The Best Fiction Books

The books that, loosely speaking, make up the story of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are well worth reading, better—or at least very different—from the films. These are stories of adventure that have the epic feel that the movies capture, but against a backdrop of conviviality and the pleasures of eating, drinking and telling stories by the fireside as you gather with your companions. Notably, the books are filled with poems that are composed and told by the main characters and pay homage to an oral storytelling tradition that has largely disappeared from our culture but Tolkien clearly admired.

Metaphysical literature calls into question the very nature of reality, says the acclaimed US novelist Greg Jackson: it dramatises "the liquid mysteries of thought, pattern, and form." Here, he highlights five 'metaphysical thrillers'—artfully written novels powered by intrigue, which explore or embody philosophical dilemmas.

The best fiction doesn’t have to be straightforward, and some novels contain clever devices to make the reader complicit in the story itself. Arianna Reiche, lecturer in metafiction at City, University of London, recommends five gamified novels that subvert our ideas of how fiction works.

Outside it's autumnal and the nights are drawing in. All the better for admiring the bright lights of publishing's starriest season, when the shiniest baubles are released in time for the Christmas rush. Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn rounds up the most notable new novels of Fall 2023, including eagerly-awaited books from Zadie Smith and Jesmyn Ward, plus the buzziest new releases in literary fiction and novels-in-translation  

Albeit an object of satire and overreach, the 'Great American Novel' remains a vital concept in American literature, encouraging writers to capture the essence of national culture and history, argues Lawrence Buell, Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Harvard University. He talks us through the origins of the phrase and nominates five novels as contenders.

The Gothic puts flesh on the bones of our darkest fears, British novelist Sarah Perry tells Five Books. Here, she chooses five favourite novels in this 'irresistible' genre.

In 1993, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to American novelist Toni Morrison, "who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality." Here, literary scholar Marilyn Mobley—Professor Emerita of English and African American Studies at Case Western Reserve University and a former President of the Toni Morrison Society—introduces her work, from the best novel to start with to the essays she published just before her death in 2019.

Three-quarters of a century on from its initial publication, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is just as resonant in today's era of misinformation and fake news as it was in the incipient Cold War era. D J Taylor, author of a prizewinning biography of Orwell, takes us through the extraordinary impact of the author's fiction and reportage.

Every year, the judges for the Walter Scott Prize highlight the best new historical fiction. In 2023, the shortlisted books include a slow-burn mystery set in colonial Australia and a thrilling new novel from the author of Fatherland. Cal Flyn, our deputy editor, takes us through the seven books that are set 60+ years in the past and yet speak to the present.

George Eliot is all but synonymous with Victorian realism; for D H Lawrence, she was the first novelist to start ‘putting all the action inside.’ Here, Philip Davis, author of The Transferred Life of George Eliot, selects the best books by or about one of the greatest novelists of all time: ‘If you want to read literature that sets out to create a holding ground for raw human material—for human struggles, difficulties, and celebrations—read George Eliot’