What's the best book you've ever read?

Sorry if this has been done before, but I'm a bit curious. What are your absolute, can-read-them-over-and-over, tried and true favorite books? Usually when someone says something's their favorite with a reason or two, you can get some good recommendations.

My personal favorite is Anna Karenina. I read it when I was 17 and more or less have read it once a year since. My close second would be War and Peace and after that there's a big gap in quality until you get to my third.

I'm thinking fiction, but if you read some VCR manual you felt was horrifyingly riveting feel free to say so.

The Hobbit, sinply because it's so cute and violent.

I've got two answers. The best book I ever read from the stand point of "knocked my socks off" excitement, I'd have to say it was Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Honourable mention goes to Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. I've not gone back to read either of these books though.


From the stand point of books I've read over and over, Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion I seem to be picking up all the time - sometimes to read certain good parts, other times to read the whole thing. Honourable mention goes to Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. I re-read the battle chapters quite frequently.

not a huge reader, but i re-read franny and zooey, the catcher in the rye (both by salinger), and the great gatsby by fitzgerald fairly often. oh, i've read dune by frank herbert a few times too, but not recently.

non-fiction: the biological roots of human nature by timothy goldsmith is the best non-fiction i've read. the medieval machine by jean gimpel was really interesting. i recently read vols 1 & 2 of roman civilization by lewis & reinhold, just a collection of various selected translations from roman historians spanning cato through jerome.

things i've read once and liked a lot.. watership down by richard adams was very cute. camus' the plague was very good.. as was the brothers karamazov by dostoyevsky. and mary renault's the bull from the sea was probably the most entertaining thing i've read since dune. not great literature, imo, but very fun.

the giving tree by shel silverstein is my favorite children's book.

if i had to prioritize: gatsby, catcher, franny, and goldsmith's book. in that order.

1984

Existentialism is a Humanism

Awesome.

:bow:

The Bible.

Ha ha ha. But seriously, Njal's saga. Modern book, any collection of Borges short stories.

If this is a man (Primo Levy) is remarkable.

Dune

'the space eater' by david langford

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beirut

1984

---

Ditto.

I also love HP Lovecraft, I've read all of the omnibuses of his work several times.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny

Dune

---

...

Without a question, for me its The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the edition with all five in the trilogy of four in the one book :dizzy2: ). I can read that (those, they and them) book(s) again and again.

Quote:

---

Without a question, for me its The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the edition with all five in the trilogy of four in the one book ). I can read that (those, they and them) book(s) again and again.

---

Same here. It makes reality turn into an igloo fly out a window and explode into flamingos. ~D

Has to be Hitchhiker for me to! love that book!

Tho, I read alot of Wheel of Time, Tolkien and yes, i admit; Harry Potter :embarassed:

:bow:

Dark Border Trilogy by Paul Edwin Zimmer, and Wheel of Time. As for that Harry Potter thing..........WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Over all the other great books out there!!!!!!!!! You've got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never liked parts 4 and 5 of the Hitchhiker's guide much.

I'd say Catcher in the rye was my favourite book ever, although I never re-read it. I can only think of one book I've re-read and that was the Hobbit, once after 10-12 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by evil_maniac from mars

As for that Harry Potter thing..........WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Over all the other great books out there!!!!!!!!! You've got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

This person needs our help, not our admonishing! For shame!
~:eek:

Just kidding, to each his own. I've never felt like any of Tolkein's books pass as fine literature, but hey. Different strokes, different folks, right?

~:cheers:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Proletariat

This person needs our help, not our admonishing! For shame!
~:eek:

Just kidding, to each his own. I've never felt like any of Tolkein's books pass as fine literature, but hey. Different strokes, different folks, right?

~:cheers:

---

Burn the Unbeliever! Cast out the Heretic! ~;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Proletariat

This person needs our help, not our admonishing! For shame!
~:eek:

Just kidding, to each his own. I've never felt like any of Tolkein's books pass as fine literature, but hey. Different strokes, different folks, right?

~:cheers:

---

And I never liked hitchhiker, tolkien or harry potter...go figure.

Salingers are my favorites, can't pick one.

Poet Charles Baudelaire, Les fleurs du mal, followed closely by the most brilliant novel ever written, A Call for the Dead by John leCarré. Yes, call me weird.

Personally I don't generally reread books, once I know the ending what's the point. Some of my favorites not already mentioned: "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin, "Flowers For Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo, "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens, "Pygmalion" by Bernard Shaw. Most of these were required reading in my highschool English Literature classes along with "Catcher in the Rye" and "1984".

man.. i was at a tag sale once, and saw this big-ass "complete" edition of the hitchiker's guide.. like 5 books plus analysis or something.. and it was bound in black leather w/ gold trim and stuff. and i got the damn thing, i was so excited b/c i've heard lots of people claim it was the greatest thing ever written or whatever. i got through three books and just gave up. i mean, it was like reading a 300 page flying circus sketch. someone please shoot me.

luckily it was a tag sale, so i only paid like $1 for it. still.. i felt violated by that travesty.

Quote:

---

it was like reading a 300 page flying circus sketch.

---

You consider this a bad thing?!

If he does, we can set up an ambush next time he leaves his house........

Watership Down
by
Richard Adams

Crazed Rabbit

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax

You consider this a bad thing?!

---

yeah, it's an awful thing. i'm not overly fond of the flying circus, i think python's movies are much, much, much better. but what's worse, a 5-minute sketch is ok, 10 may even be bearable.. but reading hitchhiker was like watching a 15-hour episode of the least funny parts of flying circus. not my idea of a good time. being british would probably make the book more enjoyable.

This post asked for the best fiction works read. My answer is going to break this large category into various smaller categories.

Best Epic:

Iliad

Best Greek Tragedy:

Antigone

Best Medieval Poetry:

Divine Comedy: Inferno

Best Enlightenment Poetry:

Paradise Lost

Best Shakespeare:

Tragedy: Macbeth
Comedy: Measure for Measure
History: Henry V
Romance: Tempest

Best Novel:

Brothers Karamozov



Best French Novel: Les Miserables

Best English Novel: 1984

Best American Novel: Huckleberry Finn

Best Twentieth Century Novel: The Great Gatsby

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax

Ditto.

I also love HP Lovecraft, I've read all of the omnibuses of his work several times.

---

have just started reading HP lovecraft - brilliant.

But 1984 has to go down as my all time favourite. Thanks to Beiruit for reminding me as i could think what my absolute fav was till I read his post.

honourable mentions to anything By Isaac Asimov. I am about 10% of the way through collecting his entire collection.

Shogun, so good

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

I've got two answers. The best book I ever read from the stand point of "knocked my socks off" excitement, I'd have to say it was Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Honourable mention goes to Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. I've not gone back to read either of these books though.


From the stand point of books I've read over and over, Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion I seem to be picking up all the time - sometimes to read certain good parts, other times to read the whole thing. Honourable mention goes to Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. I re-read the battle chapters quite frequently.

---

It seems we have similar tastes, Gregoshi-san. Ender's Game is a great book. I have since read the entire series, and though the others don't rivet you like the first does, they are very good books, all. I just read the first of his (Orson Scott Card's) Alvin Maker series, and have been hunting for the second. Given where you live, perhaps this series would interest you ... .

I, too, have been a Tolkien fan for practically my whole life (which is probably two-three lives compared to most who post here). The Silmarillion is, by far, my favorite. As a movie by Peter Jackson about The Hobbit would be a sure hit, I've always thought they should take a chance first and do Beren and Luthien. I think it would make a great movie. If the public didn't take they could then do The Hobbit and win everyone back.

Starship Troopers is great. I really wish they had included the jump jets in the movie--without them it just wasn't Starship Troopers to me.

The original Dune series by Frank Herbert is my all-time favorite Sci Fi. Too much great stuff to describe so I'll just leave it at that.

For historical fiction, I'd have to say Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa. I liked Shogun very much too, but if I had to chose it would be Taiko. I think being half Japanese has a lot to do with why I like these over other, similar books I've read.

Anne Rice's vampire works were mostly good. I love her character development, and the sensuousness despite the lack of overt sexual encounters that she achieves.

Been so long since I read any classics ... I'll have to read some again before I can really say which ones I like best. I remember really enjoying Dickens work, and Moby Dick. I've always leaned towards the more imaginative fiction than "real-world" settings.