Anonymous wrote:Anything by James Joyce.

Anything by James Joyce.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a great question - I'm going to totally check out the suggestions you get!

The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard, is a book that definitely found the limits of my vocabulary, and also was written in a way that demanded attention. And it had one of the best endings I've ever read (so hang in there - I found it tough going in the beginning but then I got into it.)

Oh, I never meet anyone who knows of Hazzard. I know there's a low probability here, but are you by any chance a Barbara Pym fan?

No, I haven't heard of her. Why do you associate the two?

I'm somehow feeling this very peculiar sensation that lurking on DCUM has elevated me today, instead of encouraging me to wallow in the murkier depths of parenting!

Or Ebola.

Death in the Family by James Agee

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

I was going to suggest Marilynne Robinson too. Beautiful writing.

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

Great Gatsby and Tender is the night.

Anonymous wrote:Gilead is a great suggestion! I adore that book and also re-read it sometimes.

Marilynne Robinson just came out with a new novel that is the backstory of the one of the characters in Gilead. It's called "Lila" and it's on my book wish list

Some great suggestions above from the PPs. I also thought that "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel were extremely well-written and also very interesting -- I learned a great deal about English history.

Gilead is a great suggestion! I adore that book and also re-read it sometimes.

Edith Pearlman, "Binocular Vision"
Alice Munro's works - any of them (she writes short stories)
William Maxwell, "They Came Like Swallows" or anything by Maxwell, really
Robertson Davies, "What's Bred in the Bone" (one of my all-time favorites- not beautiful so much, but cerebral, wordy, funny, and mischievous!)

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson -- a beautifully written novel. I re-read it every now and then because the prose is so gorgeous.

Michael Ondaatje - he is both a poet and a novelist. My favorites are In The Skin of A Lion and The English Patient. Definitely expanded my vocabulary

Maybe not so beautiful but quite vocabulary-expanding is Michael Chabon's "Telegraph Avenue" and I guess also "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" - both fun, complicated, interesting reads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a great question - I'm going to totally check out the suggestions you get!

The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard, is a book that definitely found the limits of my vocabulary, and also was written in a way that demanded attention. And it had one of the best endings I've ever read (so hang in there - I found it tough going in the beginning but then I got into it.)

Oh, I never meet anyone who knows of Hazzard. I know there's a low probability here, but are you by any chance a Barbara Pym fan?

No, I haven't heard of her. Why do you associate the two?

I'm somehow feeling this very peculiar sensation that lurking on DCUM has elevated me today, instead of encouraging me to wallow in the murkier depths of parenting!

Anonymous wrote:What a great question - I'm going to totally check out the suggestions you get!

The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard, is a book that definitely found the limits of my vocabulary, and also was written in a way that demanded attention. And it had one of the best endings I've ever read (so hang in there - I found it tough going in the beginning but then I got into it.)

Oh, I never meet anyone who knows of Hazzard. I know there's a low probability here, but are you by any chance a Barbara Pym fan?

What a great question - I'm going to totally check out the suggestions you get!

The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard, is a book that definitely found the limits of my vocabulary, and also was written in a way that demanded attention. And it had one of the best endings I've ever read (so hang in there - I found it tough going in the beginning but then I got into it.)

Anonymous wrote:Could anyone recommend a book with beautiful prose that you enjoyed? I would like to read something and expand my vocabulary. Thanks!

Jorges Luis Borges - Collected Fictions - http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-Luis-Borges/dp/0140286802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412346289&sr=8-1&keywords=Borges.

If you like sci fi, China Mieville - Perdido Street Station - http://www.amazon.com/Perdido-Street-Station-China-Mieville/dp/0345459407/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412346404&sr=8-1&keywords=Perdido+Street+Station

Could anyone recommend a book with beautiful prose that you enjoyed? I would like to read something and expand my vocabulary. Thanks!