111 Novels Worth Reading

Despite not being one of the world’s foremost literary critics, I have strong opinions about books.

There’s a quote from the British writer William Hale White, which I think is appropriate here: “Blessed is love, less blessed is hatred, but thrice accursed is that indifference which is neither one nor the other.”

This is a personal list of my favorite novels, updated from the list I published earlier this year. I’ve added several new books and reevaluated some of my rankings based on my recent reading, discussions and feedback. (But some of my more controversial opinions remained unchanged - Middlemarch is on the list, but a great deal lower than some of you would prefer!)

Most of these books, I loved. A few I hated, but learned from. All are worth reading. You’ll find no indifference here.

There is no overall ranking, just rankings within categories.

Below is my list of worthwhile novels.

1. Bleak House by Charles Dickens. No book in the English language has more memorable characters. Reading Bleak House will build you a mental roadmap to navigating and understanding humans, and no other work of literature will prove so useful in a lifetime. Instead of figuring out whether a person is an INTJ or a “Challenger,” just ask whether they remind you of Mrs. Jellyby or Harold Skimpole.

2. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. This is an even better story than Bleak House, and is also laced with memorable characters. Dickens at his most entertaining, funny and earnest, all at the same time.

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Like Dickens, Austen has given us some of the most memorable characters that have established a type in the literary mind. Mr. Bennett, Mr. Collins, Elizabeth, Jane and Mr. Darcy form categories of personhood that our literature and our minds cannot help but use.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. This book is exciting, gothic, utterly irresponsible, and an early guide to the female psyche all in one. Hard to think of a more entertaining use of the human capability of writing.

5. Kim by Rudyard Kipling. Reading this book takes you back to a time and place that is long gone, but it has the life and vigour that only Kipling could give a story. Kim (the boy) is mischievous, lovable and irrepressible and Kim (the book) is the same.

6. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. David Copperfield is a first-person masterpiece that has autobiographical overtones. Here you can see Dickens writing what he knows, and the results are stunning.

7. Emma by Jane Austen. Austen is just so deliciously tart and funny, and Emma showcases her mastery of characterization and dialogue. A classic that will make you laugh out loud (a bit nervously).

8. The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett. A magnificent novel following two sisters from youth into old age. Bennett was once considered one of England's greatest living novelists and suffered from Virginia Woolf’s savage attacks - unjustified in my opinion.