“Little, Big” by John Crowley
“Far Tortuga” by Peter Matthiessen
Both books verge on being poetry in the beauty of the language, but they are novels through and through.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I actually like Emma more, but I don’t think it would hurt Emma if the ending were tightened up a bit.
Good Omens, Pratchett and Gaiman. I’ve reread this book a half dozen times, and it is perfect.
Also I think the first James Herriot collection, All Creatures Great and Small is a rather perfect collection of stories. I first read it in the late 70s, when I was about twelve.
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies.
I second Lolita. A pearl of a book. A disturbing pearl.
Agree on the Demon Prince books, I’ve read them a dozen times. Not so much the Tschai books. Is it just me?
Books are written by their author’s specs so there is no need to ever change anything and it’d be arrogant to think otherwise. They are all perfect in the world in which their author created them. If you believe you can write better than any author, get off your ass and write your own books and stop worrying about criticising the works of others who actually have the intellience to write themselves. There is a saying that is often twisted to be formatted to fit it’s subject but in this case it’d go a little something like…“those who can write, do write and those who cannot, criticize!”
Absolutely wrong. There are crappily written books out there, and books that are good but have some obvious problems. John Norman, a favorite of mine, had a brilliant concept (softcore slavegirl porn goes great with interplanetary romance stories with a sword and sandal flavor) but he can’t write convincing female characters for sour owl poop, as Harlan Ellison would say, and he slathered a bunch of ideological ranting into the books too. The Gor novels are NOT perfect, fun though they may be on some levels.
Oh, and I did write a Gor style novel, Karg, and have a couple of others in the works (Witless on Lothar and an as yet untitled project that I’m about 25,000 words into). But I didn’t do that to make any points about the Gor novels, I did it because they’re all fun projects, IMHO.
Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Bleak House, by Charles Dickens and Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry.
Valerie Martin’s A Recent Martyr is not merely my favorite novel of all time, but as near to perfect as I’ve ever read. I’m pretty sure the version of the manuscript in Plato’s Cave is all but identical.
I heard an interview with Philip K Dick many years ago on NPR. His career began when SF was mostly considered trash & he never escaped that ghetto. He only had an editor for two of his books–The Man in the High Castle and another I’ve forgotten. He wished he’d had more editorial help & I agree.
Plenty of people who write & manage to get published wouldn’t catch my interest no matter how well they were edited. And a few seem to have written gems that didn’t need polishing. (A maiden lady in Regency days probably had more time to work on her writing than a man trying to sell enough words to the pulps to support his family.) But lots of writers benefit from good editing–the more recent works of GRRM & Anne Rice come to mind.
So we’ll keep criticizing. Some favorites I can read again & again:
[ul]
[li]R A Lafferty Fifth Mansions (mystical SF & sadly OOP)[/li][li]Connie Willis To Say Nothing of the Dog (hilarious time travel with depth)[/li][li]Paco Ignacio Taibo II Shadow of the Shadow (murder mystery with a political edge in 1920’s Mexico City; read in translation, alas)[/li][li]Mark Frost The List of Seven (a ripping yarn)[/li][/ul]
There is no reason to be abusive when offering your opinion, particularly outside The BBQ Pit forum.
Please note the Warning issued for this post.
[ /Moderating ]
That’s how I feel about Gone With the Wind. It has a flow to it.
That’s not how it’s formatted of course, but it could have been!
Of Mice and Men.
Repeat the opening “Here” a couple of times and you can kind of sing that to the tune of “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp the Boys Are Marching.”
I can make it work. 
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
***Riddley Walker ***by Russell Hoban
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Independent People by Halldor Laxness
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
***The Dwarf ***by Par Lagerkvist
Riddley Walker is a pretty terrific book. (Fight Club, too).
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrel
the aforementioned Good Omens by Pratchett/Gaiman
the aforementioned Little/Big by Crowley
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
Right Ho, Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse. The finest prose stylist of the last century, and this was his finest novel. There is nothing about this book that doesn’t work perfectly.
To Kill A Mockingbird. It’s a short book anyway.