Don't bother with New Grub Street, by "read these" I mean "I have read these" (so in this case you don't have to)
Would reccommend The Picture Of Dorian Grey, La Bête Humaine, Hunger, The Diary Of A Nobody and The Great God Pan. Also probably Tess Of The D'Urbevilles.
― Anti-Cop Ponceortium (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 18 June 2020 19:58 (three years ago) link
Hamusn is terrific: terse and hallucinatory in a modern ay.
Tess is all-time.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 June 2020 20:06 (three years ago) link
Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks!
― Greetings from CHAZbury Park (Lily Dale), Thursday, 18 June 2020 20:24 (three years ago) link
The Picture Of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde - Very different from his plays, on the whole, moralistic in a way, but very modern in the compassion in its morality, the preface is all-time of course.
Always felt a bit of a disconnect between Wilde's aestheticist positions and his fiction, which tends to have pretty clear morals, Picture of Dorian Grey very much included.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 19 June 2020 09:55 (three years ago) link
(voted for it, btw)
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 19 June 2020 09:57 (three years ago) link
Grub Street was ok. it was grim, yes.
read 4 or 5 of these - the late 19th really is a hole in my reading - but voted for another grim book, one that made me angry.
― koogs, Friday, 19 June 2020 12:07 (three years ago) link
This is quite tough. Somewhere between Tess, Hunger, Dorian Grey, Great God Pan and Diary of Nobody. It might be the latter, actually. I was reading it when my son was born and bought it for the midwife to say thank you (maybe not the *best* title, in retrospect).
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 19 June 2020 12:18 (three years ago) link
Oh, and Trillby! What a strange novel.
Just realised there was no Jekyll and Hyde on the previous list.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 19 June 2020 12:19 (three years ago) link
I tend to exclude novellas, and Jekyll & Hyde is a short one at that.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 19 June 2020 13:16 (three years ago) link
Bruges-la-Morte.
― pomenitul, Friday, 19 June 2020 13:22 (three years ago) link
Aye, fair enough. And, enduring concept aside, I'm not even sure J&H is actually any good.
xp
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 19 June 2020 13:49 (three years ago) link
Diary of a nobody is such a beautiful picture of mundane existence. It’s so timeless, which makes the humour work so well.
― American Fear of Scampos (Ed), Friday, 19 June 2020 14:05 (three years ago) link
I read it and remember next to nothing. The collection I was reading also had "The Merry Men" in it and I found that far more memorable, which is bizarre since J&H is about a man who makes the potion that turns him into a big monster and "The Merry Men" is about...waves hitting rocks.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 19 June 2020 16:45 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 21 June 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 22 June 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
New Grub Street is great, you people are nuts.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Monday, 22 June 2020 22:19 (three years ago) link
Voted for Zola, sans regret.
― Scampidocio (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 22 June 2020 22:24 (three years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of… the 1890's, pt.2 (1895-1899)
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 25 June 2020 16:20 (three years ago) link