Favorite novels

Kevin Drum has an amusing post on the silliness of the perennial question that Presidential candidates get posed about their preferred books. He suggests that a smart candidate ought to modulate his answer depending on the interlocutor, with the following categories, along with my own modest answers:

1. Moderately intellectual choice, suitable for being interviewed by George Will: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
   
2. Funny choice, suitable for being interviewed on MTV: Joseph Heller, Catch-22
3. Multicultural choice, suitable for being interviewed by New York Times: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
   
4. Populist choice, suitable for being interviewed by Parade: J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye
   
5. Safely patriotic choice, suitable for being interviewed by Rush Limbaugh: Philip Roth, The Plot Against America
   
6. Thoughtful choice, suitable for being interviewed on PBS: Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
   
7. Anti-terrorism choice, suitable for being interviewed by Andrew Sullivan: Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent