timschochet
Footballguy
The more than once thing wasn't a rule, it was just one way of defining a great novel.Don Quixote said:
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Your 7 favorite novels of all time (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter timschochet
- Start date
Ilov80s
Footballguy
How does Confederacy compare to Catch 22? I agree humor in a novel is difficult, but I also think Catch 22 is the ultimate funny.,
El Floppo
Footballguy
Ooh big fan of Pale Fire... This thread is making me think I should reread it.pantagrapher said:
I've only read a handful of novels more than once:
Sometimes a Great Notion
100 Years of Solitude (both of these are my favorite books)
The Hobbit (read it to my son)
Siddhartha (have read this every 10 years starting when I was 16, getting something new out of it each time. I'm due to read it again this year.
Rohn Jambo
Footballguy
I like the first Harry Potter book.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Not a rule, but went with similar criteria with the other two threads, so thought of books that I have read through multiple times throughout the years and have in the house still:
To Kill A Mockingbird
A Wrinkle in Time - was obsessed with this book as a kid
1984
The Road - read it shortly after my son was born and have gone back a couple times since
Ishmael - concept of the book is silly, but have revisited it a couple times
Jurassic Park
it is a bit of a cheat, but will throw out The Bachman Books by King. Read through 3 of those stories lots of times.
To Kill A Mockingbird
A Wrinkle in Time - was obsessed with this book as a kid
1984
The Road - read it shortly after my son was born and have gone back a couple times since
Ishmael - concept of the book is silly, but have revisited it a couple times
Jurassic Park
it is a bit of a cheat, but will throw out The Bachman Books by King. Read through 3 of those stories lots of times.
timschochet
Footballguy
technicaldifficulties
Footballguy
Shogun -- James Clavell
Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts
Watership Down -- Richard Adams
Battle Cry of Freedom -- James McPhearson
That Noble Dream -- Peter Novick
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- Robert Pirsig
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams
Crime and Punishment -- Dostoevsky
Next, I'm reading How to Count to 7 and not go on to 8.
ETA: I thought we were doing books, not novels. Nix McPhearson and Novick as they are histories. Add Killer Anges by Shaara
Shantaram -- Gregory David Roberts
Watership Down -- Richard Adams
Battle Cry of Freedom -- James McPhearson
That Noble Dream -- Peter Novick
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- Robert Pirsig
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams
Crime and Punishment -- Dostoevsky
Next, I'm reading How to Count to 7 and not go on to 8.
ETA: I thought we were doing books, not novels. Nix McPhearson and Novick as they are histories. Add Killer Anges by Shaara
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KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Roadwork. Think I have only read that one the one time from the initial read through.
FUBAR
Footballguy
Pretty wide range, from science, some history though I should read more, biographies, pretty much anything that looks interesting. Currently listening to killer angels (read a long time ago) and reading live from Saturday night. Recently finished Chrissie Wellington's bio. Also halfway through the third divergent book as my wife wanted to read them with me.Ilov80s said:
MC Gas Money
Footballguy
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
Angelas ashes
Catcher in the rye
It
The hobbit
Watchmen (this counts as literature)
Anything by crichton
Angelas ashes
Catcher in the rye
It
The hobbit
Watchmen (this counts as literature)
Anything by crichton
MC Gas Money
Footballguy
I feel you man. I liked novels as a kid but once I started reading non fiction I just lost interest in stories people imagined, with some exceptions
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
mon
(T)ool
It's not much different from the rest of his novels. I just seemed to connect with it better.And I'll add my opinion of Confederacy of Dunces. The main character was like Cartman from South Park who grew up, but never changed. Cartman's funny as a kid, but as an adult it's just painful to watch. Extremely well-written novel, but didn't like it. It had no heart or hope. I can enjoy a novel that has either heart or hope, but not one that has neither.Ilov80s said:
DocHolliday
Footballguy
I am just adding a couple:
The Firm
Pillars of the Earth
The Firm
Pillars of the Earth
pantagrapher
Footballguy
The_Man
Footballguy
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Libra - Don DeLillo
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
American Tabloid - James Ellroy
The USA Trilogy - John Dos Passos
The Zero – Jess Walter
I'm not sure if The Zero is truly one of my favorite novels of all time or not, but it is excellent and I want to hype Jess Walter a little. I think he's a great contemporary American novelist, kind of an American Nick Hornby, but maybe a little weightier (in a good way). The Zero is a 9/11 noir, and still one of the few works of art that I feel like has really engaged with what happened that day and afterward.
His other books include "Financial Lives of the Poets" and "Beautiful Ruins," both of which would be excellent summertime reads.
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Libra - Don DeLillo
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
American Tabloid - James Ellroy
The USA Trilogy - John Dos Passos
The Zero – Jess Walter
I'm not sure if The Zero is truly one of my favorite novels of all time or not, but it is excellent and I want to hype Jess Walter a little. I think he's a great contemporary American novelist, kind of an American Nick Hornby, but maybe a little weightier (in a good way). The Zero is a 9/11 noir, and still one of the few works of art that I feel like has really engaged with what happened that day and afterward.
His other books include "Financial Lives of the Poets" and "Beautiful Ruins," both of which would be excellent summertime reads.
Idiot Boxer
Footballguy
The Brothers Karamzov - Dostoevsky
Immortality - Milan Kundera
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller... - Italo Calvino
Possession - A.S. Byatt
The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho
Lamb - Christopher Moore
Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
Immortality - Milan Kundera
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller... - Italo Calvino
Possession - A.S. Byatt
The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho
Lamb - Christopher Moore
Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
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Sarnoff
Footballguy
Don Quixote
Footballguy
I didn't like Confederacy either; it could have used an editor. Humor is pretty tough, but there are some that I like. Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal is one that I considered including in my list.
I tried Infinite Jest and could not finish it. It's not that I found it daunting or too complex (I liked Ulysses, for example). I thought it was similar to Confederacy where I just found it boring.
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mon
(T)ool
timschochet
Footballguy
If you like Pillars, have you tried World Without End? I actually think its even better.
Herb
Footballguy
Catch 22 was the longest slog of a novel I've ever been through. I had 2 close friends recommend it to me, one of whom considers it her favorite novel ever. I laughed a couple of times, but mostly hated it. I liked Confederacy WAY more than Catch 22.
I love stand-up, funny movies and shows and can frequently find humor in those formats that others don't.
My novel funny-bone is just broken. Fear and Loathing in LV and I Love You Beth Cooper are about the only books I've read in my adulthood that actually made me laugh out loud. And Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, which I just finished. That dude is funny, although his novels certainly aren't comedy.
rustycolts
Footballguy
Swan Song
Alas Babylon
On The Beach
Fail Safe
When Worlds Collide
Planet Of The Apes
The Stand
Alas Babylon
On The Beach
Fail Safe
When Worlds Collide
Planet Of The Apes
The Stand
Jeff Vader
Footballguy
In no particular order (numbered so I stop at se7en) -
1. The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner
2. Light in August, Faulkner
3. Americana, Delillo
4. V., Pynchon
5. Madame Bovary, Flaubert
6. Lolita, Nabokov
7. Swann's Way, Proust (or if you want to be a stickler for the category, "novel," then the whole mofo Remembrance of Things Past)
I know Ulysses should be up there somewhere, but to my shame, I haven't read it yet. Every time I start it screws up my own writing. Within a page I suddenly realize I'm imitating Joyce and just can't stop. So I stop reading Joyce.
ETA: Just realized I've read each of these at least twice, and some several times (Americana, Sound & Fury, Light in August). The only one I read once is Bovary, and I'm teaching it this fall so that'll be remedied. Look at me. I read big books. :flex:
1. The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner
2. Light in August, Faulkner
3. Americana, Delillo
4. V., Pynchon
5. Madame Bovary, Flaubert
6. Lolita, Nabokov
7. Swann's Way, Proust (or if you want to be a stickler for the category, "novel," then the whole mofo Remembrance of Things Past)
I know Ulysses should be up there somewhere, but to my shame, I haven't read it yet. Every time I start it screws up my own writing. Within a page I suddenly realize I'm imitating Joyce and just can't stop. So I stop reading Joyce.
ETA: Just realized I've read each of these at least twice, and some several times (Americana, Sound & Fury, Light in August). The only one I read once is Bovary, and I'm teaching it this fall so that'll be remedied. Look at me. I read big books. :flex:
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Jeff Vader
Footballguy
It's criminal that I didn't include this on my own list. I just don't know who to bump. Pynchon maybe. But I love V. so damn much.
ETA: If this were "What are the seven best novels of all time" instead of "my favorite" then Fyodor would be rocking the list for sure. As it is, he falls just short. Which is a damn shame, really.
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Catch-22's comedy was based upon almost exactly two or three pretty elementary language "tricks." Mostly having to do with simple juxtaposition of opposites. If they didn't tickle your funny bone on the first page, there wasn't going to be a lot of comedy in store for you there. The language hijinx have always made the philosophy underpinning the whole look a little comedic at first blush, but its absurdism is really pretty dire if you don't get on board with the funny.
It also makes Heller pretty easy to rip off. See, more recently, And Then We Came to the End. Josh Ferris ought to be paying royalties to the Heller estate.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
my guess is I could maybe make it through 50 pages of one of those books. my mind just cant handle it.
Jeff Vader
Footballguy
They're crack to my mind. I actually read passages of The Sound and the Fury on my ipod's Kindle ap between sets at the gym. This is book nerd level 11, for sure.
Idiot Boxer
Footballguy
not sure what it says about me if Benji's chapters are some of my favorites of all timeThey're crack to my mind. I actually read passages of The Sound and the Fury on my ipod's Kindle ap between sets at the gym. This is book nerd level 11, for sure.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
I sort of wish I was more into great literature. I push myself with movies and try to read a bit of non fiction, so when I get around to a novel I go a little more for entertainment.They're crack to my mind. I actually read passages of The Sound and the Fury on my ipod's Kindle ap between sets at the gym. This is book nerd level 11, for sure.
Eephus
Footballguy
I liked Catch-22 enough to pick up Heller's second novel Something Happened. He waited thirteen years to write his followup. I remember it as being a dreadful slog, with little of the wit of Catch-22.
I was a young man when I read both books. Even though Heller was almost 40 when Catch-22 was published, it was a reminiscence of his youth. Something Happened was the book by and about a much older man. Heller had turned 50 before finishing it. I wonder if I'd relate more to it today than I did then.
This is kind of a problem with books. The OP said books you've read multiple times but for me there just aren't that many. I've read a few books twice but I can't think of any I've read three times. Other art forms like movies, music and paintings require a lot less personal investment to experience. My tastes in music have evolved over the years--there are albums I loved in the 80s that do nothing for me today. Movies are more static but I still view them differently than I did in my teens and twenties. But books for me are forever coupled with the time, place and person I was when I read them for the first and only time.
Jeff Vader
Footballguy
I'm not sure what it says about me that Quentin's are my favorite, so much so that I can recite the opening paragraph even when sh!#faced drunk. Victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools, indeed.not sure what it says about me if Benji's chapters are some of my favorites of all timeThey're crack to my mind. I actually read passages of The Sound and the Fury on my ipod's Kindle ap between sets at the gym. This is book nerd level 11, for sure.
Val Rannous
Footballguy
Warning - Skiffy Nerd 
:
Dune - Frank Herbert
Inherit the Stars - James Hogan
The Shadow of the Lion - Mercedes Lackey et al.
Emergence - David Palmer
Ender's Game - Orson Card
Midnight at the Well of Souls - Jack Chalker
Anything by Heinlein
...and tons of other stuff, mostly series - 1632 series by Flint, MYTH books by Asprin, Dragonrider series by McCaffrey, Elenium series by Eddings, Conrad series by Frankowski, Kencyr series by Hodgell, Keeper series by Huff, Troy Rising series by Ringo, Callahan's books by Robinson, Boundry series by Spoor, stuff by Ing, Crichton, Clancy, Cussler - geez, I have and read too darn many books.
Val
:Dune - Frank Herbert
Inherit the Stars - James Hogan
The Shadow of the Lion - Mercedes Lackey et al.
Emergence - David Palmer
Ender's Game - Orson Card
Midnight at the Well of Souls - Jack Chalker
Anything by Heinlein
...and tons of other stuff, mostly series - 1632 series by Flint, MYTH books by Asprin, Dragonrider series by McCaffrey, Elenium series by Eddings, Conrad series by Frankowski, Kencyr series by Hodgell, Keeper series by Huff, Troy Rising series by Ringo, Callahan's books by Robinson, Boundry series by Spoor, stuff by Ing, Crichton, Clancy, Cussler - geez, I have and read too darn many books.
Val
Half in the bag
Footballguy
The Count of Monte Christo
The Name of the Rose
Smileys People
In Cold Blood
Five Hundred Years After
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Angela's Ashes
The Name of the Rose
Smileys People
In Cold Blood
Five Hundred Years After
To Kill a Mocking Bird
Angela's Ashes
FUBAR
Footballguy
Love Ender's game but never considered it a novel.Warning - Skiffy Nerd
Dune - Frank Herbert
Inherit the Stars - James Hogan
The Shadow of the Lion - Mercedes Lackey et al.
Emergence - David Palmer
Ender's Game - Orson Card
Midnight at the Well of Souls - Jack Chalker
Anything by Heinlein
...and tons of other stuff, mostly series - 1632 series by Flint, MYTH books by Asprin, Dragonrider series by McCaffrey, Elenium series by Eddings, Conrad series by Frankowski, Kencyr series by Hodgell, Keeper series by Huff, Troy Rising series by Ringo, Callahan's books by Robinson, Boundry series by Spoor, stuff by Ing, Crichton, Clancy, Cussler - geez, I have and read too darn many books.
Val
Val Rannous
Footballguy
Possibly because Card wrote it more than once - it was originally a short story (Analog, 1977) that was expanded to novel length which won the Hugo for best novel in 1986. He's since released updated versions to reflect things like the fall of the Soviet Union.Love Ender's game but never considered it a novel.Warning - Skiffy Nerd
Dune - Frank Herbert
Inherit the Stars - James Hogan
The Shadow of the Lion - Mercedes Lackey et al.
Emergence - David Palmer
Ender's Game - Orson Card
Midnight at the Well of Souls - Jack Chalker
Anything by Heinlein
...and tons of other stuff, mostly series - 1632 series by Flint, MYTH books by Asprin, Dragonrider series by McCaffrey, Elenium series by Eddings, Conrad series by Frankowski, Kencyr series by Hodgell, Keeper series by Huff, Troy Rising series by Ringo, Callahan's books by Robinson, Boundry series by Spoor, stuff by Ing, Crichton, Clancy, Cussler - geez, I have and read too darn many books.
Val
DocHolliday
Footballguy
Yes. I read World. They were both great. I have finished the first 2 of Follets century books as well. Hoping the last book of that trilogy is out this year. The century books were good but not as good as Pillars.
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
Americana is a great great book, but I think by the time he wrote Underworld, Delillo had become a master of his craft. Another one of those "my favorite" versus "best" problems.
Jeff Vader
Footballguy
You have to read Blood Meridian. Or, if it's too much, then read Outer Dark. McCarthy is the bomb.
Jeff Vader
Footballguy
Americana is the most purely inspired of Delillo's novels and nothing touches its prose brilliance. It is, though, a highly unbalanced novel in that Delillo had no idea how to structure things. He just shifted into drive and hit the pedal to the floor. White Noise is his most masterful effort, followed closely by Underworld. But in White Noise he knew exactly what he was doing as a novelist - character, structure, prose - it's all there. It isn't as blindly fantastic on a sentence by sentence level, but it's the more mature novel for sure.
ETA: btw, if you haven't read everything between White Noise and Underworld, do so. This is Delillo's golden period. Mao II, Libra, White Noise, Underworld - they're all brilliant. Hell even The Body Artist has its own quiet charm. After that? Meh. I read half of Falling Man and felt too embarrassed for my hero to continue.
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Jefferson the Caregiver
Rebel Without A Pause
I'll give it a try..something like this
East of Eden
L.A Confidential
Taipan
Breakfast of Champions
The Great Gatsby
World According to Garp
Blood Meridien
East of Eden
L.A Confidential
Taipan
Breakfast of Champions
The Great Gatsby
World According to Garp
Blood Meridien
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
rikishiboy
Footballguy
Todd Andrews
Footballguy
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