What are some good novels to read this winter?

I'm reading "Papillion" by Henri Charriere great book about a guy who is continually trying to cavale (escape) from a French Penal colony.
I suggest anything by Ayn Rand, even if you don't agree with some of the ideas presented she has some great stories. Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead, We the Living, are all great novels.
 
Kerouac is wack IMO...I just can't get past his style, he bores me to death and I can't help but want to smack him, he sounds like such a puss in his writings. The Road was weak.
 
I think i watched the movie papillion, great movie i bet the books good too..... man i looked up you cant win, i'm gonna have to read that one it looks bad ass! i'm reading Jim Bridger Mountain Man by Stanley Vestal now. its a biography style book and full of awesome stories so far
 
I LOVE Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre. He writes about some serious backwoods hillfolk from the Deep South. If you liked Deliverance you'll love Caldwell.
 
Kal if you love westerns check out terry c Johnston. He wrote historical novels. A lot of rocky mountain trapper books that are awesome and personal. The main character leaves st. Louis and a life of nothing to travel west alone on a horse. And hr wrote a novel about the guy as a kid leaving home to travel to new Orleans. Its like an 1800s travel novel
I finally read some of his books and liked them. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
I was just about to start a thread and saw this one. Some good reading out there; I'm usually finding myself reading more during the cold season, so for me once a year it's Thoreau's Walden, a lot of good winter elements in it. Right now, I've decided to invest some time this winter in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmirillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. Fantasy and history novels are the only fiction I'll read...
 
Right now i'm reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and over the summer i read a lot of Edward Abbey books, working on getting a copy of Good News by him. Also I'm pretty into Cormac McCarthy I read Suttre over the summer and it has to be one of my favorite books. Most of the beat poet stuff i've probably read. if anyone has any good suggestions on some cool novels/westerns or know which steinbeck book is about this guy who travels around possibly hopping trains to organize hobos to go on strikes against farmers is one i've heard about but dont know the name of let me know. or just tell me one or more of your favorite books and why it was
Hey it's "In Dubious Battle" by Steinbeck. It is a good read.
 
Anything by Cormac McCarthy, but The Road, Blood Meridian, or No Country for Old Men are probably the best starting points. Best living American writer, and best American writer since Faulkner IMO.

Finally buckling down and giving Moby Dick a read. Once you get the flow of Melville's prose, it gets really good. It deserves the praise it gets for the most part IMO.
 
Anything by Cormac McCarthy, but The Road, Blood Meridian, or No Country for Old Men are probably the best starting points. Best living American writer, and best American writer since Faulkner IMO.

Finally buckling down and giving Moby Dick a read. Once you get the flow of Melville's prose, it gets really good. It deserves the praise it gets for the most part IMO.

agreed on Faulkner I only said Tom Wolfe because Faulkner said he was the greatiest American writer of his generation. But i love them both.