one of my friends has been telling me this is a real good book so i guess i should read itQuote:
Originally posted by gregster007@15 September 2003 - 16:35
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
mine is daniele steel leap of faith
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one of my friends has been telling me this is a real good book so i guess i should read itQuote:
Originally posted by gregster007@15 September 2003 - 16:35
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
mine is daniele steel leap of faith
Hmmm...Pillars of the Eath is a great read....so is A fine Balance by Mistry..Chaos ,Glass Bead Game,A corner of a foreign field and the Genesis code...
Well somebody else joins may view (Einstein), it's been a long a time since I don't post and nobody mentions Thomas Pynchon, I presume the majority of you are from the States and you don't know him?; it's perhaps one of your greatest writers ever. I also notice that you didn't mention Borges, I'm an argie like him and I think he is great and among the greatest and more influentian writers from th 20th century (from Bradbury, Foucalt, García Marquez, Rushdie, Pynchon, Grant Morrison, Umberto Eco or Martin Amis, and people from other areas of art, always mention him as one of their biggest influences), perhaps he is becoming the writer for writers. I think he is great but many times I enjoy a lot more Cortazar or Bioy Casares, they are more "terrenal", less methaphisical.
To those that criticized my disparaging of superficial, brain candy, such as stephen king and John Grisham, my point is this; you cannot say that "so and so" is the best book ever until you've read "the greats", the consensus great works of literature.
To simplify, if a person were only to ever have seen or driven a geo metro, and not have experienced the pleasure of driving a mercedes or BMW, they're in no position to claim the geo as the greatest car ever. You need a point of reference. Greatest is all relative (haha..see my username....I'm so clever).
I've read Stphen King and Grisham books too, but can easily distinguish a real work of literature from them. The reason these more superficial, spoon-feeding variety of books do so well is because we no longer encourage the reading of the classics...no one cares to expand their minds, and no upping your THC levels in your blood doesn't exempt you from having to expand your mind with literature. Notice that most of the classics deal with very real characters and situations, whereas most of these more superficial works are far removed from reality....make sense? This is the real world you live in....deal with it, understand it, and make it a better place. Distract yourself, if you must, by reading about killer clowns (not Gacey), but quickly come back to the real world and make a difference here.
I dont like to read so there isnt a best book ever.
I'm not sure Einstein, but if you were thinking that I was criticizing you, well you are wrong, I was supporting you. On the other hand I don't agree with that "real world" you are mentioning, in fact I think that perhaps the greatest writers are and were, those that deal with the absurd of life, such as Kafka, Poe, Borges and many others, in the way they like, sometimes using fantasy, sometimes more "real" stuff. Those "real" life writers you are mentioning (and please name one of them)or the next movie "based on real eventes" are mostly bullshit, real life is absurd and not rational. If your aim was to attack science fiction writers I remind you that there are writers like H.G. Wells, Bradbury, Ballard, P.Dick or Lovecraft (for not mention Homer (if he ever exist, and as you may know, his work is the translation of oral stories)) that with that kind of statement, you have to place them as minor writers, I don't think you agree with that. Finally that Tolkien, or Stephen King or others are more succesfull than Joyce, don't make and entire genre bullshit, perhaps there success is link to the fact that they are easier to transpose to a movie, till now with perhaps the exception of "Crash" by Cronemberg and "Blade runner" (that is ok, not much more), great science fiction writers where destroy in movies.
I think "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is the best one.....
:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Idiot by Dostoyevsky
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (or was it someone else?)
Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ever heard the saying: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" ? :)Quote:
Originally posted by einstein1905@20 September 2003 - 01:42
To those that criticized my disparaging of superficial, brain candy, such as stephen king and John Grisham, my point is this; you cannot say that "so and so" is the best book ever until you've read "the greats", the consensus great works of literature.
To simplify, if a person were only to ever have seen or driven a geo metro, and not have experienced the pleasure of driving a mercedes or BMW, they're in no position to claim the geo as the greatest car ever. You need a point of reference. Greatest is all relative (haha..see my username....I'm so clever).
I've read Stphen King and Grisham books too, but can easily distinguish a real work of literature from them. The reason these more superficial, spoon-feeding variety of books do so well is because we no longer encourage the reading of the classics...no one cares to expand their minds, and no upping your THC levels in your blood doesn't exempt you from having to expand your mind with literature. Notice that most of the classics deal with very real characters and situations, whereas most of these more superficial works are far removed from reality....make sense? This is the real world you live in....deal with it, understand it, and make it a better place. Distract yourself, if you must, by reading about killer clowns (not Gacey), but quickly come back to the real world and make a difference here.
----'what is the best book ever?'---- This is a subjective question. It is highly unlikely that anyone has read every book ever written and thus it is possible that all of us have yet to experience " the pleasure of driving a mercedes or BMW"
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (funny, wierd)
Metamorphosis & Other Stories by Franz Kafka (crazy, wierd)
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce ------"Pedestrian, n. The variable (and audible) part of the roadway for an automobile."
" Air, n. A nutritious substance supplied by a bountiful Providence for the fattening of the poor."
The Hitchhikers Guide.....the series and also some of that Dirk Gently stuff by Douglas Adams. (funny, funny)
Bill the galactic hero and....... by Harry Harrison ----- I've read a few and assume the rest will be as amusing.
By Reason of Insanity.................Shane Stevens......1972
Steven King once said, "This is the scariest book I ever read!!"
why didn't anyone say "The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien???
I think it's the best book ever!!!!
C'mon, he makes the whole Middle Earth universe in there!!!!!
:lol: Tolkien is the best... I would also say "The Smith of Wooton Mayor", but The Silmarillion is a piece of art!!!!!!
Any book that I am reluctant to put down.
Spike Milligan:
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
Rommel? Gunner Who?: A Confrontation in the Desert
Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
The best anti-war books ever written by the man that gave Monty Python his Flying Circus.
Swansong by McCammon, man its been so long since I've read that, completely forgot about it. Very good read indeed, like most of his other books..... I'm gonna try and find a copy for a re-read. :)Quote:
Originally posted by ruhroh@15 September 2003 - 17:17
Best books eh? I have 2 favs. The Pillars Of The Earth-by Ken Follet,a must read for most anyone,and Swansong-by robert McCammon,very good read about the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.Both are my top picks.
Catch-22 (great devices used and interesting process, my personal favorite)
Catcher in the Rye (always a favorite)
Robinson Carusoe (have to read it 2 times every summer)
and for diversion-
Mario Puzo (any)
Clancy (any except the series books)
Crichton (any)
Tolkien (any)
classics to action to thrillers to fantasy. well its a diversified selection. :rolleyes: :)Quote:
Originally posted by _cHiCkEn__@7 December 2003 - 22:23
Catch-22 (great devices used and interesting process, my personal favorite)
Catcher in the Rye (always a favorite)
Robinson Carusoe (have to read it 2 times every summer)
and for diversion-
Mario Puzo (any)
Clancy (any except the series books)
Crichton (any)
Tolkien (any)
William Bernhardt. B)
His novels about attorney Ben Kincaid are great whodunnit stories, I have yet to figure one out before the killer is revealed, have yet to put one down until i'm finished with it either.
the anwser is 42
Yes. But what is the question?
A child called it
The lost boy
A man named Dave
the question is:Quote:
Originally posted by Tug@9 December 2003 - 22:46
Yes. But what is the question?
what is the meaning of life?
stephen kings -it
cuz that's is the scarest damn clown ever
Well after looking over all 7 pages I'm quite disappointed that two awsome series of books didn't appear:
The first is Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Its kindof like The Lord of the Rings in the sence that its in the midevil age but there is a lot of magic and extreamly deep story line.
The second is Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. While I haven't read much of this one, what I've heard from others is it is very good.
Each of these series has over 6000 pages of text which makes for a nice LONG story.
P.S. These books are just my own damn opinion but, if you don't like em too damn bad.
A Scientific Romance (Ronald Wright)
An englishman discovers H.G. Wells' tim machine and travels 500 years into the future where he finds all of London to be deserted.
I loved this book. Wright thought of every detail about time travel. Truely a great science fiction novel.
ooh yah forgot that 1 i agree i love that story what made me want to create my own anime's cartoons ,most of my stuff is based upon the futureQuote:
Originally posted by quiksilver_aus@17 December 2003 - 02:29
A Scientific Romance (Ronald Wright)
An englishman discovers H.G. Wells' tim machine and travels 500 years into the future where he finds all of London to be deserted.
I loved this book. Wright thought of every detail about time travel. Truely a great science fiction novel.
The Dragonlance series is great and so is Lord of The Rings - a book that can bring you to just say WoW! :D
66 seperate books....
come on man, you're getting a little too technical.
Either way the Bible tells an epic story as a whole and not in separate parts.
It would be like taking chapters out of a book.
Regardless its the greatest story ever told.
Yeah...Catcher in the Rye, great book.
And the fact that it has been linked to deranged minds means some of us are some very sick individauls.
But to be honest, I've read a slew of books both ancient and modern, and it seems the books I read when I was younger have stuck with me the longest. I often think about Childhood's End and When the Legends Die. They may not be the best but they are some good books.
Green Eggs and HamQuote:
Originally posted by Aphelos@18 December 2003 - 04:40
66 seperate books....
come on man, you're getting a little too technical.
Either way the Bible tells an epic story as a whole and not in separate parts.
It would be like taking chapters out of a book.
Regardless its the greatest story ever told.
Yeah...Catcher in the Rye, great book.
And the fact that it has been linked to deranged minds means some of us are some very sick individauls.
But to be honest, I've read a slew of books both ancient and modern, and it seems the books I read when I was younger have stuck with me the longest. I often think about Childhood's End and When the Legends Die. They may not be the best but they are some good books.
R folks talking about the greatest books written here or merely their favorite books written?
Hey, I could probably count many of the books listed in this thread as favorites, but I guess I'm a bit old school. I mean can u really compare most of the books mentioned with greats like The Brothers Karamazov, Odyssey, or Don Quixote? Just a thought.