Native Son - very emotional at the end, on several planes.

Brothers Karamazov
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Don Quixote

YouBet said:

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aggieactor01 said:

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Aggie_buster said:

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I've always wanted to read The Count of Monte Cristo. Those of you who have, is there a particular unabridged translation y'all recommend?

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Penguin Classics printing of Robin Buss's translation is what I have read and supposedly is the most complete and truly unabridged edition out there.

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This book is 1,300 pages. Holy hell.

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The signet classic is a good abridged version. Leaves a lot out but it's probably half the length.

YouBet said:

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aggieactor01 said:

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Aggie_buster said:

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I've always wanted to read The Count of Monte Cristo. Those of you who have, is there a particular unabridged translation y'all recommend?

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Penguin Classics printing of Robin Buss's translation is what I have read and supposedly is the most complete and truly unabridged edition out there.

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This book is 1,300 pages. Holy hell.

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The details are part of what makes it great, Edmond's meticulousness is what makes the payoff so great. He didn't just stalk his oppressors, he picked them apart surgically mostly exploiting their weaknesses and turned the things they loved the most against themselves.

Would absolutely read the full version.

The Thin Man - Dashiell Hammett
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriett Beecher Stowe
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

Several years ago I bought a hardback, one-volume version of The Forsyte Saga. I had seen the BBC mini-series, which was quite good, and was interested in trying the book.

It is a thousand-page read, but it is very well done, a novel in the old style: no modern narrative tricks or needless obscurity, just interesting, well-developed characters.

In the same vein, I have also enjoyed The Warden and Barchester Towers by Trollope. Subtle, funny, gentle satire of late Victorian church folks.

Pillars of the Earth

birdman said:

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Pillars of the Earth

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Excellent. Follet has yet to write a sequel that is half as good, though he keeps trying.

Also great is A Dangerous Fortune.

birdman said:

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Pillars of the Earth

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One of my favorite books, even though it's not in my criteria.

The Three Musketeers
The Aubrey-Maturin Series
The Last of the Mohicans

Also, the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf.

AustinAg2K said:

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AggieArchitect04 said:

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AgTrip said:

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Of Mice and Men is a book I actually enjoyed reading in school! I also enjoyed The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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I heard they can't read Huck Finn in school anymore. Is that true?

ETA: A great novel/adventure story in any case.

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I've never heard of a school saying a student can't read Huck Finn. It's true there are some schools that aren't assigning it, and some have removed it from their libraries. It's also true that fifty years ago some schools weren't assigning it and weren't stocking it in their library. Kids can still read it if they want to, it just means they'll do it out of school.

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So, exactly what AggieArchitect04 said?

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Crime and Punishment, even liked it in high school when forced to read it.

10Aggie10 said:

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The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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All of the Sherlock Holmes books are excellent as well.

Atlas Shrugged should be on this list