tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post1704008375256702005..comments2024-02-10T19:58:20.327+00:00Comments on Stuck in a Book: The GreatsStuckInABookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-87571830548250590212013-08-16T16:12:10.094+01:002013-08-16T16:12:10.094+01:00I am so poorly read in American literature that I ...I am so poorly read in American literature that I haven't included any - further afield, though, I was tempted to include Katherine Mansfield... StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-33252552689924862822013-08-16T16:11:28.347+01:002013-08-16T16:11:28.347+01:00You can have more than five if you like, Susan :) ...You can have more than five if you like, Susan :) (or does that make things more complicated still?!) I'm unsure on quantity - but if a great writer also writers lesser works, that might affect things? (Then again, some of Shakespeare's plays are not, to my mind, great... I'm thinking Comedy of Errors, for example.)StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-71863397552386929372013-08-16T16:10:22.490+01:002013-08-16T16:10:22.490+01:00Erica will be pleased to be cheered on!Erica will be pleased to be cheered on!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-30298093301820339362013-08-16T16:10:12.237+01:002013-08-16T16:10:12.237+01:00I was expecting more suggestions of that type! I ...I was expecting more suggestions of that type! I think she is very, very good, but perhaps a very good version of a fairly common approach. Not sure. I do need to read more.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-92087295770486319542013-08-16T16:09:40.234+01:002013-08-16T16:09:40.234+01:00Thanks for your list! The only person to mention ...Thanks for your list! The only person to mention Fitzgerald, I note - but I imagine a lot of people would agree with you.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-76803815445653750382013-08-16T16:09:11.722+01:002013-08-16T16:09:11.722+01:00Success, Dad! Pleased to see you championing Thom...Success, Dad! Pleased to see you championing Thomas :)<br />And an excellent point about translators - which would put me off adding anybody I hadn't read in the original. As for how much... I think one great work would make a great writer.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-1698626021674087182013-08-16T16:08:27.912+01:002013-08-16T16:08:27.912+01:00That is such an interesting point, Claire - I hadn...That is such an interesting point, Claire - I hadn't realised it until you said, but I did indeed include three for style and two for character (with style an added bonus). But I think being a great stylist is probably the same as being great in my mind, because it is what I prize most in a writer.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-86404963858388791572013-08-16T16:07:25.837+01:002013-08-16T16:07:25.837+01:00My favourites would be a different list, indeed! ...My favourites would be a different list, indeed! But how nice to overlap so much :)<br /><br />I did ponder on including Christie, because she is a genius for plotting and might deserve to be there for that reason. She was very close.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-73346740181380498202013-08-16T16:06:41.082+01:002013-08-16T16:06:41.082+01:00Great list, Karen - I'm intrigued to see Kerou...Great list, Karen - I'm intrigued to see Kerouac there, as I hadn't thought of him in that mould.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-19012046023109680252013-08-16T16:06:02.245+01:002013-08-16T16:06:02.245+01:00I am delighted that anybody thinks her very, very ...I am delighted that anybody thinks her very, very good, believe me! It is interesting that so many of the greats we each have contributed are tried and true. If the question had been favourites, I suspect it would have been a much more varied and eclectic group - my suggestions would certainly have been very different.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-69827762716520335942013-08-16T16:05:06.700+01:002013-08-16T16:05:06.700+01:00Thank you very much, Betty! Going to your blog, I...Thank you very much, Betty! Going to your blog, I see that we have the same layout - I started with the birds, and then changed the background and fonts, colours etc., and added a header - but we started from the same point! ;)StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-73567666588825209982013-08-16T16:04:23.330+01:002013-08-16T16:04:23.330+01:00That was the fundamental aspect for me, Vicki. An...That was the fundamental aspect for me, Vicki. And probably why I wouldn't include DHL (whom I often like) based on the books I've read, which don't seem vastly different from other novelists of his and later periods. ICB's strength is her distinctness, I think.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-35759309638751640412013-08-16T16:03:24.802+01:002013-08-16T16:03:24.802+01:00I couldn't think of anybody modern! Muriel Sp...I couldn't think of anybody modern! Muriel Spark I wondered about, and decided against. But the biggest gap there is between Shakespeare and Jane Austen, where I have centuries without anybody! <br /><br />And very good question, Mary. I don't think quantity really matters when it comes to greatness. Emma or Our Mutual Friend or Much Ado About Nothing would each be enough to ensure greatness, to my mind.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-67887863208159328462013-08-16T16:01:37.891+01:002013-08-16T16:01:37.891+01:00I did ponder on Chaucer, but for my money, the Gaw...I did ponder on Chaucer, but for my money, the Gawain poet is closer to greatness. But I am very ignorant on Middle English, so that is just my instinctive reading, really!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-77363541161085899572013-08-16T16:00:17.433+01:002013-08-16T16:00:17.433+01:00I must familiarise myself better with the Russians...I must familiarise myself better with the Russians... their absence is only because I have read nothing by Tolstoy, two short books by Dostoevsky, and a play by Chekhov...StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-8813130070504594682013-08-16T15:59:39.698+01:002013-08-16T15:59:39.698+01:00There's no need to restrict to five, that was ...There's no need to restrict to five, that was just the number I came up with for my list!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-52446209547450093732013-08-16T15:59:07.581+01:002013-08-16T15:59:07.581+01:00I am more than happy to allow foreigners on people...I am more than happy to allow foreigners on people's lists! I just haven't read enough of them to put any on mine - and no non-English works in their original language. (Does that affect a judgement of greatness, do you think? Peter, I assume some of those you've only read in translation?)<br /><br />Thank you for playing, Peter, despite not holding with such concepts! And, while I can't promise you'd love Austen, I feel fairly sure you'd like The Warden (the only Trollope I have read.)StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-33632841590628385252013-08-16T15:57:28.104+01:002013-08-16T15:57:28.104+01:00My poor efforts with poetry are definitely reflect...My poor efforts with poetry are definitely reflected in my list! I toyed with a Bronte, but ultimately decided against all of 'em.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-52999566329225531322013-08-16T15:56:55.274+01:002013-08-16T15:56:55.274+01:00I love that this conversation has flowed between l...I love that this conversation has flowed between lots of people! I'm also surprised by how much people agreed, with relatively minor adjustments. I didn't expect many others to put ICB on their list, but I am going on the very subjective basis of 'a sense' I get while reading their work (!)<br /><br />If I'd read more than one book each by Wharton and Trollope, perhaps I would have added them. I loved The Warden, but it didn't seem sufficiently different from what other people have done for me to give him the epithet 'great'.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-89943843918873242582013-08-15T13:54:57.825+01:002013-08-15T13:54:57.825+01:00You doubt anybody would put together this same lis...You doubt anybody would put together this same list? You are wrong.<br />I would - only Betty MacDonald would be also included.Betty MacDonald Fan Clubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15388942569315864610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-16694240199053150422013-08-14T14:45:30.008+01:002013-08-14T14:45:30.008+01:00and after a comment below I add Edith Wharton. For...and after a comment below I add Edith Wharton. For some reason felt it had to be English writers which is a bit insular. Wharton is a Great writer, no argumentElainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17739410242766153431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-39267297815035898182013-08-14T14:41:41.729+01:002013-08-14T14:41:41.729+01:00If I had to cull this list I think perhaps charlot...If I had to cull this list I think perhaps charlotte might go. Just that Jane Eyre, first read at age 11, stunned me so much and set my reading pattern for life that I hold it in enormous affectionElainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17739410242766153431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-18261395072599477032013-08-14T13:04:52.942+01:002013-08-14T13:04:52.942+01:00Agree with Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Dickens. S...Agree with Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Dickens. Suggest Thackeray - for Vanity Fair alone he is in the first rank. George Eliot also gets my vote. I am confining myself to writers in English. Having said that, what about the Americans? Edith Wharton, Henry James etc.<br /><br />I think Trollope is superb, but not in the first five nor are the Brontes. <br /><br />SueAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-63216838006568886912013-08-13T17:39:49.286+01:002013-08-13T17:39:49.286+01:00I can't argue with Austen and Dickens, but am ...I can't argue with Austen and Dickens, but am still pondering who my other three might be. Woolf would definitely NOT be on my list. Am also considering others' comments about what makes the author "great." Clearly Austen wasn't as prolific as Dickens, but Trollope is not only very good, he was more prolific than Dickens if memory serves. So is it a matter of quality of writing alone, or does quality in great quantity get them bonus points? Ah, stuff to sit and ponder...Susan in TXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09550766549670690646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-46685715229174133762013-08-13T15:31:39.114+01:002013-08-13T15:31:39.114+01:00Yes, Elizabeth Taylor is amazing. Her novels are ...Yes, Elizabeth Taylor is amazing. Her novels are great-worthy. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com