Writing style.

My reading experience is what I like to call above average. I at one point tried to read THE 100 Best Books of all time. I made it to around 50 and realized that most of them were on a syllabus somewhere during the course of my student life. This brought me to the idea, what makes these books so special. Is it who they were written by or when they were published? I'd be willing to bet 100 out of 100 of these books are a fictional character in a fictional place (well maybe not the place but at least the character). Then I started to read "Ragtime" and an abundance of real life people started making, for lack of a better term, appearances in the story. Then after some class discussion it was revealed to me that even Stanton, Thaw, and Nesbit were real. This style of historical characters in a fictional story intrigues me. I feel as if the story on the page could be real. More often than not I find myself reading a section and almost encouraging myself that those events could have transpired at some point....couldn't they? Now while I highly doubt Harry Houdini performed at the same prison that Thaw was being held; there is a point where it becomes believable to the reader. I also seen E.L. Doctorow's style is that of none that I have encountered before. It is almost mindbogglingly to follow his story weaving path but it is for reading an exhilarating ride. Short segments followed by abrupt stops and even more jolting starts. Topic hoping through the early 1900's is fast paced and in this style it drives the story forward.