Telling the tale

[Fox]

A good writer is also a good reader

I have cobbled together a short list of novels that are, in my opinion, particularly well written. Some have been made into Hollywood movies - please do not confuse the two: the film scripts are usually changed to broaden audience appeal. For example: “Out of Africa”, “Chocolat” and “The English Patient” are all different from – and superior to - their excellent film renditions.


“Out of Africa” by Izaak Dennison
A writer who can transport you to her world.

“Chocolat” by Joanne Harris
a magical story tastier than the delectable movie of the same name.

“Blackberry Wine” also by Joanne Harris
remarkable.

“Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson
A plot as thick as a snowflake, but the words! The words! Poetry masquerading as prose.

“Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden
fiction disguised as history, and a moral lesson too

“Wicked” by Gregory Maguire
a delightful romp through “The Wizard of Oz” , and a lesson in how point of view makes a difference to a story

“Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” by Louis deBerniere
Like a Renaissance painting: overblown, elegant and beautiful. I was sorry when it ended.

“The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco
No one writes like Umberto Eco.

“The Painted House” by John Grisham
A masterpiece of storytelling unlike anything Grisham has ever done before.

“The English Patient” by Michael Ondaatje
As close to perfect as a novel can be.

“Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
Timeless story telling rooted in truths And an incredible piece of character development and dialog

“The Stone Diaries” by Carol Shields
This book won the Pulitzer Prize and the Governor General’s Award.


Now, you will probably say "What the F#$ does this have to do with BDSM?
Well, this site is packed with people who want to write, who need to write. The men and women who wrote the above works are just the same as you and me. They need to express themselves, their thoughts and emotions.
You will also notice that most titles here are quite contemporary, that just reflects the books I have read recently.

If you have any suggestions to add to this list, by all means, do so. I'm always interested in a good read.
But please, no Anne Rice and Stephen King and Patricia Cornwall, etc. - although "Hearts in Atlantis" by Stephen King is a very well written tale.

[Curtis]

"Frostflower and Thorn" by Phyllis Ann Karr -- My favorite swords and sorcery fantasy, which incidentally has a fairly explicit rape scene.

"The Idylls of the Queen" by Phyllis Ann Karr -- my favorite Arthurian novel and favorite mystery, starring my favorite knight, Sir Kay.

"The Final Reflection" by John M. Ford -- My favorite science fiction novel, set in the Star Trek universe, but before the Enterprise was built, covering decades of Klingon history, since invalidated. A book about chess.

"How Much For Just the Planet" by John M. Ford -- Robert Asprin ("Another Fine Myth") writes funny stories, but this one made me laugh so hard I couldn't breath. A must for anyone who's ever even heard of Gilbert and Sullivan.

There are others, but I'd list them by author, rather than by story.

Probably the best story you're never going to get to read is "The Fire Inside" by John Faylo, who can't get it published. Hard science fiction, set in a Machiavellian future where North Americans, Asian Indians and Japanese are struggling for control of known space. A love story, with a lot of religious/philosophical overtones, and both a hero and an anti-hero. Good stuff.

[AndrewBlack]

I'd have to add some John Steinbeck personally. His writing style is fantastic and great stories too.

[Aurelius]

It's impossible to resist this thread. Some pretty standard stuff from me:

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude

Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being

John Irving - The World According to Garp

(This is the novel that got me reading, the one that woke up my 'adult' soul.)

James Joyce - Dubliners

And one for the Canadians, possibly my favourite writer:

Robertson Davies - any of the trilogies.

It's hard to say how these have influenced me, though John Irving certainly has.

Having seen Andrew Black's post, I must add the Grapes of Wrath. It's as relevant today is it was in the 30's.

[woodsman'sgame]

The Dune series by Frank Herbert. All of them, some were better than others, but I liked them all.

The Once and Future King by T. H. White

Don Quixote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes both parts (the sequel is actually better than the original)

Any short story by Enrique Anderson-Imbert (an Argentinian author who makes me cry with laughter)

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings The movies were great, but the books are better as always.

And you are going to laugh, but I love the Tarzan books. Reading about a half-naked dominant male who hunts the wild creatures of the jungle with nothing but a knife and his bare hands and speaks French and English to boot sets me on fire. <sigh>
hmm..... I wonder how Woodsman would look in a loincloth? <pulls out her sewing machine>

[slavelucy]

Sheesh, i'd be here all night on this one if i let myself....so, a few of my faves on recent times are:

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

White Trash - John King

A Certain Age - Rebecca Ray

After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell

Bird Song - Sebastian Faulks

Emma - Jane Austin

Anything by Dickens

'Memoirs of a Geisha' is one of my favourite ever books. In terms of Joanne Harris, 'Chocolat' was great, but i preferred 'Five Quarters Of The Orange' to 'Blackberry Wine'.

sl

[boccaccio2000g]

Interesting thread. It's nice to see that others share a few of one's tastes. Lucy mentioned Dickens, who is a great favorite of mine; I've read all of his novels save for 'Barnaby Rudge'. Dickens, of course, was the past master of the installment method of story-telling, which many of us have put to use here.

Steinbeck, like Dickens, sent his novels out to battle for social justice. Everyone knows of the seriousness of "The Grapes of Wrath", which, in my opinion is THE Great American Novel, but Steinbeck had a wonderful comic touch, too. "Cannery Row" is probably the best example. Don't let the mediocre film of some years ago keep you from reading it. It is a true delight.

"Huckleberry Finn", as Fox wrote, is Twain's masterpiece, but I think "Roughing It" is his most humorous book.

I could write on this subject for hours, but let me just observe that I think that reading plays is very beneficial for an aspiring writer in a couple of respects.

First, plays are virtually all dialogue, which is probably the hardest part of writing, at least for me. One so wants one's characters to be distinctive and individual, not to sound 'ordinary'.

Secondly, reading plays thoughtfully (at least those without overlong stage directions, like Shaw's or Williams') forces one to do a little set design in one's mind -- which is a very useful habit to get into when it comes time to write one's own stories.

A few particular favorites: "Death of a Salesman", "Cyrano de Bergerac", "Raisin in the Sun", the Theban trilogy, and, of course, Shakespeare, who is to writing in English what the Bible is to Christianity.

Boccaccio

[GaryWilcox]

These are novels:

Time Enough For Love, by Robert Heinlein.

The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury.

Dream Brother, by David Browne.

Bringing Elizabeth Home, by Ed & Lois Smart with Laura Morton.

These are comic books:

Strangers In Paradise, by Terry Moore.

Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl?, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Oeming.

32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics, by Adrian Tomine.

The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank, by Garth Ennis.

Sanctuary, by Sho Fumimura and Ryoichi Ikegami.

Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid & Alex Ross.

[Neopadinski]

"The Thief of Always"-second favorite book of all time, by Clive Barker. It might be difficult to find his work, though. This book is a great book that really blew my mind.

"Without Remorse"-favorite book of all time, by Tom Clancy. This book seriously kicked my ass. It's my favorite book of all time.

PERSONAL NOTE: I personally hated Grapes of Wrath. I made it about 30 pages in and became quite tired of reading the description of the tree (i.e, the first 29 pages). But that's just a personal note, nobody has to agree with me.

[Duetta]

All right I'm gonna go the patriotic way and recommend a few Danish authors....

Everything by Hans Christian Andersen, not just his fairytales are good, several of his novels are just mindblowing!

Miss Smillas Sense of Snow - Peter Høeg

Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (actually a pseudonym for Karen Blixen)

Seven Gothic Tales - Isak Dinesen

On a wider scope I also enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

A Tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is another all time favorite.

Alexander Kent and C.S Forester both writes historical naval fiction and I absolutely love their books!!!

The list is of course much longer....

Duetta

[Fox]

I am a devourer of books. Thank you for the titles so far ... let's keep them coming!

Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow ... very good choice, a great mystery with an unusual setting. I very much enjoyed the movie too ...

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Sohlzhenitsen (sp?) is compelling and frightening

There are so many well written SF novels by Herbert, Heinlein, Aasimov, Clarke, et al, we could be here forever, so I'll propose a collection of short stories:
A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison

To the play list, two nominees:
Equus
Sleuth I think that's the right one - a mystery tale

Gawd, my mind has gone blank!

Movies that are not as well known as they should be:
M. Butterfly
The Red Violin
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Le roi danse


More! more! more!

[Curtis]

I'm not a big fan of Harlan Ellison, but I did read a graphic novel adaptation of his sort story "A Boy and His Dog" that was so good I was looking for a sequel.

I liked "Huckleberry Finn", but preferred "Tom Sawyer" and "Puddinhead Wilson" (a story of dealing with prejudice in the post-Civil War era) among Twain's novels, and also the shorts "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Incredible[?] Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". Red Chief was another 'can't breath' story.

I'm a huge fan of Asimov, but for his histories, Mysteries and science essays (which are the most comprehensible for a layman that I've ever read). His comedy relied too heavily on puns to be truly punny...er...funny, and his science-fiction was very solidly Golden Age and seems quite dated now, with the exceptions of one third of "The Gods Themselves" (a collection of three connected novellas) which was told from the point of view of an alien, and a longish short story (novellete?) that I think was called "The Ugly Child", that was later liscenced by his wife to another writer to be expanded to a novel. "The Ugly Child" is about an anthropology researcher who becomes too close to her subject (a Neandertal child) and does something drastic about the child's situation. I've often wondered if the researcher was based on Jane Goodall.

I'll have to give some thought to plays and movies.

[Duetta]

Nicholas Monsarrat: The Master Mariner

All of Val McDermid

Oh and I really like J. K. Rowling too.....

Duetta

[acissej]

This is hard. So many choices...

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Grendel by John Gardner
Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
The Romance of Tristan and Iseult
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
The Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol
The Nose by Nikolai Gogol

Although everyone had such great choices, I've especially got to agree with Curtis on O'Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief"--that's an all-time favorite of mine. And with Fox on Equus.

-acissej

[Finding_Fantasy]

Well, most of the books that I like probably wouldn't appear on anyone else's list but here goes.

The Halfblood Chronciles by Andre Northon and Mercedes Lackey (3 books in all)
The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Blackwood Farms by Anne Rice

It's funny that this thread should come up. I was actually thinking of putting up a book and mvie review page on my website and asking people to review any books that they may have read.

[rlsk]

Ooh, yes, Joy Luck Club.

My recommendation is the novels of Elizabeth Berg, especially Never Change, Range of Motion, and Open House. Very sweet, sad and funny.

[Finding_Fantasy]

I can't believe I forgot to mention Elvenbane, which is my favourite out of the trilogy!

Oh and how about The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey, as well? that's a good one.

I have the first three books of the Halfblood Chronicles, but I am under the impression, after reading the last one, Elvenblood, that there is going to be a fourth. I love Mercedes Lackey. I used to have all of the Valdemar Chronicles, but I had to seel them I have not read The Fire Rose, but I have read Firebird which is also by her and it is based on a Russian Fairy Tale. I also have a HC copy of The Black Swan signed by her.

Right now I am reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. It's good, but long, about 835 pages I think and I am a slow reader.

[albear]

i'm currently reading the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.
they're kind of hard to get into at first (like, six weeks to get past the first chapter!) but i stuck with it, and it's so easy to get caught up in the magic and romance. i actually felt sick for the hero when he was in trouble. now for me, that is good story telling

[zagadee]

for me, my top list has to be:

'Dust', but Charles pellegrino

'Prey' and Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

'Men at Arms' and 'Nightwatch' by Terry Pratchett

'Fandom of the Operator' and 'Nostrodamus Ate My Hamster' by Robert Rankin

'Day of the Triffids' By Jon Wyndam

basically science thrillers and humourous books do it for me

[zagadee]

Oh, also the World War series by Harry Turtledove, probably the best alternative history writer out there.

[Xue Lan]

Fox and I have been following this thread with great interest. There are some very very good books here, that you as writers can learn from.
That is the pupose of this thread. It is not supposed to be a list of FAVOURITE books, it is intended to be a list of WELL WRITTEN books that can teach.

I quote andibabe to demonstrate what is intended:

"The Other Boyelyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory

She's excellent at writing seduction; and also the wavering of loyalties and the conflict it causes within a person. Very good at first person point of view; not many authors are."

Thank you.