Top Ten Works of Fiction
Dietz got to thinking about his top ten works of fiction and asked others to do the same. So what the hell. Again, in no particular order.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I know, given that I named one of my cats after this book, who would know? Possibly the world's first feminist novel. And is Rochester a great character, or what?
Emma by Jane Austen. Since I named my other cat after this book, another shocker. A finely drawn social satire with great characters.
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. White rabbits, hookah-smoking caterpillars, moving playing cards and chess pieces, and the Walrus and the Carpenter. What's not to love?
The Manticore by Robertson Davies. The tale of one man's experience in Jungian therapy written only as Robertson Davies could write it.
Dune by Frank Herbert. The interwoven themes of religion, politics, and environmentalism make this a fascinating read.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I have loved the Anne of Green Gables series since I was a little girl. The story of the plucky red-headed little orphan girl (the first person to make a Li'l Orphan Annie crack gets it) is absolutely charming.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. No other book could explain the concept of a tesseract to a child and non-science-minded adult so well.
The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Don't panic! And always know where your towel is.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Jo, Meg, Beth, Amy, Marmee, and Laurie. I always felt like I knew them.
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. The story of one Englishman's discovery that he is actually Jewish.
Comments
Dune, Hitchhikers Guide and Alice are all in my top 20. Have never read any of the Bronte sisters or Jane Austin, but know I need to. I've been meaning to get off my ass and read "Wuethering Heights" for years.
Posted by: Dietz | September 4, 2003 05:06 AM
Lesley, what else do you know about The Manticore? Is it a drama, a satire, or what? It sounds interesting. I loved "A Wrinkle in Time" when I was a kid. I own the trilogy but I haven't read the other two books yet.
Posted by: Trish Wilson | September 4, 2003 08:45 PM
The Manticore is the second book in Davies' Deptford Trilogy. The first is Fifth Business and the third is World of Wonders. It is primarily a drama, but there are darkly humorous overtones. This is true, I would say, about all of Davies' works. His works are also all interconnected (characters are common to all), but each one can stand on its own (although you do need to read World of Wonders to find out who killed the father of the main character of The Manticore).
It was hard for me to pick out my favorite of all of Davies' books (and I have read them all). But ultimately I found the Jungian aspect of The Manticore to be so interesting that I had to go with that one. The book is so good that I was able to convince a panel of 3 professors at my undergrad Great Books program to allow me to include it on my list of 24 great books for my oral exam. It fit in well, since I was also including Jung and Joseph Campbell. But Jung and Campbell were both choices from the recommended list. Davies was an addition. I cannot recommend his books too highly. Sadly he died before finishing his last trilogy.
Posted by: Lesley | September 4, 2003 09:04 PM
If you'd gone to McGill or any other Canadian university Davies would've been on the list without question. The reason he wasn't on the list at your college is due to American intellectual provincialism, not his writing.
Posted by: Mom | September 5, 2003 10:56 AM
Oh, one more thing.
I've tried to think of my top ten, but it's impossible. My favorite author is Anthony Trollope -- English, 19th century -- and my fiction favorites are two series of novels (6 books each.) They are The Barchester Chronicles and The Palliser Novels. Also recommended are The Way We Live Now and He Knew He Was Right. And that doesn't even count any of my other favorites, American, Canadian and British.
Posted by: Mom | September 5, 2003 11:49 AM
any list with dune, wrinkle in time and hitchhikers guide in it is ok in my book! (alice don't hurt none, either!)
Posted by: skippy | September 5, 2003 11:54 PM
Have you guys read 'Mansfield Park' by Jane Austen?It's not as famous as 'Pride and Prejudice' but...IT'S GOOD!But I did want Fanny(she's the main character)to marry Crawford(another character).
Oh yeah....I also didn't like the guy whom Emma married.
Posted by: sparkle | October 19, 2003 03:33 AM
BTW-have you read 'The Mill on the Floss'?It's nice.But...George Eliot should not have killed Maggie..she should have married that guy(not the disabled one).
Posted by: sparkle | October 19, 2003 03:39 AM
I have read every Jane Austen book. I thought that Fanny was a somewhat insipid heroine, so I wasn't as enamored of it as other of Jane Austen's work. I love Mr. Knightley, so I was happy that Emma married him.
My favorite "dark horse" Jane Austen work is actually "Persuasion".
Posted by: Lesley | October 19, 2003 10:31 AM