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.

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.

---

Whoa a fellow Lovecraft fan!

My fav book is Crime and Punishment by dostojevsky

What the best book I have ever read - and one I would read over and over again.

a little know book by called The Final Blackout by L Ron Hubbard. Have read this book at least 10 times - it was initially a series of short stories published back around 1939.

Also I have read the following books more then once

I have also read Starship Troopers Several times.

George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm

Michael Morcock - and his books concerning Elric the last prince of a dying race.

To many books to name - many of them fiction but many non-fiction books also.

oh, let me add the winter of our discontent to my previous round-up. by far and away my favorite steinbeck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big_John

oh, let me add the winter of our discontent to my previous round-up. by far and away my favorite steinbeck.

---

I like Steinbeck also - several of his books are very good reads.

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson

fantastic story

ichi :bow:

ps before I read it my fav was LOTR

the 4th Protocol by Frederick Forsythe...seriously guys I couldnt put the damn book down :book: ......way better than the lamentable film, which was bloody awful

Wow, I can't believe no-one has mentioned my personal favourite, Catch-22.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mount Suribachi

Wow, I can't believe no-one has mentioned my personal favourite, Catch-22.

---

Catch 22 was fantastic, too bad the sequel kind of sucked. Another great Heller book is Something Happened.

My favorite Steinbeck (greatest American author maybe?) has to be The Wayward Bus.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mount Suribachi

Wow, I can't believe no-one has mentioned my personal favourite, Catch-22.

---

Argh! I forgot Catch-22.

One of my favourite books also. I read it at a time when I was becoming much more of a pacifist, and it had a profound impact on me.

Quote:

---

Catch 22 was fantastic, too bad the sequel kind of sucked.

---

When Heller was asked if it annoyed him that he hadn't written anything nearly as good since Catch 22 was published, he replied, "No, because nobody else has either".

~D

hey ichi,

i saw the movie/documentary version of 'touching the void' haven't read it though. and the film was quite good.

The Prince - Niccolo Macchiavelli
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Luo Guanzhong
Julius Cæsar - William Shakespeare
Catcher in the Rye - Saligner
The Iliad - Homer
Sharpe's Rifles - Cornwell
A Goodfella's Guide to New York - Henry Hill
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
Kiss Me, Kill Me - Anne Rule
In Cold Blood - Capote
I'll have more later.
BOOKS THAT I AM CURRENTLY READING THAT MIGHT GO THERE
Mein Kampf - Hitler
War and Peace - Tolstoy
Made men - Whatshisnuts
Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas

I've read many other books (Old Man and the Sea, Romeo and Juliet, Siddhartha, most of the Sharpe series, October Sky, Animal Farm, Some stuff by Bill O'Reilly, etc etc) but those are the best up there.

Quote:

---

Mein Kampf - Hitler

---

Dare I make a comment about you putting this as a possible 'greatest book'?....

No probably not. :no:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JAG

Dare I make a comment about you putting this as a possible 'greatest book'?....

No probably not. :no:

---

I'm curious, too. I've never read it, but I had never heard someone describe it as fine literature. Maybe you like it for other reasons, I'm guessing.

I have read some of it but I had to put it down because I just could not face reading much more of it. I would definitely not describe it as anywhere near 'the greatest book'.

Because of his ideas? Or because it was just poor literature? Although in this case I suspect it would be hard to separate the two.

On topic:
Hmmm, maybe All Quiet on the Western Front

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by discovery1

On topic:
Hmmm, maybe All Quiet on the Western Front

---

Another excellent book along the same lines as this one - is the Red Badge of Courage

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Redleg

Another excellent book along the same lines as this one - is the Red Badge of Courage

---

Now that is one hell of a decent book.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Big King Sanctaphrax

Argh! I forgot Catch-22.

One of my favourite books also. I read it at a time when I was becoming much more of a pacifist, and it had a profound impact on me.

---

Its interesting you say that BKS, I know a lot of people regard it as an anti-war book, whereas I don't think it is. Its a book that makes fun of the English language and its a book that ridicules the military and its style of operation, especially the latter, but not so much of an anti-war book. Anyone with any experience of the military can recognise the ridiculous events that take place - the bit where the plane crashes and everyone thinks that Doc Daneeka is dead, even though he alive and walking round the base is a classic. My dad was in the RAF, so I've seen and heard enough about the military to recognise many of the goings on in the book.

Its one of those few books that can have you laughing out loud on one page then almost in tears the next. It also contains probly the best love scene I've ever read - the bit with Yossarian and Nurse Duckett on the beach describes the passion of 2 young lovers better than anything I have ever read.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by evil_maniac from mars

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!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

Harry Potter is AWESOME. I love them all to death, it is all so light and witty. Best fiction book, probably 'atomised' by Houellebeque. Best non-fiction book I have read for a while 'Jihad, the trail of political Islam' by Gilles Kepel.

The best book ever written - well one must include the Dictionary by Webster in the catergory. Where else can one find almost every word defined and spelled correctly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JAG

Dare I make a comment about you putting this as a possible 'greatest book'?....

No probably not. :no:

---

Go Ahead.
I veiw it more like a novel into the mind of a madman. Not as a political philosiphy we should follow.
It's actually very interesting.

When I say good books I mean fo enjoyment. If they can provide a window onto the human soul or state of mind then all the better.

Catch 22 is an amazing book, I really should buy it and re-read it.

Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card is brilliant, most certainly Card's most gripping work.

All of Tolkiens works are very good, simply because of the sheer scale of it.

Then of course we get to the Pratchett books, I'm shocked and horrified that not one has been mentioned so far. I would say that my favourite one has to be Jingo, and the whole Guards series is brilliant.
And lest we forget, "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, I'm going to die!" The ever cowardly rincewind. ~D
But the reason I really love the discworld series is the sheer breadth of it, and coupled with Pratchetts rich imagination and character detail, backed up by funny jokes that can get you laughing out loud.