15.3 · Great Novels Worth the Hours
Story, Literature & Lives · 15.3
Deepen
Section titled “Deepen”Crime and Punishment
A brilliant, isolated young man reasons his way into a monstrous act and then cannot live with it. The definitive novel about intellect untethered from conscience — and about a mind that thinks its way into a corner.
East of Eden
Inheritance, choice, and timshel — "thou mayest." The most hopeful book on this entire list, and the strongest argument that character is chosen rather than inherited.
Reference
Section titled “Reference”The Brothers Karamazov
Faith, doubt, patricide, freedom. A year-long project, not a book.
Norwegian Wood
Loss, grief and young adulthood. Quiet and melancholy.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
A family across a century, and the novel that made magic realism.