I can never forget the final sentence of "survivor type" but can't recall which short story collection that was from.
talisman was a quest, but a rather boring one.
River: They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see the sky and they remember what they are. Mal: Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?
'Safe'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
erin_obscure - May 13, 2010 1:37:23 pm PDT #11399 of 28344
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
Ginger - May 13, 2010 2:13:27 pm PDT #11400 of 28344
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Quests: On the Road
Ulysses (James Joyce)
As I Lay Dying is written as a quest, but it's not a book I'd ever recommend.
Huckleberry Finn is often discussed as a quest, in the sense of an episodic journey towards enlightenment.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books are all quests. Bujold is my default answer for many questions.
Heinlein's Glory Road
If you want a short story for dystopias, there's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."
I wouldn't know which Stand to recommend. I love the book, but lord does the man need editing.
§ ita § - May 13, 2010 2:15:16 pm PDT #11401 of 28344
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
talisman was a quest, but a rather boring one.
Heretic!
Okay, I adored it at the time. But it's been 20 years.
Sophia Brooks - May 13, 2010 3:06:44 pm PDT #11402 of 28344
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
In college my pleasure reading was only short stories or plays, I could not handle books. I read several Steven King collections, and all I really remember is being terrified of rats and/or fish that lived in caves and mutated to have no eyes, or wings or whatever. I hate mutation!
Kat - May 13, 2010 4:50:05 pm PDT #11403 of 28344
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Moby Dick as quest.
I have to say, I'm reading Moby Dick and I totally am enjoying it.
JZ - May 13, 2010 4:56:38 pm PDT #11404 of 28344
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon might qualify as a quest -- it's about a girl lost in the woods and trying to get out. But it seems kind of tangential to the quest theme, and it isn't very memorable.
Huh. I kind of thoroughly adored it. I don't know if one needs to be a girl starved for girl-centered quests to adore it, but it definitely entranced me. And even more so on re-reading a year or so ago.
So, YTGWLTGMV.
Ginger - May 13, 2010 5:01:23 pm PDT #11405 of 28344
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I'm reading Moby Dick and I totally am enjoying it.
Yesss. Join me on the dark side.
DavidS - May 13, 2010 5:02:37 pm PDT #11406 of 28344
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I'm reading Moby Dick and I totally am enjoying it.
One of us. Gabba Gabba Hey.
Jesse - May 13, 2010 5:24:29 pm PDT #11407 of 28344
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Watching the American Experience on whaling this week made me want to re-read it for the first time ever.
Kat - May 13, 2010 5:29:16 pm PDT #11408 of 28344
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Jesse, I'm reading it as part of NPRs I will if you will book club. Best concept ever.