What are your favorite novels?

[OnionPatch]

My head is going to explode if I read anymore politics. I need a weekend stretched out in the hammock with a good novel. List some of your favorites.

Some of mine:

The Poisonwood Bible....Barbara Kingsolver
Cold Mountain......(can't remember who wrote it)
The Source, Chesapeake and most of James Michener's books
Sacajawea.....Anna Lee Waldo
Outlander and all of that series by Diana Gabaldon

[Khephra]

1. The Illuminatus Trilogy

By Shea and Wilson.

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. Catch-22

By Joseph Heller

and when I was a kid, I absolutely loved "To Kill a Mockingbird"...I had such a crush on Atticus Finch. Such a noble, heroic character

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

3. Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Hawkline Monster by Richard Brautigan
Anything by Raymond Chandler
On The Road by Jack Kerouac

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I love the Outlander novels.. and anything with a romantic bent and kilts.

Also love sci-fi and fantasy, esp the funny stuff like Adams, Anthony, Asprin, Brooks, and Pratchett.

I have a book review site that may or may not be working today: Dangerously Curvy Novels. The tripod mirror site should be working if the real one isn't. :^)

http://curvynovels.tripod.com/

[PoliticsSportsMusic]

5. Watership Down is a book I'll never forget...classic!! n/t

[OnionPatch]

15. ooo I read that!

Good, but disturbing. I read another by the same guy about some dogs that escaped from an animal testing facility. Can't remember the name. It was good too, and weird.

Edited to add: The name is The Plague Dogs.

[AlCzervik]

6. some of mine

The lovely Bones
She's come undone
Jurassic Park-far better to read than to watch.
Shogun
Memoirs of a Geisha

[Nadienne]

42. I agree:

Jurassic Park is a much better read.

I've read Shogun too, long ago... Good book.

[goddess40]

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

It isn't about the republicans. It is a trilogy, the American titles are:
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
"unlocks the door to worlds parallel to our own. Dæmons and winged creatures live side by side with humans, and a mysterious entity called Dust just might have the power to unite the universes--if it isn't destroyed first." From Amazon
Fantastic Sci Fi and if you can listen to it on tape it is out of the world. Pullman does that narration himself and there is a cast for the rest.

[Khephra]

8. It is also a play

[goddess40]

9. I've heard rumors of a possible movie

It would be hard to make it better than the book though

Like Jurassic Park, I have to agree that the movie didn't live up to the books.

(I also loved Poisonwood Bible)

[WindRavenX]

36. Good choice!

His Dark Materials trilogy is one of my favorites!
Aside from that, my absolute #1 favorite novel of all time is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (aka, God)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

41. Hooray!

Good choice.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. The Journeyer by Gary Jennings and all of Stephen King's books....

your list and these are a few fiction books i read

[LowerManhattanite]

10. My faves...

Invisible Man-Ralph Ellison

Manchild In The Promised Land-Claude Brown

100 Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald

American Tabloid- James Ellroy

Just a few I happen to like.

[indigobusiness]

26. Manchild in the Promised Land ...knocked me out as a boy

in need of good medicine.

It was that.

Kudos on a great choice...I need to read that again.

[senseandsensibility]

11. Catcher in the Rye

is one of my all time favorites. I just know Holden was a liberal. And as suggested by my nick, I do like Jane Austen novels, especially Sense and Sensibility. A more modern novel(later made into a movie which I din't see) that I like is Leaving Las Vegas. If you've seen the movie, and haven't read the book, give it a try!

[Rick Myers]

12. Neuromancer

[gmoney]

13. Martin Amis "Money" and "London Fields"

Also "Success" and "Dead Babies" have their moments...

[mitchum]

23. "Money " is excellent...

I don't know why Tom Wolfe bothered with his embarrassing "Bonfire of the Vanities" when "Money" already existed. It captured many of the same themes far better in far fewer pages.

[Gildor Inglorion]

14. Some big, fat, wonderfully satisfying novels...

perfect for summertime reading and excellently written, too:
"The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance," by Herman Wouk...the historical characters mesh seamlessly with the Henry and Jastrow families as they endure the trials and horrors of World War II
"Trinity," by Leon Uris - shudder at the amazing parallels between what happened at the partition of Ireland and the neocon/religious right takeover occurring in this country nowadays
Several Stephen King novels, but especially "The Stand"
and my favorite novel of all time "A Tale of Two Cities," by Charles Dickens - the perfect story, in my humble opinion.

[Nadienne]

43. Stephen King novels...

Definitely. I think that's why I'm such a liberal, actually. I'm rereading The Talisman; there's a Pat Robertson-type televangelical character who is clearly insane, raging about Communists and such. And now that I think about it, many of his books have an insane televangelical types in them. The Stand, too... The community in Las Vegas seems like a conservative's dream.

[sir_captain]

16. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

[indigobusiness]

21. Love Walker Percy but never got around to The Moviegoer

which everybody cites as his best. Been on my list forever.

[gmoney]

25. "Last Gentleman" is another Percy prize

<eom>

[sir_captain]

39. I also quite enjoy

Love in the Ruins--sort of like The Moviegoer on acid, I'd say

[mitchum]

17. "Madame Bovary", "Last Exit To Brooklyn", "Ladies Man", "Cockfighter"...

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "Absalom, Absalom", "The Damnation of Theron Ware", "In Cold Blood" (it's a nonfiction novel according to Capote)

[flamingyouth]

18. Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers
A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
Outlander series as well

[bleedingheart]

52. Mists tops my list

you have good taste in books...as do most of the DUers here!

[indigobusiness]

19. Blood Meridian-Cormac MacCarthy......Dr. Sleep-Madison Smartt Bell

The Magus-John Fowles

Opium-Tony Cohan

Foucault's Pendulum-Umberto Eco

The Last Fair Deal Going Down/or/Rock Island Line-David Rhodes

on edit---How could I forget:

Stranger in a Strange Land (unabridged version)-Robert Heinlein

Mountains of the Moon-Wm Harrison

Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad

------------

Good thread OnionPatch, thanks for starting it.

[kat21]

20. The Stand, by Stephen King -

Even though his other novels are all very good it blows them all away. The movie was awful though.

[On the Road]

22. "Justine" by Lawrence Durrell

and a few other entries:

"A Word Child" or any other Iris Murdoch
"Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins
"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace

[Zorro]

45. I second "Justine"

and recommend the rest of the Alexandria Quartet, too.

It is THE monumental work of modern English literature, IMHO. Budding authors will either be extremely discouraged or challenged by Durrell's exquisite writing.

[On the Road]

48. Hey, Zorro!

You're the first Durrell fan I've found on DU!

:toast:

He has really dropped off the map. The AQ is not only the most poetic fiction I've ever read, but is full of an inebriating mixture of sex, psychology, local color, religious arcana, politics, and all kinds of other stuff. It is NOT the kind of classic you feel you ought to read but can't manage to slog through.

50. I'm a Durrell fan also

He may have dropped off the map but I think he's influenced some people.
For example there are parts of V. by Pynchon (the sections set in Malta) that are very reminiscent of the Alexandria Quartet & some of Pynchon's "project" in that novel follows Durrell's project of showing things from 3 different spatial perspectives and the perspective of time.

[On the Road]

55. Hmmm....Never Read Pynchon

Will have to check him out.

56. Mind you it's only parts of the novel

just keep that in mind if you look at it.
Pynchon also took creative writing from Nabokov at Cornell. He's influenced by quite a few people actually.

[On the Road]

57. Oh, Wow -- I Read a Lot of Nobokov's Lectures

They must have been some of the same ones Pynchon listened to live.

58. Well, happy reading then!

:toast:

[Zorro]

65. "V" is quite impressive for a first novel

That was quite an enjoyable read, in a dark but silly kind of way for me -- I first read it while stationed on Crete, so I could certainly relate to some of the situations Pynchon writes about. I'm convinced that he must have served some time in the Navy.

I also enjoyed reading "The Crying of Lot 49", which is probably more accessible for most readers; its paranoid theme kind of creeps up on you.

But returning to Durrell, it's unfortunate that his work is so neglected these days. The Alexandria Quartet has an almost dreamlike quality about it, and the sheer richness of Durrell's writing combined with his story of romance, mystery, and conspiracy makes it truly a virtuoso performance.

[Zorro]

67. The Alexandria Quartet is Durrell's finest work

It's unfortunate that his later work did not measure up to the standard he set for himself. I never have been able to get into The Avignon Quintet, for example.

But the four novels of the Quartet are a brilliant, shimmering tour-de-force in literature. I hope other people will once again rediscover this particular work; it would make an interesting theatrical work, if some director picked up the challenge to bring it to the screen.

[curse10]

24. David Copperfield- Dickens

Wuthering Heights- Bronte
The Stand- King
Anna Karenina- Tolstoy
Slaughterhouse 5-- Vonnegut

[OnionPatch]

27. The Stand! How could I forget!

That book was great! I always remember the part about the guy going through the Lincoln Tunnel. Ewww! And the Trashcan Man.
Shogun and Jurrasic Park I also read and loved. Great suggestions, all. I'll print this thread and take it to the library tomorrow. Woo Hoo....big weekend at the Onion Patch.

[NightTrain]

28. "The Brother Karamazov," "Of Human Bondage," "Grapes of Wrath,"...

..."Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," "Catch-22," "Last Exit To Brooklyn," "Crime & Punishment," "City of Night," "On The Road," and "Naked Lunch," to name a few at random.

[bloodyjack]

30. ah, Karamazov. one of the greatest

shame about that ending, though. pancakes! of course! hurray for pancakes!

dosty was planning a sequel of sorts before his head exploded in 1881 (or was that '82? I forget). the story would have revolved around Alyosha. maybe they'll dig up the preliminary notes and outlines and such and translate them sometime.

[lpbk2713]

29. I always feel better after I read

"The Old Man and the Sea". And BTW thanks for the reminder, It's been a while since the last time.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

31. Here are a few of the books that have been burned into my memory

and that you might enjoy. Kind of an eclectic assortment:

I, Claudius/Robert Graves
To Kill A Mockingbird/Harper Lee
Midnight's Children/Salman Rushdie
Brave New World/Aldous Huxley
Darkness At Noon/Arthur Koestler
The Sound And The Fury/Wm. Faulkner
The Song Of Kali/Dan Simmons
The Door Into Summer/Robert Heinlein
Lolita/Nabokov
One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich/Solzhenitsyn
All The King's Men/Robert Penn Warren
Neuromancer/Wm. Gibson
Nova/Samuel R. Delaney

[Richardo]

32. New: Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

'Classic':

Catch-22
2001: A Space Odyssey
To Kill A Mockingbird
Huckleberry Finn
Alice in Wonderland
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There
Hoot (Hiaasen)
Lucky You (Hiassen)
The Source (Michener)

[Downtown Hound]

33. Stephen King is my favorite author, and here are my King favorites:

It
The Stand
The Shining
The Dark Tower Series
Salem's Lot
Hearts in Atlantis
Skeleton Crew
The Green Mile
The Tommyknockers
Gerald's Game

Also,

"1984" by George Orwell

"Snow Crash" by Neil Stephenson

"The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury

"Better Than Sex" by Hunter S. Thompson

and the Harry Potter books.

[HEyHEY]

34. Papillion, Angela's ashes, My war gone by, I miss it so

[Fleshdancer]

35. Memoirs of a Geisha, Chocalat, and The DaVinci Code

I also LOVE the Alex Deleware novels by Jonathan Kellerman and just about anything written by Patricia Cornwell...especially the Kay Scarpetta series. I'm a sucker for psychological thrillers.

[Red State Rebel]

53. Memoirs of a Geisha - Fabulous!!!!

Also loved:
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
Ironweed - don't know

[drhilarius]

37. "Gravity's Rainbow", "100 Years of Solitude",....

"The Sound and the Fury", "Time's Arrow", "White Noise", "Crime and Punishment".

[ChoralScholar]

38. I don't read much fiction anymore

but I particularly enjoyed 'Catcher in the Rye'

I mainly read for information now.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

40. 1984, Even Cowgirls get the Blues, Slaughterhouse 5, LOTR - I read more

non-fiction tho

[Nadienne]

44. Jack London's The Iron Heel

is one of my favorites.

Also, Stephen King novels - especially Firestarter and The Stand.

And The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

And Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

And The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

[LWolf]

46. Here are just a few:

I agree with Poisonwood Bible; my favorite Kingsolver is Prodigal Summer.

Actually, if I like an author, I have a hard time choosing just one of their books to recommend. So here are some favorite authors:

Sharon McCrumb
Elizabeth Peters
Margaret Atwood
Mercedes Lackey
Patricia McKillip
Ursula LeGuin

You can browse their titles at Amazon or your local book store...lots to choose from!

Some other great books I read this year include:

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith...a series.
Song of the Whale by Barry Brailsford
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

And an older favorite:

Tea with Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

[MissMillie]

47. A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Hotel New Hampshire, Slaughterhouse 5

Irving and Vonnegut.... always take the cake.

[chefgirl]

49. You've already listed some of my faves...Poisonwood, Cold Mountain....

I loved 'Outlander' too, and am just starting 'Drangonfly in Amber'. Looks like it will be just as good as the first.

Some of my other recent favorites:

'Pillars of the Earth' Ken Follett
'The Surgeon' Tess Gerritsen (actually, almost anything by Tess Gerritsen)
'Ramses' Christian Jacq (there is an entire Ramses series. Mostly factual history but they read like good, juicy novels)

Enjoy your hammock!!

-chef-

[terrya]

51. Gore Vidal's history of the United States from "Burr" to "The Golden Age"

Absoultely brilliant, all of them. "Lincoln", while a novel, is one of the best biographies of Lincoln as President ever written. All of these books are meticulously researched by Vidal. And wonderfully entertaining.

[amazona]

54. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

It has everything.

[Spider Jerusalem]

59. I have quite a few favourites...

Grouped by author:

Thomas Pynchon - "Gravity's Rainbow", "V.", "The Crying of Lot 49"

Umberto Eco - "Foucault's Pendulum", "The Name of the Rose"

William Faulkner - "Light in August"

F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"

Ralph Ellison - "Invisible Man"

Neal Stephenson - "Cryptonomicon"

Vladimir Nabokov - "Lolita"

Salman Rushdie - "The Satanic Verses"

Fyodor Dostoevsky - "Crime and Punishment", "Notes From Underground"

Kurt Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse-Five", "God Bless You, Mr Rosewater"

Phillip K Dick - "A Scanner Darkly"

Joseph Heller - "Catch-22"

Anthony Burgess - "A Clockwork Orange, "Earthly Powers"

David Foster Wallace - "Infinite Jest"

William S Burroughs - "Cities of the Red Night", "The Place of Dead Roads", "The Western Lands", "Naked Lunch"

Louis-Ferdinand Celine - "Death on the Installment Plan"

and quite a few others...

[playahata1]

60. Mine:

Ugly Ways -- Tina McElroy Ansa
Invisible Man -- Ralph Ellison
The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon -- Toni Morrison
The White Boy Shuffle -- Paul Beatty
The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian, The Color Purple -- Alice Walker
Go Tell It on the Mountain -- James Baldwin
The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van (aka: The Barrytown Trilogy) -- Roddy Doyle
The Harder They Come -- Michael Thelwell
The Godfather -- Mario Puzo
Brown Girl, Brownstones; Praisesong for the Widow -- Paule Marshall
The Famished Road -- Ben Okri
The Emigrants -- George Lamming
The Marrow of Tradition -- Charles Chesnutt
The Catcher in the Rye -- J.D. Salinger

[ceile]

61. "Alice in Wonderland"

"The Wind and the Willows" I can't wait to have kids and buy them for them.
The Color Purple
Mayor of Castor Bridge
A Passage to India
Wuthering Heights, probably my all time favorite

[melv]

62. The Eight by Katherine Neville

Awesome Book. It's a giant novel, but I couldn't put it down!

I also loved the Outlander series.

You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down - by Alice Walker

[melv]

63. Maya Angelou

"I know why the caged bird sings"

[Cybergata]

64. So many, so little time....

I love Another Road Side Attraction by Tom Robbins. I read Tom's most recent book, Villa Incognito, last summer, and it is a close second.

:hippie:

[RetroLounge]

66. Off the top of my head

Still life with woodpecker - Tom Robbins
100 years of solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Loop - Joe Coomer
Apologizing to Dogs - Joe Coomer
The Sound and the Fury - Faulkner
For whom the bell tolls - Hemingway

RL

[MrsMatt]

68. any of Jane Austen's novels

I've read "Pride & Prejudice" at least eight times, and I still laugh out loud in places. "Emma" is my second favorite.

You can't go wrong with "100 Years of Solitude" or "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by GGM

Any John Irving, but "Prayer for Owen Meany" is my fave.