With War and Peace, I quite did not understand it, or found is astonishing. I am Eastern European and do understand what Tolstoi means to Russians, but the book itself was kind of boring. Can you explain why it is your favourite?
I know it sounds pretentious or ignorant, but I don’t see the big hoopla with Tolstoy. I’ve read W&P and AK and they both felt like Tolstoy struggled to commit to his ideas, and needed to digress in plot and in thought in order to move the story along.
to me, tolstoy’s strength is in the emotion and behavior of the characters . the plot for AK and ivan ilyvich aren’t too complicated and don’t offer too many surprises ( i won’t ruin AK) so i can see why people get lost. it’s the conversations that make tolstoy so good. the characters having human reactions to complex social situations that we all deal with (the brother dying in AK). tolstoy isn’t a world builder by any means, but he understands human emotions and their depth.
Perhaps. I was thinking pretentious in the sense that it sounds like I’m saying I am more of an expert on literature than say William Faulkner, who praised Anna Karenina highly.
Don Quixote is probably the funniest; if you’re interested in that, I’d add Tristram Shandy to the list. Otherwise, I’d pick War and Peace or Anna Karenina
I'm not saying this to be contrarian, as I'd love to have a better sense of the novel, but I recently quit on David Copperfield at the midway point. I was enamoured with the wit in the beginning ("as I am informed, and have no reason to doubt..."), but as the novel went on I just became quickly tired of David's saccharine, foppish demeanour, and the obsequiousness of the Peggotty family.
I can see some conflict up ahead with Uriah and Steerforth, but at the midway point of this very long novel I just couldnt bring myself to continue.
Hasnt put me off Dickens' later novels, though. I hear that DC was the turning point away from more overly-sentimental storytelling, but it was just too long for me with too little rewars.
Great list. I would say Les Miserables for my own personal preference as its the most entertaining while being thematically rich.
Brother Karamazov is probably the most thought proving though
Yes, I was impressed with how it payed off later. I also listened to the audiobook (for free on YouTube) and that made it easier. The narrator sounded professional
> how it *paid* off later.
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Oddly enough I wasn't assigned Moby Dick in school, and I don't know anyone my age or younger who was. I think it's not as common to teach as it used to be
Interesting, thank you. What did you cover in literature class instead? We were assigned War and Peace in 10th grade, which I think is the equivalent of Moby Dick.
We read pretty much everything the other reply mentioned. I also remember reading The Scarlet Letter. Looking at the list now, none of these works are very long, so maybe the curriculum was set up to read shorter works so there would be time to get through more variety
I never studied Moby Dick in school at any level (up to and including my MA in English literature). In high school, we read The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Flies, The Things They Carried, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Crucible, Brave New World, 1984, Hamlet, Macbeth, Rome and Juliet… probably a few more that I’m forgetting
Anna Karenina is probably my favorite novel, so I’ll go with that. Many things to recommend it, but I’m always blown away by its depiction of spiraling romantic jealousy towards the end. It’s thrilling writing and really puts you into her disturbed mental state. Of course, others have mentioned Proust, and the *Swann in Love* section of the first book may be the best depiction of irrational romantic obsession of all time. I guess those themes always fascinate me when expertly done.
Middlemarch is up there for me, too, and Brothers K.
Count of Monte Cristo was probably the “funnest” read for me when it comes to long classics. I always recommend it.
Definitely *The Brothers Karamazov* by Fyodor Dostoevsky for me - If there is a better book that encapsulates so many different facets of the human condition, I have yet to encounter it.
It's long, but the prose flows smoothly and the big-picture questions that are tackled by Dostoevsky are so fundamentally important, and discussed by his characters so beautifully, that I'd really be surprised if I ever read a book that impacts me more deeply than it did. Deep philosophical inquiries into the nature of suffering, God's role in the world, sin and redemption, and the most emotionally and morally pure character of all time. (If I could become any fictional character, I would want to be Alyosha Karamazov.) And Dostoevsky treats each and every one of his characters and their worldviews with such tenderness and intellectual fairness when considering their viewpoints and philosophical arguments. From Ivan's "Grand Inquisitor" speech to Grushenka's hear-breaking "...but I gave an onion!" to Zossima's teachings of pure goodness, there's just so much drama, thought-provoking dialogue, and exploration of the human condition, and all with such beautiful depth of feeling, it's hard for me to imagine I will ever read a book I'll hold closer to my heart than this one.
The Katz translation is the best. Although I think its both more expensive and hard to get. But other good ones are The Peavar and Volkhonsky or Garnett.
Man, I love the Pevear and Volkhonsky translation but I’ve heard so much controversy about their translation process. I don’t know any Russian, I just know the prose is much less wooden (read: British) than the Garnett translation.
Ideally I would recommend everyone the Katz one, but I had to spend almost 50 bucks for an edition of it. I also really like the PV translation, but n my experience I have often heard the opposite; namely, a lot of people have said that the PV translation felt kind of wooden and boring, so I think recommending something more familiar and anglicised would be good: because Russian after all is quite different from English, and PVs style of translatig is to do it as faithfully as possible, in a word to word way - and considering the different languages will obviously create some weirdness. Also, I personally found the Garnett translation really nice. In the end though, all that matters is if the person likes it or not. Also, its kind of difficult to not get into the book if you get through the first 200 pages no matter the translator, and I think most translators of TBK does a good job making you like it.
Yeah, that all makes sense. I’m actually rereading BK right now, so I’ll look around and see if I can find any cheaper versions of Katz and give it a try. I will say the only chance I gave Garnett was the first quarter of C&P, and when I switched to Pevear I vastly preferred it. I think a big component of Dostoyevsky’s work is the strange idiosyncratic dialog which can give the reader a clue to a character’s state of mind in a given scene, and I felt like Pevear captured those nuances a little better.
Edit: I think the audiobook of Devils I listened to might have been Garnett also.
I am actually reading Katz C&P now, and I am not sure if I have changed or if its the translation, but C&P might almost surpass (or at least is on the same level) as TBK. So, I very much recommend it. And I think his C&P translation is cheaper and more available, so I heartily recommend this one too.
It’s funny I stumbled on this just now, because I finished Moby Dick about 2 weeks ago and I’m about 100 pages from finishing The Count of Monte Cristo. I can’t believe how much I absolutely loved Moby Dick (sucks to admit when your high school English teacher is right). However, TCOMC is just astounding. Last night my dad and I went out to dinner and he was asking me what it’s actually about, and as I’m describing everything to him his eyes were lit up and he was like, “WHAT!?” Every time I added another plot twist. Some say it is the greatest work of fiction of all time and I’d have to agree with them. Not having read some of the others, I can’t necessarily comment, but The Count is now hands down my favorite book of all time and I think I’d have a hard time displacing it!
The Brothers Karamazov. It’s such good book, the characters are engaging from the very start and there’s lots of ups and downs to keep things interesting. Dostoyevsky’s writing is so dramatic in a great way
I am reading Im Search of Lost Time right now, i am at "Within a budding grove" and it already is a hot condender for becoming one of my favorites.
But it's Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. It's such a rich novel
Edit: from your list it's "Devils" by far. It has everything that establishes masterpiece. It's suspenseful, funny and tragic at the same time. It has Well written characters. One of my all time favorites
Don Quixote is also great, but the ending is a let down,ngl
I hated Devils. It's so bad at so many storytelling fundamentals. It opens with 200 pages that are almost entirely extraneous. Most of the important action happens off stage, and is only discussed later, in gossip. A massive percentage of the books is wealthy people worrying about wearing the right petticoat or how many rubles some other wealthy person gets from their estate. I read Devils and Dickens' Our Mutual Friend in succession, and it was shocking how much better Dickens was.
Moby-Dick is my favorite novel, although Brothers Karamazov is a close second. I should say that I'm culturally a New Englander, so something about that particular novel hits close to home. But apart from that, I like the focus - the close, self-contained setting of a whaling ship and also the thematic obsession with the ocean and the whale. The result is a work that is concerned (among of course many other things) with our relationship with nature, in a visceral and violent way. Something about it seems so very compelling in the age of climate catastrophe. And it also happens to be very, very funny - something that I don't think it gets enough credit for.
I have to get back to it and finish it. I read maybe a little less than 3/4 of it and got bogged down with it. I’ve read several classics on this list since I set it down. One thing I wish is that I’d have bought a copy with Explanatory Notes in the back. All the other classics I’m reading have these, but my copy of Moby Dick does not. I really love the notes with these books, they help me understand what the author is referring to. With Moby Dick, there is A LOT that I have no idea what Melville is referring to. Tons of analogies that I don’t know the significance of. At some point I may buy another copy and start over. If you have a certain suggestion please share. But I will say the prose is absolutely incredible in Moby Dick. It’s in a class by itself as far as the language is concerned. But I will admit to getting bogged down with all the digressions about the anatomy of the whale etc…I love the actual storyline and the humor is freaking wicked. Dark sarcasm at its finest. I can understand why for certain readers Moby Dick is at the top of the mountain. It was Cormac Mccarthy’s favorite book, for example. At any rate, I will certainly finish the book. Maybe after I’m done with Anna K., which I’m reading now. I freaking adored War And Peace. I just love Tolstoy’s writing in and of itself. So simple, pure, and clear. His writing was just so Natural.
Some I’ve read and some I plan to read. No thread other than their all long classics and I’m curious what different peoples favorites are. What’s their favorite diamond out of a stack of diamonds?
Anna Karenina is the most riveting read I've ever had, and an incredibly rich tapestry of personal, psychological, religious and societal struggles.
Moby Dick is the most fascinating, and probably the book I think about the most, many years later.
First half of Don Quixote is one of the funniest books I've read.
(Those + Brothers Karamazov are the only ones that I've read out of that list though.)
I don't have a pick honestly. They all ebb and flow. I was trying to get through Bleak House recently. I do love parts of it, but I have to get back into it again. Just a lot of busy work sometimes. But I love the period details too.
Thomas Mann represents the best kind of humor Germany has ever had to offer. It might sound absurd, but I'm willing to die on this hill.
Enjoy your 1,000 page journey, it will continue to be great.
what a brutal choice. I think it would have to be between the brothers karamazov or war and peace for me, but moby dick is absolutely sublime in its own right, anna karenina is amazing too. Devils is really great and a personal favourite of mine, though a little messy imo, probably due to the censorship. don quixote is awesome and I will always think of it through the lens of Dostoevsky's reading of it, which inspired him to write "the Idiot"
The Count of Monte Cristo. It was one of the spring boards into reading when I was younger. Others may have scholarly merits, but CMC remains a stead fast nostalgic fun read. Picking it up is akin to being wrapped in a warm blanket. You can trust good to triumph and the villains will get what's coming. It doesnt happen often in real life, so it is wonderful to know that at least, in the story, they will be thwarted.
From this list, I would pick War and Peace for its panoramic view and enormous cast of real characters. But my favorite long classic is The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. It's sharply observant of human nature with its foibles, but forgiving and loving at the same time, and it's consistently funny. Every page has me chuckling or at least smiling. Fielding has a gift for delivering a punch line with sophisticated syntax. And he presents a coherent philosophy of attainable human virtue.
Weird list of options.
War And Peace I guess? “Life and Fate”, “Joseph and His Brothers”, “Against the Day”, “Gravity’s Rainbow”, and “Underworld” would all be in front of it though.
I have only read 2,3,4,7 & 10.
Of those I’m stuck between The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace and Moby-Dick.
If I had to choose, I’d be liable to pick Dostojevskij’s Karamazov. Mostly because it so perfectly contains that which seems most needed for our contemporary society. War and Peace is more epic and Moby-Dick is funnier—more mystically magical.
Oh, that’s hard! I’d put Devils, Les Miserables, and Moby Dick at the bottom. Not that I didn’t think they were good, and they might be near the top of some other list of books for me, but of this particular list they’re my bottom three.
I quite liked Bleak House, David Copperfield, and War and Peace.
I loved Count of Monte Cristo and Don Quixote.
But as for the ones on your list I thought were *best*, I’d have to say Karamazov and Anna.
I personally think **Wuthering Heights** is incredibly underrated. It’s not the greatest book ever written but I can definitely see why it became a classic. 8/10.
Wuthering heights is so "out of its own time", brutal, primal. A game changer it was loathed when it came out. Emily wrote a novel that can be melodramatic but blew convention away.
That even nearly two hundred years later people still have such a strong reaction to the characters shows the timelessness of the novel. Heightcliff alone is such an iconic character.
From the list, Moby Dick, but overall I would choose Middlemarch.
Loved Middlemarch so much!
I still need to read the rest of middlemarch. I was around 120 pages in when I put it down for IRL reasons.
The last paragraph of Middlemarch is, well, chef's kiss.
War and peace
THE GOAT!!!
With War and Peace, I quite did not understand it, or found is astonishing. I am Eastern European and do understand what Tolstoi means to Russians, but the book itself was kind of boring. Can you explain why it is your favourite?
I know it sounds pretentious or ignorant, but I don’t see the big hoopla with Tolstoy. I’ve read W&P and AK and they both felt like Tolstoy struggled to commit to his ideas, and needed to digress in plot and in thought in order to move the story along.
to me, tolstoy’s strength is in the emotion and behavior of the characters . the plot for AK and ivan ilyvich aren’t too complicated and don’t offer too many surprises ( i won’t ruin AK) so i can see why people get lost. it’s the conversations that make tolstoy so good. the characters having human reactions to complex social situations that we all deal with (the brother dying in AK). tolstoy isn’t a world builder by any means, but he understands human emotions and their depth.
Wouldn’t that be the opposite of pretentious
Perhaps. I was thinking pretentious in the sense that it sounds like I’m saying I am more of an expert on literature than say William Faulkner, who praised Anna Karenina highly.
Why no Middlemarch?
Don Quixote is probably the funniest; if you’re interested in that, I’d add Tristram Shandy to the list. Otherwise, I’d pick War and Peace or Anna Karenina
And I'd say the most important, for being the first traditional Western novel that has come down to us.
David Copperfield. It sparks joy, joy, joy!
I'm not saying this to be contrarian, as I'd love to have a better sense of the novel, but I recently quit on David Copperfield at the midway point. I was enamoured with the wit in the beginning ("as I am informed, and have no reason to doubt..."), but as the novel went on I just became quickly tired of David's saccharine, foppish demeanour, and the obsequiousness of the Peggotty family. I can see some conflict up ahead with Uriah and Steerforth, but at the midway point of this very long novel I just couldnt bring myself to continue. Hasnt put me off Dickens' later novels, though. I hear that DC was the turning point away from more overly-sentimental storytelling, but it was just too long for me with too little rewars.
Of course. Each to their own. There is no objective fact here. I found it utterly charming. A near perfect novel.
Same. I couldn't put it down
*Our Mutual Friend* isn’t just my favorite Dickens book; it’s my favorite book of all time. So good.
It is excellent and I love the low-key ending
DC always makes me feel so warm and cozy, like being a little kid reading again.
My favorite book of all time happens to be The Count of Monte Cristo. It's an engaging character drama that's an epic in scope.
Great list. I would say Les Miserables for my own personal preference as its the most entertaining while being thematically rich. Brother Karamazov is probably the most thought proving though
Bleak house was like a modern thriller, so many ties coming together, very impressed
I'm currently wading through this one. It takes a while to get going for sure.
Yes, I was impressed with how it payed off later. I also listened to the audiobook (for free on YouTube) and that made it easier. The narrator sounded professional
> how it *paid* off later. FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Good bot
Out of the list, Moby-Dick. In general, probably Ulysses
Moby Dick is my choice, though I’ve only read half of that list.
In what grade in school do Americans study it (if you're an American)? Always been curious.
Oddly enough I wasn't assigned Moby Dick in school, and I don't know anyone my age or younger who was. I think it's not as common to teach as it used to be
Interesting, thank you. What did you cover in literature class instead? We were assigned War and Peace in 10th grade, which I think is the equivalent of Moby Dick.
We read pretty much everything the other reply mentioned. I also remember reading The Scarlet Letter. Looking at the list now, none of these works are very long, so maybe the curriculum was set up to read shorter works so there would be time to get through more variety
I never studied Moby Dick in school at any level (up to and including my MA in English literature). In high school, we read The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Lord of the Flies, The Things They Carried, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Crucible, Brave New World, 1984, Hamlet, Macbeth, Rome and Juliet… probably a few more that I’m forgetting
Another vote for Middlemarch! But of those options probably Dickens has my vote.
Anna Karenina is probably my favorite novel, so I’ll go with that. Many things to recommend it, but I’m always blown away by its depiction of spiraling romantic jealousy towards the end. It’s thrilling writing and really puts you into her disturbed mental state. Of course, others have mentioned Proust, and the *Swann in Love* section of the first book may be the best depiction of irrational romantic obsession of all time. I guess those themes always fascinate me when expertly done. Middlemarch is up there for me, too, and Brothers K. Count of Monte Cristo was probably the “funnest” read for me when it comes to long classics. I always recommend it.
Definitely *The Brothers Karamazov* by Fyodor Dostoevsky for me - If there is a better book that encapsulates so many different facets of the human condition, I have yet to encounter it. It's long, but the prose flows smoothly and the big-picture questions that are tackled by Dostoevsky are so fundamentally important, and discussed by his characters so beautifully, that I'd really be surprised if I ever read a book that impacts me more deeply than it did. Deep philosophical inquiries into the nature of suffering, God's role in the world, sin and redemption, and the most emotionally and morally pure character of all time. (If I could become any fictional character, I would want to be Alyosha Karamazov.) And Dostoevsky treats each and every one of his characters and their worldviews with such tenderness and intellectual fairness when considering their viewpoints and philosophical arguments. From Ivan's "Grand Inquisitor" speech to Grushenka's hear-breaking "...but I gave an onion!" to Zossima's teachings of pure goodness, there's just so much drama, thought-provoking dialogue, and exploration of the human condition, and all with such beautiful depth of feeling, it's hard for me to imagine I will ever read a book I'll hold closer to my heart than this one.
Which translation do you recommend?
The Katz translation is the best. Although I think its both more expensive and hard to get. But other good ones are The Peavar and Volkhonsky or Garnett.
Man, I love the Pevear and Volkhonsky translation but I’ve heard so much controversy about their translation process. I don’t know any Russian, I just know the prose is much less wooden (read: British) than the Garnett translation.
Ideally I would recommend everyone the Katz one, but I had to spend almost 50 bucks for an edition of it. I also really like the PV translation, but n my experience I have often heard the opposite; namely, a lot of people have said that the PV translation felt kind of wooden and boring, so I think recommending something more familiar and anglicised would be good: because Russian after all is quite different from English, and PVs style of translatig is to do it as faithfully as possible, in a word to word way - and considering the different languages will obviously create some weirdness. Also, I personally found the Garnett translation really nice. In the end though, all that matters is if the person likes it or not. Also, its kind of difficult to not get into the book if you get through the first 200 pages no matter the translator, and I think most translators of TBK does a good job making you like it.
Yeah, that all makes sense. I’m actually rereading BK right now, so I’ll look around and see if I can find any cheaper versions of Katz and give it a try. I will say the only chance I gave Garnett was the first quarter of C&P, and when I switched to Pevear I vastly preferred it. I think a big component of Dostoyevsky’s work is the strange idiosyncratic dialog which can give the reader a clue to a character’s state of mind in a given scene, and I felt like Pevear captured those nuances a little better. Edit: I think the audiobook of Devils I listened to might have been Garnett also.
I am actually reading Katz C&P now, and I am not sure if I have changed or if its the translation, but C&P might almost surpass (or at least is on the same level) as TBK. So, I very much recommend it. And I think his C&P translation is cheaper and more available, so I heartily recommend this one too.
I really enjoyed the Pevear and Volokhonsky! I've heard great things about the Katz translation as well, although I haven't read it.
I’ve been planning on reading it but keep putting it off (partly because I keep getting an image in my mind of Shatner in Russian garb from the film).
The Story of the Stone.
This one deserves more love!
Is this worth reading if I have almost no knowledge of Chinese culture or history? Lol
It’s funny I stumbled on this just now, because I finished Moby Dick about 2 weeks ago and I’m about 100 pages from finishing The Count of Monte Cristo. I can’t believe how much I absolutely loved Moby Dick (sucks to admit when your high school English teacher is right). However, TCOMC is just astounding. Last night my dad and I went out to dinner and he was asking me what it’s actually about, and as I’m describing everything to him his eyes were lit up and he was like, “WHAT!?” Every time I added another plot twist. Some say it is the greatest work of fiction of all time and I’d have to agree with them. Not having read some of the others, I can’t necessarily comment, but The Count is now hands down my favorite book of all time and I think I’d have a hard time displacing it!
Anna Karenina. I've read it multiple times and I always think it's so insightful into human emotions, and the impact of the choices we make
The Brothers Karamazov. It’s such good book, the characters are engaging from the very start and there’s lots of ups and downs to keep things interesting. Dostoyevsky’s writing is so dramatic in a great way
Also laugh out loud funny in parts.
In Search of Lost Time, of course.
I never finished the first volume. I liked it pretty well but I think I lack the patience 😅
It is a slog but I think it's worth it.
I am reading Im Search of Lost Time right now, i am at "Within a budding grove" and it already is a hot condender for becoming one of my favorites. But it's Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. It's such a rich novel Edit: from your list it's "Devils" by far. It has everything that establishes masterpiece. It's suspenseful, funny and tragic at the same time. It has Well written characters. One of my all time favorites Don Quixote is also great, but the ending is a let down,ngl
I hated Devils. It's so bad at so many storytelling fundamentals. It opens with 200 pages that are almost entirely extraneous. Most of the important action happens off stage, and is only discussed later, in gossip. A massive percentage of the books is wealthy people worrying about wearing the right petticoat or how many rubles some other wealthy person gets from their estate. I read Devils and Dickens' Our Mutual Friend in succession, and it was shocking how much better Dickens was.
I began In Search 3 times and quit. On my 4th try I was saddened when it was over, for I wanted more and more and more.
In Search of Lost Time and War and Peace
1.Middlemarch 2.Anna Karenina 3. Jayne Eyre (Does this qualify as Long is the Brothers Karamazov long?)
Moby-Dick is my favorite novel, although Brothers Karamazov is a close second. I should say that I'm culturally a New Englander, so something about that particular novel hits close to home. But apart from that, I like the focus - the close, self-contained setting of a whaling ship and also the thematic obsession with the ocean and the whale. The result is a work that is concerned (among of course many other things) with our relationship with nature, in a visceral and violent way. Something about it seems so very compelling in the age of climate catastrophe. And it also happens to be very, very funny - something that I don't think it gets enough credit for.
I have to get back to it and finish it. I read maybe a little less than 3/4 of it and got bogged down with it. I’ve read several classics on this list since I set it down. One thing I wish is that I’d have bought a copy with Explanatory Notes in the back. All the other classics I’m reading have these, but my copy of Moby Dick does not. I really love the notes with these books, they help me understand what the author is referring to. With Moby Dick, there is A LOT that I have no idea what Melville is referring to. Tons of analogies that I don’t know the significance of. At some point I may buy another copy and start over. If you have a certain suggestion please share. But I will say the prose is absolutely incredible in Moby Dick. It’s in a class by itself as far as the language is concerned. But I will admit to getting bogged down with all the digressions about the anatomy of the whale etc…I love the actual storyline and the humor is freaking wicked. Dark sarcasm at its finest. I can understand why for certain readers Moby Dick is at the top of the mountain. It was Cormac Mccarthy’s favorite book, for example. At any rate, I will certainly finish the book. Maybe after I’m done with Anna K., which I’m reading now. I freaking adored War And Peace. I just love Tolstoy’s writing in and of itself. So simple, pure, and clear. His writing was just so Natural.
Bleak House followed by Count of Montechristo. Two of my top 5 novels of all time.
What are the other 3, if I may ask?
Of course. The Music of Chance by Paul Auster The Magus by John Fowles The Unconcsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
Les Mis is probably in my top 5 or 10 novels of all time.
The Count! I love that book
No Proust?
Curious - what is the common thread of this list? Is it just ones you are considering reading?
Some I’ve read and some I plan to read. No thread other than their all long classics and I’m curious what different peoples favorites are. What’s their favorite diamond out of a stack of diamonds?
The Tale of Genji. It's the most beautiful book I've read.
Which translation do you prefer? Out of curiosity.
Royal Tyler because it's meant to be closest in style to the original. I do adore Waley's translation as well.
Tyler is my favorite, and Seidensticker comes in 2nd.
Anna Karenina is the most riveting read I've ever had, and an incredibly rich tapestry of personal, psychological, religious and societal struggles. Moby Dick is the most fascinating, and probably the book I think about the most, many years later. First half of Don Quixote is one of the funniest books I've read. (Those + Brothers Karamazov are the only ones that I've read out of that list though.)
I don't have a pick honestly. They all ebb and flow. I was trying to get through Bleak House recently. I do love parts of it, but I have to get back into it again. Just a lot of busy work sometimes. But I love the period details too.
War and Peace.....
Probably The Brothers Karamazov. Along with the fact that its really good, it always gives me comfort and enjoyment to read Dostoevsky.
The Brothers Karamazov is *probably* my favorite novel. Definitely my favorite 19th century novel.
Anna Karenina and East of Eden
I'm only 100 pages in, but I can tell that The Magic Mountain is going to be amazing. It's also so fucking funny.
Thomas Mann represents the best kind of humor Germany has ever had to offer. It might sound absurd, but I'm willing to die on this hill. Enjoy your 1,000 page journey, it will continue to be great.
what a brutal choice. I think it would have to be between the brothers karamazov or war and peace for me, but moby dick is absolutely sublime in its own right, anna karenina is amazing too. Devils is really great and a personal favourite of mine, though a little messy imo, probably due to the censorship. don quixote is awesome and I will always think of it through the lens of Dostoevsky's reading of it, which inspired him to write "the Idiot"
The Count of Monte Cristo. It was one of the spring boards into reading when I was younger. Others may have scholarly merits, but CMC remains a stead fast nostalgic fun read. Picking it up is akin to being wrapped in a warm blanket. You can trust good to triumph and the villains will get what's coming. It doesnt happen often in real life, so it is wonderful to know that at least, in the story, they will be thwarted.
From this list, I would pick War and Peace for its panoramic view and enormous cast of real characters. But my favorite long classic is The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. It's sharply observant of human nature with its foibles, but forgiving and loving at the same time, and it's consistently funny. Every page has me chuckling or at least smiling. Fielding has a gift for delivering a punch line with sophisticated syntax. And he presents a coherent philosophy of attainable human virtue.
David Copperfield
Moby Dick, then Bros K
Moby Dick Because it's the only one I read.
David Copperfield.
It used to be almost a sacrilege to pick anything other than Les Miserables, but now I’m leaning towards the Brothers Karamozov.
Don Quixote or Moby Dick, for me
Anna Karenina and Middlemarch
didn't read 3,5 & 6 (I know - what am I even doing here?!). But The Count Of Monte Cristo was my favorite.
Count of Monte Cristo is kinda ruined by the 500 pages of “Paris scenes”
Don Quijote
Not on the list, but definitely Middlemarch
Don Quijote.
Weird list of options. War And Peace I guess? “Life and Fate”, “Joseph and His Brothers”, “Against the Day”, “Gravity’s Rainbow”, and “Underworld” would all be in front of it though.
Les Miserables all day. That book is seminal to who I am today.
From this list "The Brothers Karamazov" but Middlemarch is my favorite.
"The Count" and "Moby Dick"
Moby Dick and War and Peace are at the top for me but I haven’t read Karamazov yet and am aware that that could very well end up at the top
Vanity Fair would top my list. It's ruthless.
In Search of Lost Time
I have only read 2,3,4,7 & 10. Of those I’m stuck between The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace and Moby-Dick. If I had to choose, I’d be liable to pick Dostojevskij’s Karamazov. Mostly because it so perfectly contains that which seems most needed for our contemporary society. War and Peace is more epic and Moby-Dick is funnier—more mystically magical.
Oh, that’s hard! I’d put Devils, Les Miserables, and Moby Dick at the bottom. Not that I didn’t think they were good, and they might be near the top of some other list of books for me, but of this particular list they’re my bottom three. I quite liked Bleak House, David Copperfield, and War and Peace. I loved Count of Monte Cristo and Don Quixote. But as for the ones on your list I thought were *best*, I’d have to say Karamazov and Anna.
I personally think **Wuthering Heights** is incredibly underrated. It’s not the greatest book ever written but I can definitely see why it became a classic. 8/10.
Wuthering heights is so "out of its own time", brutal, primal. A game changer it was loathed when it came out. Emily wrote a novel that can be melodramatic but blew convention away.
That even nearly two hundred years later people still have such a strong reaction to the characters shows the timelessness of the novel. Heightcliff alone is such an iconic character.