Best novel you have ever read

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tie between "Gone With the Wind" and "War and Peace." GWTW is considered the American W&P.

Really????

Have you ever read it? Incredible descriptions, details, and complexity of characters make it a book to be read, regardless of your views about the south, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lords of Discipline , Pat Conroy (read it years ago, in high school...I love all of his books)
Sea of Poppies
A Fine Balance (so, so sad...but amazing)

I agree that I love Pat Conroy's books--such wonderfully detailed descriptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I forgot about Confederacy for Dunces. Laughed out loud!

Really? I don't get it. After a dozen recommendations, I finally checked it out, and was both bored and repulsed by the first 50 pages. I had zero desire to go further. Is it perhaps one of those books that doesn't get worthwhile til the second half or something?

[Anonymous]

I am another one who didn't love other John Irving books, but who adores A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Brideshead Revisited

Best trashy beach read: The Last Convertible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tie between "Gone With the Wind" and "War and Peace." GWTW is considered the American W&P.

Really????

Have you ever read it? Incredible descriptions, details, and complexity of characters make it a book to be read, regardless of your views about the south, etc.

I am not the poster quoted above, but I have read it. I don't argue with anyone who enjoys it or any other book. I also enjoy a lot of fiction that is certainly not literary. However, I don't think any modern critic would consider it the "American W & P" . GWTW is fine as a romantic novel, but it falsely glamorizes the Old South, slavery, and portrays the KKK as a heroic group. It is conventionally written, and cannot be considered on a par with War and Peace because it is ultimately based on a falsehood. Does any school ( high school or college) use it as part of the curriculum? Many scholars around the world still study War and Peace; nobody studies GWTW. Enjoy it a a romantic novel, but don;t compare it to great works of literature.

[Anonymous]

Great Expectations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I forgot about Confederacy for Dunces. Laughed out loud!

Really? I don't get it. After a dozen recommendations, I finally checked it out, and was both bored and repulsed by the first 50 pages. I had zero desire to go further. Is it perhaps one of those books that doesn't get worthwhile til the second half or something?

I guess it is a "southern thing". His arrogance, etc. just rang with me. Speaking of southern novels, I love anything Pat Conroy.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if it's my all-time favorite, but I really really love The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett.

[Anonymous]

The Tale of Genji

[Anonymous]

Bel Canto by Ann Pachett
The Kite Runner- "For you, a thousand times over". !!
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver- my favorite of all her books (The Poisonwood Bible a close second)
I Know This Much Is True- Wally Lamb
The Shipping News- Annie Proulx- not the type of book I am usually attracted to but it was soooooo good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I forgot about Confederacy for Dunces. Laughed out loud!

Really? I don't get it. After a dozen recommendations, I finally checked it out, and was both bored and repulsed by the first 50 pages. I had zero desire to go further. Is it perhaps one of those books that doesn't get worthwhile til the second half or something?

I also thought A Confederacy of Dunces was laugh out loud hilarious but I've met people who hated it. I think it's one of those books that you either love or hate.

Another book I LOVED was The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

[Anonymous]

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger

[Anonymous]

Catch 22. I reread it every 10 year or so and still laugh so hard it makes me hurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tie between "Gone With the Wind" and "War and Peace." GWTW is considered the American W&P.

Really????

Have you ever read it? Incredible descriptions, details, and complexity of characters make it a book to be read, regardless of your views about the south, etc.

I am not the poster quoted above, but I have read it. I don't argue with anyone who enjoys it or any other book. I also enjoy a lot of fiction that is certainly not literary. However, I don't think any modern critic would consider it the "American W & P" . GWTW is fine as a romantic novel, but it falsely glamorizes the Old South, slavery, and portrays the KKK as a heroic group. It is conventionally written, and cannot be considered on a par with War and Peace because it is ultimately based on a falsehood. Does any school ( high school or college) use it as part of the curriculum? Many scholars around the world still study War and Peace; nobody studies GWTW. Enjoy it a a romantic novel, but don;t compare it to great works of literature.

GWTW is no. 14 of the Best Books of the 20th Century. I would also recommend, "The Wind Done Gone," fascinating. Also, in my American Lit. class GWTW was studied and was a part of the curriculum. I went to a major private univ. in Pennsylvania. Margaret Mitchell was not glorifying slavery, KKK; she was telling a story about that era in American History.

[Anonymous]

golden notebook
love in the time of cholera and one hundred years of solitude
mrs. dalloway
dubliners


reminded me of many others i loved:
paddy clarke ha ha ha
disgrace
allende's books
life of pi
slouching towards bethlehem
my michael
wild swans

just read cutting for stone and liked that too