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Originally Posted by SHOECHICK
One of my 2010 reading goals is to read my first Hemingway. Which one would you suggest - thank you!!
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That would depend on how much Hemingway you want to read and why. The four most important books are The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.
If you are only going to read one and you are giving yourself a survey course in the American novel in the 20th century, I would recommend The Sun Also Rises as being most representative and influential. It's about anglophones in Paris in the 1920's, and has a Grail/Fisher King motif. If you just want an enjoyable read, The Old Man and the Sea is a good choice.
A Farewell to Arms is a love/war story in World War I. For Whom the Bell Tolls involves the Spanish Civil War. It features an attempt to simulate Castillian speech patterns in English which you may find off-putting. It's the one out of the four you could best afford to skip.
Also, as some have suggested, Hemingway was an accomplished short story writer as well as a novelist.