The Best Book you ever read?

[Ethan With]

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. A great read.

[Nick Mitchell]

[s]laphroaig wrote on 20:07, 6th Mar 2004:Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut has also left an impression on me - making the war in which it is set seem not only bleak and hopeless but also terribly silly, almost absurd.

How did I forget Slaughterhouse 5?

[Thackary]

I'm reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves".

Excellent book!

[Pussycat]

It's impossible to choose even a few favourite books! However when I was younger I loved a book called "Charlie Meadows" and of course the Famous Five books, hehe. I also really liked Watership Down and the Hobbit, still do. I still think of them as kind of children's books though, just because they bring back warm fuzzy memories

[exnihilo]

Every time I come back to this thread, a new best book occurs to me. I don't think I can ever say any one book is the best I read, but I think I can easily point to dozens which I think it worth others reading. If that makes sense. Today's offering is:

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss

A brilliant guide to basic punctuation, entertainingly written and, in places, laugh-out-loud funny. And certainly a book that many Sinners could stand to read!

[bookworm]

One of my favourite books ever was "King of the Vagabonds" by Colin Dann. A charming and involving story about a pet kitten who rejects his domestic life to learn to be a wild cat and battle against the leader of the feral cats for acceptance. It is almost the only book from my child hood I have still got and re-read.

I also very much enjoyed "Jennie" which followed a similar theme.

However, I was disappointed by the sequel to "King of the Vagabonds" called "City Cats". Mainly because the main characters spend almost the entire book apart, after being separated near the start, and spending the rest of the book trying to find each other again.

Books I liked at an older age include "The Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham. I found this book thrilling, scary and gripping right from the beginning to the near end. It was only the ending which disappointed, when after a whole book of fast pace story, it suddenly ground to a crawl.

Another book I liked was "The Chrysalids" also by John Wyndham, though I found the beginning a bit average, it suddenly picks up in the middle and is fast and gripping until the end.

"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton is an excellent book too. It is so much better than the film. Once again, it takes a while to get going, but once it does, it far exceeds the adventure and excitement of the film.

[Manic23]

[s]Unregisted User bookworm wrote on 18:14, 7th Mar 2004:

"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton is an excellent book too. It is so much better than the film. Once again, it takes a while to get going, but once it does, it far exceeds the adventure and excitement of the film.



definitely, its about 10 times scarier, and 100 times more violent! its the same with any of his stuff thats converted to film- congo was shite but the book was class, ditto the lost world

[exnihilo]

D'you think so? I thought the film of Jurassic Park was better than the book, like a second draft almost where he had revised it and improved it.

[Thalia]

I wouldn't say anything by Arthur C Clarke - i mean Rendezvous with Rama was great but the subsequent books, which he co-wrote with Gentry Lee, just ruined the whole thing for me

My fave book is LotR - read it when i was 9 and have loved it ever since ^_^
But i also like 'Jingo' by Terry Pratchett - one of his best books, i think; 'The Solitaire Mystery' by Jostein Gaarder - 'Sophie's World' is good too, altho the chapters of writing that are just basically philosophy lectures kinda grate after a while unless ur interested in learning it; the Hitchhiker's Guide is great altho 'Mostly Harmless' was rather too depressing for me :-/

Oh, and Terry Brook's books, 'Running with the Demon', 'A Knight of the Word', and 'Angel Fire East', as well as 'Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold'

[Pilmour Boy]

[s]Dee wrote on 15:34, 6th Mar 2004:
[s]Hell Cat Maggie wrote on 15:08, 6th Mar 2004:[i][s]
The Catcher in the Rye excites me almost as much as Mr Shane Bonnetti.
[/s]

Woosh!

(Is this one of those pop culture references that increasingly go over my head?)
[/i]

I hope so. Oh, I so hope so.

[hr]
Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Joesta]

When I was younger I thought that Animal Farm was pretty ace, not read anything that awe-inspiring / interesting since so I I guess it's that if not a draw between (Vanity Fair vs The Great Gatsby) vs Last Exit to Brooklyn, which is weird to get used to, perhaps the reason I hold it in such high regard is because it's the most recent book I've read and I finally understood a whole new style of writing- with sentances taking up a half page, with character changes inbetween and no quotation marks.
[hr]
My favorite animal is steak.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

[Pender Native]

When I was wee my favourite books were 'where the wild things are', 'Dr Zargles book of Earthlets', 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and Robin Jarvis' 'Deptford Mice' trilogy. And 'the Encylcopedia of human developement' - no wonder I grew up a bit warped!

I wouldn't know where to start with my favourite books now but I'll throw some in that noone's mentioned yet. Milan Kundera-'Unbearable lightness of being' and 'Immortalilty 'And Louise de Bernies - 'The war of Don Immanuel's Nether Parts', 'Sinor Vivo and the Cocoa Lords' and 'The troublesome offspring of Cardinal Guzman'

And 'Dr Zargles Book of Earthlets' - hilarious book about babies seen from an alien's point of view. Still makes me hoot.

[Pussycat]

[s]Unregisted User bookworm wrote on 18:14, 7th Mar 2004:
One of my favourite books ever was "King of the Vagabonds" by Colin Dann. A charming and involving story about a pet kitten who rejects his domestic life to learn to be a wild cat and battle against the leader of the feral cats for acceptance.

I loved that book too, along with a few others by that author. They were really appealing when I was younger, I must dig them out again at some point.

Someone else mentioned the Deptford Mice books by Robin Jarvis, I loved those books along with the Deptford Histories: The Alchemist's Cat, The Oaken Throne, and Thomas. I never finished the Mice trilogy so I guess I'll have to sneak into the childrens books section to get them now I've remembered They were all really really good.

[Lynsey]

My fave book is probably Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. Actually pretty much all of Terry Pratchetts books have me hooked especially those about Death and the Ank Morpork City Watch. So obsessed am I that when I bought a signed copy of Nightwatch I refused to open it for a fortnight just in case i bent the spine too much.

[Chain Mailer]

[s]Unregisted User Lynsey wrote on 18:32, 15th Mar 2004:
My fave book is probably Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. Actually pretty much all of Terry Pratchetts books have me hooked especially those about Death and the Ank Morpork City Watch. So obsessed am I that when I bought a signed copy of Nightwatch I refused to open it for a fortnight just in case i bent the spine too much.


I totally agree!!!! Terry Prachet does indeed rock this world! Death is the best damn character ever written (well ok mayb one of the top 10 at least!) All the wizards are so kool 2! Specially Ridcully and Rincewind! 'The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rats' is great, (plus death makes an appearance in that as well!)
Had a real disappointment with the Count of Monte Cristo I mean come on! What kind of ending was that! It sucked! (I dunno mayb I was just expecting a more violent ending like in the film or Stephen Fry's modernized version) *sigh*

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

[Dee]

[s]Unregisted User Lynsey wrote on 18:32, 15th Mar 2004:
So obsessed am I that when I bought a signed copy of Nightwatch I refused to open it for a fortnight just in case i bent the spine too much.


There's a joke in the publishing world that PTerry signs so many books that the ones he hasn't signed will be worth more.

(And no I'm not bitter that my signed copy of "Feet of Clay" is a dog-eared mess. Not one little bit, y'hear!)

[Ewan MacDonald]

Despite the fact that I earlier put down various great books down as my favourites, does anyone else occasionally just read a cheap bestseller in an attempt to get away from reading real, i.e. academic, books.

[hr]In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of being Earnest (III)

[jennyo]

[s]Ewan MacDonald wrote on 20:01, 16th Mar 2004:
Despite the fact that I earlier put down various great books down as my favourites, does anyone else occasionally just read a cheap bestseller in an attempt to get away from reading real, i.e. academic, books.


All the time! Variety is good, so is giving your brain a rest every once in a while.


[hr]
On a rainy day when the wind gets wild
My untamed mind wakes up -Tagore

[Sir Tufton Bufton]

Intersting to see so many books I read a long time ago and should reread...

My choices would be, in no particular order:

'Earthly Powers' by Anthony Burgess. A rollicking journey through the 20th century.

'Lucky Jim' by Kingsley Amis. The book that defined a genre. Anti establishment, anti pomposity, anti class, anti pseudo-intellectuals. How many books considered 'literature' make you roar with laughter?

'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott FitzGerald. If you can get through the last paragraph without feeling a lump in your throat, you're a better wo/man than me. And so stylish. His only great work.

'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote. Is it a novel? Is it reportage? Neither and both, and written with a spare muscularity not seen and perhaps not expected after reading the likes of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'.

'The Catcher in the Rye' by J.D. Salinger. All those stock platitudes from angst ridden high schoolers who can't yet step beyond the book enough to understand it don't matter much; reread it and rediscover why it's great.

'Deliverance' by James Dickey. So chilling in its matter of fact narrative. Chance events, repercussions, changed lives, and, at the end of it all, uncertainty. Who was right? What really happened? Where is the morality?

'Sophie's Choice' by William Styron. Styron teases the story out of the eponymous heroine, interweaving with it a commentary on American life and sexuality, gradually revealing a climax both horrifying and compassionate. How could anyone ever make the choice that Sophie had to make? How could they live with themselves afterwards?

'Coming From Behind' by Howard Jacobson. Uproarious take on faculty insecurities played out against a dingy industrial background. Even in success, the hero fails spectacularly.

'Filth' by Irvine Welsh. Better than the more well known 'Trainspotting', and resonates with me since I am Scottish. Intertwined lives deal with sex, drugs, crime and death as school friends gorw older and (in some cases), up.

'Headlong' by Michael Frayn. A page turner. You squirm as the protagonist gets himself in ever increasing intellectual, moral, marital and financial trouble, yet you will him on....

'The Bonfire of the Vanities' by Tom Wolfe. Rarely has a novel reflected its time and place so well, and never with Wolfe's unique style.

'The Right Stuff' by Tom Wolfe. Riveting narrative of the early days of NASA. The descriptions of Shepard's and Glenn's missions are wonderful, as is the account of CHuck Yaeger's record attempt. What's more, Wolfe goes behind the technology to the people themselves; this is no paean to progress.

'Rites of Passage' by William Golding. Maybe my favourite book. All things are here: an exciting journey, social class, sexual politics, isolation, fear, religion, shame and wonderful language. It is a microcosm of 19th century Britain. Golding planned to end it with the ship still at sea, but its popularity made him change his mind and write two sequels. They are also good, but sometimes I wish they hadn't been written. Sometimes it can be better to leave things unsaid, questions unanswered. The captain of the never-named ship wanted the voyage to continue forever; I wanted the book to do the same.


Also, since most have avoided mentioning their dislikes (Of course, these are merely opinions):

James Joyce: 'Ulysses'/'Finnegan's Wake': Interesting for their experimental approach, but couldn't that have been achieved in 50 pages rather than 800?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I just never could get into magical realism. Tried to like 'Eva Luna' and some other Isabel Allende stuff with no more success.

Toni Morrison: Every page of 'Beloved' was torture.

And most fantasy: yuck. Terry Pratchett? Fine for 14 year olds imho.

[Sir TB]

[s]piers wrote on 14:17, 6th Mar 2004:
Our man in Havana by Graham Greene. has a similarish plot to the tailor of panama but is far more amusing.



Heh, too true. I remember coming out of the movie thinking 'well, that was an interesting storyline - AT LEAST WHEN GRIM GRIN WROTE IT!!!!!!!'

I haven't read Le Carre's novel of the same name. But the similarities are.....uh.....remarkable. Maybe it was some sort of homage.

A lousy movie, by the way. Hilarious to watch Pierce Brosnan try to be unpleasant and immoral instead of just wooden and unconvincing.