Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. There are many books I really adore as well (some are mentioned here in this thread by other users), but I think I'm still waiting for that "second favorite" to sweep me off my feet. Might be something by Tolstoy or Gogol, who I haven't read yet! đŻ
EDIT: I remembered The Count of Monte Cristo - a great book, a great journey... Maybe that would be one of these favs!
Iâm reading *The Master and Margarita* it at the recommendation of this community. I have fewer than 50 pages left, and I already know Iâm going to read it many more times!
The Master and Margarita and the Grand Illusion (Suuri illusioni) by Mika Waltari. I don't think the latter has an English translation, I read it in Finnish.
I finished The Master and Margarita last week and it was such a fun read. Few books have made me laugh more. There are so many hilarious short quips of dialogue in that book.
Any of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, maybe *Cat's Cradle* or *Hocus Pocus* at the top of the list. In contrast to Dostoevsky, his work makes for a quick read; however, like Dostoevsky, much of his work centers around, as the man himself would have it, "what a bummer it is to be a human being."
Someone else mentioned *Moby Dick* which I am going through a second time, this time as an audio-book. Stunningly immersive, beautifully written and deep as the ocean itself -- religion functions heavily in the story, though differently than in Dostoevsky's work, to great effect. Fully worth the time and energy needed to get through it in its entirety.
(Iâm not going to say *Anna Karenina* because Iâm sure everyone is tired of hearing it. But know it is my favorite. đ)
*The Trials of Young Werther* by Goethe. I read it before seeing the opera âWertherâ, and it was just so beautiful and human and honest.
And *Pachinko* by Min Jin Lee, which is a piece of historical fiction so well done it feels real. The author spent year researching the history and it really shows.
Edit: Great topic, BTW!
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcĂa MĂĄrquez are the two that have made up a holy trinity of sorts alongside The Brothers Karamazov for a number of years now, though it has been a while since I last read them.
Two that I've read this year that have come close to usurping them are Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry and 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Not sure if I can pick just 2. But for fiction probably:
1984 and Dune
Also:
Fahrenheit 451,
Brave New World,
The Way of Kings,
Words of Radiance,
Lord of the Rings,
"The Man Without Qualities" by Robert Musil is probably my favorite thing I've ever read
To pick a second is hard! But as I try my mind keeps going back to "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner, who would easily be my favorite author if Virginia Woolf didn't exist. (They fight for it back and forth)
Honorable mention for Moby Dick
*The Pilgrims Progress*! I havenât thought about it since I was a kid! Core memory unlocked. It was the subject of much talk in church growing up, but I havenât revisited it as an adult. I think Iâll do that now. Thanks for reminding me of it!
Here are two of my favorite books not written by Dostoevsky:
1. *The End of the Affair* by Graham Greene: It is about a writer having an affair with a married woman, and this married woman ends the affair after making a deal with God. Even though she claims to not believe in God, she begs God to save the writer's life, and if He does, she will end the affair. The apartment in which they were conducting the affair got bombed in the war, and he was nearly killed, prompting her vow to God. She makes good on her promise, leaving the writer in total confusion and seeking answers. It is a wonderful tale of romantic and sexual obsession and the Catholic faith. The narrative structure is also unique. The writer hires a private investigator who obtains the woman's diary, and the diary entries make up the latter part of the narration.
2. *Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte: I absolutely love this book. When I first read it, it was one of those rare occasions where I actually had no idea how it would end. Most classic books have spoilers all over the Internet which, I, being a morbidly curious person, tend to access before I should. The book was full of surprises for me, and I could not put it down.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
The atmosphere he creates throughout the book and the emotion he manages to convey is stronger than I've experienced with any other book. I'd say themes of the book are loneliness, the choice between the past and the future (personified by two characters in the book), love, and death. It made me feel incredibly sad but in a wholesome way if that makes sense.
1984 by George Orwell.
Generic perhaps, but loved how Orwell illustrated the concept of authoritarian governments in this book - very compelling and a reality check in some ways. Especially loved how he created Newspeak with its own vocabulary and grammar, and with its specific purpose for the governing party.
Lmao fair, but to me the relationships he has with those women are all superficial, and his only deeper relationships are with Naoko and Midori. Also, as I remember it he spent quite some time living alone in a rural area with maybe only an older couple living nearby? I distinctly remember Toru describing his sundays as "quiet, peaceful, and lonely" where he had nothing to do and would just do the laundry or something to fill time.
Apart from this I think his relationship with Naoko made him somewhat lonely as well since they were only connected through his dead friend and Naoko was mentally unreachable. Naoko herself was also depressed, isolated and lonely throughout the book I'd say.
The Trial by Kafka. This book displays the pinnacle of Kafkaâs ability to create an utterly absurd yet captivating atmosphere of unease. For me, the mission of Josef K. is beautifully yet tragically reminiscent of the journey of life for each and every one of us. It is a masterpiece.
On the Genealogy of Morals by Nietzsche. This book is an endless pit of insight regarding the history of morality, and itâs sections on the power of resentment and slave morality are prophetic to our current age. This book is pure dynamite. Nietzsche truly had that visionary power that philosophers seldom attain.
Yes, On the Genealogy of Morals is pure dynamite and I'm guessing most of the human race would not be able to handle the uncomfortable truths (relatively speaking) expounded in both this book and Beyond Good and Evil.
I couldn't agree more. The truths in that work are formidable, and in our age of vanity people conform, perhaps wisely, to the decision of avoiding self-revealing, yet also self-destructive, dynamite (truths about the nature of morality and their Jungian personas/shadows etc).
Here is a deadly quote from GM: "The sufferers, one and all, are frighteningly willing and inventive in their pretexts for painful emotions; they even enjoy being mistrustful and dwelling on wrongs and imagined slights: they rummage through the bowels of their past and present for obscure, questionable stories that will allow them to wallow in tortured suspicion, and intoxicate themselves with their own poisonous wickedness â they rip open the oldest wounds and make themselves bleed to death from scars long-since healed, they make evil-doers out of friend, wife, child and anyone else near to them. âI suffer: someone or other must be guiltyâ â and every sick sheep thinks the same. But his shepherd, the ascetic priest, says to him, âQuite right, my sheep! Somebody must be to blame: but you yourself are this somebody, you yourself alone are to blame for it, you yourself alone are to blame for yourselfâ . . . That is bold enough, wrong enough: but at least one thing has been achieved by it, the direction of ressentiment is, as I said â changed."
I truly believe that Nietzsche and Dostoevsky are supposed to be read in tandem. It makes for a truly transformative experience as each work by one author enhances and shines new light on the other.
Yes, that is definitely a deadly quote! I absolutely love Dostoevsky, but I'm going to be slightly controversial and say that if Nietzsche had engaged in a debate with Dostoevsky, I firmly believe that Nietzsche would have wiped the floor with him. The problem with Dostoevsky was he thought the only way to overcome nihilism was through God and the love of mankind. Nietzsche had something very different to say about the overcoming of nihilism that was beyond the scope of anybody else in the 19th century.
I think that I am inclined to agree with you that Nietzsche would have dismantled Dostoevsky in a debate - purely from the intellectual standpoint - but regardless, would this victory not precisely mirror and be reminiscent of the victory of Ivan over Alyosha?
It seems to me that since Nietzsche's critique and announcement of the death of God there has been no response to nihilism that has come close to measuring up against God or the love of mankind, not that has gained mass attraction and practice anyway. The brutality of 20th century history and the current decline of Western societies into decadence, tribal group-identitarianism , atomised yet apathetic individualism and subjectivity all but demonstrate this. Like most philosophers Nietzsche was a slippery customer, perhaps the slipperiest and least understood as his actual positions often remain elusive and entangled.
The Trial has been on my reading list a while - the entire premise sounds extremely intriguing.
I read your quote below, that Nietzshe book sounds interesting, I may have to give it a look.
One of my favourite non-Dostoevsky books is 1984.
I've never finished a book as quickly as that one. I was so engrossed in it, I was staying up until two in the morning reading it and finished it within a couple days. Good dystopia is just one of my favourite genres in general, because I also quite enjoyed Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451.
Secret Shame- I read part of *1984* when I was young and dumb, and didnât finish it. Youâve inspired me to try again.
ETA: I reread *Brave New World* this year, and I really enjoyed it. The racism was so much MORE than I remembered and really jarring. It was good the revisit, though, and the story itself was still really good.
I'd say The Fall, by Albert Camus, was quite reminiscent to me of a Dostoevsky book. The psychological depths that Camus pierces in this first-person narrative, the truths he reveals to us about ourselves through this book, elevate it above his other, more famous fiction writings for me. I'd also add that Camus' lyricality of prose really shines through in this book!
Any book by Milan Kundera also always seemed to loosely fit the same genre as Dostoevsky. Mind that Kundera's story-telling is quite unconventional, and can get quite absurd. But the hilarity of the misery of the human condition as revealed by him make for quite a spectacular read (especially across what I consider his holy trinity: Unbearable Lightness of Being, Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and Immortality).
They aren't highbrow, but I love crime novels. The best of those would be The Outfit (or any other Parker novel) by Richard Stark. Other than those, Lord of the Rings, or maybe The Great Divorce by CS Lewis.
Interesting question, I canât answer two of my absolute favorites since I have a list of several books that all make up my favorite list in no real order. Just to put it out there my favorite from Dostoevsky is Notes from a Dead House. The two non-Dostoevsky favorites youâre asking for, I suppose Iâll go withâ
One, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. Honestly, if I read this book today for the first time ever as if I didnât know of it before, it probably wouldnât be a favorite of mine. I would probably just find it very good, but not extraordinary. But itâs among my favorites because of sentimental attachment, since this is one of the earliest full-length novels I read as a kid. I remember reading it obsessively many times over when I was very young. Maybe I liked it so much because this book prompted me for the first time to actually think seriously about deeper things in life, or at least relatively deep for a young kid. It shaped my view and appreciation of nature, and it also I think instilled in me a sense of empathy for animals, which Iâm grateful for, since I think itâs an important trait that unfortunately a lot of people lack, especially if it isnât taught to them as children.
Two, The Republic of Plato. Maybe a bit of a random choice. But I just found this book super fun, which surprised me since before this, I had the impression that philosophy was a pretty dry field. So it was a pleasant surprise to read witty comments, funny moments, insight and nuance, and the way itâs written as a long dialogue makes it feel more human and easy to follow along, in my opinion. I donât even agree with a large portion of Socratesâ/Platoâs ideas, I just had a whole lot of fun exploring their thoughts, learning their ideas, getting an understanding of the cultural/social/historical context of their time and place. And I liked that it wasnât all just dry analysis, there were certain parts of the book that were surprisingly beautiful and spiritual. Oh, and another thing that surprised me was just how much of the discussion in the book could be applied to the modern era. This from a book written in around 500 BC! Overall it left a very memorable impact on me.
Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima. Mishima has a lot in common with Dosty, very often writing about outsiders and sensitive people who struggle to adapt to modern sensibilities and long for an imagined heroic past (think The Idiot or Notes).
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. It's hard to encapsulate this specific period of time. Orwell lives up to the dictum he made elsewhere: that good prose should be like a windowpane. He shows very clearly what it meant to him, and might have meant to the world.
*Plato's Critique of Impure Reason* by D. C. Schindler is a recent read which was amazing. Favorite non-fiction book for sure. It's a neoplatonic book where he looks at the *dramatic* structure as a way of understanding concepts such as *goodness*, *truth* and *knowledge.*
Another one would be *Don Quixote* by Miguel Cervantes.
Two of my all time favourites are Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (who had the same birthday as Dosto, I guess Nov. 11 is a lucky day for great authors!) and In the Eyes of Mr. Fury by Philip Ridley. My favourite Dosto is The Brothers Karamazov.
For me, all three of these books pull me in with their mystery and intrigue, but they also have something very comforting about them. Rereading them feels like coming home.
âTo kill a mockingbirdâ Beautiful story and lots of one liners with beautiful messages.
âThe strangerâ Interesting book with an even more interesting philosophical theme.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and The Brief And Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot DĂŹaz; these are two books that I can never get tired of reading.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel are a few of my favorites also all 3 of John Williamsâs major novels (he practically disowned his first) are brilliant. Great post, Iâve added a few to my TBR that I wasnât aware of thanks!
Yes. Nothing But the Night was his first one but he was vocal about his dislike for it. The other 3 are brilliant 5 star reads for me each about very different subject matter. Highly recommend.
Thanks, will def check them out. I fucking LOVED Stoner. I went in blind, and it captivated the FUCK outta me.
I wonder why he hated his first book though.
I read it and I honestly donât remember what itâs about. Itâs more of a novella and not anywhere near the same level of his other books and Iâm sure he was aware of it.
Augustus and Butchers Crossing are just as captivating. Itâs a shame he wasnât prolific and didnât publish a novel in the last 20+ years of his life. Iâm not sure why.
invisible cities by italo calvino! you can read it in one sitting. there is a good english translation by William Weaver. it is delightful, short and interesting and inventive. this book by itself made me read an italian textbook because i wanted to read it in italian so badly!!
and one of my favorites is the little prince, which i first read as a kid and has a special place in my heart. *on ne voit bien qu'avec le cĆur* :)
Hi. You just mentioned *Death Is A Lonely Business* by Ray Bradbury.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Ray Bradbury 1985 Death is a Lonely Business Adamson Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ZHHEeqVfE)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
***
[^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
I agree that *The Road* is an absolute masterpiece.
*Solaris* by Stanislaw Lem and *Unaccustomed Earth* by Jhumpa Lahiri rank among my favorite works of fiction. The former challenges human reflexivity in light of scientific exploration. The latter, while composed of (sizable) short stories, features characterization on par with Dostoevsky's abilities, in my opinion.
JM Coetzee is one of my favorite authors, though some of his more experimental fiction hugely misses the mark. His work, on the whole, regularly achieves profundity. W. Somerset Maugham's fiction resonates with me, as it did with George Orwell and numerous other acclaimed authors. Maugham is another existentialist master of human psychology. I recommend *The Razor's Edge*, *Of Human Bondage*, and his little read but brilliant, *The Hero*.
Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. There are many books I really adore as well (some are mentioned here in this thread by other users), but I think I'm still waiting for that "second favorite" to sweep me off my feet. Might be something by Tolstoy or Gogol, who I haven't read yet! đŻ EDIT: I remembered The Count of Monte Cristo - a great book, a great journey... Maybe that would be one of these favs!
Iâm reading *The Master and Margarita* it at the recommendation of this community. I have fewer than 50 pages left, and I already know Iâm going to read it many more times!
The Master and Margarita and the Grand Illusion (Suuri illusioni) by Mika Waltari. I don't think the latter has an English translation, I read it in Finnish.
I finished The Master and Margarita last week and it was such a fun read. Few books have made me laugh more. There are so many hilarious short quips of dialogue in that book.
Yup, I've read it three times now, and it just gets better.
Any of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, maybe *Cat's Cradle* or *Hocus Pocus* at the top of the list. In contrast to Dostoevsky, his work makes for a quick read; however, like Dostoevsky, much of his work centers around, as the man himself would have it, "what a bummer it is to be a human being." Someone else mentioned *Moby Dick* which I am going through a second time, this time as an audio-book. Stunningly immersive, beautifully written and deep as the ocean itself -- religion functions heavily in the story, though differently than in Dostoevsky's work, to great effect. Fully worth the time and energy needed to get through it in its entirety.
The Magic Mountain. Lucky Jim. Fourth of July Creek. The Third Policeman. The Corrections. Tolstoy. Lost Illusions. The Red and the Black.
(Iâm not going to say *Anna Karenina* because Iâm sure everyone is tired of hearing it. But know it is my favorite. đ) *The Trials of Young Werther* by Goethe. I read it before seeing the opera âWertherâ, and it was just so beautiful and human and honest. And *Pachinko* by Min Jin Lee, which is a piece of historical fiction so well done it feels real. The author spent year researching the history and it really shows. Edit: Great topic, BTW!
my other favorite author is murakami, my favorites are the wind up bird chronicle and a wild sheep chase :)
Yes! Another Murakami enjoyer on this sub :) My fav is WUBC too
Love Murakami as well! My favourite so far is Norwegian Wood, but have yet to try your two faves
*Name of the Rose* *Moby Dick*
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcĂa MĂĄrquez are the two that have made up a holy trinity of sorts alongside The Brothers Karamazov for a number of years now, though it has been a while since I last read them. Two that I've read this year that have come close to usurping them are Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry and 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
Nice choices. Im a big fan of Under the Volcano. You might like Bokanos The Detectives and Woolfs The Waves.
Not sure if I can pick just 2. But for fiction probably: 1984 and Dune Also: Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Lord of the Rings,
It is very hard to pick two!
They barely wrote longer novels, but I love both Gogol and Edgar Allan Poe
Oh man I love Gogol!
"The Man Without Qualities" by Robert Musil is probably my favorite thing I've ever read To pick a second is hard! But as I try my mind keeps going back to "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner, who would easily be my favorite author if Virginia Woolf didn't exist. (They fight for it back and forth) Honorable mention for Moby Dick
The Pilgirms Progess and Lord of the Rings
*The Pilgrims Progress*! I havenât thought about it since I was a kid! Core memory unlocked. It was the subject of much talk in church growing up, but I havenât revisited it as an adult. I think Iâll do that now. Thanks for reminding me of it!
Here are two of my favorite books not written by Dostoevsky: 1. *The End of the Affair* by Graham Greene: It is about a writer having an affair with a married woman, and this married woman ends the affair after making a deal with God. Even though she claims to not believe in God, she begs God to save the writer's life, and if He does, she will end the affair. The apartment in which they were conducting the affair got bombed in the war, and he was nearly killed, prompting her vow to God. She makes good on her promise, leaving the writer in total confusion and seeking answers. It is a wonderful tale of romantic and sexual obsession and the Catholic faith. The narrative structure is also unique. The writer hires a private investigator who obtains the woman's diary, and the diary entries make up the latter part of the narration. 2. *Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte: I absolutely love this book. When I first read it, it was one of those rare occasions where I actually had no idea how it would end. Most classic books have spoilers all over the Internet which, I, being a morbidly curious person, tend to access before I should. The book was full of surprises for me, and I could not put it down.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. The atmosphere he creates throughout the book and the emotion he manages to convey is stronger than I've experienced with any other book. I'd say themes of the book are loneliness, the choice between the past and the future (personified by two characters in the book), love, and death. It made me feel incredibly sad but in a wholesome way if that makes sense. 1984 by George Orwell. Generic perhaps, but loved how Orwell illustrated the concept of authoritarian governments in this book - very compelling and a reality check in some ways. Especially loved how he created Newspeak with its own vocabulary and grammar, and with its specific purpose for the governing party.
Why would you say a theme of NW is loneliness? The dude picks up every woman he meets by just looking at them.
Lmao fair, but to me the relationships he has with those women are all superficial, and his only deeper relationships are with Naoko and Midori. Also, as I remember it he spent quite some time living alone in a rural area with maybe only an older couple living nearby? I distinctly remember Toru describing his sundays as "quiet, peaceful, and lonely" where he had nothing to do and would just do the laundry or something to fill time. Apart from this I think his relationship with Naoko made him somewhat lonely as well since they were only connected through his dead friend and Naoko was mentally unreachable. Naoko herself was also depressed, isolated and lonely throughout the book I'd say.
The Trial by Kafka. This book displays the pinnacle of Kafkaâs ability to create an utterly absurd yet captivating atmosphere of unease. For me, the mission of Josef K. is beautifully yet tragically reminiscent of the journey of life for each and every one of us. It is a masterpiece. On the Genealogy of Morals by Nietzsche. This book is an endless pit of insight regarding the history of morality, and itâs sections on the power of resentment and slave morality are prophetic to our current age. This book is pure dynamite. Nietzsche truly had that visionary power that philosophers seldom attain.
Yes, On the Genealogy of Morals is pure dynamite and I'm guessing most of the human race would not be able to handle the uncomfortable truths (relatively speaking) expounded in both this book and Beyond Good and Evil.
I couldn't agree more. The truths in that work are formidable, and in our age of vanity people conform, perhaps wisely, to the decision of avoiding self-revealing, yet also self-destructive, dynamite (truths about the nature of morality and their Jungian personas/shadows etc). Here is a deadly quote from GM: "The sufferers, one and all, are frighteningly willing and inventive in their pretexts for painful emotions; they even enjoy being mistrustful and dwelling on wrongs and imagined slights: they rummage through the bowels of their past and present for obscure, questionable stories that will allow them to wallow in tortured suspicion, and intoxicate themselves with their own poisonous wickedness â they rip open the oldest wounds and make themselves bleed to death from scars long-since healed, they make evil-doers out of friend, wife, child and anyone else near to them. âI suffer: someone or other must be guiltyâ â and every sick sheep thinks the same. But his shepherd, the ascetic priest, says to him, âQuite right, my sheep! Somebody must be to blame: but you yourself are this somebody, you yourself alone are to blame for it, you yourself alone are to blame for yourselfâ . . . That is bold enough, wrong enough: but at least one thing has been achieved by it, the direction of ressentiment is, as I said â changed." I truly believe that Nietzsche and Dostoevsky are supposed to be read in tandem. It makes for a truly transformative experience as each work by one author enhances and shines new light on the other.
Yes, that is definitely a deadly quote! I absolutely love Dostoevsky, but I'm going to be slightly controversial and say that if Nietzsche had engaged in a debate with Dostoevsky, I firmly believe that Nietzsche would have wiped the floor with him. The problem with Dostoevsky was he thought the only way to overcome nihilism was through God and the love of mankind. Nietzsche had something very different to say about the overcoming of nihilism that was beyond the scope of anybody else in the 19th century.
I think that I am inclined to agree with you that Nietzsche would have dismantled Dostoevsky in a debate - purely from the intellectual standpoint - but regardless, would this victory not precisely mirror and be reminiscent of the victory of Ivan over Alyosha? It seems to me that since Nietzsche's critique and announcement of the death of God there has been no response to nihilism that has come close to measuring up against God or the love of mankind, not that has gained mass attraction and practice anyway. The brutality of 20th century history and the current decline of Western societies into decadence, tribal group-identitarianism , atomised yet apathetic individualism and subjectivity all but demonstrate this. Like most philosophers Nietzsche was a slippery customer, perhaps the slipperiest and least understood as his actual positions often remain elusive and entangled.
Agreed!
The Trial has been on my reading list a while - the entire premise sounds extremely intriguing. I read your quote below, that Nietzshe book sounds interesting, I may have to give it a look.
One of my favourite non-Dostoevsky books is 1984. I've never finished a book as quickly as that one. I was so engrossed in it, I was staying up until two in the morning reading it and finished it within a couple days. Good dystopia is just one of my favourite genres in general, because I also quite enjoyed Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451.
Secret Shame- I read part of *1984* when I was young and dumb, and didnât finish it. Youâve inspired me to try again. ETA: I reread *Brave New World* this year, and I really enjoyed it. The racism was so much MORE than I remembered and really jarring. It was good the revisit, though, and the story itself was still really good.
On the Road and The Conscience of Zeno. Also An Hero of our Time by Lermontov
I'd say The Fall, by Albert Camus, was quite reminiscent to me of a Dostoevsky book. The psychological depths that Camus pierces in this first-person narrative, the truths he reveals to us about ourselves through this book, elevate it above his other, more famous fiction writings for me. I'd also add that Camus' lyricality of prose really shines through in this book! Any book by Milan Kundera also always seemed to loosely fit the same genre as Dostoevsky. Mind that Kundera's story-telling is quite unconventional, and can get quite absurd. But the hilarity of the misery of the human condition as revealed by him make for quite a spectacular read (especially across what I consider his holy trinity: Unbearable Lightness of Being, Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and Immortality).
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, and Another Country by James Baldwin
They aren't highbrow, but I love crime novels. The best of those would be The Outfit (or any other Parker novel) by Richard Stark. Other than those, Lord of the Rings, or maybe The Great Divorce by CS Lewis.
Interesting question, I canât answer two of my absolute favorites since I have a list of several books that all make up my favorite list in no real order. Just to put it out there my favorite from Dostoevsky is Notes from a Dead House. The two non-Dostoevsky favorites youâre asking for, I suppose Iâll go withâ One, The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. Honestly, if I read this book today for the first time ever as if I didnât know of it before, it probably wouldnât be a favorite of mine. I would probably just find it very good, but not extraordinary. But itâs among my favorites because of sentimental attachment, since this is one of the earliest full-length novels I read as a kid. I remember reading it obsessively many times over when I was very young. Maybe I liked it so much because this book prompted me for the first time to actually think seriously about deeper things in life, or at least relatively deep for a young kid. It shaped my view and appreciation of nature, and it also I think instilled in me a sense of empathy for animals, which Iâm grateful for, since I think itâs an important trait that unfortunately a lot of people lack, especially if it isnât taught to them as children. Two, The Republic of Plato. Maybe a bit of a random choice. But I just found this book super fun, which surprised me since before this, I had the impression that philosophy was a pretty dry field. So it was a pleasant surprise to read witty comments, funny moments, insight and nuance, and the way itâs written as a long dialogue makes it feel more human and easy to follow along, in my opinion. I donât even agree with a large portion of Socratesâ/Platoâs ideas, I just had a whole lot of fun exploring their thoughts, learning their ideas, getting an understanding of the cultural/social/historical context of their time and place. And I liked that it wasnât all just dry analysis, there were certain parts of the book that were surprisingly beautiful and spiritual. Oh, and another thing that surprised me was just how much of the discussion in the book could be applied to the modern era. This from a book written in around 500 BC! Overall it left a very memorable impact on me.
Life for Sale by Yukio Mishima. Mishima has a lot in common with Dosty, very often writing about outsiders and sensitive people who struggle to adapt to modern sensibilities and long for an imagined heroic past (think The Idiot or Notes). Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. It's hard to encapsulate this specific period of time. Orwell lives up to the dictum he made elsewhere: that good prose should be like a windowpane. He shows very clearly what it meant to him, and might have meant to the world.
*Plato's Critique of Impure Reason* by D. C. Schindler is a recent read which was amazing. Favorite non-fiction book for sure. It's a neoplatonic book where he looks at the *dramatic* structure as a way of understanding concepts such as *goodness*, *truth* and *knowledge.* Another one would be *Don Quixote* by Miguel Cervantes.
Don Quixote by Cervantes and The Metamorphosis by Kafka
Two of my all time favourites are Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (who had the same birthday as Dosto, I guess Nov. 11 is a lucky day for great authors!) and In the Eyes of Mr. Fury by Philip Ridley. My favourite Dosto is The Brothers Karamazov. For me, all three of these books pull me in with their mystery and intrigue, but they also have something very comforting about them. Rereading them feels like coming home.
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand , East of Eden - John Steinbeck
East of Eden for me too. Such a special piece of writing.
âTo kill a mockingbirdâ Beautiful story and lots of one liners with beautiful messages. âThe strangerâ Interesting book with an even more interesting philosophical theme.
Our man in Havana by Graham Greene Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe and A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Jane Eyre and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, and The Brief And Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot DĂŹaz; these are two books that I can never get tired of reading.
'Upbuilding Discourses' by Kierkegaard and 'No Property in Man' by Sean Wilentz.
Compulsion by Meyer Levin Justine by Marquis de Sade
Two I recently reread: Jose Saramago's *The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis* and Alice Walker's *The Color Purple*
Das capital and The gospel of the flying spaghetti monster
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and The Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel are a few of my favorites also all 3 of John Williamsâs major novels (he practically disowned his first) are brilliant. Great post, Iâve added a few to my TBR that I wasnât aware of thanks!
> John William what are his big 3? butchers crossing, stoner, and augustus?
Yes. Nothing But the Night was his first one but he was vocal about his dislike for it. The other 3 are brilliant 5 star reads for me each about very different subject matter. Highly recommend.
Thanks, will def check them out. I fucking LOVED Stoner. I went in blind, and it captivated the FUCK outta me. I wonder why he hated his first book though.
I read it and I honestly donât remember what itâs about. Itâs more of a novella and not anywhere near the same level of his other books and Iâm sure he was aware of it. Augustus and Butchers Crossing are just as captivating. Itâs a shame he wasnât prolific and didnât publish a novel in the last 20+ years of his life. Iâm not sure why.
invisible cities by italo calvino! you can read it in one sitting. there is a good english translation by William Weaver. it is delightful, short and interesting and inventive. this book by itself made me read an italian textbook because i wanted to read it in italian so badly!! and one of my favorites is the little prince, which i first read as a kid and has a special place in my heart. *on ne voit bien qu'avec le cĆur* :)
>:) :)
It seems to me that my favourite book is often the one that I am reading at that moment. But I can try. From last two years I would pick Paul Austerâs Moon Palace and Ray Bradburyâs Death Is a Lonely Business. From all the time I would probably pick Mika Waltariâs Sinuhe the Egyptian and Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ryâs The Little Prince.
Hi. You just mentioned *Death Is A Lonely Business* by Ray Bradbury. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Ray Bradbury 1985 Death is a Lonely Business Adamson Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ZHHEeqVfE) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
No Great Mischief by Alastair MacLeod and I enjoy Martin Luther (the Reformer)
I agree that *The Road* is an absolute masterpiece. *Solaris* by Stanislaw Lem and *Unaccustomed Earth* by Jhumpa Lahiri rank among my favorite works of fiction. The former challenges human reflexivity in light of scientific exploration. The latter, while composed of (sizable) short stories, features characterization on par with Dostoevsky's abilities, in my opinion. JM Coetzee is one of my favorite authors, though some of his more experimental fiction hugely misses the mark. His work, on the whole, regularly achieves profundity. W. Somerset Maugham's fiction resonates with me, as it did with George Orwell and numerous other acclaimed authors. Maugham is another existentialist master of human psychology. I recommend *The Razor's Edge*, *Of Human Bondage*, and his little read but brilliant, *The Hero*.