A fiction novel that has philosophical ponderings and concepts woven throughout the plotline, characters, and thematic backdrop.
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318 books · 561 voters · list created March 3rd, 2009 by Taylor (votes) .
451 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Taylor 223 books
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gtrachel 156 books
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Clarice 262 books
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Patrick 1651 books
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Ricki 5213 books
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Ali 1265 books
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Wur 46 books
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M 1462 books
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Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Taylor (new)

Taylor Existing the Moments/Taylor DiVico


message 2: by Eric (last edited Jan 05, 2010 03:42PM) (new)

Eric The Fountainhead/Ayn Rand


message 3: by Snævar (new)

Snævar Hreinsson Name of the Rose/Umberto Eco


message 4: by Matt (new)

Matt Watchmen/Alan Moore


Sentimental Surrealist Slaughterhouse-Five is on here twice.


message 6: by Dorian (new)

Dorian Vallejo Eric wrote: "The Fountainhead/Ayn Rand"
I agree completely. Other than her other books which are also fantastic, can you recommend anything else? Preferably as an audio book.


message 7: by PaddytheMick (new)

PaddytheMick Cool list but Myth of Sisyphus is not fiction.


message 8: by StevenF (new)

StevenF Dorian wrote: "Eric wrote: "The Fountainhead/Ayn Rand"
I agree completely. Other than her other books which are also fantastic, can you recommend anything else? Preferably as an audio book."

Noam Chomsky.


message 9: by Matt (new)

Matt What about A Clockwork Orange? or Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy?


message 10: by [deleted user] (new)

Crime and Punishment


message 11: by Greg (new)

Greg Hickey Great list! I'm always looking for a great novel with some philosophical undertones so I searched curated lists from The Guardian, Flavorwire and more and took suggestions from readers and from philosophical fiction authors like Khaled Hosseini, Irvin D. Yalom, Rebecca Goldstein and Daniel Quinn. From over 400 books, I came up with this list of The 105 Best Philosophical Novels: https://www.greghickeywrites.com/best...

I also produced two bonus downloads: 1) the favorite works of philosophical fiction from eleven contemporary philosophical fiction authors and 2) a one-page PDF shopping guide to The 105 Best Philosophical Novels. Happy reading!


message 12: by Matt (new)

Matt Cool list yourself, Greg! Though I (respectfully) disagree with your top pick, that's probably the best philosophical fiction list I've ever seen! Well done!


message 13: by Greg (new)

Greg Hickey Thanks Matt. One of the best things about making these lists is that they generate disagreement and discussion. What would be your top book?


message 14: by Matt (new)

Matt Sorry for the delay, Greg! Given my avatar, my pick probably won't surprise you: Watchmen by Alan Moore. What I like about it is that Moore incorporates so many different philosophical viewpoints in a book that isn't even that long: utilitarianism, deontology, nihilism, determinism vs free will, etc. I think it's a great starting point in philosophy and would strongly consider using it as text if I were ever teaching an entry-level philosophy class. Just my $.02. Your list, once again, was very impressive.


message 15: by Greg (new)

Greg Hickey Thanks. Watchmen is on my to-read list. I'm looking forward to it.


message 16: by Greg (new)

Greg Hickey I figured I need to keep my list up to date, so here are the best philosophical novels of 2017 based on lists from Amazon, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Publishers Weekly and The Washington Post, suggestions from readers on Goodreads and Reddit and ratings on Goodreads and Amazon: https://www.greghickeywrites.com/best...


message 17: by chud (new)

chud there are 30 female authors in this list. hm


message 18: by John (new)

John osho


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