What are your all-time favorite novels??

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xps yes Cather for me is one who has several that could make a list...same for me w/ Bernhard and Nabokov, on a given day any one of four or five novels from either might be a favorite

John Wesley Glasscock (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:55 (three years ago) link

Native Son, Their Eyes Were Watching God both blew me away, in diff directions.

dow, Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:56 (three years ago) link

at a certain point mine would have been

richard powers, the gold bug variations
bruce duffy, the world as i found it
mark helprin, a soldier of the great war

but the latter i read before i knew helprin was a fascist : /

mookieproof, Friday, 12 February 2021 04:27 (three years ago) link

For sure faves:

To The Lighthouse
Moby-Dick
Frankenstein
Crime & Punishment
Ragtime
Black Swan Green

Stuff I would have repped for once upon a time but not sure now/would have to revisit:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Cat's Cradle

american primitive stylophone (zchyrs), Friday, 12 February 2021 13:22 (three years ago) link

Five favourites that haven't been mentioned:

Samuel Beckett, Molloy
Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
William Burroughs, Naked Lunch (or Queer, or Cities of the Red Night)
Thomas McGuane, The Bushwhacked Piano
Hubert Selby, The Room

Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 14 February 2021 01:52 (three years ago) link

I think The Room is the only Selby novel I've never read. I love The Demon.

but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 14 February 2021 02:35 (three years ago) link

The Demon starts off great, at a lower pitch of intensity than most of his work, but when the Pope comes into it it goes overboard for me. Selby doesn't have the wider range, but his focus is very sharp. There's more to him than just Last Exit to Brooklyn.

Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 14 February 2021 16:52 (three years ago) link

I see I already listed mine way upthread. Since then I've only added one for sure, and that's Against the Day.

But, to put another spin on it, here are the 10 books I've probably reread the most:

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Cat’s Eye
Lord of the Rings
Breaking and Entering (Williams)
Northanger Abbey
Nine Tailors (Sayers)
A Wild Sheep Chase
The Comedians (Greene)
Rubicon Beach
The Last Gentleman

Cherish, Monday, 15 February 2021 15:21 (three years ago) link


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