what was the best book you ever read?

[604flames]

Originally Posted by sadora

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

also Love in the Time of Cholera I thought was a good read by him...

I took a course a couple years ago all about the Amises, Kingsley and Martin. Absolutely loved London Fields and Money by the latter.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Favorite book of all time? I'd have to go with The Hobbit. I read it until the pages fell out and I had to buy a new copy. Oddly enough, I could never make it through the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Favorite book of recent memory, The Dragon Reborn (Book 3 of the Wheel of Time series). I always, always get shivers at the end of that book. The whole series is awesome, though the last few books have been lacking and Im tempted to say they're just drawing it out for the sake of selling more books.

[kipperfan]

"Way of the Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

wastelands and Wizard's Glass were my favorites.

I too really enjoyed the ending.

Song of Suzannah and The Dark Tower were good, but I really didn't like the whole part SPOLER ALERT SKIP THE REST OF THIS POST IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS SERIES

I hated the ending and I loved the series. In regards to your spoiler, there's a reason he does that. All of his novels touch on the Dark Tower Series and all of the Dark Tower Series touches on his other novels... and he puts a lot of his life in his books, so it's only fitting.

Anyways, yeah. Good Books.

Lamb by Christopher Moore is probably my favorite though. Christopher Moore is hysterical, and I think all his books are religious satire. Lamb talks about Christianity, Coyote Blue talks about Native religion, Island of the Sequined Love Nun talks about.... well that one's hard to describe. It's the religion of an island tribe. Yeah. Also, Happiness TM is a good book.

[iggypop]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

1984 is a personal favourite.

Exactly what I was thinking as I clicked the thread

[underGRADFlame]

Kitchen Confedential by Anthony Bourdain is my favorite read, I've read it at least four times. I just ordered 1984, need to fine out what all the fuss is all about.

[Dion]

"Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom

[Biff]

Originally Posted by PowerPlayoffs06

Favorite book of recent memory, The Dragon Reborn (Book 3 of the Wheel of Time series). I always, always get shivers at the end of that book. The whole series is awesome, though the last few books have been lacking and Im tempted to say they're just drawing it out for the sake of selling more books.

The pantheon of classic Sci-Fi / Fantasy series has been supplemented in recent years. To the Tolkein, Terry Brooks Shannara, and Asimov Foundation series, I would have to add both Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series, and Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth. In both series, the authors have succeeded in developing an eminently believable and consumately engaging world setting. Both have a wide tableau and an epic sweep to them while maintaining sufficient character and detail development to make the plot engaging at a very personal and visceral level.

As a reader, and afficianado, of a wide-spectrum of genres, I have enjoyed and appreciated many books and series. Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth were the closest thing I have experienced as an adult that compares to the wonder and personal investment I remember having reading Tolkein or Roald Dahl as a child or how Harry Potter seems to affect kids and adults with healthy kids inside them. Really, REALLY good stuff.

[The Manatee]

Originally Posted by sadora

That's such a hard question because it's so difficult to narrow that selection down. I'll have to go with three but I have quite a few more that I would put in this category.

On The Road by Jack Kerouc
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson

I'm halfway through, and enjoying The Rum Diary immensely. Judging from HST's collection of letters, it seems that the good doctor was never quite happy with the way the book turned out. Thompson often described it as a failure, a poor piece of writing, etc. - ultimately putting the book he started in 1959 through several re-writes before it was finally published in 1998. Talk about perseverance.

I'm interested to see how it will translate to the big screen next year - another Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) adventure into the world of Gonzo.

I'm a bit of a sucker for HST's writing, though. My pick for a non-Thompson book? Probably Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

[Canada 02]

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

[oldschoolcalgary]

super tough question...for me the most enlightening book was Saul's Voltaire's bas.. tards....(sorry filter won't let me write it)

in terms of guilty pleasure though, Terry Brook's Elfstones of Shannara, which i shamefully read a number of times...

[Flames09]

The Secret Garden, Catcher in the Rye are great, along with Sense and Sensibility, and Madam Bovary (I love to read).

[sadora]

Originally Posted by The Manatee

I'm halfway through, and enjoying The Rum Diary immensely. Judging from HST's collection of letters, it seems that the good doctor was never quite happy with the way the book turned out. Thompson often described it as a failure, a poor piece of writing, etc. - ultimately putting the book he started in 1959 through several re-writes before it was finally published in 1998. Talk about perseverance.

I'm interested to see how it will translate to the big screen next year - another Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) adventure into the world of Gonzo.

I'm a bit of a sucker for HST's writing, though. My pick for a non-Thompson book? Probably Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

Another good read from HST is a rare find in the Gonzo Papers. If you can find this I recommend that you pick it up.

[Torture]

Night

We had to read it in High School for the IB program, definitely an eye opener

Dark Tower Series

Man, what a series. You tell people it's good and they're like oh...Steven King eh? And you try to convince them that it's not typical Steven King...they're missing out

Sword of Truth

Another personal favourite of mine...the way you explained it about capturing the same feeling that you had a child was perfect...

And of course...I can't wait for the next/last harry potter book

[JohnnyB]

Don Quixote is probably my fave. I really like classics, and there aren't many that are so humourous and relatively light. There really just aren't many books of any genre that I found as funny, in a painful kind of way, as Don Quixote.

The Idiot is a Dostoyevsky I really loved.


With all the King talk, The Stand was excellent.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

One of my favorites as well. What a world that would be.... only people left in the world after a nuclear holocast being the Newfies and folks down under.

But I'm a huge fan of Wyndham. I've read just about every book he's ever written. Day of the Triffids, Kraken Wakes, Midwich ####oos, Trouble with Lichen, Chocky and his short stories. The short stories were MESSED UP!!! Certainly one of the best sci-fi writers of all time.

[chris lindberg]

How to win friends and influence people.

[Burninator]

I don't think I can pick just one, but here are a couple that are at the top.

1984-George Orwell

Handmaids Tale-Margaret Atwood

Catch 22-Joseph Hiller

I am a big fan of dystopia story lines and 1984 and Handmaids tale are great ones in that genre. Catch 22 is a hilarious book, I liked it better than A Confederacy of Dunces. As far as non-fiction is concerned, here are my top couple.

Collapse-Jared Diamond

The Weather Makers-Tim Flannery

The God Delusion-Richard Dawkins

I enjoyed collapse more so than I did Guns, Germs and Steel. The Weather Makers is an excellent book about climate change, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the subject. The God Delusion was a very interesting read as well, which I also recommend to everyone, although I know everyone won't read it. That's it for now.

[habernac]

excellent topic.

For the classics, it'd be Grapes of Wrath. Hemingway stuff is great (Old Man and the Sea is terrific).

But my favourite book of all time, by a long shot, is The Game by Ken Dryden. Amazing look at hockey from a quiet seat in the corner of the dressing room.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by Azure

Night by Elie Wiesal.

The Holocaust never meant much to me before I read that book. Should be required reading for everyone in high school. Just to understand what happened.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is my personal favorite. It is a similar theme, but has more depth than Night. It has inspired me to travel all the way to Auschwitz. I am responsible for providing a copy to the Auchwitz library. The book is so good Frankl received over 400,000 letters from people saying the book changed their lives.