Some of these are novel cycles. Advance apologies to pendants

Voted for Dr Faustroll because it's funny and influenced art and writing for years to come.
I've read In Search of Lost Time and some of the world's best devised sentences are to be found. I liked the book quite a lot but am not tempted to read it again.

Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, of which L'Assommoir is my favourite ever novel. There are 20 in the series, and I'm still after half a dozen or so. I think Zola gives Dickens a run for his money.

Yup, Proust's masterwork is something to read and think "wow", Camus I read on the back of the gruppe taking thier name from him. The books are ok, nothing special though. I prefer the more mainstream books here, I love The Count of Monte and The Man in The Iron Mask. Actually, like quite a few from the list now I think about it :)

Proust, Genet and Celine.

Of course there are better books on this list, but I voted for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as it is the one I've derived the most enjoyment from. I've only read about ten of these. Candide was my runner-up.

Right. Good list. Haven't read them all.

I went for Sartre's Age of Reason and well done BK in noting that this was far and away the best of the trilogy. It's probably not the greatest literature but it is the book in the list that I 'enjoyed' the most (of those I've read).

I may well have voted for "L'étranger" which I had fond memories of from my youth but revisited it a couple of months back and it just didn't do it for me....I guess over the years I've got the point and Meursault just seemed a self-absorbed prick.

I reread The Stranger last year and had exactly the same reaction.

The Fall by Albert Camus, insightful look in to the fall of western society. Oh and some band named themselves after it.

Which one?

Surprised at myself that I've read a half-dozen of these. Agree with the comments that Camus doen't have the same impact when you reread them after age 30. I love Celine's "Journey ..." yet can't resist voting for the sentimental, Broadway-approved Les Miserables. (Can anyone tell me another Hugo novel is even better? 20 years after finishing Les Miz I'm still intimididated by the idea of cracking open another, just due to the length.)

"Pendants"?

madame bovary

because it is good in itself but also because of its influence on everything that followed which makes it a really important read

love celine and would also have chosen camus the stranger which i also re read last year and enjoyed it even more. could do without the philosophising towards the end but aprt ffrom that everything spot on. read it in conjunction with the last man (the autobiog) and love the evocation of north africa in all this stuff, the weather, the life,the towns and streets, the hinterland. brilliant descriptions

Nice poll. Madame Bovary for me, please.

At the mid point of Proust I began counting the words in a few long sentences and found a couple over 800 words long. In spite of the great length, I was never confused and it was always clear what the author was saying.
With Henry James, for example, with his interminable[to me] commas, I often find myself thinking where am I? and what on earth is James trying to convey? MEGO sets in.

so much great writing but I would put up there Sartres "Road to Freedom" ( les chemins de la liberte) Trilogy as a whole. a timeless classic.

germinal by zola would have been my choice!

from list therese requin or maybe candide

Can't decide between Asterix in Spain and Asterix and Cleopatra.

Quite enjoyed "Season In Hell" by Rimbaud

Albert Camus

Né le 7 novembre 1913 à Mondovi en Algérie française.
Mort le 4 janvier 1960 à Villeblevin dans l'Yonne.

Fifty years...

Ou oh ou est Le Grand Meaulnes?!

Aux Rebours, naturelement