I can't pick one favorite, but I can think of many novels I've loved. For example:
Stephen King is a prolific author, but I don't think anything has matched his earliest books. When I read The Stand in high school, I kept friends waiting for half an hour so I could finish the book before going out. They could stay or go, but I was finishing the book.
Larry McMurtry can really write. A splendid book. Also a great mini-series, in which Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones inhabit the roles of former Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call.
When I think about what is the best novel I've ever read, this is probably it. Joseph Heller never did anything like this again. Fabulous satire. Inspired. Hilarious. Tragic.
When I think about the most dazzling book I've ever read it would definitely be this. It's a puzzle book with a huge payoff. David Mitchell's other stuff is also very good. Lots of prizes and nominations. Another puzzle book worth reading is Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost.
Umberto Eco drops bizarre murders into the middle of the Spanish Inquisition. This is the only one of Eco's otherwise impenetrable books that I've been able to read, but it's very good.
I'm not a fan of Mark Helprin's politics, but he's an incandescently good writer, and his stories make me laugh and cry. The first of his I read was Memoir From Antproof Case, which is also excellent.
Richard Russo has written a lot of great books, some of which are probably better than this one, but this is the first Russo book I read, and it's very funny while being insightful and deeply human.
I wouldn't necessarily place this in the same category as the others, but I enjoyed the book, and it's now being released as a movie with John C, Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
There are lots of books that have affected me (Hardy Boys?), but these are some that jump immediately to mind. What are your favorites?
P.S. Also maybe check out English Passengers, Veronica, and Cryptonomicon.
[Edited: Added link.]
Tolkien
Huge, and also an excuse for this:
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Stephen King is a prolific author, but I don't think anything has matched his earliest books. When I read The Stand in high school, I kept friends waiting for half an hour so I could finish the book before going out. They could stay or go, but I was finishing the book.
Larry McMurtry can really write. A splendid book. Also a great mini-series, in which Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones inhabit the roles of former Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call.
When I think about what is the best novel I've ever read, this is probably it. Joseph Heller never did anything like this again. Fabulous satire. Inspired. Hilarious. Tragic.
When I think about the most dazzling book I've ever read it would definitely be this. It's a puzzle book with a huge payoff. David Mitchell's other stuff is also very good. Lots of prizes and nominations. Another puzzle book worth reading is Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost.
Umberto Eco drops bizarre murders into the middle of the Spanish Inquisition. This is the only one of Eco's otherwise impenetrable books that I've been able to read, but it's very good.
I'm not a fan of Mark Helprin's politics, but he's an incandescently good writer, and his stories make me laugh and cry. The first of his I read was Memoir From Antproof Case, which is also excellent.
Richard Russo has written a lot of great books, some of which are probably better than this one, but this is the first Russo book I read, and it's very funny while being insightful and deeply human.
I wouldn't necessarily place this in the same category as the others, but I enjoyed the book, and it's now being released as a movie with John C, Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
There are lots of books that have affected me (Hardy Boys?), but these are some that jump immediately to mind. What are your favorites?
P.S. Also maybe check out English Passengers, Veronica, and Cryptonomicon.
[Edited: Added link.]
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