OT: The 10 Masterpieces of English and North American Literature

[Luis]

You can also mention tales and short novels

Opinions please

 

[Kronikle66]

"The Game" by Neil Strauss

 

[Tongue_Ring]

well, if you'd said "the masterpieces of super-hero genre graphic novels/comic books" i would have said "the works of Frank Miller/anything published by Marvel"

but if i absolutely have to list literature that has no pictures, then i would have to say

the "Dune" books written by Frank Herbert's son after Frank died

Stephen King

Robert Bloch

Tolkien

Dean Koontz

Anne Rice's vampire series

www.storywrite.com/story/by/DiamondOnMyTongue

 

[Metalman7983]

I will be the first to say it George R. R. Martin-Song of Ice and Fire series

Poe-The Masque of the red death

Oscar Wilde-The Portrait of Dorian Gray

 

[Beelzebub]

Oscar Wilde-The Portrait of Dorian Gray

He's Irish

 

[Androz]

If he can put an Irish, I can too:
James Joyce - Ulysses

 

[Yngvai X]

HP Lovecraft - (almost) everything

I'm not HUGE on a lot of his earlier works, although theres some good stuff in there. I think he starts getting really good midway through his career, around when he was in his Randolf Carter/dream world era.

And of course the Cthulhu mythos/Necronomicon stuff is classic.

If I were to name his 5 best works, in no order, it'd be:

1. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
2. The Call of Cthulhu (duh)
3. The Shadow Over Innsmouth
4. The Shadow Out of Time
5. At The Mountains of Madness

 

[Eternal Dragon]

Harry potter is great, even if u dont like that sorta stuff. Very well written, and leaves a lot to your imagination. So really, a child would have a totally different experience to an adult. The movies wrecked it all though.

 

[Beelzebub]

Just ten? This will be hard, but being American/English narrows it down. I'll limit my list so that one author can be used once.

1. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
2. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
3. Othello - William Shakespeare
4. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
5. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
6. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
7. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
8. Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt (he was born in New York)
9. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
10. The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

 

[The Nerevarine]

I would say The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka but he is not American

 

[greenaxer]

1. J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
2. Oscar Wilde - The Portrait of Dorian Gray (I know he's Irish, but it was a
great book!)
3. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
4. Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
5. Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
6. George Orwell - 1984
7. Edgar Alan Poe - The Masque of the Red Death
8. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
9. Jack Kerouac - On the Road
10. J.K. Rowling - all of the Harry Potter stories

Eternal Dragon - Man, what didn't you like about the Potter movies? I know they couldn't include every single detail due to movie length constraints, but that's understandable. Otherwise, the actors, script, production design, and the MUSIC kick ass! I am partial to John Williams, hehe. Well, just curious.

 

[Eternal Dragon]

The music was great, no complaints there. The movies just seemed a little farfetched, and they toned them down for the kids as well which took a lot from it also.

 

[Luis]

What about Dracula

 

[Eternal Dragon]

Dracula is cool. There's a myth that he was actually real .

 

[NegativeVolume]

A Clockwork Orange was an amazing read. I got the same kind of feel from Phillip K. Dick's works as I did from A Clockwork Orange. Tolkien's work is fun to read and done really well.

 

[Horus]

Dracula is cool. There's a myth that he was actually real .

His character was actually based on an evil Transylvanian Prince who enjoyed impailing people and putting their heads on stakes n that kinda fun ultra metal stuff.
In ohter words, a guy who listened to WAY too much Slayer.

 

[greenaxer]

Prince Vlad!

 

[greenaxer]

By the way, does anyone like Francis Ford Coppola's film? I know Keanu Reeves' English accent was just abominable, but Gary Oldman did a good Dracula.

 

[Horus]

If Keanu Reeves used the Ted accent for every single movie he was ever in, he would be the greatest human being to ever live.

I don't read much American literature. I personally prefer the classics and Greek Myths.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

I will be the first to say it George R. R. Martin-Song of Ice and Fire series

Poe-The Masque of the red death

Oscar Wilde-The Portrait of Dorian Gray

I dunno about top 10 of American/English Lit., but the Song of Ice and Fire series are my favorite books. Awesome stuff.