Greatest book you've ever read?

[gangsterfurious]

I've read this one 6 times. :)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QJG0HXGML._SY300_.jpg

 

Have you also read "Everybody Poops"?

[gangsterfurious]

Red Water: Judith Freeman

No Man Knows My History: Fawn Brodie

 

And not a novel but a collection of short stories that has become my most treasured book: The Morrow Anthology of Great Western Short Stories.

[Citizen of the World]

The Grapes of Wrath

The Fountainhead

Slaughterhouse Five

The Catcher in the Rye

Of Human Bondage

An American Tragedy

Ulysses

 

The first two I have read probably read at least 40 times each. Apart from Ian McEwan I can't get into much modern literature.

[Dread Pirate Robert]

Way too many really good books out there for me to say one was the obvious "greatest" over all others.

[Rutlefan]

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Though I'd read the Hobbit and LoTR when I was young, I didn't read the Sil until my early 20s. Wihle I loved The Hobbit as a kid, and liked the LoTR while not being enthralled (I liked the world it inhabited more than the literary style), I was completely swept away by the scope and mythological vision of the Sil. Very dark and tragic compared to the others, but also achingly beautiful. I needed "Guide to Middle Earth" within arms reach the first time I read the Sil though (the Sil's glossary helps, but GtME really helps makes sense of the confusing names -- people, places, events, until you get a handle on them yourself).

 

For a proper novel, it would be A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. For short stories, R is for Rocket by the master, Ray Bradbury. Non-fiction I'd have to give some thought.

[Principled Man]

American novel: East Of Eden, by John Steinbeck

European novel: Le Rouge Et Le Noir (The Red And The Black), by Stendahl

Science Fiction: Dune, by Frank Herbert

Satire/Comedy: The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Non-Fiction: The Trial Of Madame Caillaux, by Edward Berenson

[Astromancer]

Dune by Frank Herbert, easily. I'm a huge fan of King, Moorcock, and Robert E Howard as well, but Herbert just blew my mind.

[Rutlefan]

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Though I'd read the Hobbit and LoTR when I was young, I didn't read the Sil until my early 20s. Wihle I loved The Hobbit as a kid, and liked the LoTR while not being enthralled (I liked the world it inhabited more than the literary style), I was completely swept away by the scope and mythological vision of the Sil. Very dark and tragic compared to the others, but also achingly beautiful. I needed "Guide to Middle Earth" within arms reach the first time I read the Sil though (the Sil's glossary helps, but GtME really helps makes sense of the confusing names -- people, places, events, until you get a handle on them yourself).

 

For a proper novel, it would be A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. For short stories, R is for Rocket by the master, Ray Bradbury. Non-fiction I'd have to give some thought.

 

To round out the list, for non-fiction my favorite is "The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas That Have Shaped Our World View" by RIchard Tarnas. Best intellectual history in a concise package I've read. If one volume brevity isn't a concern, the nine volume A History of Philosophy by Frederick Copleston S.J. is the way to go.

 

Since some are listing by genres, I'll add my three co-favorites from my favorite genre, social satire: A Confederacy of Dunces, Pierre Boule's Monkey Planet (Planet of the Apes), and K. Vonnegut Jr's Sirens of Titan.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Rutlefan

[Spindrift82]

Flowers For Algernon. I was completely blown away by that book.

[hcm]

Jane Eyer

[Spindrift82]

^ I have that in my Kindle library. Maybe I should read it?

[laughedatbytime]

I've read this one 6 times. :)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QJG0HXGML._SY300_.jpg

I've never read the hard copy, but I have enjoyed your narration. Nice job, especially, on the sound effects (though you might want to do something about the mix, sometimes the sound effects drown out the narrative.)

[Spindrift82]

What sound effects? LOL

[Retrospective]

IT by Stephen King

 

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is close second.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one out there who thinks IT is a fantastic novel. :ebert:

[goose]

I've read this one 6 times. :)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QJG0HXGML._SY300_.jpg

 

Have you also read "Everybody Poops"?

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-ash3/s160x160/250151_227446890600342_4750370_a.jpg My favorite poop book. In German, "About the Little Mole, Who Wanted to Know, Who Had Done This On His Head". Translated to "The Story of the Little Mole Who Went In Search of Whodunnit". As he interviews a variety of animals, they prove their innocence by showing us how they poop. Pigs, cows, goats, rabbits, each with a different sound effect, from a simple "plop!" to a musical "schupdiwup!". Great book! Video version:

[bathory]

Dune by Frank Herbert, easily. I'm a huge fan of King, Moorcock, and Robert E Howard as well, but Herbert just blew my mind.

 

ah, a fellow sword and sorcery fan

[pjbear05]

Toss up between two:

 

Executive Orders-Tom Clancy

Term Limits-Vince Flynn (RIP).

[OneLittleVictory]

zombie survival book

[hobo73]

Memoirs Of A Geisha immediately came to mind. I was around 12, I think, when I read it and devoured it in 2 days. Love that book.

[hobo73]

ALSO- it's an easy read, but I love Animal Farm. To Kill A Mockingbird was great, too (at least to me).

[Shredder2]

I haven't read enough books to really call one the greatest book I've ever read. For now, I'll call Looking for Alaska (by John Green) the greatest book I've read thus far in my life. :P

[goose]

To Kill A Mockingbird was great, too (at least to me).

Ranked #1 all-time in a Time magazine list, so I guess a lot of people agree. ;)

[SouthwestRanger]

THE PROBABILTY BROACH by L. Neil Smith and anything by H.P. Lovecraft

[greyfriar]

Dune - Frank Herbert

Demian - Hermann Hesse

It - Stephen King

The Fool On The Hill - Matt Ruff

The Black Book - Giovanni Papini

[bathory]

read my first cormac mccarthy book recently, no country for old men. not the greatest book I've ever read but easily the best book I've read in a long f***ing time