book with beautiful prose

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A room of one's own by Virginia Woolf. It is read-aloud good.

Great Gatsby and Tender is the night.

I recommend Fitzgerald too. Also Edith Wharton. Her writing can bring tears to your eyes.

[Anonymous]

Wiliam Trevor (Story of Lucy Gault is a great place to start.)
Ian McEwan
Jhumpa Lahiri

[Anonymous]

Any collection of short stories by John Updike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Goldfinch. Some passages are so gorgeous they knock me over. A paragraph early on in the book comes to mind in which the narrator recalls the stark horror of what losing his mother really means -- that she is never coming back -- and how everytime he remembers it's so crushingly horrible.

I was going to write this too. The book was too long but it did have some beautiful passages. I loved The English Patient too.

[Anonymous]

I love this thread. Thanks, OP and all the people who responded!

+1 on The Goldfinch -- I thought this book needed to be edited down (especially the section that took place in LV), but some of the writing is just gorgeous.

I also love Michael Ondaatje's writing - The Cat's Table, The English Patient, In the Skin of a Lion, Anil's Ghost, Running In The Family - all beautiful works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was going to suggest Marilynne Robinson too. Beautiful writing.

Another rec for Robinson. She really is a writer's writer. I read Housekeeping and have been a fan ever since.

Michael Chabon is an amazing craftsman with words. I often find myself just re-reading sentences because they are so well-written.

If you're interested in poetic prose, I'd also recommend By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.

[Anonymous]

Not fiction, but John McPhee is an amazing writer. He can honestly make any subject gripping. I read Annals of the Former World, and I don't even care that much about geography. But I'd start with his essays--Irons in the Fire is a nice collection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
So long, see you tomorrow by William Maxwell
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The Master and Margerita by Bulgakov
James Baldwin--I particularly love Giovanni's Room

I also love Roberto Bolano and Haruki Murakami's writing, but they are more of an acquired taste.

Love this book. Honestly, I didn't like Stegner's other novels so much, but Angle of Repose is lovely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Absolutely beautifully written

Anything by lorrie moore - she writes some sentences so gorgeous I stop reading to marvel and wish I had written them

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (she also has a mystery series that is incredibly well-written)

Some great suggestions in this thread! I particularly agree with these.

[Anonymous]

Anything by Wallace Stegner. But "angle of repose" is my favorite

[Anonymous]

Their Eyes Were Watching God by ZN Hurston

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A room of one's own by Virginia Woolf. It is read-aloud good.

Great Gatsby and Tender is the night.

I recommend Fitzgerald too. Also Edith Wharton. Her writing can bring tears to your eyes.

+1

[Anonymous]

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. I have a few of her other books on deck because I enjoyed the writing of the Dovekeepers so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Absolutely beautifully written

Anything by lorrie moore - she writes some sentences so gorgeous I stop reading to marvel and wish I had written them

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (she also has a mystery series that is incredibly well-written)

Some great suggestions in this thread! I particularly agree with these.

Me too!

[Anonymous]

Ishiguro, Robinson, and Munro.