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50 Novels Guaranteed to Make You a Better Person - Flavorwire

"It’s a new year, and resolutions are flying left and right — although, it has been two weeks, so certain pledges have probably already crashed and burned. Here’s one that’s always on everyone’s mind, beginning of the year or no: how to be a better person. Well, since science keeps proving that reading literary fiction accomplishes that very fact, why not attack a novel in order to spruce up your heart and mind? After the jump, 50 novels (with a couple cheats) to make you kinder, cleverer, more productive, and a whole lot more open to the experience of others. Check them out and let us know which novels have made you a better person in 2014 or any other year in the comments."
--- Emily Temple, Flavorwire
5,073 users · 21,481 views
 
from flavorwire.com · made by irmavep
avg. score: 7 of 50 (15%)
required scores: 1, 3, 5, 7, 11 
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1
Disgrace
Disgrace
2
The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton)
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton
3
Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
4
Geek Love Katherine Dunn
Geek Love Katherine Dunn
5
A Personal Matter
A Personal Matter
6
Infinite Jest (David Foster Wallace)
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
7
Salvage the Bones (Jesmyn Ward)
Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward
8
Veronica (Mary Gaitskill)
Veronica
Mary Gaitskill
9
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M Pirsig)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M Pirsig
10
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
11
Tenth of December
Tenth of December
12
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
13
Middlesex
Middlesex
14
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
15
Siddhartha (Hermann Hesse)
Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
16
Play It as It Lays (Joan Didion)
Play It as It Lays
Joan Didion
17
In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust)
In Search of Lost Time
Marcel Proust
18
Things Fall Apart
Things Fall Apart
19
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
20
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Wittgenstein's Mistress
21
Kindred (Octavia Butler)
Kindred
Octavia Butler
22
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway
23
Self-Help, Lorrie Moore
Self-Help, Lorrie Moore
24
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
25
Persepolis
Persepolis
26
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey
27
Invisible Man
Invisible Man
28
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
29
A Death in the Family
A Death in the Family
30
Ghostwritten (David Mirchell)
Ghostwritten
David Mirchell
31
Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited
32
The Sea, the Sea
The Sea, the Sea
33
Memoirs of Hadrian
Memoirs of Hadrian
34
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
35
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
36
The Pushcart War (Jean Merrill)
The Pushcart War
Jean Merrill
37
The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
38
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky
39
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
40
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness
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