Best novel you have ever read

[Anonymous]

Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset

Won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1928.

The best depiction of human nature, marriage, love, faith, and the fruits of sin I have ever read, including Dostoyevsky.

If you had to choose only one novel as the best you have ever read, which one, and why?

[Anonymous]

Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham

[Anonymous]

I loved Krisin Lavransdatter!
also "Breath and Shadows"
and as a girl "Green Mansions"....

[Anonymous]

Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver. It had everything I want in a novel-- nature, strong women, interconnecting plotlines.

Second best, and in an entirely different genre, Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin. Much harder to get through, but the writing was just amazing, and the whole experience sort of rewarding. Left me feeling a little dizzied, somehow.

[Anonymous]

War and Peace.

[Anonymous]

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes...phenomenal!! Sounds dry by just a great read. Love it. Got DH to read it too. He thought I was insane but then agreed with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes...phenomenal!! Sounds dry by just a great read. Love it. Got DH to read it too. He thought I was insane but then agreed with me.

Oops, novel implies fiction. Disregard post. It is nonfiction.

[Anonymous]

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

[Anonymous]

Uncle Tom's Cabin
Snow Falling on Cedars (tie)

[Anonymous]

A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving

[Anonymous]

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami.

Nice. I was going to say "Kafka on the Shore," also by Murakami.

[Anonymous]

The Winds of War - completely captured me.

[Anonymous]

I also love a Prayer for Owen Meany.

[Anonymous]

Wow. I was going to say Owen Meany as well. I love John Irving. Garp, Cider House Rules, and Hotel New Hampshire have all been favorites for years.