Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1959

Zazie In The Metro by Raymond Queneau
Time Out Of Joint by Philip K. Dick
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

And about 2/3rds of:
Life And Fate by Vasily Grossman

I'll go for Life and Fate, as a reminder that I should read it.

Other notable works from this year: future films "Advise And Consent" (Allen Drury) and "The Hustler" (Walter Tevis); books by thread regulars Ian Fleming ("Goldfinger), William Golding ("Free Fall"), Mordecai Richler ("The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz"), Françoise Sagan ("Do You Like Brahms?"), Yukio Mishima ("Kyoko No Ie") and Naguib Mahfouz ("Children Of Gebelawi"); Ryotaro Shiba's ninja novel "Fukoro No Shiro"; Evan S. Connell's "Mrs.Bridge"; Andre Norton's "The Beast Master"; Valerie Taylor's lesbian pulp "The Girls In 3-B"; James Michener's "Hawaii"; J.B. Pick's "The Last Valley"; early Kurt Vonnegut "The Sirens Of Titan"; Takeshi Kaiko's "Japan's Threepenny Opera" and the wuxia novels "Return Of The Condor Heroes" and "Fox Volant Of The Snowy Mountains" by Jin Yong.

It's Hill House for me as well, a queer, twisted and unnerving little novel.

Quite happy to see that Le Petit Nicolas and Zazie In The Metro, two great gallic expressions of childhood anarchism, were published in the same year.

The 1/3 of Life and Fate I've read is extraordinary but I'll have to go with Hill House, I think.

I've never made it all the way through Absolute Beginners: the argot might well be authentic but it drives me to distraction.

Wasn't aware Yukio Mishima contributed to the Nancy Drew series:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Ndtsotgpbkcvr.jpg

Might've voted The Sirens of Titan if it had made the cut, as it is Time Out of Joint edges out Naked Lunch and The Haunting of Hill House. Don't recall that specific Chester Himes but they're all fun. I'd guess The Magic Christian hasn't aged well. I really should read Mervyn Peake one of these days.

I've only read "Naked Lunch", "Starship Troopers", and "A Separate Peace", the last most recently. Would vote "A Separate Peace".

Naked Lunch, for expanding my then-limited understanding of what a novel can do at the age of 20.

Naked Lunch is my vote and the only one I've read, though I've seen film adaptations of six others on the list.

The Haunting of Hill House is very good and I think I liked Walkabout a lot as well, though I can't really remember it. I feel unqualified to vote though as I haven't read Life and Fate despite (because of?) lots of evangelizing about it from my family.

Naked Lunch is my vote and the only one I've read, though I've seen film adaptations of six others on the list.

― Halfway there but for you

It's another Naked Lunch vote from me, but I think I've seen film adaptations of a whole ten of these!

Yeah, I felt like the wiki US literature lists were already turning into movie development farms by the 1940's and can only see this tendency growing.

lots of good films!

Oh, this one is really tough

Naked Lunch, for expanding my then-limited understanding of what a novel can do at the age of 20.

A good reason, I read it around the same time. Tried to reread it about 20 years later but wasn't really in the mood, not to denigrate it at all ("it's not you it's me").

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Zazie In The Metro by Raymond Queneau
Time Out Of Joint by Philip K. Dick
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs

And about 2/3rds of:
Life And Fate by Vasily Grossman

I'll go for Life and Fate, as a reminder that I should read it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1960

Belated write-in vote for The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff, one of my favorite books.