The FBG Top 300 Books of All Time (fiction edition) | We are currently up to #63 | Running list in posts #3 and #4 (5 Viewers)

[Mrs.Marco]

#9 The 42nd Parallel by Dos Passos (The first in the USA Trilogy)
I fell in love with Dos Passos's succinct writing after reading Manhattan Transfer, but it is his USA Trilogy (published in 1930) that impressed me with its scope and ambition. The story covers various aspects of American life through a cast of varied characters who experience the era before, during and after the Great War; 1919 and The Big Money complete the story. I read them as one book one after the other, admiring the authentic characters and modern writing style. I bought vintage copies that have Reginald Marsh spot drawings throughout, so there are fat men swirling brandy on some pages--and they are truly delightful. I ended up making a few of the vintage cocktails mentioned in the story, wanting to live in that world even when I set the books down.

#13 Ragtime by EL Doctorow
Written in 1975 this pacy story set between 1902 and 1915 involves the reader in all the antics of that era--like a plot line involving Houdini. The tight writing and characters who intersect with each other makes this novel a lot of fun to read and proves that historical does not equate to dull. I'd recommend this story to anyone who enjoys The Great Gatsby.

#20 The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
A WWII era novel set in Poland, it is vivid and shocking, a really great novel full of memorable characters and unique scenes. It's also the novel that taught me to pay attention to translators. Grass describes how 50 years after publishing the book, he brought together a bunch of translators from around the world and spent an entire week answering their questions so that true translations could be produced. Apparently, early versions sanitized the story, removing blasphemy and other stuff that freaked people out in the 1950s. I read the Breon Mitchell translation from 1993 and highly recommend it.

 

[turnjose7]

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

This book is part horror, part fantasy. It takes place following a nuclear war. From Amazon:

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth’s last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets . . . Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station . . . And Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan’s gifts. But the ancient force behind earth’s devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.

The parallels to another post-apocalyptic book are undeniable, but this book stands on its own.

I can't necessarily remember why I loved it so much, just that I did.

I like what you did there

 

[turnjose7]

Glad to see that Things Fall Apart did indeed make it.

Age of Apocalypse is my all-time favorite graphic novel and comic storyline. It collects issues from a wide range of X-Men related comics in a massive 90's crossover event. Which means it hit right when I was most into comics, so there is definite nostalgia factor, but it is also simply awesome with an incredible storyline and fantastic art throughout all the issues. The premise is that Charles Xavier died before he could form the X-Men and in their absence Apocalypse takes over North America and is pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war in order to further his goals of survival of the fittest. To oppose him, Magneto forms the X-Men. The climatic showdown is unbelievably awesome.

 

[krista4]

Realizing that it takes OH 50000x longer to type something up than it does for me to type up his musings while he chops onions, I've given him a list of those he's missed so far and will be transcribing his thoughts. First up, The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski:

"I’ve read this in its entirety exactly once, parts of it more than once. It is truly a horror show of atrocities, but rendered in a prose that’s crystalline, exacting, and dispassionate. The most revolting things I’ve ever read, which makes it hard to have a cogent opinion, because thinking about it bothers me still. It’s on the list because I’m so consistently troubled by this book. Whereas, in [book that is #4 on OH's list], the horrors are written in a religious ecstasy, and there’s something exaggerated about the truly terrible nature of it, there is no such passion in this prose. It’s just among the worst things you could conceive of, that have befallen one boy, a Jewish refugee. There was a lot of controversy about this book, whether it was indeed Kosinski or someone else who wrote it, many allegations of plagiarism, including by Paul Auster. Kosinski is most certainly an inveterate liar and exceedingly troubled person. He alluded to the idea that many of the things in that book happened to him, but it’s clearly a work of fiction. All kinds of lying and despair surround the book, including the fact that Kosinski and his wife were supposed to be visiting Roman Polanski the night of the Manson murders, but they got held up and didn't make it."

Me: "Anything else you want to tell people?"

OH: "Don’t feel like you need to read this book."

 

[krista4]

Onions done; he's working on basil and garlic now.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

"I love Raymond Chandler; I think he’s about the finest prose stylist. Along with Dashiell Hammett, he essentially invented the American detective story, which is vastly superior to the British detective story. The British detective story seemed to be about solving a puzzle or a logic problems, like Clue; they’re light entertainment. These noir books tend to be about a search for truth, not just who killed this person or where did the money go, but what is true and what is being lawful and the difference between being lawful and being good. Frequently Marlowe with his unwavering moral compass is being unlawful but good. The world is scary and confusing, and it helps to have someone point out that we have to make many, many compromises, and that a real hero is somebody who can navigate those waters for us, how to swim in a murky and uncertain world but still remain true to ourselves and our friends.

More than any of his others, this book is about being a friend or loyal. It’s not as tightly plotted as the others, so it seems like Chandler is working through his own ****. It has more glaring faults or plot holes, and none of them matter at all. The novel keeps moving while still showing Marlowe being introspective. Seeing him actually express love for his friend is very appealing because it shows that, despite an earned cynicism, he’s still capable of belief or enthusiasm."

 

[krista4]

We're sautéing something.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

"The funniest, strangest, comedic conceit from the best surrealist ever. Gogol is every bit as interesting a surreal writer as Kafka. If this plot summary doesn’t intrigue you, I think you’re dead:

The plot of Dead Souls follows protagonist Chichikov as he carries out a scheme to purchase the rights of deceased serfs, or dead souls, from the Imperial Russian aristocracy. Chichikov hopes to levy the equity of his dead souls to secure a bank loan that will make him rich.

I can’t speak to the quality of the prose since I don’t speak Russian, but there are many good translations available. It’s his magnum opus – brilliant, tragic, farcical, satirical."

 

[krista4]

I saw a ****-ton of salt going into another pan. The first now seems to hold the makings of a sauce.

Silence by Shusaku Endo

"Another book where the reader is forced to endure a lot of atrocities, this time those of feudal Japan visited upon early converts to Christianity. It details the story of a couple of Jesuit brothers who snuck into Japan after the Shogun’s edict that outlawed Christianity (due to what the Portuguese were doing). These two Jesuits are perpetually put in a position where they have to decide what’s more important: their suffering on Earth or their eternal life in heaven. They are constantly deferring to the religious authorities to make their decision and appealing to everyone in authority about what to do. The “Silence” that the title refers to is the silence of God and what the value of faith is in this situation. Endo is very Catholic, so I think he believes that his fictional Jesuits are martyrs, but he’s such a good writer that in every translation it’s very clear that the readers are meant to make their own determination of whether they are monsters or martyrs, whether the ending was a victory or a capitulation.

The “classic” translation, which is the one we have, has some truly ludicrous prose in there, so feel free to ignore it.

Oh, and the Martin Scorsese movie was just OK."

 

[kupcho1]

We're sautéing something.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

"The funniest, strangest, comedic conceit from the best surrealist ever. Gogol is every bit as interesting a surreal writer as Kafka. If this plot summary doesn’t intrigue you, I think you’re dead:

The plot of Dead Souls follows protagonist Chichikov as he carries out a scheme to purchase the rights of deceased serfs, or dead souls, from the Imperial Russian aristocracy. Chichikov hopes to levy the equity of his dead souls to secure a bank loan that will make him rich.

I can’t speak to the quality of the prose since I don’t speak Russian, but there are many good translations available. It’s his magnum opus – brilliant, tragic, farcical, satirical."

Gogol, and for that matter Kafka, are authors I've yet to read. I need to rectify that.

 

[krista4]

We're sautéing something.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

"The funniest, strangest, comedic conceit from the best surrealist ever. Gogol is every bit as interesting a surreal writer as Kafka. If this plot summary doesn’t intrigue you, I think you’re dead:

The plot of Dead Souls follows protagonist Chichikov as he carries out a scheme to purchase the rights of deceased serfs, or dead souls, from the Imperial Russian aristocracy. Chichikov hopes to levy the equity of his dead souls to secure a bank loan that will make him rich.

I can’t speak to the quality of the prose since I don’t speak Russian, but there are many good translations available. It’s his magnum opus – brilliant, tragic, farcical, satirical."

Gogol, and for that matter Kafka, are authors I've yet to read. I need to rectify that.

I'm shocked about Kafka given all the reading you do! I haven't read Gogol either.

 

[krista4]

I see turkey meatballs being formed!

The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren

"This was my favorite novel for a long time. One of my favorite things about the literature of Chicago, especially from the 1930 to the 80s or 90s, is that it all seems like it takes place in a different city, from the Chicago with the warrens of Polish neighborhoods and Ukrainian Village, to those that were vastly different in Richard Wright’s Black Boy. It’s almost like a mythical city. In literature, cities like NY and Boston all seem to be the same place in every novel, whereas I think Chicago is largely a product of we who live here and create it every day.

The Man with the Golden Arm is a better post-war novel than anything Updike ever wrote, and a better junkie novel than anything Burroughs ever wrote. The prose is languid, hallucinatory at times, yet still manages to convey the extreme emotions of someone who’s desperate – desperately poor, desperately addicted. There’s a reason this is Studs Terkel’s favorite novel, and also Kurt Vonnegut’s, and also Ernest Hemingway’s.

The movie with Frank Sinatra is not half bad, but not half as good as the novel.

Also, my poker education was largely formed above a Polish bakery on Division Street, which to a young man steeped in that novel, was almost too romantic to bear."

 

[Ilov80s]

I see turkey meatballs being formed!

The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren

"This was my favorite novel for a long time. One of my favorite things about the literature of Chicago, especially from the 1930 to the 80s or 90s, is that it all seems like it takes place in a different city, from the Chicago with the warrens of Polish neighborhoods and Ukrainian Village, to those that were vastly different in Richard Wright’s Black Boy. It’s almost like a mythical city. In literature, cities like NY and Boston all seem to be the same place in every novel, whereas I think Chicago is largely a product of we who live here and create it every day.

The Man with the Golden Arm is a better post-war novel than anything Updike ever wrote, and a better junkie novel than anything Burroughs ever wrote. The prose is languid, hallucinatory at times, yet still manages to convey the extreme emotions of someone who’s desperate – desperately poor, desperately addicted. There’s a reason this is Studs Terkel’s favorite novel, and also Kurt Vonnegut’s, and also Ernest Hemingway’s.

The movie with Frank Sinatra is not half bad, but not half as good as the novel.

Also, my poker education was largely formed above a Polish bakery on Division Street, which to a young man steeped in that novel, was almost too romantic to bear."

Ok I need to check this out. I like the movie quite a bit but didn't realize it was based on such a well liked novel.

 

[Don Quixote]

We're sautéing something.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

"The funniest, strangest, comedic conceit from the best surrealist ever. Gogol is every bit as interesting a surreal writer as Kafka. If this plot summary doesn’t intrigue you, I think you’re dead:

The plot of Dead Souls follows protagonist Chichikov as he carries out a scheme to purchase the rights of deceased serfs, or dead souls, from the Imperial Russian aristocracy. Chichikov hopes to levy the equity of his dead souls to secure a bank loan that will make him rich.

I can’t speak to the quality of the prose since I don’t speak Russian, but there are many good translations available. It’s his magnum opus – brilliant, tragic, farcical, satirical."

Added that to my to-read list. I read Gogol’s short story “The Nose” in the George Saunders book on Russian short stories that I mentioned earlier and enjoyed that one. Surreal style, as it sounds like this one is.

 

[Psychopav]

Thanks for doing this. At least it allows me to see the table, though I still can't see anything that kupcho types around it. Hopefully nothing important in there.

Can someone let me know if simply turning on dark mode allows you to see the table and/or what I'm writing? You are able to turn it back on to light mode afterward. It's not a lifetime commitment. I know it seems like a lot of work, but I'd appreciate it.

TIA

There was the one time that it showed up properly when you posted, but it then went back to the light gray font. I’m not sure what you did then? Did you set the font to white and then it automatically showed up as black text for non-dark users? I think the issue is the gray font stays gray for everyone.

Maybe we need the test forum back.

Maybe? No, we DEFINITELY need the test forum back. Stat.

@Joe Bryant make this happen!

 

[Psychopav]

Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

I'm still trying to find the right pace to go through this section of the list. Let's see how two tranches, 12 books each works. Here are the first 12 for today:

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Stephen King

Psychopav

Welp. Clearly my plan to list only the first book of a series didn't work. Guess I should have ranked Wizard and Glass and the Drawing of the Three independently.

Oh well...

 

[Psychopav]

Thanks for doing this. At least it allows me to see the table, though I still can't see anything that kupcho types around it. Hopefully nothing important in there.

Can someone let me know if simply turning on dark mode allows you to see the table and/or what I'm writing? You are able to turn it back on to light mode afterward. It's not a lifetime commitment. I know it seems like a lot of work, but I'd appreciate it.

TIA

I'm on dark mode and everything looks good, both on my laptop and on my phone. ymmv

 

[Eephus]

187t - The Public Burning by Robert Coover (1977) #8 on my list

The Public Burning is a post-modern Cold War satire that's influenced more by Groucho Marx than Karl Marx. The story takes place over a three day period leading up to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 but rather than taking place in Sing Sing, the book transfers the electrocution to a public spectacle in Times Square. Coover juggles a large cast of mid-century pop culture figures including Betty Crocker, Walter Winchell, Jack Benny, Joe McCarthy and a creepily debauched Uncle Sam. The primary narrator is Richard Nixon who comes off as horny and ambitious but somehow also oddly sympathetic. It's a scandalous depiction of the recent ex-president that somehow got published without litigation. I haven't read it in a long time and maybe time has dulled some of its edginess but I've never forgotten it.

 

[Eephus]

190t - Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow (1975) #52 on my list

Ragtime would have finished higher in my rankings if we had done this ranking a couple of years ago. I re-read it last year and didn't love it as much as I did when I was younger. I still liked Doctorow's well-paced storytelling and his beautiful prose but his recreation of the past seemed a little contrived.

190t - The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (1959) #28 on my list

Another book I read during my teenage holocaust summer. I was intrigued by the writeup by my literary soulmate @mrsmarco because I definitely read a pre-1993 translation of the book. There was a thread a while ago that discussed the best transitions from novel to film. I mentioned The Tin Drum because the movie not only did a good job of getting a lot of the book's events on screen (and the book has a lot) but it also captured its tone.

190t - High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (1995) #16 on my list

It's not as great as Ragtime or The Tin Drum but it's a personal favorite and as krista noted, laugh out loud funny. I think every music nerd who makes a list of their favorite books will see a little bit of themselves in Rob Fleming.

 

[shuke]

Replay by Ken Grimwood

I wish I could do a better write up, but it has been so long since I read it.
It made the list because it was about time travel but it wasn’t ground that I remember covering before in books or movies. I remember not being able to predict the ending, but everything that was revealed made sense. So it made my list because it was unique and had a good ending. I’ve read a lot of sci fi and fantasy and couldn’t understand why I hadn’t been recommend this book before. It was written in mid 80’s but it held up over time. Maybe it isn’t recommended much because Ken didn’t publish many novels before his death at 59.

I also ranked. Quick synopsis pulled from the interwebs:

The novel tells of a 43-year-old man who dies and wakes up back in 1963 in his 18-year-old body. He relives his life with all his memories of the previous 25 years intact. This happens repeatedly, with the man playing out his life differently in each cycle.

So kind of like time travel, but with no opportunity to get back to your beginning without trying to relive your life exactly how you originally did, if that's what you wanted. A fascinating topic for me.

 

[rockaction]

I'm shocked about Kafka given all the reading you do! I haven't read Gogol either.

Do you remember the David Foster Wallace essay about Kafka and his humor? Just curious. It's stuck with me how funny Kafka actually is. We had to read a curated diptych of his for a class I took once and the material (Kafka) was actually rather amusing, which is what I think our professor's intent was (he had us read his literature book that he was in charge of compiling, but I have to admit that the guy did a bang-up job of selecting authors and stories).

Anyway, kupcho1, you might actually find it funny if you have that sense of humor (and having been on the boards with you a bit, I think you do).

 

[shuke]

Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

I'm still trying to find the right pace to go through this section of the list. Let's see how two tranches, 12 books each works. Here are the first 12 for today:

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Stephen King

Psychopav

Welp. Clearly my plan to list only the first book of a series didn't work. Guess I should have ranked Wizard and Glass and the Drawing of the Three independently.

Oh well...

First book is probably worst of the series.

 

[krista4]

187t - The Public Burning by Robert Coover (1977) #8 on my list

The Public Burning is a post-modern Cold War satire that's influenced more by Groucho Marx than Karl Marx. The story takes place over a three day period leading up to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 but rather than taking place in Sing Sing, the book transfers the electrocution to a public spectacle in Times Square. Coover juggles a large cast of mid-century pop culture figures including Betty Crocker, Walter Winchell, Jack Benny, Joe McCarthy and a creepily debauched Uncle Sam. The primary narrator is Richard Nixon who comes off as horny and ambitious but somehow also oddly sympathetic. It's a scandalous depiction of the recent ex-president that somehow got published without litigation. I haven't read it in a long time and maybe time has dulled some of its edginess but I've never forgotten it.

This sounds outstanding, and I'd never heard of it.

 

[shuke]

World War Z by Max Brooks

A zombie apocalypse books utilizing a series of interviews with various people and their accounts of how things transpired after the zombie pandemic started. As with a lot of zombie books and movies, it's an allegory with plenty of social and political commentary.

 

[shuke]

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

The book follows Victor who is a con artists. Will go to restaurants and pretend to choke until someone performs the Heimlich. Victor has found that when someone saves your life, or at least thinks they did, they feel obligated to watch over you. He uses this to convince these various people to financially support him.

Just more hilarity and ridiculousness from Palahniuk. My second of three of his I ranked. Kupcho was surprised this one made the list. I've like almost all of his stuff equally, so I chose this because it was the first one I read I think.

 

[krista4]

I'm shocked about Kafka given all the reading you do! I haven't read Gogol either.

Do you remember the David Foster Wallace essay about Kafka and his humor? Just curious. It's stuck with me how funny Kafka actually is. We had to read a curated diptych of his for a class I took once and the material (Kafka) was actually rather amusing, which is what I think our professor's intent was (he had us read his literature book that he was in charge of compiling, but I have to admit that the guy did a bang-up job of selecting authors and stories).

Anyway, kupcho1, you might actually find it funny if you have that sense of humor (and having been on the boards with you a bit, I think you do).

Yes! It was in Consider the Lobster, though I'm sure published somewhere before that. As you might know, DFW is/was my favorite non-fiction author.

 

[Eephus]

171t - Dalva by Jim Harrison (1988) #7 on my list

Harrison's literary career was helped and hindered by facile comparisons to Hemingway. Both were larger-than-life characters who spent time in Northern Michigan and Wyoming and wrote about rugged, outdoorsy subjects. But Hemingway could never have written a novel like Dalva. Its eponymous hero is a middle-aged woman who's part-Sioux. She's a wonderful character of immense strength and tenderness who looks back at her younger self with the self-awareness that life's lessons have taught her. There's a middle section featuring an alcoholic professor researching Dalva's ancestors that stands in contrast to Dalva's past and present.

 

[krista4]

171t - Dalva by Jim Harrison (1988) #7 on my list

Harrison's literary career was helped and hindered by facile comparisons to Hemingway. Both were wild characters who spent time in Northern Michigan and Wyoming and wrote about rugged, outdoorsy subjects. But Hemingway could never have written a novel like Dalva. Its eponymous hero is a middle-aged woman who's part-Sioux. She's a wonderful character of immense strength and tenderness who looks back at her younger self with the self-awareness that life's lessons have taught her. There's a middle section featuring an alcoholic professor researching Dalva's ancestors that stands in contrast to Dalva's past and present.

OK, another from you that sounds amazing and I hadn't heard of. Thanks for these!

 

[krista4]

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

The book follows Victor who is a con artists. Will go to restaurants and pretend to choke until someone performs the Heimlich. Victor has found that when someone saves your life, or at least thinks they did, they feel obligated to watch over you. He uses this to convince these various people to financially support him.

Just more hilarity and ridiculousness from Palahniuk. My second of three of his I ranked. Kupcho was surprised this one made the list. I've like almost all of his stuff equally, so I chose this because it was the first one I read I think.

I've read a couple of his books, but I think they weren't written for me. I love the premise of this one, though!

 

[Eephus]

171t - Dalva by Jim Harrison (1988) #7 on my list

Harrison's literary career was helped and hindered by facile comparisons to Hemingway. Both were wild characters who spent time in Northern Michigan and Wyoming and wrote about rugged, outdoorsy subjects. But Hemingway could never have written a novel like Dalva. Its eponymous hero is a middle-aged woman who's part-Sioux. She's a wonderful character of immense strength and tenderness who looks back at her younger self with the self-awareness that life's lessons have taught her. There's a middle section featuring an alcoholic professor researching Dalva's ancestors that stands in contrast to Dalva's past and present.

OK, another from you that sounds amazing and I hadn't heard of. Thanks for these!

Have you ever read any Harrison? He was a real one.

Here's a brief segment from No Reservations where he cooks dinner for Anthony Bourdain. Harrison also appeared on Parts Unknown shortly before he died but that one's kind of sad.

 

[krista4]

171t - Dalva by Jim Harrison (1988) #7 on my list

Harrison's literary career was helped and hindered by facile comparisons to Hemingway. Both were wild characters who spent time in Northern Michigan and Wyoming and wrote about rugged, outdoorsy subjects. But Hemingway could never have written a novel like Dalva. Its eponymous hero is a middle-aged woman who's part-Sioux. She's a wonderful character of immense strength and tenderness who looks back at her younger self with the self-awareness that life's lessons have taught her. There's a middle section featuring an alcoholic professor researching Dalva's ancestors that stands in contrast to Dalva's past and present.

OK, another from you that sounds amazing and I hadn't heard of. Thanks for these!

Have you ever read any Harrison? He was a real one.

Here's a brief segment from No Reservations where he cooks dinner for Anthony Bourdain. Harrison also appeared on Parts Unknown shortly before he died but that one's kind of sad.

I read "Brown Dog" but nothing else that I recall. I should read more of his stuff. One of his other novels was #71 on OH's list (not mentioning in case it's on the list?).

 

[rockaction]

As you might know, DFW is/was my favorite non-fiction author.

I actually didn't know that. Very cool. I also loved DFW's non-fiction in addition to his fiction. He's probably my favorite non-fiction writer also, but then there's Tom Wolfe and it's probably both of them and then everybody else. I mean, books like The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby and others are almost art rather than reportage. Foster Wallace took up New Journalism's mantle and made it his for a time also.

Just wonderful stuff and it's actually (non-fictive journalism) what I like to read the most.

 

[Eephus]

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

The book follows Victor who is a con artists. Will go to restaurants and pretend to choke until someone performs the Heimlich. Victor has found that when someone saves your life, or at least thinks they did, they feel obligated to watch over you. He uses this to convince these various people to financially support him.

Just more hilarity and ridiculousness from Palahniuk. My second of three of his I ranked. Kupcho was surprised this one made the list. I've like almost all of his stuff equally, so I chose this because it was the first one I read I think.

I can't tell you how many times I've picked up books of his in bookstores and never walked out with one

 

[shuke]

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

The book follows Victor who is a con artists. Will go to restaurants and pretend to choke until someone performs the Heimlich. Victor has found that when someone saves your life, or at least thinks they did, they feel obligated to watch over you. He uses this to convince these various people to financially support him.

Just more hilarity and ridiculousness from Palahniuk. My second of three of his I ranked. Kupcho was surprised this one made the list. I've like almost all of his stuff equally, so I chose this because it was the first one I read I think.

I can't tell you how many times I've picked up books of his in bookstores and never walked out with one

Like I said earlier, it's a style not for everyone. But these are quick reads, most of you guys would probably finish in a day or two.

 

[KarmaPolice]

World War Z by Max Brooks

A zombie apocalypse books utilizing a series of interviews with various people and their accounts of how things transpired after the zombie pandemic started. As with a lot of zombie books and movies, it's an allegory with plenty of social and political commentary.

This is one of my favorites as well. I loved the interview style and how well thought out it was. I remember not liking the movie, but don't remember much about it.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

The book follows Victor who is a con artists. Will go to restaurants and pretend to choke until someone performs the Heimlich. Victor has found that when someone saves your life, or at least thinks they did, they feel obligated to watch over you. He uses this to convince these various people to financially support him.

Just more hilarity and ridiculousness from Palahniuk. My second of three of his I ranked. Kupcho was surprised this one made the list. I've like almost all of his stuff equally, so I chose this because it was the first one I read I think.

I can't tell you how many times I've picked up books of his in bookstores and never walked out with one

Like I said earlier, it's a style not for everyone. But these are quick reads, most of you guys would probably finish in a day or two.

I had a few of his written down. I really liked the stretch of books from Fight Club through Lullaby. He lost me with Haunted and Snuff and I don't think I've tried anything more recent.

 

[kupcho1]

Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

First up, five #6 ranked books (115 points) follwed by four that two people liked well enough to just edge them out (116 and 117 points respectively).

164	Demons (or The Possessed)	Fyodor Dostoevsky	Psychopav
	Manhattan Beach	Jennifer Egan	Eephus
	The Man	Irving Wallace	timschochet
	Oathbringer	Brandon Sanderson	guru_007
	A Fine Balance	Rohinton Mistry	Mrs.Marco
162	The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower	Stephen King	turnjose7, Frostillicus
	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Hunter S Thompson	chaos34, Don Quixote
160	Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell	Susanna Clarke	kupcho1, TheBaylorKid
	Wolf Hall (Vol. 1 of The Wolf Hall trilogy)	Hilary Mantel	kupcho1, Don Quixote

It's been awhile, but finally a few books of mine show up. I'll write 'em up later today.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I'd love some discussion about The Dark Tower series. That was one that I feel would be right up my alley, but despite the praise in rankings like these it didn't seem to grab me when I attempted a read. I thought about trying again in my old age, but still undecided. Is it worth the long journey, do people just like some of them in the series, what did you love about the books and series, etc?

That Sanderson book and others in the series are ones I was also keeping an eye out for. The Way of Kings is the book I was reading that distracted me from sending my list in. I got sucked into that world and book in a big way. I got the box set of the first 3 books and plan to go on to book 2 soon after reading a couple short ones from these lists. I don't read in this genre much, but when done well I love the world building and details put into series like this. IMO this was a better opening book than other series I have read in the last decade - Dune, Game of Thrones, The Eye of the World, and a couple others I am forgetting now. I am looking for non-spoilery opinions on the rest of the series from guru or others who have read others in the series.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Phase 3: Books 200 - 101 continued

First up, five #6 ranked books (115 points) follwed by four that two people liked well enough to just edge them out (116 and 117 points respectively).

164	Demons (or The Possessed)	Fyodor Dostoevsky	Psychopav
	Manhattan Beach	Jennifer Egan	Eephus
	The Man	Irving Wallace	timschochet
	Oathbringer	Brandon Sanderson	guru_007
	A Fine Balance	Rohinton Mistry	Mrs.Marco
162	The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower	Stephen King	turnjose7, Frostillicus
	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Hunter S Thompson	chaos34, Don Quixote
160	Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell	Susanna Clarke	kupcho1, TheBaylorKid
	Wolf Hall (Vol. 1 of The Wolf Hall trilogy)	Hilary Mantel	kupcho1, Don Quixote

It's been awhile, but finally a few books of mine show up. I'll write 'em up later today.

I'd love some discussion about The Dark Tower series. That was one that I feel would be right up my alley, but despite the praise in rankings like these it didn't seem to grab me when I attempted a read. I thought about trying again in my old age, but still undecided. Is it worth the long journey, do people just like some of them in the series, what did you love about the books and series, etc?

It's a really strange series because it was written across about 30 years. He revised the first book after the series was completed to retcon it into what came after. But I would describe the first two as "pulpy", the 3rd & 4th as the best from a plot perspective, and the last batch as having his best writing ever (there are passages, especially in VII, that are beautiful). He also wrote one after the fact that fits in between books 4 & 5 that's pretty damned good. I would suggest giving them a ride through book 4.

 

[guru_007]

re: the Dark Tower series, I read the Gunslinger and loved it. It's a very quick read, and builds up a narrative to another world that draws you in. Drawing of the Three is one of my favorite King books (my second favorite) and it expounds on this world, brings in more characters and more dialogue and really gets you set for a great story and fight between good and evil.
And then, you get to The Waste Lands which was okay as it's bringing you into another world and you think you are getting there. And then, in what was one of the most highly anticipated book releases for me and my friend's in our mid-20's, Wizard and Glass, and well, let's just say that King is a better horror writer than fantasy. I halfway tapped out during book three as it was getting off the rails, and completely tapped out in book 4. I dunno, after the start of the series I was super looking forward to where this was going, and when it was getting there, it fell of the tracks literally and figuratively. These books came out 5 years apart so there is quite a wait there (although quite a bit shorter than some other authors) and it just was not worth it anymore.

I'll try to get back later on Oathbringer thoughts. Sanderson is a lot better at fantasy.

 

[kupcho1]

I really enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell as it was unlike just about anything I'd read before. To give you an idea of that, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was longlisted for the Man Booker prize and won the Hugo award for best novel (2005). It's an alternative historical fiction that plays around with various English stereotypes. The premise of the book presupposes that magic once existed in England and has returned with our title characters Strange and Norrell. The return of magic comes in pretty handy in the Napoleonic wars.

Oh yeah, and there are fairies. Norrell hooks up with "the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair" leading to, let's just say, complications.

(Side note: Clarke's 2nd novel Piranesi (2020) was also nominated (Don Quixote and Barry2) and clocked in at 341.)

 

[Don Quixote]

I really enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell as it was unlike just about anything I'd read before. To give you an idea of that, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was longlisted for the Man Booker prize and won the Hugo award for best novel (2005). It's an alternative historical fiction that plays around with various English stereotypes. The premise of the book presupposes that magic once existed in England and has returned with our title characters Strange and Norrell. The return of magic comes in pretty handy in the Napoleonic wars.

Oh yeah, and there are fairies. Norrell hooks up with "the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair" leading to, let's just say, complications.

(Side note: Clarke's 2nd novel Piranesi (2020) was also nominated (Don Quixote and Barry2) and clocked in at 341.)

I enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell as well. It was in the long list, but just missed my 70. So, happy to see it get some recognition. I did prefer Piranesi because it was a bit tighter on the writing, but can’t go wrong on either.

 

[guru_007]

Oathbringer - Brandon Sanderson

I was completely unfamiliar with Sanderson as his genre is a bit outside of what I normally read, however, my wife (whom I've previously noted is the reader in the family) attended a book signing for this guy, and also spent an amount I'm embarrassed to admit on a kickstarter for this well published author, so I figured, I really owed it to myself to read at least something by him to acquaint myself to his works and why I'll need to put off retirement for another year to feed my better half's addiction. So, I read Way of the Kings. And by read, I should have said devoured, as I could not put the book down, save for sleep, until completion. Sanderson is a master world builder, and add to that he is able to create characters that are flawed, heroic and easy to root for.
So, that brings to me to Oathbringer which is the third book of this arc. Yes, this is fantasy. And Sanderson does like to write, he is probably the most prolific writer in fact that I can think of off the top of my head, and to say Oathbringer is a long book is a euphemism. It comes in at over 1,200 pages, and my wikipedia says over 450,000 words, which to put into contact is 100,000 MORE words than the Gunslinger, Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands COMBINED. So, it's a bit of a commitment. That said, this book seamlessly bounces around from character to character, plot line to plot line, everything in the same world, yet taking place all over this universe. It delves into some very deep and flawed characters in Dalinar Kholin and Szeth-son-Neturo, and gets into backstories and present stories and is just a whole lot of fun. There is so much going on in this book, it's really hard for me to give too brief a synopsis, but basically you have another world going on, with a struggle between humans/parshman (humanoid like creatures treated as slaves)/good Gods and evil Gods in an attempt to gain control of the world. This universe was kicked off in book 1 which I'm pretty sure will pop up later on, book 2 added on and Oathbringer as book 3 was just terrific. I dunno if I can do this book justice at all, and if you're not into fantasy books, this would be a hard pass for sure, but again, I wasn't into these type books much at all really as I prefer sci/fi, post apocalyptic/dystopian fiction - something more plausible I suppose, in the fiction genre, but I must say that Sanderson is a really fun author and would highly recommend giving a try.

 

[Chaos34]

The Bourne Ultimatum - Robert Ludlum

I had to cut some much better writing to keep the Bourne Trilogy on my list. Ludlum is a functional writer with a news reporter's prose. His gift was building tension and keeping the pages turning. The momentum is relentless. You've likely seen the movies. They were decent spy thriller fun, but set in a post 911 world and streamlined. Ludlum was just the outline and source material. His Bournes were set in the cold war era. So the movies haven't spoiled the originals too much. Nor do they give the amnesiac, government programmed, super-agent protagonist the psychological pain and vulnerability of the novels. It's fast entertaining reading for us drawn to international intrigue, special ops, maybe a little conspiracy.

Ultimatum is the finale. 600 pages devoured in a week. Very satisfying conclusion with the door cracked for the possibility of more Jason. It's the final cat and mouse game between he and his nemesis, a fictionalized Ilich Ramirez Sanchez aka Carlos the Jackal, who's serving multiple life sentences in France.

 

[Chaos34]

Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

My high school banned this book so we passed it around like contraband. Buy the ticket, take the ride. nufced

Unless Don Quixote wants to say more. Surprised it's just us two.

 

[kupcho1]

Oathbringer - Brandon Sanderson

I agree wholeheartedly on his world-building ability. He's awesome at that. I disagree on his characters, but the plots are so good it hardly matters.
I read through all the series (excluding novellas and short stories) a few years ago, but am now behind again (prolific? I think he writes in his sleep) as I've not read the 2024 book yet.

Here's are the series broken down in the order I'd recommend if anyone is interested. I don't think it matters which you pick up first, although Mistborne and Stormlight are the main ones (Elantris is a bit of an outlier). I think at some point (50 books? 100?) he brings everything together in the Cosmere, but who knows.

Title Published
The Final Empire 2006
The Well of Ascension 2007
The Hero of Ages 2008
The Alloy of Law 2011
The Eleventh Metal (short story) 2012
Shadows of Self 2015
The Bands of Mourning 2016
The Lost Metal 2022
Elantris 2005
Hope of Elantris (novella) 2006
Warbreaker 2009
The Way of Kings 2010
Words of Radiance 2014
Edgedancer (novella) 2016
Oathbringer 2017
Dawnshard (novella) 2020
Rhythm of War 2020
Wind and Truth 2024

Mistborne
Elantris
Stormlight Archives

 

[kupcho1]

The Bourne Ultimatum - Robert Ludlum

I had to cut some much better writing to keep the Bourne Trilogy

Trilogy?

There are 21 Bourne books. The other 18 were written by several different authors. That's some damned good IP right there as evidenced by the movies as well.
I devoured the Ludlum novels back in the day.

RIYL tightly written, intricate plots with invulnerable protagonists.

 

[guru_007]

Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

My high school banned this book so we passed it around like contraband. Buy the ticket, take the ride. nufced

Unless Don Quixote wants to say more. Surprised it's just us two.

I read it, and it was decent, but didn't make my top 70. I'll be honest, Thompson is not one of my favorites. I find his shorter form great and highly interesting, but as an entire book, it's a bit more of a mess. It's a fun read for sure.

 

[Ilov80s]

Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

My high school banned this book so we passed it around like contraband. Buy the ticket, take the ride. nufced

Unless Don Quixote wants to say more. Surprised it's just us two.

I would love to read it. Really can’t believe I haven’t yet.

 

[Chaos34]

The Bourne Ultimatum - Robert Ludlum

I had to cut some much better writing to keep the Bourne Trilogy

Trilogy?

There are 21 Bourne books. The other 18 were written by several different authors. That's some damned good IP right there as evidenced by the movies as well.
I devoured the Ludlum novels back in the day.

RIYL tightly written, intricate plots with invulnerable protagonists.

Thanks. Ludlum wrote three. You should have let me use them as one book.

They are the trilogy. The rest was contracted by his estate. They never interested me, but the brand is alive. He meant to wrap it up with Ultimatum. He died and estate management feasted on Jason. If someone is interested in the "real" Jason Bourne as conceived by Ludlum read them in order: Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum.

The original Jason was vulnerable. When he did battle, he got hurt. When he struggled with who he was, he was tormented. It was really good stuff when fresh, but Ludlum's devices, not original to him, have become common motifs. They may seem dated.

 

[Don Quixote]

Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

My high school banned this book so we passed it around like contraband. Buy the ticket, take the ride. nufced

Unless Don Quixote wants to say more. Surprised it's just us two.

I’m surprised by that too. I went through a bit of a Hunter S. Thompson phase post-college where read that, the ‘72 Campaign Trail, and some other of his books. Fun reads and the Gonzo style was like nothing else had read.

 

[Chaos34]

Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

My high school banned this book so we passed it around like contraband. Buy the ticket, take the ride. nufced

Unless Don Quixote wants to say more. Surprised it's just us two.

I would love to read it. Really can’t believe I haven’t yet.

Worth a try. It's as gonzo as Hunter gets and maybe too messy for you like guru_007 above. I get that. I just happened to wallow in the mess. I gave it to my ex before she was my ex, a nurse way too familiar with drug problems, and I've never heard anyone laugh so much while reading.

This reflection on the idealism of the 60s is him coming to terms with how it's all gone wrong:

“There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . . And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . . So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”