# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![mandaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@mandaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandaree)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/121 "2003-08-06T00:57:47Z")
Gone With The Wind-Margaret Mitchell ---
**Author:** ![mandaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@mandaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandaree)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/122 "2003-08-06T01:05:04Z")
Sorry I am stupid…so anyway… Wicked-Gregory Maguire Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister- also by Maguire Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee ---
**Author:** ![Pastor\_of\_Muppets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5a626/32.png) [@Pastor\_of\_Muppets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pastor_of_Muppets)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/123 "2003-08-06T01:14:02Z")
Wow! Just 5?.. OK… Here goes… **Pale Fire** - Nabokov **Ulysses** - Joyce (Yes, I know. Pretentious as hell. But I have actually read it like four times and it really is one of my favorites) **Invisible Cities** - Calvino **Labarinths** - Borges **House of Leaves** - Danielewski (one of the scariest books I’ve ever reead and at the same time a wonderful exploration of semiotics and the printers art. Plus it’s a ripping good yarn.) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/124 "2003-08-06T02:01:44Z")
_Pride and Prejudice_, Austen _To Kill a Mockingbird_, Lee _Gaudy Night_, Sayers _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_, Lewis _The Iliad_, Homer (not a novel, so sue me) Julie ---
**Author:** ![benthames](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@benthames](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benthames)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/125 "2003-08-06T04:12:36Z")
The Stranger, as translated by Matthew Ward, not Stuart Gilbert Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon The Count of Monte Cristo Finnegan’s Wake, by James Joyce. (just kidding) Where I’m Calling From, by Raymond Carver The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E. Lawrence ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/126 "2003-08-06T04:56:33Z")
These 3 are just perfection: **Lolita** , Vladimir Nabokov **Ada** , Vladimir Nabokov **The Beginning of Spring** , Penelope Fitzgerald These 3 are marvelous, pure pleasure, page turners: **The Satanic Verses** , Salman Rushdie **A Prayer for Owen Meany** , John Irving **Love in the Time of Cholera** , Gabriel Garcia Marquez One of my favorite novels is disguised as a short story collection: **Winesburg, Ohio** , Sherwood Anderson ---
**Author:** ![BooksWoods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooksWoods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooksWoods)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/127 "2003-08-17T04:01:38Z")
I’ve enjoyed reading through these lists and adding books to my “To Read” list (especially from posters who listed some of my favorites, like **Sirens of Titan** by Kurt Vonnegut **Grapes of Wrath** by John Steinbeck **Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance** **Accidental Tourist** , Ann Tyler) But those are taken, so I get to start a new list and not count those! I have a terrible memory, and have even come to close to the end of a book before realizing I’ve read it before. I went through Ken Follett and Elmore Leonard stages (and who’s the guy who wrote all the cop books?), but can’t remember the names of the books. So, through my swiss cheese brain, I’ll add some fun books nobody’s mentioned yet that spring to mind: **Painted Canoe** , Anthony Winkler **Snow Leopard** , Peter Matthiessen (so it’s non-fiction, sue me) **Turtle Diary** , Russel Hoban **A Bend in the River** V.S. Naipaul **One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish** , Dr. Seuss I realized when I tried to do this that many of my favorite books have been non-fiction - travel stories, biographies, etc. I also realized that I enjoyed a lot of books I’m a little embarrassed to mention, like **Prince of Tides** by Pat Conroy (admit it, a lot of you have favorite books you’re afraid to mention or you’ll look shallow). ---
**Author:** ![Petrichor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@Petrichor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrichor)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/128 "2003-08-17T08:03:10Z")
_All Quiet on the Western Front_ Erich Maria Remarque _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ Lo Kuan Chung \*The Unconquered Country \* Geoff Ryman _The True Story of the Kelly Gang_ Peter Carey _Good Omens_ Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/129 "2003-08-17T10:49:43Z")
It’s tough to only pick five, but here goes: **Ada** by Vladimir Nabokov **Steppenwolf** by Hermann Hesse **Bad Brains** by Kathe Koja **Other Voices, Other Rooms** Truman Capote **All the Pretty Horses** by Cormac McCarthy If I was allowing multiple titles per author, I would’ve included Nabokov’s **Lolita** and **Transparent Things** and Hesse’s **Demian**. Oh, hell, I would’ve included _everything_ by Nabokov. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nefertari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7bcc69/32.png) [@nefertari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nefertari)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/130 "2003-08-17T11:39:00Z")
The, by this stage, almost obligatory: 1. Lord of the Rings - Tolkien 2. Babbit - Sinclair Lewis Only one other mention!! I’m shocked! 3. Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk (and Fight Club) 4. Crimson Petal and the White - Michael Faber 5. 1984 - Orwell …and Alias Grace/Handmaiden’s Tale (Atwood), Hitchhiker’s (Adams), Perfume (Suskind), Fingersmith (Waters)…Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Bronte)… ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068/131 "2003-08-18T12:43:31Z")
“Burr” - Gore Vidal (I’ll add “Lincoln,” “Empire” and the rest of the series, but it started with “Burr”). “The Cider House Rules” - John Irving (also liked “Prayer for Owen Meany,” but didn’t care for “Hotel New Hampshire,” or “The 158 lb. Marriage”). “Slaughterhouse Five,” - Kurt Vonnegut (a co-worker had dinner with Mr. Vonnegut and said that he’s not much of a dinner companion). “Treasure Island” - Robert Louis Stevenson (I must have read this about a thousand times as a kid. I still enjoy it). “The Shining” - Stephen King (I slept with the lights on). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-5-best-novels-youve-ever-read/191068.md?page=6)