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Greatest book you've ever read?


Good,bad,andrush
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QUOTE (Lost In Xanadu @ Mar 7 2011, 01:25 PM)
...
The Other - Thomas Tryon

oh, I remembering reading this and other Thomas Tryon a long time ago. I was still a teenager.

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QUOTE (micgtr71 @ Mar 7 2011, 02:08 PM)
QUOTE (summer_sky @ Mar 7 2011, 11:58 AM)
...
Mic, give Battlefield Earth a try... it has no clear relation to Scientology wink.gif

I will. I'll look for it this week when my son and I go to the library. I'll let you know what I think.

new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

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QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Mar 6 2011, 06:53 PM)
The Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, 1984, A Farewell to Arms.
I really can't pick one; they're all exceptional.

Slaughterhouse Five yes.gif

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Re: The people who mentioned "Gatsby":

I loved The Great Gatsby. Best book I read in English last year. Gatsby became my second "fictional beau", right after Edmond Dantes of The Count of Monte Cristo and Hamlet, of.. Hamlet, obviously.

Some of the other characters in "Gatsby" didn't strike me as all that interesting, but Jay Gatsby stole my heart and broke it. Shame he fawned all over Daisy. And then died. |:

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Okay, here it goes, though favorite is the appropriate word, not greatest:

 

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

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Epic literature.

 

http://4imgs.com/379/x/9780307119391_FULL.jpg

 

But seriously. I'm throwing in a few non fiction as well.

 

GIANTS IN THE EARTH by O.E. Rolvaag

O PIONEERS! by Willa Cather

PARADISE LOST by John Milton

HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad

THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU by H.G. Wells

1984 by George Orwell

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley

PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Leif Enger

BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE by Dee Meyer

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS by Jonathan Swift

TILL WE HAVE FACES by C.S. Lewis

A GRIEF OBSERVED by C.S. Lewis

MIDDLEMARCH by Georg Eliot

BEING AND TIME by Heidegger

ON COSMOPOLITANISM AND FORGIVENESS by Derrida

LE MORTE DE ARTHUR by Thomas Mallory

THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO by Karl Marx

THE CYBORG MANIFESTO (this is more of a pamphlet, but still) by Donna Haraway

THE LORD OF THE RINGS by JRR Tolkien

 

 

There are so many more, but I'll stop there. Basically, books rule my life.

 

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I just received a copy of a book that my grandmother lent to me when I was a young girl and remember enjoying very much. I bought it on Amazon...

 

Hannah Fowler by Janice Holt Giles. An historical novel of an American pioneer woman making a life in the Kentucky wilderness.

Edited by summer_sky
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QUOTE (garbo @ Mar 8 2011, 11:54 AM)
Epic literature.

http://4imgs.com/379/x/9780307119391_FULL.jpg

I know it well. laugh.gif

 

Actually, it IS great. The voice in the Little Critter books is a kind of "healthy cynicism," which I enjoy.

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QUOTE (Good,bad,andrush @ Mar 6 2011, 02:08 PM)
QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Mar 6 2011, 02:06 PM)
QUOTE (tel @ Mar 6 2011, 07:01 PM)
The holy bible......laughed all the way through it tongue.gif

facepalm.gif

Don't know whether I should laugh or face palm, so I'll do both.

 

facepalm.gif z7shysterical.gif

Shouldn't it be "facepsalm" ??

 

 

laugh.gif

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QUOTE (Running Rebel @ Mar 8 2011, 06:51 PM)
QUOTE (Good @ bad,andrush,Mar 6 2011, 02:08 PM)
QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Mar 6 2011, 02:06 PM)
QUOTE (tel @ Mar 6 2011, 07:01 PM)
The holy bible......laughed all the way through it tongue.gif

facepalm.gif

Don't know whether I should laugh or face palm, so I'll do both.

 

facepalm.gif z7shysterical.gif

Shouldn't it be "facepsalm" ??

 

 

laugh.gif

But only on Palm Sunday! doh.gif

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QUOTE (GeddyRulz @ Mar 8 2011, 04:58 PM)
QUOTE (garbo @ Mar 8 2011, 11:54 AM)
Epic literature.

http://4imgs.com/379/x/9780307119391_FULL.jpg

I know it well. laugh.gif

 

Actually, it IS great. The voice in the Little Critter books is a kind of "healthy cynicism," which I enjoy.

I completely agree. I have actually an anthology of the great Little Critter books. I still read them, but don't readily admit this to adults. They're just so wonderful.

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QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Mar 9 2011, 12:51 AM)
QUOTE (Show Don't Tell @ Mar 8 2011, 07:27 PM)
I can narrow it down to two:

Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

goodpost.gif goodpost.gif goodpost.gif goodpost.gif

+1

 

I've only read a few of the classic mentions elsewhere in this thread -- Great Gatsby, Brothers Kazamorov, Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye -- none of those really stick out like the 2 above.

 

I also actually really enjoyed Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, having read the whole series twice. The latest 2 novels by Brandon are both very good also... can't wait for the final book this November.

 

Ender's Game series is pretty good, easy reading, great concepts

 

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I liked Ender's Game -- a LOT -- but it didn't resonate for me like the ones I mentioned. It's a very fine book and I love to re-read it, but it's not quite "BEST EVER OH MY GOSH" for me.

I forgot to put 1984. Chilling book.. I almost took AP Lit' this year just so I would have an excuse to dive into that book.. though I ended up doing just that anyways.

 

I haven't read Brave New World, but I know it was also on the AP list. (Right next to 1984.) I've heard it's very good. Thoughts, anyone who's read it?

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QUOTE (CMWriter @ Mar 11 2011, 10:32 PM)
I haven't read Brave New World, but I know it was also on the AP list. (Right next to 1984.) I've heard it's very good. Thoughts, anyone who's read it?

I'm about a third through it now. Pretty good so far. It looks like this is the counterpart to Nineteen Eighty-Four -- both stories are set in dystopian societies, but, essentially, where Nineteen Eighty-Four uses violence and pain, Brave New World uses pleasure and happiness.

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QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Mar 12 2011, 12:25 AM)
Read 1984 instead. Brave New World wasn't nearly as good. Jordan's pretty much summed it up, but I felt like BNW left me wanting, while 1984 kind of threw me on the ground and had its way with me unsure.gif

I started 1984 but keep getting distracted. Need to finish the darned thing! It's really fascinating so far.

Mmm, I don't know. I have friends in AP that told me they liked BNW better than 1984, so I'll just read it and see for myself.

 

In any case, thanks for the info, guys. I'll get through both of 'em eventually -- if I can ever find a copy of BNW, that is. |:

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My pick is "To Kill A Mockingbird" followed closely by Dos Passos' "USA" trilogy.

 

In the world of fantasy I would choose Donaldson's "Chronicles Of Thomas Covenent" and in horror "The Excorcist".

In Science Fiction I just lean towards "The Foundation" Trilogy.

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