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.
LOTR---Nordic/Celtic fairy tales and myths recycled in a very entertaining manner.
With the least believable characters of our time.
Lord of the Rings for best story ever told.
Best recycled fairy tales and myths ever recycled.
[snore] OK fine... Build yourself a very narrow shelf and you only need one book. Perhaps the name of your thread should have been... "PJ-Comix Tells you why "From Here to Eternity" is better than your favorite novel..."
Oh, you mean different from mysteries, historical fiction, Westerns, speculative fiction... (all of which are mentioned on this thread...)
Perhaps you should post another thread about Best Science Fiction Book ever written.
No thank you, I was just curious as to why you were excluding SF from your solicitation of opinions.
Even libraries have separate sci-fi sections from fiction novels.
Oh, well, I guess that's reason enough. Back to my (literary) ghetto I go...
BTW, have you seen the movie, Brazil? I would say you probably have, and I'm not telling you anything you don't know already, but if you haven't, go rent it pronto. It is an amazingly clever retelling of 1984 -- truly a fine piece of dark satire.
I'm glad you mentioned that one. Before I read it I thought it would be one of those banal Toni Morrison types of work but when I read it I found it to be an incredible piece of literature. Plus there is a lot for conservatives there to like. Ellison had some great scenes in there showing what the communists were doing.
I'm telling you, FreeRepublic is absolutley crawling with great writers and great thinkers. I'm amazed at some of the stuff I see here.
I can... Look, I didn't know the purpose of your thread was to throw all these works into a ring and see if "From Here to Eternity" wins and all other works are either discounted, disqualified, or not in the same class... Competitive Novel fighting... interesting.
LoTR is just a fairy tale to you... and I may think you shallow for that. There are a lot of very real ideals in the story that are not that hidden from me... but don't worry, I will still try From Here to Eternity. I haven't read it and should...
See? We fans struggle for years against you mundanes, trying to get you to admit that our books - the ones we love - have value, and you keep throwing back this "well, SF isn't literature" stuff back at us. Romance novels get more respect, for pete's sake! You know what? Every book on my top ten list is SF or straight fantasy, and yes, I read mysteries and westerns and what you would consider regular novels. What makes Lord of the Rings less worthy than The Old Man and the Sea, why is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress less respected than Atlas Shrugged? Aside from the fact that ordinary people genuinely like the books I've mentioned without having to say, yeah, they're good except the characters are wrong, or yeah, it's a great novel but I fell asleep halfway through it.
I've never read From Here to Eternity. I have read Lord of the Rings, Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Doomsday Book, Dune, Foundation, Against the Fall of Night, 1984, Animal Farm, Lest Darkness Fall... classic SF or fantasy, and incredibly good books, deep looks into humanity and society... I cannot think of a more relevant genre than that of SF.
That came out a little harsh; I'm sorry. But I thought the days of hiding Astounding Wonder Stories behind the newspaper were gone forever.
I can but I'm not saying that SF is bad. I've read quite a bit of it including most of the Vonnegut books. However, like it or not, SF is treated as a different genre than novels. Otherwise your libraries and bookstores would have SF mixed up with literary novels. Even you wouldn't want that. Better for SF to be in a separate section. I know I appreciate that distinction when I am hunting for an SF book. And quit treating books like they are people. You are acting as if some horrible act of discrimination is taking place. I support segregation....of books. It just makes things easier.
And yes, I appreciate having an SF section in bookstores, but they also take the "literature" out of everything else and hide it so those of us who want our space fic don't have to paw through Faulkner and Joyce. Ever notice how the SF section is prominent, but the so-called great works are buried with the cookbooks?
Enough said by me... We both know each other's favorite books, and that is why we came here is it not?
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