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[IDKFA]

I'm reading more than ever. I'm getting through at minimum a book a week. Sometimes two. However, most of my books are nonfiction (mostly history and politics) and I need to read more fiction books.

So, if you were going to recommend one novel to somebody, what would it be? It can be a stand alone title, or it can be a whole series. Just needs to be fiction.

Hopefully we can all pick up some recommendations and increase our TBR pile.

My recommendation is:

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The premise of the novel sounds dull as dishwasher. A butler who has served in a stately home in Oxford, England decides to take a road trip around in England in 1956. During his travels, he reminisces about his time in service and past events from the 1920s and 1930s.

That's it, but don't let that fool you. This book is a true work of art and nothing short of a masterpiece. The greatest novel I've read? Possibly. It's certainly in my top five.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Read it twice. Will read again at some point.

 

[IDKFA]

Read it twice. Will read again at some point.

This one that I've always good things about, but one that I've never got round to reading. Added to my ever growing TBR list.

 

[Catphish]

That's a tough one.

Not necessarily for literary excellence, but for the sheer emotional and self-reflective impact it had on me, I choose:

 

[Duellist]

Maybe lame to some but my first novel I read was a dragonlance series called The twins trilogy. Had all three books in one Time of the twins, test of the twins and war of the twins. Lugged that fucker around high school for awhile lol. Absolutely loved it and it started my passion for fantasy.

 

[TonyK]

I truly love this book:

Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human subject for the surgery, and it touches on ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled.

Although the book has often been challenged for removal from libraries in the United States and Canada, sometimes successfully, it is frequently taught in schools around the world and has been adapted many times for television, theater, radio and as the Academy award-winning film Charlie.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

The Winter of Our Discontent by Steinbeck has been my favorite fiction in the last year that I’ve read.

Shogun by James Clavell is also another spectacular novel worth considering.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

The Winter of Our Discontent by Steinbeck has been my favorite fiction in the last year that I’ve read.

Shogun by James Clavell is also another spectacular novel worth considering.

Just got the Shogun audiobook from Audible. The narrator is awesome in it.

 

[poppabk]

 

[Raven117]

Great insofar as I've read it...and can tell you absolutely nothing about it.

 

[Ballthyrm]

Slaughterhouse-Five

The premise is genius if you ask me.
How else can you really take the broad view about war than a literal Alien perspective.

 

[ikbalCO]

The remains of the day is fantastic OP.

I would also recommend never let me go from the same author. I know nobel prizes given to authors body of work but i think never let me go open the door for ishiguro.

My two favorite books of all time are as follows:

Stoner by John Williams; an ordinary man's life story leaves you breathless and crying when its over.

Normal People by Sally Rooney; writing a convincing and relatable love story is really hard. And normal people is one the best love stories ever told in fiction imo.

 

[Edgelord79]

Old Man and the Sea

 

[Edgelord79]

The Winter of Our Discontent by Steinbeck has been my favorite fiction in the last year that I’ve read.

Shogun by James Clavell is also another spectacular novel worth considering.

Shogun is fantastic. I recommend Tai-Pan and King Rat as well. Clavell is so good.

 

[ClanOfNone]

Shogun is a great choice, awesome book.


Mine would be Dune by good old Frank Herbert. I love that book so goddamn much.

 

[Rest]

Moby-Dick. It's a classic for a reason.
Also of note by Melville is "Typee," his first book. A semi-autobiographical story also of a maritime nature, it's shorter than Moby-Dick and its prose is simpler and more approchable.

 

[AJUMP23]

The Lord of the Rings.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

The Lord of the Rings.

 

[Kittehkraken]

 

[AJUMP23]

Truly.

East of Eden is really good to. I liked that one a lot. Heist the way the language flows is interesting.

 

[Rest]

I also highly recommend
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

It's best to go into this book blind, but: It is a novella that explores what it means to be human and how people would adapt to immortality and the end of the world. It contains incredibly gruesome scenes of violence, rape, and torture. It is very, very good. I read it in one sitting.

You can read it for free at the author's website:

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect: Contents

The author also posts on reddit and is pretty approachable. There is a review of the book and interview with the author on YouTube buy Atun-Shei Films. Be it does discuss the subject matter of the book, as well as some literary interpretation, including background information and interpretation by the author. As I said, I think it's best to go into the book as blind as possible, so I won't link to it here, but I feel it is an accurate review with a good exploration of the topic.

You can purchase an ebook here:

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

In a time not far from our own, Lawrence sets out simply to build an artifical intelligence that can pass as human, and finds himself instead with one that can pass as a god. Taking the Three Laws of Robotics literally, Prime Intellect makes every human immortal and provides instantly for every...

www.lulu.com

It is also available as a print on demand book for roughly $18 if you would like to order it from a local book store to support such a store and the author.

 

[teezzy]

 

[Maiden Voyage]

That's the Dick Packer story if memory serves.

 

[Rest]

The Three Musketeers
Again, it's a classic for a reason. It's the prototype for the modern action movie, originally printed as a serial in a French magazine. It is fast paced, easily digestible, but remarkably not lacking any depth; it will suck you in before you know it, you will love (and hate) the characters, and at the end you will be well satisfied. I don't like to throw around the word masterpiece, but this books shows that Alexandre Dumas the elder was a master of a craft that he invented. The fact that it shines as brilliantly as it does after a translation is proof of how great the original is.

 

[teezzy]

That's the Dick Packer story if memory serves.

I actually own it lol

Went through a weird little pulp novel phase

 

[Guilty_AI]

Heres a BR recommendation

Its dark, its funny, its also very telling.

 

[BigBooper]

I think "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" is what I'd most recommend to most people. It's stuck with me over the years since I read it more than any other novel, whereas most of the cultural or social novels like say "To Kill a Mockingbird" eventually feel less relevant to me. Be prepared to feel detached.

 

[synchronicity]

Of course it's pretty impossible to narrow things down to a single "greatest" novel, but the first thing that came to mind for me was The Alchemist.

There are many great authors with many brilliant ideas, full of witty prose, but The Alchemist embodies the essence of what the adventure of life ought to be for us all imho. It's a work that has stuck with me. If you resonate with any idea of a mystical, deeper purpose to life in general, and your personal life in particular, it's unmissable.

 

[Amiga]

Unique mix of Sci-Fi, space opera, horror, fantasy, mystery and thriller in various settings and a non-liner narrative that works.

 

[Chronicle]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

 

[Kraz]

Antic Hay I find to be among the greatest after reading it from the back of the Cabala of Pegasus.

 

[Korranator]

Shogun is fantastic. I recommend Tai-Pan and King Rat as well. Clavell is so good.

Tai-Pan is his best book IMO

 

[MaestroMike]

I remember I started reading les Miserables unabridged like 15 years ago in hs because some Amazon review said it was the best book ever and like 1000 pages long I think maybe I got a 100 pages in don't know or remember if the part I read was any good

 

[teezzy]

Unique mix of Sci-Fi, space opera, horror, fantasy, mystery and thriller in various settings and a non-liner narrative that works.

 

[Scotty W]

Madame Bovary

 

[The_hunter]

I don't read much, but I really enjoyed the first Arsene Lupin book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Lupin,_Gentleman_Burglar
It's a collection of short stories about the gentleman thief, this type of story can only work in written form. My favourite is "The Mysterious Traveller" and the one where he fights Sherlock Holmes. Most of the stories are about 20 pages long, so it's a nice short read.

 

[TaylorSwiftFan]

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Shogun by James Clavell is also another spectacular novel worth considering.

This and even more the Tai-Pan saga. Noble House is an incredible book.

 

[Sidney Prescott]

Honestly, it's probably Misery by Stephen King.

I just found it absolutely immersive. The way he writes Annie Wilkes is perfect, she's pretty terrifying.

I don't think I've found another horror novel that kept me flicking the pages like that book did, and I've read through it again too. Something I normally never do with books.

 

[Cohetedor]

I'll throw another Stephen King one out there, Eyes of the Dragon. Found it on my parents bookshelf when I was about 9 years old, nice little fairytale. Was my first King novel, and still holds as one of my favorite.

 

[Spaceman292]

Unique mix of Sci-Fi, space opera, horror, fantasy, mystery and thriller in various settings and a non-liner narrative that works.

Yeah, fuck reading boring Dostoyevsky or Joyce stuff. This book is a total off the chain banger.

I'd also highly recommend Ilium and Olympos. Same author, more crazy sci fi.

 

[cherry2000]

Not sure if it's the greatest, but The Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of the few books I've read more than once

 

[AV]

Part reality, part fiction, Thompson's account of two trips to Las Vegas with his friend Oscar Acosta, under the names of Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. Originally published in Rolling Stone as a two parter and I think you can still read the whole book on their website. A Gonzo blend of real accounts of the Mint 400 desert race Thompson was sent to cover by Sports Illustrated (and a police convention on narcotics) and an excessive drug binge while lamenting the death of the American dream and reflecting on the hippie zeitgeist of the 1960s.

My synopsis doesn't really do it justice.

 

[IDKFA]

I'll throw another recommendation into the mix and another one that's in my top 5.

Silence by Shūsaku Endō

This is a dark and thought provoking read.

Set in 17th century Japan. A Portuguese Jesuit missionary is sent to Japan to assist the local Church and investigate reports that his mentor has committed apostasy. However, this is a dark period in Japan for the followers of Jesus Christ. Japan is undergoing the Kakure Kirishitan period where Japanese Christians are being persecuted by the Tokugawa shogunate.

A absolute must read and easily one of the best novels to come out of the 20th century.

 

[Modrot]

J.M. Coetzee's "Elizabeth Costello"

Urushibara Yuki's "Mushishi"

 

[Rest]

These men know literature:

 

[SpiceRacz]

The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms

Anything Hemingway is good though.

 

[TGO]

Good read, highly recommend

 

[TwiztidElf]

 

[jason10mm]

I'm only partly joking, I actually really enjoyed how bananas this book is.