Five Greatest Novels of All Time

Randy Kadish · Eligible to vote! Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Posts: 22 Gender:

I'm curious: What do you think are the five greatest novels of all time. Here's my list.

1. Don Quixote
2. The Brothers Karamazov
3. Crime and Punishment
4. War And Peace
5. Madame Bovary

Randy Kadish

irishrosem · Doctorate Joined: 19 Oct 2006 Posts: 536 Gender:

I’m going to assume you’re asking what our personal favorites are. Otherwise, I could probably argue for five titles that are considered the greats of Western lit, but they wouldn’t necessarily be what I consider the greatest.

Anyway, my favorites are always in flux. But I’ll name five that usually sit around my top ten titles.

1. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
2. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
3. The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton always alternate as my Wharton favorite. But today I’d give it to House of Mirth.
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
5 Middlemarch, George Eliot. This one very rarely pokes its head among my favorites, but I recently reread it, and really enjoyed it.

Geez, I’m such a girl. Look at those authors: four females and a gay male.

So, in the interest of adding a bit of diversity, something by Cormac McCarthy will probably ascend to my top ten list shortly. I just haven’t read the bulk of his work yet. The first of his books that I read, Blood Meridian, remains my favorite.

As for your list, I could see both Crime and Punishment and War and Peace making a general top five list. (Possibly also Madame Bovary.) But, for me, the Ruskies have always been too verbose for my taste. I’m also always hesitant when reading foreign authors; I get the distinct feeling that so much is lost in the translation. But my still-favorite translated work, Les Miserables, is a remnant from my childhood readings.

MadArchitect · Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:03 am Post subject:

My personal favorites (also with the qualification that this is subject to change on a moment's notice) are:

1. The Bell, by Iris Murdoch;
2. The Bridge at San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder;
3. The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy;
4. On the Marble Cliffs, by Ernst Junger; and
5. The Street of Crocodiles, by Bruno Schulz

Pretty much all of which are on (permanent?) loan to other people. If I ever want to read them again (and I almost certainly will), I'll have to go out and buy new copies.

Constance963 · Intern Joined: 20 Nov 2007 Posts: 153 Gender:

It's hard to choose, but mine would probably be:

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

2. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (I have to agree - I loved this book and it's another that's due for a re-read Very Happy

)

4. The Plague by Albert Camus

5. and even though I'm not quite done reading it yet...Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It is just an amazing novel.

irishrosem · Doctorate Joined: 19 Oct 2006 Posts: 536 Gender:

Oh yes, The Bell. Nix Middlemarch. Sorry Eliot, it was a short-lived romance, but it was fun while it lasted.

Mad, I didn’t know you were a Murdoch fan, or are you just a fan of The Bell?

MadArchitect · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject:

I'm a huge fan of The Bell. So much so, in fact, that I've been hesitant to read any of her other novels. I'll find myself in bookstores, kneeling before them (is it sheer coincidence that her books always seem to be at the bottom of the shelf?), reading first pages and scrutinizing dust jacket blurbs. I've tried to read a little of her philosophy as well, but I think I prefer this particular writer as a novelist. If you have any recommendations, let me know, and I'll put them on my short list of things to read.

irishrosem · Doctorate Joined: 19 Oct 2006 Posts: 536 Gender:

Well, no, not after the way you presented that. I won't be responsible for ruining your love of an author by recommending a book that might not meet up with your expectation for her. I've never read any of Murdoch's philosophy...*blush* didn't even know it existed. And, yes, Murdoch is on the second to bottom shelf in my bookstore.

annaisabella · Eligible to vote! Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 12 Gender:

Well Randy, it's kinda difficult to choose among so many great books i've read so far, but here you go:
1. Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky)
2. The name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
3. The Unbearable lightness of being (Milan kundera)
4. Narcissus and Goldmund (Herman Hesse)
5. Niebla or Nivola (Miguel de Unamuno)

And i couldn't agree more with Mad that the above list may change from time to time, although the first two books will definitely remain in the list. By the way, i read Crime and Punishment at the sound of the Piano Concertos of Mozart, and that might also be the reason why i placed this book at the top of my list: i was totally absorbed in the plot!

irishrosem · Doctorate Joined: 19 Oct 2006 Posts: 536 Gender:

Annaissabella, I picked up the Unbearable Lightness of Being yesterday. You know, I started something here about it, but I’m going to transfer it to an Additional Fiction Discussion thread. I know Mad has read it too, as he was the one who recommended it to me. Hopefully the three of us, and whoever else might have read it, can work up a healthy discussion on the book.

BTW, Mad, I forgot you left this hanging here. I’m surprised. The truth is I’m sure I didn’t love The Bell the same way you did. There are moments that are gorgeous, there are moments that are raucously funny (particularly the scene when Noel shows up at the retreat), but there are also moments that drug for me. I think too we probably approach the work differently. I like Murdoch for her subtle commentary on gender issues—I imagine you enjoy the philosophical elements of her work. That said, I read The Sea, The Sea and A Fairly Honourable Defeat, and enjoyed them both. Though probably not as much as The Bell. So you might be best off just staying away. But then, doesn’t that always make you wonder?

George Ricker · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject:

Here is my list of five favorite novels of all time, at this time. The list may change, depending upon my mood, from month to month, week to week, or even day to day. I don't suggest these are the five best ever, just that they are the five I consider to be my personal favorites. All are by English or American authors. That's because I'm reluctant to list works that I can only read in translation.

1. Daniel Martin by John Fowles
2. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
5. Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins

George


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