Open Mike, Part I: Novel for 2025

["Open Mike" is the anything goes, often off-topic Editorial Page of TOP, in which Yr. Hmbl. Scribbler wanders the musty stacks.]

Which old traditional novel should I read in 2025?

As regular readers might recall once they are reminded, I try to read a novel every year. It's time to pick. It's almost my birthday, and I usually try to decide by my birthday. (If you want to know how old I am, inside my head I think I'm 38 and in my body, I feel like 83.) I'm a big reader—still, although less so than in former decades—but I'm partial to nonfiction, like that book Our Inner Ape by Frans de Waal that I recommended two days ago.

In fact, that one's only one of a whole list I have in my head of pop-science books I'd recommend to any adolescent for their education or any adult for their entertainment and edification*. The Beak of the Finch, by Jonathan Weiner, about evolution; Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, by Gary Kinder, about engineering (and undersea treasure-hunting); Longitude, by Dava Sobel, about an important landmark in horology (and sailing ships); A Short History of Nearly Everything (you'll want the illustrated edition), by Bill Bryson, everything you want to know about physics and then some; The Sports Gene, by David Epstein, about the physiology of extraordinary athletes; The Botany of Desire, by Michael Pollan, about four special species of plants that have flourished owing to their importance to humans; that sort of thing. Oh, dear...titles are going to be occurring to me all morning now.

I go through "periods" in subject matter. I read everything, everything I could get my hands on, about the Civil War when I was a kid. I've left that mostly behind now, although I still read one or two Civil War titles a year, most recently The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, which was good. I once collected piles of books about books (the one not to miss: A Gentle Madness by Nicholas Basbanes). Twice in my life I went through binges of reading about religion, but weirdly. In a positive sense, I once had a large collection of books about Zen Buddhism and philosophical Taoism. You have of course read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig if you are anywhere near my age, a period piece now (ambiguity deliberate, ha ha), and Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, but I have another whole list of the best books on that topic in my head; and, from the negative side, when "the New Atheism" was a fad in the years around 2011, I got into that. I ended up with a double-handful of favorites but I've spared you the list, aren't I nice? I eventually decided I was treating anti-religion like a religion, and it stopped feeling, well, edifying.

My father forced me to drop out of Dartmouth after only four trimesters, despite the fact that I was doing very well there, or more likely because of that fact, and I never got an academic degree. (I earned a BFA from the Corcoran School of Art, a studio degree.) It's a sore topic to me. My formal academic education lasted pretty much only the six years I attended The University School of Milwaukee, a K–12 prep school, and that 1+ year at Dartmouth. Before seventh grade I attended public grade school, and was thoroughly bored and largely a juvenile delinquent. I spent half as much time in the Principal's office as in classrooms. I got kicked out of French class once, and the teacher made the mistake of saying, "don't come back till I tell you to!"...and I managed to evade her for two months. I spent French period in the library, reading Civil War YA fiction and listening to records with headphones. Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith was a favorite. I only learned much later that it was fastidiously researched for historical accuracy by its author, so it was a little like non-fiction. Art, music, and gym and recess, and the library, along with all the inventive and resourceful ways I got into and out of trouble, were all that saved me. Once exiled from Dartmouth, I resolved to take over my own education and become a deliberate autodidact, a project I have kept up ever since. With only modest success; but the point is that I look to read books that can teach me something. Made-up novels, which I can't help but approach with skepticism as to their truth-value, aren't my thing, natively.

But to keep my toe dipped in that pool I try to read at least one classic novel every year. It's surprising how many of them are busts for me. I wasn't impressed with The Great Gatsby or Conrad's Heart of Darkness (despite liking a lot of Conrad) or Catcher in the Rye (I used to see J.D. Salinger in the Dartmouth Bookstore, and spoke to him once), or The African Queen (despite a passionate enthusiasm in boyhood for Hornblower, by the same author—you will also need the Companion, and The Real Hornblower by Bryan Perrett), or Being There by Jerzy Kosiński, which I thought a bit light and not as good as the movie made from it.

Last year's novel was The Godfather by Mario Puzo, which I read as part of a deep dive into the film. Worth the read, although it beats me if it qualifies as a classic—it tilts more to entertainment than to edification, let's say that. Puzo's own tale is good too—he scrabbled away at the book saying out loud that he was working on a bestseller, and I love the fact that most of the great lines from the movie that are now famous, such as "I made him an offer he couldn't refuse," were sayings from Puzo's mother, who was not Sicilian but rather from the Campania region of Italy. Puzo himself was born in Hell's Kitchen.

I love those deep dives into movies, which I'd say I make at a pace of three every two years, something like that. Lately it's Sunset Boulevard, which has been a marvelous trip even though it isn't based on a book. I've learned a lot about Gloria Swanson (who suffered for the rest of her life from an elemental confusion on the part of her fans between her real self and her character in that role), and the talented rebel immigrant Billy Wilder, and Erich von Stroheim, who took the role because of financial need and was insulted (!) to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. At the moment, I'm into watching, and trying to identify, old-friend movies that reward re-watching. Sunset Boulevard certainly does. That movie gets better every time I see it (three times starting maybe in the '90s or the aughts. I didn't like it much the first time through).

What's it to be?
I think this year's choice is down to a final three: The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and his silent helper Auguste Maquet, or Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery. I wanted to pick a famous book and a famous author few people read any more. I plan to read the samples of each on Amazon, then pick the one I think I'm most likely to finish. But you know the old quote:

The best-laid schemes o' Mikes and men
Oft go awry....

Mike

*Education means primarily gaining knowledge and information, while edification means something more like improving oneself morally and spiritually. I had to go look up the distinction.

Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Gary Merken (partial comment): "You don't say whether you read books on paper (or tablet/Kindle) or listen to audiobooks. Reading A Tale of Two Cities for English class in 12th grade, I didn't get a lot out of it. But decades later listening to the audiobook with the marvelous (and unfortunately late) Frank Muller narrating Dickens' novel was a whole 'nother thing! Muller moves the story along. His incredible talent for accents lets you differentiate among the English and French characters, male and female. Even the difference between Dr. Manette when he's first 'recalled to life' in the prison and later once he's free and regained his health. You even learn that Sydney Carton never actually speaks the words 'It is a far, far better thing that I do now than I have ever done.'"

Jim Arthur: "Comedy: Someone mentioned Pixar in the comments for the Novel post and I just watched something the other day that had me falling out of my chair. I was about a third of the way into the second Incredibles film when I came to this short scene where the family first learns that their baby has superpowers…many superpowers. Funny stuff. That is one tenacious and foolhardy raccoon."

Mike replies: That's wonderful. I saw lots of kids movies when my son was very young, and I think the two I liked best were the original The Incredibles and The Iron Giant. Both excellent and highly entertaining. I should watch the second installment of the Incredibles.

Edward Taylor: "My father thought education was the key to everything and there was always a lot of pressure to perform at the top of the class in school. That in itself kind of ruined school for me. But my father did his part. He sent me to the best private schools and I went to one of the best colleges in the country.

"Having done all that, you may find it interesting that I consider myself almost completely self-educated.

"That's right, I never really followed the curriculum or listened much to my teachers or professors. If they were teaching about the Revolutionary War for example, I would not study as it was taught. Still, I would investigate the situation on my own and read volumes about the subject. I noticed that with this approach, I often had learned lots of information that my classmates and even my teachers didn't have. And I felt I had a deeper understanding too.

"Fortunately, I was still able to test well, so this practice worked for me.

"So, anyway, my point is that you should not feel badly about the lack of an academic  degree or being self taught. I think it is the best way to learn and in the end makes learning more fun and yields excellent results.

"And trust me, there are brilliant people all around without formal degrees, and there are graduates all around who are generally clueless.

"Side note—It turns out that there is a downside to going to the 'best' schools. (A topic for a different thread). I sent my two sons to the local public school and never pressured them. They did well, and although they could have gone to Harvard or Princeton, they chose to stay close to home and go to the state university.

"In their school days, they mingled with a diverse group of people, made great and lasting friendships, and became knowledgeable about the 'real' world and 'real' people. Oh, and by the way, my sons are among the best-educated people I have ever known.

"In truth, we are all responsible for our own education. It just takes a little effort and a lot of curiosity."

Curt Gerston: "Okay, it’s not a classic, and not on your list, but since you like deep dives into movie making, you might like The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece by (actor/director/producer and all-around nice guy) Tom Hanks. He took all his years of movie-making experience and made a fun, well-written novel about, as the title suggests, making a movie. And that’s really all it’s about. The plot is simple, the details engaging, the characters are all likable and worth spending time with. It’s an easy read with little conflict or drama, which doesn’t sound like much of a recommendation, but after reading dozens of novels a year, often dark or with evil characters making the lives of the protagonist hell (and after daily doses of the NYTimes…yikes), a light novel for pure fun is a welcome relief. And I learned a lot about making movies. Bravo Tom Hanks."

Comments

[Peter]

I read Vanity Fair not long ago. Excellent book, but an effort at 800 pages. The first third is the best. I would recommend L'Argent (1891) by Emile Zola, set around the Paris stock exchange and the various characters who are somehow involved in the trading of stocks. You could replace the speculators trying to make fortunes in companies building railways in the Middle East with people punting on crypto and AI and it would read like a contemporary novel, such was Zola's insight into the more venal aspects of human nature.

[Yoram Nevo]

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Novel by Henry Fielding

[Matt O'Brien]

I suggest "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce as a preamble to reading his epic "Ulysses". However, Ulysses should be enjoyed over several years and not to be consumed just to tick an item in a reading list.

[Chris Bertram]

Vanity Fair is probably the most fun of the three with Becky Sharpe as the iconic grifter. There's a newish film of The Count of Monte Cristo which (if you're like me) you'd want to avoid before the novel. Without really meaning to, I've read over the past few years, three novels depicting the battle of Waterloo in one way or another: Les Misérables, The Charterhouse of Parma and Vanity Fair. All good and interestingly different on the theme that war isn't always what you expect it to be.

[Steve Greenwood]

If you do pick The Count of Monte Cristo, do by all means include reading The Black Count, a biography.

[ChrisC]

Not sure of what to recommend, however I will say don't try Moby Dick. I started it a few years ago and keep picking it up every now and again, but struggle to read more than a chapter or two each time.

[Rudy L Mack]

Have you read "The Shepherd of the Hills"? It was quite popular back around the turn of the century. (19th to 20th) If you watched the movie you know nothing of the book except the names of the characters. You might find out what a "baldknobber" is.

[Robert Roaldi]

I didn't like Great Gatsby either. I also didn't like Catcher in the Rye much.

I suggest Catch-22.

[Paul]

Why did your dad make you drop out?

[David Maxwell]

The Idiot by Dostoyevsky.

[Charlie Ewers]

You could read Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead." Excellent in its own right, and it will save you from needing to read "David Copperfield."

[ASW]

I had my own period of reading the classics, beginning in high school when over a period of two or three years we were required to read one book from each of eight lists of various genres or topics. I was an avid reader and ended up reading most of the books across the lists. Some I recall liking very much and others not so much.

In light of your list, I will say that one of the classics I struggled with most (or enjoyed the least) was "The Count of Monte Cristo." Even in comparison to other books from the era it seemed to go on and on in repetitive circles. I later learned that it was originally published in serialized form in eighteen parts and always wondered if the requirements of that publishing format led to the circularity and repetitiveness.

By the way, I am currently reading Sobel's "Longitude" and like you I quite enjoy nonfiction that reveals history I never considered or expands my knowledge across diverse topics/fields. If you have any room for recommendations, I would point you towards "An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us" by Ed Yong.

[T. Edwards]

Moby Dick.

[Daniel]

Read the book FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and then watch the movie. A good read, reality in print that got the author banned from the City for writing the reality of racism in the town associated with the team & how it treated the then star player.

The movie is well done with Billy Bob Thornton in the role of coach for the Permian Panther football team. The stadium they play in seats almost 18,000 fans and they fill it for most every game.

Both the book and the movie are a realistic look at the craziness that is High School football in Texas.

[Philip]

I'll vote for Wilkie Collins, if we're taking votes, but I like The Moonstone. It's also an early detective story, and it contains one of my favorite characters - the butler that carries around, and quotes from, Robinson Crusoe as if it's his personal bible. It's also partially an epistolary novel; a form we don't see often these days.

Which reminds me, in yet another digression, if you might be interested in a brief history of letter writing I can recommend Simon Garfield's To the Letter.

[MikeR]

No idea whether you're averse to "science fiction," but consider Kim Stanley Robinson's trilogy that begins with "Red Mars."

Sometimes one needs to go off-planet to gain a perspective of what's going on here on Terra. Ecology, geology, physics, automation, sociology, globalism, politics, technology, psychology, tribalism, woven into a storyline that spans generations of life across three substantial novels.

[Bruce Bordner]

I didn't think I had any ideas, as I read SF mostly. However the Baroque Cycle trilogy by Neal Stephenson might be just your thing.
It's primarily set in the mess of 1600s Europe, and the characters are Franklin, Hooke, mainly Newton on the scientific side and many nobles etc. on the development of money. Arguments about both calculus and finance. Conversations among the great minds of the Royal Society as it was born.
Oh, it's mainly a pirate and romance story - I can not summarize this. and that's my main skill.
Only 3 (large) books: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. Easily found...

[robert e]

Interesting that you've narrowed it down to three works that initially appeared serialized, to great success. Do you intend to read your choice in the original form or in "novelized" form (like the edition of CofMC you linked to)? Or is that part of the choosing?

I guess you really have given up on the white whale. Its study of destructive obsession in leadership seems freshly relevant, though maybe too relevant.

[Jozef]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_in_the_Afternoon

[Rick Popham]

Dumas gets my vote. I’ve always found him hugely entertaining.

[Bob Rosinsky]

Two wonderful nonfiction page-turners that read like novels that you'll end up reading in only a few sessions:

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

[I've read "The Wager," and the two books about the whaleship Essex. Not the Endurance one though. --Mike]

[John Sullivan]

Moby Dick
Fascinating, maddening, boring and exciting...
And reverberates through our American culture today.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Well, I guess the Dumas from that list.

I somehow never connected "edification" with "edifice", but apparently they are.

It's firmly embedded in my head under definition 2b from the OED ("Mental or moral improvement, intellectual profit; instruction. (Now often ironical.)"), and for me just meaning intellectual profit or instruction. I may have to give the word up, I really don't like the other meanings.

I read closer to a novel a day than a novel a year, but nearly never anything "classic". Sometimes things that are a little old, 1920s and 30s are common enough. Things from two centuries ago are rather rarer.

[John Krumm]

I have a book you can read before you read your non-fiction classic. The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It. It was written way back in 2013, but still seems quite current. It's full of non-intuitive tips for overcoming our worst habits. Probably the best new habit I got out of the book was to do regular meditation, nothing fancy, just 5-15 minutes, comfortably seated, eyes closed, where I concentrate on my breathing, saying innnn...oouuut in my mind, always coming back to it if I wander, but not worrying if I'm bad at it (I tend to wander a lot). I swear, it's like taking a Xanax (though I've never taken a Xanax).

https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-Works-Matters/dp/1583335080

[Matt Kallio]

Your busts seem to be instances of stylistic innovation, particular, personal voices telling the story. The books you like are the crackin' good tales.
I tried reading Count of Monte Cristo a couple years ago and quit; it had all the subtlety of a Saturday morning cartoon. Maybe that doesn't matter, though. I enjoy a good Pixar cartoon, after all.
Best novel ever: Emma, by Jane Austin.

[No no! It's Persuasion, by Jane Austin.

(Okay, could be Emma.) --Mike]

[Stuart Hamilton]

Mike,

Some of your followers may remember your mention of C.S. Forester's Hornblower novels and your enjoyment of them. To me, an English major (nod to Garrison Keillor), it seems clear that your search for that classic novel should include Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey - Maturin series. Here are a couple of enticements:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/obrian-comesin.html

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/obrian-yellow.html

Best,

S

[Ian Douglas]

Perhaps "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha" would prove a long project. I'm not casting aspersions!

[Russell Scheid]

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all-time favorites. Make sure you get the unabridged version which is about 1200 pages long.

[Terry Burnes]

Regarding Pirsig, I'm currently reading Zen and Now, the story of the author's duplication of Pirsig's journey combined with an explication of Pirsig and his book.

I reread Zen and the Art last year, more carefully and fully than before. It's a complicated book. Zen and Now seems a good companion and is written in the spirit of Pirsig's book, combining a good travel story with a seemingly well-researched review of what made Pirsig tick and the essence of his philosophy.

As to your 2025 novel, before I got to the three you're choosing from I was going to suggest Middlemarch by George Elliot. Long and rewarding.

[Ben]

My suggestion: The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. Contemporary classic. Amazing. I was late to the party and read all of them last fall. Couldn't put them down.

If you want to go to a classic that might not be so read these days, the Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton would be my recommendation.

[Tom Burke]

I read Vanity Fair quite a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very much a Picaresque novel. I haven’t read either of the others, although I did try Count of Monte Cristo once and just couldn’t get on with it.

Like you I’m reading more and more non-fiction. I recently read ‘Material World’ by Ed Conway. It’s an examination of the sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium industries - their extraction, how and why they’re processed, and the impact the outputs and products thereof have on our everyday lives. Fascinating stuff; you just don’t realise how important these industries are. Recommended.

[Andrew Lamb]

A vote for Vanity Fair. Maybe I will tackle it once I've finished Middlemarch, which is often regarded as the best British novel.

Also, consider Anna Karenina. I thought it was wonderful.

NB: I intersperse reading classics with lighter stuff. A big thumbs up for the Mick Herron and his Slow Horses series.

[Allan Ostling]

Thumbs down on Crime and Punishment and Huckleberry Finn, both of which peter out before leaving an insipid third of the book best left unread. Thumbs up for Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo in the Modern Library edition. It's about an almost impossible task undertaken to win the promised heart of a young woman.

[Mark B]

Here’s a vote for The Count. I liked it so much I read it twice.

[Tex Andrews]

No contest: Vanity Fair. Not only a much more important book, but also really entertaining.

[Lisa]

I might give Dickens another try and have a look at Our Mutual Friend, his last completed work. It's fat but not a difficult read. I think OMF pulls together all of the threads—scathing social commentary, great characters, and a cracking story. There was a BBC TV version in the late 90s that was quite good. Also, if you are interested in a concise but very sharp biography of Dickens, I highly recommend Charles Dickens: A Life, by Jane Smiley.

[Doug Anderson]

The only novel I keep reading again every six or eight years is Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. My changing outlook on life in general makes it new every time.

[Nick]

Vanity Fair is one of my absolute favourite books, it would be very interesting to hear your thoughts. And if you're so inclined, there is a very good 2018 miniseries adaptation to watch afterwards. As well as a terrible film from 2004 which guts most of the book to fit the short run time.

[MikeR]

Addendum to my earlier:
How "old?" If 20th century okay, Steinbeck's "East of Eden." Many threads, societal, religious, interpersonal.

[Good suggestion! I read through all of Steinbeck as a boy, excepting only "The Grapes of Wrath." Possibly because that one was assigned for school. Don't know what that says about me, probably nothing good. Even read his Letters. --Mike]

[James Meeks]

I don’t understand when you say you never graduated from college yet have a BFA from Corcoran!? I am proud to say I graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA, went on to get a Masters degree and taught as an adjunct for many years. If I hadn’t graduated from college, how would I have attained a Masters and taught at several schools? Please explain how you never graduated yet have a BFA?

[We don't have academic degrees, is all I meant. A BFA is a studio degree, also called a "professional" degree.

I'll go fix that wording.

Wish I had an MFA! That's a whole 'nuther story. --Mike]

[Eric Peterson]

I’d go Anthony Trollope. JFK was a fan. Very prolific, any number of places to start. “Eustace Diamonds” one way. But you just can’t go wrong.

[JTK]

Longitude, by Dava Sobel, about an important landmark in horology (and sailing ships) Is a great book, and A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, is one of the best.

After that MUST come Connections, by James Burke.

[Gary Nylander]

I read The Count of Monte Cristo many years ago, I thought it was an excellent book.

[Christopher Perez]

I found the Count of Monte Cristo in the original language to be a drop dead gorgeous read. My advice would be to find an excellent translation if you go this route.

Bonus Points: Research references to people or events as well as turns of phrase that Dumas uses to flesh out his characters thoughts or used to describe subtle situations.

For me there's gold doing in this. Relatedly, I've nearly finished reading the d'Artagnan Romances (which are much much more than just the Three Musketeers) and each time I come across something I don't understand, I research it, and find interesting and sometimes incredible things about the French in the world and the influences on European history, culture, and society, and how the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians really do form the under-pinnings of the present.

I know. It's probably much more than a person might want to do when attempting to be entertained.

[JTK]

I forgot to add to my previous...

"A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived" - A truly fascinating book about genetics and how closely related everyone on earth is.
There are certain politicians that need to read this book.

[Michael]

The "Count of Monte Cristo" is one of my top 10 reads. While I prefer to read non-fiction, every once in a while I get the urge to go classic fiction having been an English/Math major in school, never contemporary.
Right now I picked up a cpoy of Steinbeck's "Winter of our Discontent". I am about half way through. Very Steinbeck as "Grapes of Wrath", one of the best fiction novels made into a film.
Back to Dumas. He wrote so many great works that turned into films, possibly only second to Dickens.
One more historical-fiction classic that I feel is worth the time to read is Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables". Never saw the play or movie and do not intend to. I do not think either would do the book justice.
78 years young of course, I have read Pirsig's classic more than once and I own a copy.
Finally, in the non-fiction category, my brother gave me a copy of Bryson's "Everything..." non-illustrated, and I have yet to finish it, but certainly intend to do so.

[David Elesh]

Of the three novels from which you want to select one, I recommend the Dumas. Like you, I am more inclined to read nonfiction. The most impressive book I have read recently is Brian Greene's Until the End of Time. Greene is Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia and has a real gift for explaining particle physics to laymen. A particularly interest aspect of this book is his application of particle theory to questions such as the existence of free will.

[Mani Sitaraman]

"The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and his silent helper, Auguste Maquet, or Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery."

Read all three, Mike! We're about the same age, I think—born in the late 1950s. I recall from my childhood a comic book series for kids, Classics Illustrated, which abridged what was then considered the literary canon for English-speaking people in the mid-20th century. I was introduced to them by my older brothers and must have read fifty or more issues. A cousin had them all. I'm pretty sure they're the reason I became curious and read so many of the books later, when I was in school and college.

P.S. "Thackeray," of course.

[Yoram]

if you want high adventure stuff then Ivanhoe is much preferable to Monte Christo

[Paul Martini]

Malcolm Lowry, "Under The Volcano".

[psu]

I started to read Ulysses on a whim last month. Almost through it. It's pretty neat.

Interestingly it has a very "puzzle within a book" kind of nature to it that's very much like working with code in a large computer program.

[Ken Lunders]

I'm surprised that no one suggested John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces" for you, so I will. I laughed so hard I actually fell out of my chair when reading it the first time. Lots of Dicken's writings are, well, very long, but also very enjoyable. One that comes to mind that isn't commonly mentioned is "The Old Curiosity Shop." For something more recently published I have to recommend Bob Woodward's "War." It is a fascinating look at the previous administration's behind the scenes work.

[Hugh]

Fahrenheit 451,
Brave New World,
1984

[Michael Newsom]

My vote for non-fiction includes among others the choices you noted but also might include your story of a broken up education, "The Education of ..." which I appreciated that you shared. And thanks for informing me of Erik Larson of whom I shamefully claim ignorance. Anything Hesse works for me in the fiction category.

[Bill Tyler]

Completely off-topic, but your feelings about a college education might be ameliorated a bit by reading the Wikipedia bio for Robert W. Floyd, the computer scientist, not the actor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Floyd In brief, with no degree beyond a bachelor's, he became a full professor at Stanford, received every conceivable honor in his field, and never did bother with a Ph.D. Education is a wonderful thing, but a getting a pack of letters behind your name is only one way of mastering a field; you've mastered at least two.

[Bill Tyler]

How about something really ancient. The Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf. I suppose it isn't quite a novel, but it's certainly fiction. For me, it illuminates a time and place, and ways of thinking that go beyond written history or archeology - it gives insight into the minds of that culture.

[Andrew]

I've tried to read Wilkie Collins. I struggled through about half of The Moonstone in undergrad. I tried it again in my 30s. Didn't take.

If you want a 1,200 page novel, I would take 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami over The Count of Monte Cristo any day.

But of the three options you propose, I'd go with Vanity Fair.

[Ian Castle]

Try ‘The Silver Darlings’ by Neil M. Gunn. First published 1941. It is a novel describing the Scottish land owner clearances and the horrors it caused the people renting land. People had to find a new life, many went to the USA, others went to the coast and learnt how to fish. This book describes the setting up of Herring Fishing. In some ways it is the UK,s Mobey Dick. I only discovered the book a few years ago it is wonderfull and as a novel it describes a period in history well worth understanding.
580 pages which is difficult to put down.
Thank you for all you do Mike.
How can I make a yearly sub, monthly payments cause to much in conversion charges?

[Richard John Tugwell]

Some European stuff.

Balzac - I'd go for Pere Goriot. Family, relationships - what could possibly go wrong? Plus the supporting cast of the city of Paris

Tolstoy - War and Peace I never really got into, but Anna Karenna. It has the best post-coital evocation in writing that I've ever read

[Dillan]

How about some Hemingway? I always thought "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was a bravely written book. I have read everything Hemingway wrote, and I own all of it except "The Old Man and the Sea," which I was forced to read in high school. Referring to your Steinbeck comment, I would like to say that you are not alone.

[Shaun]

Independent People by Halldór Laxness. Amazing novel by the Nobel Prize winner set in his home country of Iceland.

[Eric Anderson]

Regarding nonfiction adventuring books. I find enticing the original adventurer’s writing on the subject, showing the fiction / nonfiction divide as they progress from the unknown and document the newfound known. Here are several from the viewpoint of the captain.

I find the downloaded pdf books joyful.

Sir E. H. Shackleton
The heart of the Antarctic : being the story of the British Antarctic expedition 1907-1909
https://archive.org/details/heartofantarctic0000shac_q1c1/page/n7/mode/2up

South : the story of Shackleton's last expedition, 1914-1917
https://archive.org/details/cu31924032382529

The Antarctic book : winter quarters 1907-1909
https://archive.org/details/antarcticbookwin00jamerich/page/n9/mode/2up

[David Bennett]

Plato 'The Republic' - translation by Desmond Lee

[Martin Barrie]

Non-Fiction that is fiction: hard to beat Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

[Andrew Lamb]

Why we should all be reading novels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00187ws

Hope it plays outside the UK

[He makes a good case. Interesting about reading aloud. Was it St. Jerome who was first observed reading while only moving his lips, and everyone thought he had been possessed? Because everyone prior to that read by reading aloud. Might not have been St. Jerome. --Mike]

[Andrew L]

Moby Dick is absolutely my recommendation.

I just can't understand how literate adults don't enjoy reading Moby Dick. Melville's mind was lightyears ahead of his time, the text feels modern.

[Zack S]

The Razors Edge by W. Somerset Maugham is a great read and the movie is very good too.

If you want to see one of the best color films ever give The Umbrellas of Cherbourg a watch. The use of color is astounding.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058450/?ref_=ext_shr

Another film that uses color in an extraordinary way is Black Narcissus.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039192/?ref_=ext_shr

Last of all check out the Red Shoes. Another amazing use of color.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/?ref_=ext_shr

The last two films were directed by Michael Powell BTW.

[Peter]

Best novella I've ever read 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' (1886) by Leo Tolstoy. Supreme realism.

[Robert]

Lots of good recommendations here. I am surprised you did not like Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, for me one of the richest and penetrating of all novels, with an innovative structure and a savage indictment of what human beings away from the restraints of a thin veneer of civilisation can degrade themselves to. If you like Conrad, and have not read The Secret Agent, I can highly recommend it. It dives into an atavistic London underworld against the context of high politics and intrigue.

Much lighter, but delightful, how about Woolf’s To the Lighthouse? A close study of generational loss and change, with an astonishing psychological intelligence and innovative structure.

As well as Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist, you could also consider Dubliners, perhaps the world’s most famous short story collection, where its 15 stories can also be considered as a loosely connected novel, and a wonderful prelude to Ulysses.

If I had to name the most intriguing novel of them all, though, it would be Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, often referred to as the novelists novel. It is a tale you need to piece together and ‘see’ through an unreliable narrator. Set in a German spa town and leafy southern England just before the First World War it allegorises the coming exchange of hegemony between the old, exhausted British Empire and the troubling and fraught new age of American global dominance - as well as much else.

I’ve taught them all at university level multiple times and continue to find each of these so worth exploring and reflecting on.

["Dubliners" is one of the best experiences I ever had with a book and one I still cherish in memory. But then, I read it with the guidance of a gifted professor in a good class. I bet I'd like "HoD" better if I were taking your class! --Mike]