Books read in 2005 - Fiction
Explore a curated list of fiction books read in 2005. Discover top novels, hidden gems, and literary favorites from this year's reading journey.
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The Stranger
by Albert Camus
With the intrigue of a psychological thriller, The Stranger—Camus's masterpiece—gives us the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an …
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As I Lay Dying
by William Faulkner
A true 20th-century classic from the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Sound and the Fury: the famed harrowing account of the Bundren family’s odyssey across …
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Absalom, Absalom!
by William Faulkner
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • Family drama and the legacy of slavery haunt this epic tale of an enigmatic stranger in Jefferson, Mississippi—from one of the …
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Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel GarcĂa Márquez
Set on the Caribbean coast of South America, this love story brings together Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza, a man who has secretly loved her …
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The Crying of Lot 49
by Thomas Pynchon
Oedipa Maas finds herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy.
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If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
by Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino's classic, multifaceted novel about writing and readers.
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The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories
by Horacio Quiroga
From the Publisher: Tales of horror, madness, and death, tales of fantasy and morality: these are the works of South American storyteller Horacio Quiroga. The …
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A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole
Set in New Orleans, the protagonist is nearly arrested for being a suspicious character and encounters many unfortunate events.
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The Street of Crocodiles
by Bruno Schulz
The Street of Crocodiles in the Polish city of Drogobych is a street of memories and dreams where recollections of Bruno Schulz's uncommon boyhood and …
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Fantastic Night & Other Stories
by Stefan Zweig
FIVE OF STEFAN ZWEIG'S most compelling novellas are presented together in this powerful volume. Fantastic Night is the story of one transforming evening in the …
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Wise Blood
by Flannery O'Connor
Traces the career of a religious fanatic who attempts to found a church without salvation.
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Hopscotch
by Julio Cortazar
"Cortazar's masterpiece ... The first great novel of Spanish America" (The Times Literary Supplement) • Winner of the National Book Award for Translation in 1967, …
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Winesburg, Ohio
by Sherwood Anderson
A collection of short stories dealing with a small town in Ohio.
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Perfume
by Patrick Suskind
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Set in eighteenth-century France, the classic novel that provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man’s indulgence in his greatest …
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Portnoy's Complaint
by Philip Roth
The groundbreaking novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Pastoral that originally propelled its author to literary stardom: told in a continuous monologue from …
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Zeno's Conscience
by Italo Svevo
Long hailed as a seminal work of modernism in the tradition of Joyce and Kafka, and now available in a supple new English translation, Italo …
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Dictionary of the Khazars (M)
by Milorad Pavic
A national bestseller, Dictionary of the Khazars was cited by The New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year. …
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Satan in Goray
by Isaac Bashevis Singer
As messianic zeal sweeps through medieval Poland, the Jews of Goray divide between those who, like the Rabbi, insist that no one can "force the …
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The Palm-wine Drinkard ; And, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
by Amos Tutuola
The ghosts live in the center of the jungle and this tells of what happens to the mortals who venture into the world of the …
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The Golem
by Gustav Meyrink
"A favorite of connoisseurs of works of fantasy for many decades." ? St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A compelling story of mystical experiences, strange transformations, and profound …
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A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia and Other Stories
by Victor Pelevin
Satirical stories by a Russian writer. The story, Vera Pavlovna's Ninth Dream, is on the transition from communism to capitalism as experienced by the cleaner …
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A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller (Jr.)
The winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Miller's bestselling work is a true landmark of 20th-century literature--a chilling and still-provocative look at …
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Danilov, the Violist
by Владимир Орлов
An entertaining and whimsical novel from the Soviet Union about the misadventures of a half-demon violist sent to wreak havoc on Earth."