When was the last time you read a great book?

Finished George Washingtons life story a few weeks ago, getting ready for another Mark Twain this weekend (my fav author!)

A few days ago. It’s called Prayers for Sale, by historical fiction writer Sandra Dallas.

It’s set in a hardscrabble mining camp in Colorado, in the 1930’s. It is a multi-generational story about women, and loss, and how the activity of quilting can bring people together and provide comfort, and hope for the future.

Most of Sandra Dallas’s books have a theme of quilting running through them. This was a beautiful story, and I learned a lot about quilting, gold mining, and life in the depression, and life during the civil war. I could see it, and hear it, and smell it.

More info:
https://www.sandradallas.com/prayers-for-sale

I read Douglas Botting’s biography of Gavin Maxwell last year. It may not be a great book but it is a well written account of an unusual man who led an interesting life. I was given it as a birthday present by my daughter.

I’m not sure how you’d define “great book.” Two of my highest-rated readings lately have been John McCain’s The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations and Bob Woodward’s Fear: Trump in the White House. They’re both very strong books and very much worth reading, but I wouldn’t call them “great.”

(You asked “when.” Those were July and September, respectively.)

If you mean classics, the most recent was probably Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad, which wasn’t easy but did have the virtue of not being Heart of Darkness. (May.)

So far this year, though, my highest rating went to Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson. It was one of those books that opened chambers of the mind, or so it seemed to me. (January.)

In general I read about twice as much fiction as nonfiction, but for me this has been a year that calls for realism over escapism, much good may it do me.

About once a year, I’ll re-read Tales from Earthsea, a collection of short stories by the late Ursula K Le Guin, and her best Earthsea novel, The Other Wind. She left us earlier this year, and we miss her terribly.

@Jeruba I read Leonardo da Vinci this summer; it was definitely a “great book”. :)

My most recent great read was probably The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. I also enjoyed Rabbit, Run by John Updike.

About a month ago. Genome, by Matt Ridley. It’s a bit dated now, but if you want to understand your DNA, this is the book to start with. Don’t worry, it reads like a novel! You’ll be amazed.

@Demosthenes, I wish I could agree with you on the Isaacson, but by my definition, it’s not. This was the note I made in my reading journal when I finished it: It isn’t magnificent, but it’s solid and admirable enough. Lots of editorial slips. Also a fair amount of repetition. I wonder how much of his expertise is borrowed.

Some nonfiction works, such as The Hare with Amber Eyes, have a genuinely literary quality, but this one was more workmanlike than eloquent. Nonfiction with truly wonderful writing is rare.

Oh for sure. I’ll admit that I have slightly lower standards for non-fiction, because so much of it is not of high literary quality. With fiction, I’m fine with diving right in, but with non-fiction, I prefer to read as many reviews as I can first to determine whether or not it’s going to be a slog or something genuinely interesting.

That’s very much as I think of it too. People will continue to read the Isaacson book to find out about Leonardo, but they won’t read it just for the experience of reading it, the splendor of the prose. That’s why Hare was so special.

Last year in my English class, I read A Thousand Splendid Suns, and I’m VERY picky with books and I usually don’t find books about foreign countries interesting, but it’s by far the best book I’ve ever read.

My daughter shocked me by giving me “The Storm Before The Storm”, a hardcover $27 copy with her ex libris stamp on the cover page. The book is a really funny and rapidly moving account of the “beginning of the end of the Roman republic, a subject that I would never have guessed she held in the slightest interest. I’m reading it during lunch and dinner bouts at restaurants. Last Thursday, I happened to be passing a nondescript Mexican restaurant that I’ve noticed is always packed. Twas 8:30, and I decided to bring the book along to figure out why. I was politely instructed to have a seat to await an available table. Ordinarily I would spin on my heels and be out the door at the suggestion that I sit and wait, then pay someone for the privilege; but this time I was curious as well as hungry with a fun book to fortify me. I waited around 15 minutes for the table, sat down and gobbled up the complimentary chips, salsa and guacamole. The waitress interrupted Marius running Jugurtha to ground some 10 minutes later to take my order. 10 minutes later the Cimbri were busy putting the tough to every legion Rome could raise to oppose them in the Cisalpine passes: when the meal arrived. It was a huge plate of food, and the fare was absolutely delicious and worth the wait. 2 shredded beef green enchiladas and a chile relleno along with black beans and a salad— the best Mexican food I can remember. It took another half hour for the waitress to appear with the check and the place had been closed for most of that time. I’m gonna take the daughter there with her own book to read, and finish up “the Fall so I can return the burger grease/salsa/ fettucini smeared pages to my little girl.

If we’re talking about great books and not Great Books, i tecently finished three; “The Great Alone” by Kristen Hannah, “How to Stop Time” by Mark Haig and “Lucky Boy” by an author I can’t remember. I’m on vacation so not going to look it up.

And a lot of books that aren’t Great are nevertheless good, maybe even very good. I recently enjoyed Circe, by Madeline Miller; The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin; and The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley, by Hannah Tinti, all novels. I also liked My Year of Dirt and Water: Journal of a Zen Monk’s Wife in Japan, a memoir by Tracy Franz. Is this the sort of answer you were looking for, @longgone?

@janbb: Shanthi Sekaran?

^^That’s the author. Very interesting and topical novel about immigration set mainly in Berkeley.

@Jeruba Yep, I enjoyed these answers. I’m going to check out some of the books mentioned. To clarify, I meant “great books” as in “books that you found gripping and well-written”.

Thanks, everyone!