Favorite Novel

[Strike For The South]

Answer For me I would say Of Mice and Men I know it may not be that deep or that much of an adventure but still great book ~:cheers:

[Reverend Joe]

I probably haven't read my favorite novel yet, since I have not yet gotten around to Black Spring (a sort-of novel; it's about Henry Miller's actual life, but it is usually sold with other novels.) As it stands, my favorite is Heart of Darkness .

[Kraxis]

Hmmm... Seldomly do I read standalone books. They are often too short for me.

But I do have a favourite author: Timothy Zahn

[Kaiser of Arabia]

All Quiet on the Western Front is a very good book, as is The Godfather, The Sicilian, any of Cornwell's books, and Kiss Me, Kill Me (good murder stories, melikes the murder stories. In Cold Blood get's an honorable mention as well.

But for the best? I don't know, it changes quite often. Right now, I'd say AQotWF

[Ianofsmeg16]

For Anybody who knows me well this will come as a very obvious statement....

jurassic Park-Michael Crichton

But my favorite author is Defiantly Bernerd Cornwell, for his awesome sharpe novels and Stunning Arthurian legends

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

"Sheepshagger" by Nial Griffiths.

[Zharakov]

I like Tom Clancy books... ~D

[GonZ]

It's so long since I read a good book, last one was "Time enough for love" by R.H.Heinlein - and it's not the Mills and Boon nonsense you might think it is.

[Kraxis]

Actually I do have a single novel I like the most, though it is compiled by six seperate books.

The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide.

[Proletariat]

Answer For me I would say Of Mice and Men I know it may not be that deep or that much of an adventure but still great book ~:cheers:

Steinbeck is the fellow who got me into reading novels as a young girl. His beautifully ineloquent style can come across as depthless, but only to the unwashed Philistines.

http://www.world-of-smilies.com/html/images/smilies/ugly/ugly7.gif

Anyhow, my favorite all time novel is Anna Karenina. Completely changed the way I look at all fiction and character development.

[The_Doctor]

The Sharpe series is excellent and so is the Hitchhiker's giude to the Galaxy series.

At the moment I am reading 1984.

[Reverend Joe]

That is, by far, the funniest smilie I have ever seen.

Steinbeck is good, but I found him to be depressing, and anticathartic. It is the catharsis that really makes All Quiet on the Western Front and Heart of Darkness; at least, in my opinion. Also, Heart of Darkness is just amazing.

[Kanamori]

The Great Gatsby or Neuromancer

[JimBob]

^Someone else read Neuromancer? Hot damn I feel included for once.

Anyway, picking one is impossible so here's the top ten (in no real order)
1) On the Road
2) For Whom the Bell Tolls
3) The Importance of Being Ernest
4) My Side of the Mountain
5) The Thin Read Line
6) Dharma Bums
7) Catch-22
8) The Sun Also Rises
9) 1984
10) Slaughterhouse-5

right now in Iron Heel good read if not depressing

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

I read Neuromancer too if that helps you feel even more included.

[Craterus]

I am currently reading "To Kill A Mockingbird". Don't really have a favourite novel though...

[Soulforged]

"O alquimista" by Paulo Coelho ("The alchemist")

[RabidGibbon]

The most meaningful novel I've ever read is "Animal Farm" by Orwell - Its Anti Communist by the way - 1984 was great too - however I greatly enjoyed Bernard Cornwells "The Winter King" Series (Bernard Cornwell wrote the Sharpe books, and trust me the Winter King ones are better).

For fight scenes and sheer drama & plot twists George RR Martins a Song of Ice and Fire beats anything however.

Jane Austen deserves a mention too - I loved all her books and I've read them all.

I also Loved the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman - but they were comics not Novels, but if anyone here has ever read them I'm sure they'll agree with me they are fantastic.

Iain Banks deserves a mention too - In fact I think my favourite ever novel is Excession written by Iain M Banks - I reccomend it to all of you - I also recommend anything by Ian Banks or Neil Gaiman - they are the best English Authors writing today.

[Zalmoxis]

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich".

[Big_John]

mm.. too hard to pick just one. two of the most common, and therefor jejune, choices are mine also: the great gatsby and the catcher in the rye. in the same class as those, i would put the plague, the winter of our discontent, and franny and zooey.

also, it's been like 100 years since i've read either, but something tells me that i should mention to kill a mockingbird and the sheltering sky.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Hmmm....most of the fiction I read is trash/just for fun. Battletech, King's Blades, Cussler.

Stand Alones are tough. Here goes.


The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Twain/Clemens

The Number of the Beast -- Heinlein

Starship Troopers -- Heinlein

Steppenwolf -- Hesse

Don Quixote -- Cervantes


Seamus

[Ice]

I like Animal Farm, To Kill a Mocking Bird (I really love this book), and A farewell to Arms.

I want to read "All Quiet on the Western Front" so bad. I wanted to do my Author' Paper Senior Project on it.. but it had to be an American Author :dizzy2:

[Azi Tohak]

Yeah Seamus! Another Battletech fan!

...moving on to real literature...

I have always had trouble reading fiction. Why read something like that when history can be even more interesting?

But for novels, I really like "Shadow of Ararat", "Vortex", "Exodus", most of the Redwall series are delightful (yes I know, childrens fantasy, but still, I have loved them for 14 years), both "Texas" and "Carribean" by Michener... I suppose I could go on, but my favorite recent one that I have read has to be "Carribean". No, I did not finish it (school), but still, I think it is superb.

Azi

[Reverend Joe]

Steppenwolf -- Hesse
Steppenwolf? I thought they were a band.

You know, "The Pusher", "Born to be Wild"...

[Big_John]

Steppenwolf? I thought they were a band.

You know, "The Pusher", "Born to be Wild"...the novel is about the band.. :guitarist:

[Mount Suribachi]

Shouldn't this be in the frontroom? I try not to come into the backroom these days, and am always a bit miffed to find what would be interesting frontroom topics here.

[The_Doctor]

Are the Battletech books goods?


Or why LOTR was a bad read.

It just went on and on and on and on.

[King Henry V]

Bernard Cornwell is simply the best. I was up till three in the morning yesterday reading The Last Kingdom. I also like the Grail Quest series and of course Sharpe. Another good series is that of Henry Gresham, a spy in Jacobean times. Very good read.

[Mount Suribachi]

But then we couldn't break out into a controversial discussion about Orwell's political views. Or why Dune is supposed to represent the Middle-East. Or why LOTR was a bad read.

:bow:

But thats not happened ~;)

[Divinus Arma]

These are the books I have read in the last nine months (in no particular order):

(1) The Virtues of War [It's historical fiction from the perspective of Alexander] Recommended.

(2) The Peloppenesian War. [History on same]. Very dry but gets more interesting at the complexities of Athens politics develops. Alchibiades is a fascinating dude.

(3) Gods And Generals. [Civil War historical fiction] Highly highly recommended.

(4) The Killer Angels. [Gettysburg historical fiction] Highly Highly recommended.

(5) The Making of the Roman Army [history on same]. Dry as a bone. Only good if you care. Fortunately I did.

(6) By Valor and Arms [civil war fiction] Decent.


Currently reading:

(1) His Excellency [biography of Washington] Very good. This is my nightstand book.

(2) Infantry in Battle [tactical scenarios of WW I. Factual history with analysis and lessons learned. Written in the 30s before WW2] Surprisingly good. Not nearly as dry as expected. This is my restroom-rack book. The scenarios are only a page or two at a time. Perfect.


Next on the list:

(1) The Last Full Measure [Civil War historical fiction]

(2) A Farewell to Arms [I have no idea]


Then I get to buy more! Yay!

[JimBob]

(4) The Killer Angels. [Gettysburg historical fiction] Highly Highly recommended.
Great book, ever seen the movie adaptation? On the 4th of July they usually marathon it on one channel or another.

[Ice]

Next on the list:


(2) A Farewell to Arms [I have no idea]



It is a good book. I think you will like it, if you like WWI.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Are the Battletech books goods?

Of course not! As literature they're dreck. Stackpole and the others are writers who wish to get paid. I wouldn't call them an artistic nil, but they are formulaic, brim-full of stereotypical characters, and constantly focused on plot twists and combat scenes.

All in all, they're a blast!

Seamus

[Beirut]

(This discussion has been threadnapped and moved to the Frontroom. Why? Because we wanted it. :evil:)

1984 Brilliant novel. Without equal. Amazes me every time I read it. I find the part at the very end of the book, where he discusses the shortening of the English language down to some 500 words to be truly frightening.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also brilliant and without equal.

The Tom Clancy series. They're simply good fun military thrillers.

All of Arthur C. Clarke's stuff. The master of sci-fi writing. :bow: The Redezvous with Rama series was incredible.

[King Henry V]

the catcher in the rye.
I read that book a couple of years ago for school. I hated it with all my might. Badly written, poor vocabulary, rubbish plot. Bum-achingly boring. The only book worse than that is Cry, the Beloved Country.

[Big_John]

I read that book a couple of years ago for school. I hated it with all my might. Badly written, poor vocabulary, rubbish plot. Bum-achingly boring.hmm, maybe it takes a certain sensibility.





saligner.. badly written? .... :uneasy:

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Isn't Iain Banks Scottish?

I liked the Crow Road and the Wasp Factory.

[King Henry V]

hmm, maybe it takes a certain sensibility.





saligner.. badly written? .... :uneasy:
Maybe not exactly bad writing, but the style wasn't good IMO. It didn't flow, definitely was not a page turner.

[mercian billman]

These are the books I have read in the last nine months (in no particular order):

(1) The Virtues of War [It's historical fiction from the perspective of Alexander] Recommended.

(2) The Peloppenesian War. [History on same]. Very dry but gets more interesting at the complexities of Athens politics develops. Alchibiades is a fascinating dude.

(3) Gods And Generals. [Civil War historical fiction] Highly highly recommended.

(4) The Killer Angels. [Gettysburg historical fiction] Highly Highly recommended.

(5) The Making of the Roman Army [history on same]. Dry as a bone. Only good if you care. Fortunately I did.

(6) By Valor and Arms [civil war fiction] Decent.


Currently reading:

(1) His Excellency [biography of Washington] Very good. This is my nightstand book.

(2) Infantry in Battle [tactical scenarios of WW I. Factual history with analysis and lessons learned. Written in the 30s before WW2] Surprisingly good. Not nearly as dry as expected. This is my restroom-rack book. The scenarios are only a page or two at a time. Perfect.


Next on the list:

(1) The Last Full Measure [Civil War historical fiction]

(2) A Farewell to Arms [I have no idea]


Then I get to buy more! Yay!

Aren't all of those books on the Commandant of the Marine Corps reading list?

Anyways my favorite novels are, Hunt for Red October, Pride and Prejudice, Generation Kill (not really a novel,) and Starship Troopers.

I'm trying to read War and Peace right now, but "other" forms of literature keep getting in my way.

[Reverend Joe]

I read that book a couple of years ago for school. I hated it with all my might. Badly written, poor vocabulary, rubbish plot. Bum-achingly boring. The only book worse than that is Cry, the Beloved Country.

Trust me- The Scarlet Letter is worse. Hawthorne spent an entire page and a half describing the way animals in a forest react to the frolicking of a little girl. A potentially good plot, muddied and lost in the meanderings of bad writing.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.

(This discussion has been threadnapped and moved to the Frontroom. Why? Because we wanted it. :evil:):2thumbsup:

My favs? Well any Tolstoy, Dostoyesvski, Hugo, Hemingway or Steinbeck will do.
.

[Martok]

These are the books I have read in the last nine months (in no particular order):

(1) The Virtues of War [It's historical fiction from the perspective of Alexander] Recommended.

(2) The Peloppenesian War. [History on same]. Very dry but gets more interesting at the complexities of Athens politics develops. Alchibiades is a fascinating dude.


Ah, another Steven Pressfield fan! ~:cheers: I have The Virtues of War, as well, although I enjoyed the first two books of his "Greek Trilogy" (Tides of War and Gates of Fire) far more. Of the three, I would have to say Tides of War is my favorite, and it alone puts Pressfield on my Top Five Favorite Authors list. As a matter of fact, I was just contemplating yesterday that I should really go the library and check out The Legend of Bagger Vance. I'm curious to discover if I can actually make it through a novel about golf without killing myself. ~;)

Probably my favorite author, however, is Stephen R. Lawhead. I love his 5 books of the beautiful Pendragon Cycle (6 books, if you include Avalon), as well as the three novels making up his Celtic Crusades trilogy. I also very much enjoy (and have) his stand-alone books Byzantium and Patrick: Son of Ireland.

So what is actually my favorite book? I think it's a virtual tie between Pressfield's Tides of War and Lawhead's Byzantium. I honestly couldn't say which is better, as it would the literary equivalent of comparing apples and oranges--both novels fall under the heading of Mythic/Historical Fiction, but the similarities pretty much end right there.

[edyzmedieval]

2 novels made by a Romanian author, Vintila Corbul.

Fall of Constantinople - excellent novel, 2 volumes
Hurricane over Europe - also great, 1 volume, about the 19th century(diplomacy, wars....)

[Seamus Fermanagh]

He's a witch! Burn him!

A witch of bad taste, that is.

Well, apparently I'm joining that coven because I agree. I didn't think Salinger's writing was bad, but I had zero feeling for Holden. Kept thinking he needed a good slap in the head followed by a 3-year hitch.

At least one person here has taken a shot a Hawthorne. Good show! Decent plot drowned in its own meanderings. Lethargy in printed form.

Speaking of which, my personal peeve -- Dickens. I loathe his novels. Makes Hawthorne look crisply written. The anti-thesis of a page turner. He was, apparently, the rage of the British Empire, but since that was during the era of the opium wars I'm willing to forgive them -- it was not their finest hour. Maybe if they hadn't paid the bustard by the word he might have described a brick wall in less than a page and a half of space and I wouldn't have had to :wall: when forced to read his dreck. Gah!!!!

Seamus

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Charles Dickes: I like Great Expectation (even with the happy non-original ending) but he does go on and on and on.

George Orwell wrote a fun essay on why Dickens can be as annoying as taking a crap when you have no toilet paper (my simile not Orwell's).

[Geoffrey S]

My favourite novels include 1984, Memoirs of Hadrian, The Last of the Wine, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Setting Free The Bears. Though there are a lot more, I read quite a lot.

[Mount Suribachi]

(This discussion has been threadnapped and moved to the Frontroom. Why? Because we wanted it. :evil:)



Thanks Beirut :bow:

My all time favourite would have to be Catch-22. Both funny and heartbreakingly sad at the same time. People have described it as anti-war novel, I disagree, I think its more of an anti-military novel. Speaking as an Air Force brat, I recognise the lunatic situations in the book from a thousand tales told by dad, uncle, grandad and their friends.

The book I've read the most times would have to be Lord Of The Rings (must be in double figures by now).



My favs? Well any Tolstoy, Dostoyesvski, Hugo, Hemingway or Steinbeck will do.

I'm currently reading Crime and Punishment and man is it grim. The descriptions of people living in abject poverty.......depressing

[Tricon]

"A song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin
Almost everything by David Brin.

[The_Doctor]

Of course not! As literature they're dreck. Stackpole and the others are writers who wish to get paid. I wouldn't call them an artistic nil, but they are formulaic, brim-full of stereotypical characters, and constantly focused on plot twists and combat scenes.

All in all, they're a blast!

So it is worth reading them?

[Kagemusha]

Mika Waltari´s:Sinuhe Egyptian,also from the same author Mikael Angelus and Turms Immortal.