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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
My choice would be Huckleberry Finn.
Agree, disagree, other nominees? |
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LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
Again it sort of depends on criteria, but it's a great nomination. Twain greatly influenced many of the greats who succeeded him, including the Hemingway/Fitzgerald/Faulkner trio. I don't know if it would count as "Greatest," but the best novel I've ever read is John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. I'd nominate The Sun Also Rises, though I expect I'd be in the minority even if we were limited to Hemingway novels! The Old Man and The Sea would be my number two for Hemingway. Gatsby would be another pick. Maybe Don DeLillo's White Noise.
Finally, let me say that Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist is a hell of a book!
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21245 Posts |
I do like that. Catcher in the Rye.
Also Grapes of Wrath is a contender as is Of Mice and Men. Does that qualify? Novella vs novel?
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21245 Posts |
I think also it depends on age of the reader. Certainly A Day No Pigs Would Die is a wonderful novel also and classic Americana for its time and place.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
I agree that all of Danny's and Lobos selections are great novels. (And thanks to Lobo for recommending A Prayer for Owen Meany to me about a year or so ago.
But I'd still rank Huckleberry Finn at number one because of the great influence it had on every generation of American writers that followed. (And the fact that it frequently shows up in "book banning" lists promulgated by illiterates is another point in its favor.) |
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Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts |
Would you count Lolita as an American novel? It's the best novel I've ever read.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Yes- Nabokov is considered a Russian-American writer and he wrote Lolita- his first novel in English - when he lived in America.
I agree that it is a fantastic novel and is one of my favorites as well. |
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LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
Slaughterhouse Five
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
That's a great novel, Lobo. But do you consider it to be the "greatest American novel?"
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Catch-22 with The Grapes of Wrath close behind would be my nominations.
Certainly Hemingway and Twain are contenders. Salinger, though a personal fave, I would not consider a "great."
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
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LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
No, but it should be among the nominees.
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Agreed. Most of the books mentioned thus far certainly belong among the nominees.
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Rick Holcombe Special user 624 Posts |
One of my favorites along with Huck Finn would be "To Kill A Mockingbird" maybe not the greatest American novel though
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mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Rick-
I agree. That is certainly a valid nominee for the greatest American novel. Just read it again when I was in Los Angeles this past June. An interesting thing to me, though, is that while the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird is also on my personal list of "best films," I've never seen a movie adaptation of Huckleberry Finn that did any justice whatsoever to the novel. |
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gypsyfish Veteran user 383 Posts |
To Kill a Mockingbird is another of the best, as is The Great Gatsby. Both reflect so much about American society at the times they were written (and today,too). As does The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Hemingway felt all novels after Huck Finn were influenced by it. |
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Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts |
Good call on Catch-22, landmark. A brilliant work.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
My favorite parenthetical phrase of all time is from Lolita:
"My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning)..."
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Vonnegut I put with Philip Roth and some of Norman Mailer as "near great."
Anyone a Pynchon fan? I could never get through Gravity's Rainbow. I was on a John Barth kick for a while. Very brilliant writer, every book completely different, not that well known anymore.
Click here to get Gerald Deutsch's Perverse Magic: The First Sixteen Years
All proceeds to Open Heart Magic charity. |
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LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
I think "near greats" can achieve greatness occasionally, that is, come up with a transcendent book/album/song/athletic performance.
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
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ArchMiro New user Fort Collins, Colorado 59 Posts |
I would nominate The Fountainhead and/or Animal Farm.
Totally different genres yet both great reads. |
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