"inspiring" novels

[winterborne]

P. told me last night that one of her brothers is asking her for a novel that will make him feel "inspired". She thought about it, and realized that despite having come within a class of an English major, and having a graduate degree in Spanish, she couldn't think of anything. So she asked me... and I was stumped too, even after staring at my

Comments

[phaedrusdeinus]

Well, there's always Zen and the Art. Not sure if that's the type of inspired he's looking to get, but it's a good read.

It's tough trying to figure out what constitutes inspiration, thrice removed.

[magdalene1]

Winter's Tale, Mark Helprin

[squirrelhaven]

Inspired to do what?

[winterborne]

Well, see, that's part of the question. We're talking intransitive verbage here.

[kassrachel]

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. I was inspired by the scope of it, the futurism in it, and ultimately the optimism about the human condition encoded in it.

Then again, it may be that I'm susceptible to that kind of SF vision, and that it wouldn't work for P's brother -- hard to know...

A few off hand - fluffy, but they fit the bill I think

[sylvantechie]

Sterling's Schismatrix
Brin's Postman
Niven and Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer
Stephenson's Snowcrash

Re: A few off hand - fluffy, but they fit the bill I think

[winterborne]

I loved both Schismatrix and Snow Crash, but am trying to avoid niche fiction of any sort, be it SF, mystery, horror, or whatever. My assumption is that implicit in P.'s brother's request is the idea that this be a "real novel", and that this means non-genre fiction, even though there are tons of great works in that category.