For me, The Unbearable Lightness of Being-Milan Kundera; On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous-Ocean Vuong; Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The most tragic, painful, human suffering can be presented and these writers present it in the most excruciatingly beautiful prose.
On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous-“A woman stands on the shoulder of a dirt road begging, in a tongue made obsolete by gunfire, to enter the village where her house sits, has sat for decades. It is a human story. Anyone can tell it. Can you tell? Can you tell the rain has grown heavy, its keystrokes peppering the blue shawl black?”
What is the beauty for you?
Moby Dick
I was too frightened by its reputation to read Moby Dick until my early 40s, and when I finally did I was sucked right in and would talk about it to anyone who’d listen. There’s so much wonderful writing in it - the shared bed scene where Ishmael first meets Queequeg, or where he meets the shipowners in Nantucket. It’s an incredible book.
Yes, it has that biblical grandness to it.
The entire “Whiteness of the Whale” section is incredible
I just started reading this…not at all what I expected, so far. I can imagine that the prose will be fantastic.
Oh yes!
Before they get on the ship is the best part of the book. I was breathless from the story until that point.