best book

_ alliance __ alliance _
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
dont know if this thread has popped up yet, but i dont care if it has...

whats the best book(s) uv read?

i think one of the most powerful ive read is On the Beach, by Nevil Shute

this sucker really gets ya thinking--its great shit.

i can read it over and over, never gets old.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 65
    cdhostagecdhostage Posts: 1,038member
    Cryptonomicon

    by Neal Stephenson



    or the Nightfall Series

    by Peter Hamilton
  • Reply 2 of 65
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    I remember reading Fantastic Mr. Fox in 1st grade or so.



    Had to be one of my favorite books ever.
  • Reply 3 of 65
    jeffyboyjeffyboy Posts: 1,055member
    The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, although the TNN mini-series didn't do it justice.



    Jeff
  • Reply 4 of 65
    nonhumannonhuman Posts: 131member
    The without-a-doubt, absolute best, greatest of all time book is: Ender's Game.
  • Reply 5 of 65
    _ alliance __ alliance _ Posts: 2,070member
    [quote]Originally posted by nonhuman:

    <strong>The without-a-doubt, absolute best, greatest of all time book is: Ender's Game.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    i have to agree that its a classic--the rest of the series is very good too
  • Reply 6 of 65
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    This Side of Paradise.



    I am Amory Blaine.
  • Reply 7 of 65
    daverdaver Posts: 496member
    The Cat in the Hat.



    I haven't read enough fiction to suggest anything more adult.
  • Reply 8 of 65
    alphamatrixalphamatrix Posts: 19member
    [quote]Cryptonomicon

    by Neal Stephenson

    <hr></blockquote>

    I second that!
  • Reply 9 of 65
    soulcrushersoulcrusher Posts: 587member
    A Brief History of Time

    Don Quijote de la Mancha
  • Reply 10 of 65
    falconfalcon Posts: 458member
    Raymound E. Feist - The Serpentwar Saga, and the Riftware Trilogy



    Phillip Pullman - His Dark Materials trilogy



    Harry Potter series except book 2 (just saw movie and that STUNK)
  • Reply 11 of 65
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    The Harry Potter books. I've read a million books (not really) and none have captivated me as much as them. They pull you in and you can't stop reading. You get done and think "That was so predictable." The famous hero and his friends will save a bunch of people from a bad guy. Yet you don't dare think that while reading. You would think that adults would find no pleasure in books about wizards, but almost as many adults are reading these as kids. I don't know how J.K. Rowling wrote such masterpieces, but I'm sure glad she did.
  • Reply 12 of 65
    tigerwoods99tigerwoods99 Posts: 2,633member
    The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame!!!!!!! Well at least when I was a young lad. Ratty, Moley, Toad, Badger, and Sirrel the horse!



    "A stolen motor car?"



    The Disney movie is tight too.
  • Reply 13 of 65
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Ender's Game



    Maybe not the best book of all time, but certainly the best book I've read in a long time.



    (I'll bet AI's Ender would agree )
  • Reply 14 of 65
    beerbeer Posts: 58member
    Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Her much shorter work Anthem is a close second, though. Beautiful simplicity.



    Aside from that, I'm a big fan of anything by Hartmann von Aue (Iwein, Erec and Enita), Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, and Ben Jonson's The Alchemist.



    Non-fiction awards would go to Richard Fletcher's The Quest for El Cid, Robert Bartlett's The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950-1350, and James Olson & Randy Roberts' Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945-1995.



    Also exceptional -- and one I'd recommend to all these folks who think they've got US Foreign Policy all figured out (haha) -- is Steven Hook & John Spanier's American Foreign Policy Since World War II.





    And to add another question into the pot, what are you reading now?



    For me, I'm re-reading Stephen King's IT. After being neck deep in historical texts and primary sources for months, I felt the need to indulge in some good old fashioned modern fiction.
  • Reply 15 of 65
    _ alliance __ alliance _ Posts: 2,070member
    [quote]Originally posted by beer:

    <strong>And to add another question into the pot, what are you reading now? </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Organic Chemistry by john mcmurry <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 16 of 65
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
  • Reply 17 of 65
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    [quote]Originally posted by cdhostage:

    <strong>Cryptonomicon

    by Neal Stephenson</strong><hr></blockquote>

    It had the most awful ending though. The whole subplot featuring their old rival and the utter nonsense of the finale in the jungle ruined the book. I suspect he got bored with it a handful of chapters from the end.



    Like choosing a favorite song or film, it's much too hard to pick just one book. Off the top of my head, though, I really enjoyed "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" by Peter Høeg.



    [ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: Belle ]</p>
  • Reply 18 of 65
    applemasterapplemaster Posts: 144member
    Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand



    1984 by George Orwell
  • Reply 19 of 65
    a10t2a10t2 Posts: 191member
    James Halperin: The Truth Machine

    Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy



    Cryptonomicon is right up there too...
  • Reply 20 of 65
    the toolboithe toolboi Posts: 557member
    Cryptonomicon

    by Neal Stephenson

    I agree with the above, the ending ruined this book. However this is how Stephenson operates, like a greek play some ghost comes out of the machine and quickly wraps it all up. The ending ruined this book for me though otherwize it was an amazing book.



    As for Enders Game, that was previously my favorite book ever, AMAZING book. Great story, characters, the parellels between good and evil that his mind draws between his sister and brother, and the final scene when he learns just what the game he was playing was. Brilliant.



    Then I read this book, Kurt Vonneguts Breakfast of Champions. I dont really know what to say other than it changed my outlook on literature. The insanity of Vonneguts mind mixed with enough bizzare and absurdly original ideas to fill a Dali painting three times over. Not to mention the amazingly simplistic yet highly original use of illustrations ( ).

    Over all I cant really describe how good this book is. However I know many who have had problems with it.



    [ 11-27-2001: Message edited by: The Toolboi ]</p>
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