If you could have written one of the great books, what would it be?

[1961_vintage]

Two quotes from a book who's author is extremely commercial but doesn't get the critical acclaim he deserves. This book was simply amazing and I would have loved to have written it.

“Men who find themselves late are never sure. They are all the things the civics books tell us the good citizen should be: partisans but never zealots, respectors of the facts which attend each situation but never benders of those facts, uncomfortable in positions of leadership but rarely unable to turn down a responsibility once it has been offered . . . or thrust upon them. They make the best leaders in a democracy because they are unlikely to fall in love with power.”

“He looks like anybody you see on the street. But when he grins, birds fall dead off telephone lines...the grass yellows up and dies where he spits. He's always outside. He came out of time...He has the name of a thousand demons. Jesus knocked him into a herd of pigs once. His name is Legion. He's afraid of us...He knows magic. He can call the wolves and live in the crows...He's the king of nowhere.”

Carrie was arguably the worst thing that happened to him as it pigeon-holed him in to a very niche genre that took him years to break out of.

 

[bluebc]

Adrian mole , probably the last book I read over 30 years ago

 

[unicorn]

"The Prince" by Machiavelli. Lived it, wished I'd wrote it.

Or "The Stranger" by Camus.

 

[Paladin]

The great gatsby , great expectations or the great escape ....

Three great choices there!

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

Great shout.

Mine would be Ulysses.

 

[dobingsdobber]

That is a bloody brilliant book, in my top 5 all time list.

Mine too,must have read it over a dozen times and I'm still amazed by it.

 

[Nihilist]

Why would I want to write a book thats already written ? I assume it'd be the Kama Sutra

 

[The Black Shed]

A Tale of Two Cities

 

[Pablo123]

The Bible

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

I'd go for Freidrich Engels' "The Condition of the Working Class in England".

It's an absolute masterpiece and gives an account of how people in England lived during the Industrial Revolution. A large part of the account is based around his time in Manchester and the conditions people suffered were absolutely horrific. Beyond anything you can imagine. It's also one of the early books that studied society 'scientifically'.

I love the way it talks about Deansgate, Oxford Rd and Angel Meadow and it's almost impossible to imagine how life must've been then. It's almost unbelievable. The accounts of how miners and their families were treated in Northumberland is horrendous.

It's a shocking but brilliant read and is one of the most influential political books ever written.

A masterpiece.

A notable mention for the "Road to Wigan Pier" by Orwell too which is in a similar vein.