Markovich wrote on 01/19/12 at 01:11:05:

It just didnt appeal to me, mainly due to the writing style (the sentences never end) and the constant references.
Still if people still enjoy the book some 150 years later it can't be all that bad

I still need to read Slaughterhouse five and Stranger in a strangeland. Perhaps after I read those 4 works I would feel more inclined to comment on what might be the "greatest."

But in some ways, I think it is the timing at which these books are read that can determine alot. I read the Great Gatsby in 11th grade. I was the only person in my grade that actually enjoyed reading the work. I would be hard pressed to include in the top 100 best novels let alone the "greatest" but it was enjoyable read then.

Markovich wrote on 01/17/12 at 23:51:53:

I wont give my opinion on Moby Dick for the same reason

Having read only a (German) translation of Frankenstein I had the same impression of a well written novel. I've heard of cases with a better translation than the original. Maybe this is an example?

'Heaven is for Real' by Todd Burpo

I'm taking a course at Ohio State whose subject is exclusively Moby Dick. It's taught by Elizabeth Renker, a noted Melville scholar.  For the course, I'm about halfway through my second reading of the book since October. I read it whike on vacation in Hawaii (since Melville during his voyages had come to Lahaina, our local town), and quickly realized that I would have to read it again. Then this course most serendipitously came up.

What a deep, deep book Moby Dick is. I don't know what compares to it. It's so full of incident, ambiguity and mystery. If I had to say what its subject was, I would say that it was the nature of reality. Melville was too good a writer, or perhaps too full of uncertainty himself, to close any of the questions he raises. And so one is left with a work of Biblical scope and indirectness, open to manifold interpetations.

Frankenstein. For me the themes are so important and it is so well written. It also doesn't take a long time to read like some classics... it's about time now for me to re-read it.    
   
My favourite modern novel is probably True Evil. The themes, the pace, language and it presses all my right buttons. I'm not a big novel reader though. For example I have Crime and Punishment, but have never got more than a few pages. Make of that what you will.  
 

I'm going to chime in with Crime and Punishment, one of the few novels I've read multiple times.  I've read it as a Christian and as an atheist and found it incredibly profound and moving from both points of view.  In my opinion, Dostoevsky understands and describes human behavior and motives better than any other writer.  Not only that, but the novel is incredibly suspenseful and exciting, it's actually quite a page-turner!

If you could count them as novels, I'd nominate The Iliad and The Aeneid, and possibly The Odyssey.  Didn't Milton say that The Aeneid was "the greatest poem by the greatest poet?"  Someone did...

Also, regarding The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien himself didn't consider it a novel, so I think it should be read from the perspective that Tolkien had in mind.  Tolkien wrote a lot about his own works, and his basic idea was to provide a new mythology for a post-WWI society.  LOTR should be viewed in conjunction with his other works, like The Silmarillion, etc.  Personally, I think he did an incredible job of creating an entirely new mythology on his own!  Every other culture had hundreds of people over hundreds of years adding their creative energy to the pot, but Tolkien pretty much did it single-handedly.  It's unfortunate that as a novel, the LOTR doesn't exactly stand up, but his creative achievement can't be denied.

This thread reminds me that I was planning on reading Anna Karenina once I finish The Aeneid.  But I have a hard time imaging any book that could outdo Crime and Punishment.

The Castle? I haven't heard of that one. I will have to check it out.  Thanks.

Has anyone here read anything they weren't forced to read in university english/Literature class?


I can't decide so here are some of my favorites.

Nelson Demille's The Charm School
Jim Butcher's series, The Dresden Files
Geroge R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones series
Almost anything written by John Le Carre

Candide 
Gulliver's Travels
A Confederacy of Dunces

I forgot one, which shows my bias. The ultimate Carribean novel is written by a Dutch Antillean:

http://www.nlpvf.nl/basic/auteur1.php?Author_ID=85

Arion should have received the Nobel Prize, not Naipaul, even if only for his debut

http://www.nlpvf.nl/book/book2.php?Book=236

The first alinea is an understatement. The book is even better than that.

"To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme." Herman Melville.

Dear All,
    Using the definition "a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes" I can't see why "The lord of the Rings" doesn't qualify as a novel. However, as Willempie sagely said there's no arguing about taste.
 
          I would also agree that I enjoyed "The Old man and the Sea". Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" is usually one that splits opinions. I enjoyed it but know several people who couldn't be bothered to finish it !

I'm really looking forward to Murakami's latest novel, 
1Q84. I have it on hold at my local library. I'll let you know whether it's as good as its advance press.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 11/08/11 at 19:06:25:


Now that you mention it, Dürrenmatt: Das Versprechen is also a huge favorite of mine.

It's easy to start thinking very anglified in an English-language forum!

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 11/08/11 at 19:06:25:

You missed Eco;)
It may have to do that most people in Europe are forced to read English literature in school. I know I was and hated it, so that I havent felt much need to read translated writers

Plus not all countries have a great novel tradition. Ie Dutch books longer than 250 pages tend to be utterly boring (despite what they keep telling you in school), while shorter books are often excellent (what we would call "novelles" to add some confusion).

I am surprised to find that the great majority of novels selected are English-language novels. I know, the novel is the product of the industrial revolution and the English led the way in that revolution. But still, only Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment have been listed from the Russians, and what German novels have been mentioned? And nothing from the Spanish-speaking world at all so far?

I don't know which is the best, but no mention whatsoever of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or any of the other great Latin writers just seems ... provincial.

Edit: I didn't notice that Alias mentioned 100 Years of Solitude (the English title) in his short list of great novels. And The Trial by Kafka was also mentioned. Still, this seems like a very Anglophilic list.

Ulysses: http://www.dannydries.com/Ullyses/ch1-ulys.html

Markovich wrote on 11/08/11 at 08:50:59:

Well there's no arguing about taste. 
Still I think you oversimplify a bit. It is definately not as one-dimesional as you picture it. Plus a balrog is much cooler than a whale

It's quite difficult to name the greatest novel. Some books I've enjoyed very much though:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape
• One Hundred Years of Solitude
• Catcher in the Rye
• The Name of the Rose
• Birdy
• Lord of the Flies
• 1984, and Animal Farm
• The Trial

I wouldn't touch a book like Lord of the Rings and High Fidelity is much better than About a Boy.

The thing I don't much like about LoTR is the effect its (objectively terribly silly) main plot had (still has?) on the rest of fantasy writing. 

Some fantasy must qualify as novels I think - Guy Gavriel Kay say is basically writing (good) novels with a little bit of magic thrown in. 

I'd be amazed if I'd read the best one so no vote

Since some are listing multiple works, I'll also nominate The Grapes of Wrath. Oh, and 1984 ranks high in my esteem.

O.K., one more deserving candidate: The Trial.

My favorite novel at the moment is Nick Hornby: About a Boy.

Before you shoot me, I actually made a decision to read more serious novels a couple of years ago. Got through Auster's New York Trilogy, Camus: The Plague, Golding: Lord of the Flies, Dostoevsky: The Gambler and Saramago: All the Names before I realized I was boring myself to death and stopped  Is there any certified Great Literature^TM out there with enough humour and/or suspense for me to read without falling asleep?

IMJohnCox wrote on 11/08/11 at 00:08:28:

Do you imply that "novel" is also a genre? Not that I would ever nominate fantasy stuff as the Greatest Novel ever, even if I sometimes enjoy it quite a lot.

I would go for Anna Karenina, which I also suspect would be the winner of a global poll, certainly if one allowed for a bit of time weighting. It made me wonder why anyone else bothered writing novels when I read it, and I haven't changed my feeling.

Is Lord of the Rings a 'novel', exactly? I don't think I'd call fantasy a novel, more a genre of its own.

Lord of the rings.
Runner up's: 
Oberski: Kinderjaren (Child years), one of the best Dutch books and of the very few I actually enjoyed. I dont know if it is translated in other languages, but if so I'd recommend it to everyone.
Eco: The name of the rose
Chang: Wild swans of China

Others will come to mind later.

Btw Mnb I liked Bordewijks Bint better.

Wwqlcw wrote on 11/07/11 at 15:08:33:

Loved the first half of the book, hated the second half! Was it really all written by the same person?!

For me, The Lord of the Rings. I'm sure some other candidates will come to me but that's my choice.