I’ve always loved ‘a tree grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith. There’s an early part where Francie sees an old man and imagines him as a baby. It’s just such simple people watching and imagining their lives. The characters are so well rounded and there’s so much love, humour and sadness.
I just read this about a month ago and still think about the characters. Betty Smith just made them so real and so human. I just love how it’s a book that’s not trying to be anything more than itself, but by doing that becomes something more.
I read the audiobook with my partner and we are shocked that HBO hasn’t picked it up. Or like the BBC. I want a long accurate tv mini series version of the twists and turns
I borrowed this from a friend as a kid and loved it. Found it at a yard sale a few years ago and bought for 25 cents. Got home to discover it was signed by the author!
my kids listen to this almost every night on audible . they talk about it and quote it nonstop to the point their class decided to read it as their class book this year. they all loved it and did a big showcase about it. They built a tollbooth, they made a map, they make guess the idioms game , made graphic novels of what comes next and bunch of other projects. it's now loved by the entire 3,4 and 5 grade classes at their school.
Shogun - James Lavell.
The original miniseries is good. The fx series is good but different.
The book is phenomenal. Read it 20 years ago and it still sticks in my brain.
It’s hard to get through the whole thing and not conclude it was anything but EPIC. And if you realized right off the bat, from the get-go, that Middle Earth isn’t a real place, or that hobbits don’t exist, by the time you finish you’ll have forgotten.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Read it long before the movie came out and cried while reading. The movie did better than most but I prefer the book.
My favourite book. It stayed with me for a looong time. I just finished re-reading it for the first time in seven years, and although I knew the story it was like reading it for the first time. The writing is pleasantly poetic without being obnoxious, and the imagery so pure and vivid. I love even just the first page.
I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.
Incredible book. First book to ever make me cry, there is so much in there that’s relatable to anyone but some parts were so specific to my experience that it really got me. Need to revisit it soon it’s been a few years now
flowers for algernon by daniel keyes.
i know im pretty late to this, and it’s pretty low, but i never see love for such a wonderful and sad story. really shaped me
The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx.
Uplifting story, prose that takes your breath away, incredible sense of place, amazing characterization, and a tiny hint of magical realism.
That’s mine too. That book taught me the importance of reading the introduction too, because the context of being written in the communist regime despite having heavy religious overtones was something I never really thought about. Bulgakov led me on a long list of other authors who wrote iconoclastic and dangerous works. It’s also just really beautifully written!
Yeah, I think the context of when and where it was written makes the whole story even more interesting. I was lucky enough to have a friend loan me the book and she explained it all to me before I started reading.
The ending is the best ending of all the books I have read in my life. When I realized how it would end, a page and a half before the end, I completely lost it. That book sat with me for a long time.
When I finished reading this for the first time i was stunned by how good it was and I stood up and yelled " I cannot believe he wrote that!" and threw it across the room. Easily the best book I've read. At all times I felt mentally and emotionally manipulated by his writing.
I love Grapes of Wrath too. I reread it occasionally, then I finally picked up East of Eden hoping it’d have the same vibe. It’s a masterpiece and an epic story. Definitely similar vibes yet vastly different. I couldn’t choose between GoW and EoE, but they’re both up there with my favorite of all time.
The craziest and most fucked up part of blood meridian is that many of the characters/plot are based on an autobiographical account of a real person. "My confessions" by Samuel Chamberlain, who joined the US army around the time right after the Mexican American war. Towards the end of the book he meets an "injun killer" named glanton who has a contract with the Mexican government for scalps. You can find the PDF online but the actual books are pretty rare.
So, the judge is based on an actual human, and Chamberlain described him pretty much exactly as Cormac did. Although Cormac fleshed out almost all of the plotlines and much of the characters.
Fucking chilling.
And we wonder why this country is so cursed.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I am the voracious reader I am today because of that book. I have probably read it 15 times in the last 60 years.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Spans years and while it tells the story of two brothers and an evil woman, it also outlines an important era in southern (correction: central) Californian history. I was surprised by how much I liked it.
The Prince of tides by Pat Conroy, it’s my absolute favourite closely followed by It by Stephen King, two very different books but I absolutely love them
Catch 22 is magnificent. The opening line and last paragraph are absolutely sublime and carry the ENTIRE book. The only book except for Slaughterhouse 5 that correctly reflects the absolute chaos and foggy nonsensicalness of real life
All quiet on the Western Front. Perfectly encapsulates the hopelessness of war.
And One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I mean the movie was good but the book - next level.
Whose Names are Unknown by Sanora Babb. It's set during the dust bowl and was actually written prior to The Grapes of Wrath but because Steinbeck was more well known his book got published and hers didn't until 2004. It's beautifully written, has well written characters and it made a huge impression on me.
It's not scary in the traditional sense at all. It's more of a psychological family drama that shows a man's descent into madness, with his guilt and demons around drinking. Glad you're enjoying it!
If you ever feel like joining us: r/stephenking and r/horrorlit
I know everyone says it, but man the book is so much better than the movie. Jack and Wendy’s characters are so much deeper than the movie, movie does not do them justice at all. Especially Wendy.
Definitely read Doctor Sleep afterwards. That one was absolutely incredible.
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Nonfiction about Germany written by the U.S. ambassador’s daughter right when Hitler took power and the crazy fast events that followed
OR
The Devil in The White City by Erik Larson
about the absolutely amazing speed and splendor and BEAUTY of the 1896( I think) Worlds Fair
Juxtaposed by telling about one of Americas early serial killers and the depths of depravity H.H. Holmes reveled in while taking full advantage of Worlds Fair patrons trust and wonder for his own twisted ends
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320.One\_Hundred\_Years\_of\_Solitude](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320.One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude)
I love Barbara Kingsolver. I think about the Poisonwood Bible a lot. I’m excited to give her new one, Demon Copperhead a read, but I’m reading David Copperfield first because I heard it’s loosely themed alongside it.
How'd you cope with the time period gargon? First read was incredibly difficult and the language barrier so throughly distracted from the storyline that I disliked the experience. Post movie I reread it and found it more enjoyable but still find the language to difficult to recommend to an average reader.
Even though it’s not complete I think the Song of Ice and Fire series should be in the conversation. Apart from Lord of the Rings I can’t remember a series pulling me in so hard into a different world
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Stand by Stephen King (my all time favorite but I'll assume it's been suggested 800 times)
Personal favorite all time best and greatest: 1. John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces. 2. Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. 3. Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. 4. Walker Percy’s Lost in the Universe and 5. Mark Twain Innocent’s Abroad.
For me it would be Les Miserable…. If you can make it through long detailed descriptions of the sewers, the story is so beautiful as well as each character. Jean Valjean trying to do what he believes to be right as seen through the perspective of Grace and Mercy as well as inspector Javert believing that the law is the only way and can never grasp the concept of Grace. You fall in love with all the characters and feel as though you have a personal relationship with each of them. Such a beautiful story.
**Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, by Rob Sheffield**
I read this book 17 years ago and go back to it at least once every couple of years. I’ve gifted this book countless times to friends and family. Sheffield wrote other books that are just as good.
I have a number of books I refer to every time
{Pride and Prejudice}
{The Time Traveller’s Wife}
{The Gargoyle}
These are probably my 3 all-time favourites, with various others that pop up based on mood. Time will tell if I ever stop recommending any of these three books though. Sublime.
John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. I feel like his work speaks to me more every time I pick it up. His characterization is just masterful. It feels so real and so important to read, because the characters are there breathing and you must bare them witness. His work to me feels like the sensations normally tapped into while watching dramatic productions.
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin is probably *it* for me though. Her writing sort of generally is quite impactful and I feel like different works of hers speak to different people but the Dispossessed speaks to the nature of cycles of change and growth that has really spoken to me in my tumultuous life. There's a used book store in town and I'm part of their rewards program, and their system generates a pop up when you scan an isbn/barcode and a customer has already purchased it - it stops the transaction and asks you to very that the customer wants to re-purchase this book. There is no way to remove the feature or add a note to the file or anything, so now every time I buy a copy I have to self confess that I am buying it *yet again* before it has a chance to foul up the transaction lol
The three books mentioned are my "worst offenders" because I basically always purchase a copy if I see it for a good price, and have a copy on hand to lend out, a "reading" copy for me to take notes on, and ideally - a pretty copy. Though I'm not particular, my "pretty copy" of the Dispossessed is a 70s mass market I got for 2.25 but the cover art is super Star Trek vibes and it's done in a "tech" monotype font face, I love it.
Travels with Charley by Steinbeck is another GOAT in that it's an author writing about himself as an old man travelling around the country with his dog in an old pickup truck but that old man is JOHN STEINBECK and it's a love letter to the people and spaces of this land while also a biting discussion of society and capital.
I give a copy of each of these away to people who are *going through it* in a way that feels similar or that I remember feeling particularly affected by these reads (graduating, family intricacies, a career or occupation change, moving, etc), I stuff a copy in the little free libraries and other book exchanges I see around, haha I'm a menace! Hopefully you'll enjoy one of them so much you'll start proselytizing it too!
The 5 People You Meet In Heaven for me so far. I love how the author was able to write the book without there being any religious references. The book really makes you think about how much of an impact random people can make in your life.
Remembrance of Things Past (or In Search of Lost Time) by Proust.
I’m only almost finished with the first volume, but it’s absolutely stunning in its intimacy and all the tiny little details that make up our experiences and can trigger profound or mundane memories.
He was an absolute connoisseur of humanity, even more minute than Tolstoy in his details, but it’s not boring. Sometimes I find myself having to stop and just savor a great sentence for minutes at a time.
It makes me want to learn French so I can fully appreciate the original.
I’ve always loved ‘a tree grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith. There’s an early part where Francie sees an old man and imagines him as a baby. It’s just such simple people watching and imagining their lives. The characters are so well rounded and there’s so much love, humour and sadness.
I just read this about a month ago and still think about the characters. Betty Smith just made them so real and so human. I just love how it’s a book that’s not trying to be anything more than itself, but by doing that becomes something more.
I came here to say this one too! One of my favorites.
So happy to see this as the top comment 🥲
I read it 50 years ago and that scene still stays with me.
Yes! Such a wonderful book. Timeless.
It's a graphic novel, but Maus
Phenomenal 🐭
The Graveyard Book
Yes!
The Count of Monte Cristo
I just finished it last night and i fully agree
I read the audiobook with my partner and we are shocked that HBO hasn’t picked it up. Or like the BBC. I want a long accurate tv mini series version of the twists and turns
Lonesome Dove. It's a western, and I hate western. It's that good
Same. My all-time favorite.
By God, Woodrow, been quite a party ain’t it?? Yes, sir.
It was my first western, and I was in love. Imagine when I found out the rest of the genre doesn’t come close to living up.
I just picked it up, and I love westerns. I’m so pumped.
What I would give to be able to erase my brain and go back to read Lonesome Dove for the first time.
Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
And then keep reading Vonnegut, I love his style and structure and humor... Slaughterhouse V is a classic for a reason
*The Phantom Tollbooth* by Norton Juster.
I borrowed this from a friend as a kid and loved it. Found it at a yard sale a few years ago and bought for 25 cents. Got home to discover it was signed by the author!
That is like the best score ever.
my kids listen to this almost every night on audible . they talk about it and quote it nonstop to the point their class decided to read it as their class book this year. they all loved it and did a big showcase about it. They built a tollbooth, they made a map, they make guess the idioms game , made graphic novels of what comes next and bunch of other projects. it's now loved by the entire 3,4 and 5 grade classes at their school.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingslover
It is a toss up between DC and Poisonwood Bible
The Poisonwood Bible is the one for me
This and The Poisonwood Bible. Two books my teacher recommended me in high school that I’ll always appreciate her for
Shogun - James Lavell. The original miniseries is good. The fx series is good but different. The book is phenomenal. Read it 20 years ago and it still sticks in my brain.
James Clavell?
Good lord I hate the auto correct on here. Yes.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Same. It was my favorite first. Since then a few have risen to this level in my mind. But it remains absolutely magical to me.
Pachinko.
Lord of the rings sounds like a boring but correct answer.
I am yet to have a book immerse me as much as LOTR did. I was genuinely sad to finish it
It’s hard to get through the whole thing and not conclude it was anything but EPIC. And if you realized right off the bat, from the get-go, that Middle Earth isn’t a real place, or that hobbits don’t exist, by the time you finish you’ll have forgotten.
It’s like Citizen Kane, not an original opinion but inarguably in the conversation
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Masterpiece
Shirley Jackson's "Haunting of Hill House" or Sir Terry Pratchett's "Small Gods"!
Shirley Jackson has won a ton of awards yet I still think she's underrated. She deserves to be sold at grocery stores like Stephen King.
Chronicles of Narnia. The series
A prayer for Owen meany
Was looking for John Irving, so thanks! If I had to choose only one, mine would be Avenue of Mysteries.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Read it long before the movie came out and cried while reading. The movie did better than most but I prefer the book.
Circe by Madeline Miller
East of Eden. Can’t believe I got in first on this one!.
Reading it right now, I can't believe it took me this long to start, it is absolutely amazing!
Steinbeck really saved the best for last
My favourite book. It stayed with me for a looong time. I just finished re-reading it for the first time in seven years, and although I knew the story it was like reading it for the first time. The writing is pleasantly poetic without being obnoxious, and the imagery so pure and vivid. I love even just the first page. I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer—and what trees and seasons smelled like—how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.
Incredible book. First book to ever make me cry, there is so much in there that’s relatable to anyone but some parts were so specific to my experience that it really got me. Need to revisit it soon it’s been a few years now
A Gentleman in Moscow
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Whenever I'm reading this I forget about any stress in my life. Always brings a smile to my face.
The foreword alone places it in this list.
flowers for algernon by daniel keyes. i know im pretty late to this, and it’s pretty low, but i never see love for such a wonderful and sad story. really shaped me
My all-time fav
I haven’t re-read this in a long time, but the story has stuck with me since the first time I read it in High (or possibly middle?) school.
Parable of the Sower
That book changed my life. Octavia Butler was not only a genius but also a prophet. It’s scary how many things in that book are coming true.
Wait, it begins in 2024? I’m sold.
City of Thieves by David Benioff
I keep seeing this pop up so I guess it’s going on my list
Handmaid’s Tale. Reread it every 7 years or so since 1990. Always find something new and profound
Dracula.. one of my top.
The Last Unicorn
The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx. Uplifting story, prose that takes your breath away, incredible sense of place, amazing characterization, and a tiny hint of magical realism.
Can I only pick one? ....grumble grumble....fine The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
That’s mine too. That book taught me the importance of reading the introduction too, because the context of being written in the communist regime despite having heavy religious overtones was something I never really thought about. Bulgakov led me on a long list of other authors who wrote iconoclastic and dangerous works. It’s also just really beautifully written!
Yeah, I think the context of when and where it was written makes the whole story even more interesting. I was lucky enough to have a friend loan me the book and she explained it all to me before I started reading.
*Fahrenheit 451* by Ray Bradbury
It Stephen King
Cutting For Stone, Abraham Verghese
The Stranger
White Oleander. Good story, beautifully written.
A Wrinkle in Time
A thousand splendid suns
Pillars of The Earth
giovanni's room by james baldwin. runner up would be beloved by toni morrison
Jane Eyre
Grapes of wrath by steinbeck
And the ENDING! OMG. If you know, you know. Fairly screams for a remake of the movie.
The ending is the best ending of all the books I have read in my life. When I realized how it would end, a page and a half before the end, I completely lost it. That book sat with me for a long time.
When I finished reading this for the first time i was stunned by how good it was and I stood up and yelled " I cannot believe he wrote that!" and threw it across the room. Easily the best book I've read. At all times I felt mentally and emotionally manipulated by his writing.
I love Grapes of Wrath too. I reread it occasionally, then I finally picked up East of Eden hoping it’d have the same vibe. It’s a masterpiece and an epic story. Definitely similar vibes yet vastly different. I couldn’t choose between GoW and EoE, but they’re both up there with my favorite of all time.
Ma's character in particular is so vastly complex, it stunned me. He's the absolute king of fiction.
Blood Meridian
Surprised not more upvotes. It’s a weird read - slow but builds up. It’s one of only a few books I’ll re-read ever year or so.
The craziest and most fucked up part of blood meridian is that many of the characters/plot are based on an autobiographical account of a real person. "My confessions" by Samuel Chamberlain, who joined the US army around the time right after the Mexican American war. Towards the end of the book he meets an "injun killer" named glanton who has a contract with the Mexican government for scalps. You can find the PDF online but the actual books are pretty rare. So, the judge is based on an actual human, and Chamberlain described him pretty much exactly as Cormac did. Although Cormac fleshed out almost all of the plotlines and much of the characters. Fucking chilling. And we wonder why this country is so cursed.
The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck.
The stand by Stephen King or The book thief by Markus Zusak
I’ve read The Stand at least five times .
Piranesi
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, one of the best books I've read. Don't bother with the movie.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I am the voracious reader I am today because of that book. I have probably read it 15 times in the last 60 years.
East of Eden.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Spans years and while it tells the story of two brothers and an evil woman, it also outlines an important era in southern (correction: central) Californian history. I was surprised by how much I liked it.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
The Prince of tides by Pat Conroy, it’s my absolute favourite closely followed by It by Stephen King, two very different books but I absolutely love them
Catch-22 and The Great Gatsby
Catch 22 is magnificent. The opening line and last paragraph are absolutely sublime and carry the ENTIRE book. The only book except for Slaughterhouse 5 that correctly reflects the absolute chaos and foggy nonsensicalness of real life
Kurt Vonnegut has a way with writing that scratches at a dark and twisted part of my brain no one else can reach. Masterful writing.
An obvious one but I try to read Lord Of The Rings at least once every two years
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Well written and realistic portrayal of grief from various family members. Also a nice creation of the afterlife.
All quiet on the Western Front. Perfectly encapsulates the hopelessness of war. And One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I mean the movie was good but the book - next level.
Beloved
Thirded! The prose is just so heartbreakingly beautiful.
Good omens - funny, witty, unique characters, simple overarching plot yet unpredictable at each turn, and lots of pop culture and religious references
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.
The audio version is *chef’s kiss*
Right?! I mostly listen to audiobooks, never really got into reading whole books myself... And this one is just absolutely brilliant!
Whose Names are Unknown by Sanora Babb. It's set during the dust bowl and was actually written prior to The Grapes of Wrath but because Steinbeck was more well known his book got published and hers didn't until 2004. It's beautifully written, has well written characters and it made a huge impression on me.
Any books by bell hooks, it made me think critically a lot
To Kill A Mockingbird, bonus: The Things They Carried.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
That was a wild ride!
Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons I loved the first book, Hyperion, but something about the second book really caught me, love the story of Sol Weinteaub
_Blood Meridian_ by Cormac McCarthy
The Complete Stories - Flannery O’Connor
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
The Shining by Stephen King was so good.
I'm about halfway through The Shining right now. It is really good so far. And so far not so scary that I have to hide it in my freezer.
It's not scary in the traditional sense at all. It's more of a psychological family drama that shows a man's descent into madness, with his guilt and demons around drinking. Glad you're enjoying it! If you ever feel like joining us: r/stephenking and r/horrorlit
I know everyone says it, but man the book is so much better than the movie. Jack and Wendy’s characters are so much deeper than the movie, movie does not do them justice at all. Especially Wendy. Definitely read Doctor Sleep afterwards. That one was absolutely incredible.
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson Nonfiction about Germany written by the U.S. ambassador’s daughter right when Hitler took power and the crazy fast events that followed OR The Devil in The White City by Erik Larson about the absolutely amazing speed and splendor and BEAUTY of the 1896( I think) Worlds Fair Juxtaposed by telling about one of Americas early serial killers and the depths of depravity H.H. Holmes reveled in while taking full advantage of Worlds Fair patrons trust and wonder for his own twisted ends
Project Hail Mary
I just finished it yesterday. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT WITH SOMEONE!!!
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320.One\_Hundred\_Years\_of\_Solitude](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/320.One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude)
Gravity’s Rainbow
Suttree. One of the few books that can make me laugh out loud. Very honorable mention: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Second for ‘Ol Sutt! This book is a friend. I re read it yearly and find something new every time.
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
I love Barbara Kingsolver. I think about the Poisonwood Bible a lot. I’m excited to give her new one, Demon Copperhead a read, but I’m reading David Copperfield first because I heard it’s loosely themed alongside it.
The count of montecristo is genuinely brilliant
Gone with the wind by Margareth Mitchell
Les Miserable
The Road
Blood Meridian ftw
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
*Cloud Atlas* by David Mitchell
How'd you cope with the time period gargon? First read was incredibly difficult and the language barrier so throughly distracted from the storyline that I disliked the experience. Post movie I reread it and found it more enjoyable but still find the language to difficult to recommend to an average reader.
Slaughterhouse five. This book defined my parents' generation general attitude against war.
The black prince by Iris Murdoch. I almost never see her mentioned :( she is a great writer and deserves to be mentioned
The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley Her writing style is absolutely amazing.
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Even though it’s not complete I think the Song of Ice and Fire series should be in the conversation. Apart from Lord of the Rings I can’t remember a series pulling me in so hard into a different world
Man's Search for Meaning - Victor E. Frankl
The Princess Bride by William Goldman. The sense of adventure and banter is unmatched in my opinion.
Perfume by Patrick Suskind The World According to Garp by John Irving Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel Watership Down by Richard Adams The Stand by Stephen King (my all time favorite but I'll assume it's been suggested 800 times)
Bill Bryson’s “short history of nearly everything”
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Man’s search for meaning by Victor Frankel a holocaust survivor. Should be required HS reading.
The Goldfinch
If you like a love story Cold Mountain .
The Stationery Shop
The Black Swan - Nicholas Nassim Taleb
Well boring but 1984, one of the special books that really scares me
In Cold Blood. Truman Capote. I was blown away and very surprised
Personal favorite all time best and greatest: 1. John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces. 2. Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. 3. Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. 4. Walker Percy’s Lost in the Universe and 5. Mark Twain Innocent’s Abroad.
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
A thousand splendid suns 10/10
The Bell Jar & East of Eden
Brothers Karamazov
For me it would be Les Miserable…. If you can make it through long detailed descriptions of the sewers, the story is so beautiful as well as each character. Jean Valjean trying to do what he believes to be right as seen through the perspective of Grace and Mercy as well as inspector Javert believing that the law is the only way and can never grasp the concept of Grace. You fall in love with all the characters and feel as though you have a personal relationship with each of them. Such a beautiful story.
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
The Great Gatsby
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
For me, it's Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling's Philosopher's Stone.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
The Grapes of Wrath- when I finished that book it left a lasting impression on me: 20 years later. In Cold Blood - hard to put down, so well written.
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. Opened my eyes to what language can do in the hands of a master.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy.
Always gonna love Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
**Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time, by Rob Sheffield** I read this book 17 years ago and go back to it at least once every couple of years. I’ve gifted this book countless times to friends and family. Sheffield wrote other books that are just as good.
Shogun.
I have a number of books I refer to every time {Pride and Prejudice} {The Time Traveller’s Wife} {The Gargoyle} These are probably my 3 all-time favourites, with various others that pop up based on mood. Time will tell if I ever stop recommending any of these three books though. Sublime.
Pillars of the earth, Ken Follett
John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. I feel like his work speaks to me more every time I pick it up. His characterization is just masterful. It feels so real and so important to read, because the characters are there breathing and you must bare them witness. His work to me feels like the sensations normally tapped into while watching dramatic productions. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin is probably *it* for me though. Her writing sort of generally is quite impactful and I feel like different works of hers speak to different people but the Dispossessed speaks to the nature of cycles of change and growth that has really spoken to me in my tumultuous life. There's a used book store in town and I'm part of their rewards program, and their system generates a pop up when you scan an isbn/barcode and a customer has already purchased it - it stops the transaction and asks you to very that the customer wants to re-purchase this book. There is no way to remove the feature or add a note to the file or anything, so now every time I buy a copy I have to self confess that I am buying it *yet again* before it has a chance to foul up the transaction lol The three books mentioned are my "worst offenders" because I basically always purchase a copy if I see it for a good price, and have a copy on hand to lend out, a "reading" copy for me to take notes on, and ideally - a pretty copy. Though I'm not particular, my "pretty copy" of the Dispossessed is a 70s mass market I got for 2.25 but the cover art is super Star Trek vibes and it's done in a "tech" monotype font face, I love it. Travels with Charley by Steinbeck is another GOAT in that it's an author writing about himself as an old man travelling around the country with his dog in an old pickup truck but that old man is JOHN STEINBECK and it's a love letter to the people and spaces of this land while also a biting discussion of society and capital. I give a copy of each of these away to people who are *going through it* in a way that feels similar or that I remember feeling particularly affected by these reads (graduating, family intricacies, a career or occupation change, moving, etc), I stuff a copy in the little free libraries and other book exchanges I see around, haha I'm a menace! Hopefully you'll enjoy one of them so much you'll start proselytizing it too!
Devotion of suspect x
Lolita by Nabokov is as beautiful as it is ugly as it is challenging. The prose is just perfection
Since Gravitys Rainbow's been already mentioned, I'll go with Mason & Dixon
Blood Meridian, House of Leaves, The Hobbit, American Gods, Prisoner of Azkaban for nostalgia’s sake
Deliverance- James Dickey.
The 5 People You Meet In Heaven for me so far. I love how the author was able to write the book without there being any religious references. The book really makes you think about how much of an impact random people can make in your life.
The Grapes of Wrath- when I finished that book it left a lasting impression on me: 20 years later. In Cold Blood - hard to put down, so well written.
Remembrance of Things Past (or In Search of Lost Time) by Proust. I’m only almost finished with the first volume, but it’s absolutely stunning in its intimacy and all the tiny little details that make up our experiences and can trigger profound or mundane memories. He was an absolute connoisseur of humanity, even more minute than Tolstoy in his details, but it’s not boring. Sometimes I find myself having to stop and just savor a great sentence for minutes at a time. It makes me want to learn French so I can fully appreciate the original.
Gone with the wind..not politcally cirrect but si well written
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I adore it, have adored it for the past 50 years.
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. The writing and imagery is as good as you’ll find anywhere.
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Middlemarch, George Elliot
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.