What is the greatest novel ever?

The greatest all-time ever novel? I vote for Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina.' What say ye?
Jim

Independent People

Robert

Greatest novel of all time? Wow. That's a tall order. I'm going to have to think about this.

> 1

Why dost thou think that?

I'll let you know when I've read them all.

You don't have to. You can read just Independent People and have enough evidence.

Robert

I confess, I've never read 'Independent People' so I don't have the basis upon which to compare. :) Jim

>5 rocketjk:
How do we know that "the greatest all-time ever novel" has already been written?

Sorry to be so predictable folks - gotta be Middlemarch (so far).

I love Middlemarch, but I'll be predictable, too, and pick Pride and Prejudice.

Hmmm.
Middlemarch — too provincial
Independent People — too woolly
Baa from the madding crowd — even woollier
The Pickwick Papers — too much tomato sauce
Pride and Prejudice — too girly
Nights at the circus — too strange
Don Quixote — too obvious
Ulysses — even more obvious
Kim — too imperialist
Howards End — too condescending
The luck of the Bodkins — too good
Die Blechtrommel — too noisy
La vie, mode d'emploi — too instructive
The good soldier — too ambiguous
The good soldier Svejk — too unfinished

I give up.

Is it possible to compare one genre of novel to another, though? (ie scifi, fantasy, comedy, tragedy, etc...)

Cyteen but #5 is definetly a worth contender.

Great answer!

the greatest novel is TWILIGHT

Not by a long shot. See message 6.

Robert

hi
;)

Last 10 years i would say the book thief , memoirs of a geisha, the mist of avalon

Pride and Prejudice must be Jane Austen's most read book (followed by Sense and Sensibility), but I think her best novel is Persuasion.

The definition of a novel is that it is a long story that has something wrong with it. So to make the list of #11 at least puts them in contention.

Gone With The Wind,
War and Peace

We Were The Mulvanneys by Joyce Carol Oates
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Touchstones are not working for some reason.

#23 Oooh, two goodies there. Not sure I'd call them the greatest books ever (but then I haven't read every book in the world) but they are both superb reads.

>11 thorold: You're so humorous. LOL But I do think Pride and Prejudice is perfect . I love love love love love this book.

> 11
Just out of curiosity, what "too much tomato sauce" stands for?

And mine is The cellist of Sarajevo ;)

>26 marianapdias:
Beats me. The Pickwick Papers isn't tagged "tomato sauce" -- or even "tomatosauce" (I checked) -- so it isn't going to be obvious.

>27 AnnaClaire:
If it hasn't been thus tagged, it should have been...

It's a reference to the trial scene in Ch.34, where Mr Serjeant Buzfuz, appearing for the plaintiff, manages to persuade the jury that a note from Pickwick to his landlady should be read as a declaration of love. The note reads: "Dear Mrs. B.--Chops and tomato sauce. Yours, PICKWICK."

I don't think I could pick ONE novel as the "greatest ever".

I believe that Pride and Prejudice is a great book, but the "greatest"?

On what should we base the term "greatest"? Best characters? Storyline? How much we enjoy it? Popularity?

For me, the greatest book for me is the one that I would choose if I could only choose one book to keep for the rest of my life, and that would be the Bible. There's something for everyone in it: murder, revenge, family dysfunction, faith, adultery, love, poetry, mystery, you name it.

But as far as a purely secular list goes, I'll name a few that should be on the top ten, in my opinion:

David Copperfield
The Lord of the Rings
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Dragonbone Chair and the rest of that series
The Jungle Books
The Thorn Birds
Shogun
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Nineteen Eighty-four (I hate this book, but I had to include it)
The Cardinal of the Kremlin

I've never read Huckleberry Finn, so despite it being on any number of "best" lists, I cannot include it.

I've read Gone With the Wind, but can't quite bring myself to put it on this list, as I think it is overrated.

Also rans include Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables.

I couldn't possibly pick a best...or even a favorite! I have commitment issues! ;)

It's impossible to say, but if forced to pick, I would say "Great Expectations." It simply had all the elements of a good story, and all while being vastly entertaining.

Anna Karenina.

Second choice would be Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner.

Upon further reflection, I will say Horton Hatches the Egg.

#33...You're on to something. For me, The Cat in the Hat got me interested in language and enjoying books. That's got to be considered pretty great!

The Quincunx by Charles Palliser, and/or Wuthering Heights

#30...........I'm right there with you! LOL

If you forced me to pick the greatest novel ever it would be Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson or Hyperion by Dan Simmons. So I guess there is not one.

War and Peace by Tolstoy, the Maude translation.

The greatest novel ever ? Hm-m-m-m lets see

When it was 5 yrs old it was "Heidi"
At the age of 10 it was "The Mystery of the Hidden Staircase" by Carolyn Keene
At 16 yrs old it was "The Women's Room" by Marilyn French
At 20 yrs it was "This Other Eden" by Marilyn Harris
30 yrs old "The Confessions of Nat Turner" William Styron
40 yrs old "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by, John Irving
when I turned 50 I fell in love with Richard Russo and "The Risk Pool" became the "best novel of all time".

Now at the age of 60....I know better than to try and answer that question. ;>)

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

A great novel, to me, is a book that makes you think. So, for me it is "Night" Elie Weisel

#40 That would be high on my list too.