You may list a handful of titles but please denote just one as your favorite.
I’m going with ‘A Prayer For Owen Meany’ by John Irving.
You?
(I may generate a poll in the future if this goes well.)
mmm
(and I know it’s probably been done before, no need to search/link)
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth.
The Mailman by Bentley Little
It’s not as classy as the others listed here. It’s my favorite because of the surrealism.
Hmm. Feels like this is a bit about The Great American Novel?
I would likely pick The Great Gatsby. I love the writing and the themes he writes about.
I might’ve picked To Kill a Mockingbird, and while I still love it, I feel it is a bit too “white savior”-y as I read about Atticus nobly defending the condemned Tom Robinson.
I also love The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace. I found it on a new release bookshelf at a library and loved it, only to see DFW emerge as a leading voice in writing up to his death.
Roger Zelazney, Lord of Light.
Off the top of my head, East of Eden.
The novel I think is the greatest is To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
The novel which is my own personal favorite is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain.
I know that his Huckleberry Finn is supposed to be The Great American Novel (and justly so), but I don’t love it. I’ve only read it twice. But I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been through Twain’s King Arthur novel. I would love to se them do a proper screen adaptation of it – something they haven’t come close to doing yet.
Several of his other books – Life on the Mississpii. The Innocents Abroad – are also favorites of mine, but they’re not novels, so they don’t qualify for this thread.
If I had to pick just one, it would probably be The Great Gatsby. But there are a hundred others I consider great.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
I intentionally did not use the word ‘greatest’ in the OP, just looking for your personal favorite. They certainly could be the same title, of course.
mmm
Sorry I misread it as asking for “greatest.”
My personal fave is The Gypsy’s Curse, by Harry Crews.
A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin *favorite
Going After Cacciato, by Tim O’Brien
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
Double Indemnity, James M. Cain. Much more bizarre than the Billy Wilder film version, which was also great, but less weird than the novel. I like weird.
Speaking of weird, The Cook by Harry Kressing. I came across this largely forgotten short 1965 novel two years ago, and I LOVE IT. Re-read it twice since.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov.
The Natural, not the feel-good Robert Redford film version (sorry if that spoils it for anyone). The optimism, corporate greed, little man thinking he can beat the system, all make it a truly American story.
I guess a novella rather than a novel, but Of Mice and Men.
The Women’s Room, Marilyn French.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Runners up would include works by Vonnegut, Irving, and others.