# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/61 "2003-07-27T04:19:03Z")
_Little Women_ by Louisa May Alcott _To Kill a Mockingbird_ by Harper Lee (also A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) _Gone with the Wind_ by Margaret Mitchell _Watership Down_ by Richard Adams _Catch-22_ by Joseph Heller _Les Miserables_ by Victor Hugo _The Notebook_ by Nicholas Sparks :o It’s seven, but that’s as short as I can make the list. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/62 "2003-07-27T04:24:34Z")
1. Slavegirl of Gor, John Norman . . . 2. Far Tortuga, Peter Matthieson 3. Use of Weapons, Iain Banks 4. Last Call, Tim Powers 5. Little, Big, John Crowley Hard to stop at five, alrighty. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/63 "2003-07-27T04:26:49Z")
This list depends on time of day, mood, eating habits, and whatever comes to mind. It would have been different if I hadn’t read the thread beforehand :). INPO: _Dandelion Wine_ by Ray Bradbury (this book just feels like summer) _Dune_ by Frank Herbert _Ender’s Game_ by Orson Scott Card _Catch 22_ by Joseph Heller _Speak_ by Laurie Halse Anderson (anybody else read this? It’s a really good YA book.) And I’ll say _Lolita_ as well (it gets to be on the list cause I’ve only read half of it.) ---
**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 27, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/64 "2003-07-27T04:27:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AbbySthrnAccent \* > \*\*_Little Women_ by Louisa May Alcott > _To Kill a Mockingbird_ by Harper Lee (also A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) > _Gone with the Wind_ by Margaret Mitchell > _Watership Down_ by Richard Adams > _Catch-22_ by Joseph Heller > _Les Miserables_ by Victor Hugo > _The Notebook_ by Nicholas Sparks > > :o It’s seven, but that’s as short as I can make the list. \*\* It’s eight! 😕 :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/65 "2003-07-27T04:34:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lisa-go-Blind \* > \*\*It’s eight! 😕 :dubious: \*\* It’s seven. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, while very good, is second to To Kill a Mockingbird. It wasn’t meant to be on the list so much as it was another Harper Lee book that was a really memorable read. ---
**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 27, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/66 "2003-07-27T04:39:40Z")
Errr… **A Tree Grows in Brooklyn** isn’t by Harper Lee. She never wrote another book. **A Tree Grows in Brooklyn** is by Betty Smith. ---
**Author:** ![IUHomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90db22/32.png) [@IUHomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IUHomer)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/67 "2003-07-27T04:39:52Z")
To Kill A Mockingbird Dune 1984 / Brave New World A Tale of Two Cities Slaughterhouse Five ``` Ok, so I cheated and mentioned two books as one, but I can't help but think of them together. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/68 "2003-07-27T05:14:15Z")
Already mentioned: _One Hundred Years of Solitude, Jitterbug Perfume, Jane Eyre._ Not yet mentioned: _Le Divorce_, Diane Johnson. Soon to be made into an inferior movie, by all appearances. The book that warped my mind into the delightful shape you see today: \*The Hippopotamus, \* Stephen Fry. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/69 "2003-07-27T06:42:19Z")
- Catch-22\* by Joseph Heller - The Power and the Glory\* by Graham Greene _The Long Goodbye_ by Raymond Chamdler _The Killer Inside Me_ by Jim Thompson _Siddhartha_ by Herman Hesse ---
**Author:** ![Atom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@Atom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atom)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/70 "2003-07-27T06:48:53Z")
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut The Autobiography of Malcolm X Ubik by Philip Dick Time Out of Joint by Philip Dick And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave ---
**Author:** ![IcyPeas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@IcyPeas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IcyPeas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/71 "2003-07-27T06:54:02Z")
Woman in White - Wilke Collins Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald Angela’s Ashes - Frank McCourt Possession - Jane Austen Lie Down in Darkness - Wm Styron ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/72 "2003-07-27T07:02:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lisa-go-Blind \* > \*\*Errr… **A Tree Grows in Brooklyn** isn’t by Harper Lee. She never wrote another book. **A Tree Grows in Brooklyn** is by Betty Smith. \*\* I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/73 "2003-07-27T07:28:57Z")
Catch-22 (for me, this has stood since the moment I finished the first chapter as the finest literary work I have experienced)- Joseph Heller (personally, I found Closing Time- the Catch-22 “sequel” disappointing… anyone share/renounce my view?) The Moor’s Last Sigh- Salman Rushdie (a landscape painted in words even more breathtaking than that described in the Satanic Verses, and without the need to look around for people who might be offended before picking it up) Iain M. Banks- Excession (without a doubt for me the finest science fiction author ever, and yes, I mean better than Asimov) Animal Farm- George Orwell (such a simple explanation of the perils of totalitarianism I grasped it even as a seven-year-old) Magician- Raymond Feist (perhaps not quite on the same level in terms of sales and critical appeal as the others, but the first “big fat book” I ever got through, and the novel that defined “page-turner” to me) (sorry about all the brackets) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/74 "2003-07-27T07:33:12Z")
Okay, okay, I missed #6, which has to be included… Red Dwarf, by Grant Naylor. US Dopers, if you’ve never heard of it, you MUST read it- far and away the funniest book that isn’t Catch-22, ever. A little off subject, but I thought I should also mention my favorite short story- the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber. * * * pocketa-pocketa-pocketa ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/75 "2003-07-27T13:49:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fotosbyfrank \* > \*\*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 > \*\* Get out of my head! 😉 Those three listed above, plus: _The Poisonwood Bible_, by Barbara Kingsolver _Cold Mountain_, by Charles Frasier _The Pillars of the Earth_, by Ken Follett _Lightning_, by Dean Koontz (just about the only one of his I like) _This Perfect Day_, by Ira Levin _The Secret Life of Bees_, by Sue Monk Kidd (a new favorite) ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/76 "2003-07-27T15:12:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by masonite \* > \*\*_Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady_ by Florence King \*\* Oh, that was a great book! These are the ones I keep coming back to: To Kill A Mockingbird The Dollmaker Mists of Avalon Six of One - Rita Mae Brown …And Ladies of the Club - Helen Hooven Santmeyer Limiting myself to 5 is tough! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/77 "2003-07-27T15:20:13Z")
Stranger in A Strange Land, Heinlein The Milagro Beanfield War, John Nichols The Tolkien Trilogy Mila 18, Leon Uris ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/78 "2003-07-27T15:34:52Z")
I am **pumped** - **The Dollmaker** is on three lists!!! It’d be cool if someone could compile the lists and rank the books, wouldn’t it? Some of the books mentioned turn up frequently on other lists but there are a few books that seem to be peculiar to Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/79 "2003-07-27T16:14:11Z")
I’m amazed at all the _Geek Love_ fans. For a while, I’d thought that Maggie Estep and myself were the only ones who’d heard of it. “I gave you _Geek Love_ and you didn’t wanna read it/I said you have to 'cause it says it all/It’s about the things that weave people together/and the finer points of surgery.” ---
**Author:** ![WadeG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d26b3c/32.png) [@WadeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WadeG)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/80 "2003-07-27T17:28:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WadeG \* > \*\*_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. \*\* Mm, I forgot _Maus_ by Art Spiegelman. Damn, now I’m over quota. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068.md?page=5)