Favorite Fiction: My Top Ten

Spurred on once again by that ex-pat Otrops and his most recent posting of his favorite books, I thought I would give it a shot.  As some folks know, I have read very little fiction in recent years.  However, Jeff’s list reminded me of the joy that a great work of fiction can bring a reader.  So, in that spirit, here is my list:

1. Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor - For a brief period in my life when I though I might want to write fiction, I used to claim that this is the only book that I had ever read that I wished I had written.  Why did this book have such an influence on me?  First, it–like most of her work–is wickedly funny.  Second, I have never meet a character like Hazel Motes, so determined to turn his back on religious belief (witness his establishment of the Church without Christ) even if it kills him.  There has never been–and probably never will be–an author who can mix together almost slapstick and extremely dark comedy with such high theological–and quite blatant (subtle metaphor be damned)–and goals. 
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Here is another one that gets on the list for message more than style.  I remember just after eighth grade, we were moving to a new house.  Something got postponed and all our stuff was packed away…except for this book. I must have read it five times…and at least five more since then.  Though after a BA in English and a lot of reading, I can see flaws in the novel proper, I was as enchanted by it when I reread it a year ago as that first time I read it for Mr. Wilkie’s English class.
3. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene – I could practically put Greene’s entire oeuvre on this list but will focus on this novel.  It amazes me that GG considered this a mere entertainment and not one of his more serious novels.  Shot throughout this book is Greene’s signature Catholicism in the real world.  Pinky’s determination to defy his religion and any morality has always reminded me of Hazel Motes (I know it was written before WB but I read them BR later in life).  Along with Motes, I maintain that Pinky is one of the greatest literary characters of the alst century.
4. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Here we go again.  This is here partially for thematic reasons and partially because no one has ever written a novel that will match this one.  My first year of college, I read nothing but American authors in my free time.  Malcolm Callan was determined to change that; so he gave me a bunch of Russian Literature for Chirstmas.  He definitely changed my reading habits.  At this point in my life, this is the book I have read the second most times–after To Kill a Mockingbird.  Every single time I read it, I find something new in it.  If you read only one of the books on this list, I would encourage you to pick this one up.
5. Waterland by Graham Swift – This is a book from my grad school days.  I remember reading this and simply being amazed by the story, the style, and what Swift was able to do w/ words and w/ eels.  If that last sentence seems confusing, I would encourage you to read this. 
6. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut – Like the esteemed Otrops and almost everyone I knew at the time who rad anything, I went through a period in high school where I was way into Vonnegut.  While I remember this time blissfully, it causes a problem in later life in that his novels tend to run together in my mind.  Thus, I have re-read and this novel remains my favorite of his–though like with many of these authors I could have chosen any.  There is just something quite attractive about KV’s insistence on decency to our fellow human beings and his firm belief in the message if not the messenger of the Sermon on the Mount. 
7. East of Eden by John Steinbeck – Another old time favorite.  Steinbeck was all I read when Malcolm was determined to turn me on to Russian lit.  This great work is a big, fat, comfortable family saga.  As I progressed in my reading, I became convinced that Steinbeck was rather a simplistic and almost sentimental writer.  This changed once I reread this novel a few years back.
8. The Road by Cormac McCarthy – This is the only novel I have read in the past ten years that I could talk about for hours.  On the surface this is a novel of hopeless destruction, but as you read you realize this is a novel of amazing beauty.  Through some pretty tough and grotesque imagery, McCarthy manages to show that the love between a father and a son can prevail over all things.  I could go on and on about this but will stop.  After Brothers Karamazov, this is the one title I think I would must suggest folks read…if they can handle graphic imagery. 
9. The Depford Trilogy (Fifth Business, World of Wonder, and The Manticore) by Robertson Davies – A bit of cheating on this one since it is actually three titles but I could not narrow it down to one and I actually read all three in a single volume.  This book is magical–on so many levels.  It is about magic and a world famous magician, but Davies imbues it with magic as he examines how all human life is mythical since we can never experience any life but our own.
10. (TIE)The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon AND The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem – Cheating again! But these two go together in my mind.  I love these novels because they are fantastic and entertaining but mores so because the authors were able to use their childhood and adolescent obsessions (comics, music, and superheroes) to create these remarkable novels.  I find myself unable to select which one I like better so they sit at the bottom of my list together.

So, that is it.  I can’t help but notice that three of my selections have been chosen by Oprah for her book club.  That is what I get for mocking her earliest selection of books.  This list reminds me of why I love to read but–unfortunately–also reminds me of my shift to non-fiction: for every one of these books there are hundreds that writers have thrown together with little thought of craft or subtlety.