I’ve been reading a lot of books for school recently, and many of them have been really boring and hard to finish. I need to find some good ones.
so I’m copying Andrew_Carter’s movie thread, and starting my own, about BOOKS!! post your favoritest books ever ever, so I can read them, and enjoy them. ( :
I don’t read many books, but I have read some great ones (mainly for school). I’d like to read more, but never know what to buy…so thanks for starting this thread.
To Kill A Mockingbord
Of Mice And Men
Death of a Salesman
…that’s all I can think of for now.
The Da Vinci Code (by Dan Brown) is really really popular here in Australia and I’d like to get myself a copy. Somebody also strongly recommended another of his novels but I can’t remember which.
Andrew
all of Dan Brown’s books are really really good, but the one your friend probably recommended was Angels and Demons. That’s his other most popular one.
I also recommend Deception Point, and Digital Fortress, two other books he’s written.
The two authors I read a lot is John Grisham and Tom Clancy. I’ve read all but two of Grisham’s books and for the most part, I like them all. The Partner was my first and high up on the list. I’ve read all the books in the Jack Ryan series by Tom Clancy. If you want to start reading Clancy and you don’t know where to start, try Without Remorse, Hunt for Red October, or Clear and Present Danger. Those are my personal favorites.
Patrick Robinson is another author I enjoy reading. He writes Clany like novels. Both Nimitz Class and Kilo Class were excellent novels.
I will be looking for new authors to start reading soon, so I look forward to the rest of the suggestions.
Out of the hundreds of books i’ve read over the years, “The Da Vinci Code” was one of the best books I’ve ever read!
The Charm School
Harry Potter Books
Are runners-up
Actually there’s too many to mention.
I agree with you but I didnt like Digital Fortress and I couldn’t finish Deception Point.
Other good Ones
Soldier X (favorite book)
Fallen Angels
Silent Warrior
POW
anything by hunter s thompson
all the spenser detective books (by robert parker)
catcher in the rye
sidartha (sp?)
on the road
electric kool aid acid test
autobiography of the brown buffalo
oh boy, books are fun.
i cant say i approve of tom clancy or dan brown, but if thats what you are into…
anyway, some of my favorite authors are
dostoevsky, nabokov, mishima, kawabata, borges, gogol, hemingway, and camus.
in my opinion its important to learn something while you are reading. even though the da vinci code may be entertaining to read, you wont walk away with any more understanding of the world. if you are going to invest the time to read a novel, make it one that will challenge your mind and occupy your thoughts for the weeks following.
I’ve got many good books I’d recomend, but I always froget them. Here’s a few (in no perticular order):
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Rings trillogy
The Catcher in the Rye
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Modoc
many others…
Yeah!If you’re into books as a way to spend a couple of hours then there’s Clancy, Dan Brown, Grisham, Robin Cook, lotsa others.
I never thought books could get me laughing till my stomach hurt until I read P.G.Wodehouse.
But if you’re looking for a more a serious read try William Shirer’s “The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich”. My copy of this one has a huge swastika sign on the cover and I was reading this in an airport. My head was shaved then, as well. Too bad I’m not white. I was looking forward to my first body cavity search.
Anything by Shakespeare, Hamlett and MacBeth are my favorites…
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James was amazing, for the same reason I love Shakespeare - you have to think when you’re reading.
Frank Herbert’s Dune was an excellent novel, I can’t wait to read the other 9 million books in the series.
I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (the playwrite), which is possibly the best book I’ve ever read.
I started to read Dante’s The Divine Comedy, but got sidetracked by MacBeth. I was a few cantos into it, and really impressed. That also depends on what translation you read…
Right now I’m reading a book about the Golden Ratio by Mario Livio… great book, it appeals to my math geek side…
I have a whole shelf of books I just bought… I spent probably close to $250 US at Barne’s and Noble’s… books ranging from A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, to Nigger, to Requiem For a Dream (it was a novel before Darren Aronofsky turned it into an EXCELLENT movie), to Dumas’s The Count of Monte Christo, compliations of works by Henry James and Voltaire, Mein Kampf (and a Holy Bible sitting right next to it)… I know there’s more that I’m forgetting now… I havn’t read anything from Dan Brown, but I plan on it…
Dave
Catcher in the Rye has been mentioned a couple of times. At the risk of coming off as snobbish, I’d strongly recommend Salingers’ other works, too. Catcher, in my opinion, while excellent, is the least of his books. 9 Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters are all better. They are richer, more challenging, subtler, and better on each rereading.
I forgot the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galexy (includes all hitchhiker’s books. great stories. Funny as a frog wearing a tuxedo in a blender)
hmmm lets see…
The Power Of One
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Tales Of The Otori Trilogy (still not finished but liking it so far)
His Dark Materials Triolgy
Lord Of The Flies
Tandia
I think thats it for now but im bound to think of more later…
as for the divine comedy, there is a translation by a former poet laureate (the inferno only) that is excellent. its the only rhyming translation that i have come across.
i agree with raphael about salinger 100%.
dave mentioned voltaire so i will say that candide is definitely a good pick, although for it to be appreciated one must have a certain degree of knowledge about lit, in which case one would have probably already read it, so nevermind.
Here’s a copy of my post from THIS THREAD from May of 2003
1.) “Crime and Punishment”, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2.) “At Play in the Fields of the Lord”, Peter Matthiessen
3.) “The Winter of Our Discontent”, John Steinbeck
4.) “A Prayer for Owen Meany”, John Irving
5.) “A Confederacy of Dunces”, John Kennedy Toole
6.) “Smilla’s Sense of Snow”, Peter Hoeg
7.) “Heart of Darkness”, Joseph Conrad
8.) “West into the Night”, Beyrl Markham
9.) “All the Pretty Horses”, Cormack McCarthy
10.) anything by Elmore Leonard
The half of Harper’s choices I’ve read I second the motion. And once you’re into the first one by Cormac McCarthy, might as well go for the whole “Border Trilogy”. I’m partial to “The Crossing” myself.
Time Enough for Love, Robert A. Heinlein
i’ve just finished reading the second version of the Doctor’s personal correspondence
a rare treat
getting slightly more up-to-date (not suggesting that the classics aren’t classics, i just want to make sure some of the newer books don’t get lost in the discussion)
Yann Martel’s ‘Life of Pi’ and his first novel ‘Self’
DBC Pierre’s ‘Vernon God Little’
and the one book i’m willing to stake my book-recomending-reputation on
Mark Haddon’s ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’
read that book and if u think it sucks, u don’t ever have to take me seriously when i recommend a book again, ever
not that there’s anything forcing u to take me seriously now, it just sounded like a pretty dramatic statement
but Haddon’s book is the most must-read book i’ve come accross in a very long time
(it’s like ‘The Station Agent’, the movie i’m willing to stake my movie-recommending-reputation on)
edition
not version
“The periodic table” by Primo Levi
Short stories so you dont need to read them all at once, but they are stunning.
SARah