Day
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Posts: 115
Loc: Allen, TX
Reg: 07-23-05
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07-23-05 02:01 PM - Post#3899
Not quite a review, but... well, the subject of the thread sums it up.
These are a few of my favorite books, starting with my top five, and then moving on to the rest in no particular order.
1. George Orwell's 1984. Easily my favorite book. I'm a huge fan of utopian/dystopian literature.
2. Luo Guanzhong's Three Kingdoms. This is a Chinese classic comparable to Homer's The Odyssey or The Iliad. If you go for this one, get the entire four-book boxed set. I just finished the fourth book yesterday. Fantastic!
3. Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the book, it's time you checked this out. The book is far better than the movie (although I did enjoy the movie a lot).
4. Stephen King's The Long Walk. King actually wrote this one under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. I'm not a big fan of King's, but this was an excellent realistic fiction thriller.
5. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Lucifer's Hammer. This is an incredible thriller about the end of the world and what comes afterward. It follows the discovery of a comet, the comet striking the earth, and everyone struggling to survive in its aftermath. I began reading this one for the third time yesterday.
The rest, as I said, are in no particular order (although the first five fill up the rest of my top ten; I just haven't put them in their 6-10 order yet... if that makes sense).
-Ender's Game and the rest of the Ender saga by Orson Scott Card.
-The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
-Choke by Chuck Palahniuk.
-The Princess Bride by William Goldman. A sappy love story, but if you've seen the movie (which does the book no justice), you'll understand.
-Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored by Richard Cole, Led Zeppelin's road manager. An incredible look behind the music of my favorite band.
-Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. If you're a grammar and punctuation stickler like me, I highly recommend this book to you.
-On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
-Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
-Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk.
-Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. If you can't tell, I'm a fan of his work.
-A King of Infinite Space by Allen M. Steele.
-Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner.
-Looking Backward: 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy.
-The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
-America (the Book) by Jon Stewart.
-In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
-The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker.
These very last two I owe my thanks to my elementary AIM teacher for six years, Judith Barnes, for introducing to me.
-The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson.
-The Giver by Lois Lowry.
That's it!
-Jack
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rtdb
enthusiast
Posts: 296
Loc: Allen, TX, USA
Reg: 05-09-02
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Re: My Favorite Books
07-30-05 08:41 PM - Post#3900
In response to Day
I've been meaning to reply to this for a while...great topic. Here are my favorites in no particular order...lots of kid lit on here as well. Some are just particular authors.
For Kids (and kids at heart!):
Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
Artemis Fowl Series - Eoin Coffer
Anne of Green Gables series
Narnia Series - C.S. Lewis
Little House Series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Eragon - Christopher Paolini
Gone Away Lake/Return to Gone Away - Elizabeth Enright
Nancy Drew Series - Carolyn Keene
Encyclopedia Brown Series - Donald Sobel
A Wrinkle in Time Series + anything else by Madeline L'Engle
Trixie Belden Series - Kathryn Kinney and someone else
Indian in the Cupboard Series - Lynne Reid Banks
More Grown Up Stuff:
Voyager Series by Diana Gabaldon
Mrs. Pollifax Series and anything else by Dorothy Gilman
Anything by Jilly Cooper
Janet Evanovitch
Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
A Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
I also love to read cookbooks, gardening books, and various do it yourself type manuals.
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campbellfam
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Posts: 1849
Loc: Allen, TX, USA
Reg: 07-12-02
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-09-05 12:21 PM - Post#3901
In response to rtdb
I thought this was an excellent topic too until I tried to really think about my favorite books. My tastes change so frequently that it's hard to say. 
I find that I tend to have favorite authors more than favorite books so I thought I'd list a few authors.
Mary Higgins Clark, Nora Roberts, David Sedaris, Marek Halter, JK Rowling, ummmm...hmmm...
Who are some of y'alls favorite authors (so I can steal your answers )?
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Anonymous
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-15-05 04:00 PM - Post#3902
In response to Day
It's been a long time since I've looked at my list of favorites. A very good exercise to go through every once in a while.
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Watership Down - Richard Adams
The Child Buyer - John Hersey
Hiroshima - John Hersey
This Perfect Day - Ira Levin
Job - KJV
The Plague - Albert Camus
Why I am Not a Christian - Bertrand Russell
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Typee - Herman Melville
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Kinds of Minds - Daniel Dennett
Civil Disobedience - Henry David Thoreau
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
Art and Visual Perception - Rudolf Arnheim
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing - Margaret Livingstone
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cmlucas
enthusiast
Posts: 304
Loc: Lucas, TX
Reg: 08-14-05
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-17-05 11:37 AM - Post#3903
In response to
I love to read. I am thrilled to see this topic opened up. I'm always looking for new authors. I started keeping a list of authors and titles on my Palm Pilot so that I would quit buying books I had already read at the used bookstores. The list is currently 39 pages long. I wish I had started keeping it years ago.
I tried to do a list of my favorite books, but I was spending way to much time trying to decide which ones to include. Here is a list of my favorite authors. I know it is a long list, but every time I would take a name off, I would remember something great from one of the books and put the name back. I hope someone out there finds a new author off this list and has a wonderful journey into the world they have created in their books.
Olive Ann Burns
Diane Chamberlain
Jennifer Chiaverini
Billy C. Clark
Mary Higgins Clark
Sandra Dallas
Dayna Dunbar
S.K. Epperson
Joy Fielding
Fannie Flagg
Dorothea Benton Frank
Lisa Gardner
Lewis Grizzard
Phillip Gulley
Karen Harper
Kay Hooper
Ad Hudson
Rona Jaffe
J. A. Jance
Jan Karon
Faye Kellerman
Wally Lamb
Lorna Landvik
Billie Letts
Beverly Lewis
Debbie Macomber
Ed McBain
Sharyn McCrumb
Joan Medlicott
Robert Morgan
James Patterson
Jodi Picoult
Belva Plain
John R. Riggs
Robert Schenkkan - The Kentucky Cycle
Anne Rivers Siddons
Karin Slaughter
Patricia H. Sprinkle
Wendy Corsi Staub
Penelope Stokes
Karen Hanson Stuyck
Adriana Trigiani
Cynthia Victor
Jane Waterhouse
Charlene Weir
Michael Lee West
Stuart Woods
L. R. Wright
Vinita Hampton Wright
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Day
enthusiast
Posts: 115
Loc: Allen, TX
Reg: 07-23-05
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-17-05 11:00 PM - Post#3904
In response to Day
I've just finished reading Dan Brown's The da Vinci Code. This was definitely one of the most captivating books I've ever read. My fiancee practically had to beg me to stop reading and go to sleep the past two nights (that's all it took me for this one).
I'm sure this book belongs in my top five, but for now it'll be replacing Choke in the top ten.
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RaymondATLucas
member
Posts: 96
Loc: Lucas, TX, USA
Reg: 02-26-03
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-18-05 08:18 AM - Post#3905
In response to Day
Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely be looking at some of the books listed above. Here's my list. I'm sure I've left some out, but this is what sticks in my mind at present.
"Lord of the Rings Trilogy" (read "The Hobbit" first to get the set up for the trilogy)
Hunter S. Thompson, "Hell's Angels", Fear and Loathing, etc.
Loren Estelman (the Amos Walker detective series). Gritty detective novels.
Bill Bryson, "A Short History of Nearly Everything", "A Walk in the Woods", et al.
Clive Cussler and spinoffs. Great action books with a sense of humor and gallantry.
Patrick O'Brian, the Master and Commander series. The recent movie starring Russell Crowe was true to the books and was very good. I recommend reading the books in order of publication, but any order will work. Wonderful, well written books with multi-dimensioned characters.
Walter Isaacson, "Benjamin Franklin, An American Life" nonfiction
David Hackett Fischer, "Paul Revere's Ride" A really great account of the ride and the battles of Lexington and Concord.
Paul Theroux, any of his travel books
Michael Palin, any of his travel books--generally companions to documentaries.
P.G. Wodehouse, the Bertie Wooster series
Dashiell Hammett, there's a reason many of his books were made into movies.
Alfred Lansing, "Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage". Get the edition which has pictures.
George MacDonald Fraser, the Flashman series. How to describe Flashman? He was involved with many of the main events in history, but his behavior always left a lot to be desired. Fortunately for him, he always came out the hero.
George Carlin. Do not read his books if you have any ( and I mean any ) sacred cows. How funny is this stuff?--I was being prepped for major lung surgery and was laughing as they came to wheel me to the OR.
Hemingway. If you've never tried him, don't be scared off by the name. These are great stories.
Someone else suggested Job (KJV). I have read one of the more modern translations, but this is a book for people who have had something awful happen in their life and are trying to figure out how to deal with it. It is a much more subtle story than I would have thought, having been raised in the Baptist Church. There is what I would call a Zen like quality to Job's story that I have never heard a preacher deal with effectively.
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vrs
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Posts: 2844
Loc: Allen, Texas
Reg: 04-20-00
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-22-05 11:20 AM - Post#3906
In response to RaymondATLucas
You know, a friend recommended Patrick O'Brian to me and I tried to read the first book about 3 years ago but I just could not seem to get into it. Last year another friend recommended it also. Maybe it's a guy thing?
I did a study on Job last year and - like you - found a great deal in it that I had not before. But I still struggle with it. Would be good conversation someday.
Thanks for your list. I used to just love George Carlin - then he got so incredibly vulgar. Are the books that way? The no sacred cow part is certainly fine with me.
| Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip are the reason I have trust issues. |
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Day
enthusiast
Posts: 115
Loc: Allen, TX
Reg: 07-23-05
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-22-05 11:36 AM - Post#3907
In response to vrs
I've got three of Carlin's books (is that all of them? I don't know). They're funny, but yes... some parts of them get pretty vulgar. How they read, pretty much, are like transcripted comedy acts he's done. Several of his bits take up a lot of the books.
-Jack
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MsAlyce
enthusiast
Posts: 4392
Loc: Allen,Texas,USA
Reg: 04-03-04
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-24-05 06:43 PM - Post#3908
In response to campbellfam
I agree with you can't just say I like one or another, I just LOVE to read. I have 1-3 books started at a time. I might be reading one thinking when is this going to get better, until I discovered it didn't and I've read the whole thing.LOL
"Mom" to 80+ children @
Exclusively Before & After, Inc.
972/390-7162
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rtdb
enthusiast
Posts: 296
Loc: Allen, TX, USA
Reg: 05-09-02
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-24-05 10:32 PM - Post#3909
In response to MsAlyce
Ms. Alyce, I know exactly what you mean! I typically have several books going at the same time. This habit drives my husband absolutely nuts, by the way! My "need to read" list is expanding greatly with this thread...
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vrs
enthusiast
Posts: 2844
Loc: Allen, Texas
Reg: 04-20-00
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-25-05 09:36 AM - Post#3910
In response to rtdb
Same thing with me. Maybe this is the female equivalent of channel surfing.
| Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip are the reason I have trust issues. |
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campbellfam
enthusiast
Posts: 1849
Loc: Allen, TX, USA
Reg: 07-12-02
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-25-05 10:50 AM - Post#3911
In response to vrs
Maybe we should start a book swap...
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MsAlyce
enthusiast
Posts: 4392
Loc: Allen,Texas,USA
Reg: 04-03-04
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-25-05 12:02 PM - Post#3912
In response to campbellfam
I have a box of books right now, so if you are really serious I'd bring them up to the center and you could come on down and pick 1-2-3 up. It's right by the library so if you didn't find one you liked you could just go across the street!
"Mom" to 80+ children @
Exclusively Before & After, Inc.
972/390-7162
alleneba.com |
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Bandit's Gang
enthusiast
Posts: 197
Loc: Allen,TX
Reg: 03-03-03
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Re: My Favorite Books
08-27-05 10:18 AM - Post#3913
In response to MsAlyce
I have been looking for something new to read...
Since Princess Bride is our family favorite movie, I may have to start there.
Two of my favorite books: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry,
Watchers by Dean Koontz
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Jim Johnson
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Posts: 146
Loc: Frisco, TX
Reg: 04-10-06
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Re: My Favorite Books
06-10-06 07:10 AM - Post#3914
In response to Bandit's Gang
Of course my favorite book is the one that I just finishing writing; Billy the Kid, His Real Name Was ... It can be reviewed and perchased at :
http://outskirtspress.com/billythekidwho
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KVue
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Posts: 136
Reg: 06-28-08
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07-15-08 11:42 AM - Post#53881
In response to Jim Johnson
I also love to read. Off the top of my head, here are my favs:
The Deep End of the Ocean by by Jacquelyn Mitchard
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
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