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The best book you ever read?

I just finished The Sun Also Rises. I really wasn't that impressed. Can someone please explain to me why this is considered one of Hemingway's best works?
 
It's cliche I guess, but I really like "The Old Man and the Sea." I've read it 5 or 6 times; it's short so that's no real accomplishment. I grew up fishing in the gulf and still love it, so I'm sure that's part of it.

Shadow Divers (Robert Kurson) is the best nonfiction I've read.

Historically, U.S. Grant's Memoirs are readable and excellent.
 
19deac92 said:
I just finished The Sun Also Rises. I really wasn't that impressed. Can someone please explain to me why this is considered one of Hemingway's best works?
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Would be interested in a passionate defense from a Hemingway fan. I also didn't care for TSAR.
 
I'm not going to tell you anything you haven't heard before. With EM its not always about the plot. His writing in TSAL is just sick though. His spareness in writing, his ability to use the perfect work to convey a feeling or sights, sounds, tastes, so clearly with so little prose, is what sets him apart. In TSAL that ability is showcased with him describing the bull festival and the emotional interplay within the group of friends.

TSAL isn't my fav Hemingway work, but its a damn good one.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
I'm not going to tell you anything you haven't heard before. With EM its not always about the plot. His writing in TSAL is just sick though. His spareness in writing, his ability to use the perfect work to convey a feeling or sights, sounds, tastes, so clearly with so little prose, is what sets him apart. In TSAL that ability is showcased with him describing the bull festival and the emotional interplay within the group of friends.

TSAL isn't my fav Hemingway work, but its a damn good one.
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I hear what you are saying regarding the minimalist writing style and the interplay within the group of friends, particularly between Jake, Mike and Cohn. I guess I just can't get past the fact that no matter how well written, not much happens in this novel. They drink a lot, eat a lot, Brett screws everyone except Jake, whom she can't due to his war wound, they trout fish a little bit, and then watch some bullfights. That's about it.

Brangus: I read The Old Man and the Sea a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. I guess that's why I expected more from TSAR.
 
Yeah, you are never going to be flipping pages in an EM book wondering, "Whats going to happen to X character?". Its not Dan Brown et al.

His appeal is based on the rich atmospherics he creates using so few words. A lot of people also really enjoy the escapism of the lifestyle he led and wrote about, i.e. traveling, banging chicks, and enjoying the best food and drink that different cultures had to offer, and also doing things 'the right way.'

You aren't the first or last person that he doesn't speak to.
 
TTAB:: Thanks, brother.

While re-visiting this thread, I highly recommend John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and The Moon is Down. I read both of them in July.

Steinbeck wrote The Moon is Down during World War II. While none of the nationalities are specifically identified, it seems clear that the story takes place during the Nazi occupation of Norway. It is an excellent fictionalized study on how occupied people react to their conquerors. While I was reading it, I could not help but think over my tour in Iraq and my dealings with Iraqis.
 
Just finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I always wanted to read it just never had.


Drags a little at the end but a very good book. Some of the writing is sublime.
 
Ralph Medlin said:
Just finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I always wanted to read it just never had.

Drags a little at the end but a very good book. Some of the writing is sublime.
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Excellent book. Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favorite novels.
 
Just finished "The Count of Monte Cristo". I really enjoyed it, and thanks to so many on here for having recommended it to me!
 
Ulysses, in my opinion,
is the most complete novel I've
ever read.

I also thoroughly enjoyed
Anna Karenina by
Tolstoy (via Pevear and Ms. Volokhnosky)

Catch-22 - I was never
the same.
 
Ralph Medlin said:
Just finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I always wanted to read it just never had.


Drags a little at the end but a very good book. Some of the writing is sublime.
Click to expand...

I bought a copy of In Cold Blood at Edwin McKay's earlier this week. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers last night. I'm still trying to decide whether I liked it overall or not. Does anyone else have any thoughts about it?
 
I liked it, but I probably didn't get it. It's a strange story.
 
A strange story, indeed. I would enjoy parts of the book immensely, and then struggle through other parts. The Jake Blount character pissed me off.
 
I thought the main story with the two deaf mute friends was really touching, and pretty shocking with how both of them died in the middle of the book. I found Mick and Jake's stories to be kind of pointless and annoying, Jake's character reminded me of Rasholnikov from Crime & Punishment.
 
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