What is yout favorite novel?

Who else has noticed that half of the books listed are not novels?

I can't help with similar Harry Potter-esq books, but if you like Dan Brown try Brad Meltzer.  

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/164726.Vampire_Blood_Trilogy about Darren Shan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saga_of_Darren_Shan

Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Had read that a long time before The da Vinci Code. Therefore the plot of Brown's book wasn't very suspenseful.

As far as Harry Potter, I'd recommend The Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. Very good books in the same genre.

The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass

I read a theory that the first fully developed example of a new genre contains all future trends in thast genre - can't remember who wrote it. But if that's the case:

Don Quixote,  Miguel Cervantes

Hemmingway for his athletic style of writing. Simple, compelling sentences that drive the narrative. The Old Man and the Sea may be my favorite. The story suits his style.

I'm glad someone mentioned The Old Man and the Sea. It's Hemingway's best work. It's written so simply but yet the story and the stuggle of this old man is so complelling and heartbreaking.

Has anyone mentioned The Foundation series yet? 

I wouldn't rate them as stellar for prose, but for ideas, they are excellent.

I've read Dan Brown, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien. I could see reading Tolkien again. Not the others.

Love Hemingway. Have read the series of stories in Big Two-Hearted River a couple of times. These have never been marketed as a novel AFAIK, but could be. I read The Old Man and Sea during a quiet day as a substitute teacher in middle school English (it was still called junior high then) in the mid-1980s. Terrific book. Shows Hemingway's affinity with Steinbeck, IMO.