My nomination is the book by Alexander Solzhenitsyn called One Day in the Live of Ivan Denisovich. It basically follows the mundane, boring life of this guy in a Siberian, Russian Gulag. However, the writing is so detailed in a manner that reminds me in some ways of King’s work that it is absolutely captivating.
I was kind of hoping for this thread when I saw the “worst writing, best story” one.
I HATE Pat Conroy’s stories - they’re convoluted, over-the-top, full of contradictions, horrible characters and giant plot holes. But man oh man, he has a beautiful way with words. His descriptive phrases border on poetry.
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs doesn’t seem to have a plot, but the writing is good. I started reading it a few weeks ago, but I think I’m gonna stop because it’s getting boring.
I’d say Neal Stephenson, at least to a degree. His stories are always much less than the sum of their parts - but boy are those parts yummy.
I’ve always thought of Damon Knight as being in this category - he’s excellent at the actual text, but he can’t plot his way out of a wet paper bag.
Fantasy author David B. Coe pas produced some decent prose in his day, but all his planning comes straight from cliche central.
I’d nominate Stephen King for several of his books and stories (It, The Library Policeman, Secret Window, etc.). He has considerable talent in writing (imo- many would disagree) but he very often leaves you going “What the…?” on the last page. Problems are resolved too easily or not at all (the end of The Stand, for example… Aunt Clara from Bewitched could have kicked the bad guy’s ass) and heavy quotient of “as if” factors.
Douglas Coupland is a great writer and can turn a phrase fantastically (“He had one of those bank jobs of the type that make you forget what he does before he’s finished telling you…”), but his plots are almost non-existent. He’s more of a loosely connected vignettes kind of guy, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
I love Gore Vidal’s prose but more in his non-fiction than fiction. His novels tend to ring hollow; rarely does he achieve a character you greatly care about or who seems “real”, but he draws their surroundings and times very well.
He has good stories, just a lot of his books are like 20 or 30 of his good short stories linked togeather inside a rambling overarching plot. At one point in Cryptonomicon, the characters actually just stop and read the entirty of a short-story written by another character because Neal couldn’t find any other way to shoehorn it into his book.
Dorothy L. Sayers’ Gaudy Night is a novel I can’t put down once I start it, but it’s her worst mystery plot. The love story subplot and character development redeems it.
With all the other HitchHikers threads I am surprised no one mentioned it. Theplot is just a string of comic bits oddly strung together. In his own words he was just as surprised as everyone else when something would happen that would illuminate something that went on earlier in the books.
I thought of Dave Eggers’ novel You Shall Know Our Velocity when I saw this thread title. The writing is amazing and a joy to read, but the plot is ridiculously convoluted and unbelievable.
Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt and The Man who Knew Coolidge. No plots at all, but fascinating character studies. Nobody seems to read Lewis anymore.
Dictionary by Webster.
Talk about a BORING read! 
In regards to the OP, I don’t think you can say that Solzhenistyn’s One Day has a weak plot - it is a very simple plot with no redemption, and no change, but that’s part of the point to the work.
And yes, I was thinking of exactly that book when I opened this thread. It’s a great book, but a very subdued plot.
Arthur C Clarke springs to mind.
Many of his later novels are almost without plot (Imperial Earth, for example), but his writing – and perhaps more importantly, his world-building – holds me riveted.
I read Babbitt in high school (late 90s), and it remains one of my favorite books.
Ira Levin’s “Stepford Wives.” Not much happening on screen there.
I’ve been a fan of George R.R. Martin’s since his early publishing days, but some of his plotlines (*Fevre Dream * and *The Armageddon Rag * spring to mind) just seem to peter out. Beautifully written, though.
Although I can recognize you position has some measure of validity, I somewhat disagree. His biggest weakness is the last chapter. He has a great story going until it gets time to finish the book and he just seems to make up an ending out of the blue. Otherwise his books seem to have a plot, even if it’s only tangential to the characters.
I found the writing in this one to be as contrived and irritating as the lumpen progression of the story. Each to their own, I suppose.