brb
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:26 (fifteen years ago) link
there was another genet i never finished that i thought would be my all time favorite and i can't remember which one it was :-/
― harbl, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:26 (fifteen years ago) link
oh! the miracle of the rose
i don't read women much. i really enjoyed most of the "Portable" Dorothy Parker though.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:27 (fifteen years ago) link
i have kind of the same problem, i mostly read books by dudes. i need to work on that. i remember really liking "a tree grows in brooklyn" when i was like 14 or 15 though. that might be an all-time favorite.
― harbl, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:28 (fifteen years ago) link
The WavesThe Man Who Loved ChildrenThe Ghost WriterThe Folded LeafLincoln
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:29 (fifteen years ago) link
back and nope - I got nothing on the female tip - sad
I do however have a #10!
1. Pale Fire - Nabokov2. Jude the Obscure - Hardy3. White Noise - DeLillo4. Heart of Darkness - Conrad5. Our Lady of the Flowers - Genet6. The Trial - Kafka7. Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon8. Mayor of Casterbridge - Hardy9. The Maltese Falcon - Hammett10. As I Lay Dying - Faulkner
Now that my list is finalized I'm probably going to get a tattoo of all these stacked on top of one another somewhere on my person.
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Wise BloodThe Optimist's DaughterPersuasion
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is great. I do like some stuff by women writers but just not enough for it to make the top 10.
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:30 (fifteen years ago) link
What's wrong with you people?! What about George Eliot? If Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda were the only two novels in existence, literature would still thrive.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:30 (fifteen years ago) link
ha "women writers"
oh yeah i don't think it's top 5. i have a hard time ranking things though.
― harbl, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Me too! I've actually been thinking about this for days.
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:31 (fifteen years ago) link
george eliot is a girl?!?!?!?
lol jk
as I lay dying and wise blood are both awesome.
harry crews "car"
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Alfred I know this is a challop but my entire senior seminar was on George Elliot and I was not the biggest of fans. I would like to re-read now though because I expect that my opinion of her may well have changed.
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Lucky JimAtonementAusterlitz
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:33 (fifteen years ago) link
Cool! I'd love to read it. I reread Middlemarch a few years ago and was sooooo impressed by the...architecture of the thing: these discordant elements in perfect harmony, along with its considerable visceral pluses (her delight in character, the depiction of small town England, etc).
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:34 (fifteen years ago) link
My bookshelf is several thousand miles away but off the top of my head I am sure Daniel Deronda would make the list. Also, Great Expectations; maybe Murphy.
I've always wanted to read Far From the Madding Crowd because the title is so great; have only read Jude the Obscure, which I wasn't too high on.
― The 400 LOLs (dyao), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:37 (fifteen years ago) link
i think blood meridian might have to be on there, despite the slog that is its first hundred pages.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:37 (fifteen years ago) link
i will try to report back with a full ten after a few beers.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:38 (fifteen years ago) link
the ones that occur to me off the top of my head (and after scanning the thread):
the brothers karamazov -- dostoyevskythe plague -- camussong of solomon -- morrisonwuthering heights -- brontebrideshead revisited -- waughheart of darkness -- conradpride and prejudice -- austenthe dead father -- barthelmeif on a winter's night a traveler -- calvinowaiting for the barbarians -- coetzee100 years of solitude -- ggm
(mostly conventional stuff, i know. karamazov and the plague stand above the rest for me, as books that i think really directly influenced my moral view of the world.)
xpost: oh yeah, blood meridian too, for sure. i don't remember any slog. i was pretty taken in by about page 20.
― us_odd_bunny_lady (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:39 (fifteen years ago) link
if on a winter's night a traveler -- calvino
Is def up there for me.
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:40 (fifteen years ago) link
i need to re-read Blood Meridian, but my copy got destroyed when I lent it to a friend and he took it to the beach :(
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:40 (fifteen years ago) link
i really don't go for much literature pre-20th century, and i don't quite know why that is.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Not sure I would say these are my five favorites ever, but this is what popped in my head:
Invisible Cities - CalvinoGravity's Rainbow - PynchonAs I Lay Dying - FaulknerIn The Castle Of My Skin - George LammingThe Lost Scrapbook - Evan Dara
― EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Steinbeck - Sweet ThursdayJoyce - UlyssesKluge - Biggest ElvisVidal - LincolnStephenson - Snowcrash
― Jaq, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh god I forgot about how great Invisible Cities is. #11
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Yay, Jaq! I always recommend Lincoln and Burr to people who think of Gore Vidal just as a wit and essayist.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:45 (fifteen years ago) link
oh hell, lolita should definitely be on mine too. pale fire would go on the runner-up list.
― us_odd_bunny_lady (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:46 (fifteen years ago) link
invisible cities is probably third fave calvino, with winter's night after that. second is the wildly underrated "Marcovaldo."
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:47 (fifteen years ago) link
Speaking of Vidal, his Calvino essay is marvelous.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:48 (fifteen years ago) link
I probably should have put Absalom, Absalom! on my original list too. Man, this is tough.
Other thread could be favorite quotes from novels but again . . . tough!
― ☺☻☺☻come on ppl now smile on u brother☺☻☺☻ (ENBB), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:52 (fifteen years ago) link
i wanna read a book now
― harbl, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:53 (fifteen years ago) link
harbl war and peace is a traet!
― horseshoe, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:54 (fifteen years ago) link
harbl, read the white people by arthur machen.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:54 (fifteen years ago) link
harbl read this, harbl read that, harbl do my book report for me.
As I Lay DyingInfinite JestJR Absalom, AbsalomDrop City
this is tough. . .
I would say Moby Dick, too, but I just reread it, and parts of it were as amazing as I remembered, but I dunno. . .
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:54 (fifteen years ago) link
Vidal is such a master of dialogue, also perfect pitch for cattiness.
If I were going for 10: Lolita, definitely, and also Moby Dick. Possibly Bleak House too. Possibly Auster's New York Trilogy but maybe not.
― Jaq, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:55 (fifteen years ago) link
ok "the white people" sounds right up my alley
― harbl, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:56 (fifteen years ago) link
i wanna read JR. even though i know on other threads i've poured the haterade on gaddis. xp to que
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:56 (fifteen years ago) link
haha actually the white people sounds like something i would not like at all but i am willing to try. i thought white people meant like...white people.
― harbl, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:58 (fifteen years ago) link
ahhaha.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:59 (fifteen years ago) link
i am going to go drink now.
Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy. (Trilogies = maximizing the "desert island" list, though Powell's Dance to the Music of Time would really spike it.) Oh wait! Graves' I, Claudius and Claudius the God
― Jaq, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 02:00 (fifteen years ago) link
I spent most of summer '07 reading Dance to the Music of Time -- entertaining, but a disappointment, esp. the volumes dealing with the war.
― My name is Kenny! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 02:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Proust is lovely so far but I just started the third book
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 02:04 (fifteen years ago) link
1. B.S. Johnson - The Unfortunates2. James Joyce - Finnegans Wake3. B.S. Johnson - House Mother Normal4. Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea5. Georges Perec - A Void6. B.S. Johnson - Albert Angelo7. B.S. Johnson - See the Old Lady Decently8. B.S. Johnson - Christie Malry's Own Double Entry9. B.S. Johnson - Trawl10. James Joyce - Ulysses
I really like B.S. Johnson!
― emil.y, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 02:05 (fifteen years ago) link
JR is an amazing book. Gaddis is emotionally exhausting but totally worth it.
...waiting for the barbarians -- coetzee...
This would be one of mine too, tipsy mothra.
Others on the list would probably be The Recognitions (which I love marginally more than JR), Owls Do Cry, The Man With the Golden Arm, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge...
― franny glass, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 02:06 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh shit, I forgot Travelling People. Swap that with Trawl, maybe.
xpost
― emil.y, Wednesday, 24 June 2009 02:06 (fifteen years ago) link
great weird book w/ that left turn into the desert
― John Wesley Glasscock (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:43 (three years ago) link
Cather rules.
― meticulously crafted, socially responsible, morally upsta (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:43 (three years ago) link
that is my favorite Cather, and yes, she is great. she was sort of terrible? but her writing is beautiful.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:44 (three years ago) link
Hard to resist A Lost Lady too.
― meticulously crafted, socially responsible, morally upsta (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:45 (three years ago) link
*Brammer's* The Gay Place)(three stories, interlocking around a gas giant, unseen, always felt, who has been auto-compared to LBJ but I go w those who say he seems more like Earl Long, the hardest workin' playin' man in tightrope political show biz)
― dow, Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:46 (three years ago) link
Member of the Wedding and The Moviegoer too.
― dow, Thursday, 11 February 2021 18:53 (three years ago) link
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 variationsbruce duffy, the world as i found itmark 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 LighthouseMoby-DickFrankensteinCrime & PunishmentRagtimeBlack 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-TimeThe Wind-Up Bird ChronicleCat'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, MolloyPaul Bowles, The Sheltering SkyWilliam Burroughs, Naked Lunch (or Queer, or Cities of the Red Night)Thomas McGuane, The Bushwhacked PianoHubert 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 ForgettingCat’s EyeLord of the RingsBreaking and Entering (Williams)Northanger AbbeyNine Tailors (Sayers)A Wild Sheep ChaseThe Comedians (Greene)Rubicon BeachThe Last Gentleman
― Cherish, Monday, 15 February 2021 15:21 (three years ago) link