Top 5 Catholic Novels (Other than the Lord of the Rings)

Dr. Taylor Marshall lists 5 great novels written by Catholics with Catholic themes. Have you wondered what great novels to read as a Catholic (besides the obvious choice of the Lord of the Rings trilogy)?

[NequeNon]

Also there are 3 books which I think are very good:
1)The fellowship of the Ring
2)The two towers
3)The return of the King.

Lol! Tolkienites are incorrigible.

[causalaetitiae]

Island Of The World by Michael O'Brien! He is truly a great soul in Catholic (contemporary) fiction!

[alecfoster]

"Ben Hur", by Gen. Lew Wallace. While some have criticized his writing style, the story about pain and redemption is classic.

[misselder]

A few really great “Catholic novels” by non-Catholics: Joan of Arc by Twain, Death Comes for the Archbishop by Cather, Song of Bernadette by Werfel, and the Chronicle of Narnia series

[DA_Karas]

The Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

[wolfgangpreineder]

Books that every catholic/christian should read:

1) Brothers Karamasov - Dostojevski
2) Till we have faces - CS Lewis

[richardkochel]

The top 5 Catholic novels has to include Manzoni's "The Betrothed".

[MechaTopher]

I was expecting something, anything really, by Flannery O'Connor to be on this list, and perhaps at the top. Most probably "Wise Blood". I made a little list of additional recommendations, in no particular order. Many *were* written by Catholics, but I think they fit all of your criteria just the same;

1) Walker Percy's "The Second Coming"
2) J.F. Powers' "Morte d'Urban"
3) Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons" is not a novel, but a play. Yet it can be read like a novel quite easily. And is amazing.
4) Graham Greene's "The End of the Affair"
5) Cervante's "Don Quixote" is a favorite
6) Victor Hugo's "Les Miserable" is full of Catholic themes like love, forgiveness and redemption.
7) Dante's "Divine Comedy", of course.
8) Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward, Angel", for anyone willing to risk sore eyes and a possible headache. It's a giant, densely written, possibly frustrating, but brilliant novel.

If we include collections of short stories then some of the best were either written by Catholics or contain that worldview and themes, for example;
9) Frank O'Connor's Collected Stories
9) Selected Stories of Andre Dubus (Andre Senior, not Andre III)
10) The previously mentioned J.F. Powers short stories not only are flush with Catholic themes, but many were written with priests of all types as main characters.



Sorry for rambling a bit. I found the channel recently and love it. Please keep it up! Also, I love your choices, except I hadn't heard of "Father Elijah", but it is now at the top of my Amazon wishlist!

[Thomasrice]

"Wise Blood" and "Complete Stories" which include "The River", "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "The Life You Save may be Your Own" by Flannery O'Connor

[bro]

Song of  Bernadette by Franz Werfel - how Mary overcomes doubters and skeptics and blesses the world with Bernadette's simple faith.

[Forcystus]

Father Brown is among the best books (or rather collection of stories) that I've read. I have all the short stories and I've read every single one of them several times, they've always brought me a peculiar sense of comfort and delight.

[Silent-N]

A great series I'd recommend would be 'The Wingfeather Saga', which is sort of like The Lord of the Rings in a few ways, depicting Christian principles through fantasy, and also contains a lot of humor and mystery.

[countrymonkOSB]

"In This House of Brede" by Rumer Godden, and "The Power and the Glory" by Graham Greene.

[franciscoflorez]

Shakespear's Hamlet and Cervantes's don Quijote, no?

[jmm]

CS Lewis and his Space Trilogy should make the top 10.  

[otterlybooked]

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson is also an awesome fantasy series written by a Christian Author.

[maryannragan]

Dickens wasn’t a Catholic but I think a Tale of Two Cities is the greatest novel about what it means to love Christ and our neighbor.

[randomthings]

A great Catholic romance novel is "Mirusia" by Monika Barbara Potocki. Both protagonists are Catholic, there is no sex or innuendo, and a really great, realistic Confession is the climax of the book!

[gioscott]

Malachi Martin 1. Windswept House, 2. The Vatican

[nancyjanzen]

Father Brown solves his mysteries based from his knowledge of people as a parish priest and some subtle Thomistic logic. I first read them in the 7th grade at Blessed Sacrament grade school in 1959.