The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Fielding essentially invented the comic novel in English — a big, generous, messy story about a good-hearted man stumbling through a corrupt world.
“It is not death, but dying, which is terrible.”
Why It Matters
Fielding essentially invented the comic novel in English — a big, generous, messy story about a good-hearted man stumbling through a corrupt world. The book's self-aware narrator, who constantly interrupts to comment on storytelling itself, pioneered techniques that novelists still use. Coleridge called it one of the three most perfect plots ever planned.
The 
Take
Personal reviewInsanely well done, so many great comical asides and mini comments on human nature or society or whatever. Maybe drags on a little in the middle but I forgive fielding. Definitely the first WOAH novel in English
Notable Quotes
“Prudence and good breeding are in all companies and on all occasions, the surest guards to virtue.”
“A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not.”