What's your top English novels?

[BakeKuroNeko]

Let's start by me, my top English books would be:

1) Middle Eart Universe

2) Dune

3) To Kill a Mockingbird

4) Mistborn

5) Stormlight Archive

6) Earthsea (I loved Howl's Moving Castle, so I thought to give it a try, tho' not as good as the movie it's still one of the best from the big shelf I've got)

 

Share your top ones! 

[dragomon2]

i havent read too much from the english side of things honestly, but they both die at the end is a really good one.

[Angely]

I read way too many & forgot I can't really rank them either.😭 But yeah I liked stuff like Lord of the Rings. I was a Harry Potter fan in my teens, liked Eragon series from Christopher Paolini, read books like Golden Compass Philip Pullman, probably also some from Terri Pratchett. During my horror & vampire phase & no I haven't & didn't get to read stuff like Twillight series I stuff from Stephen King, Darren Shan & quite some others during that phase Twillight it didn't even exist by the time it was popular I was also more into other stuff like anime & gaming I don't even remember ugh I think I secretly read & liked the Kushiels series from at the very least it left an impression on me somehow for me to remember the name?O.o Also read many "chick flicks", wicca theme etc. considering I was a sucker for witches magic & fantasy it's no wonder I like Asian novels with alchemy so this makes it very hard for me to rank any top english novels.

Dang, I just feel I read way too much to the point I don't even remember some authors nor the novels asking me to rank them is hell. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Angely

[Erudite_Birdy]

These are some of the stories that I can't forget from those I have sorted. I think some of the best are still the children's stories. Since many people dislike these, I moved them to make a second list at the bottom. I skipped all romantic fantasies. 

 

Abraham Merritt _ The Ship of Ishtar

David Brin _ Earth

H. G. Wells _ The Time Machine 

Terry Pratchett _ Discworld - Book 01 _ The Colour of Magic 

The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night - Volume 01 _ Translator - John Payne _* 9 Volume Set * 

Morgan Blayde _ Demon Lord Series - Book 01 _ Red Moon Demon

Frank Herbert _ Dune - Book 01 _ Dune 

Fritz Leiber _  Saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser - Book 01 _ Swords and Deviltry 

Gordon R. Dickson _ Childe Cycle - Book 01 _ Dorsai! (aka The Genetic General)

Jo Clayton _ Diadem Saga - Book 01 _ Diadem from the Stars 

Barry Hughart _ Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox - Book 01 _ Bridge of Birds 

Kurt Vonnegut _ The Sirens of Titan 

~~~

C. S. Lewis _ The Chronicles of Narnia _* The Complete Set * 

E. Nesbit _ Five Children and It 

L. Frank Baum _ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 

Lewis Carroll _ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 

[megaautist]

these aren't really stories, but i'm a big fan of randall munroe's books. What If?, How To, and Thing Explainer. he's the guy who writes xkcd.

[meeno]

Michael Moorcock: The Elric Series

Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time series plus sides

Tolkien : Lord of the Rings plus prequel and sides.

David Eddings: All Series plus sides

Terry Brooks: The Shannara Series plus sides.

Abnett/Lee: Warhammer Malus Darkblade Series

R.R. Salvatore\: Dark Elf series Drizzt Du'Urden and Co.

Terry Goodkind: Wizards Rule series.

Frank Kerbert: Dune series

Raymond E. Fiest: Pug the Magician series plus all the sides

Most DnD series including Elminister

Stephanie Myer: Twilight including the newest one from Edwards prospective.

Harry Potter full series.

W. Shakespeare: Macbeth being my fave. 

L. Frank Baum: Wizard of Oz

Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland

C. S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes series

* Basically just naming a few that I have read in my lifetime.  Still reading Drizzt and the occasional Shannara as they are released. 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by meeno

[Wizerdo]

Malazan Books of the Fallen serie and all its novellas are the best ever.

[gedece]

Dune by Frank Herbert

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov

Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick

An the honorable mentions go to: All the short stories from Philip K Dick that aren't novels

[Joe the Rat]

I will sing to the heavens my praise for Will Wight's  Cradle series, but that's a little bit of a cheat here since it's a Cultivation series - basically written to introduce westerners to cultivation without some if the less savory elements.

 

I return to a lot of the classics in my reading - Tolkein,  Pratchett,  Howard.

I would recommend Jack Vance to anyone trying to understand western fantasy - many tropes arise from his Dying Earth tales.

Read Burrough's A Princess of Mars or Andre Norton's Three Hearts and Three Lions for some old school "isekai" type tales. (I wouldn't read further on John Carter  unless your tolerance for the phrase "the incomparable Dejah Thoris" is higher than mine.)  

[Daoist_Badguy]

Dragonlance Books (Original Trilogy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Nights, Dragons of Spring Dawning, as well as the Chaos War in Dragons of Summer Flame and the Final Book of the Age of Mortals trilogy Dragons of a Vanished Moon). Also read all the books in the Dark Disciple Trilogy (Amber and Ashes, Amber and Iron, Amber and Blood). As well as a few other individual books in the series.

 

DnD Prince of Lies (like how the book depicts the Gods of Faerun, especially the ascended ones) as well as the final book in the Time of Troubles Trilogy Waterdeep.

 

A number of Magic the Gathering Books especially those centered around Urza Planeswalker and a few other misc books of that sort.

 

Harry Potter full series.

 

All the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

Edited February 1 by Daoist_Badguy

[freewheeler]

A lot of great books have already been mentioned here.  Mostly proper literature.  I will add a few. 

For proper literature, I loved the Culture series by Ian Banks.  The world-building and politics are on another level entirely. 

As well as the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.  It is not light reading but a brutal power fantasy nonetheless.  The politics of overpowered beings battling for the throne.  I can also recommend Lord of Light by same author.  It is a pure power fantasy. 

Lastly, I recommend Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, a loosely connected collection of science fiction short stories.  There are some very interesting characters here. 

 

For light reading, I like

- Good Guys and Bad Guys series by Eric Ugland, especially Good Guys.  The MC is frustratingly stupid at times, but the world-building is great.  Bad Guys MC is much smarter but has less raw power. 

- How To Succeed In Evil by Patrick E. McLean is a political incorrect collection of books on an evil efficiency consultant trying to navigate the disaster that is a world of superpowered heroes and Villain's. 

- God Market by Dion Sky got an interesting setting.  But the series is not finished yet on audiobooks, so I will need to see. 

- Fred the Accountant by Drew Hayes is a fun story.  MC is a coward though. 

 

Honorable mentions for these European books available in English:

- Last Life series by Alexey Osadchuk (Ukraine).  MC got some balls and makes the most of his soul's last life.  His enemies do not see through his genius. 

- Perimeter Defense by Michael Atamanov (Chechnia).  Harem in space.  MC thinks he's playing a super realistic space battle VR game.  But it really is hyper realistic... 

[banhmibo]

Harry Potter is my cup of tea English novel.