I started thinking about my favorite novels of all time yesterday after reading this blogpost from strollerderby. For those of you who don’t click on the link, in the post, a 6-year-old girl judges the contents of books based on their cover art. This is what she says about two of my favorite novels:
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger:
“It doesn’t really have a story. The cover is weird. It doesn’t give you like any clue to what it is about on the cover, like other books do. ”
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:
“I think this book is about a sprite that lives in the forest. And she meets a lion, a tiger a bear and a mouse. She also meets a leaf and a tree, it’s a magical book but for teens.”
Nearly apt reviews for both books, this kid needs her own book review column in the New York Times!
As with most of my other favorite things, this list is subject to change due to mood, season, weather, hunger, etc. My favorite novels as of today, in no particular order:
One of the first novels I ever read! A story about wolf-dog and boy, brutality, and survival.
I almost didn’t read this one, a guy vs. a fish didn’t sound cool at all. However, I came away with how important it is to see a struggle through to the end, regardless of outcome. Read it, it’ll grow hair on your chest.
A book about teen angst! Ugh!
A lot of folks find this one hard to get in to. Yeah, it’s a handful of a book, I admit. The best way I can think to describe this book is by comparing it to cilantro. Some people can’t stand cilantro no matter how often they try it, but others realize their food lives will never be the same after that first bite, it’s pure magic.
A great coming-of-age story that incorporates Sci-Fi, comic books, and curses! Junot Diaz is a modern day storyteller with a gift for writing.
So, what are your favorite novels? Post them below.
July 25, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Top 5:
–Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
–Blindness, Jose Saramago
–The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
–Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
–A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
In the top 10:
–The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
–The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
–Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
–The Giver, Lois Lowry
–The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
Thanks Jesus–I love to see which books people really love!
August 1, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Hi Kris!
I wonder if “Blindess” is basis for a film of the same name that came out a few years back? I’ll have to look into that. Thanks.
July 26, 2012 at 6:43 pm
I saw that article a few days ago and laughed so hard at this kid’s take on Wuthering Heights! “It looks weird. I think this must be a book about a tree. I would not read a book about just a tree. And it looks like it’s a sad tree too since it has no friends.”
Incidentally, Wuthering Heights is one of my Top 10. Others that I would say have made a profound impact on me:
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald — #1 all time, hands down
Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway — if only for giving us the fabulous character Brett Ashley
Looking For Alaska/The Fault in Our Stars, John Green (I have such a book nerd crush on John Green.)
Bridget Jones’ Diary — I think you could argue that this launched an entire genre of fiction (which is, for better or worse, generally dubbed “chick lit.”) It is the most uproariously funny account ever written of life as a screwed-up singleton in a world of totally together Smug Marrieds (as Bridget calls them). It’s my go-to feel-good pick!
And of course, Harry Potter. No list of my all-time faves would be complete without Harry!
August 1, 2012 at 5:35 pm
I had to read Gatsby in high school and I remember thinking it wasn’t very interesting. But, so many people love it, I’ll have to read it again. Maybe my adult brain will appreciate more than my teen brain?
July 26, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Carly, The Great Gatsby is my number-one, all-time favorite book, too! I actually have a framed poster of F. Scott Fitzgerald at home; it might be my most treasured possession.
Other favorites: Gilead (Marilynne Robinson), Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf), War and Peace (Tolstoy), American Gods (Neil Gaiman), Tex (S.E. Hinton), A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers), The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers), Pigs in Heaven (Barbara Kingsolver), and Saint Maybe (Anne Tyler). To name a few.
August 1, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Yep, with you on Mrs. Dalloway and I really enjoyed American Gods, but not the follow up (Anansi Boys?).
July 28, 2012 at 11:28 am
Ahhh, where to even begin.
Definitely some of my favorite classics:
Jane Eyre
Count of Monte Cristo
Brothers Karamazov and The Idiot
Anna Karenina
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
No titles in particular, but I love James Baldwin and Willa Cather.
And when I was young I loved the Chronicles of Narnia, Old Yeller, and My Side of the Mountain.
I see from your recommendations there are some I need to go back and read! Thanks Jesus–great ideas here!
August 1, 2012 at 5:38 pm
I’ve never read the Count of Monte Cristo or The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Thanks!
July 31, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Great list! I agree on The Catcher in the Rye choice.
Here is my list:
– L.A. Confidential/Clandestine/Blood on the Moon (James Ellroy)
– Shella (Andrew Vachss)
– Kingdom Come (Alex Ross)
– The Dark Knight Returns/Batman Year One (Frank Miller)
– Red Dragon (Thomas Harris)
– The Secret History (Donna Tartt)
– The Wasp Factory (Ian Banks)
– The Killer Inside Me (Jim Thompson)
– The Stars My Destination/The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)
– House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)
– The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon — fun comic…etc)
– I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (Harlan Ellison–I cheated–a short story)
– The Club Dumas (Arturo Pérez-Reverte)
– Koko (Peter Straub)
– IT/The Long Walk (Stephen King)
– The Painted Bird (Jerzy Kosiński)
– Dracula (Bram Stoker)
– Legion (William Peter Blatty, beats The Exorcist, imho)
– The Electric Church (Jeff Somers)
– Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? aka Blade Runner (Philip K. Dick)
– The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis)
– Zombie (Joyce Carol Oates)
August 1, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Great list! Joyce Carol Oates wrote a book named Zombie?!
August 1, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Yep…it was a fictional novel based on Dahmer. Not gratuitous, very literary and the prose is lean.
August 1, 2012 at 12:27 am
Hey, Jesus! I think you’re friends with my brother! Great article! I’m always looking for new books to read! I love “Oscar Wao” by the way!
My top ten in no particular order:
“The Namesake” Jhumpa Lahiri
“Everything is Illuminated” Jonathan Safran Foer
“The Westing Game” Ellen Raskin
“The Stand” Stephen King
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” John Irving
“A Tale of Two Cities” Dickens
“Divergent” Veronica Roth
“While I was Gone” Sue Miller
And of course the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series!
August 1, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Hi Carrie! Yep, it’s me, David’s friend, guilty as charged. I’ve never heard of The Westing Game or While I was Gone. Thanks for your list!
August 6, 2012 at 11:38 pm
I have always wanted to read “Everything is Illuminated” as well as “The Westing Game”. Cool. I like these posts.
Jesús, where are you in your reading? I suspect you now have over 250 books to read. Not counting my 1500 page free ebook “100 Shades of Purple” about a man who can only see…um…shades of purple. Now he hates grape juice.
August 8, 2012 at 4:33 pm
To Kill a Mockingbird
August 8, 2012 at 4:53 pm
That’s a great one!
August 8, 2012 at 5:05 pm
To second a previous poster, The Westing Game is very clever indeed. I loved it when I was younger. In a completely different genre, Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible is amazing (but intense). Also, Shelly Pearsol’s Trouble Don’t Last (if you’ll forgive it for being set in Ohio).
August 8, 2012 at 5:11 pm
Thanks, Daniel! I’ve never heard of Trouble Don’t Last, I’ll have to look it up.
August 10, 2012 at 2:39 am
It will be easier if I spell the author’s name correctly: Shelley Pearsall; sorry I got it wrong the first time. Her book “All of the Above” is also quite good (and you might enjoy the recipes for BBQ sauce it contains between chapters).
August 11, 2012 at 3:54 pm
I have to chip in my Fave’s now. I generally only read sci-fi/fantasy and teen so that is were my favorites come from.
# 1 OF ALL TIME (ALL CAPS EMPHASIS!!!)
Lion of Senet by Jennifer Fallon (actually the whole 3 book series)
The rest in no particular order (most of these are the first in the series):
Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan
Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Kris Longknife: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd
The Lost Fleet: Dauntless by Jack Campbell
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond Feist