Greatest Novel of All-Time

[Azrael]

Be more fun to make a bracket of the greatest novels no one's ever heard of. Like 'Call it Sleep,' or 'The Recognitions.'

I've read "Call it Sleep" Brilliant.

I started "Recognitions" but at some point had no idea what was going on and gave up

Give The Recognitions another chance. It takes a couple dozen pages to suss out, but is to postwar American literature what Pollock was to postwar American painting.

Of course, you might more naturally favor Gaddis' JR.

 

[Zeke12]

Be more fun to make a bracket of the greatest novels no one's ever heard of. Like 'Call it Sleep,' or 'The Recognitions.'

Or the best novels no one has actually read?

Gravity's Rainbow, call your office.

I actually have read it. Twice. Didn't understand it either time, but I had a mashive erection the whole time.

Well, ship.

Another theory down the tubes.

 

[Brian]

The New York Times reviewed a book about Alexandre Dumas' grandfather, who was the inspiration for the Count of Monte Cristo, on Sunday. It looks awesome.

My four that I could never choose between are Infinite Jest, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gravity's Rainbow and Tender is the Night.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Was this list compiled by Chef2?

Awesome.
Beer on my screen.

 

[dooley_womack1]

I think the idea of a bracket like this is absurd. The top spot for a person should be a multiway tie among the transcendent reads the person has had. The Telltale Heart by deckens, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Chabon and Anywhere but Here by Mona Simpson were transcendent reading experiences for me. Different in many ways, but tied in the most important criterion.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

The Sun Also Rises.
Bracket. Busted.

 

[SockPuppet]

No love for Mike Lupica or Mitch Albom? Blasphemy, I say.

 

[Armchair_QB]

You Gotta Play Hurt isn't on there.

This list is invalid.

 

[SockPuppet]

Armchair, I would go with Semi-Tough. Remember reading it in 1974 or 1975 and was mightily impressed.

 

[Double Down]

Middlemarch? Someone at Huff Post is trolling.

Er, trolling more that usual, I mean.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Armchair, I would go with Semi-Tough. Remember reading it in 1974 or 1975 and was mightily impressed.

"I'm not forking an Albanian, Jim Tom!" trumps anything in Semi-Tough.

 

[heyabbott]

The Bible