I agree that it's good, but wouldn't rate it as the best. Offhand, I would say Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh; A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess; The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton; The Code of the Woosters, by P. G. Wodehouse; Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis, A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, The Ginger Man, by J. P. Donleavy; War in Heaven, by Charles Williams; Lolita and Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov; Flashman, by George MacDonald Fraser; a couple of Faulkners; and Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser, are all a cut above. And I'm probably forgetting some others that belong in that rank. Sam
The best novel of the late twentieth century that I read was Lancelot . . . this I believe.
For the best novel I've ever read, I probably have to give the nod to The Brothers Karamazov . . .or The Destroyer #35, you know six of one, half dozen of the other. That Remo Williams really kicked some a$$.
I guess I have to reread my Faulkner, if I can find an English translation. And if you include Wodehouse on the basis of styling, then you have to add a Truman Capote, either Other Voices, Other Rooms or The Grass Harp.
I still say: reread One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. You don't have to read it ten or fifteen times like I have, just once more. Then let me know.
I agree that it's good, but wouldn't rate it as the best. Offhand, I would say Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh; A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess; The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton; The Code of the Woosters, by P. G. Wodehouse; Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis, A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell, The Ginger Man, by J. P. Donleavy; War in Heaven, by Charles Williams; Lolita and Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov; Flashman, by George MacDonald Fraser; a couple of Faulkners; and Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser, are all a cut above. And I'm probably forgetting some others that belong in that rank. Sam
ReplyDeleteThe best novel of the late twentieth century that I read was Lancelot . . . this I believe.
ReplyDeleteFor the best novel I've ever read, I probably have to give the nod to The Brothers Karamazov . . .or The Destroyer #35, you know six of one, half dozen of the other. That Remo Williams really kicked some a$$.
I guess I have to reread my Faulkner, if I can find an English translation. And if you include Wodehouse on the basis of styling, then you have to add a Truman Capote, either Other Voices, Other Rooms or The Grass Harp.
ReplyDeleteI still say: reread One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. You don't have to read it ten or fifteen times like I have, just once more. Then let me know.
And of course one could hardly forget The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald, as one of the top rank.—STK
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I had hardly forgotten it.
ReplyDelete