The FBG Top 300 Books of All Time (fiction edition) | #2 The Stand by Stephen King | #1 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien ... it's a wrap (3 Viewers)

[kupcho1]

Did you know that the real St. Ignatius sent a few (or major one) famous extant letters to an entity named Smyrna? The Church of Smyrna in Asia.

I did not know that. What's the major letter about?

FYI, Smyrna is a city in Turkey. I know this for reasons.

Smyrna

Smyrna is a territory ruled by turkey at the start of the game. It has a supply center and is a coastal province. At the beginning of the game it is occupied by an army. It is sometimes abbreviated as Smy. Ankara Constantinople Armenia Syria Eastern Mediterranean Aegean sea

diplomacy.fandom.com

 

[kupcho1]

meandering through reality and what may have been fiction and was a bit confusing in some bits, with way, way too many characters for me to keep up with

Shorten this up a bit, and you've got Pynchon's epitaph.

 

[kupcho1]

I did pickup a copy of the Pale King, but not sure if I'm going to start that one before Infinite Jest or not.

Please don't.

Read IJ first. Pale King was published posthumously from DFW's work-in-progress. We have know idea if the bits and pieces were put together in a manner he may have wanted. It probably wasn't. It's worth reading for completists, but it does not hold a candle to IJ. The major theme of the work is boredom.

 

[rockaction]

Did you know that the real St. Ignatius sent a few (or major one) famous extant letters to an entity named Smyrna? The Church of Smyrna in Asia.

I did not know that. What's the major letter about?

FYI, Smyrna is a city in Turkey. I know this for reasons.

Smyrna

Smyrna is a territory ruled by turkey at the start of the game. It has a supply center and is a coastal province. At the beginning of the game it is occupied by an army. It is sometimes abbreviated as Smy. Ankara Constantinople Armenia Syria Eastern Mediterranean Aegean sea

diplomacy.fandom.com

It’s about the virtue of orthodoxy, respect for hierarchical structures in the Church, the need for unity and harmony among fellow Catholics, and the meaning and desirability of martyrdom.

eta* oh yeah, and the argument against docetist heresy that Christ wasn’t part of humanity.

 

[rockaction]

Did you know that the real St. Ignatius sent a few (or major one) famous extant letters to an entity named Smyrna? The Church of Smyrna in Asia.

I did not know that. What's the major letter about?

FYI, Smyrna is a city in Turkey. I know this for reasons.

Smyrna

Smyrna is a territory ruled by turkey at the start of the game. It has a supply center and is a coastal province. At the beginning of the game it is occupied by an army. It is sometimes abbreviated as Smy. Ankara Constantinople Armenia Syria Eastern Mediterranean Aegean sea

diplomacy.fandom.com

That board game sat unused in our household for years. lol.

 

[rockaction]

I did pickup a copy of the Pale King, but not sure if I'm going to start that one before Infinite Jest or not.

Please don't.

Read IJ first. Pale King was published posthumously from DFW's work-in-progress. We have know idea if the bits and pieces were put together in a manner he may have wanted. It probably wasn't. It's worth reading for completists, but it does not hold a candle to IJ. The major theme of the work is boredom.

Seconded massively.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

I finished reading A Confederacy of Dunces last week. I bought it in paperback and actually almost got cold feet when the Amazon algorithm recommended I also buy Catch 22. As I mentioned when it came up in the list Catch 22 just didn't really land with me for whatever reason.

I ended up really enjoying the book, though, and actually ripped through it pretty quickly, reading it on my back porch after work. I'm surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, because I can find novels with unlikeable characters off-putting, and Jones (Woah!) and to a lesser extent Darlene are really the only likeable characters to my eye. But it keeps your interest and it all comes together in a satisfying fashion in the end. And somehow Ignatius is still an engaging character despite being such an incompetent and obnoxious blowhard (although his long letters to Myrna can be a bit much at times).

I aim to tackle another high ranking book from the list soon, but haven't yet decided on which one.

I, too, just finished Confederacy of Dunces last week for the first time, and I pretty much in complete agreement here with all you typed!
I wasn't sure if it would be a slog or not, but it was a fast read, very good, humorous, irreverent and I'm disappointed it took me so long to read it. And I also loved Jones. There was one really long letter to Myrna that was a bit of a bore, but other than that, everything else was great.

I also read Crying of Lot 49 a month or so ago, and my memory is poor, but I'm pretty sure OH had a nice writeup about that one, which led me to pick it up. I enjoyed it as well, although not as much as Dunces. Lot 49 was like a long strange trip, meandering through reality and what may have been fiction and was a bit confusing in some bits, with way, way too many characters for me to keep up with, but overall enjoyed it.

I've been trying to get a copy of Infinite Jest as I think that may be the last book from this thread I feel the need to read asap. I did pickup a copy of the Pale King, but not sure if I'm going to start that one before Infinite Jest or not.

In the interim I've been putting down books left and right. Currently in the middle of Bobiverse as well as the Dungeon Crawler series, so it may be a month or so until I revisit.

Bobiverse! I might have to breakdown and buy a copy of volume 2, no luck at used book stores or the library.

Other fantasy or science fiction on the list to read:
The first 15 lives of Harry august Claire northe

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

Red rabbit Alex Grecian

But I’m still reading Infinite Jest

 

[kupcho1]

But I’m still reading Infinite Jest

We're going to do a reading group 1/1/2026. Think of this as a head start.

 

[kupcho1]

That board game sat unused in our household for years. lol.

We played at school and for a little while after graduation (although it was a lot more difficult getting people together). I played a little by email at the dawn of the internet. My greatest accomplishment was winning as Italy (IYKYK). I briefly considered putting it on my resume.

 

[rockaction]

That board game sat unused in our household for years. lol.

We played at school and for a little while after graduation (although it was a lot more difficult getting people together). I played a little by email at the dawn of the internet. My greatest accomplishment was winning as Italy (IYKYK). I briefly considered putting it on my resume.

I wish I knew what the accomplishment required. Heh. As it was, it just sat unused. My brother was four years older than me and uninterested and my folks like other things than political intrigue and foreign policy workings. Tough sell for a thirteen year-old.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

There was one really long letter to Myrna that was a bit of a bore, but other than that, everything else was great.

Yeah, to be fair it's probably that one in particular that lead to my comment. I remember thinking "how long is this thing going to drone on?", but that's really a minor complaint on my part. I was certainly cracking up at the "Mongoloid, Esq" letter that was posted earlier in the thread.

On the Diplomacy tangent, as a board game afficionado I've toyed with trying it for years but the rules are a bit intimidating. Oh and the whole reputation as being the game most likely to destroy friendships lol.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

But I’m still reading Infinite Jest

We're going to do a reading group 1/1/2026. Think of this as a head start.

Thanks I lost track of the status of that. I plan to lurk and ask questions.

 

[BassNBrew]

I read The Grapes of Wrath in high school and upon reflection I should have included it in my list. Such a great story. It works because the characters are so believable.

Long time ago (high school). I remember enjoying the book but thought it rambled on too much for me. Probably because I had things in the wings that were more fun than reading 500+ pages.

 

[kupcho1]

I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller (from TheBaylorKid's list). What a fascinating book. I won't go into detail as I would not want to spoil it for anyone. There were elements of Anathem with a dash of Foundation. There's even an Enoch Root like character (again, echoing Stephenson if that's even possible as the book was written before Stepheson was born. So that's where he got the idea!)

Apparently there is a sequel finished by another author a few months after his death. It is supposedly mostly Miller's work. I've put it on my "to be read" list, but I'm not sure it'll live up to the original.

Next up: #6 from @Mrs.Marco A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

 

[whoknew]

Catch 22 was always found to be my number 1. It’s the book that got me back into reading as an adult. Insanely funny and quotable and silly and yet deadly serious. I have so much love for this book. I was never able to get into any of Heller’s other works but Catch 22 is perfect.

Interesting that you didn't like his other works. I actually rated "Something Happened" slightly higher than Catch-22 and find it even funnier. I guess OH and I were the only ones who ranked it, though, and it just missed the Top 300.

Unfortunately, I couldn't weigh in on this Top 300 but totally appreciate y'all's lists.

I just want to weigh in on Something Happened.

It's probably my favorite novel of all time. And ... I think it may be one that I hated the most for the first 85-90%. It like 500 pages. And the vast majority of it is ... a soul crushing slog. It's meandering and desperate and depressing. I kind of hated forcing may way through it.

And then the last 10% is ... amazing. And made it clear why you have to go through the first 90%.

Anyway, I realize I may like it more than most. But I love this book - as much as I hated reading it.

 

[Ilov80s]

Catch 22 was always found to be my number 1. It’s the book that got me back into reading as an adult. Insanely funny and quotable and silly and yet deadly serious. I have so much love for this book. I was never able to get into any of Heller’s other works but Catch 22 is perfect.

Interesting that you didn't like his other works. I actually rated "Something Happened" slightly higher than Catch-22 and find it even funnier. I guess OH and I were the only ones who ranked it, though, and it just missed the Top 300.

Unfortunately, I couldn't weigh in on this Top 300 but totally appreciate y'all's lists.

I just want to weigh in on Something Happened.

It's probably my favorite novel of all time. And ... I think it may be one that I hated the most for the first 85-90%. It like 500 pages. And the vast majority of it is ... a soul crushing slog. It's meandering and desperate and depressing. I kind of hated forcing may way through it.

And then the last 10% is ... amazing. And made it clear why you have to go through the first 90%.

Anyway, I realize I may like it more than most. But I love this book - as much as I hated reading it.

Thanks and maybe I will give it another shot. I got about 100 pages in and quit.

 

[Don Quixote]

I’m about one-third of the way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, which was a #1 by @krista4 . This is great. I had a feeling that I’d like it based on Krista’s write-up (and her reading tastes, of course). The mix of dream-like stuff with reality, along with quirky side characters, makes it read like something David Lynch would write.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

But I’m still reading Infinite Jest

We're going to do a reading group 1/1/2026. Think of this as a head start.

I just finished reading Infinite Jest. I don’t want to spoil anything. Parts were grotesque. Gately’s story was the most interesting. I did not like the ending. I’m left with a feeling of I am sure I missed something because there are some many loose ends.

 

[rockaction]

But I’m still reading Infinite Jest

We're going to do a reading group 1/1/2026. Think of this as a head start.

I just finished reading Infinite Jest. I don’t want to spoil anything. Parts were grotesque. Gately’s story was the most interesting. I did not like the ending. I’m left with a feeling of I am sure I missed something because there are some many loose ends.

A lot of people don't like the ending. I thought it was fine. It seemed very wistful, which was the mood that I thought the book was written in. Sort of sad and contemplative even though the book could be frenetic and rollickingly funny at times.

I have to confess that I never cared about the plot or exactly what happened to the characters. It struck me as beside the point, but I also read the book right after a particularly difficult time in my life, so I think that hugely influenced both how I remember the book and the way I wound up engaging with it. It was very much a respite or lifeline for me. When you're in a state of agitation or duress and you get to spend three contemplative weeks thinking about and addressing some of the exact things you're going through and have thought and lived, the book takes on a relevant life of its own.

People tend to have serious reactions to the book and the people who love it tend to be fervid (to a degree) and they experience it in a critical way. I always have to temper my gushing over the book and remind myself that even the people that love it don't bring the experiences that I had to reading it so they process it differently than me.

That's neither here nor there; I'm just saying that I experienced it viscerally and personally, so I have to remind myself that what mattered to me about it might not suffice for other readers. I might forgive its flaws to a much greater degree and the reason I care or don't care about them may be totally different from somebody else.

 

[kupcho1]

Next up: #6 from @Mrs.Marco A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

First, let me say this was a very well written book with great characters and a compelling story.

But man, was it bleak.

I think I prefer my stories of India with magical realism. I did learn a lot about the Emergency in the mid 70s, and the horrors of the caste system in rural areas. It took me a while to finish this book as I had to keep putting it down to go to a pet store and see the puppies and kittens. So, so bleak.

Anyway, next 3 up are Circe by Madeline Miller (Don Quixote's #8), Amityville Horror by Jay Anson (Frostillicus' #14) and Hyperion by Dan Simmons (Barry2's #2). They're all ready and waiting for me to pick up tomorrow. I'm going to start with whichever one seems the most fun. At first glance, that's probably Hyperion.

 

[kupcho1]

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

This is a bit of a mind bender. It deals with time, space, reality. Hundreds of planets are connected by portals for easy travel, governed by the Hegemony. This Galaxy also has Outback planets that aren't connected and can only be visited by spacecraft. Hyperion is an Outback planet. On Hyperion there are Time tombs, structures that are believed to have been built in the future and are guarded by a creature called the Shrike. The time tombs appear to be opening, as this is happening a fleet of Ousters is headed there. Ousters are modified humans that live in space stations and are in conflict with the Hegemony. Seven pilgrims are sent by the Hegemony to investigate the tombs and the Shrike. They also need to figure out what the Ousters are up to. The seven consists of a Hegemony member, private detective, poet, military officer, priest, professor with his infant daughter, and a Templar. It's believed that one of them is a spy. Each tell their story to try and understand why they were chosen and to root out the spy. I needed to pause between the stories to grasp the brilliant craziness and to recover a little bit from some serious emotion. I ranked this 2 maybe should've been 1.

I enjoyed Hyperion (as noted above, Barry2's #2), particularly how Simmons set it up in a Canterbury Tales manner (i.e., each of the pilgrims tells a story) down to the chapter headings (e.g., "The Priest's Tale"). There are also nested stories within these stories in some cases. All-in-all not a format you typically see with Sci Fi. I liked that aspect.

The creativity, in addition to being confusing, is sometimes a little clunky (space squid as a dinner course? really?) but that's a minor complaint.

My big complaint is the ending. There isn't one. It just sort of stops. I understand that there are 3 more books in the series and I have added them to my "to be read" list.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

I don't know where to start with Breakfast of Champions, but I'd gladly have krista and OH over for dinner so she could ask him about it while he cooks (assuming he's read it). Rock, shuke, 80s and me. I like the company and vote for rock to do the write-up.

He may have been booted for his Trump thread or maybe it's a self imposed hiatus - I haven't seen him around since.

Sorry I missed that. My approach to politics is not to approach them. Not just here but pretty much everywhere.

Aight. Breakfast of Champions. With simplified prose Vonnegutt pulls a little bit of a Hemingway but as only he could with a twisty turny satire where he imposes himself as the narrator to explore the writing process. Believe that's called meta-fiction. He also explores American culture's obsession with wealth and consumerism that portrays the mental health of society through one tragic character. It's not just more timely now than then, but maybe more prophetic than Orwell. And it's Kurt. So it's funny and there's sci-fi. My 2nd favorite of 4 Vonnegutt's on my list.

Yep it’s Vonnegut so it’s funny and weird. It’s about consumerism, the faults with modernism, racism, etc. I love this book though KV gave a report card on all his works and this got a C which is just another funny thing I love about the guy.

Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne.

This book rules. This is easily my number 1 book to drink to and the only reason that I haven’t finished it yet is that I save it for when I go out to chill and drink and read. The inversion of the world building where he is kind of pretending like the United States doesn’t exist and is breaking it down by building the world up through deconstructing the USA is :chefskiss:

 

[kupcho1]

Circe by Madeline Miller (2018) (my #8)

I apparently enjoy books that take classic literature and do a re-imagining to them, as I have a number of books like that on my list. Circe is the witch from The Odyssey, known for turning men into pigs. This book is told from Circe’s perspective and gives her some backstory, describing her complex relationships with both other gods and mortals. It makes her out to be more of a good witch, trying to purse her own path in the world, but also not afraid to use her powers when in her interest, such as when needed to act in self-defense and self-preservation.

I see The Iliad showed up on the list this morning — Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is a similar re-imagining for The Iliad.

Excellent pick. I just finished this, and as a mythology nerd when I was much younger, really enjoyed the way Miller fleshed out the story of Circe.

Next up: the #14 book from Frostillicus, The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson.

 

[kupcho1]

So now that summer is over, my reading pace is picking back up. This is another way of saying I've finished The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson in a little over a day. I've brought my pace up to 5.0 days per book. Not quite the sub 4.0 I was hitting in the early part of the year, but still ...

Anyway, The Amityville Horror was just OK. The front cover had a blurb that read "This book will scare the hell out of you." It did not, probably because I found the premise (i.e., ghosts, demons, a haunted house) to be nonsense.

BTW, the book purports to be a true story, but I'm perfectly fine with it being included in the fiction countdown. There have been a host of reports and investigations disputing the book, but for me, the very premise of the book makes it fiction.

In any event, I'll be continuing the one book from each participant run I'm on.

Water for Elephants (@Dr_Zaius #5) is ready for pick up, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to get it in the hopes that the other two I put on hold show up as well.

 

[kupcho1]

but he snuck Willa Cather in at #3 instead. I'm sure he'll want to talk about this one.

If he did, I missed it. I just finished My Ántonia (@Oliver Humanzee #3) this morning and it is every bit deserving of the praise it has received over the years.

Cather does an amazing job describing life in the great plains states in the late 19th century. I liked her conceit of forming the novel "as told by" an old aquaintance she runs into on a train ride, who has already put "his" thoughts down on Ántonia which then forms the basis of the story. I don't think it's spoiling things to note that the aquaintance (Jim Burden) is a stand-in for Cather.

I'd already read Cather in my Pulitzer run (One of Ours the 1923 winner) which was also set in Nebraska, and I think I need to read more of her work. For an author from the early 1900s, the language is timeless.

Great book!

 

[kupcho1]

I just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, the #5 book from @Dr_Zaius
It was a very enjoyable read. The setting - the Circus in 1931 - was fascinating and the characters were compelling. I particularly enjoyed how she framed the story, starting the book with a prologue and coming back to it at the end of the book.

Next up: Maus by Art Spiegelman the #3 from @Keith R

 

[krista4]

I never thought I'd be a person constantly eating "greens" - kale, collards, chard, whatever - but damn, I love them. It helps to have a fantastic cook around. I found out one of the secrets last time he made collards - using at least two different kinds of vinegar. Anyway, I'm watching kale being prepared. So are the cats, two of whom have stolen the stems and run off with them.

This book was #3 on OH's list, but...

My Antonia by Willa Cather

"I nearly ranked this #1. It’s probably the most pleasurable and satisfying novel on my list, and I’ve read it more times than most other novels. While I generally don’t rate “readability” as the greatest quality of an author, Willa Cather’s prose is...well, she performs something like a magic trick, where I’m instantly unaware of words on a page, but instead there’s a story unfolding in my mind as if I were watching a movie. Despite the fact that there are a lot internal monologues with a lot of characters' thoughts being narrated, I must have read it 10 times or more and couldn’t tell you one good line. I don’t know how she does it, how it works. It’s transparent; it simply disappears. There’s nothing, no artifice, between the reader and the story. Hemingway is given a lot of credit for that Midwestern minimalist style, but as a stylist I don’t think he’s fit to buckle Willa Cather’s boots. Her writing is so generous and so absent of ego. There’s not a single thing that you credit as "oh, how smart, how wise"...it’s all a thing that she’s given us. It’s that same generosity of spirit and no nonsense, workmanlike, let’s get down to it that’s what the novel is about as well. How these immigrants survived on the prairie, far from the city, relying only on themselves. It’s literally how America was made and by whom. ****, this should have been #1."

Bump for @kupcho1

 

[kupcho1]

I just finished Maus by Art Spiegelman. What a creative way of dramatizing the Holocaust. I knew that was the baseline story going in, but I also appreciated how he wove in the (then) current day relationship with his father and his struggle in writing the book.

The next 3 are waiting for me at the library. But, I have to interrupt this exercise to read Clown Town (Slow Horses series) by Mick Herron first. And if Shadow Ticket by Pynchon arrives soon, I may delay further.

 

[rockaction]

I enjoy checking into this thread. Thanks for the updates, kupcho1. This was a cool moment in time.

 

[Ilov80s]

I enjoy checking into this thread. Thanks for the updates, kupcho1. This was a cool moment in time.

I agree, I always like coming back and see what he has read and what he thought of it

 

[kupcho1]

It took me a while, but I'm finally done with Les Miserables. It's a good book. There's a great book buried inside of it, but the digressions take it down for me. Long essays on Waterloo and convents kill any narrative momentum and, quite frankly, bored me to tears.

Highlights: great characters led by Jean Valjean, Javert and some very unique (to me anyway) villains, the Thenardiers.

Took forever, but I'm glad I read it.

 

[Psychopav]

It took me a while, but I'm finally done with Les Miserables. It's a good book. There's a great book buried inside of it, but the digressions take it down for me. Long essays on Waterloo and convents kill any narrative momentum and, quite frankly, bored me to tears.

Highlights: great characters led by Jean Valjean, Javert and some very unique (to me anyway) villains, the Thenardiers.

Took forever, but I'm glad I read it.

I agree, not only are there too many digressions and they are too long, but they are relevant to the time period only. I read an abridged version once but it left out too much.

 

[kupcho1]

It took me a while, but I'm finally done with Les Miserables. It's a good book. There's a great book buried inside of it, but the digressions take it down for me. Long essays on Waterloo and convents kill any narrative momentum and, quite frankly, bored me to tears.

Highlights: great characters led by Jean Valjean, Javert and some very unique (to me anyway) villains, the Thenardiers.

Took forever, but I'm glad I read it.

I agree, not only are there too many digressions and they are too long, but they are relevant to the time period only. I read an abridged version once but it left out too much.

Harsh words for your #2 overall.

BTW, now on to the #7 from @krista4 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. I got a little whiplash moving to this from Les Miserables.

 

[Don Quixote]

I liked the digressions in Les Miserables and were some of my favorite parts of it. I know people tend to make fun of the sewer discussion, but I honestly thought that part was fascinating.

 

[Psychopav]

It took me a while, but I'm finally done with Les Miserables. It's a good book. There's a great book buried inside of it, but the digressions take it down for me. Long essays on Waterloo and convents kill any narrative momentum and, quite frankly, bored me to tears.

Highlights: great characters led by Jean Valjean, Javert and some very unique (to me anyway) villains, the Thenardiers.

Took forever, but I'm glad I read it.

I agree, not only are there too many digressions and they are too long, but they are relevant to the time period only. I read an abridged version once but it left out too much.

Harsh words for your #2 overall.

BTW, now on to the #7 from @krista4 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. I got a little whiplash moving to this from Les Miserables.

The book more than redeems itself for Hugo's indulgent digressions imo. I also gave it bonus points for the joy that the musical has brought into my life.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

I have a paper copy of Les Miserables on my shelf somewhere. I think my daughter bought it for me because I liked the musical so much. I got a few dozen pages in but opted for something a little more approachable and then forgot about it. Maybe I need to pick it up again.

 

[TheBaylorKid]

It took me a while, but I'm finally done with Les Miserables. It's a good book. There's a great book buried inside of it, but the digressions take it down for me. Long essays on Waterloo and convents kill any narrative momentum and, quite frankly, bored me to tears.

Highlights: great characters led by Jean Valjean, Javert and some very unique (to me anyway) villains, the Thenardiers.

Took forever, but I'm glad I read it.

Infinite Jest says “Hi!”

 

[kupcho1]

So I'm doing a little research after finishing Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin (@krista4 #7) and see that it is described as semi-autobiographical. I think it's more than "semi" as both the protagonist (John Grimes) and the author are both born of unwed mothers who are later adopted by much older (than the respective mothers) preachers. The description of Baldwin's stepfather and the character in the book are just about identical.

Write what you know, I guess.

I liked the structure of the book. The first part is entirely from John's perspective (the section is strangely entitled "The Seventh Day" although the book takes place over 24 hours). It then moves on to "The Prayers of the Saints" consisting of "prayers" by John's step-aunt, stepfather and mother. (FYI, Baldwin refers to the members of what is apparently a church of the Pentecostal variety as "saints"). These sections give great insight through flashbacks into the characters and explain both the motivations and worldview of John's relatives.

Unfortunately, Baldwin loses me in the last section "The Threshing-Floor." It's a long confusing ramble on John's religious visions. The Threshing-Floor is where members (potential members) go to roll around on the floor, speak in tongues, cry, pray and eventually stand up having found God.


Next up: @Eephus #9: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

[kupcho1]

Finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the only Fitzgerald I'd read previously was The Great Gatsby. I should read more of his work. The characters were well written (and I've not read this, nor do I have any proof, but I think Matthew Weiner drew inspiration from **** Diver for Don Draper) and the language was phenomenal. I bookmarked one early section in particular:

Intermittently she caught the gist of his sentences and supplied the rest from her subconscious, as one picks up the striking of a clock in the middle with only the rhythm of the first uncounted strokes lingering in the mind.

Beautiful!

 

[Ilov80s]

Finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the only Fitzgerald I'd read previously was The Great Gatsby. I should read more of his work. The characters were well written (and I've not read this, nor do I have any proof, but I think Matthew Weiner drew inspiration from **** Diver for Don Draper) and the language was phenomenal. I bookmarked one early section in particular:

Intermittently she caught the gist of his sentences and supplied the rest from her subconscious, as one picks up the striking of a clock in the middle with only the rhythm of the first uncounted strokes lingering in the mind.

Beautiful!

He was such a good writer, there are so many lines in that book that just strike you. I need to read The Beautiful and the Damned still. His debut novel which was a huge surprise success and shot him into fame, This Side of Paradise, is very very good. A sort of autobiographical look at his life thus far, mostly his time at Princeton which gained him the immediate National reputation as the chronicler of Jazz Age youth.

 

[Eephus]

The Kindle edition of The Stand is $1.99 today only. That works out to 0.16 cents per page.

Amazon.com

 

[Don Quixote]

Finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the only Fitzgerald I'd read previously was The Great Gatsby. I should read more of his work. The characters were well written (and I've not read this, nor do I have any proof, but I think Matthew Weiner drew inspiration from **** Diver for Don Draper) and the language was phenomenal. I bookmarked one early section in particular:

Intermittently she caught the gist of his sentences and supplied the rest from her subconscious, as one picks up the striking of a clock in the middle with only the rhythm of the first uncounted strokes lingering in the mind.

Beautiful!

He was such a good writer, there are so many lines in that book that just strike you. I need to read The Beautiful and the Damned still. His debut novel which was a huge surprise success and shot him into fame, This Side of Paradise, is very very good. A sort of autobiographical look at his life thus far, mostly his time at Princeton which gained him the immediate National reputation as the chronicler of Jazz Age youth.

Agree with this. Enjoyed Tender is the Night, but I ranked This Side of Paradise over it.