From all the novels you've read, which ones had the best style?

Question

Please mention the name of the novel, and the type of unique style or voice the author employed.

What I mean by "best" is that it is a style that you read, a novel, that hits you close to the heart. It is your favorite style to read.

Style is a way in which every word is stringed into its own sentence. It's not the content, it's the way of conveyance.

I read Lolita, and it does have a humorous, light, and charismatic style to it. Another only-style book is the Hours, which seems nostalgic but also very clean and sharp.

So what's yours?

Answer 1

An interesting one that I read (I don't know if it was the best) was "Bloody Jack" by L.A. Meyer.
It's about an orphaned English street girl who decides to go to sea as a ship's boy.
The story opens with very colloquial, ungrammatical English gutter slang that gradually improves throughout the book (and the rest of the series) though it never quite loses its flavour.

Another is "A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers" by Xiaolu Guo.
It is a work of fiction based on the authors diaries from when she came from China to the U.K. It is written in gradually improving English and is charming.

Both of these books are written in first person... hmm. I guess if something's written in first person, it's particularly easy to be drawn into the characters perspective.

Answer 2

The Last Temptation of Christ
Nikos Kazantzakis
This author has an incredibly vibrant style and can truly delve into the struggle of Christ and the Devil.

Nightwatch Series
Sergei Lukyanenko
This author takes a brilliant concept and develops it smoothly and with a very unique style. If it matters, you might want to give the translator a nod also: Andrew Bromfield

Answer 3

This is a bit vague, but in terms of best style I think that would go to Vladimir Nabokov, especially in his most famous novel Lolita. First person narrator, but it is written very well, with a lot of humor and well written irony.

I think Kurt Vonnegut uses really funny and interesting ways to narrate his books, best seen in books like Galapagos and Breakfast of Champions, among others.

I'm a sucker for really good humor in "style" so that is why I like these so much.

Answer 4

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a series that employs a very humorous, sarcastic voice. I love those types of books. I think they were written by Rick Riordan. Hugo's voice in Les Miserables is amazing, too. I can't really describe it; you just have to read it. He is incredible.

Answer 5

I like all of Tom Robbins books. He tells a ridiculous story that allows him to say a lot of things and then he will digress into another story. I can't remember which one it is that guarantees a beet on every page but he tells a story with a unique cast of characters and in the middle of the story he tells another about a king that thinks the world is round. His people kill each king as soon as he gets a gray hair so when his time comes to be killed another cast of characters get him safely away. As the king walks away one man says goodbye and the king says don't worry I'll be back. I loved that. Such faith he wouldn't fall off the edge of the earth. He then runs into Pan who is carousing with some nymphs and thought to be dead because of Christianity and it goes on and on until he get back to the orginal story. I've never figured out how they made a movie out of Even Cowgirls get the Blues because the story isn't as important as the other things he has to say and the way he says them. But that's a good one about some lesbian cowgirls who drug the whooping cranes so they won't leave and on and on. . .He writes about life with such a sensitive touch because he certainly seems to understand women and the workings of humanity. He does not deal with the mundane aspects of life but with characteristics that most ordinary people never step out of the box to experience. He always keeps it interesting and I snicker all the way through each book.

Answer 6

The Changeover by Margaret Mahy and The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope, I think. They both have a knock of finding just the right words.

Answer 7

The Twilight series - there's always choice. It's up to you if you're going to pick the right one. Decide always.

My Sister's Keeper - No one questions logic better than Jodi Picoult. Who would've thought you could twist it into such extremes that reality seems fake and the good turns out to be bad and vice versa?

Answer 8

I am a tremendous fan of William Faulkner's Stream of Consciousness style.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 9

Markus Zusak in The Book Thief. It is my favorite book in the whole world. And I read alot.

Answer 10

His Dark Materials series
by Phillip Pullman
- i dont noe exactly hw 2 describe his style ...
it was easy to read, flowing unlike most fantasy books.
i guess u could say it was refreshing.