Best novels of the past 60 years
- Thread starter Livvie
- Start date
Ridiculously subjective list, I'm not happy with that Livvie 
get them to change it.
get them to change it.I think this calls for a poll...nominations please.
Then we'll have a vote off.
Just let's say Best Novel ever, from any time.
Then we'll have a vote off.
Just let's say Best Novel ever, from any time.
Shogun- James Clavell
Catch 22- Joseph Heller
Trainspotting- Irvine Welsh
Hitchhikers Guide- Douglas Adams
Catch 22- Joseph Heller
Trainspotting- Irvine Welsh
Hitchhikers Guide- Douglas Adams
Ian Banks - The Wasp Factory
Terry Pratchett - Jingo
Michael Marshall Smith - Only Forward
Iain M. Banks - Use Of Weapons
Frank Herbert - Dune
William Golding - Lord of the FLies
Mark Twain - Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn
Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
Louis De Bernieres - South American Trilogy
Terry Pratchett - Jingo
Michael Marshall Smith - Only Forward
Iain M. Banks - Use Of Weapons
Frank Herbert - Dune
William Golding - Lord of the FLies
Mark Twain - Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn
Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl
Louis De Bernieres - South American Trilogy
It's rubbish, no Beckett, no Ishiguro, no Ellroy. 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' is the most weakminded shit I've ever read.
That really does have some odd choices.
It's hard to choose a best novel.
A lot of those considered classics can be virtually unreadable for some people, whereas some of the less clever ones might be a great read.
For instance, I loved Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, but I know it's not in the same league as other books which I might not even have read.
A lot of those considered classics can be virtually unreadable for some people, whereas some of the less clever ones might be a great read.
For instance, I loved Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, but I know it's not in the same league as other books which I might not even have read.
Ellroy is way too cool for the brown suede brigade. feck em. Props for Money though.
Gangster - Lorenzo Carcaterra
Yeah but its done considering the best book from each year, so there will invariably be odd choices.
It's not the best 60 novels of the last 60 years, its the best novel from each of the last 60 years.
It's not the best 60 novels of the last 60 years, its the best novel from each of the last 60 years.
Twilight
There are some great books in the list and they just about have the top 3 or 4 right.
They missed H. S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' - a quintessential 60's book - and Kesey's 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'. There'll be a few more popping into my head given time.
They missed H. S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' - a quintessential 60's book - and Kesey's 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'. There'll be a few more popping into my head given time.
Fear and Loathing was a 70s book.
Id like to champion an unsung hero: The Dark Elf Trilogy by R A Salvatore.
Ok so it may not be structured to everybody's liking, but it gave us the greatest anti hero character of all time: Drizzt Do Urden.
This should have been made into a movie, instead of the movie about the hobbits walking for nine hours to a volcano:P.
Ok so it may not be structured to everybody's liking, but it gave us the greatest anti hero character of all time: Drizzt Do Urden.
This should have been made into a movie, instead of the movie about the hobbits walking for nine hours to a volcano:P.
Oh no you didn't. I find top books of all time lists so much more difficult than top movies. Its an impossible task and so subjective.
You got to be shitting me? Just because it got 12 year old girls reading again does not make it one of the top novels of the last 60 years. Damn.
Did a google for books released in 2005 and ...
No country for old men/Kafka on the Shore >> Calvin and Hobbes Box Set>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Twilight
No Godfather?
Best: Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
Most original - Finnegans Wake, by Joyce
Funniest - Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth, by miles
Most seminal - Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, or maybe To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Most overrated - Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
Most original - Finnegans Wake, by Joyce
Funniest - Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth, by miles
Most seminal - Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, or maybe To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Most overrated - Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
Hang on Finnegans Wake misses the cut-off by a decade...
Er... possibly GR or Catch22 again then, maybe Slaughterhouse Five? Or maybe Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller.
Er... possibly GR or Catch22 again then, maybe Slaughterhouse Five? Or maybe Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night A Traveller.
Joyce is impossible to read.
Other books that deserve a mention
Midnight's Children
God of Small Things
To Kill a Mockingbird
Other books that deserve a mention
Midnight's Children
God of Small Things
To Kill a Mockingbird
Yeah but FW is certainly the most original, however ridiculous. I mean, he's invented his own language.
The Satanic Verses is better than Midnight's Children
The Satanic Verses is better than Midnight's Children
Good books though they are, I think you'll find both Sawyer & Huck were published somewhat earlier, 19th century in fact.
Right.... now I really do enjoy fantasy books..., and I make a lot of allowances within the genre that I would never make for more general fiction. But, that can't cover up the fact that R.A. Salvatore is an appallingly bad writer, I mean really, really bad. To be fair the original Dark Elf Trilogy are probably the best books he's ever written (have you read his Demon trilogy??? They're possibly the worst books I've ever read) but they're still nothing more than 1-dimensional pulp fantasy with goody-goody heroes, nasty evil baddies and some kick-ass fights.
Plus, in what way is Drizzt an anti-hero? An anti-hero is someone who is someone who acts contrary to the common concepts of heroism, someone you sympathise for or empathise with despite their flaws and vices.
Antiheroes are characters like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, like Alex in Clockwork Orange, Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Humbert Humbert in Lolita, Hamlet, Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing... Drizzt is a traditional hero; strong sense of morality, stands up for the weak and abused, fights for what he believes in etc., it's one of Salvatore's flaws, that he is so incapable of imbuing his characters with depth or complexity.
If you want to nominate some really good fantasy novels I'd go for Tad Williams Memory, Thorn & Sorrow trilogy... or his Otherland series (though the latter is Sci-Fi not fantasy). Both are epic in scale, well written, and story wise are incredibly interwoven and intricate - within fully fleshed out realities, peopled by complex characters instead of the paper-thin walking cliches of Salvatore - (edit: Or almost any of Pratchett's Discworld novels)
Margaret Attwood, The Handmaids Tale. Really good book, crap film.
All Discworld novels
Robert Rankin, Armeggedon The Musical.
1984 also a good book that was crap as a film.
All Discworld novels
Robert Rankin, Armeggedon The Musical.
1984 also a good book that was crap as a film.
Awesome writer. Prefer his SF stuff overall.
Secondfig you are completely right about Salvatore, and i could find so many flaws in all his books. In fact i might have been able to write the trilogy myself.
but putting all that aside: i cant help being engrossed in the settings and characters of his books. Drizzt is gold dust, and how i wish a more talented and creative writer would adopt him. I love the underworld and the whole structure of dark elve society.
Then there is Artemis Entreri, a fantastic nemesis for Drizzt.
But i do understand what you mean about the quality of the writing, but my imagination and love for the world fills in the cracks and ignores the flaws.
but putting all that aside: i cant help being engrossed in the settings and characters of his books. Drizzt is gold dust, and how i wish a more talented and creative writer would adopt him. I love the underworld and the whole structure of dark elve society.
Then there is Artemis Entreri, a fantastic nemesis for Drizzt.
But i do understand what you mean about the quality of the writing, but my imagination and love for the world fills in the cracks and ignores the flaws.
Fair enough, my criticisms of his literary qualities aside, I enjoyed the Dark Elf trilogy myself - as I say, I do enjoy some good swashbuckling heroic fantasy every now and again... In fact I really have no right to criticise other people's tastes as I've loved some very poor fantasy novels
If you've not read them I'd recommend Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series (first book is The Lies of Lock Lamora) - while not exactly high literature, they're well written, fast paced and full of kick ass fights, crafty bastards and sneakyness and come highly recommended.
How about Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.
Seriously guys, I don't want to go all Canon on you here, but enough with elf shit, please.
Not that this is meant as a book recommendation thread or anything, but I've recently read all three James Frey books, and they were all excellent.
Have you read Inherent Vice yet?
Got it in the airport yesterday. Supposed to be a Chandleresque potboiler, featuring a perpetually stoned private dick and something approaching a coherent narrative. Sounds interesting.
No, I still haven't got going on Against The Day
I read Mason & Dixon twice, to see if I was wrong the first time about it being a bit shit... I wasn't
They're all fecking massive and dense, it takes ages
I read Mason & Dixon twice, to see if I was wrong the first time about it being a bit shit... I wasn't
They're all fecking massive and dense, it takes ages
you wouldnt have drizzt do urden without those hobbits walking to a volcano.
simple
the guy addicted to wanking book??
funny as feck, although having first read it when i was about 15 years old it gave me way too many ideas
That's the one. Never laughed out loud at a book anything like I did with that.
I've read a few more of his, they're feckin class, but not really funny...
I've read a few more of his, they're feckin class, but not really funny...
Well I'm glad I never had the liver casserole at your house.
No, it's his best, and I've read it twice as many times as you and in twice as many languages, so I outrank you on this one.
I'd forgotten thatHmm... maybe I'll give it one more go. Something about it calls out... but I can't tell if it's anything intrinsic to the book or just cos I love Pynchon and want it to be good.
I'm happy enough with the Age of Reason shit, it's when it gets Age of Miracles I lose interest. The beaver-werwolf, the talking dog, the journey to the centre of the earth... I can't be arsed with it. And a lot of the humour's a bit dad-ish.
Plus half the time I don't know what the feck is going on.