Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is kind of a literary Rosetta Stone， the inspiration， basis， and model for so many modern novels. You’re probably more familiar with its plot and characters than you think. For a book written in the early 19th century， it’s modernity is surprising only until you realize that this is the novel that in many ways defined what a modern novel is.

Ulysses

Ulysses did “stream of consciousness” before the term existed， and it’s also a sprawling novel dense with allusions， wordplay， obscure jokes， and intensely， opaquely personal ruminations by the characters.

Moby-Dick / The Whale

Moby-Dick has an unearned reputation for being， well， dull. Melville’s novel wasn’t received well on publication （it took decades before people really started to “get” how great it is）， and the negative sentiment is echoed every year when groaning students are forced to read it.

To Kill A Mockingbird

It’s rare for a novel to remain as on-point as To Kill A Mockingbird for more than five decades. If you want to know how Harper Lee managed the trick， you’re gonna have to read it. At about seven hours to read， you can totally squeeze it in.

The Big Sleep

It’s true that the book is written in what seems to modern audiences like a self-consciously tough style， peppered with old-fashioned slang， and the plot is famously complex， even for a mystery， and actually has several loose ends that never get resolved， but it doesn’t matter.

第一本：《傲慢與偏見(jiàn)》

《傲慢與偏見(jiàn)》可以說(shuō)是文學(xué)界的一塊羅塞塔石碑，同時(shí)也是許多現(xiàn)代小說(shuō)的靈感、基礎(chǔ)和模板，所以你對(duì)其中的情節(jié)和人物可能比你自己想象中要熟悉。作為一本寫(xiě)于19世紀(jì)早期的書(shū)，它的現(xiàn)代性是非常驚人的，而你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這是因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)代小說(shuō)在很大程度上就是被這本書(shū)定義的。

第二本：《尤利西斯》

《尤利西斯》在“意識(shí)流”這個(gè)概念出現(xiàn)之前就開(kāi)始使用它了。同時(shí)，它也是一本相當(dāng)錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的小說(shuō)，充滿了隱喻、文字游戲、隱晦的玩笑，以及角色們欲說(shuō)還休的個(gè)人沉思。

第三本：《白鯨》

好吧，其實(shí)《白鯨》是出了名的乏味。梅爾維爾的小說(shuō)在出版時(shí)反響并不好（過(guò)了幾十年人們才意識(shí)到這本書(shū)到底有多棒）。而每年都有滿腹牢騷的學(xué)生被迫讀這本書(shū)，使得這種負(fù)面評(píng)價(jià)一直揮之不去。

第四本：《殺死一只知更鳥(niǎo)》

很少有一本小說(shuō)能像《殺死一只知更鳥(niǎo)》一樣50年多年保持經(jīng)典。如果你想知道哈柏·李是如何做到的，那你就得讀讀這本書(shū)。而只需要7小時(shí)的閱讀時(shí)間，你就能讀完這本書(shū)了。

第五本：《長(zhǎng)眠不醒》

誠(chéng)然，對(duì)于現(xiàn)代讀者來(lái)說(shuō)，這本書(shū)有一股過(guò)于刻意的粗獷風(fēng)，其中穿插著很多老套的黑話；至于情節(jié)呢，即使是對(duì)于一本懸疑小說(shuō)來(lái)說(shuō)也是出了名的復(fù)雜，而且書(shū)中的很多未講明的故事結(jié)局直到今天也沒(méi)有被破解；但這些都不叫事兒。