What are your six favourite fiction books (or authors) ?

[Philoctetes]

The Royal Family by Vollmann
The Castle by Kafka
The Things They Carried by O'Brien
Watt by Beckett
The Everlasting Story of Nory by Baker
When I was 5 I Killed Myself by Buten

[Philoctetes]

My list of favorites has changed a bit since I posted here almost two years ago (wow...):

Elias Canetti - Auto-da-fe
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Hermann Broch - The Sleepwalkers
Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time (Though I've only read four of the seven novels, they are substantial enough for me to place them among my favorites. I intend to read the others pretty soon.)
Robert Musil The Man Without Qualities (which reminds me I still need to read Young Torless!)
James Joyce - Ulysses (Only finished two days ago as I type this, but I think it has had a substantial impact on me, to the point that I can't stop thinking about it!)

Well you never have to worry about leaving yourself open from attack, each of those books could serve as a sturdy shield or weapon, if you're proactive.

[DavidW]

Awesome it's Philo!!  Yes.  No.

[Henk]

The Royal Family by Vollmann
The Castle by Kafka
The Things They Carried by O'Brien
Watt by Beckett
The Everlasting Story of Nory by Baker
When I was 5 I Killed Myself by Buten

Interesting choices, I will investigate them. Only read the Castle. Good to see you back, with that lovely avatar!

[Brünnhilde ewig]

Not forgotten but overlooked listing:

Jean Genet: Our Lady of the Flowers

Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Violent Life

[CD]

Well you never have to worry about leaving yourself open from attack, each of those books could serve as a sturdy shield or weapon, if you're proactive.

One would get more use by reading them. Try it.

[Dr. Dread]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356541209342218.html

[karlhenning]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204683204574356541209342218.html

. . . vying with the phoned-in ruminations of the snooty, burned-out hacks who masquerade as professionals at our top magazines and papers.

They always speak highly of you, Joe . . . .

[RJR]

The bible. Somebody had to say it.

Good choice, although most people consider it to be non-fiction.

[Papy Oli]

Bumpity bump...because why not...

(and also because this thread has been of help for pointers in my recent e-library building, what with my new reading hobby of these last few months  ).

The novels that have impressed me most so far and make me pursue fiction reading further:

E. Bronte - Wuthering Heights
G. Greene - Our Man in Havana
E. Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea
J. Verne - Autour du Monde en 80 jours
H.G. Wells - the Island of Dr Moreau
O. Wilde - The importance of being Earnest

PS: I have been stuck about halfway Proust's Swann's Way for yonks but when I have been in the right mood, the beauty of its writing is undeniable.

PPS: I feel bad to leave E.A. Poe out. The Fall of the House of Usher and Murders in the Rue Morgue were brilliant reads.





 

[San Antone]

William Faulkner: Light in August / The Hamlet / Flags in the Dust

Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian / Suttree / All the Pretty Horses

[hopefullytrusting]

1. Samuel Beckett
2. Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)
3. Halle Butler (The New Me)
4. Jeff Noon (Pollen)
5. A Frolic of His Own (Gaddis)
6. Ashleigh Bryant Phillips (Sleepeovers)

Don't feel the best about 3-6, but 1-2 are locked in.

[foxandpeng]

PS: I have been stuck about halfway Proust's Swann's Way for yonks but when I have been in the right mood, the beauty of its writing is undeniable.
 

You are a better man than me. I got 300pp into Swann's Way, and lost all will to live. My loathing for its introspective, pointless, grinding, painfully slow narrative grew almost with every page.

YMMV, of course 😁😁

[Papy Oli]

William Faulkner: Light in August / The Hamlet / Flags in the Dust

Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian / Suttree / All the Pretty Horses

Seen Blood Meridian pop up often here and there. I've added to my wishlist earlier this week.

[Papy Oli]

2. Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man)

This one too, so I have just added it too.

[Papy Oli]

You are a better man than me. I got 300pp into Swann's Way, and lost all will to live. My loathing for its introspective, pointless, grinding, painfully slow narrative grew almost with every page.

YMMV, of course 😁😁

I checked the actual book, I stopped near page 270... Maybe some time soon 

[foxandpeng]

I checked the actual book, I stopped near page 270... Maybe some time soon 

I applaud your tenacity 🙂

[Karl Henning]

De Lillo, White Noise
Boyle, Water Music
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Melville, Moby-Dick
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

[Karl Henning]

De Lillo, White Noise
Boyle, Water Music
Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith (How do you pick just one?)
Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance
Melville, Moby-Dick
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend

Dickens, of course, is another "How do you pick just one?" guy.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Red and Black, Stendhal
Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse
Tonio Kröger, Thomas Mann
Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky
Idiot, Dostoevsky
One Thousand and One Nights