My Top Ten (Fiction)

That is, fiction novels I have read that you might like as well.

Much as I hate lists (shopping lists, for example) I have come to recognise in our increasingly throw away, disposable, ready access “I want it now” society they are an effective way of relating information in a short space of time. I also dislike lists because they are always a case of what first springs to mind, or the feeling that something should be there because it should be there, or because everyone else lists it in their top ten. Presumably this is why Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody always wins everything, or why everyone’s favourite Bond is Sean Connery.

I think the main problem is remembering what I have read. I have read some great books, and some awful ones. The best one can hope for is a running list, something you can drag from your memory comprised of all the things you haven’t yet forgotten. I mean, you could divide by genre, decade, nationality, subcategory…

No doubt King Tom’s list will be full of contemporary trash. Look at if you want, but hey- if there’s anything in there pre 1950 I’ll eat my rather grubby hat.

I am not saying these can change your life, or attach false significance to them, because all pleasure is objective. However for reasons of narrational skill, thematic concern, intelligent prose, a strong voice or simply a darn good yarn, here are a few of my favourites, in no meritocratic order. Feel free to comment in the blog…

1. Lucky Jim: Kingsley Amis.

2. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning: Alan Sillitoe.

3. Catch 22: Joseph Heller.

4. Crime and Punishment: Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

5. The Island of Doctor Moreau: H.G. Wells.

6. Bonfire of The Vanities: Tom Wolfe.

7. Day of the Triffids: John Wyndam.

8. Down and Out in Paris and London: George Orwell.

9. What a Carve Up!: Jonathan Coe.

10. The Outsider: Albert Camus.

One thing you do notice is how much a top ten list says about the individual. What do they regard as seminal to their development? In King Tom’s case, it was probably a few pop up books and The Complete Anthology of Farting.