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Have you tried Ursula Le Guin? The Lathe of Heaven The Dispossessed The Left Hand of Darkness

I'm always happy to have a chance to talk about Harriet Beecher Stowe, in this thread or elsewhere.

Thank you both for all work on the site this past year. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Women writers, yes! How about Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford (the current TV series doesn't do it justice) or North and South?

Reading Dawkins at last I am now reading The God Delusion, so have reviewed this thread from the beginning. I also see that I participated at an earlier stage, mostly on behalf of Albert Einstein, although I had not read Dawkins then. You can't argue from motivation. Dawkins may be a beast...

I'm halfway through now, coming up on chapter 49, and would like to check in again. In a long, multi-layer novel like this, it is so easy to be struck by something while reading but then get distracted by later parts. Anyway, what I want to say is that I admire Solzenitsyn's technique in...

If you live long enough you may begin to emulate the monster with replacement parts. I speak of my dental crowns, implanted lenses, hearing aids and teflon vocal chord. Any they haven't even got around to my circulatory system yet! So while we discuss what makes us human, what's so great...

The Great Gatsby has been done so much, but I have never read Tender is the Night. Yes, something Asian, but I don't have any good ideas unless maybe one of the Indian writers: Salmon Rushdie, Midnight's Children V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas (Indian, but located in Trinidad)...

I am reading The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond. It is one of his earlier books, preceding Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse. The Third Chimpanzee is about human evolution, that is, the evolution of the human species. DNA studies show that we are more closely related to chimpanzees than...

You're on to something important. Suppose the "monster" had been a beautiful young woman, attractive and well-spoken. Would the fact that she had been created from parts of dead bodies still have caused her to be rejected? We are in the appearance versus reality puzzle.

I like your list, but I favor switching Turgenev to the end, so as to have more separation from the present Russian.

Addendum. I just looked at the description of Embers at Amazon, and I would be interested in reading it. How about: Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (American) Marai, Embers (Hungarian) Turgenev, Fathers and Sons (Russian) Do we need a formal poll, or can we reach a consensus without one?

Of the books you list, I have read Disgrace and Midnight's Children, plus Remains of the Day. I think Remains of the Day is the best of the seven. The books are so different in tone that comparisons are difficult. Disgrace did not appeal to me, but it is a powerful book.

Yes, Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence. Somewhere (where?) it was an earlier suggestion for discussion.

I don't find any shortage of catastrophes smiting mankind. To get credit for being the Smiter, however, it would be best to warn ahead of time, not just claim credit after the fact. If you issue enough dire warnings, some of them are bound to happen. The Old Testament God did issue warnings...

OK, how about - June - Farewell to Arms (American) July - Sons and Lovers (English) August - Fathers and Sons (Russian) Main Street is dropped and Suite Francaise is replaced with Sons and Lovers. The trouble with the Farewell to Arms - Suite Francaise combination is that it would be two...

You;re right. I forgot about Shakespeare. Also of course, historical novel reconstructions like I Claudius. What I must have had in mind was a more limited group: recent major historical figures whom some of us can remember, like Stalin. Not that we knew him personally, but his persona was part...

Truth? "What is truth asked jesting Pilate and would not stay for an answer." In that essay Bacon goes on to explain the great attraction of lies. I find a very moving truth in chapters 18-21 of The First Circle. Here, Stalin is introduced as a full character in the narrative. This is unusual...

Thank you, Stewart. I read the review - am undecided about the book itself.

How can we get this deciding done so that we can find the book(s) ahead of time? This is a plea to set up a schedule three months ahead. We can alternate countries and/or genres. For example, June - A Farewell to Arms or Main Street (American) July - Suite Francaise (French) August -...