The six most relevant novels of my twenties

I’ve been researching which is the best translation of War & Peace lately. I came across this wonderfully heated debate on the subject over at rec.arts.books. Here are my criteria for the edition that I eventually buy (in order of importance):

i) Must fit inside my jacket pocket
ii) That’s basically it

Anyway, it looks like the Ann Dunnigan translation has won out. It’s the Signet mass-produced edition and the translation - while flawed - happens to be the best currently available.

The whole affair has put me in the mood to make a book-list. These (in no particular order) are The Six Most Relevant Novels of My Twenties:

i) Youth, JM Coetzee
ii) Sentimental Education, Gustave Flaubert
iii) Factotum, Charles Bukowski
iv) The Dangling Man, Saul Bellow
v) Keep The Aspidistra Flying, George Orwell
vi) Ask The Dust, John Fante