Have there been any great novels out there that compare to "Gone With The Wind'?

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   backporchstoriesposted 12 years ago

   Have there been any great novels out there that compare to "Gone With The Wind'?
   
   Gone With The Wind has been both an epic book and movie.  Since then it seems like all sagas after this one,  have tried to master this great story.  Do you know of any great novels that can top "Gone With The Wind?"

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   Christopher Dapoposted 12 years ago

   Not so much "top" it, but in the same ballpark, there's "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck, who's motion picture has been etched in time forever for it's leading actor, James Dean.
   
   - S. and Chris

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      backporchstoriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes...forgot about that one!

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   Twilight Lawnsposted 12 years ago

   I agree with Christopher Dapo concerning Steinbeck's 'East of Eden'.  It's a magnificent book. 
   Also 'The Foxes of Harrow' by Frank Yerby would be up to that sort of standard.
   
   Both of them have been made into movies, and 'Gone with the Wind' manages to get a lot of the story together, but both the filmed versions of the other two only scratch the surface, although the James dean version of the Steinbeck is stunningly true to the short section that it deals with.

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   cam8510posted 12 years ago

   Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.  Best Novel I have ever read.

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      backporchstoriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What is this novel about?

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      cascolyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      i agree - i was traveling in the Czechoslovakia when reading this, and we visited the St Vitus cathedral in Prague, which really brought to life his descriptions of the massive project that the book describes

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      cam8510posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      13th century cathedral builder named Tom and his family.  It is an epoch and a monumental work.  The sequel, World Without End is good, but not like the first book.  I highly recommend it.  I read it in 1990 before Oprah found it around 2008.

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      backporchstoriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That does sound very interesting.  I will look that one up!

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   cascolyposted 12 years ago

   actually, GWTW rates pretty low on my list of recommended books -  it's  simplistic and distorts history  [see my various hubs for lots more history - both fiction and non-]  it's  simplistic and distorts a lot of history
   
   but for the civil war alone there's:
   
   Killer Angels and its sequels
   Lincoln [william safire]
   Lincoln [Gore Vidal]
   Unto This Hour [2nd Manassas - Tom Wicker, one of best descriptions for reality of civil war battle]
   Kindred - Olivia Butler - a time travel fantasy about slavery
   
   other books that outperform GWTW in scope and breadth:
   Charterhouse of Parma - Stendahl
   Les Miserables
   War & Peace
   Middlesex - Jeff Eugenides
   Mafoud's Cairo trilogy
   Salmon Rushdie's Children of Midnight, Shalimar the Clown
   A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
   
   
   other superb historical fiction:
   Colleen McCullough Rome series
   Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle
   Kenneth Roberts - Northwest passage, Arundel, etc about Revolutionary War
   Dorothy Dunnett - both Nicolo and Lymond series

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      cam8510posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Great suggestions, thanks

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      backporchstoriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Kuddos!

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      cascolyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      thanks!

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   jolinabettsposted 12 years ago

   Gosh, i don't know! Gone with the Wind is the best book i've ever read, i have read it 30 times, no exaggeration there.

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   Larry Wallposted 12 years ago

   In my personal opinion there are two really great novels. Coming in Second is the Grapes of Wrath, which tells the story of survival during the dark days of the depression.
   
   The absolutely greatest novel is Too Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The story is magnificent. You understand the characters and you see the ugly face of prejudice and the efforts of one man to overcome it. The only problem with the book is that it was Harper Lee's first novel. I do not think she ever wrote another. Had To Kill A Mockingbird not been so good, we may had enjoyed other novels by this very talented woman.

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   kj forceposted 12 years ago

   "Dr. Zhivago"....Julie Christe and Omar Zariff....Book was great, movie far surpassed the book....most other books I have read..the movies made, some even change up the story are horrendous !!!!!

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      backporchstoriesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Loved the movie, but never read the book!

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   Pauladance.co.ukposted 12 years ago

   Not a Romance so possibly does not qualify.  But some years ago I stayed awake all night in order to finish reading BEN HUR.  If you are looking for a 'can't put down', try that!  Still the one and only time that has happened to me! 
   But I did rate GWTW as the best novel ever written!  In fact I was so enthralled I started to write a sequel but due to lack of time eventually decided to leave them to it!

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    oceansiderposted 12 years ago

    I think that Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is one of the greatest novels ever written....of course that is my opinion. (and all of her novels are amazing as well).
    Also, Nicholas Sparks has written wonderful novels like one of my favorites "Message in a Bottle", also "A Walk to Remember".  Also, "Trinity" by Leon Uris is a powerful novel....it's also one of the best to me.

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