The Great Novels

The books, in order

1. 1

   Fiction · 16 min

   Don Quixote

   Miguel de Cervantes

   Dulcinea exists far more in Don Quixote's head than in the life of Aldonza Lorenzo, the peasant woman he never actually gets to know up close.

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2. 2

   Fiction · 15 min

   Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

   Herman Melville

   Ahab doesn't order the hunt: he sells it, with gold, a speech and a toast, and an obsession packaged that way spreads like a fad.

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3. 3

   Fiction · 17 min

   The Maias

   Eça de Queirós

   Eça shows, in Carlos da Maia, a young man prepared with excellence for a brilliant life that never actually demands that preparation.

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4. 4

   Fiction · 16 min

   Anna Karenina

   Leo Tolstoy

   For Karenin, marriage works like a government post: following protocol matters more than truly responding to what his wife feels.

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5. 5

   Fiction · 16 min

   The Brothers Karamazov

   Fyodor Dostoevsky

   In the novel, an unpaid debt and jealousy over the same woman, between father and son, set the stage for the Karamazov tragedy.

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6. 6

   Fiction · 16 min

   The Queen's Gambit

   Walter Tevis

   While Beth's life spins out of control, the board's 64 squares offer rules she understands, which explains her attachment to the game.

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