Due to popular demand I am posting a list of my 100 favorite novels. (Actually, only one person even mentioned this, but whatever.) I will be posting in three parts, because I don't believe my blog page will hold them all at once. I estimate I have read close to 4,000 books in my lifetime, so I have read a great many good ones; these are the books that I have read more than once or, in the case of more recent ones, intend to read again soon, These are my keepers.
I have included only one listing per author, although some writers have produced multiple books which I treasure. The books are in no particular order except that the first on the list is my favorite. Most on the list are accepted classics, but some are less well known and reflect my unique preferences. You may notice the heavy presence of books from the fantasy/science fiction/magical realism genres. I believe in make believe. You may also notice the absence of some respected writers -- Ernest Hemingway, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, James Joyce, and Henry James, for example. While I acknowledge the obvious talent of these, I just don't enjoy reading them that much. I have included the dates of first publication, because I find it often to be important to place a book in its time. For that information I thank the internet and my best friend Wikipedia.
I welcome your comments as to what I should have included or should have left out. I know I have forgotten some really good ones.
1. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (1954-55) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Hobbits, elves, dwarves, ents, wizards, and orcs. The best created world novel ever written. Always my favorite.
2. Catch 22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
Satiric novel about the insanity of military life and war. A very funny book with a very serious theme.
3. Zorba the Greek (1946) by Nikos Kazantzakis
An introverted intellectual learns from a peasant how to live life to its fullest. (Translated from Greek.) Also outstanding: The Last Temptation of Christ and The Greek Passion.
4. The Sound and the Fury (1929) by William Faulkner
Hypnotic stream-of-consciousness prose in the story of a dysfunctional Southern family, told from several viewpoints. Several others by Faulkner are outstanding, including Absalom. Absalom, As I Lay Dying, and the Snopes trilogy.
5. Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte
Highly emotional Gothic-tinged story of a love that transcends death.
6. Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert
Second best created world novel, about the struggle for a desert planet that is the only source of an essential commodity. Describes every aspect so completely that you could go there and feel right at home.
7. The Things They Carried (1990) by Tim O'Brian
Connected short stories about an American platoon of soldiers in Vietnam; anti-war by implication.
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo
A Romantic Gothic novel about a hypocritical priest, a naive Gypsy girl, and a deformed bell ringer. About as exciting a novel as they come. (Translated from French.) Les Miserables is also very fine.
9. Middlemarch (1872) by George Eliot
Several interconnected stories about residents of an English town. Particularly good characterization. Adam Bede is also recommended.
10. A Long Long Way (2005) by Sebastian Barry
A young Irish lad joins the British army and fights in World War I, only to be asked to fire on his fellow Irish during the Easter Uprising. One of the most beautifully written novels I've ever read by my favorite living writer. All Barry's are excellent, particularly The Secret Scripture.
11. Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens
A humble young boy acquires a mysterious benefactor, gets all full of himself, but turns out all right in the end. Bleak House is actually the better book, but I have special fondness for Pip and Joe the blacksmith.
12. Nights at the Circus (1984) by Angela Carter
A journalist becomes captivated by an aerialist in a circus who may or may not really have wings. Feminist magical realism. All Carter's books are unusual and fascinating, particularly Wise Children.
13. The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jay Gatsby tries to realize the American dream and win the beautiful princess during the excesses of the Jazz Age.
14. Heart of Darkness (1899) by Joseph Conrad
The allure of evil symbolized by a journey into the Congo. All Conrad's books are outstanding, particularly Lord Jim and Nostromo.
15. Titus Groan (1946) by Mervyn Peake
Grotesque characters, a crumbling castle, and intentionally archaic language create an alternate world in the Gothic tradition. The sequel, Gormenghast, is equally as good.
16. She (1887) by H. Rider Haggard
A Gothic-tinged adventure story of explorers who discover a lost kingdom ruled by She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. I've tried to get my daughter to call me that, but she only does it in jest.
17. The Once and Future King (1958) by T.H. White
The best modern telling of the King Arthur story. I usually skip the first part with Arthur as a child and jump right into the legend portions.
18. East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck
The story of two families in the Salinas Valley of California. Better than his more well known The Grapes of Wrath, though that one is excellent, as is Of Mice and Men.
19. The House of the Seven Gables (1851) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Gothic story of a family curse lasting through the generations. I like it even better than The Scarlet Letter.
20. Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A love story of sorts extending over 50 years. The language is wonderful. (Translated from Spanish) Also outstanding: 100 Years of Solitude.
21. The Magus (1965) by John Fowles
A young British teacher in Greece gets involved with a trickster and his dark illusions. The Collector is also chilling.
22. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) by J.M. Coetzee
The allegorical story of a nation so afraid of the "other" that they behave as barbarians themselves. Perfectly written. All his books are outstanding.
23. Ubik (1969) by Philip K. Dick
From the Master of Alternate Realities, for anyone who has ever asked himself, "What is real and what is not?" All of Dick's books are strange and mind bending. My favorite science fiction writer.
24. The Way We Live Now (1875) by Anthony Trollope
Greed and dishonesty in Victorian England. It could as well be about the 1% here and now. Also recommended: The Barsetshire series and the Palliser series.
25. The Girl in the Swing (1980) by Richard Adams
A socially awkward antiques collector falls in love with a mysterious young woman with a dark secret. A chilling story with touches of the supernatural.
26. Gilead (2004) by Marilynne Robinson
The reflections of a Congregationalist pastor on his heritage and his life as he faces death. Very insightful in its examination of religious faith. Home and Lila. approach parts of the same story through different characters.
27. Look Homeward Angel (1929) by Thomas Wolfe
The coming-of-age story of a young American boy. Very lyrical and emotional.
28. The Glass Bead Game (1943) by Hermann Hesse
An imaginary school in an imaginary location where all knowledge is synthesized through the playing of a chess-like game. This book fascinates me and I have read it three times trying to understand it, and I still don't, really. Also favorites by Hesse: Steppenwolf and Siddhartha.
29. Blindness (1995) by Jose Saramago
A chilling allegorical story about the downfall of society when everyone suddenly becomes blind. (Translated from Portuguese.) Also excellent: All the Names and The Cave.
30. Atonement (2001) by Ian McEwan
A young girl tells an almost-innocent lie and then is afraid to admit the truth, with tragic consequences that follow her into adulthood. All McEwan's books are excellent, though most are a bit dark.
31. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) by Ray Bradbury
Two boys have a nightmarish experience with a traveling circus and the evil Mr. Dark. Truly scary. Also, of course, Fahrenheit 451.
32. The Ox-Bow Incident (1940) by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
A Western about the dynamics of a lynch mob. Very insightful.
33. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000) by Michael Chabon
Two cousins and their lives and careers in the early years of the comic book industry. All Chabon's books are quirky and interesting and often very funny.
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