4.10 avg rating — 1,486,483 ratings

"science-fiction as a vehicle for utter psychological trauma"

4.12 avg rating — 1,108,310 ratings

"because the last few pages make the first couplehundred hang together nice (and because I have a boner for magic realism)"

3.91 avg rating — 1,436,822 ratings

"Nihilism."

4.03 avg rating — 1,409,853 ratings

"because Camus is the daddy of philosophical pointlessness"

4.39 avg rating — 388,290 ratings

"Vonnegut said it contains everything there is to know about life - and it condenses philosophical thriller, court drama and romantic epic into one book, and is just generally fucking worthwhile. "

3.93 avg rating — 5,934,784 ratings

"because it took me long enough to get round to it and i regret not reading it sooner; and making me feel sorry for a rich criminal is a tough job well handled."

4.29 avg rating — 1,086,398 ratings

"Raskolnikov is the most compelling protagonist of any work of fiction of the last however-many centuries (even though he chickens out in the end)."

3.99 avg rating — 888,059 ratings

"because books with characters named Major Major Major Major and Lt. Scheisskopf cannot and should not be ignored. Also it makes the military seem achingly stupid and incompetent, which tickles me in all the sexiest places."

3.79 avg rating — 175,358 ratings

"British Hysterical Realism restoring faith in the ability of young writers to create something thick and rich and lasting and utterly capable of making me regret not writing more"

3.71 avg rating — 71,922 ratings

"because Rushdie took too much shit for this book for you to go and not fucking read it - it's also (probably) British fiction at its finest, no exaggeration."

3.85 avg rating — 5,958 ratings

"I have read it about 8 times in the past year and intend to read it many more."

4.11 avg rating — 545,829 ratings

"because Czech fiction is just BETTER."