Best Novel of All Time?

[Speed Daemon]

"Runway 08", by Arthur Hailey and John Castle
"No Highway", by Nevil Shute
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", by Hunter S. Thompson

I can't decide which.

 

[Granite1]

Best book I've ever read is Dune by Frank Herbert.

Second is probably Ring World by Larry Niven, or Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

 

[MacFett]

Best book I've ever read is Dune by Frank Herbert.

And to think dune started as an essay on sand dunes.

 

[sudden22]

Life on The Mississippi by Mark Twain

 

[JonnyGrabbers]

Ham on Rye - Bukowski

 

[Thats]

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Followed closely by:

Les Mis

 

[Scootmien]

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

 

[davoid]

True. Enjoyable and technically well written are not necessarily the same thing. ( but can be)

I agree. One book that is both enjoyable and technically well written is Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

I read it because it was supposed to be good (Booker Prize winner) but what I didn't expect was for it to be enjoyable. Well it was great! I would never have guessed it was going to be so good a read. You've got kids born with superpowers! Like X-men in Bombay! (not quite... it is a literary novel, not an action adventure) Entertaining and well written, it also deals with real historical events and issues arising from the birth of India and Pakistan as nations. It's not called the "Booker of Bookers" for nothing. Brilliant. Magic realism at its best.

 

[Gmash]

I agree. One book that is both enjoyable and technically well written is Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

I read it because it was supposed to be good (Booker Prize winner) but what I didn't expect was for it to be enjoyable. Well it was great! I would never have guessed it was going to be so good a read. You've got kids born with superpowers! Like X-men in Bombay! (not quite... it is a literary novel, not an action adventure) Entertaining and well written, it also deals with real historical events and issues arising from the birth of India and Pakistan as nations. It's not called the "Booker of Bookers" for nothing. Brilliant. Magic realism at its best.

That sounds really cool. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out when I get a chance.

 

[dustwun77]

Magister Ludi, The Glass Bead Game, by Hermann Hesse

 

[walmart989]

Lots of things, mostly by Stephen King come to mind. I loves me some King. Especially the Dark Tower series.

King says that all 7 books are all really parts of one long uber novel, so my vote goes to that.

 

[bluebayou]

Books that left a deep impression upon me as a teenager:

1) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2) The Scarlet Letter
3) The Machine of Death
4) The 5 People You Meet in Heaven

 

[NukeBenji]

I couldn't narrow it down.

During my teen years it would be Catcher in The Rye by Salinger. I've grown out of that though. I really love a book called The Dark Beyond The Stars by Frank M. Robinson...that may very well come in at number one.

 

[alexacuna]

I'm bouncing between J G Ballard and Kerouac this summer. Huge Vonnegut and Bukowski fan, though.

About halfway into Big Sur right now (rereading).

 

[phonebuddy]

Books that left a deep impression upon me as a teenager:

1) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2) The Scarlet Letter
3) The Machine of Death
4) The 5 People You Meet in Heaven

Definitely! Anything that impressed me at a younger age, teens or college (not that long ago), is still awesome to me.

#1: The Scarlet Letter

The imagery and the passion behind the words.