The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.
Do we have any textbooks yet? Because David Griffiths’ particle physics book is so good you almost don’t need a professor. The one flaw, if you can call it that, in my copy is that it’s missing a lot of good stuff about neutrinos… but that’s just because it wasn’t known at the time the book was written, and the new edition has a whole chapter on them.
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Startide Rising by David Brin
The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen
I’ll second Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War.
I’ve read Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog because it has been highly recommended by others, and I must be missing something, is all I can say.
Breakfast At Tiffany’s or The Grass Harp, both by Truman Capote.
American Tabloid James Ellroy
I strongly disagree. I’ve seen many authors, I’d almost say most really big authors, who, presumably because they are so popular and well-received, get more bloated and verbose as time goes by. Frankly, The Stand didn’t need Trash’s journey. Popularity can really sink a good author.
StG
I think Charlotte’s Web is perfect. I can’t think of any other books off the top of my head.
I would say four:
Pride and Prejudice (and I respectfully disagree with the suggestion for Persuasion - I always thought it was missing something, though I can’t say what; just something not right, compared to P&P)
Agree with Right Ho, Jeeves and The School Speech. Cannot be beat.
But I would add Summer Lightning set at Blandings. It doesn’t have the set speech, but the way Wodehouse manipulates his puppets (his own phrase in the introduction, plus his comment about book critics who are eaten by bears, “like the children who made mock of the prophet Elijah”) is without peer. Bertie and Emsworth are parallel sovereigns in the Wodehouse universe, so these two books get joint nominations.
Who Has Seen the Wind? by W.O. Mitchell, the classic Saskatchewan novel.
Well, we could only pick one, so I went with Jurgen; but I know most of Wodehouse by heart, but as I said elsewhere Big Money is my favourite Wodehouse.
“What ought to happen,” said the Biscuit, “is this. If I had the management of this country, there would be public examinations held twice a year, at which these old crumbs with their hoarded wealth would be brought up and subjected to a very severe inquisition. ‘You !’ the Examiner would say, looking pretty sharply at Frisby. ‘How much have you got ? Indeed ? Really ? As much as that, eh ? Well, kindly inform this court what you do with it.’ The wretched man, who seems to feel his position acutely, snuffles a bit. ‘Come on, now !’ says the Examiner, rapping the table. ‘No subterfuge. No evasion. How do you employ this very decent slice of the needful ?’ ‘Well, as a matter of fact,’ mumbles old Frisby, trying to avoid his eye, ‘ I shove it away behind a brick and go out and get some more.’ ‘Is that so ?’ says the Examiner. ‘Well, upon my Sam ! I never heard anything so disgraceful in my living puff. It’s a crying outrage. A bally scandal. Take ten million away from this miserable louse and hand it over to excellent old Biskerton, who will make a proper use of it. And then go and ask Berry Conway how much he wants.’ We’d get somewhere then.”
As far as his short stories, Uncle Fred Flits By is practically perfect.
David Lindsay’s A Voyage To Arcturus is pretty important too.
It’s been a while, but:
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Caine Mutiny - Herman Wouk
On the Road - Kerouac
The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
It’s a novella, and included in a book with other novellas, but Stephen King’s The Body was a perfect journey into childhood. I could almost smell the air of my 12th year while reading it.
The Milagro Beanfield War remains the funniest book I’ve read and reread.
Lonesome Dove is the perfect novel, IMO. I don’t recall a bit of it that wasn’t excellent storytelling, and when I finished, I realized that I had just read one of the most brilliant novels of the 20th century.
*A wizard of earthsea *would be my pick for perfection. Quite a conventional story, I guess, but just superbly done in every way.
The farthest shore is great - but flawed by the ending IMHO.
Denis Johnson’s Angels is a stunning work - brushes perfection for sure, and it was his first book. Reads like the novel of a master - someone in their prime who has complete control of the form.
Richard Russo’s Empire Falls. Written in 2001, it really seemed to capture the near-future–the 2007+ recession. I don’t think there’s a writer alive who can capture the small desperation of the common man the was Russo can.
Still not sure what you mean by “a perfect book”. One person’s well-written book is another person’s disaster. And, while there are plenty of books I like and think are well-written, I’d be reluctant to call them “perfect”. I’m certainly not goinmg to defend them as not having anything g I wouldn’t omit or change.
That said, I really love Frederick Forsyth’s first thriller novel (not his first book), The Day of the Jackal. It’s beautifully written, with details and foreshadowing and careful plotting. If you haven’t read the book, but only seen the Zinneman movie (or, Og help us, the awful “The Jackal” purported remake), then by all means get and read the book. Much as I love Fred Zinneman’s film, it of necessity leaves out a huge amount, and doesn’t capture the internal dialogues. I’ve re-read the book more times than I can count.
Of course, the book was rejected by a plethora of publishers when Forsyth first submitted it. I can’t tell why – the book was almost universally praised when it came out, and the film only aided its fame. The book changes point of view many times, but I don’t see that as any type of a flaw – it’s always clear whose head you’re in, and why.
I loved Forsyth’s next book, too – The Odessa File, although the movie was not as good. And I didn’t really care all that much for The Dogs of War.
Mary Stewart’s *The *Hollow Hills, the second book of her Merlin trilogy is as close to a perfectly written story as I can find. The first (The Crystal Cave) is almost as good; the third (The Last Enchantment) is still excellent, but of lesser quality.
Hmm. Change the names, and that could almost be Petrograd in 1917.
Agreed on both counts.
For Wodehouse, I love Uncle Fred in the Springtime. Musical comedy in text.
I am glad others acknowledge Gatsby.
I can see why folks offer Pride and Prejudice - it is truly wonderful.
You have to read Disgrace. It is a master class in writing.
As a side point, I would have said “East of Eden” when I first read it 30+ years ago. For me, it didn’t fare as well when I reread it about 20 years ago.
Steinbeck’s heavy books are a bit fixed in time. Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row, along with some of his short stories, like The White Quail, stand up really, really well.