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Favorite books

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kaitco:
In no particular order:

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk; Because not enough people have mentioned him and he fantastically noteworthy.

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton; While many people consider his writing as low-brow (I can only fathom some kind of literary elitism, the likes of which I witnessed time and time again when completing my degree), I loved every moment of this book. I love all of Crichton's work. I think people are simply hard-pressed to tear down his work because it is mass marketed and so many crappy movies have been made using his novels as a foundation.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald; When I first read this in high school, I was still in my rebellious, "Teacher, there's no way I'm going to let you tell me which writers I should and should not value" mode and never took the time to really appreciate Gatsby. It was not until college when I took a chance to revisit all the novels I had discounted in my high school ways that I understood and then loved Gatsby. It is a treasure.

Fried Green Tomatoes at Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg; I know there is a film adaptation of this, but I refuse to see it lest I taint my love of this novel. It has a very "chick book" feel to it, but I had never cried happy tears while reading a book before this one.

The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris; Again, we have a mass marketed novel that is not too difficult to read and is often snubbed by those who consider themselves among the literary elite. That still should not distract a reader from enjoying a very well-written story whose secondary characters evolve into the story's protagonists by the end of the novel.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling; I have read the entire series, went to midnight parties for the last three novels, went to midnight showings for Movies 2-4 and have grown past my infatuation with the entire Harry Potter "thing." That said, I still adore this book. Of the entire series, it is the only one I can simply pick up and just start reading. While Prisoner of Azkaban involves some very "cool" storytelling, only in Goblet of Fire does Rowling keep her protagonist at the forefront and keep control of the story. Order of the Phoenix seems to runaway with itself, Half-Blood Prince brought about too many drastic character changes to be able to focus on the story and Books 1, 2 and 7 were simply "okay" stories. Goblet of Fire carries a magic all on its own.

Persuasion - Jane Austen; Everyone loves Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility and Emma and whatever, but Persuasion, Austen's last novel, is beautifully brilliant. It is not as well known as her others, but really...if you have never read it, definitely take the time to do so.

The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy; It is filled with such subtle power that when you realize the novel has finished, you just want to read it all over again. Normally, I cannot stand a story without a linear chronology, but this never loses me and, by the end, it is obvious there is no other way the story could have been told.

Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid; I am not really sure how to describe it. Some days I think that "Descent" would have made a better title, but Hamid has this way of giving the reader just enough insight about his subsidiary characters to enable readers to simultaneously love and loathe his protagonist.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett; I never read this as a child, which is why I think I can appreciate it as an adult. I simply love watching little Mary grow from an emotionally abused child into a "pretty little thing" and I adore noting the differences between novel and its many adaptations; no director has ever really got it right.

Anna and the King of Siam - Margaret Landon; Yes, it displays the author's and also the main character's unwavering prejudices. Yes, its historical accuracy is up for some debate. And yes, the Thai people disregard Anna Leonowens and any impact she had on their monarchy, but this novel is still fantastic.

Death Be Not Proud - John Gunther; There is still a part of me that keeps thinking that Little Johnny is going to make it and spends a lot of time wondering how he would have shaped the world if he had held on even a little longer.

The Bible; Even if you read it as a work of literature, it is still captivating in a way that most works can never match. From manager to crucifixion, St. Luke presents a strong narration full of details that would be heavily discussed even if this did not regard the fixture of Christian faith. The Book of Job illustrates a man with steadfast devotion to his Lord; hardly any author could pull off something like this today. I could spend all day talking about specific stories or figures, but I simply lack the time. Suffice it say, The Bible is a work in its own regard.

Lepre:

--- Quote from: Uber Ritter on 25 Jan 2009, 18:27 ---God I love Descent into Hell.

Williams was close friends with Tolkien and CS Lewis, and is often grouped with them due to shared religious convictions and an interest in the mythic, but he's a lot weirder than either of the others.  In a continuum of fantastic literature, with Tolkien and High Fantasy on one end of the spectrum and Borges and other magical realists on the other, he's definitely closer to Borges.

--- End quote ---

My word! I rarely encounter another fan.

Any opinion on his Arthurian Poetry?

If this is too off-topic, I highly recommend the work to anyone interested in Arthur or poetry. Both Taliessin Through Logres and the Region of the Summer Stars are masterful re-workings of the Arthurian myth. I mean, for crying out loud, the guy sets Logres in the Byzantine Empire threatened by a dark cephalopod god. It doesn't get much cooler than that. To be fair, it can be a little difficult to read at times (Lewis, his best friend and a literary genius says he didn't understand parts) but it's absolutely worth it.

TheFuriousWombat:
I think I have to add Roberto Bolano's 2666 to my list. It's absolutely brilliant, a massive, sprawling, chaotic, anarchic riot of language. It's at turns beautiful, terrifying, and hilarious, raunchy, violent and bizarre. It's masterfully controlled despite the fact that it's almost palpably overflowing from the pages. Bolano slowly builds up an incredible world full of strange, deranged, miserable, lost, exiled characters, the writing often infused with a subtle dread. Ultimately though it's an amazingly profound study on the possibilities, and the necessity, of art, of writing itself. I've never finished a 900 page book and immediately felt the urge to plunge right back in again at the first page until I finished this. I can recommend it enough to be honest.

Shadows Collide:
I am DYING to read that one, but I am currently going through his first one, The Savage Detectives. It's simply a joy, a flowing text full of weird, funny, imaginative anecdotes about the kind of kids I wish I knew - the passionate ones, who read, talk and fuck to their heart's content. Yet there is always a layer of melancholy over the adventure (like Kerouac's On the Road). It is told in that freewheeling style I love.

But it only sounds like a buildup to 2666, the magnum opus Belano completely just before his death. Wow. I can't wait now.

ledhendrix:
Perfume - Patrick Suskind

A fantastic book. There was a movie recently made based on this book, but it in no way does any kind of justice to how good this book is. It is delightfully twisted and just generally awesome.

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