Northwestern’s Pearce Miller Research Professor of Literature, the author of four books, most recently Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, and a writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, shares what he thinks are the three most important novels.1. Middlemarch, George EliotA Victorian masterpiece detailing a broad swathe of life in a fictitious English town. Captivating, beautifully written and formidable in its grasp of social and psychological issues.2. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor DostoyevskyA riveting, disturbing novel that has haunted me ever since I consumed it as a teenager over a long weekend. I don’t think I paused even for meals.3. Our Mutual Friend, Charles DickensHis last complete novel – a dark, brooding satire of deception, hypocrisy and waste – is painfully relevant for our times.Every NU student should read… The Corrections, Jonathan FranzenA modern-day Middlemarch, detailing the trials and tribulations of a remarkably dysfunctional Midwest family. A tremendous achievement, worth its many accolades.