Does anyone read fiction?

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eli1118

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Friends,
I am currently reading a book about St. Faustina and Grace Cafe. However, I also like to read famous writers. I just wanted to know your thoughts on that. I have little time to read but i love it.
Blessings,
Eli
 
I used to read more than I do now. If I do read, I’ll read graphic novels lately. But I’ve been a fan of Tolkien, some C.S. Lewis, Bram Stoker’s original Dracula (great story of good vs. evil and love among terrified friends!), some Sherlock Holmes. Are they all famous enough? 😛
 
I received Toni Morrison’s newest novel, A Mercy, for Christmas and I’m really looking forward to reading it during my flight back to Japan.
 
I read a lot because of my job and my curiosity. I consider the following must reading:

Joseh Heller: Catch 22 WWII with humor and horror. Trancends mere fiction and is high literature. It is among the best anti-war books ever and the characters Heller describes are in other fields than just in the military.

Flannery O’Connor: Simply the best Catholic writer in modern times. Read anything by her.

Ivan Turgenev: Fathers and Sons Nihilism, Science and the Arts, not to mention great characters. A must read if you only read one Russian novel.

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Hemingway was right. This is the American novel.

Moby Di** by Herman Melville: The one book I would take on a desert island if I could have only one novel. I re-read it every year or so on vacation.

Madam Bovary by Gustav Flaubert: The boredom of the modern bourgeoisie.
 
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of P.G. Wodehouse, which I love. It’s great reading that is really quite funny. I read Mike Nelson’s Death Rat! and enjoyed it thoroughly, when I read that his favorite author was Wodehouse I had to check it out.

Other than that I like Dickens and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby has been a favorite of mine since 8th grade and I want to dive back into my collection of Charles Dickens that includes A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.
 
I have minor in English and have always loved to read (I got my library card at 5) so here are my thoughts for what they are worth:

I’ve read Moby **** at least five times for various classes, and all I can say is that there is a really good novel in there, but it badly needs editing.

Huckleberry Finn is the Great American Novel

I love, love, love Jane Austen!! I recently read Persuasion (her last finished novel) and can only mourn her early death.

Charles Dickens is a genius! What wonderful characters! I just finished Bleak House and couldn’t help but laugh at Mrs. Jellyby, who was so wrapped up in the plight of the poor Africans that she let her own family languish.

P.G. Wodehouse is a supergenius!! If he had written in any other genre than comedy, he would have won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Henry James’s last several books are almost unreadable.

As for most modern writers - most of them are too bleak, too nihilistic, too depressing for my tastes. I stick to genre fiction, mostly mysteries. Right now I am reading Michael Connolly’s Brass Verdict.
 
Yes, I am always reading something. Currently, it’s “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by a newcomer David Wroblewski. It’s an Oprah selection and is quite good.

“Revolutionary Road” a new movie is from the book of the same name by Richard Yates. I read it about 10 years ago and found it to be a superb novel - probably his best work.

My favorite contemporary author is Cormac McCarthy mainly on the strength of his books "All The Pretty Horses and “The Crossing” the first 2 of his Texas/Mexico trilogy.

John
 
I read just about everything, but at least twice a year, I have to re-read “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith.
 
bluerose said:
I read just about everything, but at least twice a year, I have to re-read “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith.
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That’s an annual re-read for me, too. Also, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and “Emma”, “Pride and Prejudice”, and “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen.

I think it might be time to re-read the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. It’s been a while. I keep meaning to get my hands on a set of the “Narnia” books but haven’t gotten 'round to it. Instead, I spent my Barnes & Noble gift card (Christmas gift from the parents) on a full series box set of Laura Ingalls Wilder books. 🙂

I have a copy of Dickens’ “The Pickwick Papers” sitting my my shelf that is waiting to be read, and I need to finish reading Hugo’s “Les Miserables”. Good story, but I keep getting bogged down with the lapses into French war and Parisian history. Re-read Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” last summer. That might need to go into the yearly rotation. Great book. I didn’t enjoy Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” nearly as much, but apparently I didn’t have the best translation. 🤷

There’s loads of good fiction out there. Enjoy.
 
The Modern Library Association has a list of their finest books for the 20th century that were written in English. It’s worth a look/see for fine novels.

John
 
I like to read. Alot. I prefer reading to watching tv, and I go completely nuts if i don’t have a book to read.
I love older books, classics I mean. My mom got me started on them by buying abridged versions of the classics for me when i was a child.
Here are some books I highly recommend.

Atonement by Ian McEwan. My all time favorite book. It is such a beautiful and well written book.

To Kill a Mockingbird. This is a must read for everyone I think. It’s better than the movie I think (which is really saying something because the movie was awsome).

Madame Bovary. Depressing book, but the most beautifully written book as well.

Anything by Jane Austen.

Memoirs of a Geisha. Really engaging story. I love reading about Japan.

Jurassic Park. I just read this for the first time last month and was really surprised by how good it was. I liked all the science behind it.

Anything by Tolkien.

Gone With The Wind. Love ths book, great American novel.

If you like fantacy books, I highly recommend the author Diana Wynne Jones. She’s my favorite after Tolkien. Her books are really well written and entertaining. Howl’s Moving Castle and her Chrestomanci books are my favorites.
 
SeekerJen said:
I didn’t enjoy Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” nearly as much, but apparently I didn’t have the best translation. 🤷
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Oh dear … Dostoyevsky is one of my favorite authors. Which I guess shows that there’s a huge variety because there’s such a variety of tastes in fiction.
 
Jurassic Park. I just read this for the first time last month and was really surprised by how good it was. I liked all the science behind it.
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I enjoyed this one too. I was so sad when Michael Crichton died this year.
 
eli1118 said:
Friends,
I am currently reading a book about St. Faustina and Grace Cafe. However, I also like to read famous writers. I just wanted to know your thoughts on that. I have little time to read but i love it.
Blessings,
Eli
Click to expand...
I love JRR Tolkien and have probably read “The Hobbit”, “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillian” 20 times each. (As well as his short stories, essays, working papers, notes, etc.!)

I also love CS Lewis and have probably read “The Chronicles of Narnia” about 20 times and “The Space Trilogy” about 10 times. (When I teach an “Introduction to Theology” class, I require “The Abolition of Man”, “Mere Christianity” and either “The Great Divorce” or “The Screwtape Letters”.)

I like classic science fiction, but have been disappointed by some of the more recent authors (with the exception of Jack McDevitt, whom I like very much.)

I like political novels – but again classic ones which now seem outdated. (Allen Drury’s “Advise and Consent” should be required reading in high school civics classes!)

I’ve read a good deal of Mitchener, most of Tom Clancy, and am mourning the loss of Michael Crichton.

Other than that, naw . . . I don’t read much fiction! 🙂
 
if your into fantasy/sci-fi you might try Anne McCaffrey, she is my favorite author.
Anything by Marion Zimmer Bradley
In mystery its PD James
Anything by Jane Austin (I’m a big fan)
For their exuberance anything by Zane Gray
everything by the Bronte’s and Dauphne DuMaurier
 
Love the suggestions!!! I finally finished Anna Karenina this year!!! I loved it. I am a native spanish speaker so I love reading classic hispanic writers and might try reading one of those.
Keep the suggestions coming.
I also like historical fiction.
By the way Carolin I love what you wrote under your signature.
 
Melissa said:
Oh dear … Dostoyevsky is one of my favorite authors. Which I guess shows that there’s a huge variety because there’s such a variety of tastes in fiction.
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My advisor read C&P at the same time, and enjoyed it a lot more. Apparently he bought a highly-acclaimed translation. I think I might see if I can borrow his copy and reread it.
 
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