John Galsworthy’s chronicle of the “new money” Forsyte family is Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. The Forsyte Saga focuses on Soames Forsyte, a “man of property,” who seems to have succeeded at wealth but never seems to learn how to be happy. Chaos Reader starts a new novel in a famous tetralogy.

Jay’s pick this week for his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, a novel about a young man’s coming of age in Nottinghamshire, as he navigates his relationships with two very different women in the shadow of his brother’s death and his mother’s attentions and strong personality. Chaos Reader talks about a recent TV series rewatch in which the characters are often shown reading books in their spare time.

The Magus was John Fowles’ first novel, but his third to be published, and its postmodern, metafictional format focuses on a young British teacher on a Greek Island who falls in with an unreliable local mastermind, Conchis. Chaos Reader discusses an academic history book she and Jay are reading aloud.

Jay’s pick this week is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne, a book that could be maddening or it could be one of the 100 Most Lovable Books in the English Language if you approach it ready for the ride. Chaos Reader is very enthusiastic about a newly published mystery novel.

Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is this week’s pick for Jay’s list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language. This British novel isn’t as well known in the United States, but it should be. Chaos Reader finishes another novel. Note: Jay occasionally misidentifies Winterson in the podcast, and for that he is deeply apologetic.

Jay’s choice this week is Old Filth, a 2004 novel by British writer Jane Gardam. The book focuses on Sir Edward Feather’s quest to understand the life he has lived in the second half of the twentieth century. Chaos Reader FINALLY finishes a book.

This week’s addition to Jay’s 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language list is Wilkie Collins' Victorian proto-detective, gothic novel The Woman in White. Wilkie’s chosen structure of multiple narrators puts the reader into the role of juror, working to discern what really happened from the various voices and agendas in the text. Chaos Reader responds to yapping in the zeitgeist about Nolan’s Odyssey.

Jay’s pick this week in the final 10 of his list of the 100 Most Lovable Novels in the English Language is Andrea Levy’s Small Island, a 2004 novel that explores the experiences of the Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants to the United Kingdom through four narrators. The book addresses many big ideas through careful attention to the daily lives and dramas of a white couple and a Jamaican couple in mid-century London. Chaos Reader is doubling her efforts to return to her former reading addiction.