Best Books Ever

Though I could say the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy like everyone else, which by the way was fantastic, I would have to claim that "Lord of the Dead," by Tom Holland was the best book that I have ever read.

The story insinuates that the renouned Poet Lord Byron, never dies but yet is transformed into a Vampire. The entire novel is about Byrons journey through the centuries, and his love and betrayal of everything he's had, and will lose.

A very good read for those of you who enjoy "good" vampire books.

The Divine Comedy
Stranger in a promised land
Magician-Raymond.E.Feist
The Assasin trilogy- Robin Hobb
The wheel of time series-Robert Jordan

Shadows Fall by Simon R. Green

Most of his stuff is crap from what I can tell but this one stands out to me as the best thing I've ever read. It's hard to explain what it's about. Just imagine where everybody, real or imagined, goes after they die or are forgotten. Cartoons, dead people, elves, and Father Time runs things. This is what he said about it.

[QUOTE]I think it's the best thing I ever did, but it was just too weird for most people, unfortunately.[QUOTE]

Locked In Time
Killing Mr.Griffen
And Then There Were None
I love just about all suspence, mystery books
especially Louis Duncan







-Mike

Recently I've fallen in love with the "malazan" books, about the bridgeburners.

But my all-time favourites include several of those mentioned above as well.

But first and foremost is Asimov's Robot and Foundation novels, Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and of Course all books in the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy "trilogy".

Michael Bulgakov - The Master and Margarite

It's clear from the books listed, that there are many younger people posting, or those that haven't read much.
As noted before, Tolkien writes brain candy. There's not much to it. It's along the lines of Stephen King and John Grisham stuff. Take the time and read some classics.....then compare those to Tolkien.
For instance:

Anything by the following authors:
Camus, Kafka, Nietzsche, Joseph Conrad (Apocolypse Now was based on Heart of Darkness), Dostoyevsky (if you haven't read Crime and Punishment, you have no right naming any other book as "the best"), Sinclair Lewis, Goethe, Herman Hesse, Salinger, Orwell, Everything by Aldous Huxley, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Vonnegut, Shakespeare.
Someone mentioned Black Boy, which is excellent and very moving.\
People are mentioning a lot of superficial crap...just a simple story line and nothing deeper. Anyone of the aforementioned authors will make you think and question your life and everything about it.
A great book can't be made into a movie successfully, because so much of the substance from a great book comes from the reader. A movie simply spoon-feeds you a story.
Take the time to read good literature when you're young. You'll appreciate life so much more and will have a real measuring stick by which to judge a "good" book.

Quote:

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Originally posted by gaz_k@20 August 2003 - 06:47
can honestly say i have never read a full book in my life, i just find them boring and take up far too much of my time wen i could be out n about with real people instead of make believe ones on paper.

i managed to get through high school n college without reading any. got good grades as well, now i at uni n still doin fine, just get the odd bit of info out of text books if needs be, but i honestly cant find the attraction of 300 pages of paper infront of my eyes?

dont mean to sound rude, but what is the rewards from reading so many books?

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You have no idea what you are missing. Reading a good book is like nothing else you'll ever experience. It's so much more immersive than even the best movies.

Some of my favorites include:
Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
Anthem - Ayn Rand
Doomsday Conspiracy - Sidney Sheldon

Chuck Palahniuk - Survivor and Fight Club

One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Anything by Marquez for that matter.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
The World According To Garp by John Irving.

Probably not the best but my favourites anyway.