Epic Reads You Would Recommend

[avebury]

House Divided by Ben Ames Williams (now available for Kindle - whoo hoo!).

I got interested in the book because Edmond Ruffin (who claimed to have fired the first shot at Fort Sumter and married someone in my mother's family way back in) is mentioned in the book.

From amazon.com

First published in 1947, this bestselling historical novel is cherished and remembered as one of the finest retellings of the Civil War saga—America's own War and Peace. In the first hard pinch of the Civil War, five siblings of an established Confederate Virginia family learn that their father is the grandfather of Abraham Lincoln. The family's story, and the story of their descendants, is presented in this tale that includes both soldiers and civilians—complete with their boasting, ambition, and arrogance, but also their patience, valor, and shrewdness. The grandnephew of General James Longstreet, the author brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods in history, and details war as it really is—a disease from which, win or lose, no nation ever completely recovers.

[MrScorpio]

1. Gilgamesh! nt

[Xyzse]

2. A Few that I Could think of that is not the usual

The Sunne in Splendor
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sunne-In-Splendour-Richard/dp/031237593X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373552039&sr=8-1&keywords=sun+in+splendor
It is a novel about Richard III. It creates a sympathetic picture of the much maligned monarch.

Sarum
http://www.amazon.com/Sarum-Edward-Rutherfurd/dp/B006U1LYP8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373552156&sr=8-2&keywords=sarum
A Novel of England spanning about 10,000 years. It follows the progress of families throughout generations.

[sbh]

3. Kama Sutra

While it is generally considered a "sex book", it is more about human interaction. I highly recommend it.

[Aristus]

4. Colleen McCullough's "Master Of Rome" series.

It is the Epic Of Epics. A seven-volume series covering the ascendancy of Gaius Marius in 110b.c. to the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra in 23b.c.

Before I had read a single one of these books, I thought McCullough was a romance novelist. I found out that she is a very dedicated historical fiction writer. All seven of the "MoR" series are intensely well-researched, and offer minute details of life in the Roman Republic.

I had once hoped that someone would produce a mini-series based on the books, but there have been several miniseries now about Ancient Rome, all of which seem to be inferior to the story as McCullough told it, so the viewers market is saturated.

[Glorfindel]

6. I agree 100%!

Those books are awesome.

[Rowdyboy]

11. My absolute favorites in the world....finished them all twice

and will probably go for a third shot soon.

Also led me to the works of Steven Saylor (Roman Gordianus the Finder, a detective of sorts in the last years of the Republic) and Lindsey Davis' series on Marcus Didius Falco, an imperial agent 120 years after Caesar during the time of Vespasion and later his sons Titus and Domitian.

[Glorfindel]

17. Oh, thanks, Rowdyboy

I now have two more series to put on reading list!

[Rowdyboy]

20. If you enjoyed Colleen McCullough, you will really like Saylor and Davis' work....

Saylor is a gay Texan from a very middle class background and Ms Davis is English. Both series are filled with memorable characters and most of Saylor's stories are based on real cases McCullough mentions in her wonderful series. Davis' Falco lives both before and after the explosion of Vesuvius. In at least one book he visits Pompeii as an active city.

It's like stepping back in time.....

[Aristus]

25. I love those series of books! Another series you might try:

The S.P.Q.R. mystery series by John Maddox Roberts.

The Falco mysteries tell stories of from from (initially) the working-class perspective.

Gordianus is a middle-class protagonist.

Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger of the S.P.Q.R. novels, is a nobleman, acting in an investigatory capacity; offering an upper-class view of the Roman Republic. I think the Metellus mysteries are inferior to the Falco and Gordianus ones, but still enjoyable reading.

[Rowdyboy]

26. Sounds like something right up my alley....I'm winding up the Gordianus series....

And about 1/2 way through Falco (Helena just had their 1st baby). Three Hands in the Fountain is next. Will Definitely check out John Maddox Roberts.

[WCGreen]

21. Those books are great....

[Glorfindel]

5. "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" by Herman Wouk

The best novels of World War II I have ever read.

[Auggie]

19. Those were excellent!

[pscot]

7. Gore Vidal's American Chronicles

Starting with Burr and ending with The Golden Age. History you didn't learn in high school.

[WCGreen]

22. Did those as well...

Vidals' take on American History is stunning,humanizing the whole process of nation building...

[Demo_Chris]

8. "The Far Pavilions" by M.M. Kaye...

"The Mote in God's Eye" by Niven

Harry Potter -- all of them. If you haven't, just swallow your snoppishness and read the damn things. They are, without question, one of the greatest fantasy series ever. I might even go so far as to say the best.

[Rowdyboy]

12. Agree on Harry Potter...I read all 7 books on an exercise bike at the gym....

They were a pure delight.

[avebury]

30. I loved the audio versions of the Harry Potter

series. Great narrator.

[NewJeffCT]

40. Jim Dale

and, I would agree on him being excellent.

[Demoiselle]

35. I loved The Far Pavilions. (nt)

[Demo_Chris]

36. Had Bush read that we would have never invaded Afghanistan. nt

[Demoiselle]

37. Based on an assumption,of course...

...that if he had indeed read it, he could comprehend it.

[Demo_Chris]

38. hehe nt

[Locut0s]

9. 100 years of solitude...

I'm a broken record on this book, already mentioned it in another thread. But seriously it will blow your mind.

[Ptah]

10. Master of the Senate by Robert Caro.

[cemaphonic]

13. Faulkner's "Absalom, Absalom!"

I bounced off that book probably a half-dozen times. (and I like Faulkner). The narrative frame is incredibly convoluted, the timeline jumps all over the place, often without warning. and the first 50 pages or so are two characters talking about events and people they've known about all their lives, and you don't. And it's got some of the longest, most complicated sentences, in all of English Literature (longer than a page, more than once). So it's a big beast of a book.

And yet, once I finally got my bearings, it really delivers on the Southern Gothic craziness. Murder(s), incest, slave revolts, people barricaded (sometimes for years) in cellars and attics, backwoods plantation Fight Club, insanity, deep family secrets, etc. It takes place on a backdrop of nearly 100 years of history, from the antebellum South through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to the early 20th century. And Faulkner pulls an amazing narrative trick of regularly foreshadowing (and not the subtle kind, pretty much a literal description) an event that is central to the plot, yet somehow, when the narrative catches up to the event, it still packs an emotional punch (and a surprise or two).

In summary, it's a giant pain in the ass to read, but utterly fascinating once you get the hang of it.

[Chan790]

32. Adding it to my list. n/t

[loli phabay]

14. the histories by herodutus, great historical read thats like a travelogue

[olddots]

15. Bloods A Rover by James Ellroy

and his two previous books . A very grimy history of the U.S. in the last few decades written in noir .

I can't recommend Ellroy enough .

[dipsydoodle]

16. 1945 Conn 10M "Lady Face" takes a bit of beating when it comes to reeds.

Or so I'm told.

[Bertha Venation]

18. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

About a girl's family and her own growing up in turn-of-the-20th-century Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Do not miss this book. I don't usually use phrases like this, but I can't think of another way to get this across: the story is at once heartbreaking and hopeful.

[WCGreen]

23. The Source, a Michner tome that really opened my eyes to how religion might have developed...

and entertaining as well...

[Gravitycollapse]

24. Gravity's Rainbow. Hands down the most insanely epic novel I've ever read.

Otherwise, Moby Dick.

[petronius]

27. The Aeneid, translated by C. Day Lewis

The Aubrey and Maturin series, by Patrick O'Brien (it's like Jane Austen, but with cannons!).

The entire Archie Goodwin (OK, technically Nero Wolfe) series.

The Brother Cadfael series, by Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter). It's also worth watching, by the way - Derek Jacobi absolutely nailed it.

And everything P. G. Wodehouse wrote involving Bertie, Jeeves, Psmith, and/or the folks at Blandings...

[bluedigger]

28. A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin

A Soldier of the Great War (1991) is a novel by Mark Helprin concerning an aged World War I veteran who recounts his life and adventures while traveling with a young man he meets after the two of them are thrown off a bus, the former leaving after the latter is refused entry, as the older man marches toward a visit with his granddaughter, neither knowing the outcome of their journey.

As a young man, Alessandro Giuliani foresees Italy's entry into the Great War and joins the navy rather than waiting to be drafted into the more dangerous infantry. This reasoned and logical course of action has no place in a world gone mad, and Alessandro's life, loves, friendships and fortunes all take bizarre and often tragic turns. Still, Alessandro is able to find beauty not so much because he is a professor of aesthetics (though he is) but because he is profoundly spiritual. As he nears the end of his life story, Alessandro tells his young companion, "And yet if you asked me what [the truth] was, I can't tell you. I can tell you only that it overwhelmed me, that all the hard and wonderful things of the world are nothing more than a frame for a spirit, like fire and light, that is the endless roiling of love and grace. I can tell you only that beauty cannot be expressed or explained in a theory or an idea, that it moves by its own law, that it is God's way of comforting His broken children."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Soldier_of_the_Great_War

Very few novels have moved me both to laughter and to tears. I highly recommend this and Helprin's other novels and short stories. He is a master of prose.

[retread]

29. A first epic read for many.

[First Speaker]

31. "The Good Companions" by J.B. Priestly

...a picaresque novel from England in 1929, about some people caught up in a travelling acting troupe. It's a little reminiscent of Dickens, and of Cervantes, but has a real flavor of its own...and it just might get you into Priestly, a great--and *very* English--writer... ...

[ConcernedCanuk]

33. On the Beach and No Highway by Nevil Shute

.
.
.

Also wrote A Town Like Alice, but not sure if I ever read that one.

His complete works can be found at link below.

http://www.librarything.com/author/shutenevil

On the Beach had a huge impact on me, even in my youth in the early 60's- read the comments below (not mine) and you may understand my username, as well as why all this war shit disturbs me so much.
______________________________________________________________________________

ON THE BEACH by Nevil Shute

After a nuclear World War III, the northern hemisphere is left totally and entirely lifeless. You wouldn't know it looking at it, the cities are still standing, and there is little evidence of a war, but the radiation has eliminated every life form on the northern half of the planet. Those in the southern hemisphere, who played very little part in that utterly devastating war, are suffering the consequences of their short-sighted neighbors. Goods can no longer be imported from other countries, and there is no petrol. Worst of all, the radiation is slowly, inexorably moving south. Carried on changing, seasonal winds, the last people on earth are counting down the days to their own deaths, when the cloud of radiation finally reaches the last vestiges of humanity and totally wipes it out.

It's an incredibly bleak scenario, made all the more depressing by Shute's unfortunate ability to create likable characters! They are sweet, playful, despicably human and all incredibly endearing, and even though throughout the entire book they refer to their own inevitable deaths, Shute effectively ripped my heart out at the end. The bastard!

The book is a wonderful one though, it is as thought-provoking as a good novel should be, and there is no doubt it will stick with me for some time. Despite how horrible the book made me feel in the end, I suspect I will look back on this book with a tremendous sense of fondness.
____________________________________________________________________________

CC

[nomorenomore08]

34. William Faulkner is amazing - 'The Sound and the Fury,' 'Absalom, Absalom!,' 'Light in August.'

Any of those will keep you going for a while - not the longest books ever written, but extremely dense with both story and language.

If you really want a challenge then try 'Ulysses.' I read it in about 5 weeks with the help of an annotated guide. Which, believe me, I would've been lost without.

[DFW]

39. "Aztec" by Gary Jennings

Not a better epic-length novel out there