Literature' includes novels, short stories, plays, and poetry but not works of nonfiction. But still some people write books to express their thoughts in words and to earn money the other read books as to be entertained and to be educated, as well.
Among the best 25 English language novels of the 20th century you will find:

1. Ulysses, James Joyce (1922)
2. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce (1916)
4. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1958)
5. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (1932)
6. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner (1929)
7. Catch-22, Joseph Heller (1961)
8. Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (1941)
9. Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence (1913)
10. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939)
11. Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry (1947)
12. The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler (1903)
13. 1984, George Orwell (1949)
14. I, Claudius, Robert Graves (1934)
15. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (1927)
16. An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser (1925)
17. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers (1940)
18. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
19. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (1952)
20. Native Son, Richard Wright (1940)
21. Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow (1959)
22. Appointment in Samarra, John O'Hara (1934)
23. U.S.A. (trilogy), John Dos Passos (1937'trilogy completed)
24. Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (1919)
25. A Passage to India, E. M. Forster (1924)
These books are really worth reading or at least to be heard of. They are the basis of English novel of the 20th century. These novels are included in the program for students of humanitarian fields.

Those who are interested in English language nonfiction books of the 20th century will find the best books at their taste from the following list:

1. The Education of Henry Adams,
Henry Adams (1906)
2. The Varieties of Religious Experience,
William James (1902)
3. Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington (1901)
4. A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf (1929)
5. Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (1962)
6. Selected Essays, 1917'1932, T. S. Eliot (1932)
7. The Double Helix, James D. Watson (1968)
8. Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov (1967)
9. The American Language, H. L. Mencken (1919)
10. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, John Maynard Keynes (1935'1936)
11. The Lives of a Cell, Lewis Thomas (1974)
12. The Frontier in American History,
Frederick Jackson Turner (1920)
13. Black Boy, Richard Wright (1945)
14. Aspects of the Novel, E. M. Forster (1927)
15. The Civil War, Shelby Foote (1958'1974)
16. The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman (1962)
17. The Proper Study of Mankind, Isaiah Berlin (1997)
18. The Nature and Destiny of Man, Reinhold Niebuhr (1941'1943)
19. Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin (1955)
20. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein (1933)
21. The Elements of Style, William Strunk and E. B. White (1959)
22. An American Dilemma, Gunnar Myrdal (1944)
23. Principia Mathematica, Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell (1910'1913)
24. The Mismeasure of Man, Stephen Jay Gould (1981)
25. The Mirror and the Lamp, Meyer Howard Abrams (1953)

We all know that reading is an essential part of education. Good parents try to inculcate in their kids a taste for literature. First we read books for our kids, and it is the initial step to show them that books are worth reading. Books make imagination work and help understand the world we live in. If parents have been managed to succeed in this first step it is guarantee that the kids will read books in future and the process of learning reading will be facilitated, as the kids are motivated from the very beginning. If you do not know what books to choose for your kids take the list below that is approved by several generations.

1. The Poky Little Puppy, Janette Sebring Lowrey (1942)
2. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter (1902)
3. Tootle, Gertrude Crampton (1945)
4. Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss (1960)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling (2000)
6. Pat the Bunny, Dorothy Kunhardt (1940)
7. Saggy Baggy Elephant, Kathryn and Byron Jackson (1947)
8. Scuffy the Tugboat, Gertrude Crampton (1955)
9. The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss (1957)
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling (1999)
11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling (1999)
12. Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein (1974)
13. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Dr. Seuss (1960)
14. The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein (1964)
15. The Littlest Angel, Charles Tazewell (1946)
16. Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss (1963)
17. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Dr. Seuss (1990)
18. Dr. Seuss's ABC, Dr. Seuss (1960)
19. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowling (1998)
20. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle (1969)
21. The Children's Bible (1965)
22. A Light in the Attic, Shel Silverstein (1981)
23. The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, Beatrix Potter (1904)
24. Are You My Mother?, P. D. Eastman (1960)
25. The Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister (1992)

Daily newspapers and entertainment weekly magazines are still popular and take one of the leading roles in mass media.

Top 25 Daily Newspapers in the United States are:

Rank Newspaper
1. USA Today (Arlington, Va.)
2. Wall Street Journal (New York, N.Y.)
3. Times (New York, N.Y.)
4. Times (Los Angeles)
5. Post (Washington, DC)
6. Daily News (New York, N.Y.)
7. Tribune (Chicago)
8. Post (New York, N.Y.)
9. Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.)
10. Chronicle (Houston)
11. Chronicle (San Francisco)
12. Morning News (Dallas)
13. Sun-Times (Chicago)
14. Globe (Boston)
15. Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
16. Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)
17. Inquirer (Philadelphia)
18. Journal-Constitution (Atlanta)
19. Free Press (Detroit)
20. Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
21. Oregonian (Portland)
22. Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
23. Union-Tribune (San Diego)
24. Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
25. Herald (Miami)