God took seeds from other worlds and sowed them on this earth, and raised up his garden; and everything that could sprout sprouted, but it lives and grows only through its sense of being in touch with other mysterious worlds; if this sense is weakened or destroyed in you, that which has grown up in you dies. Then you become indifferent to life, and come to hate it. So I think.
—Zosima in The Brothers Karamazov
Yeah, this Dostoevsky guy has got potential.
It seems crazy to put such a classic at #4 in the countdown but 19th century novels generally don’t fare well in the best reads list just because of their publishing date. I finally got to The Brothers Karamazov this year and I’m glad that I did. It was worth savoring slowly (I took three months to read it) for its texture, its theological struggles, its many voices, and it’s a murder mystery to boot. I understand why it has survived to speak in other days and times.
Earlier entries on this list:
#5 – Lone Women by Victor Lavalle
#6 – I, Julian by Claire Gilbert
#7 – Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard
#8 – The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
Heartlands 
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