2666

Paradise Lost, Gravity's Rainbow, Middlemarch, and 2666. edit: The short stories which have stuck with me the most over the years are probably Joyce's "The Dead," O'Connor's "Good Country People," and a solid half of Borges's "Ficciones."

2666 by Roberto Bolano.

I've never really felt like Kafka seems to have and I read a lot, mostly novels. For what it's worth, I don't love Kafka's novels: I think he wanted them burned for a reason -- they're meandering failures. Very clever but they don't go anywhere. His short stories, though, are excellent. Off the top of my head, the most moving books I've read are The First Circle, any long Dostoevsky novel, The Master and Margarita, The Tartar Steppe, any Elena Ferrante, any Cormac McCarthy, some Murakami (Ryu and Haruki), Gene Wolf (The Book of the New Sun), 2666, parts of Moby Dick, any Alice Munro. All well known "good books".

2666 by Roberto Bolano - makes you think or reconsider something on every single page The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald - a fascinating way of looking at the world

is fiction ok? i live in chile and stumbled across bolano's books (particularly the savage detectives and 2666) in spanish just as they became popular in english in the usa (2666 was released in translation). savage detectives is a funny account of adolescent "poets" in mexico; 2666 is a much darker, somewhat rambling tome that addresses "evil". they're very different, but both great books. for non-fiction the book i've used most this year is an old classic - harbison & steele's "c a reference manual". it's invaluable (if you're writing c). i don't know how people can prefer kernighan & ritchie...