Doing a little catch-up after not being around yesterday or today. OH and I have three from the last two days:
The Master and Margarita - #21 on OH's list, but 80s has already done a great write-up of it.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - #59 on my list, but two others have it substantially higher than I do, so I'll defer to them.
That leaves me with The Quiet American by Graham Greene, where I was the high ranker at #16. I hope that others will talk about this book as well, because my reason for loving it is particularly personal to me and not based entirely on the quality of the novel itself. As I mentioned when writing about The Things They Carried, my college focus was on the history and politics of 20th century United States, and I spent a lot of time studying and being fascinated by the Vietnam War, and consequently Vietnam itself. In the years after that, my interest in Vietnam only increased, and I soaked up as much of their culture that I could.
This all culminated in Vietnam becoming the first country outside of North America and Europe that I ever visited (and led to additional visits as well). When we first visited Saigon, we stayed at a hotel in the same block as the Continental Hotel, which features heavily in this book. Of course, we went and had drinks there, as well as on the rooftop of the Hotel Majestic, which is also in the book. And what I found was that Greene absolutely nailed the "feel" of Vietnam, even now. It's very difficult to describe, because it's obviously a very different place now, but the way the people are, the beauty of the place, just the sense you have while being there. It's like the country has progressed in so many ways but retained the essential, amazing spirit it always had. Greene gave us a perfectly realized setting, and since I love Vietnam so much, I love the book.
As for more "standard" praise, Greene is a technically excellent writer, and the book was not just a cautionary tale about "taking sides" and shifting morality, but turned out to be quite prophetic. Sadly. Also it has a perfect ending.
KP alert: It's only 180 pages. And IIRC, the movie with Michael Caine was quite a good adaptation. I didn't see the first movie adaptation.
OH adds: I think it might be his least Catholic novel. Nobody seemed wracked with guilt. Especially the main British guy, who I assume to be a stand-in for Greene. I like his noir-ish thrillers more than his "tortured dudes" novels.
