Five Favorite Novels

11.13.07

An esteemed colleague of mine was looking for book recommendations to help pass the time in Panama, so I compiled this list. I decided that I might as well share these books with everyone, because the more my friends read, the more I tend to enjoy our conversations.

I'm not going to confine myself to English literature, because some of my favorite writers are French and American. Also, rather than sticking solely to "the classics," I am also going to include some great novels that are still under 50. Regardless, here are my top five works of fiction, in no particular order:

1) the Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas

2) Les Miserables- Victor Hugo

3) A Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving

4) the Hobbit / the Lord of the Rings Trilogy / the Silmarillion- J.R.R. Tolkein (I realize that I snuck five books into one slot... but they are all quite good.)

5) Shogun- James Clavell

I would also highly recommend anything by Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, or Irvine Welsh. And yes, the Catcher in the Rye is great too.