What are your favorite books that have BOTH a gripping narrative AND beautiful prose?
I'm a sucker for beautiful prose. But I've found that some authors write glittery gold while the narrative behind it is lacking, uninteresting, or tangential to the author stroking their ability to write beautifully (Examples: James Joyce's The Dead, basically everything written by Virginia Woolf, and Lolita).
What are your favorite novels that are able to fuse beautiful language and prose with compelling, gripping narratives? I'll bullet a few examples of my personal favorites that I feel capture both elements I'm looking for:
- Rebecca; Daphne Du Maurier.
- Cormac McCarthy's entire catalogue, but specifically No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses.
- I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman.
- The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
What are your suggestions and favorites that fit this bill?