Beloved79 reviews Toni Morrison Vintage, 2004 a story of guilt + An excellent read I have to admit, I approached this novel with quite a bit of trepidation. It was an Oprah's book club pick, which generally means depressing, and I tend to be leery of "highly acclaimed" books. Maybe a bit of reverse snobbishness. But I've been making a point lately of ignoring my knee-jerk ...             The Corrections: A Novel1013 reviews Jonathan Franzen Picador, 2002 Well worth the investment in time + Good read Don't believe the hype about the hype. Brilliantly imagined, extremely well written, and just a pleasure to read.             The Old Forest and Other Stories5 reviews Peter Taylor Picador, 1996 a luminous, clear-sighted book + Complexities of simple life + About people, not just the South + Wonderful prose but I can't relate             All Things, All At Once: New and Selected Stories8 reviews Lee K. Abbott W. W. Norton, 2007 Best Story Collection I've Read in Years + Occasionally overwrought; occasionally worth the effort + Thematic Repetition + Aptly titled, from a writer hailed by Ann Beattie, Richard Ford, Frederick Busch, and more. + Covers the human spectrum             The French Lieutenant's Woman52 reviews John Fowles Back Bay Books, 1998 Fun novel! + Much Ado about Nothing + A great contemporary, Victorian novel + Victorian Version of the Heartbreak Kid [30][93][T]             Dead Souls: A Novel33 reviews Nikolai Gogol Vintage, 1997 Dead Souls: Translation is Everything + An Incredibly Funny Social Satire + definitely worth a read! + A Charming Russian Masterpiece + Russian satire at its best.             The Adventures of Augie March (Penguin Classics)58 reviews Saul Bellow Penguin Classics, 2006 The Great American Novel + This is Not Carl Sandburg's Chicago + Growing up in the depression + Inchoate Bellow tries to flex his genius (with mixed results)             Atonement: A Novel744 reviews Ian McEwan Anchor, 2003 Which to experience first.... + Stunning Historical Fiction + love, rape, lies, war, injury and redemption + works better as a movie             Silence59 reviews Shusaku Endo Taplinger Publishing Company, 1980 The Honor of God + Silence + A great, but somewhat repetitive story. + quickly to my door             A Garden of Sand (Thompson, Earl)10 reviews Earl Thompson Carroll & Graf, 2001 Powerful and captivating + Incredible + If Breughel had directed The Wizard of Oz + Earl Thompson + Thompson passed too soon             Call It Sleep: A Novel29 reviews Henry Roth Picador, 2005 Depict one character perfectly; the rest will follow. + An undeniable classic + Perhaps the best American novel in the 20th century + a porfound masterpiece + Strangely Addictive             Independence Day124 reviews Richard Ford Vintage, 1996 Ford Creates a Postive Thinking Angstrom -- There is No Running Here + In My Top Five + Something to Cheer About In "Independence Day", Richard Ford's depiction of post-marital devolution (divorce) parallels the lack of marital (or life) bliss shown in other classics: John Updike's "rabbit run" or John O'Hara's "Appointment in Samarra." This book's protagonist, Frank Bascombe, is not another Harry Angstrom ...             Chronicle of a Death Foretold121 reviews Gabriel Garcia Marquez Vintage, 2003 Great place to start with Marquez + Death foretold; character revealed + Marquez & magic realism---start here I think this is an excellent book to start reading Marquez. The book is short enough to allow a hesitant reader to finish it and see the full effect of his work.             Suttree55 reviews Cormac Mccarthy Vintage, 1992 Suttree + Fantastic. + Definitely in my all-time 5 favorite book list. + Suttree by Cormac McCarthy + Dusty clockless hours of penetrating prose......             War and Peace1 review Leo Tolstoy Knopf, 2007 Greatest Novel Ever!!!!!! + At Last, An Accessible Translation + A sweeping, unforgettable epic This is by far the best book I have ever read for so many different reason. Tolstoy is absolutely my favorite author and he out did himself with this book. The realism, the historical background, and the depth of the characters made this book so great.             The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint: A Novel102 reviews Brady Udall Vintage, 2002 A MIRACLE OF A READ ~~~~~~~~~~~ + A fantastic novel from an original voice + The best I've read in a long while + Laugh-out-loud funny! + Best book I've read in years             The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel279 reviews Haruki Murakami Vintage, 1998 Can't wait to read it again + A Fun Trip + Basically, a conundrum Like I said, it's so great I can't wait to let some of it fade then pick it up again in a few years. Some of the gory bits are hard to handle, but it's well worth it. It's longish, but I wished it would keep going at the end. He really lets you slip into the life of the main character, as ...             The Man Without Qualities Vol. 1: A Sort of Introduction and Pseudo Reality Prevails23 reviews Robert Musil Vintage, 1996 spectacular and profound + Book with qualities + Empricist Musil + Expansive Literature             Fathers and Children (Everyman's Library)1 review Ivan Turgenev Everyman's Library, 1991 A good book. This book is a good book, and I recommend it to anybody who wants to read a book. I'm an extremely bad reader - and so may not have picked up on all the nuances, but at the end I was touched by that fuzzy feeling of truth one gets with good art. Is the end a little like D. Thomas' poem ...             The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay593 reviews Michael Chabon Picador, 2001 A world of its own + Masterful + The novel reads like a film + Well-written, but I see what many are saying . . . + Tour de Force