What is the best book you have ever read and why?

[Anonymous]

The Wolf Hall series.

I just reread them all in order and just realized that the first and third books are mirrors of each other. I loved them before but find them even more impressive now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner

I loved this one. So beautifully written.

[Anonymous]

A Little Life. I just wish it weren't so devastatingly sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think I could pick just one, but I really loved Cloud Cuckoo Land and still think about it more than a year after reading it.

This is the best book I’ve read in the last few years. Starts off weird but it gets good really quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anna Karenina

Read it and see why.

Meh, I thought it did not live up to the hype. First of all, Anna is not the main character; instead the book is about Levin; and Levin in turn was modeled after Tolstoy, himself. Book’s main story is about Levin finding God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A Prayer for Owen Meany. It’s the only book I reread. It really strengthens my faith and reminds us that we all have a purpose, even if we can’t see it. And that it’s ok to be a Joseph.

I’ve read it like 5 times. Have you read The Tin Drum? It is what inspired Irving to write Meany.

[Anonymous]

Animal farm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Wolf Hall series.

I just reread them all in order and just realized that the first and third books are mirrors of each other. I loved them before but find them even more impressive now.

Agree, love The Wolf Hall series.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner

I loved this one. So beautifully written.

Yes, but so devastating. I’ll never read it again, though I don’t flinch away from it the way I do Atonement by Ian McEwan, which is also brilliant but worse on that front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A Prayer for Owen Meany. It’s the only book I reread. It really strengthens my faith and reminds us that we all have a purpose, even if we can’t see it. And that it’s ok to be a Joseph.

John Irving came to University of Michigan in the late 80s and read some excerpts from his forthcoming book. It was this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anna Karenina

Read it and see why.

Meh, I thought it did not live up to the hype. First of all, Anna is not the main character; instead the book is about Levin; and Levin in turn was modeled after Tolstoy, himself. Book’s main story is about Levin finding God.

Well there you go. That's the TLDR for Anna Karenina.

[Anonymous]

Blackwater by Michael McDowell

A southern gothic with some horror and the best characters, family dynamics ever read. Can’t recommend enough

[Anonymous]

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner and The Ciderhouse Rules by John Irving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A Prayer for Owen Meany. It’s the only book I reread. It really strengthens my faith and reminds us that we all have a purpose, even if we can’t see it. And that it’s ok to be a Joseph.

This book was 300 pages too long. A horribly written slog of a book. PASS!

[Anonymous]

Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion.