Mindblowingly good books

[LePruneDeMaTante]

There's so much 'meh' writing out there, and it's such a big, competitive industry, but which book have you found absolutely brilliant?

Not just 'quite good if a little light or contrived' but seriously impressive for whatever reason.

Disgrace - JM Coetzee the best book about post apartheid SA and just brilliant in its own right.

The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen - I know it's endlessly hyped but if you liked Grapes of Wrath, you will like this, a great American novel.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. DH and I rarely agree on books but this is top of the list for both of us.

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley - inspired by king Lear, set in American Midwest

I'm another fan of The Shipping News

Anything by John Irving - Garp and Owen Meany mainly, but most of his is fab. Def my favourite author in terms of consistently excellent writing.

DP read A Fine Balance on holiday and started crying on his sun lounger ( he is from Glasgow)

Now I am too scared to read it

Victoria Glendinning's biography of Trollope.

Suziekettles agree about Andrew Greig. Electric brae was amazing.

Also the corrections too! Although johnathan franzen new book freedom was a bit rubbish! Sx

Jonathan Coe - What A Carve Up!
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake
Max Brooks - World War Z
Mark Z Danielewski - House of Leaves

Am reading Dreams of Leaving by Rupert Thomson atm - his writing is just amazing.The Insult will stay with me forever.

Lemniscate "a fine balance" broke my heart. I was bereft when I finished it. I loved the characters so much. I could cry just thinking about it.

Keep meaning to read 'A Fine Balance' but forget about it every time I go to the library. There are many books on here that I didn't like!

For me -

Jane Austen - all of them but I'd probably rate, 'Persuasion' highest right now (it changes!).
King's, 'The Stand.'
'Lolita' - hell yes: it's a masterpiece - must re-read
'This Thing Of Darkness' - I think the writer is Harry Thompson or something like that.
I think, 'Frankenstein' needs to be on a list of seriously impressive books too - for its scope and for the circumstances it was written in etc, although as a novel I think it has good and bad points.
'The Yellow Wallpaper' - a short story rather than a novel but it is real food for thought.

Huckleberry Finn - read the first page and you know there's a master at work

I bought A Fine Balance from a charity shop but havent read it yet - its a long book and havent had the time, but will start it in the new year.
I also loved The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie and The Waves by Virginia Woolf.
Len Deightons SS-GB is very good, a cracking read.
A Town Like Alice was my dads favourite book.

Love, 'A Town Like Alice.'

Fine Balance is amazing.

I loved Great Gatsby so much recently that as soon as I finished reading it I went back to the beginning - so well structured and written.

I loved The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver - very interesting setting and great ending

Also loved Any Human Heart. I like novels with historical settings and recently loved the Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge about the Scott Polar expedition - beautifully written and moving.

Of the classics, Jane Eyre is unbeatable, and I love Persuasion too.

Anything by Sarah Waters - esp Fingersmith and the Little Stranger.

A Fine Balance is indeed brilliant.

I also loved the Quincunx and now want to re-read it!

Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Conner.

Can I recommend for all you non-fiction fans 'Eleni' by Nicholas Gage, which was another book that really affected me this year (although it's not new). It's about ordinary people caught up in the Greek Civil War, and particularly a mother who is tortured and murdered purely because she wanted to protect her children, and her son's subsequent obsessive search for her killers. A real eye-opener for me as I knew very little about that period of history.

Another vote for A Fine Balance. (NormanTebbit, I also read it on holiday and cried on my sunlounger, and I'm from Glasgow too. Maybe your DH and I should liaise about next summer's reading )

Also loved The Corrections, Poisonwood Bible, Any Human Heart.

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Bump

Fugitive Pieces is wonderful. I am thoroughly bored of WWII/Holocaust fiction but this truly blew me away. I am saving my second read for a special time - I have no concerns that it will disappoint on a second reading but it such a special book that I don't want to damage the glow I feel about it.

The Vitner's Luck was a really interesting story. Thought I was going to hate it; loved it after 20 pages.

Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment, Shelleys Frankenstein, Stokers, Dracula and Allen-Poe's collected short impressed me. Any one care to suggest any other gothic fiction for me?.

*short stories apologies v late...

Love loads already mentioned- The Corrections, Revolutionary Road (anything by Yates really), Grapes of Wrath, Huckleberry Finn, The Secret History, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Prep.

Also not yet mentioned are August, I'll go to bed at Noon and A Curious Earth - a trilogy by Gerard Woodward. All fabulous.

(My first mumsnet post - nice to meet you )

Hi, BeeBawBabbity - my mum used to sing me that song!

I haven't read Gerard Woodward's trilogy, but recently finished Notorious by the same author - an unusual and surprising book although not one of my all-time favourites. I heard GW talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival; a really funny and likeable man.

I agree that A Fine Balance is amazing. Also Music and Silence by Rose Tremain, and Restoration is equally good.

Last year I discovered Ann Patchett; Bel Canto is a fantastic account of the relationships which develop between a bunch of hostages and their captors. Not sensationalist at all; very subtle and moving. Run is also really good.

The Observations by Jane Harris is a great read; a mystery told through the voice of a 19th century servant girl with a quirky, humorous turn of phrase.

Perks of being a wallflower - Stephen chbosky

Another vote for The Long Song - Andrea Levy

A funny thing happened on the way to my club. Ludovic Kennedys autobiography. A study in both happy and dark.

The Black Angel. John Connolly. IMO the best of the 'Charlie Parker' series. Very chilling, with the best supernatural baddie in years. Brightwell is scary.

As Chandon said, East of Eden. Just rolls off the page. Beautiful.