what's the best novel you've ever read?

[El Jefe]

can't possibly choose one, my brain would explode.

A possible top ten:

Michael Chabon - Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Dave Eggars - Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
Douglas Coupland - Life After God
Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections
Cormac McCarthy - The Road
Joseph Heller - Catch 22
Thomas Hardy - Tess Of The D'Urbevilles
Katherine Dunn - Geek Love
John Kennedy Toole - Confederacy of Dunces.

Even that hurt and would change frequently

 

[Orang Utan]

I haven't read Geek Love out of all that lot Surprised at your inclusion of Tess - think Far From The Madding Crowd is better

 

[Orang Utan]

As others have said, my choice would be different tomorrow, but what comes to mind immediately is Cat's Cradle. I love Vonnegut and that is my favourite of his.

I enjoy him but I don't understand him. I like the fact that his books are short mostly.

 

[El Jefe]

I haven't read Geek Love out of all that lot Surprised at your inclusion of Tess - think Far From The Madding Crowd is better

Ah, I went on a mad Hardy spree in my teens (local lad and that) and Tess chimed best with my faux-tortured romantic ideas and made the biggest impact.

 

[Orang Utan]

And he's from Darset

 

[Santino]

I can't remember which thread I'm on.

If I haven't already said it on this thread, my new best novel is Borges' Collected Fictions, although it is not a novel in any sense.

 

[whoha]

Loved that book too. Probably one of my best reads as well. Hope that the film will be just as good.

Not sure I would risk watching the film .Im not sure anyone could do it justice.
The Time Travellers wife that is.

 

[kabbes]

Vonnegut is the nads.

 

[tar1984]

ive taken 'The Brothers Karamazov' out of the library - gonna get started on it tonight (yeah i have such exiting saturday nights...)

I also took out a terry pratchett one for something a bit more lighthearted.

Im gonna take a note of all the novels people have posted on this thread - should keep me good for reading material for a while!

 

[mentalchik]

Oh good lawd.............sooooooooo difficult to choose but if pinned down i would have to say Dune !

 

[ruffneck23]

Growedup book ----

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Not so growed up ---

His Dark Materials ( strictly a trilogy but il think of it as one big novel ) - Phillip Pullman

both modern , il have to think about some of the older books ive read and edit later

 

[kabbes]

Funny enough, I was only just saying this morning that His Dark Materials is probably the most disappointing thing I've ever read. Promises so much, has so many ideas, then completely fails to capitalise on them or resolve anything properly.

 

[Roadkill]

English Passengers, by Matthew Kneale, is my favourite novel ever. It's a superb story, and I really like the way he manages to tell it from the point of view of twenty-odd narrators and yet keep it well paced and interesting.

It's just a shame that everything else I've read by him has been a bit mediocre.

 

[mauvais]

Catch 22, has to be. So many facets of life illustrated, in such a deeply funny and dark witty way.

Incidentally, 'Closing Time', its sequel, is one of the worst books I recall reading, and probably didn't even finish it. Is it really that bad or was I just having a bad week?