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Great! Shall we discuss Burn24's idea? Cities of the Plain is a good start, and in fact the other two of the trilogy as well.

Let's have a certain take on it; for instance, 'Cities Of The Plain as a quest novel'. I believe All The Pretty Horses and The Crossing were also Quest novels;

Quest novels have a central figure who strikes out in search of something -- and finds both helpers and those who impede him/her alng the way.

In Cities of the Plain young Grady is clearly searching out the flip side of the girl he lost in Pretty Horses. McCarthy's language, his sense of landscape, of doomed causes, is so remarkable.

Another suggestion; for those wanting to enhance the discussion, you can shoot over to Amazon, look up the book in question, read customer comments and a review, and pop back here with questions of whatever.

Amazon is a great tool

"Quest novels have a central figure who strikes out in search of something -- and finds both helpers and those who impede him/her alng the way."

hmmm, quest novels, huh. OK, how about the classics: the Iliad and the Odyssey? You have Hector and Odysseus.

And for side stories, there's Diogenes, Jason and the Argonauts, or how about the works of Socrates or Plato?

Seems to me they all have their own quest. The thirst for knowledge and truth is one of most powerful quests of all.

Unfortunately, these classics seem to have been ignored by our education system for a long time. But the good news is that you can still find most of them at good libraries. Now, if we can just get the kids to read them.

Quest novels have a central figure who strikes out in search of something -- and finds both helpers and those who impede him/her alng the way.

Just about every fantasy novel that I've read has a variation on that theme: The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Chronicles of Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander (I'm especially fond of those, BTW), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (I don't think most of the Narnia books strike me much as "quest" stories), and The Neverending Story (Which has two quests in one book!). Even the book I just had published has the quest theme, although it's more so in the second half.

Of course, if it's a quest you want, the classic Don Quixote de La Mancha is probably one of the best I've ever read (and laugh-out-loud funny, too). Heavy fiction to make you think: anything by Falkner. For suspense and unexpected plot twists, can't beat John Grisham.

My sister just finished The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks and said it was as good as A Walk to Remember. I also want to read Eragon, a fantasy written by teen homeschooler, Christopher Paolini.

Tommy Frank's autobiography, American Soldier is excellent and there's so much in it, I wouldn't mind reading it again.

A while back I read the first book in Newt Gingrich's Civil War duo, Gettysburg and was pleasantly surprised by how captivating it was, still haven't read the second, though. Staying with the historical fiction theme, The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great by Steven Pressfield looks interesting.

I read Left Illusions by David Horowitz last year...it was pretty heavy, would love to read it again and be able to discuss it with others (actually, any of his books would be worthy of discussion...he's absolutely brilliant).

Tear Down This Wall: The Reagan Revolution (compiled by eds. of National Review) looks good. Also, just picked up at my favorite used book store, Patriots: The Men who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth.

Regardless of what's ultimately chosen, I love to read and I think this group is a wonderful idea!