I did read the Water Method Man, but I haven't re-read recently. I always thought Hotel New Hampshire was the funniest-- the stuffed dog named Sorrow!!!-- and you are laughing and laughing, and then you are crying.

my favorite is Owen meany, and oddly ( i guess) the water method man leaves me cold

Water Method Man always makes me want to pee (for obvious reasons)

It was hard to vote for only one, but I went with The Woman in White. I guess I love the Victorian novel too much.

It won't let me comment, but I vote for "Never Let Me Go" (although I love it, I love the sly, dry as a bone wit in "The Remains of the Day" better -- it is funny AND heartbreaking, but the second time you read it, it is MUCh more satisfying), "Oryx & Crake" and then "Lolita" and after you read Lolita, you should read "Reading Lolita in Tehran."

Lolita is an excellent example of innovative content AND lush language styling.

Also, as far as fun SF/F, I like Simon R. Green for popcorn SF and F quite a lot. And Lois McMasters Bujold, and did anyone mention Octavia Butler? I am multitasking, and now much go make M do writing homework and get chili started.

I do not care for Asimov, but concede his ideas are canonical for the genre, sucked up Heinlein as a girl and still re-read, agree Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is creepy as fuck, and I want Stephen King to re-write Jane Eyre now.

Off to chilify!

I need to reread The Yellow Wallpaper soon. Also Herland, which wasn't as good, but is still fascinating.

I think if I had to recommend a book to anyone to read, one of my top picks would be Margaret Lawrence's Hearts and Bones and then the two that followed, Blood Red Roses and The Burning Bride. They're historical mysteries set after the Revolutionary War, and Hannah Trevor, an educated midwife in a small town in Maine, is the protagonist. Aside from the mysteries, the historical detail is incredible, and really gritty, and the prose is just beautiful. Plus, Hannah is kickass, despite her many reasons to be melancholy and resentful. Such a good series.

There's a fourth one that's more loosely related, The Ice Weaver, and it's also gorgeous, but almost painfully so. For one, it's set in the dead of winter, and you really feel it, and it also follows a character you knew as a child in the other books, and what happens to her is heartbreaking. I haven't actually finished that one -- I keep meaning to read it in the summer, or when I don't feel like it's going to shatter me.

Yellow Wallpaper for those who want it on their ebooks.

(Though I'd be a little afraid of the pattern invading my ebook and sucking me in. "The Yellow Kindle"!)

Has Cloud Atlas been discussed here? I am thinking about picking it up.

I've been intrigued by it from the description. It seems like a book I'd dig. But it's long, so I haven't given it a shot yet.

The movie comes out soon, so I hope to finish it before the movie.