Books with good prose styles?

If you want to write a book that makes a statement and puts emphasis on a social issue (lit fic-ish?), try reading at least the first ten chapters of Grapes of Wrath. I have read the book 3 times so far, and the 'intercalary chapters' that are placed in the novel have interesting patterns and flows to them. They are not traditional descriptions, but form conglomerates of rhetorical structures to get a point across. Chapter 1 does this by describing the landscape using one-word sentences, interesting diction, intriguing imagery, and symbolism. It's an interesting story, too, if you can stomach the rest.

Terry Pratchett and Eoin Colfer both have a brilliant flare and an ability to make anything funny.
Arundhati Roy has truly beautiful writing. I personally think her speeches are better than God of Small Things, but it's very different and definitely worth reading.
I also love the writing style of Glenda Larke (Isles of Glory trilogy).

Hope that helps

MysticWolf

I started out with a plot, but it got lost somewhere between the Ikea in the middle of nowhere and the penguin attack.

Trying to emulate someone else is probably a way of getting started writing, but in my own experience its also a rather sure proof way of being disappointed with what you write. I mean, I'm very well aware that I'm no P.G. Wodehouse, Douglas Adams or Roald Dahl. Every attempt to be will just fail utterly and horribly. And so I do firmly believe in what Gaiman wrote in his blog, I at least think it was there I read it, that the only way to find your own voice in your writing is to write and to write a lot. Though of course, that is written by a man whom I really admire for his mastery in changing styles and voices according to what he writes, for whom he writes. :)

'...nothing has to be true for ever. Just for long enough, to tell you the truth.' Terry Pratchett 'The Truth'

Orson Scott Card is fantastic. His website has some wonderful writing lessons, too. http://www.hatrack.com/

Trying to decide what to write. A WWII-era novel set on the American homefront is the top contender at the moment. That may very well change tomorrow, though.

William Faulkner.

Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.

William Mayne, Kazuo Ishiguru, Dorothy Sayers - for a complete variety of styles, but each very good.

Moving this to a more appropriate forum. :) Writing 101 is for technical writing questions.

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Green Angel by Alice Hoffman is very unique. It's almost entirely poetry. It flows very nicely, and is full of metaphors and powerful emotions. I HIGHLY recommend it =]

I tend to like wildly different kinds of prose. I'm equally fond of Stephen King and Tolkien, who couldn't be more opposite in their styles. My favorite recent example of exceptional prose is The Terror by Dan Simmons. If you happen to be considering historical fiction, you couldn't have a better model than that.

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I've tried emulating other styles in the past and to be honest I wouldn't recommend it. I do recommend reading a lot, and reading various different styles, because the ones you like are going to influence your own style and give you ideas whether it's conscious or not. But copying someone else's style is going to stop you in your tracks. It's difficult. You'll keep looking back and comparing too often.... and let's face it, these authors are writing in their own style. No matter what you do, you're never going to be able to write their style as well as they can.

So I recommend reading and then writing in your own way. It takes much less effort. It can take a while to get the hang of your own style and for your voice to come through but it does happen, and copying someone else is more likely to confuse your voice than to help it along. That's my experience anyway.

As for nice styles....
I recommend Ambrose Bierce, he's got a fantastic knack for slipping dry little jokes into the middle of a horrific scene;
H.P. Lovecraft can write a half-page sentence in a way that builds tension marvellously and keeps you captivated;
Gaston Leroux's "Phantom of the Opera" is beautifully constructed
Lewis's "The Monk" is very well written, though it drags a bit in places;
Pratchett has an easy style with wit and wisdom anyone would admire;
Wodehouse has a wonderful voice;
Thomas Harris has an interesting style that changes slightly from book to book; it's more modern than some I've mentioned so if you haven't read, in particular, "Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal", I recommend it.
and I've been reading "The Gargoyle" by Andrew Davidson recently. It's his first book and to my eye it does feel like his style is still evolving. It's a very good book and I enjoy the way it's written, so this is in no way a criticism of his style, it's simply interesting to read it and feel in oneself that it's almost there, but not quite. (This applies to the style, of course, rather than the book, which is complete in itself.)

For the sake of completion, I also recommend Roald Dahl, and Richard Adams's "Watership Down".

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I'm not sure if it's necessarily a "good" writing style, but J.M. Barrie's writing style is definitely unique. And hey, a bonus is that Peter Pan is so short it'll only take you a few hours to read to figure out if you want to try to emulate his style.