The 10 best classic works of fiction I read in 2018

Looking back at another year of reading, this is the first of a series of posts on the best books I read in 2018. As in previous years, most of my reading has been devoted to "classics," which I'll loosely define as any fiction that's not new (past year or two), so the reading in classics ranges across three centuries of writing, and this year across 4 continents. Here is my list, arranged alphabetically, of the 10 best classic works of fiction that I read in 2018:

The Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendahl (1839). This novel ostensibly about 19th-century Italy will strike a contemporary note for American readers: hand-picked judges coming up with the verdict that they know their benefactor, will prefer; jobs and titles awarded based entirely on political and family connections; do-nothing sinecures; contempt among the highest-ranking for the working classes; malleable religious leaders; politicians feathering their nests; women forced to promise sexual favors to advance their causes; demonizing of free expression; and a simple-minded leader demanding deference but essentially incapable of running a government.

The Enigma of Arrival, by V.S. Naipaul (1987). A mournful look at life gone by and as well as  novel about missed connections, missed perceptions, and assumptions about the pastoral life that prove at every turn to be wrong.

The Group, by Mary McCarthy (1963). A terrifying look at the fates and fortunes of 8 Vassar grads ('33), intelligent and attractive young women who at the start of the novel have bright futures - yet all of them are troubled, each in her own way.

The Life and Times of Michael K, by J. M. Coetzee (1983). A detailed account of K's life in Cape Town, a city torn by some kind of war, with shortages of all staples and with the constant movement of troops and surveillance by authorities - a highly political novel that feels true today, telling a story of exile and wandering and despair.

The Makioka Sisters, by Junichiro Tanazaki (1948). A terrific novel about the complex relationships among 4 sisters - a smart study of individual psychology and family dynamics, set against the background of life in Japan ca. 1935-41; the war is a dark cloud of truth that casts its shadow across this work of fiction.

Transit, by Anna Seghers (1944). Set in Marseilles during the German Occupation, this novel is about fear, flight, survival, and the petty forces of resistance, the nightmarish attempt to get all papers in order and all belongings packed and ready for flight, with constant disruptions and disappointments - a novel set in a specific time of crisis but really about the universal human condition.

True Grit, by Charles Portis (1968). The 14-year-old girl who sets a posse of bounty hunters into action to avenge the shooting death of her father turns out, as she looks back on her youth, to be a great narrator, giving us throughout the novel a sense of place, vivid characters, and a brisk narrative pace.

The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill (1983). Unlike most ghostly spirits that appear simply "haunted," Hill's ghost is truly vengeful and malevolent - harming innocent people (children, especially) who caused her no harm or pain during her stay on earth.

The Woman in the Dunes, by Kobo Abe (1963). This novel is an adventure/thriller/horror story about a man who finds himself entrapped and captive in a small house deep in a swale, surrounded by ever-encroaching sand dunes, but it is also an allegorical novel about a man struggling against an ineradicable force and trying to maintain at least a vestige of his individuality and humanity while under constant assault.

Zone, by Mathias Enard (2008). This challenging, monumental novel is made up of a stream of consciousness flowing throughout the narrator's train journey from Milan to Rome, over the course of which we receive first-hand accounts of a century of war crimes and crimes against humanity across all of the Mediterranean nations and Europe.