Which books do you consider to be masterpieces?

Question: Which books do you consider to be masterpieces!?

And not necessarily classics or books usually considered to be!.

Personal opinions - so whatever you feel!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

My personal favorite:
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

2nd: BeowulfWww@QuestionHome@Com

Hi !
The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides !.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/The_History!.!.!.
http://www!.gutenberg!.org/etext/7142
The History of the Peloponnesian War is an account of the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens)!. It was written by Thucydides, an Athenian general who served in the war!. It is widely considered a classic and regarded as one of the earliest scholarly works of history!. The History was divided into eight books by editors of later antiquity!.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky ;
*"Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished St!. Petersburg ex-student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker seemingly for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of an evil worthless parasite!. Raskolnikov also strives to be an extraordinary being, similar to Napoleon, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose!."
*http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Crime_and_P!.!.!.

The Ghormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake ;
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Gormenghast!.!.!.
TitusGroan
Gormenghast
TitusAlone
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Titus_Groan!.!.!.

Plot introduction
The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and with them a legion of servants!.
At the beginning of the novel, two agents of change are introduced into the stagnant society of Gormenghast!.
The first, more obvious agent of change is Titus Groan, the heir to Lord Sepulchrave, the seventy-sixth Earl of Groan!. His birth interrupts the daily rituals which are practiced at all levels of the castle society, from the kitchens to the Hall of Bright Carvings in Gormenghast's upper reaches!. However, the novel only covers the first two years of Titus' life, and he plays a minor role!.
The second is Steerpike, a ruthlessly ambitious kitchen boy, who is the driving force for the plot of Titus Groan!. His entry into Gormenghast society, at the same time as Lord Titus is born, introduces a steady rate of change into a stagnant world!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Gormenghast!.!.!.
Plot summary
The second book follows the story of Titus from the age of seven to seventeen!. As the novel opens Titus, as the 77th earl and lord of Gormenghast, dreads the life of pre-ordained ritual that stretches before him!. Barquentine as Master of Ritual, and Steerpike his apprentice, are seen by Titus as the embodiment of all he wants to rebel against!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Titus_Alone
Plot summary
The story follows Titus' journey in the world outside Gormenghast Castle, having left his home at the end of the second book!.
Finding himself lost, he suddenly discovers exactly how outdated his home really was, as he stumbles into a city of strange technological marvels, of shimmering metal and glass buildings, whose inhabitants travel by motorcar and airplane — and yet which also houses an entire culture of outcasts beneath the city itself in the "Under-River"!. The book also includes themes more usual to dystopian science fiction, such as marked inequality of wealth and involuntary euthanasia, and in many ways anticipates the steampunk genre!.

The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer ;
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/The_Iliad
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Odyssey
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Homer

=^,,^=
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Some of my favourites !. !. !.

Catch 22- Joseph Heller!.

A Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving!.

On The Beach- Neville Shute!.

The Dark Tower novels -Stephen King (although I hate the first one)!.

(interesting aside- the spell checker has just suggested I change Neville Shute to Neville Sh3te- I know it's crude but I found it highly amusing !. !. !.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
War & Peace by Tolstoy
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King - how he incorporated characters from his other novels was brilliant, also the ending although it made me scream!

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Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Norwegian Wood, Roald DahlWww@QuestionHome@Com

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Atonement - Ian McEwanWww@QuestionHome@Com

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Tom Sawyer and Tom Sawyer Abroad!.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Penrod

Winnie-The-Pooh

The House At Pooh CornerWww@QuestionHome@Com

Roald Dahl
Enid Blyton
The English Dictionary
William Shakespear
Charles Dickens
Stig Of The Dump
Charlotte's WebWww@QuestionHome@Com

war and peace - tolstoj
the exorcist - w!.p!.blatty
rebels - peter de rosa
pride and prejudice - jane austen
the lord of the rings - j!.r!.tolkienWww@QuestionHome@Com

The collected adventures of Milly Molly Mandy!.!.!.
Or any Sherlock Holmes!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A History of the English speaking peoples: Winston S!. Churchill!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If someone wrote Twilight here I would shoot myself!.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte!.
1984 by George Orwell

LASWww@QuestionHome@Com

Fly fishing - J!.R!.HartleyWww@QuestionHome@Com

Hey dude! My advice is to read 'East of Eden' by John Steinbeck!. It's a fabulous book, the best I've ever read!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Look in the real world!.
Decode this lyrics "Masterpiece"
"A pot of golds glittering at the end of the rainbow"
A "Masterpiece" in one new universal language and one speech in living and golden words glittering among all those cheap-skate ghostly kitchen's ghost stories filled with ghostly modern history of failures and horrors of the past written in ghostly and kitchen's dialect with ghostly and deadly words of individual tribe of individual community!.
In short-changing, conning and deceiving little children with self lack of knowledge in kicking the butts of God in not worshipping God as casualty of the dead Mummy in idol worshipping past dirty old man like you and me with self lack of knowledge too back in the past!.!.
Luke 6!.39-40,41-45,46-49
What do you think!?Www@QuestionHome@Com