Greatest Novel Ever Written

[Anonymous No.23295394]

What is the greatest novel you've ever read? The one that completely blew you away. I want to read it. Tell me why it's amazing.

[Anonymous No.23295404]

>>23295394
A Clockwork Orange was pretty good. Ive read it 4ish times.

[Anonymous No.23295420]

>>23295394
Not exactly my favourite (that's Catch-22) but The Recognitions is perhaps the grandest book I've ever read. I'm about two-thirds in and I'm completely blown away by the prose and the ideas presented in such hilarity and bitterness. For me it perfectly encapsulates the falsity of the modern society, and it's as relevant now as 60 years ago when it was published.

[Anonymous No.23295450]

>>23295394
It actually is War and Peace. I didn’t read that book. I lived in it

[Anonymous No.23295456]

>>23295394
war and peace SUCKS. The greatest novel ever written is MOBY DICK. Why, you ask? Because I said so.

[Anonymous No.23295457]

>>23295404
This.mostly because the characters and plot are all exiting and interesting and inspiring

And Lolita, one flew over cukoos nest, dharma bums, the hobbit, treasure island,

[Voluntary Fool No.23295461]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91gT68xeDMM

[Anonymous No.23295518]

>>23295394
I read the first 300 pages and kinda got bored. Will try again afterwards

[Anonymous No.23295602]

>>23295450
how did you achieve this? I find it difficult to visualize and imagine life in the era it takes place in

[Anonymous No.23295611]

Umineko has both deepness only a few can see and a pile of shit so big it hard to look away.
The greatest novel I have read and one I don't want to read again because I know it will make it worse.

[Anonymous No.23295679]

>>23295394
>greatest novel
Yawn. Can we stop talking about great novels already? Let's get back to making the good stuff—like The Vicar of Wakefield.

[Anonymous No.23295760]

>>23295602
you might have aphantasia, I used to have full ok visual movies about the books I read in my mind's eye, but I slowly developed aphantasia and it all went dark. I've started drawing and painting now and the visualising ability is coming back slowly.

[Anonymous No.23295769]

>>23295394
The Castle by Kafka. It didn't blow me away when i first read or finished it but it kept finding its way into my thoughts day in and out. It was pervasive. I could relate a lot of things I saw irl to the book. Also on a sidenote, when I read The Myth of Sisyphus a few months later, it felt like it was very much inspired by The Castle which I didnt like.

[Anonymous No.23295785]

>>23295602
The writing just naturally immersed me into the world

[Anonymous No.23296006]

>>23295769
I found K. in The Castle much more odious and unlikeable as compared to Josef K. in The Trial. It's a good idea, but a lot of the fat could be removed.

[Anonymous No.23296052]

>>23295456
>The greatest novel ever written is MOBY DICK

[Anonymous No.23296055]

>>23295769
Have you read The Other Side by Alfred Kubin, do you think it inspired Kafka's work or am I the only one thinks so?

[Anonymous No.23296071]

>>23296006
I actually haven't completed The Trial yet, but I can understand why you would find K. odious and unlikeable.
>>23296055
Haven't heard of that one, I'll get a copy of it sometime this week and see how it goes.

[Anonymous No.23296086]

>>23295450
This, unironically too
One of those books I, quite literally, struggled to put down

[Anonymous No.23296251]

>>23295394
Song of Achilles

[Anonymous No.23296296]

>>23296071
The Trial is much better.

[Anonymous No.23296355]

>>23296296
Is it? From what I've heard, people like The Castle much more, you're making me more excited to read The Trial. I'll finish it soon I think.

[Anonymous No.23296357]

>>23295394
The magus, Fowles, it is simply enchanting, the range of emotions you feel is infinite, the description of immortal Greece...

[Anonymous No.23296603]

>>23295602
Tolstoy is an excellent psychologist (all good novelists are) and this makes the characters and their life events feel very real, especially if you start relating with them

[Anonymous No.23296608]

A CONFEDERACY OF FUCKING DUNCES. WHOOOOO!!!

[Anonymous No.23296610]

>>23295394
Green Eggs and Ham blew my mind

[Anonymous No.23296619]

>>23295394
Reverend Insanity

[Anonymous No.23297313]

>>23295404
Good book

[Anonymous No.23297338]

>>23295394
I don't read many novels these days but my favorite novel ever is probably Israel Potter: His 50 Years of Exile by Herman Melville

[Anonymous No.23298701]

>>23295420
just wait until you finish it - read it a couple of months ago as well; makes me wonder why Pynchon (still great) and DFW (not so great) are so much more praised here compared to the older, more interesting modernist guild of Gass, Gaddis, Barth, Hawkes, and Coover

[Anonymous No.23298755]

>>23295394
Might not be THE BEST, but for me its Book of the New Sun. I've read it 5 times, everytime new stuff comes up. It's as deep as fiction get, prose is amazing, world is absolutely intoxicating. No other books has this effect on me

[Anonymous No.23298955]

One Hundred Years of Solitude and Savage Detectives.

The first one is an extremely charming story about the first settlers of a previously unnamed land all the way into modernity. The members of the Buendia family are all unique in quirks, character and flaws with one common thread weaving them all together: They all led lonely lives and even lonelier deaths, moreso, it's a 'perfect' story from a narrative standpoint. No loose ends, no incomplete narratives, and compelling storytelling that makes you feel as if you were a resident of Macondo.

Savage Detectives is extremely unique in its style of storytelling. The way the book presents its themes often escapes you on your first read but after the second, you realize you're reencarnating the events of the book yourself, searching for a lost writer who went on a quest searching for lost writers. The second part, where you read about our two protagonists from the outside makes you feel like a detective yourself.

[Anonymous No.23299031]

>>23295394
The Temptation of Saint Anthony. It's an absolute force of nature. I don't know how much I'd have enjoyed it if I hadn't already been familiar with most of the topics it deals with, but it's definitely a treat when you are. This is the type of book you could read again and again until the day you die and still get something new out of it each time; it's gold. It also serves as something to measure yourself against. For me, at least, I want to know what Flaubert knew; I want to have that same sort of seemingly encyclopedic yet passionate relationship with mythology and history that he displays in this novel. As I continue to educate myself throughout my life, I know I'll be able to come back to this book with a more keenly honed ability to pick apart certain scenes and absorb them in ways that were simply impossible for me earlier on in life. All of this, and it rivals in prose what Shakespeare did in meter. This book is what convinced me to learn French and I haven't regretted it once.

[Anonymous No.23299039]

>>23295394
Anna Karenina is really the greatest art I have ever encountered

[Anonymous No.23299146]

>>23295456
>>23295450
>>23295404
>>23295394

>>23295518
>>23295679
>>23295769
>>23297338
If you didn't read in Russian you didn't experience the process and didn't read war and peace. You guys are just are just saying this because you've seen other say the same

[Anonymous No.23299148]

>>23296071
>>23296006
>>23295769
>>23296296
>>23296355
I like the trial more, is Amerika worth reading?

[Anonymous No.23299157]

>>23298755
Edglord drivel

[Anonymous No.23299159]

>>23295394
Lolita

[Anonymous No.23300219]

>>23299157
Fuck off

[Anonymous No.23300313]

>>23299148
Amerika is one of the most accessible Kafka Novels .... absolutely recommend it. Has scenes it i remember even after decades. In my top 3 Kafka works for sure

[Anonymous No.23300670]

>>23295394
I know God Emperor of Dune is not the best book ever but it left a lasting impression on me.

[Anonymous No.23300709]

>>23300670
Just finished the first, are the others worth reading?

[Anonymous No.23300732]

>>23299146
Tolstoy said that the English translation captured his original work excellently

[Anonymous No.23300843]

>>23300732
Yeah, the whole "Muh bad translation" is just cope. Russian writers like Gogol read very well in English. People just don't want to admit that neither Tolstoy or Dostoevsky were great prose writers. People read them for philosophy.

[Anonymous No.23300881]

>>23300843
Dostoevsky's prose is bad, sure, but Tolstoy's is perfection

[Anonymous No.23300903]

>>23300881
Tolstoy is definitely better but its not as atmospheric as Gogol. And obviously has no comparison to English writers like Dickens or Melville.

[Anonymous No.23300929]

>>23299159
>>23295457
>Lolita
Kys pedos

[Anonymous No.23300930]

>>23300732
Yeah because he wanted people to buy his book retard

[Anonymous No.23300934]

>>23299039
Me too. Beautiful book, incredible characters. Read it, felt like it could be the first piece of art I would call life changing, then I became a coke addict.

[Anonymous No.23300941]

>>23295394
The Waves by Virginia Woolf

Language is the medium of our thoughts, and reading is one of a few pathways into the mind of another individual. Woolf extends this idea by weaving her masterful prose with characters so rich, one fashions themselves an invisible petal on their flower; the characters benefit from the prose and vice versa. The absence of dialogue is perhaps most noticeable in its effect of ingratiating the reader into the mind of each character, each one increasingly distinct and recognizable as life progresses. It is this progression of prose, akin to the maturation of a life, that produces a fruit eagerly harvested.

[Anonymous No.23300955]

>>23300941
>the chained beast stamps on the beach
gave me chills...

[Anonymous No.23300968]

Just read Blood Meridian and I loved it but the current “discourse” around it is annoying

[Anonymous No.23300977]

>>23295602
As with most endeavors, practice visualization constantly. For example, I often imagine myself in a different location while walking, or try to superimpose another location onto my vision.

It helps to begin with highly detailed, photo-realistic visualization of small objects, then move into larger scenes; use your memories, photo references, and paintings to reduce the creative load. Once this is achieved, experiment with varied lighting, moving individuals, animals, sounds, and smells. Infuse creativity with this visualization as you proceed, and eventually, you will be able to imagine any story as if you were a voyeur.

The most useful advice I can give is to become intimately familiar with textures and lighting, preferably through observation in reality. Examine a large amount of stylistic, historical, or period accurate clothing and architecture to better imagine certain time periods. I hope this finds you useful.

[Anonymous No.23300987]

>>23300941
I don’t read female authors, even if they are actually good writers, simply out of principle.

[Anonymous No.23301000]

>>23300987
so cool

[Anonymous No.23301007]

>>23299146
Cool story, nerd

[Anonymous No.23301035]

>>23300930
No it's actually because he was friends with his English translators and approved them to translate all of his major works with his supervision retard

[Anonymous No.23301187]

>>23295602
Just imagine them as anime characters in a highschool

[Anonymous No.23301284]

>>23301035
>Guy selling you something says the thing he's selling you is good
You are naive and low IQ

[Anonymous No.23301497]

>>23298755
New Sun is weird for me, I've read it at least 4 times but have never felt as engrossed by any of Wolfe's other stuff due to his insistence on having the stories "written" by their characters. Severian is the only one who can actually write well, Horn being a retard who recycles the same few fancy phrases and Abel or Christopher being shithead teenagers is funny on paper but makes the books a slog to read at certain points, especially since New Sun is almost everyone's introduction to Wolfe and shows that he can do excellent prose and atmosphere when he wants to

[Anonymous No.23301504]

>>23295394
Demons by Dostoyevsky.

[Anonymous No.23301706]

>>23295394
Journey to the end of the night, Celine

[Anonymous No.23301777]

>>23301497
I agree. I can get into other wolfes novel but they are several degree lesser in quality. Like you said, I know why he does it, but severians way of writing was the best he did. Mix in the gnostic worldviews and all the strangeness of new sun and its really something else

[Anonymous No.23302145]

>>23295394
Water Margin niggagaaaa

[Anonymous No.23302176]

>>23295394
To kill a mockingbird

[Anonymous No.23302221]

>>23295420
And art too. And the artist's madness. Gaddis's maximalist masterpiece is one of the books of all time.

[Anonymous No.23303252]

The diaries of certain men read better than any novel. Just finished reading, I think it was, 3 years in the cavalry, the diary of a random dude that joined up with the North in the US civil war.
Far more interesting and a better story than basically anything.

[Anonymous No.23303270]

>>23295394
>verification not required
>captcha: 8JST

[Anonymous No.23303327]

>>23295394
There is no one champ. There are a handful that form a kind of family. War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Moby Dick, The Magic Mountain, The Man Without Qualities. They're marked by immense craft and scope, but also, and perhaps mostly by immense ambition. Books as different as Atlas Shrugged. Infinite Joy and Lolita miss the mark, Atlas because it has the ambition but not the craft, Lolita because it has the craft but the object treated is so shabby and marginal.
Also, there's a big difference between 'the greatest' and 'personal favorites.' I love Zazen, a novel by Vanessa Veselka that no one seems ever to have read, and it's very good, but is it comparable to War and Peace? Very very few books are.

[Anonymous No.23304349]

>>23295394
I’m working on it.

[Anonymous No.23304461]

>>23295394
I don't think I have a book that has completely blown me away. I somewhat liked the book nausea though. I would say the stranger but I didn't really get the book, it doesn't make sense for him to kill the guy, the sun isnt a good reason...