Tim Sevenhuysen.com My fearless errand to make the world slightly less dull.

50 Best Novels

This is a list of the Top 50 novels that I have read, ranked in order beginning with the most highly recommended. These rankings are based on how well written the books are, how powerful and poignant their messages are, and, to a slightly lesser extent, how entertaining they are.

I may update this list over time as my opinions evolve and as I read more books. This list was last modified in June 2011.

Feel free to share your opinions about what you've read, what you'd recommend, and what you think I should read that might find its way onto this list.

  1. Les Miserables
  2. To Kill a Mockingbird
  3. The Grapes of Wrath
  4. Gulliver's Travels
  5. Life of Pi
  6. The Power of One
  7. The Hobbit
  8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  9. Of Mice and Men
  10. All Quiet on the Western Front
  11. Moby Dick
  12. The Fellowship of the Ring
  13. The Two Towers
  14. The Return of the King
  15. Nineteen Eighty-Four
  16. Perelandra
  17. Lord of the Flies
  18. Ender's Game
  19. The Count of Monte Cristo
  20. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
  21. Watership Down
  22. A Scanner Darkly
  23. The Magician's Nephew
  24. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
  25. The Horse and His Boy
  26. Prince Caspian
  27. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  28. The Silver Chair
  29. The Last Battle
  30. The Last Samurai
  31. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  32. The Book of the Dun Cow
  33. Red Mars
  34. Green Mars
  35. Blue Mars
  36. I Am Legend
  37. Animal Farm
  38. Great Expectations
  39. Brave New World
  40. Dracula
  41. Frankenstein
  42. Pride and Prejudice
  43. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
  44. The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  45. A Wrinkle in Time
  46. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  47. The Three Musketeers
  48. The Odyssey
  49. The Hunt for Red October
  50. The Invisible Man

Former "Top 50" Books

  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  • Steppenwolf
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Comments (12) Trackbacks (0)
  1. Tim
    December 8th, 2010 - 09:42

    I'm about a quarter of the way through Les Miserables right now, and I think it's probably going to find a place in my Top 10.

    ( REPLY )
  2. David MacKenzie
    January 1st, 2011 - 07:22

    Have you read All the King's Men? That's a classic.

    ( REPLY )
  3. Tim
    January 1st, 2011 - 09:21

    I haven't, no. If I see it in a used book store I might grab it. What's the concept?

    ( REPLY )
  4. King Kool
    January 1st, 2011 - 10:40

    I suggest Masters of Doom (about the making of Doom) and Final Cut (about the making of Heaven's Gate, one of Hollywood's most notorious bombs).

    Final Cut comes with a promise: if you read it and don't like it, I will buy the book off you at whatever cost you paid to get it.

    ( REPLY )
  5. Tim
    January 3rd, 2011 - 05:07

    Sounds interesting, King Kool, but I'm more of a fiction person, as this list suggests.

    ( REPLY )
  6. Nikolas Meurett
    January 4th, 2011 - 04:40

    Love that Philip K Dick is represented up there. Have you read Man in the High Castle yet?

    ( REPLY )
  7. Tim
    January 4th, 2011 - 05:21

    I think I have, but I don't remember specifically. I find most of Dick's writing pretty surreal and hard to get a handle on, so it's hard to say afterwards how good it was.

    ( REPLY )
  8. Dylan
    January 21st, 2011 - 05:22

    Any chance you've read the Wheel of Time series? It's my personal favorite high fantasy series, and if you're a fan of the Lord of the Rings, the Wheel of Time series is right up your alley.

    ( REPLY )
  9. Tim
    January 21st, 2011 - 05:41

    I haven't read them, actually, though I've heard of them before. I have a lot on my to-read list, but I wouldn't mind giving them a try at some point.

    ( REPLY )
  10. Metcarfre
    June 7th, 2011 - 14:38

    You should read Madame Bovary Tim… I think you’d enjoy it.

    I need to finish Lewis’s sci-fi trilogy…

    ( REPLY )
  11. Kate
    July 11th, 2011 - 18:59

    East of Eden should be number one. It probably isn’t because you haven’t taken on the significant commitment it represents. But if you can be married, you can take on Steinbeck’s seminal work.

    ( REPLY )

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