Posted on 06/25/2002 7:02:06 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
Okay, so far this evening we've had threads about the Worst War Movie Ever Made and about the Best War Movie Ever Made. Now I will ratchet up the discussions a notch with the BEST Novel Ever Written. Remember this is novel which means FICTION. I exclude science fiction from this category. In my opinion novel writing reached a peak in the late 40s and early 50s. Since then we've had some very good novels but not of the quality of that era.
So my nomination for the BEST novel ever written is an easy one: From Here To Eternity by James Jones. If you haven't read it, then READ IT. It is incredible beyond belief. In fact it was so good, that when Norman Mailer read it, he declared it to be better than his own The Naked And The Dead which is quite an admission for a novelist as egotistical as Norman Mailer to make.
One secret for the quality of From Here To Eternity (in addition to it's outstanding writing) is that James Jones based most of the characters on real people (including himself if you look closely). When I read From Here To Eternity I was stunned by the high quality of the writing. It was the only book I have ever read where I slowed down my reading rate because I didn't want to get to the end. I wanted it to go on and on.
Yes, the movie version was great (although the idea that soldiers would pay Donna Reed just for the privelege of chatting with her in private seemed ridiculous) but after you read the novel, it pales in comparison.
Yeah. I ran into him late at night at a Hughes Market in La-La Land. My impression? First class nut case. He was running up and down the cereal aisle in apparent outrage about the sugar content in the cereals and was rapidly writing stuff down in a notepad while muttering to himself angrily. He acted like the fact that supermarkets selling Cocoa Puffs was one of the great crimes against humanity.
We are not talking about types and descriptions of books. Descriptions are helpful. We are not arguing over descriptive typing. You have ranked them in comparative class, quality and worth in your world... talked about them as re-hashed fairy tales not on the level of more "serious literary works" or "SF pills". Your attitude stinks when speaking to other book lovers that come on to your thread to answer your question... And you may never get that.
The earlier works of SF (Asimov, Heinlein, Vonnegut) along with Tolkien were great. Most of what we have nowadays is indeed a rehash. I'll read this stuff if something really good comes out....which isn't often.
BTW, literary novels aren't as good nowadays as they were in the late 40s and early 50s. However, non-fiction seems to be at a peak right now, especially with biographies. One reason is that (Doris Kearns Goodwin notwithstanding) biographers (and many historians) are using original sources such as interviews. The prime example of the incredible history/biography is Robert Caro with his excellent multi-volume bio of Lyndon Johnson. I think this trend started back in the late 60s with the publication of T. Harry Williams' Huey Long which showed oral biographies (interviews with people involved with subject matter) could be excellent sources.
Oh, and my reading is a bit more eclectic than made out here. Usually I read a history/biography followed by fiction which could be literary novels, Westerns, detective, and, yes, even SF (but only after looking carefully to sort out the vast amount of junk out currently out there.)
p.s. PJ's autobiography recommendation: Witness by Whittaker Chambers. A biography about Chambers also came out a couple of years ago and I think I'll check that one out too.
BTW, what do folks here think about the "William Shatner" SF books?
Um...Take a look at the THREAD title.
"The only one of my contemporaries who I felt had more talent than myself was James Jones."
Mailer also proclaimed From Here To Eternity to be the best novel about WWII and better than his own The Naked And The Dead.
And knowing just how incredibly egotistical Mailer is/was, this is an ASTOUNDING admission.
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