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.
High school kids are the wrong audience for Shakespeare. They hate everything. You enjoyed it later because you were ready.
I'll check out some of the other stuff you mention, but you have to remember that I'm pretty skeptical in my old age.
Judging by the stuff that "wows" 'em at the SFBC site, it's pretty bleak out there.
I don't think that was the reason SF was excluded.
You have a point, but you must remember what had gone on before: Just junk; Dime novels and stuff they used to fill out the space between the covers of porn picture-books.
No, I am much, much more happy with the stuff from the 70s and 80s, volume-wise it was the most prolific yet consistently high-quality period.
Lots of good stuff in the last ten years, but all because the writers from the 70s and 80s were still writing.
Even now, it's true: Your prompting made me go ahead and order some stuff that looked promising; I'm going to try Harry Turtledove's "Future History" series about the Confederacy/USA, and I've ordered STILL MORE Discworld novels.
BTW, do you read Pratchett? If you are an SF/Fantasy fan, he will have you in stitches, his stuff is so funny. He takes on nearly ALL the stock devices of the SF/Fantasy genre and strings them together inside out.
The problem is, you HAVE to be an SF "insider" to appreciate it so I CAN'T SHARE MY MIRTH WITH SOMEONE LIKE MY WIFE, for instance, who has probably never read an SF novel since they made her read "Flowers for Algernon" in the Eleventh Grade.
Which reminds me: I've private-emailed you with some VERY confidential data, so take good care of it.
FReegards, I gotta hit the sack.
Since this is supposed to be our personal FAVORITE list, though, I'll have to try to mollify you by saying they go on the "second team."
Though some moderns think that Jack London is passe`, I don't think so.
One of Americas truly immortal writers.
I even forgive his socialism, for at the time there was no income tax. I don't think he would have liked to pay taxes on book royalties.
Wasn't that the book on which they they based "Grease"?
The best novel I ever read was Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer.
Dracula
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Wuthering Heights
War of the Worlds
The Time Machine
Red Storm Rising
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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