Favorite Novels?

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Jon Peters

Jon Peters

Puritan Board Sophomore
I'm curious as to what people on this list read that is not theological. What are some are your favorite novels? I know Tolkien will be on a lot of lists. But how about Tolstoy, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, James, Joyce, Proust, Mann or Faulkner (just to throw out a few names)?
 
Jon Peters said:
I'm curious as to what people on this list read that is not theological. What are some are your favorite novels? I know Tolkien will be on a lot of lists. But how about Tolstoy, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, James, Joyce, Proust, Mann or Faulkner (just to throw out a few names)?
Click to expand...

I love Tolkien of course, as well as some C.S. Lewis books, namely Till We Have Faces, which is an amazing work - very underrated. Dostoevsky wrote two of my top 5 favorite books: The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. I also like Larry McMurtry's Old West novels, especially Lonesome Dove and Comanche Moon. I also like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany and Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods. My favorite author is Mark Helprin, who wrote my favorite book, Winter's Tale, along with Memoirs from and Antproof Case, Refiner's Fire, and several tremendous short stories.

Good thread - I'm interested to see what others read...
 
ColdSilverMoon said:
Jon Peters said:
I'm curious as to what people on this list read that is not theological. What are some are your favorite novels? I know Tolkien will be on a lot of lists. But how about Tolstoy, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, James, Joyce, Proust, Mann or Faulkner (just to throw out a few names)?
Click to expand...

I love Tolkien of course, as well as some C.S. Lewis books, namely Till We Have Faces, which is an amazing work - very underrated. Dostoevsky wrote two of my top 5 favorite books: The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. I also like Larry McMurtry's Old West novels, especially Lonesome Dove and Comanche Moon. I also like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany and Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods. My favorite author is Mark Helprin, who wrote my favorite book, Winter's Tale, along with Memoirs from and Antproof Case, Refiner's Fire, and several tremendous short stories.

Good thread - I'm interested to see what others read...
Click to expand...


I'm sorry to say I've not read Helprin. Where would be a good place to start?
 
I've read fiction, for school, stuff like War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and other "greats".

Maybe you could get me to read something. I like mystery, preferably "historical" in nature with a good conspiracy theory.
 
Jon Peters said:
Backwoods Presbyterian said:
I have never been a fan of fiction novels. The last one I read was "The Name of the Rose".
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Understandable. But perhaps we who love fiction could get you to give one of these favorite great books of ours a shot. We just have to figure out what that one book would be.
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I like The Name of the Rose - read it for the first time just last Spring. I think Backwoods Pres would like Crime and Punishment....
 
Jon Peters said:
I'm sorry to say I've not read Helprin. Where would be a good place to start?
Click to expand...

Well, I'd start with Memoir from an Antproof Case. Winter's Tale is my favorite, but I think it's helpful to see how Helprin thinks before diving into it. He also published a collection of short stories called Pacific and other Stories. Some of them are outstanding...
 
Jane Eyre is a favorite of mine; also, "All the Kings Men" by Robert Penn Warren. I'm a big fan of John Steinbeck but not Cannery Row and Tortilla Flats. For those who prefer non-fiction, his America and Americans is an interesting set of essays and articles.
 
Backwoods Presbyterian said:
I've read fiction, for school, stuff like War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and other "greats".

Maybe you could get me to read something. I like mystery, preferably "historical" in nature with a good conspiracy theory.
Click to expand...

If you've read War and Peace (probably my favorite novel) and Crime and Punishment (top 5) and you still are not a fiction fan, I'm not sure what I'd recommend!;)

I will give the mystery/conspiracy book some thought.
 
Jon Peters said:
Backwoods Presbyterian said:
I've read fiction, for school, stuff like War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and other "greats".

Maybe you could get me to read something. I like mystery, preferably "historical" in nature with a good conspiracy theory.
Click to expand...

If you've read War and Peace (probably my favorite novel) and Crime and Punishment (top 5) and you still are not a fiction fan, I'm not sure what I'd recommend!;)

I will give the mystery/conspiracy book some thought.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
Backwoods Presbyterian said:
I've read fiction, for school, stuff like War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and other "greats".

Maybe you could get me to read something. I like mystery, preferably "historical" in nature with a good conspiracy theory.
Click to expand...

For "light" reading you could try The Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins or Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. The former is about Nazi spies in England, the latter is about the construction of a giant cathedral in 12th century England. Neither of them are "great" books, but are certainly entertaining. Also consider Enigma, by Robert Harris. I haven't read the book, but I really enjoyed the movie...
 
I read light mystery novels, mostly from the "golden age" of detection -- 1920's and 30's. It's a break from the heavier reading that's either theology or work-related. Plus, the values of that era were a little different, so those books are more pleasant to read. I wouldn't touch a work of fiction written in the last 40 years or so, based on what little I've seen.
 
I journey through the Lord of the Rings series once a year and always pick something new up.
 
Hi:

Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, and The Mayor of Casterbridge to name a few. Poetry of John Dunne and Robert Frost are good reads.

As far as Fantasy/Science Fiction:

Tolkien is great, Heinlein (Before Stranger in a Strange Land) is good, Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series, John Ringo's "Aldenta" series (starting with A Hymn Before Battle) - just to name a few.

-CH
 
CalvinandHodges said:
Hi:

Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, and The Mayor of Casterbridge to name a few. Poetry of John Dunne and Robert Frost are good reads.

As far as Fantasy/Science Fiction:

Tolkien is great, Heinlein (Before Stranger in a Strange Land) is good, Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series, John Ringo's "Aldenta" series (starting with A Hymn Before Battle) - just to name a few.

-CH
Click to expand...

Yeah, The Three Musketeers is great - very enjoyable read. I am currently working through Arabian Nights and am really enjoying it. Only half way through and it's already my favorite collection of fairy tales....
 
Tolkien and Lewis have done nothing for me. I quite like RL Stevenson, Dickens, Conan-Doyle (the whole canon not just his Sherlock Holmes stuff). I liked Jack Higgins' the eagle has landed but haven't got into his other novels. Of more modern writers I like anything by Graham Green, Somerset Maughan. Of living authors I find Alexander McCall-Smith quite delightful but two of the best I read recently were "The book thief" by Markus Zusak and "Postcards" by Annie Proulx
 
Bunyan's - Pilgrim's Progress.
CS Lewis - The Screwtape Letters, Narnia, The Great Divorce.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - All of his Sherlock Holmes stuff.
JRR Tolkien - LOR trilogy and The Hobbit.
Douglas Adams - Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Victor Hugo - Les Miserables
Franky Schaeffer - A Modest Proposal.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
 
ColdSilverMoon said:
Jon Peters said:
I'm curious as to what people on this list read that is not theological. What are some are your favorite novels? I know Tolkien will be on a lot of lists. But how about Tolstoy, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, James, Joyce, Proust, Mann or Faulkner (just to throw out a few names)?
Click to expand...

I love Tolkien of course, as well as some C.S. Lewis books, namely Till We Have Faces, which is an amazing work - very underrated. Dostoevsky wrote two of my top 5 favorite books: The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. I also like Larry McMurtry's Old West novels, especially Lonesome Dove and Comanche Moon. I also like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany and Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods. My favorite author is Mark Helprin, who wrote my favorite book, Winter's Tale, along with Memoirs from and Antproof Case, Refiner's Fire, and several tremendous short stories.

Good thread - I'm interested to see what others read...
Click to expand...

Ditto on Till we Have Faces, The Brothers Karamazov, and Crime and Punishment. I also like everything by Jane Austen, especially Mansfield Park and Emma. And I like good mysteries.
 
CalvinandHodges said:
Hi:

Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, and The Mayor of Casterbridge to name a few. Poetry of John Dunne and Robert Frost are good reads.

As far as Fantasy/Science Fiction:

Tolkien is great, Heinlein (Before Stranger in a Strange Land) is good, Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series, John Ringo's "Aldenta" series (starting with A Hymn Before Battle) - just to name a few.

-CH
Click to expand...

I love Dickens. David Copperfield is my favorite with Tale of Two Cities number two. He is one of the few authors I will read aloud to anyone within earshot (usually my wife). Nobokov has a similar effect on me.
 
Ex Nihilo said:
ColdSilverMoon said:
Jon Peters said:
I'm curious as to what people on this list read that is not theological. What are some are your favorite novels? I know Tolkien will be on a lot of lists. But how about Tolstoy, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, James, Joyce, Proust, Mann or Faulkner (just to throw out a few names)?
Click to expand...

I love Tolkien of course, as well as some C.S. Lewis books, namely Till We Have Faces, which is an amazing work - very underrated. Dostoevsky wrote two of my top 5 favorite books: The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. I also like Larry McMurtry's Old West novels, especially Lonesome Dove and Comanche Moon. I also like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany and Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods. My favorite author is Mark Helprin, who wrote my favorite book, Winter's Tale, along with Memoirs from and Antproof Case, Refiner's Fire, and several tremendous short stories.

Good thread - I'm interested to see what others read...
Click to expand...

Ditto on Till we Have Faces, The Brothers Karamazov, and Crime and Punishment. I also like everything by Jane Austen, especially Mansfield Park and Emma. And I like good mysteries.
Click to expand...

I think I need to give Austin another chance. But I associate her with my high school English class. I wouldn't read her or the Brontes so my teacher assigned me Salinger, Sinclair and Rand. Thought-altering stuff (at the time).

Speaking of Rand. Someone mentioned Atlas Shrugged. For whatever reason I didn't like that one; Fountainhead was, for me, her greatest and, in hindsight, her most depressing work.
 
Jon Peters said:
Ex Nihilo said:
I think I need to give Austin another chance. But I associate her with my high school English class. I wouldn't read her or the Brontes so my teacher assigned me Salinger, Sinclair and Rand. Thought-altering stuff (at the time).

Speaking of Rand. Someone mentioned Atlas Shrugged. For whatever reason I didn't like that one; Fountainhead was, for me, her greatest and, in hindsight, her most depressing work.
Click to expand...

If you associate Jane Austen with the Brontes (perfectly natural if you haven't encountered her since high school), I agree that you should give her another chance. Austen and the Brontes are basically opposites -- Austen is rational and ironic, while the Brontes (though Anne Bronte somewhat less so) are quite melodramatic. Austen is hilarious, and the Brontes are not at all (at least not intentionally).
Click to expand...
 
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