Top 10 novels of all time

Just to add that the poll was carried out amongst prominent critics, academics and authors.

I’ve tried several times to read War and Peace but failed dismally each time, so the two volumes sit in pristine condition on my bookshelves! My friend did Ulysses at college and neither of us could make head nor tail if it. I wonder if there’s maybe a bit of Emperor’s New Clothes about this list. But what do I know? Maybe it’s just me.

Hmm, interesting WWM. I revisited Middlemarch a few years ago, having loved it in my youth. I found it very hard going.
I have always assumed that it is a given that James Joyce's Ulysses is in the shelf of every prominent academic, but has been read by very few of them.

''yoof''!!! I LOVE that word!

I haven’t read Beloved and it is one I may try.

One of the novels that I have read when young which changed my perception for ever was “Cry, the Beloved Country” Alan Paton.

I suspect this May by in a similar genre.

I think the prominent academics etc. asked AI for a list of highbrow novels and the Guardian had to fill a column. Uninspiring indeed!

5 is 2 more than I have read.
It seems a tad pretentious to me but I have long known I am no intellectual.

Actually if I think about it, those novels that deal with life at the very basic level - that experienced by the ordinary folk are the ones I find have the most profound and influential.

“A Thousand splendid Suns” being another.

I agree, uninspiring

I have read 6 of them but only because I was young and thought I should!

I've read Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. We did Ulysses at college but I didn't get anywhere with it.

I can't imagine that 'normal' people would read and enjoy most of these. Maybe I'm just a pleb!

I consider myself well read but have only read four of these and three I tried but didn't finish.