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The Greatest book Ever.


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The Silmarillion. 60 years in the writing, two entire languages created alongside it and the biggest-selling novel of all time is merely its coda. Simply astonishing as a feat of literary creation and as a work of the imagination. Other books may be easier or more fun to read, or offer deeper insights into the human condition, but the sheer scale and melancholy of The Silmarillion is unmatched.

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The Silmarillion. 60 years in the writing, two entire languages created alongside it and the biggest-selling novel of all time is merely its coda. Simply astonishing as a feat of literary creation and as a work of the imagination. Other books may be easier or more fun to read, or offer deeper insights into the human condition, but the sheer scale and melancholy of The Silmarillion is unmatched.

Don't forget incredibly boring. No doubt respectable, but best book ever? Hardly.

Probably Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Well written, more accesible than Ulysses.

The only contenders I can think of are The Grapes of Wrath or the Great Gatsby.

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Don't forget incredibly boring. No doubt respectable, but best book ever? Hardly.

Probably Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Well written, more accesible than Ulysses.

The only contenders I can think of are The Grapes of Wrath or the Great Gatsby.

No, not the Great Gatsby I don't think I could get behind that it was just missing something that I could never put my finger on but knew was there. The Grapes of Wrath was a great book but the best ever...I don't know. It's a good suggestion. I have never Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man but maybe I should.

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I'd nominate David Copperfield. Dickens weaves a beautiful tale with many varied and multi-faceted characters that you (or at least, I) could not help but like (or despise). Then again, he's my favorite writer and I'm a big fan of bildungsroman stories, so I'm probably biased.

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Don't forget incredibly boring. No doubt respectable, but best book ever? Hardly.

Probably Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Well written, more accesible than Ulysses.

The only contenders I can think of are The Grapes of Wrath or the Great Gatsby.

Ulysses blows away Portrait. And Finnegans Wake just blows (at least the two pages I read did). But Ulysses is great.

This is way too hard for me to come up with one answer. All books mentioned so far are worthy contenders.

My sugestion would be Moby Dick or Huckleberry Finn - but those are strictly American Greats. Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov or Notes From Underground would also be worth a mention.

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Another vote for The Silmarillion. Yes, it has been likened to "an Elvish telephone directory", but in terms of sheer epic mastery it is unbeatable. The Two Trees, the Silmarils, Beren and Luthien, Fingolfin vs Morgoth, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Turin, the Fall of Gondolin, the list just goes on. All described in Tolkien's magnificient high writing style.

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Hey, 100 Years of Solitude was recommended by Oprah, and I think it's up there! :)

This is such a personal question, it's hard to answer. And tough too, because then you have to defend it! I think the Silmarillion is one of the worst books I've ever read (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but I'm not a big fan of it), but hey, if you guys think it's the best, good for you!

I'd have to say Lolita by Nabakov. He's an absolute wordsmith, that man. It's beautiful and disturbing.

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Catcher in the Rye was my first instinct, but I'll go with Huckleberry Finn instead. From a Stictly American point of view. maybe the Iliad? USA TODAY did a thing a few years ago where Atlas Shrugged was voted the most influential book ever (behind the Bible, but the criterea here is no religious texts)

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I find it hard to be truly objective and say: this book is the best written book ever and not just my favourite book. What are the criteria for 'the best book ever written'? Perhaps it's kinder to have a top three. ;)

My vote pre-coffee goes to The Sil.

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