Time included The Catcher in the Rye on its 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923.
The list was published as Time's List of the 100 Best Novels and was compiled by critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo. It covered English-language novels published from 1923 through 2005, the period beginning with Time magazine's founding and ending when the list was assembled.
Salinger's novel qualified as a major postwar work of American fiction. Published in 1951, it became one of the most widely read coming-of-age novels in English and was repeatedly discussed for its voice, treatment of adolescence, and influence on later literature.
This list is easy to confuse with other “best novels” rankings. The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels, the American Library Association's challenged-books lists, and various newspaper rankings are separate projects with different criteria. Time's 2005 selection specifically concerned English-language novels across the 1923–2005 publication window.