Lord Jim

"Nothing in the world moved before his eyes, and he could depict to himself without hindrance the sudden swing upwards of the dark sky-line, the sudden tilt up of the vast plain of sea, the swift still rise, the brutal fling, the grasp of the abyss, the struggle without hope, the starlight closing over his head for ever like the vault of a tomb—the revolt of his young life—the black end."

Joseph Conrad was everything they say he was: Victorian, racist, German, English, arrogant but also brilliant Lord Jim was first published in 1899, and has not been diminished by time. It's a bit flowery compared to modern writing but still compelling. It mystifies me that this followed Heart of darkness and I read only now that he co-wrote not one but three books with For Maddox Ford.. who's prose I find dull.