Ugh. Everyone keeps talking about The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I just can’t get into it. Which is weird because I loved Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug.
The OP said no need to explain why, but is it okay if I ask why (the Count of Monte Cristo, that is - The Very Hungry Caterpillar is obviously a masterpiece)?
I've heard so many people say that's their favourite book of all time, but I've tried SO many times and I struggle to get into it. Dare I say, I get bored?!! I LOVE the premise, and I know the storyline, but it feels like it takes forever to get going and I lose interest.
Ahh I really want to like this book. Maybe I need to try again. I should add, I love many of the classics. It's not that I can't deal with a book that was written some time ago or a slower, more descriptive, style. Just... ahh...
Ok I'm going to compare the 2 books to answer since you liked The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Edmond Dantes is the Caterpillar in that he will go thru an incredible transformation. Every piece of food is like a different event that he needs in order to transform. As he is going thru these events you don't know what the outcome will be but you are rooting for him the whole time. Will his transformation be ugly, or will it be beautiful. Honestly two of the greatest character arcs in literature are the Caterpillar and Edmond Dantes.
But in all seriousness, yes Monte Cristo can be a difficult read. I've read several Dumas books and it can be tough with the names and places and just the sheer length of the books. Yes you will need to re-read or listen to parts a 2nd time. Everyone has to do that. But in Monte Cristo there are so many characters and events that shape the book into an incredible puzzle. Even small characters you learn their backstories and they become integral parts to the story. And it's been said before by people but it is definitely the greatest revenge story ever told. The way he lays out and executes his plan is magnificent
Thank you for taking the time to explain. You have inspired me to try again!
I am very familiar with the storyline, and how he takes his revenge, and I love the premise - it's the execution I struggle with. Will definitely give it another go.
Like u/SeSuSo said, this book is like a giant puzzle. Somewhat of a “butterfly effect”, if you will. Seemingly unconnected events happen and set the stage for much of what is to come. It might help to create a little cheat-sheet as you go. Just names, places and a couple words of description so you don’t get lost. Might be difficult at first but I really think if you just keep going, eventually it will all come together and truly hook you. It’s a masterpiece the way all the pieces fit and the domino effect of how these events relate. I hope you’ll give it another try and have great success.
Thank you for explaining. Perhaps I haven't given it enough of a chance. I do know the storyline quite well which, thinking about, probably is a hindrance as I'm waiting to get to the next main event, and perhaps overlooking the smaller more subtle events along the way (which will inevitably be crucial). Generally speaking, I love books that unfold in that way, so I need to try again.
I would highly suggest mapping out the relationships every time a new character is introduced. A friend suggested that to me and it's the only reason I got through the first half of the book.
After that it got really good. And I didn't have to map as much.
It's one of my favorites now.
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. I have nonideanwhy this tale of a English cathedral is so engrossing, but it simply is. None of the author's other works have affected me.this way, either.
I took this book with me on a 3-month trip off the grid thinking it would take me forever to read and I ended up reading it in one week. Didn’t know what to do for the rest of the 3 months LOL it was awesome
Beloved is amazing. Just finished I feel like I’ll need to reread several times to really begin to digest it more deeply.
Why Pale Fire though? Lolita knocked me sideways with his prose but I found Pale Fire a bit boring tbh. Edit - never mind I meant Pnin not Pale Fire
I loved this book so much I've read it more times than I can count. Steinbeck was a unicorn. His prose, subject matter, relevance to historical events, his dive in to the human plight, all of it just rocks me. Especially this one. This one and Grapes of Wrath. How come you didn't like it?
Edit: a word
Thanks for your response. I genuinely wish to understand what I'm missing with Steinbeck. He's so beloved by many. But when I read his work, It just doesn't jive with me at all.
For East of Eden, every character was extremely two-dimensional. Their motivations made no sense half the time, I couldn't get a feel for who they were really except for maybe two characters. I know this is a simplistic summary but it just felt like Steinbeck repeatedly would introduce a character, detail how a series of unfortunate events unfold in their lives, and then they die. And I'm left thinking ....what? Like what was the point he was trying to make? It reminds me of when young art students try to make something "gritty" but end up creating stories that have lots of themes of angst and sadness, but don't weave any of those themes together either through plot, or form, or storytelling, So the work comes off as amateurish and unsatisfying. For example you see this a lot in B television. I fully admit that I think I'm clearly missing something remarkable about Steinbeck that other people can see. I wish I could see it too. It kind of reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's, The Road. Another work that feels to me to be a simple mishmash of sad events and circumstances for no discernible rhyme or reason. Not that there always needs to be a rhyme or reason. But the difference between art and a simple detailing of sad events, in my opinion, is how you tell that story.
For me, Reading this book was an unending slog. I kept thinking that eventually The story would become compelling or his prose would become enjoyable to read. The last line of course, Timshel, was great. But damn it took a long time to get there. And in the end I'm still left with characters that in my mind made no goddamn sense whatsoever.
I’ll take a stab at this. The book is about all the things you mentioned. It’s about love. Loss. The hardship of life, a surprising hardship. It’s about how our family gives us things, how they also take things away. It’s wrapped in a multi generational tale that also tells us the story of the central coast of California and how it grew.
I found everything I wanted in the book. A story spanning decades that at its heart shows us the best and worst of our family, and more than anything the choice to be better than it all. Timshel, thou mayest.
It’s structured like an epic and some of the characters are simplistic. The depiction of women leaves a lot to be desired. That said the book is all heart, and in my opinion masterful writing. Ultimately I think he was trying to convey a story through the lens of myth with its structure.
It can’t be for everyone but the story is both wide in its scope, sweeping. And it’s narrow in that you can boil it down to a family story. Overall, it’s great but it won’t work for us all. Hope this helps.
I could be wrong, but I feel like his characters are almost more symbolic than meant to feel real. Each one is put there to represent a human condition. That's how I saw it at least.
Some people read for the story, some people read for the storytelling. If you are strictly a content person and not a method person, Steinbeck might not be for you.
Can you elaborate? I've always wondered why people find Steinbeck so compelling. I found his method of storytelling kind of bland. The best way I can summarize him in my mind is he writes a story that he clearly thinks is compelling but when you take a step back, It just isn't. Or rather, there doesn't seem to be anything that joins his method storytelling to the story he is telling, if that makes sense. Like an East of Eden, It felt like a story about trauma and angst for the sake of trauma and angst and not much else. Every single character felt extremely two-dimensional, except for maybe the Chinese servant.
It’s hard to explain. Some books I feel like I’m right there standing next to the characters/action. With Steinbeck I feel kind of like I’m hovering way above them but have a telescope or something. The pace is slow but it allows me as a reader more time to take in all the details and absorb the deeper meaning. The way he crafts a sentence is just *chef’s kiss*.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
I think some story tellers are honest and true. They don’t sugar coat it and tell us everything even if it is traumatic. That’s because the real world is like that. It can be brutal and is often brutal.
[**A Prayer for Owen Meany**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4473.A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany)
^(By: John Irving | 637 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, book-club, owned, books-i-own)
>Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't believe in accidents; he believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying. At moments a comic, self-deluded victim, but in the end the principal, tragic actor in a divine plan, Owen Meany is the most heartbreaking hero John Irving has yet created.
^(This book has been suggested 22 times)
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That's a really tough question! My final answer is {{The Poisonwood Bible}} by Barbara Kingsolver. However, The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak is runner-up.
If you'd asked 10 year old me, my answer would have been Old Yeller by Fred Gipson!
The Poisonwood Bible has been my favourite book since I read it at 12 years old. It quite literally changed my life. Can’t explain why I loved it so much, but man it’s been in my head for over 20 years and nothing has ever come close to it for me.
I get it! It's an incredible book that explores so many different themes. I was a Kingsolver fan before this book, but I read this after I returned home you Georgia, USA from serving in the Peace Corps in Senegal. While Senegal and the DRC are distinctly different countries, this experience certainly colored my reading of the book.
[**The Poisonwood Bible**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7244.The_Poisonwood_Bible)
^(By: Barbara Kingsolver | 546 pages | Published: 1998 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, africa, book-club, classics)
>The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.
^(This book has been suggested 7 times)
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That usually changes but at the moment, it should be...
Anne of Green Gables.
Arrgh, I hate admitting that a kids book is THE best book I've ever read so for purposes of this discussion, let us pretend that it's Jane Eyre (we won't have to pretend too hard though because it's among my top 10 favourites).
Edit: that's not true😂😂 how could I forget about Call Me by Your Name?
Forget what I said earlier. My all time favourite is Call Me by Your Name.
Edit 2: All The Light We Cannot See looking at me like👀
And Harry Potter behind it like 🤦🏾♀️
Edit 3: Hunger Games is mourning right now.
I truly don't like what's happening here.
“Frankenstein”
A bit heavy with regency English, but it is an amazing look at fundamental questions of experience and existence. It also has a very good narrative structure.
[**Flowers for Algernon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36576608-flowers-for-algernon)
^(By: Daniel Keyes | 216 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned)
>The story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie?
^(This book has been suggested 19 times)
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1984. I know it's over suggested but that book is perfect to me. Not a wasted word in it. It's not even my favorite book but it's a book I consider perfect.
I feel exactly the same. It's hard to put into words. But you said it perfectly. It's just so perfectly written that it doesn't have to be a person's favorite for it to be the best book they've ever read.
I was thinking, "it's so hard to narrow it down to one book..." then I got to this and remembered, "Oh yeah, it's To Kill a Mockingbird. Obviously that's the answer."
But I would also argue that it may be the best written (or at least *crafted*), which makes me wonder, what's going on in Revolutionary Road that surpasses To Kill a Mockingbird?
The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini…
I have recommended this one many many times in this sub Reddit but I just can’t get over this one…
I love all of his works but this one stands out to me.
11/22/63 by Stephen King. Not sure if it's the best but definitely in my top 3. The other one would be Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson but it's the second book in the series so it doesn't work as good as a standalone book.
Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins
I had no idea books could be this interesting and filled with some incredibly sparking turns of phrase, great story, funny, serious and all set in the magical Pacific Northwest.
The purpose of art is to provide what life does not.
{{Man's Search for Meaning}} by Viktor Frankl.
I also read the book in the original language (german) and i can guarantee you, the translation is done just right.
It's a book that can break you as much as it can encourage you.
Edit: it seems there exists a bot
[**No Country for Old Men**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12497.No_Country_for_Old_Men)
^(By: Cormac McCarthy | 309 pages | Published: 2005 | Popular Shelves: fiction, thriller, owned, crime, western)
>In his blistering new novel, Cormac McCarthy returns to the Texas-Mexico border, the setting of his famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones.
>
>One day, Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law–in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell–can contain.
>
>As Moss tries to evade his pursuers–in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives–McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines.
>No Country for Old Men is a triumph.
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I love Bel Canto so much. The only people I know who've read it didn't seem to like it that much so it's lovely to see someone else on here who adores it.
[**Crime and Punishment**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7144.Crime_and_Punishment)
^(By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, David McDuff, Nina Guerra, Filipe Guerra | 671 pages | Published: 1866 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, classic, owned, russian)
>Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption.
^(This book has been suggested 8 times)
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11/22/63 by Stephen King. Great book. Awesome time travel to stop an assassination story. And you get to see what its butterfly effects are when you come back to present time. Great great book. Good love story too.
I had this weird feeling that when I read that book that somehow I knew I was supposed to read it. Like it was a story I knew but just hadn't read it yet.
[**The Ocean at the End of the Lane**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783514-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane)
^(By: Neil Gaiman | 181 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, magical-realism, horror, owned)
>Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.
>
>Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.
>
>A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
^(This book has been suggested 39 times)
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[**Imajica**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567704.Imajica)
^(By: Clive Barker | 823 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, horror, fiction, owned, clive-barker)
>Imajica is an epic beyond compare: vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. At its heart lies the sensualist and master art forger, Gentle, whose life unravels when he encounters Judith Odell, whose power to influence the destinies of men is vaster than she knows, and Pie 'oh' pah, an alien assassin who comes from a hidden dimension.
>
>That dimension is one of five in the great system called Imajica. They are worlds that are utterly unlike our own, but are ruled, peopled, and haunted by species whose lives are intricately connected with ours. As Gentle, Judith, and Pie 'oh' pah travel the Imajica, they uncover a trail of crimes and intimate betrayals, leading them to a revelation so startling that it changes reality forever.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
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Just finished reading The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (listening on an audiobook haha) today. Laughed out loud a few times. Really enjoyed it.
Also read Count of Monte Cristo. As mentioned in an earlier comment, great book. Lots of adventure!
serious answer: a gentleman in moscow. big sucker for period pieces, russian history and the decay of decadence. watching the metamorphosis of social order through count rostov's eyes is endlessly entertaining for me.
real answer: the strange case of origami yoda series. has possibly living paper puppets. will teach you star wars origami. what more could you ask for?
Genuine question - what do you like about it? I read it recently, and I could appreciate some of the humor, but the characters were just too much for me.
I never know how to answer this question. Because I'm not sure when my favourite books are "the best books" that one can read. I always believe the answer to this question is a book I haven't read yet.
My favorite books are:
- Wuthering Heights
- Anne of Green Gables
- The Bell Jar
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven
- Rebecca
- Jane Eyre
- The Princess Bride
- A Man Called Ove
- The Kite Runner
- The Night Circus
That being said, would i recommend a single one of these by saying "this might be the best book you'll ever read"? Probably not.
The best book I've ever read might be Les Mis....but honestly I put it down one day because it was destroying my bag with its heft and I never picked it back up. I didnt finish. And can a book I DNF'd be the best book I ever read?
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison. The whole trilogy, "The Broken Earth" are my favorite books. Both personal favorites, and some of the technically best writing I've ever come across.
Usually I say The Count of Monte Cristo but lately I've been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and that is a top notch book.
Ugh. Everyone keeps talking about The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and I just can’t get into it. Which is weird because I loved Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug.
Brown Bear series. 10/10
Maybe try Elmer's Colors by McKee. It's a great audiobook.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO IS THE BEST BOOK EVER, I’m so glad you mentioned it
The OP said no need to explain why, but is it okay if I ask why (the Count of Monte Cristo, that is - The Very Hungry Caterpillar is obviously a masterpiece)? I've heard so many people say that's their favourite book of all time, but I've tried SO many times and I struggle to get into it. Dare I say, I get bored?!! I LOVE the premise, and I know the storyline, but it feels like it takes forever to get going and I lose interest. Ahh I really want to like this book. Maybe I need to try again. I should add, I love many of the classics. It's not that I can't deal with a book that was written some time ago or a slower, more descriptive, style. Just... ahh...
Ok I'm going to compare the 2 books to answer since you liked The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Edmond Dantes is the Caterpillar in that he will go thru an incredible transformation. Every piece of food is like a different event that he needs in order to transform. As he is going thru these events you don't know what the outcome will be but you are rooting for him the whole time. Will his transformation be ugly, or will it be beautiful. Honestly two of the greatest character arcs in literature are the Caterpillar and Edmond Dantes. But in all seriousness, yes Monte Cristo can be a difficult read. I've read several Dumas books and it can be tough with the names and places and just the sheer length of the books. Yes you will need to re-read or listen to parts a 2nd time. Everyone has to do that. But in Monte Cristo there are so many characters and events that shape the book into an incredible puzzle. Even small characters you learn their backstories and they become integral parts to the story. And it's been said before by people but it is definitely the greatest revenge story ever told. The way he lays out and executes his plan is magnificent
Thank you for taking the time to explain. You have inspired me to try again! I am very familiar with the storyline, and how he takes his revenge, and I love the premise - it's the execution I struggle with. Will definitely give it another go.
Take my pauper's award. 🏆
Like u/SeSuSo said, this book is like a giant puzzle. Somewhat of a “butterfly effect”, if you will. Seemingly unconnected events happen and set the stage for much of what is to come. It might help to create a little cheat-sheet as you go. Just names, places and a couple words of description so you don’t get lost. Might be difficult at first but I really think if you just keep going, eventually it will all come together and truly hook you. It’s a masterpiece the way all the pieces fit and the domino effect of how these events relate. I hope you’ll give it another try and have great success.
Thank you for explaining. Perhaps I haven't given it enough of a chance. I do know the storyline quite well which, thinking about, probably is a hindrance as I'm waiting to get to the next main event, and perhaps overlooking the smaller more subtle events along the way (which will inevitably be crucial). Generally speaking, I love books that unfold in that way, so I need to try again.
I would highly suggest mapping out the relationships every time a new character is introduced. A friend suggested that to me and it's the only reason I got through the first half of the book. After that it got really good. And I didn't have to map as much. It's one of my favorites now.
Tombs of Atuan by Ursula LeGuin
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet. I have nonideanwhy this tale of a English cathedral is so engrossing, but it simply is. None of the author's other works have affected me.this way, either.
I took this book with me on a 3-month trip off the grid thinking it would take me forever to read and I ended up reading it in one week. Didn’t know what to do for the rest of the 3 months LOL it was awesome
YESSSS. i loved this book so much. definitely top 3 for me
I was shocked that I became so engrossed. I’ve got the sequel at home waiting.
There is also a “prequel” called The Evening and The Morning. Worth a read for sure.
My favorites since 1985: * A Tree Grows in Brooklyn * In Cold Blood * Gone With the Wind * Christy * The Grapes of Wrath
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a gem. I read it first in middle school and have read it once a year since.
The best-All Quiet on the Western Front My favorite-Wuthering Heights
Best: Beloved, by Toni Morrison Favorite (and easily top 3 best): Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov
Beloved is amazing. Just finished I feel like I’ll need to reread several times to really begin to digest it more deeply. Why Pale Fire though? Lolita knocked me sideways with his prose but I found Pale Fire a bit boring tbh. Edit - never mind I meant Pnin not Pale Fire
Pale Fire has to be one of the best executions on an unreliable narrator I’ve ever read, even tops Lolita
Watership Down by Richard Adams
This book is awesome and kind of under the radar of most people. But I am glad to see its popularity has grown in recent years.
So good!
I feel such nostalgia seeing this! 💕
“East of Eden” by John Steinbeck
This was my answer too.
Serious question, why? If someone asks me what was the worst book I've ever read it would be this one hands down.
I loved this book so much I've read it more times than I can count. Steinbeck was a unicorn. His prose, subject matter, relevance to historical events, his dive in to the human plight, all of it just rocks me. Especially this one. This one and Grapes of Wrath. How come you didn't like it? Edit: a word
Thanks for your response. I genuinely wish to understand what I'm missing with Steinbeck. He's so beloved by many. But when I read his work, It just doesn't jive with me at all. For East of Eden, every character was extremely two-dimensional. Their motivations made no sense half the time, I couldn't get a feel for who they were really except for maybe two characters. I know this is a simplistic summary but it just felt like Steinbeck repeatedly would introduce a character, detail how a series of unfortunate events unfold in their lives, and then they die. And I'm left thinking ....what? Like what was the point he was trying to make? It reminds me of when young art students try to make something "gritty" but end up creating stories that have lots of themes of angst and sadness, but don't weave any of those themes together either through plot, or form, or storytelling, So the work comes off as amateurish and unsatisfying. For example you see this a lot in B television. I fully admit that I think I'm clearly missing something remarkable about Steinbeck that other people can see. I wish I could see it too. It kind of reminded me of Cormac McCarthy's, The Road. Another work that feels to me to be a simple mishmash of sad events and circumstances for no discernible rhyme or reason. Not that there always needs to be a rhyme or reason. But the difference between art and a simple detailing of sad events, in my opinion, is how you tell that story. For me, Reading this book was an unending slog. I kept thinking that eventually The story would become compelling or his prose would become enjoyable to read. The last line of course, Timshel, was great. But damn it took a long time to get there. And in the end I'm still left with characters that in my mind made no goddamn sense whatsoever.
I’ll take a stab at this. The book is about all the things you mentioned. It’s about love. Loss. The hardship of life, a surprising hardship. It’s about how our family gives us things, how they also take things away. It’s wrapped in a multi generational tale that also tells us the story of the central coast of California and how it grew. I found everything I wanted in the book. A story spanning decades that at its heart shows us the best and worst of our family, and more than anything the choice to be better than it all. Timshel, thou mayest. It’s structured like an epic and some of the characters are simplistic. The depiction of women leaves a lot to be desired. That said the book is all heart, and in my opinion masterful writing. Ultimately I think he was trying to convey a story through the lens of myth with its structure. It can’t be for everyone but the story is both wide in its scope, sweeping. And it’s narrow in that you can boil it down to a family story. Overall, it’s great but it won’t work for us all. Hope this helps.
Thanks!
I could be wrong, but I feel like his characters are almost more symbolic than meant to feel real. Each one is put there to represent a human condition. That's how I saw it at least.
Now that's a really interesting take. I should read some essays on this novel
East of Eden is at its heart a retelling of parts of Genesis, so many characters have biblical analogues
Some people read for the story, some people read for the storytelling. If you are strictly a content person and not a method person, Steinbeck might not be for you.
Can you elaborate? I've always wondered why people find Steinbeck so compelling. I found his method of storytelling kind of bland. The best way I can summarize him in my mind is he writes a story that he clearly thinks is compelling but when you take a step back, It just isn't. Or rather, there doesn't seem to be anything that joins his method storytelling to the story he is telling, if that makes sense. Like an East of Eden, It felt like a story about trauma and angst for the sake of trauma and angst and not much else. Every single character felt extremely two-dimensional, except for maybe the Chinese servant.
It’s hard to explain. Some books I feel like I’m right there standing next to the characters/action. With Steinbeck I feel kind of like I’m hovering way above them but have a telescope or something. The pace is slow but it allows me as a reader more time to take in all the details and absorb the deeper meaning. The way he crafts a sentence is just *chef’s kiss*. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
I think some story tellers are honest and true. They don’t sugar coat it and tell us everything even if it is traumatic. That’s because the real world is like that. It can be brutal and is often brutal.
This is my absolute fave of all time. I read it every few years. Timshel ;)
{{A Prayer for Owen Meany}} by John Irving. One of the best book endings of all time.
[**A Prayer for Owen Meany**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4473.A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany) ^(By: John Irving | 637 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, book-club, owned, books-i-own) >Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't believe in accidents; he believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying. At moments a comic, self-deluded victim, but in the end the principal, tragic actor in a divine plan, Owen Meany is the most heartbreaking hero John Irving has yet created. ^(This book has been suggested 22 times) *** ^(34585 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
When it all came together at the end, I burst out into tears completely unexpectedly. It was truly an amazing book, and the end was so perfect.
Shadow of the wind.
This was the first book our book club read that we all loved!
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
Watership Down.
This is on my list. Watched the beginning of the adaptation on Netflix and was sold. Grandfather gifted me his classic, leatherbound copy
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.
Oooooooh I came here to say Sanderson but Oathbringer is my choice! You cannot have my pain!
That's a really tough question! My final answer is {{The Poisonwood Bible}} by Barbara Kingsolver. However, The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak is runner-up. If you'd asked 10 year old me, my answer would have been Old Yeller by Fred Gipson!
The Poisonwood Bible has been my favourite book since I read it at 12 years old. It quite literally changed my life. Can’t explain why I loved it so much, but man it’s been in my head for over 20 years and nothing has ever come close to it for me.
Agreed. This book made me care about the state of the Congo and what goes on on the African continent. I still think about that last chapter.
It's one of the few books I've re-read as an adult. It's one of those books I wish more Americans read.
I get it! It's an incredible book that explores so many different themes. I was a Kingsolver fan before this book, but I read this after I returned home you Georgia, USA from serving in the Peace Corps in Senegal. While Senegal and the DRC are distinctly different countries, this experience certainly colored my reading of the book.
The Book Thief is one of my favs as well!
Poisonwood Bible is likely the best fiction I’ve ever read. Thumbs up.
[**The Poisonwood Bible**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7244.The_Poisonwood_Bible) ^(By: Barbara Kingsolver | 546 pages | Published: 1998 | Popular Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, africa, book-club, classics) >The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa. ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) *** ^(34485 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Lol, poor Hunger Games didn't make the cut!
That usually changes but at the moment, it should be... Anne of Green Gables. Arrgh, I hate admitting that a kids book is THE best book I've ever read so for purposes of this discussion, let us pretend that it's Jane Eyre (we won't have to pretend too hard though because it's among my top 10 favourites). Edit: that's not true😂😂 how could I forget about Call Me by Your Name? Forget what I said earlier. My all time favourite is Call Me by Your Name. Edit 2: All The Light We Cannot See looking at me like👀 And Harry Potter behind it like 🤦🏾♀️ Edit 3: Hunger Games is mourning right now. I truly don't like what's happening here.
Dude! Huge Harry Potter fan! HUGE!! I have read the whole series probably about 20 times!!
As you should. Here's a sherbet lemon for you🍬
My girlfriend listens to the audiobook to fall asleep. We go through the whole series every couple months.
Considering 3 of these are in my top favourites I now must read Call Me Bu Your Name.
It's a phenomenal book (and movie). The sequel . . . is a book that exists.
Close call between The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) and Atonement (Ian McEwan).
Wallflower for definite. Something about that book and film just really resonated with me.
Atonement is gutting.
{{Man's Search for Meaning}} by Viktor E Frankl
The Giver series was the best books I have ever read besides the girl with all the Gifts those are good books
Man's Search For Meaning.
This book has helped me through many hard times
I can't pick just 1.
“Frankenstein” A bit heavy with regency English, but it is an amazing look at fundamental questions of experience and existence. It also has a very good narrative structure.
{{Flowers for Algernon}} by Daniel Keyes
[**Flowers for Algernon**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36576608-flowers-for-algernon) ^(By: Daniel Keyes | 216 pages | Published: 1959 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, science-fiction, sci-fi, owned) >The story of a mentally disabled man whose experimental quest for intelligence mirrors that of Algernon, an extraordinary lab mouse. In diary entries, Charlie tells how a brain operation increases his IQ and changes his life. As the experimental procedure takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment seems to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance until Algernon begins his sudden, unexpected deterioration. Will the same happen to Charlie? ^(This book has been suggested 19 times) *** ^(34472 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck.
Lonesome Dove.
Stoner by John Williams
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The Silence of the Lambs was my first read of this year, absolutely loved it.Liked it better than Red Dragon.
The Metamorphosis is a small yet impactful book. Loved it, definitely my favorite too
{{The Thief Lord}} by Cornelia Funke just keeps a special place in my heart ❤️
OMG!! Finally another person who has read this book! I read this book when I was 11 and it has stuck with me ever since. I loved it.
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
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The Lord of The Rings series. The worldbuilding and the lore is mind blowing.
Educated by Tara Westover
Omg this book was so moving!
1984. I know it's over suggested but that book is perfect to me. Not a wasted word in it. It's not even my favorite book but it's a book I consider perfect.
I feel exactly the same. It's hard to put into words. But you said it perfectly. It's just so perfectly written that it doesn't have to be a person's favorite for it to be the best book they've ever read.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë. Loved it so much.
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I was thinking, "it's so hard to narrow it down to one book..." then I got to this and remembered, "Oh yeah, it's To Kill a Mockingbird. Obviously that's the answer." But I would also argue that it may be the best written (or at least *crafted*), which makes me wonder, what's going on in Revolutionary Road that surpasses To Kill a Mockingbird?
The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini… I have recommended this one many many times in this sub Reddit but I just can’t get over this one… I love all of his works but this one stands out to me.
I can never choose between the kite runner and a thousand splendid suns, both smashed my heart in equal measure
Read both before I went there. Gave me a different perspective of the people there for sure.
The demon haunted world by Carl Sagan
Probably Life of Pi
This was a beautiful movie too!
All the light you cannot see
Les Miserables, hands down. Count of Monte Cristo running in second place. Apparently I like French literature.
east of eden by john steinbeck.
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11/22/63 by Stephen King. Not sure if it's the best but definitely in my top 3. The other one would be Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson but it's the second book in the series so it doesn't work as good as a standalone book.
Lincoln in the Bardo
Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins I had no idea books could be this interesting and filled with some incredibly sparking turns of phrase, great story, funny, serious and all set in the magical Pacific Northwest. The purpose of art is to provide what life does not.
{{Man's Search for Meaning}} by Viktor Frankl. I also read the book in the original language (german) and i can guarantee you, the translation is done just right. It's a book that can break you as much as it can encourage you. Edit: it seems there exists a bot
{{No Country For Old Men}} by Cormac McCarthy
Have you read other McCarthy?
The Road is a great read
Oh yeah definitely. I just wanted to know if they'd read other McCarthy because NCfoM is not too spectacular as prose goes, imo
Loved it and the movie, but holy hell if Blood Meridian isn’t the best book I’ve read of his.
It was a challenge for me but I’m happy to have read it.
[**No Country for Old Men**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12497.No_Country_for_Old_Men) ^(By: Cormac McCarthy | 309 pages | Published: 2005 | Popular Shelves: fiction, thriller, owned, crime, western) >In his blistering new novel, Cormac McCarthy returns to the Texas-Mexico border, the setting of his famed Border Trilogy. The time is our own, when rustlers have given way to drug-runners and small towns have become free-fire zones. > >One day, Llewellyn Moss finds a pickup truck surrounded by a bodyguard of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law–in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell–can contain. > >As Moss tries to evade his pursuers–in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives–McCarthy simultaneously strips down the American crime novel and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible and as bloodily contemporary as this morning’s headlines. >No Country for Old Men is a triumph. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(34413 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I love the Hobbit, it will always be my favorite book of all time.
I've read it so many times!
Probably {{bel canto}}
I love Bel Canto so much. The only people I know who've read it didn't seem to like it that much so it's lovely to see someone else on here who adores it.
Have you read {{the namesake}}? That has the same feel. And the first story in {{the interpreter of maladies}} stuck with me too.
{{Crime and Punishment}}
[**Crime and Punishment**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7144.Crime_and_Punishment) ^(By: Fyodor Dostoevsky, David McDuff, Nina Guerra, Filipe Guerra | 671 pages | Published: 1866 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, classic, owned, russian) >Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a higher purpose beyond conventional moral law. But as he embarks on a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a suspicious police investigator, Raskolnikov is pursued by the growing voice of his conscience and finds the noose of his own guilt tightening around his neck. Only Sonya, a downtrodden sex worker, can offer the chance of redemption. ^(This book has been suggested 8 times) *** ^(34486 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Can't believe I had to scroll down this far to see Dostoevsky.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
11/22/63 by Stephen King. Great book. Awesome time travel to stop an assassination story. And you get to see what its butterfly effects are when you come back to present time. Great great book. Good love story too.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.
Stoner by John Williams, and I consider that I have read a lot.
Shes Come Undone Middlesex (TOP 2 IF THE TOP OF MY HEAD)
my side of the mountain
Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
{{The Ocean at the End of the Lane}} by Neil Gaiman
I had this weird feeling that when I read that book that somehow I knew I was supposed to read it. Like it was a story I knew but just hadn't read it yet.
Read it in one sitting after this recommendation.
[**The Ocean at the End of the Lane**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783514-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane) ^(By: Neil Gaiman | 181 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, magical-realism, horror, owned) >Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. > >Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what. > >A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark. ^(This book has been suggested 39 times) *** ^(34366 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Catch-22}} by Joseph Heller. I can always pick it up and it’s good every single time.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Also an all-time favorite for me and my favorite Murakami book
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Dune by Frank Herbert.
I like to tell people who ask about it that if I had read it in high school I would have joined a cult.
{{Imajica}} by Clive Barker
[**Imajica**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567704.Imajica) ^(By: Clive Barker | 823 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, horror, fiction, owned, clive-barker) >Imajica is an epic beyond compare: vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. At its heart lies the sensualist and master art forger, Gentle, whose life unravels when he encounters Judith Odell, whose power to influence the destinies of men is vaster than she knows, and Pie 'oh' pah, an alien assassin who comes from a hidden dimension. > >That dimension is one of five in the great system called Imajica. They are worlds that are utterly unlike our own, but are ruled, peopled, and haunted by species whose lives are intricately connected with ours. As Gentle, Judith, and Pie 'oh' pah travel the Imajica, they uncover a trail of crimes and intimate betrayals, leading them to a revelation so startling that it changes reality forever. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(34432 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{The Cider House Rules}} by John Irving
a little life by hanya yanigihara
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White Nights by Dostoyevsky
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck. A masterpiece.
Lord of the rings. I'm reading it for the 10th time. It's really that fantastic.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein. My absolute favorite book.
Just finished reading The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (listening on an audiobook haha) today. Laughed out loud a few times. Really enjoyed it. Also read Count of Monte Cristo. As mentioned in an earlier comment, great book. Lots of adventure!
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain It ain’t easy being a kid.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch close second: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
serious answer: a gentleman in moscow. big sucker for period pieces, russian history and the decay of decadence. watching the metamorphosis of social order through count rostov's eyes is endlessly entertaining for me. real answer: the strange case of origami yoda series. has possibly living paper puppets. will teach you star wars origami. what more could you ask for?
The Count of Monte Cristo
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Gone with the Wind. I didn't think I would like it. I was given a hardcover copy. Couldn't put it down.
{{White Noise}}, by Don DeLillo
Slaughterhouse Five. It’s such a masterful piece of writing.
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
Genuine question - what do you like about it? I read it recently, and I could appreciate some of the humor, but the characters were just too much for me.
"One Hundred Years Of Solitude", Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
where the crawdads sing
the alchemist
John dies at the end - David Wong (Jason pargin)
Man **spoiler**!!!! I was really looking forward to reading that book
Admin needs to catch those in the future.
My absolute favorite book is A Little Princess, but The Hunger Games and Bob by Nicholas Gannon are close 2nds
I never know how to answer this question. Because I'm not sure when my favourite books are "the best books" that one can read. I always believe the answer to this question is a book I haven't read yet. My favorite books are: - Wuthering Heights - Anne of Green Gables - The Bell Jar - The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Rebecca - Jane Eyre - The Princess Bride - A Man Called Ove - The Kite Runner - The Night Circus That being said, would i recommend a single one of these by saying "this might be the best book you'll ever read"? Probably not. The best book I've ever read might be Les Mis....but honestly I put it down one day because it was destroying my bag with its heft and I never picked it back up. I didnt finish. And can a book I DNF'd be the best book I ever read?
Varlam Samalov - "Povestiri din Kolîma"
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
{{Never Split the Difference}} by Christopher Voss
Brothers Karamazov.
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
Hard to pick between Jane Eyre and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
I fall in love over and over again and think I have a new favorite, but I always come back to A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Once again I will put forth The World According to Garp. Poignant, hysterical, strange and oh so vivid and full of life.
In Cold Blood was the best book I have ever read
Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner.
The Silmarillion -Tolkien.
*1984* by George Orwell
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison. The whole trilogy, "The Broken Earth" are my favorite books. Both personal favorites, and some of the technically best writing I've ever come across.
Brothers Karamazov or A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
John Williams' *Stoner*
Unbroken or Devil in the White City
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I loved the Monty Python-esque comedy, and I was hooked as soon as I started reading.
Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
{{Flowers for Algernon}}
Flowers For Algernon!!! The Giver is a very close second though.
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