A novel idea?

My readign is dominated by works of non-fiction. I did read Hemingway's "Old man and the sea" the other week there, but can't remember what or went I read a novel before this!

So what's your suggestion of a must read novel?

Comments

[Sean Winter]

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead or for something closer to home Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me or for something utterly chilling, Cormac McCarthy, The Road. Failing all that, just get a copy of Middlemarch - the best novel in the English language.

[fernando]

Swann's Way by Proust

[Glenn]

The Brothers K - David James Duncan
Hey nostradamus - Douglas Coupland (probably best novel.)

[Mark]

What do you like?

For a nice west of Scotland feel, Iain Banks' "Crow Road", and I haven't read it yet but his newest ("The Steep Approach To Garbadale") is getting good comment. And his SF is also good (written as Iain M Banks).

Second the recommendation for "Hey Nostradamus", but you may have read it. If not, don't judge DC on "jPod".

I recently enjoyed "The Book Thief", too.

And my favourites of the last few years, Neal Stephenson's gargantuan "Baroque Cycle" is absolutely worth losing yourself in for a few months.

[lee]

i'll second "hey, nostradamus" by coupland. he's a frustrating author for me. sometimes his books are great, sometimes... meh.

howzabout harper lee's "to kill a mockingbird"?

or a personal fave: ron hansen's "atticus"

and ian mcewan's "amsterdam" i found to be absolutely hilarious and dark.

lee

[lee]

oh one more:

if you can find it, will campbell's "convention: a parable" is a wonderful exploration of some anabaptist ideas in the context of a major (and mostly compromised) american denominational meeting.

i recommend it.

lee

[talkrhubarb]

Alexander McCall Smith's #1 Ladies Detective Agency stories are a delight and very easy to read.

[jason77]

Anything Hemingway...Jack kerouac..

and by goodness I think everyone should be made to read "Grapes of Wrath"

[Brodie]

Brodie - thanks to all of you who left a suggestion. I will follow some of these recommendations up.

Glenn - read Hey Nostradamus when it came out.

Mark - bought The Crow Road with a book token I had while on holiday.

[Wood Street Girl]

For indisputably good quality literature Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath is a must, other than that I would also thoroughly reccomend Iain Banks' Crow Road and Whit by him. I've tried others by him and absolutely hated them but those two are winners. I've even got the BBC adaptation of the Crow Road on VHS video if you want to borrow it!

[helen]

The Hawk and the Dove trilogy by Penelope Willcock

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett (well, anything by Terry Pratchett really, but this is my favourite and fun theologically)