so. what is YOUR favorite book?

[thyme_daniels]

well, the subject is self-explanatory, but what is/are your favorite book(s)?
my choices:
the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, by doug adams
heart of darkness, joseph conrad
metamorphosis, by kafka
sabriel, by garth nix

just to name a few. what do you like to read? :-)

[KShan5[PrFC]]

I would have to say anything written by Tom Clancy or John Grisham. I am also going to purchase "the Last Jihad" which I have heard is incredible.

[MikeHarm]

I've always like Watership Down, and The Borribles.

[KShan5[PrFC]]

Oh plus I am in the middle of "Allt he President's Men" and it is very good so far.

[magma]

the winners are!

1. The Four Gated City - Doris Lessing - the main character, Martha is married, leaves her husband, becomes a sort of wanderer -very difficult to read.
2. The Fountainhead - Ann Ryad - bizarre novel in which the author, a philosopher writes on her economic theroies using various characters to discuss the merits of capitalism.
3. Wonderland - Joyce Carol Oates - a psychological study of a boys life, following a tradegy.
4. Gormenghast - Mervyn Peak - an author describes early history, using fantastic characters who live in a castle, and in the wild.
5. The Firm; The Client; The Rainmaker - John Grisham - stories written by a southern author that involve suspense and the criminal justice system.
6. Siddhartha - Herman Hesse - a post wwII philosopher/author discusses the life of Shakyamuni
7. Beneath the Wheel - Herman Hesse - philiosophical study of germany post wwii, young mans struggle in the world, coming to terms with becoming a man - angst - finding self worth - becoming whole
8. Watership Down - a group of rabbits must travel across an expanse of land to save themselves - suspense
9. Crime and Punishment - a moody young tenant murders his landlady, dark, dreary but characters draw you in.
10. anything by Jane Austin - a moralist - writes wonderfully, vocabulary is rich and her stories very sweet.
11. Buddha - Karen Armstrong - moving novel of the life of Shakyamni
12. all the Nancy Drew mystery novels - you'll want to be a detective
13. The Immoralist - Andre Gide - passionate story of a man's struggle in the world
14. anything by James Baldwin - more passion written by a man who leaves america to become an author,
15. anything by Flannery O'Connor - southern womens author -
16. The Agony and the Ecstacy - story of michaelangelo/ these men aren't afraid to write!

[Swordsman]

Originally posted by KShan5[PrFC]
I would have to say anything written by Tom Clancy or John Grisham. I am also going to purchase "the Last Jihad" which I have heard is incredible.

Clancy and Grisham are up there for sure, though Clancy's latest - "Red Rabbit" - wasn't quite up to par. I think he's running out of stories, not to mention his characters are getting too old.

C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity. And I have yet to read The Screwtape Letters (same author), but it sounds very interesting.

[Swordsman]

And Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy is of course up there.

[135711]

1. Reflections in a Golden Eye - southern love story
2. Eyeless in Gaza - middle east
3. Brave New World - procreation in the future
4. Animal farm - communism - vs - capitalism
5. 1984 - big brother
6. The Idiot - russia
7. The Possessed - russia again
8. Stranger in a Strange Land - a misunderstood alien on earth
9. The Crying of Lot 49 - the post office/a paranoid/a plot-

[darius]

1. Ondaatje - In the Skin of a Lion
2. Hesse - Magister Ludi
3. Orwell - Animal Farm
4. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings
5. Dostoevsky - Crime & Punishment
6. CS Lewis - Lion, Witch, Wardrobe
7. Kafka - Metamorphasis
8. Twain - CT Yankee in King Arthur's Court

...and just to include something that was published in my lifetime...

9. Nick Hornby - High Fidelity

darius

(oops. I just realized that the Ondaatje book was published in my lifetime too. Doh!)

[135711]

1. Tin Drum - gunter gras
2. Painted Bird - Jerzy Kozinsky
3. Steps- Jerzy Kozinsky
4. Trout Fishing in America - Richard Brautigan
5. Welcome to the Monkey House - Kurt. V
6. Slaugherhouse 5 - Kurt V.
7. The Magus
8. Chrome Yellow
9. Anything by Tanizaki, Mishima, Kawabeta
10. anything by leon uris

[ps - thanks for your lists also]
need to read some more! i have never read lord of the rings; i keep putting it off]

[Aoife]

Haper Lee- To Kill a Mockingbird
George Orwell - Animal Farm
John Wyndham- Day of the Triffids
Michael Moore- Stupid White Men
John Steinbeck- Of Mice and Men
J B Priestly- An Inspector Calls
Jon Steele- War Junkie
Anything by Christopher Brookmyre
Anything by Carl Hiaasen

There's undoubtadly some I've forgotten.

[Catlady]

Oh, wow, everyone on here has such sophisticated taste, now Catlady, the English major, comes out with a list of "genre" stuff .

The Earthsea Series (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu) By Ursula LeGuin, though practically anything she writes is incredible. But this series is what got me well and truly addicted to SciFi/Fantasy. I found myself attempting to imitate her language and style for years afterward.

Then the Elric books by Michael Moorcock--they're kind of dark, but absolutely entrancing.

I admire Douglas Adam's books quite a bit too.

Also, anything by Robert Holdstock.

His work involves this area of primal forest in Britain where all the archetypes live. Some people hate his stuff and find it wierd, I think it's mind blowingly wonderful--maybe because I've always enjoyed myths and legends.

As far as serious books everyone should read:

Hiroshima by John Hershy

When Legends Die (I can't remember the author)

To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Night by Elie Wiesel

and frankly that's all I can think of. If you asked for plays everyone should read or see I'd have more (virtually any and everything by Tennessee Williams for instance), or if you want to know my favorite poets you'd get another epic missive.

[Inquartata]

Heh, my favorite books?

How much bandwidth does this site have?

"The Archaeology of Weapons", Ewart Oakeshott
"The Theory of the Leisure Class", Thorstein Veblen
"The Face of Battle", John Keegan
"The Collected Workd of Shakespeare"
"Dying Inside", Robert Silverberg
"The Sirens of Titan", Kurt Vonnegut
"The Worm Ouroboros", E.R.R. Eddison
"Silverlock", John Myers Myers
"The Three Musketeers", Alexandre Dumas
"Egil's Saga", Egil Skallagrimsson
"Tarzan of the Apes", E.R. Burroughs
"Gulliver's Travels", Jonathan Swift
"Chronicles of the Crusades", Joinville & Villehardouin
"In Yana: The Touch of Undying", Michael Shea
"A Wizard of Earthsea", Ursula K. LeGuin
"The Hobbit", JRR Tolkien


Just the tip of the iceberg...

[whtouche]

The complete works of edgar allen poe.
Had it since I was 7, read everything in it except his unfinished play, which I'll read when he finishes it.

Also, I recently discovered Neil Gaimen. I've only read American Gods and Good Omens (Which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett) so far, but they're rediculously good. I especially recommend Good Omens.

[Gav]

In no paricular order except:

Lord of the Rings,


[list=1][*]The Lord of the Rings[*]Cosmos - Carl Sagan[*]George Orwell - 1984[*]The Art of War - Sun Tzu[*]Bored of the Rings - Harvard Lampoon[*]Anything by HG Wells but especially the Time Machine and War of the Worlds[*]The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books[*]The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb[*]The Fencers Trilogy - KJ Parker (except the way that it ends)[*]Hyperion - Dan Symons[*]Anything by Ken Macleod - the best Scottish SF writer out there except -[*]Use of Weapons - Iain Banks[*]At the Mountains of Madness - HP Lovecraft[*]A Scanner Darkly - Phillip K dick[*]Gullivers Travel - Jonathan Swift[*] Anything by Isaac Asimov including his essays and science books[*]Taliesin - Stephen Lawhead[*]The Origin of the Species - Charles Darwin[*]The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco[/list=1]

I dislike most modern thrillers that I read.

I see someone listed Gormanghast - despite my heavy fantasy reading habit I really dislike those books.

There are lots more books that I'd like to list but I think my list has grown a bit err long.

Inq' didn't you find the end of 'The Sirens of Titan' unsatisfyng? I loved the book uptil the end.

Nearly forgot - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Solzhenitsyn

[civiltech]

"The Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan.

An amazing book quelling all the psedo-Science, and misunderstandings out there on scientific thought and process.

And it is actually interesting, and enjoyable to read! I recommend it highly to anyone! (It does not read like a scientific journal, ....I assure you!)

[D'Artagnan1673]

Gav,

Nice to see someone else who has read Talieson, I noticed that you too wisely omitted Merlin and Arthur. Neither held a candle to Talieson.


In no order

1. The Three Musketeers (duh!)
2. Twenty Years After
3. Le Vicomte de Bragelonne
4. Louise de la Valliere'
5. The Man in the Iron Mask
6. Ivanhoe
7. The Count of Monte Cristo
8. How the Irish Saved Civilization
9. Don Quixote (Why do I see a resemblence?)
10. The Knight in History


Plenty of other books but I just can't think of them right now.

Oh yeah.

11. Timeline
12. Anything on WWI aviation.

[angriff]

For me:

Donna Tartt's The Secret History (haven't read The Little Friend yet but will do it...)

Most of Haruki Murakami and all of Yukio Mishima and Kawabata Yasunori;

Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote (always good for a laugh);

Shame that Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series appear to be losing steam...

[engardemisami]

River God by Wilbur Smith

[jusplainfencing]

I've always like Watership Down,

yes really good book...plus talking rabbits who could ask for more?...and the classics moby dick,great expectations......three musketeers,...oh and of course the harry potter books