Greatest book you've ever read?

[Fridge]

As with some of the above, i have been a big fan of all things Tolkien.

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series ...... these books make me laugh out loud!

Stephen R Donaldson - The Cronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever ...... same genre as Tolkien although darker

 

I like Donaldson but he does subscribe to the "why use one word when a thousand will do" school of thought....

 

Oh, god, yes Donaldson does. In fact, I sometimes use his sentences to explain to my students what not to do. "Unambergrised" and "condign" are fun, but not even Evil Time Lords could speak that way with a straight face. I also wanted Covenant to be less mopey and pull himself together, but he's more of a Hamlet type, I suppose. The Giants were cool.

 

One of my favourites was " the colour of chrysophrase and Daphins Eyes"...why not just say Green you berk lol

[Fridge]

mostly The Hobbit and TLOTR...

 

I am not a huge fan of books, books are for nerds! :smoke:

 

But you're a t**t so what would you know? :)

[zepphead]

As with some of the above, i have been a big fan of all things Tolkien.

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series ...... these books make me laugh out loud!

Stephen R Donaldson - The Cronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever ...... same genre as Tolkien although darker

I would have thought you'd have gone for Hammer of the Gods... ;)

hehehe yeah, that and 'Led Zeppelin the Concert File' .... essential reading for all Zepp-nerds!!

[zepphead]

As with some of the above, i have been a big fan of all things Tolkien.

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series ...... these books make me laugh out loud!

Stephen R Donaldson - The Cronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever ...... same genre as Tolkien although darker

 

I like Donaldson but he does subscribe to the "why use one word when a thousand will do" school of thought....

 

Oh, god, yes Donaldson does. In fact, I sometimes use his sentences to explain to my students what not to do. "Unambergrised" and "condign" are fun, but not even Evil Time Lords could speak that way with a straight face. I also wanted Covenant to be less mopey and pull himself together, but he's more of a Hamlet type, I suppose. The Giants were cool.

 

One of my favourites was " the colour of chrysophrase and Daphins Eyes"...why not just say Green you berk lol

hehehe ... doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

How about this one? ....

Gradually, the night stumbled as if stunned and wandering aimlessly into an overcast day -- limped through the wilderland of transition as though there were no knowing where the waste of darkness ended and the ashes of light began. The low clouds seemed full of grief -- tense and uneasy with accumulated woe -- and yet affectless, unable to rain, as if the air clenched itself too hard for tears.......

Instead of .......

It was a dull sort of a night

[IbanezJem]

The Magus by John Fowles, which I fell in love with at Uni and have no reason to reject it now. It`s the greatest in terms of total pages too :)

 

For comedy - Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome. Over 130 years old but I`ve never laughed out loud so much as when reading this.

 

For general awesomeness, Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving.

[Mujurus]

The Karamazov Brothers by Fyodor Dostoevsky

[Lorraine]

Gone With The Wind

[goose]

Interesting question. Here are three of my favorite books (of literary consequence, anyway)...

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

 

Roughing It - Mark Twain

 

1001 Arabian Nights

[Nova Carmina]

Interesting question. Here are three of my favorite books (of literary consequence, anyway)...

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

 

Roughing It - Mark Twain

 

1001 Arabian Nights

 

All four of your top three are great picks!

 

Don Quijote is so great -- so much more than charging windmills, and the sheer scale of storytelling in the 1001 Nights makes that a desert island book for me, surely.

[laughedatbytime]

Bill James Baseball Abstract 1984. Revolutionized the way I see the game.

[goose]

Interesting question. Here are three of my favorite books (of literary consequence, anyway)...

 

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

 

Roughing It - Mark Twain

 

1001 Arabian Nights

 

All four of your top three are great picks!

 

 

Limiting my top three to four was a challenge in itself!

[Thebuckeye2112]

I'd have to say I am a big fan of classic books that have created sociopolitical stirs, the more controversial the better. I especially loved George Orwell's chilling almost prophetic visions found in the pages of Animal Farm and/or 1984 which ironically most Americans horribly mistranslate or cannot even grasp the main theme of the books without having to use their preconceived and prejudiced views of Socialism and or Totalitarianism fog up their reading experience. Likewise Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five also has the same impression, only instead of socialism or totalitarianism it is really all about The way of life after seeing your country actively betray you just because of the savage and nihilistic beings that is war and excessive to extreme patriotism. 

[Malignant Narcissist]

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The End of the World news by Antony Burgess

The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov

Matter by Iain Banks

Hyperion  Cantos by Dan Simmons

 

 

Hard to choose a 'greatest' but these 5 were very enjoyable and page turners. 

The End of the World news was my introduction to Burgess and I didn't really know about Clockwork Orange.

But it is 3 stories in parallel, one of which is sci-fi, a genre which he thought had a lot of mileage despite it's 'pulpy' reputation.

But even though I liked to read, this really got me back into reading more interesting authors. 

Due to some studying, I had a pause in reading and then started back with Jane Eyre and really enjoyed it. 

I've got a stack of 'classics' knocking about that I mean to read but seem to default to sci-fi, action and horror since then and the last 3 here were once again, ones I couldn't put down. 

 

So which was/is the greatest? Maybe Matter wouldn't be at the top of the list but all the others here were very enjoyable in their own way and the 'best' I've read up until now. 

[Malignant Narcissist]

On 7/21/2020 at 8:23 PM, IbanezJem said:

The Magus by John Fowles, which I fell in love with at Uni and have no reason to reject it now. It`s the greatest in terms of total pages too :)

 

For comedy - Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome. Over 130 years old but I`ve never laughed out loud so much as when reading this.

 

For general awesomeness, Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving.

 

I've got The Magus knocking about and I mean to read it at some point as well as some of his other stuff (e.g. French Lieutenants Woman etc). It does look a bit of a doorstop of a book but I've heard he's an interesting writer. 

[Timbale]

It might not even be my all-time favourite...but I think the greatest book I've ever read was The Grapes Of Wrath.  I was astounded how modern and forward thinking it was.

[Sonatine]

Tough choices as it varies and tastes change over time. However, if I had a top 5 right now it would be 

• Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
• 2001 - Clarke
• LOTR of course
• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Adams
• Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Donaldson (but I really REALLY have to be in the mood for that one despite the excellent writing)
   

[treeduck]

The Mad Midget Monger of Old Spicy Row by Skull Basebrain, ladies and gentlemen it's a classic.