# What are the 5 best novels you've ever read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068 "2003-07-26T12:37:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![fotosbyfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@fotosbyfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fotosbyfrank)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/21 "2003-07-26T17:49:04Z")
Let’s see - only 5? In no particular order: To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith Rebecca - Daphne DeMorney All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque Love In The Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/22 "2003-07-26T17:51:09Z")
Hmmmm…these change a lot depending on my moods, like “favorite opera” and “favorite pasta shape.” And several of my top picks have already been picked, like **Three Men in a Boat, The Man Who was Thursday, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Maltese Falcon** , and **The Grapes of Wrath**. Well, here’s a mixed bag of five fresh ones, alphabetically by author: Nelson Algren; **The Man With the Golden Arm** Mikhail Bulgakov; **The Master and Margarita** Joris-Karl Huysmans; **A Rebours** (variously translated as **Against Nature** or **Against the Grain** ) James Jones; **From Here to Eternity** Herbert Read; **The Green Child** ---
**Author:** ![WadeG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d26b3c/32.png) [@WadeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WadeG)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/23 "2003-07-26T18:01:36Z")
_The World According to Garp_ by John Irving _As I Lay Dying_ by William Faulkner _Beloved_ by Toni Morrison _Slaughterhouse-Five_ by Kurt Vonnegut _Like a Hole in the Head_ by Jen Banbury All twentieth-century. What d’ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/24 "2003-07-26T18:18:46Z")
Hey, that Jen Banbury book _is_ damn good, isn’t it? Neat. You and I are probably the only ones who’ve ever read it, aside from Banbury’s Mom, of course. ---
**Author:** ![WadeG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d26b3c/32.png) [@WadeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WadeG)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/25 "2003-07-26T18:48:18Z")
Probably. Well, I did buy it as a present for nearly everyone I buy presents for. As long as it was in print, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/26 "2003-07-26T20:10:30Z")
- Great Expectations \* by Charles Dickens - To Kill a Mockingbird \* by Harper Lee The \* Pugratorio \* by Dante Alighieri (and yes, I \* know \* it’s not really a novel, and only part two of a trilogy, and I haven’t read it in the original Italian, and this is cheating on so many levels it’s not funny. I can’t help it. It \* feels \* like a novel.) - Was \* by Geoff Ryman - Gulliver’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World \* by Jonathan Swift ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/27 "2003-07-26T20:11:44Z")
Ahem. I meant \* Purgatorio \* of course. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/28 "2003-07-26T20:19:26Z")
\*Huckleberry Finn East of Eden A Confederacy of Dunces Watership Down I, Claudius\* ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/29 "2003-07-26T20:32:13Z")
**The Stranger** by Albert Camus **Jane Eyre** by Charlotte Bronte **The Catcher in the Rye** by J. D. Salinger **To Kill a Mockingbird** by Harper Lee **The Great Gatsby** by F. Scott Fitzgerald ---
**Author:** ![UperCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c0e974/32.png) [@UperCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UperCow)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/30 "2003-07-26T21:00:30Z")
A Catcher in the Rye Mists of Avalon Macbeth Jordi/ Lisa and David My sister from the black lagoon (no it is not a childrens book OR a goosebumb book!) ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/31 "2003-07-26T21:30:38Z")
Granted I’ll probably think of something I like better than one of these within the next ten minutes, but at the moment, my top 5 are: **A Clockwork Orange** , Anthony Burgess **Catch 22** , Joseph Heller **The Grapes of Wrath** , John Steinbeck **Rebecca** , Daphne Demaurier [sp?] Well, this is a series, but **The Dark Tower Series** by Stephen King. If that’s cheating, then **The Waste Lands** , of that series. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/32 "2003-07-26T21:34:19Z")
_The Great Gatsby_, Fitzgerald _Crime and Punishment_, Dostoevsky _Lolita_, Nabokov _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_, Douglas Adams (a trilogy, I know - one five books long, no less - but I can’t even guess at how many times I’ve read every page in them) I’m not sure what #5 would be… ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/33 "2003-07-26T21:47:01Z")
_The Women In White_, Wilkie Collins _Catch-22_, Joseph Heller _Novel With Cocaine_, M Ageyev _Confedaracy of Dunces_, John Kennedy O’Toole _Nineteen Eighty-Four_, Gerge Orwell With an honourable mention to _The Diary Of A Madmen And Other Stories_ by Nikolai Gogol which is a collection of short stories. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Plankton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@David\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/34 "2003-07-26T21:54:30Z")
Lolita - Nabokov The Secret History - Tarrt Moby Dick - Melville The Remains of the Day - Ishigura Last Orders - Swift That was tough choosing only 5 ---
**Author:** ![Bugnorton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bugnorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bugnorton)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/35 "2003-07-26T22:04:07Z")
Admittidly not particularly erudite but here goes: **Far From the Madding Crowd** - Thomas Hardy **Murder Must Advertise** - Dorothy Sayers **Pillars of the Earth** - Ken Follett **The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe** - C.S. Lewis **David Copperfield** - Charles Dickens ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/36 "2003-07-26T22:07:53Z")
_Crime and Punishment_ by Fyodor Dostoevsky _East of Eden_ by John Steinbeck _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens _The Maltese Falcon_ by Dashiell Hammett _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/37 "2003-07-26T22:14:18Z")
**Catch-22** **Slaughterhouse-Five** **Cryptonomicon** by Neal Stephenson the **Titan/Wizard/Demon** trilogy by John Varley Tom Robbins’ **Still Life With Woodpecker** used to be one of my favorites but now I’m more partial to **Jitterbug Perfume** ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/38 "2003-07-26T22:21:00Z")
Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake The End Of The Affair - Graham Greene The Riddle Of The Sands - Erskine Childers Wilt - Tom Sharpe Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/39 "2003-07-26T22:22:33Z")
Hi, How do you just pick five :)? I don’t make any claims to literary expertise either, and I think my choices are rather eclectic. I decided to split them up into two sections- great stories and great dialogue. Great Stories- Pretty standard fare… \*The Chronicles of Narnia \* C.S Lewis _The Witching Hour_ by Ann Rice \*The Stand \* by Stephen King \*Gone with the Wind \* by Margaret Mitchell \*Of Mice and Men \* by John Steinbeck ok… one more I can’t leave out \*Nop’s Trials \* by Donald Maccaig- a dog book for grownups. Great Dialogue (good stories too)- sorry my list overan on this one LOL- I couldn’t pick my favorites out of my three favorite authors. _Trainspotting , Maribou Stork Nightmare , Acid House_ Irvine Welsh- I know thats three… _Pride & Prejudice , Persuasion_ by Jane Austen \*Lonesome Dove \* and _Dead Man’s Walk_ by Larry McMurtry I did read _Still Life with Woodpecker_ by Tom Robbins, and being a redhead from a large family of redheads, I could appreciate the remark but other than that I found the writing style too goofy on the whole. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/40 "2003-07-26T23:31:06Z")
Here’s five, not necessarily best, not necessarily “Great Literature”, but novels I come back to again and again… _Birds of America_ by Mary McCarthy _The Custom of the Country_ by Edith Wharton _My Idea of Fun_ by Will Self _Cruddy_ by Lynda Barry _Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady_ by Florence King [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068.md?page=3)