The Best Book you ever read?

[Chain Mailer]

Hey,am again making a deperate attempt NOT to work so...I was just wondering what people's fave books were (dont worry you can have more then one!) Have to say I quite like 'Red Dwarf' by Grant Naylor and 'Mort' by terry prachet! Though I'm sure I'll come up with a million more at some point! (Oh yeah! This also includes books you loved as a kid! Y'know 'The Hungry Caterpillar', etc.)
So which do u think is the best? (I can procrastinate more by reading suggested text! YAY!)
(oooh! and The Silver Wolf by Alice Brochardt! Like that too!)

[hr]Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious

[Eliot Wilson]

'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt is fairly high up there.

[hr]Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Cain]

over the summer i read the amazing Carter beats the Devil by Glen David Gold.

i couldn't just read one chapter at a time, because it was just too good to put down. and i don't ever remember stamping my feet with joy through a novel before.

[hr]
I don't want to be in a battle, But waiting at the edge of one I can't escape is even worse.

[MrGreedy]

I've re-read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby at least a dozen times - which is a pretty good illustration of the esteem in which I hold it.
(And surprisingly, I thought the film was pretty decent as well.)

[Nell]

Good omens - Terry Pratchett, bout the funniest book of his ive read, an ive read all cept three, When hitler stole pink rabit - Judith Kerr, is actually three books in one, a trilogy about a jewish girl and her family living in Germany during the holocaust, very touching and excellent story from when shes a litle girl to when she's all grown up. Any book by sharon penman(historical novels) although my favorite would have to be the sunne in splendour, about Richard III absolutly fantastic, the only bad thing about her novels is you just know theyre never gonna end happily cause history never does!
of course there are hundreds of others most notably each peach pear plum - janet and alan alhburg, a genius of a book! with, like all there work fantastic illustrations. each peach pear plum, i spy tom thumb, tom thumb in a cupbourd, i spy mother hupbord, mother hupbord in the celler, i spy.....
Ah childhood where did you go...

[exnihilo]

Good Omens is by Terry Pratchett AND Neil Gaiman.

An excellent book is Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's Ark" and you could do far worse than Stephen Fry's autobiographical "Moab Is My Washpot". These are merely things I have read recently, there are many hundreds of books I would happily read again had I but the time.

And remember, kids, an improving book need not necessarily be a dull one.

[Eliot Wilson]

'Moab Is My Washpot' is indeed excellent; likewise, 'The Liar', 'The Star's Tennis Balls' and 'Hippopotamus'.

[hr]Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[EviLTwiN]

"The Sorrow Of War" by Bao Ninh. Vietnam novel about a young vietnamese soldier and his girlfriend he has to leave behind, from the North point of view, written by an ex-north vietnamese soldier.

Very very moving. The only time a book has ever made me physically cry.

I would seriously recommend it.


From a literature point of view rather than a enjoyed the most point of view, "The Great Gatsby", F. Scott Fitxgerald is the best.

[hr]IMAGE:www.red-llama.com/avatars/eviltwintrooper.jpg IMAGE:www.red-llama.com/avatars/eviltwinsaint.gif IMAGE:www.red-llama.com/avatars/eviltwinold.gif

http://www.the-leaving.com

[Smith]

Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
George Orwell, 1984
William Golding, Lord of the Flies
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
Thomas Harris, Hannibal
Peter Shaffer, The Royal Hunt of the Sun
Albert Camus, L'Etranger
Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Dubliners, James Joyce
George Orwell, Animal Farm

Anyone that includes Harry Potter is a fool.

[exnihilo]

I won't defend Harry Potter, it is the Andrex of literature, but that is merely my opinion. People who list it are not fools, they are merely possessed of an opinion which is other than mine and yours. No bad thing, that.

[Eliot Wilson]

Hannibal I thought fun but far-fetched. Certainly nothing special, not even by Thomas Harris's standards. Red Dragon was a much better book.

[hr]Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Amanda]

^^ i thought that red dragon was much better than hannibal. to be honest, hannibal has been spoiled for me by the film now though, i can't read it without being annoying that they ruined the film.

i'm re-reading for the nth time snow falling on cedars, by david guterson - great book.

and the dark materials trilogy is brilliant.

as for kiddy books - i always loved the quangle wangles hat, and most of edward lears stuff - i could recite the whole of 'the jumblies' by the time i was 5.

[RachM]

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams.
Oscar Wilde's plays, especially An Ideal Husband & Lady Windermere's Fan.
L'etranger - Albert Camus
La symphonie pastorale - Andre Gide
Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome

[Eliot Wilson]

'Three Men In A Boat' is a very witty, diverting book (in a mannered Victorian way), but I wouldn't say it was among the best I've read.

[hr]Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[exnihilo]

Ah, but, and here's the rub, these may well be the best books people posting have read. Not good or great books in themselves, but simply the best people have read. Had I read only those set in school and the Harry Potters, I might well list JK Rowling. Or the Great Gatsby.

O tempora, o mores!

[ShinyHappyPerson]

not sure of a complete favourite (i am an english student - many books - many good ones) but a high ranking set of mine would be Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. Everytime i reread them i find something new and interesting. any other HDM fans?

[Nick Mitchell]

"The Third Policeman" by Flann O'Brien. The cleverest, funniest darkest book ever. Catch 22 and 1984 are very close though.

[quarterstaff]

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

it is simply a joy to read.

[LeopardSkinQueen]

Best book I ever read is probably The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. It's an excellent book.

My most loved book is, however, Lord of the Rings.

[NeilSJFC1884]

Catch 22 is a fantastic book. Also 1984 and The hitchikers guide deserve mention. Also read a lot of Iain Rankin "Rebus" novels also very entertaining.