Who doesn’t like fiction? A lot of people, it turns out. Maybe, you are one of them. Or maybe, you are someone who is always on the lookout for quality fiction and love recommendations. Either way, here’s a list of 10 mainstream fiction books that have received critical acclaim, popularity, and commercial success. These are all tracked chronologically, and we hope that even if you are a skeptic, you would give them a shot. Who knows, maybe you become a fan. Let’s dive in.
Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen |
1813 | Romance
“I declare after
all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing
than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I
have not an excellent library.”
― Pride and Prejudice
Calling Pride and Prejudice romance is like
calling Game of Thrones family drama.
It just doesn’t do service to this classic from Austen. With memorable,
relatable characters, a perfect story-line, scintillating and witty dialogues
and character complexities rife with all the grays, this book is a Masterclass
for anyone who wants to imbibe the nuances of everyday life through impeccable
observation and a compelling story-telling.
For casual
readers, it might prove to be a challenging read, owing to its old-ish English, and Austen’s compound sentence
structures, but once you get past that hurdle and become synchronized with the
narrative style, you are in for a treat. The characters leave an indelible impression
on the readers and make them come back for more, which perhaps explains why
there have been so many film and theatre adaptations of the novel. Elizabeth
Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy will stay with you long after you have closed the book
and set it aside.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Mark
Twain | 1876 | Picaresque Satire
“The less there is
to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it”
― The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The prequel
to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, another
classic by Mark Twain, this much loved piece of American literature is one of
the first books to be written on a typewriter. The book, set in the 1840s, follows
Tom Sawyer growing up along the Mississippi
River in the town of St. Petersburg. In the novel, Tom Sawyer has several
adventures, with his friend Huckleberry Finn. While the book was an
enormous commercial failure upon publication initially, it ended up being the
best selling of any of Twain's works during his lifetime.
The characters – Tom Sawyer, Aunt Polly, Sid, Becky
Thatcher, Huckleberry Finn, Joe Harper and so many others – have developed a rabid
fan base across the globe. Twain’s reputation as a humorist really shines through
in this book meant for young kids, but loved by people across all age demography.
The book is easy to read and accessible for all kinds of readers, both casual
and serious.
Three Men in a Boat | Jerome K
Jerome | 1889 | Comedy
“I can't sit still
and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and
walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my
energetic nature. I can't help it.”
― Three Men
in a Boat
If
you are looking for a comedy classic, look no further. Three Men in a Boat
(To Say Nothing of the Dog), is
a humorous account of a two-week boating holiday on the Thames from Kingston
upon Thames to Oxford and back to Kingston. Unlike most things
of the yesteryear, this one feels just as fresh with its undated and relevant comedy.
The book is based on Jerome’s two friends, who are
called George and Harris in the book, and the character J, is, in fact, based
on himself. The hilarious accounts are sprinkled throughout the book. It’s like
a Dylan Moran stand-up show. The jokes keep coming, and they tickle you every
single time. The overwhelming success of Three Men in a Boat
prompted Jerome to publish a sequel, about a cycling tour in Germany,
titled Three Men on the Bummel (also known as Three
Men on Wheels, 1900).
The Hithchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy Series | Douglas Adams | 1979- | Comedy-Science Fiction
“Don't Panic.”
― The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
This international multi-media phenomenon is based on the
misadventures of the last surviving man, Arthur Dent, following the Earth’s
demolition and his exploration of the galaxy with his rescuer Ford Prefect—a
human-like alien writer for the eccentric, and Trillian, a human who had been
taken from Earth (before its destruction) by the two-headed President of the
Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and the depressed Marvin, the Paranoid
Android.
This iconic book series was originally a radio comedy in 1978 broadcasted
on BBC Radio 4. Its success led to different forms of adaptation - stage
shows, novels, comic books, a TV series (1981), a video game (1984), and a feature
film (2005). The books are laced with humor and imbecility and also bring up
the question of the meaning of life, while being completely nonchalant and ironic.
Its iconic characters have shaped the contemporary pop culture and new waves of
fan keep discovering the series and falling in love with it.
The Book Thief | Markus Zusak | 2005
| Historical Fiction
“Like most misery,
it started with apparent happiness.”
― The Book Thief
This
international bestseller by Australian author Markus
Zusak is his most popular work, and is based in the backdrop of the
Second World War in Nazi Germany. The book has an accessible narrative despite
the heavy-handed concept it tackles. As a reader, your curiosity piques when you
realize that this first person narrator is Death himself, and then, you are
invested in the heart-wrenching story as you go along.
The story follows Liesel Meminger as she comes of age
in Nazi Germany during World War II. Her life, uprooted from her
family, and under the care of her foster parents, following the death of her
brother, becomes the focal point for the story. The story deals with the
subjects of concentration camps, forced inscription, and persecuted communities
with so much maturity and honesty, that you can’t help but cry along.
Paper Towns | John Green | 2008 |
Young Adult Fiction
“That's always
seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because
they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead
of taste.”
― Paper Towns
While most
John Green fans would argue that his debut book, Looking for Alaska, is his best, at the cost of being deemed a
contrarian, I believe that Paper Towns
is his finest work yet. You can’t help
but fall in love with Margo Roth Spiegelman. The novel is about the
coming-of-age of the protagonist and narrator, Q Jacobsen and his search for
Margo Roth Spiegelman, his neighbor and childhood sweetheart after she
goes missing one day, following a night of adventure with Q. The search led by
Quentin and his friends Ben, Radar, and Lacey leads them to discover interesting
information about Margo.
The book has also been adapted into a movie of the same name and was
released in 2015.
The Palace of Illusions | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
| 2008 | Historical Fiction
“I am buoyant and
expansive and uncontainable--but I always was so, only I never knew it!”
― The Palace of Illusions
We have all
read and watched the epic Mahabharat,
with its countless stories and several adaptations, but this rendition of the mythological
saga is told from Draupadi’s (Panchaali’s) perspective. The story is about a fierce,
headstrong, opinionated, passionate woman, surviving and holding her own in a patriarchal world, as she endures a long exile, harbors a
secret love, instigates the most famous war, all while being married to the
famous Pandava brothers. The story is also about her friendship with Krishna,
and how it blossoms and is tested through troubled times.
You will find yourself blown away by the breathtaking
narrative of this beautifully put-together novel and, at different times,
rooting for the protagonist, sometimes pulling away from her, but loving her
all the same, with all her imperfections and complexities.
The Sense of an Ending | Julian
Barnes | 2011| Fiction (Unreliable Narrator)
“History is that
certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the
inadequacies of documentation.”
― The Sense
of an Ending
Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The
Sense of an Ending is narrated by a retired man (Tony),
who recalls the pact he made as a kid with his friends at school about remaining
friends for life. His narration is questionable because, as he admits, memories
can be deceptive. He takes the readers through the chain of events which have
led them all to this point. Tony learns about the various things he thought he
knew as a matter of fact, when the past catches up, and he finds himself
confronting it and discovering anew, everything he took for granted.
Written in a style that feels definite and directional,
there’s no fluff or clutter to be found. Barnes assumes the role of the man
with a memory rife with imperfections, and takes the idea to another level. The
climax is truly breathtaking, and this small book can prove to be a rewarding read
for anyone with some time to spare.
“To the well-organized mind, death
is but the next great adventure.” -JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the
Philosopher’s Stone
This is one book
series that needs absolutely no introduction. It’s difficult to pick one book
from the seven original fantasy novels by Rowling, so why not address the whole
series? This magical wizarding world chronicle
the lives of a young wizard, Harry and his friends Hermione and Ron,
all students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main
storyline deals with Harry's struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark
wizard who intends to attain immortality, overthrow the Ministry of Magic and
subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).
The book series
have sold more than 500 million
copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and
have been translated into eighty languages, and has been adapted into an
eight-part film series, which is the third highest-grossing film series of
all time as of February 2020. The stories deal with several themes and is
an amalgamation of multiple genres. Rowling’s magical writing has the ability
to transport the “Muggle” reader into the magical world of dragons and death-eaters,
while being grounded in the stories of friendship, courage, and romance.
The Room on the Roof | Ruskin Bond |
1956 | Young Adult Fiction
“You don’t have to
lie if you know how to withhold the truth.”
― The Room
on the Roof
Concluding
our series of fiction books is a small-town tale of Rusty, a seventeen-year-old Anglo-Indian orphan boy in Dehra whose strict guardians cause
him to run away, and live on his own with help from friends. This is Ruskin
Bond’s debut novel which he wrote when he was seventeen. This
coming-of-age story by Bond tackles the themes of friendship, prejudice, class,
and young romance from the perspective of a teenager, on the brink of
adulthood.
It’s a breezy read and a small one
at that. The book’s linear narrative sits well with the slow-moving humdrum of
Dehradun. Its characters Mr John
Harrison, Kishen, Mrs Meena Kapoor, Mr Kapoor, Somi, Ranbir, Suri, the dog Prickly
Heat, and the Sweeper boy get etched in your brain, leaving you emotionally
more wholesome than before you picked the book to read.
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