I read "The Egyptologist" two or three months ago and also liked it, but it is a disturbing book. It's not the kind of book I would recommend to just anyone. For instance, if a person needs likeable characters or to have things resolved in a tidy way, this isn't a book you would like. However, it does have merit. I liked his experiment with alternate histories and the fact that history is often in the eye of the beholder. The reading experience was like watching someone being bullied and harrassed, even if the individual didn't have too many redeeming qualities you somehow find yourself wishing you could intervene or just look away if there is nothing that could be done. The main character reminded me a little bit of Tom Ripley (though I've only seen the film, not read the book). In the end, you find yourself re-evaluating who in this book is amoral. Or is everyone? It raises some interesting questions.

I agree it wouldn't be most people's cup of tea. But it certainly gives a body more to chew on than many of the books I more enjoyed reading. ....The other side of the question indicts those novels I enjoyed and which raised less haunting questions. For me "The Historian" was one such. I read it with enthusiasm and looked forward to our discussion here. But my enthusiasm waned with time. We discussed Atwood's "The Robber Bride" sometime long after I'd read the novel, but I found the discussion stimulated fresh ideas and re-engaged me in the novel, It raised new questions. Kept me thinking about the novel long after I'd finished it. ................. Perhaps what I am asking people are what books lingered and haunted them? /:) ...............................................................................................................................With regards to "The Egyptologist" I decided that the protagonist was the nicest person in the entire story. The foul deed we suspect him of commiting from the beginning looks different at the end of the novel. He isn't overly greedy in his blackmail. His foulest deeds spring from an unbalanced mind, after all his supports are pulled out from under him. Up until that point I see him as a survivor rather than amoral.

Out of the books I've read this year, I think Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas" fits this category. I got frustrated with several parts of it while reading, but afterwards, slowly, I began to appreciate more and more what he did with the book. A book I read several years ago that I still often find myself thinking about is Ursula LeGuin's "The Left Hand of Darkness". I got a little frustrated with it while reading it the first time, but want to go back and read it again, because it sticks in my mind and refuses to let go.

Yes, "Cloud Atlas" is very much a book that I expect to resonate long afterwards. (Just read it last month.)

"The Time Traveler's Wife" got even better (hard to believe) with the second reading.

I agree, "Middlesex" and "Cloud Atlas" have continued rattling around in my head months after I finished them. They're both a pleasure to think back on.