What Is The Best Book (Fiction or Non Fiction) You've Ever Read?

[J epworth]

Lots of great books in here, definitely will at a few of these titles to my to-read list.

If you asked me this question 3 or 4 years ago, I would be saying without a doubt, Catch-22, and Slaughterhouse 5. However, I believe books impact you differently at different points in your life. During undergrad, these books had a big impact on me, questioning what a true hero is, exploring historical events from satiric perspectives, so it goes. I would still put those two books in my top ten, but right now I must have a real pull to just be somewhere else, to kind of escape and do an adventure, so my favourite books right now all have that theme of travel to either escape chaos, life or disease.

The three I would recommend right now is
- Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed

[GGG]

- A Clockwork Orange It has a brilliant use of russian slang to dull what is horrible violence allowing you to sympathize with the main charactor who really is a horrible horrible human being. An early implementation of the Anti Hero now popular with the HBO and Showtime series.
- 1984
- Enders Shadow Orson Scott Card provided you have read enders game.

[BigBrodieFan]

Originally Posted by J epworth kendal

Lots of great books in here, definitely will at a few of these titles to my to-read list.

If you asked me this question 3 or 4 years ago, I would be saying without a doubt, Catch-22, and Slaughterhouse 5. However, I believe books impact you differently at different points in your life. During undergrad, these books had a big impact on me, questioning what a true hero is, exploring historical events from satiric perspectives, so it goes. I would still put those two books in my top ten, but right now I must have a real pull to just be somewhere else, to kind of escape and do an adventure, so my favourite books right now all have that theme of travel to either escape chaos, life or disease.

The three I would recommend right now is
- Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Wild by Cheryl Strayed

If you liked 'Wild' I strongly recommend the book 'Mutant Message Down Under' by Marlo Morgan. It's about an American professor who goes to the Outback of Australia and lives with a group of Aboriginals on the Outback for 3 months. I have read it twice, and I will never, ever forget it. Thanks for the recommendations!

[YYC in LAX]

Storm of Swords...I know, I know so much hype right but I just thought the book was so great.

[smoothpops]

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley. Why Me the Autobiography of Sammy Davis Jr. Both are super fascinating and portray them in ways that reflect their humanity.

[Hockey_Ninja]

[Zevo]

Came in to post some that have already been posted so I will second them.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy
A Short History.... - Bill Bryson
The Ice Master - Jennifer Niven

All fantastic books. Also, The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway is also great, especially if you want to read one of the classics. Short, easy read but captivating writing.

[drhu22]

'The incredible Eskimo: Life among the Barren Land Eskimo' by Raymond De Coccola
"For twelve arduous but captivating years, Raymond de Coccola was, for all intents and purposes, a Barren Land Eskimo. Trained as an Oblate missionary, he ministered to the people of the Central Canadian Arctic while sharing their epic struggle to survive in this land of ice and snow. It is an unforgettable portrait of adventure, of murder, of sexual mores. It is Father Raymond's touching first-person revelation of birth and of death, or patience and of fatalism; and it is a staggering account of his people's tragedy and loss. It is also the story of survival and hope."

I also highly recommend 'Endurance' by Alfred Lansing as posted by undercoverbrother

[stang]

I'm weird that I can read any genre as long as I like the authors style. Couldn't finish hitchhikers guide, love Harry Potter, and anything by Louis L'amour. Loved The Dirt by Mötley Crüe, couldn't finish Neil Youngs book, even though I'd probably love all the content. He's just too all over the place. I'm a secret Dan brown fan too, looking forward to his next one in may.

[schteve_d]

I think my favourite book of all time would have to be The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay.

[T@T]

I always like Stephen King.

This one I couldn't put down.



Really too bad nobody could ever put one of his novels to film that was any good.

[J epworth]

Originally Posted by T@T

I always like Stephen King.

This one I couldn't put down.



Really too bad nobody could ever put one of his novels to film that was any good.

Stephen King is always great reads. IT was probably the scariest thing I ever read, probably me reading it as a 12 year old wasn't the best idea, but man did that book stick to my brain. Still get nightmares sometimes from it.

I hope if they do a film adaptation of 11/22/63, which I think is probably inevitable, that it translates to film well, such an interesting book.

[ah123]

Lots of great books in here. My favourites:

- Unbearable lightness of being
- Chronicles of a death foretold
- Lord of the Rings

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I second Kybosh's point. calumniate deserves a medal. Seriously.

As for my books:

Lord of the Rings

Black and Blue by Ian Rankin

The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdon. Dibdon sounds like Doyle but has a unique twist on The Final Problem.

I'm really enjoying detective fiction lately. Currently reading Blacklist by Sara Paretsky

Most of those are what I have read lately and enjoyed (other than Lord of the Rings). My all time favorite would be The Hardy Boys. Absolutely adored those growing uo

[Badabing]

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay and Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett are two of my favourites.

For non-fiction, three that come to mind are Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick (really well-written novelisation-ish about North Korean life), The Art of War by Sun Tzu (lots of points that I've learned to apply to daily life), and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (interesting, fairly understandable intro to astrophysics and cosmology).

[Dion]

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Anyone who can make it through Gravity's Rainbow deserves a medal.

Haha thanks. Well a bit of background, I majored in procrastination in university while taking economics. A big influence on me was a prof who taught a course on Dostoevsky, who is one of my favs as well (master psychologist in my opinion, and was one of the first to obliterate the 'protagonist / antagonist' crap that is most literature). A lot of people dropped the course though because we had to read 'the idiot', 'crime and punishment', 'the brothers karamazov' and all his short fiction! Luckily he liked me and I'd read some of the material beforehand.

Throughout the course he kept on mentioning this guy Bulgakov and how cool he was. Finally I took on the master and margarita which to this day is still the funniest, satirical thing I've read. The guy kept the novel from Stalin for over 50 years but has so many tremendous ideas in it.

After that every once in a while I would hit him up for more recommendations. The Magic Mountain and Gravity's Rainbow being a couple of them. Come to think of it I should really hit this prof up again. He can't miss!

[morgin]

The unabridged, original translation (not the penguin) of The Count of Monte Cristo is my favourite book of all time.

[undercoverbrother]

Good read, has an Alberta Connection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Farran

[Zulu29]

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. Great book