What are your Top 5 favorite novels?

(Just curious about what everyone likes to read)

 

I'll go first:

1.  Notes from Underground (Dostoevsky)

2.  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce)

3.  Hunger (Hamsun)

4.  Narcissus and Goldmund (Hesse)

5.  Waiting for Godot* (Beckett)

 

* I know, I know.....it's not a novel, but I had to add it because it's a great one!

These are always hard... 

 

War and Peace by Tolstoy

Don Quixote by Cervantes

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoïevsky

David Copperfield by Dickens

Candide by Voltaire

 

Yeah... still a few more I'd like to squeeze in there... 

Oh, and if we can add other than novels, then I'd definitly put Petersburg Tales by Gogol, or Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais.

Etienne wrote:Oh, and if we can add other than novels, then I'd definitly put Petersburg Tales by Gogol, or Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais.

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Ah, I forgot about Gogol. His stories have literally made me laugh out loud while reading. "The Nose" and "Diary of a Madman" were hilarious and still bring a smile to my face.

Wow, Etienne, I'd love to browse your bookshelves. I'm another Gogol fan. My top 5:

Therese Raquin (Zola)

Catch-22 (Heller)

Darkness at Noon (Koestler)

Madame Bovary (Flaubert)

Coming Up For Air (Orwell)

I'd like to include Kafka in my list, but he makes me insanely jealous. He never finished a novel ("The Castle" finishes mid-sentence!), but is still regarded as one of the giants of 20th century literature. I regret not being able to find space in my top 5 for "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

1. "Magican" - Raymond E Fiest

2. "Warlock" - Wilber Smith

3. "The Divinci Code" - Dan Brown

4. "High society" - Ben Elton

5. "Rose Madder" - Stephen King

 

As you can see I like popular authors  But I think they become popular for a good reason. All of these novels are ones that I couldn't bear to put down once I began them.

Quixotical wrote:

As you can see I like popular authors  But I think they become popular for a good reason.

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 Yes, just like Britney Spears

 

" I'd like to include Kafka in my list, but he makes me insanely jealous. He never finished a novel ("The Castle" finishes mid-sentence!), but is still regarded as one of the giants of 20th century literature."

 

Yes, when I read The Castle, I didn't know beforehand that it wasn't completed haha quite annoying, but at the same time, it does make the story mroe interesting as you never know what's up with anything (which is Kafka's style basically). One of my favorite also by Kafka is The Great Wall of China (available here: http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/kafka/greatwallofchina.htm ),which is a short story, he really is a great author... 

Etienne wrote:

One of my favorite also by Kafka is The Great Wall of China (available here: http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/kafka/greatwallofchina.htm ),which is a short story, he really is a great author... 

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I already have this short story, but you're right to include it in your favourites. Thanks for the post, I'm always grateful for links to literature.

Quixotical wrote:

1. "Magican" - Raymond E Fiest

2. "Warlock" - Wilber Smith

3. "The Divinci Code" - Dan Brown

4. "High society" - Ben Elton

5. "Rose Madder" - Stephen King

 

As you can see I like popular authors  But I think they become popular for a good reason. All of these novels are ones that I couldn't bear to put down once I began them.

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when i saw your list i said"hey those are mine also". also like to list anything by piers anthony,harry harrison,terry pratchett(hilarious),and robert aspirin. yes, i am a sci-fi and fantasy nut.

Is it just me, or doesn't the link work for "great wall of china"? 

Haven't read enough novels to make a list, am more interested in reading other things, but seeing these titels makes me want to read some...

If you copy/paste it works.

 

Here's stories by Gogol whom we talked of earlier, 

The Nose, by Gogol (probably the best short story ever, or at least the funniest one) 

http://www.bibliomania.com/0/5/140/354/18203/1/frameset.html

 

The Overcoat, by Gogol (also a favorite of mine, the best example of caricature by Gogol, who is himself the master of caricature)

 http://www.bibliomania.com/0/5/140/354/18203/1/frameset.html

 

Which both are from Petersburg Tales, there is two other of him on this website. If anyone likes him it is quite easy to find other of his works online.

 

Any books by Grahame Greene or Kafka...how life imitates chess by Kasparov, not a novel, but intresting. Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, also The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.

My 5 top novels are:

The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

A Tale of Two Cities - Dickens

Song of the Road - Bibhuti Bhushan Bhattacharya (Pather Panchali - original in bengali)

I added the last one just to make folks aware that good literature exists outside the western hemisphere too :-))

No, European literature is very rich and it is hard to stop at 5.  I like Kundera and Camus very much but can't include them in the top 5.  Kafka is also a favourite author.  Metamorphosis was a fantastic short story.  What about Joseph Conrad?  Another great writer - Heroes and History is a wonderful account of the Napoleonic wars.

adeshmukh wrote:

  What about Joseph Conrad?  Another great writer

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How did I forget...Heart of Darkness......by conrad......such a long time since I read that one.

adeshmukh wrote:

My 5 top novels are:

.........

Song of the Road - Bibhuti Bhushan Bhattacharya (Pather Panchali - original in bengali)

I added the last one just to make folks aware that good literature exists outside the western hemisphere too :-))

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If you look back to my post, you'll notice Zola (born Paris, France), Koestler (born  Budapest, Hungary), Flaubert(born Rouen, France) and Orwell (born Motihari, India.) Admittedly it also contains Heller (born Coney Island, New York, USA,) but that only makes the "score": Western Hemisphere 20%, Eastern Hemisphere 80%. I, and I'm sure others, can identify with your fondness for Eastern Literature. I also liked the "Epic of "Gilgamesh and Enkidu", and "Monkey" by Wú Chéng'en.

Thank you chessbot3000.  I was bundling Europe with the US but of course you are right.  This is what I like about this site.  I am currently reading Joseph Conrad's Tales of Heroes and History.  The first story The Duel set in the period of the Napoleonic wars is a truly amazing piece of literature.

1. Still life with woodpecker by Tom Robbins
2. the River God series by wilbur smith, yes, im aware listing a series as one book is cheating :P
3. Grapes of Wrath by Johm Steinbeck
4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. Hearts in Atlantis Stephen King

I've mixed in story and principle with my choice of novel. I beleive a riveting story can equal the message of a novel. The river god is my story, the others my message. 

Glad to see some Dostoevsky fans here.

 

BTW, has anyone read Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita? (That was one of the most hilarious novels I've ever read.) Or Lermontov's A Hero of our Time? 

I've been meaning to read A Hero of our Time for a while, but now that university started again I haven't much time to read, I've already read some short stories by Lermontov, liked it, but I've seen a few references to A Hero of Our Time in russian litterature which made me want to pick it up. Going to check about that Bulgakov, didn't know him, looks interesting.

 

While were talking about russian writers, I can recommend Chekov, Garshin (I only read short stories by him, but it was great), Gorky, Sholokhov, Goncharov, Nabokov (The Defense is about a chess grandmaster), Turgeniev and Solzhenitzin. Besides those already named Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol,...

2. the River God series by wilbur smith, yes, im aware listing a series as one book is cheating :P

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I wanted to list all three as well as my second choice, but chose Warlock as the single best. Although on second thoughts I think Rivergod was my favourite.

I have read almost every book written by Wilbur Smith, but Rivergod and and Warlock were standouts of phenomenal brilliance. IMHO the man is a genius.

The Master and Margarita is incredibly funny. I don't want to give anything away, so let me just say that the Devil makes his appearance within the first few pages, and one of the minor characters is an oversized talking black cat who loves vodka and chess! Highly entertaining read.

 

A Hero of our Time is a classic as well. Granted, it's not The Brothers Karamazov or War and Peace (then again, what is?), but it's a great work in itself and required reading for any fan of Russian literature. Too bad Lermontov died so young.