Books, Lovely Books

A Listmania! list by G. Lewis (Archway, London, United Kingdom)
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Mysteries
1.  Mysteries by Knut Hamsun
The list author says:
  "Takes the cliched story about a stranger entering a strict society and turns it on its head  Same terroritory as Kafka or Calvino, arguably, but less diagramatic. Superb."
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Something Happened
2.  Something Happened by Joseph Heller
The list author says:
  "There are a number of great books that fall within the sub - genre of "businessmen falling to pieces" but this is probably the best; intelligent, insightful, and eventually heartbreaking."
£6.74   Used & New from: £0.01
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The Devils: (The Possessed) (Penguin Classics)
3.  The Devils: (The Possessed) (Penguin Classics) by Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky
The list author says:
  "Dostoyevsky at his best: comic, bleak, insightful. Captures perfectly and satirises the insanity of idealogues and terrorists of every hue. Warning: No sympathetic characters. Not even one."
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4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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The Corrections
4.  The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The list author says:
  "One of the great modern "America is chaos" novelists. Brilliant writer. Up there with "V" and "Underworld". Long, often rambling and open-hearted. Bellow's natural heir."
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In Search of Lost Time: The Way by Swann's: The Way by Swann's Vol 1 (In Search of Lost Time 1)
5.  In Search of Lost Time: The Way by Swann's: The Way by Swann's Vol 1 (In Search of Lost Time 1) by Marcel Proust
The list author says:
  "Unfairly maligned as a tough read, some of the social satire in the later chapters is a bit clumsy, but no other author has ever described art, memory, and obsession quite so vividly."
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The Apes of God
6.  The Apes of God by Wyndham Lewis
The list author says:
  "The most perverse, impossible to read novel i've ever come across [worse than Joyce's FW and The Waves]. If you read it, you realise how brilliant the modernists could be, but also why they failed."
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Herzog (Penguin Classics)
7.  Herzog (Penguin Classics) by Saul Bellow
The list author says:
  "There are about 4-5 of his books that could have made this list. Great chronicler of modern America. More of a humanist and intellectual than Updike, but less of a story teller."
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Diary of a Nobody (Wordsworth Classics)
8.  Diary of a Nobody (Wordsworth Classics) by George Grossmith
The list author says:
  "Quiet and hilarious, quintessential middle - england life."
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4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
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Tender is the Night: A Romance (Penguin Modern Classics)
9.  Tender is the Night: A Romance (Penguin Modern Classics) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The list author says:
  "Less wilfully accomplished and literary than The Great Gatsby, this is probably one of the saddest, most insightful novels ever written about mental illness."
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4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
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Samuel Beckett: The Grove Centenary Edition. Volume II: Novels
10.  Samuel Beckett: The Grove Centenary Edition. Volume II: Novels by Samuel Beckett
The list author says:
  "Essential. Some of the most beautiful prose ever written; all life is here, all death is here, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, as the great man might have said."
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5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Dubliners
11.  Dubliners by James Joyce
The list author says:
  "It might seem perverse to pick this in front of Ulysses or FW, but this is Joyce at his best and perceptive, full of life, love and grit."
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Eugenie Grandet (Classics)
12.  Eugenie Grandet (Classics) by Honore Balzac
The list author says:
  "Balzac's masterpiece. Cruel, cynical and satirical, he was a flawed genius - he relies too heavily on caricature, but when, like James, he hits a seam of brilliant writing, it takes the breath away."
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Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels
13.  Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness: Four Short Novels by Kenzaburo Oe
The list author says:
  "Masively underrated, Oe is a delicious writer: has Bellow's intelligence and wit, but with a lighter touch, demonstrated best in this book."
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4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Solaris
14.  Solaris by Lem Stanislaw
The list author says:
  "An almost unbearably sad novel about memory and the games it plays. Also made a great film. But not two of them."
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4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion
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Arrival and Departure (Penguin Modern Classics)
15.  Arrival and Departure (Penguin Modern Classics) by Arthur Koestler
The list author says:
  "A toss - up between this and Darkness at Noon, Koestler is the greatest anti - totalitarian writer on the list. This one is the greater pyschological portrait, of a collaborator."
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Washington Square (English Library)
16.  Washington Square (English Library) by Henry James
The list author says:
  "Not his best writing [the ambassadors probably wins that one], but his best novel. The last sections of the book are a tour de force of momentum writing."
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Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage Classics)
17.  Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage Classics) by William Faulkner
The list author says:
  "This is what Faulkner does best: a mess of perspectives; blood, soil and history. Modernism at its rawest."
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The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 (Penguin Classics)
18.  The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 (Penguin Classics) by Anton Chekhov
The list author says:
  "Less melodramatic than the plays, this is Chekhov at his best. Lucid, intelligent and moving, a clear precursor to the dominant simplified style of modern short story favoured by Carver et al."
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Rabbit Angstrom A Tetralogy: (Rabbit Run,Rabbit Redux,Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest): A Tetralogy - "Rabbit, Run", "Rabbit Redux", "Rabbit Is Rich", "Rabbit at Rest" (Everyman's Library Classics)
19.  Rabbit Angstrom A Tetralogy: (Rabbit Run,Rabbit Redux,Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest): A Tetralogy - "Rabbit, Run", "Rabbit Redux", "Rabbit Is Rich", "Rabbit at Rest" (Everyman's Library Classics) by John Updike
The list author says:
  "This series has all of Updike's good habits but also his faults. He's the most amazing, pyrotechnic writers, but, like Swift or [more clearly] Thackeray, he treats his characters like God treated Job."
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4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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The Only Problem
20.  The Only Problem by Muriel Spark
The list author says:
  "Spark is one of those novelists who surprises with ideas rather than language. This is her best, I reckon, about ideology and family [Roth's American Pastoral is similiar but weaker]"
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Naked Lunch (Harperperennial Classics)
21.  Naked Lunch (Harperperennial Classics) by William Burroughs
The list author says:
  "If the Beats were the hip, shallow counter culture, this is the counter - counter culture. Fierce, insane, and fantastic, it's almost unbearable to read in places, but persevere: it's well worth it."
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3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews) | 1 customer discussion
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The Blues Collection
22.  The Blues Collection by Jacob Lewis
The list author says:
  "Funny, twisted, surreal short stories in poetry form. Vanity means that we HAVE to put this on the list."
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4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Catch-22
23.  Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The list author says:
  "Probably the funniest piece of fiction ever written."
£5.37   Used & New from: £0.01
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (332 customer reviews) | 2 customer discussions
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Jordan: Pushed to the Limit
24.  Jordan: Pushed to the Limit by Katie Price
The list author says:
  "Respect where respect is due... the second funniest piece of fiction ever written."
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3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
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War and Peace (Penguin Classics)
25.  War and Peace (Penguin Classics) by L.N. Tolstoy
The list author says:
  "Still the daddy of all novels, especially the big, sprawling social ones. It's a humbling book to read, because it literally teems with ideas, characters and life. Nothing matches it, still."
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awful cover artwork 		0 26 Sep 2010
 
   

About this Listmania!

 

Author
G. Lewis (Archway, London, United Kingdom)
(REAL NAME)   
Qualifications: Publisher
Last updated: 02/04/2008
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