Best novel you have ever read

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kite Runner was amazing. One of those rare books that changes your life.



how did it change your life?

It changes how I approach every day moral issues. Reading the book, I always wondered if deep down, I was the kind of person who would hide in the shadows and watch my friend be raped, or if I'd stand up to a man harassing a woman in front of a group of helpless people. Everyone wants to THINK they would do the right thing, but it is never that black and white of a situation. The book just prompted a lot of self-reflection, and I've started being a lot more assertive in some gray situations. For example, when I have a coworker make an off color remark, I speak up now.

[Anonymous]

The Catcher In The Rye

The Book Thief

Someone Knows My Name

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb (must have read this a dozen times . . . it is like visiting old friends. His other one, She's Come Undone, is also amazing. The most recent one though, is awful. Awful awful awful).

Morgans Run by Colleen McCollough

Almost anything by Philippa Gregory

[Anonymous]

The Samurai is a novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo first published in 1980. It tells the story of a 17th Century diplomatic mission to Mexico by Japanese noblemen, and the cultural clash that ensues. The main character is Hasekura Rokuemon, and the events in the story actually took place.

Dostoevsky novels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Samurai is a novel by Japanese author Shusaku Endo first published in 1980. It tells the story of a 17th Century diplomatic mission to Mexico by Japanese noblemen, and the cultural clash that ensues. The main character is Hasekura Rokuemon, and the events in the story actually took place.

Dostoevsky novels.


I forget these:

Narcissus und Goldmund (Herman Hesse)
Briefe in die Chinese Vergangenheit (Herbert Rosendorfer) I don't know if these are as good in English--I know both have been translated, but I haven't read them in English. But I'd highly recommend them.

Can you tell I like period works..?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think my favorites were favorites of that moment/era in my life. I might not be so entranced now but....

Middlemarch.
House of Mirth
Mayor of Casterbridge
Kafka on the Shore
Moby Dick
Madame Bovary

Loved Madame Bovary, but having to read the Mayor of Casterbridge was painful. Maybe I should try it as an adult...

[Anonymous]

I am a mystery fiend so I tend to love series

Anne Perry WWI series that starts with No Graves Yet. I came out during the beginning of the invasion of Iraq and raised many issues about individual and state morality, role of the press and how to dissent.

Laurie King's Mary Russell series that revives the Sherlock Holmes books with a smart, Edwardian heroine.

Enola Holmes by Nancy Springer- these are made for middle school level students but they have an amazing underlying story about feminism and dissent. (I have read twice now and just love them every time)

She's come undone both because it is a fabulous story and because it is the first story I was ever able to read about a fat person (being one) that I could actually accept.

[Anonymous]

The End of the Affair (or anything else by Greene)
A Separate Peace
Catcher in the Rye
Lie Down in Darkness and A Tidewater Morning (short stories)

I'm also a fan of Richard Ford and for short stories, John Cheever and Tobias Wolff

[Anonymous]

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
A Seperate Peace, John Knowles

[Anonymous]

the snow leopard, peter matthiessen. but so many others too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

[b]Gone With the Wind is considered in Russia as [the] American War and Peace." The similarities between these two lengthy, panoramic novels are striking. [b]

Long article by Donald W. Miller, MD

Is Donald W. Miller, MD a literary critic? I have never heard of him. GWTW is profoundly racist. Whether or not you "enjoy" reading it. It is a simple fact. A black person reading the following will probably not be inspired by this " great book": former field hands (during the early days of Reconstruction) are described in the book as behaving "as creatures of small intelligence might naturally be expected to do. Like monkeys or small children turned loose among treasured objects whose value is beyond their comprehension, they ran wild—either from perverse pleasure in destruction or simply because of their ignorance." This is one small example. None of the black characters are fully realized humans, they simply live to serve their masters. The KKK is glorified! A book this racist cannot be considered a great American novel. Margaret Mitchell wrote this book in the 1930's, not during Reconstruction. She was clearly a racist. It is time to be honest about this book.

Books cannot be racist or offensive? Half the books I've read would be off this list according to you then... Have you read The Color Purple? Harry Potter (Muggles????)? Catcher in the Rye? To Kill A Mocking Bird? Beloved? Lord of the Flys? Animal Farm? Grapes of Wrath? Sophie's Choice?

I mean, What the hell, PP??? WHO CARES IF SHE WAS RACIST? It's a book. Let the reader read it and make a decision as to whether they enjoy it and form their own opinion, not the opinion you are forcing down our throats.

If it is someone's favorite novel then GUESS WHAT??? IT IS THEIR FAVORITE NOVEL.

[Anonymous]

The Palace Walk

Rabbit Run

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A Seperate Peace, John Knowles

I loved that book in HS. All my classmates didn't seem to understand.
Lord of the Flies, too.

[Anonymous]

High school curriculum developers should take note that many of the classics remain life long favorites -- and be sure to continue teaching those! I wonder if any posters were men, and if the same question were asked to a group of DC area dads, whether the answers would be very different. I am curious about this because my husband seems to have a deaf ear for fiction, and besides the obvious choices (To Kill a Mockingbird, Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, Old Man and the Sea), I am finding it hard to recommend books that will get me teenaged sons as excited about literature as I became at their age. Any dads want to chime in? Ah, maybe I will start a spin off.

[Anonymous]

11:12, my brother was a fanatical reader of science fiction and military/ historical fiction. He loved the Horatio Hornblower series.

I always think of Farley Mowat and Jack London as "boy" authors, though I, a girl, loved their books. Especially Two Against the North.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a mystery fiend so I tend to love series

Anne Perry WWI series that starts with No Graves Yet. I came out during the beginning of the invasion of Iraq and raised many issues about individual and state morality, role of the press and how to dissent.

I read one that I enjoyed, and mentioned it to my mother, who then filled me in on her background. My mom loves mysteries but wouldn't buy Perry's novels because she didn't want to give money to a murderer. Kind of sucked the fun out of her books for me after that.