# Do you have a "perfect" book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445 "2014-07-30T21:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/1 "2014-07-30T21:11:27Z")
Meaning, not necessarily your _favorite_ book, but one you can’t see any flaws in? As an example, David James Duncan’s _The Bothers K_ is one of my favorite books, but there are long passages in the second half that I slog through and could do without. Similarly, _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ is a favorite, but some of John’s meandering stories about his life in Canada could be cut (IMO.) So, what are some books you wouldn’t change one sentence from? ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/2 "2014-07-30T21:36:58Z")
Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/3 "2014-07-30T21:44:59Z")
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett is pretty tight and pretty perfect. It isn’t a sweeping book, or a deep one, but it’s a master of its own thing. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/4 "2014-07-30T22:09:59Z")
Sorry for the obvious vote, but the first book that comes to mind is **The Great Gatsby**. Another book that I would hold up as pretty much perfectly written is **Disgrace** by J.M. Coetzee. From a writing-as-craft standpoint, that brief, complex, brilliant book is a master class. Nothing wasted. ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/5 "2014-07-30T22:17:47Z")
The Art of Eating, by MFK Fischer…heck anything she wrote ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/6 "2014-07-30T22:17:48Z")
_[The Art Lover](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153595.The_Art_Lover?from_search=true)_ by Carol Maso is a gem. Also, wrenching. Ursula Le Guin’s _[The Left Hand of Darkness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness?ac=1)_ is beautiful in language and construction. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/7 "2014-07-30T23:08:45Z")
_Godstalk_, by P.C. Hodgell. I’ve re-read it many times over the years, and there’s still not a bit of it I skip or skim. It’s densely descriptive, full of subplots to keep things interesting, and rife with evocative asides that bring the bizarre madhouse of a city to life. It tells you just enough that the (often quite odd) plot twists make sense, and not so much as to lose the sense of mystery. Later novels in the series hold onto a lot of that, but not quite as tightly, and there are places in them where my attention might wander a bit, or a point seems a bit belabored. Not much, and I still love them, but I can think of places where I’d trim a few words or shift a location. I can’t think of a single such point in _Godstalk_. (In fact, the only trimming it might have required was actually done before publication–one whole chapter was cut. It published as a separate short story, and it’s a good one, but it would have been an unnecessary digression in the novel.) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/8 "2014-07-31T00:13:27Z")
“The Farthest Shore,” third book of the original Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin. Also, any of the five Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance, or his four Tschai books. The apex of his mastery of adventure science fiction. “Palindrome,” by Stuart Woods. And, while more of a short “comic” than a real “book,” “The Unstrung Harp” (or “Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel”) by Edward Gorey. Flawless! Brilliant! Hilarious! And so very brutally true in every detail. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/9 "2014-07-31T00:17:39Z")
The Big Sleep, Tale of Two Cities and I’ll second the Great Gatsby. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/10 "2014-07-31T00:19:25Z")
Lolita. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/11 "2014-07-31T02:49:02Z")
_Animal Farm_ - it’s short, succinct and moves along well. ---
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/12 "2014-07-31T02:55:39Z")
The Bible. Just in case I ever want to run for public office some day. 😃 I was thinking about _Ender’s Game_ by Orson Scott Card earlier as I did some trivial something or other around the house, and I think it would be close for me, although I might just be propping it up in contrast to the books that followed it. I found them to be very disappointing. I would also put _Job: A Comedy of Justice_ by Robert A. Heinlein very near it in my almost perfect rankings. And _Friday_, also by RAH. I’m reluctant to pin a perfect badge on anything, but those strike me as close. Or I might just be a fanboy. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/13 "2014-07-31T03:03:53Z")
_Jurgen_ by James Branch Cabell. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/14 "2014-07-31T03:11:26Z")
[_The Glory of Their Times._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glory_of_Their_Times) An oral history of the early days of baseball. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/15 "2014-07-31T03:57:09Z")
_Where the Wild Things Are_ ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/16 "2014-07-31T07:25:27Z")
_Shane_ By Jack Schaefer ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/17 "2014-07-31T11:01:38Z")
I’ve got some reading to do… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/18 "2014-07-31T14:55:22Z")
Smillas Sense of Snow. And it know I’ll get flack for this but, Fight Club. They way it reads it’s almost like a song. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/19 "2014-07-31T15:12:29Z")
In different genres, yes. Each of these books is so good that it is practically perfect IMHO. And how could a perfect book not also be a favorite…? _The Lord of the Rings_ by J.R.R. Tolkien - high fantasy _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman - military sf novel _Aztec_ by Gary Jennings - historical novel _Founding Brothers_ by Joseph Ellis - American history _Kennedy_ by Theodore Sorensen - political bio _Fatherland_ by Robert Harris - alternative history _Tuf Voyaging_ by George R.R. Martin - sf short story collection _Fevre Dream_ by George R.R. Martin - vampire novel _The Lords of Discipline_ by Pat Conroy - coming-of-age novel _The Keep_ by F. Paul Wilson - supernatural thriller ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445/20 "2014-07-31T15:30:23Z")
Ira Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying. Absolutely no plot holes whatsoever. And the biggest surprise is buried in the middle, so you can’t turn to the end to find out what it is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-perfect-book/694445.md?page=2)