Kurt Andersen's 5 most essential books

Kurt Andersen is the author of Turn of the Century, a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. He was a co-founder of Spy magazine and has been a columnist and critic for The New Yorker and Time. His new novel is Heydey.

He named his five most essential books for Newsweek. One title on the list:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

A "great book" that's actually great.

Read about all five books on Andersen's list.

Great Expectations also made John Mullan's ten best fights in fiction list.

--Marshal Zeringue