FICTION Novels

Last updated: August 20, 2020

Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin. This trilogy is better known by the title of its first novel: The Three-Body Problem. I first learned about it from this article in The New Yorker, which compared Liu Cixin to Arthur C. Clarke and pointed out that, with most science fiction being written by western authors, the stories tended to build on a western view of the world and western history. This trilogy is different. The first novel opens with a beautiful scene from the Cultural Revolution. The third one opens with the siege of Constantinople. There are so many layers to these books that I wouldn't do them justice in describing them, other than to say that they will transport you to another world and are just a joyful read.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky). A beautiful—and very readable, albeit long—book about war, peace (life, really), and the philosophy of history. I wrote more about it here for those that haven’t read the book and here for those that have. Incidentally, Tolstoy was a major influence on Liu Cixin (source), and there are structural similarities between War and Peace and The Three-Body Problem.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This is a work of genius that lives up to its reputation. It works at every level: the depth of characters, the insights into human behavior and relationships, the story arc, the language, and so on. I haven't read other translations, but I can say that this particular translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is beautiful.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. The book begins with an incredible line: “Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” The hypnotic, magical story unfolds from there: the Buendía family, the tragic events in the town of Macondo, Melquíades the gypsy, and so on. Marquez says he emulated the storytelling style of his grandmother:

“She told things that sounded supernatural and fantastic, but she told them with complete naturalness … What was most important was the expression she had on her face. She did not change her expression at all when telling her stories, and everyone was surprised. In previous attempts to write One Hundred Years of Solitude, I tried to tell the story without believing in it. I discovered that what I had to do was believe in them myself and write them with the same expression with which my grandmother told them: with a brick face.” (Source).
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. Another amazing opening line: “It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”
White Teeth by Zadie Smith. This was an incredibly fun, engaging read. I laughed out loud a number of times.
Ada, or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov. The chapters are short and each reads like a work of art on its own. This was Nabokov at the height of his genius. He's playing with language, reality, and the very idea of a novel itself. It's almost like he's talking to you and toying with your idea of what this novel is as you read it.
To Live by Yu Hua. This is a beautiful book about one man's life in China during a period that encompasses the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and other major changes in Chinese society. There are themes of wealth, wisdom, family, and acceptance.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. This is an achingly heartbreaking book about poverty in India—and I mean heartbreaking. It's worth reading but consider yourself warned.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Solaris is a haunting and precise book, quite unlike you’ve ever read. If you haven’t seen the Steven Soderbergh movie with George Clooney or the 1972 film by Andrei Tarkovsky, the premise is that the protagonist, Kris Kelvin, is investigating a series of strange events that have occurred on a space station that is located close to a mysterious planet that has been discovered, Solaris. What makes the book unique is the precision and scale of Lem’s writing, observations, and world-making. It’s not a long book, but you’ll find yourself thinking about it long after you’ve finished it.

Antilibrary:

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. This novel encompasses seven volumes and is also commonly known by the title of the first of the seven volumes: Swann's Way.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. I've wanted to read this after reading The Three-Body Problem. Chinese history fascinates me, and the opening lines of this historical novel are so impactful: “The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, it must divide. Thus it has ever been.” I am fascinated by this acceptance of the cyclical nature of things because it's a theme I'm finding that recurs everywhere. Consider this from Will and Ariel Durant's The Lessons of History:

“We conclude that the concentration of wealth is natural and inevitable, and is periodically alleviated by violent or peaceable partial redistribution. In this view all economic history is the slow heartbeat of the social organism, a vast systole and diastole of concentrating wealth and compulsive recirculation.”
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Naval Ravikant recommended this book as a source of great wisdom.
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. This has come highly recommended by a number of folks I respect.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.