Best Books Ever

[insanebassman]

Piers Anthony - All his books
Most Stephen King
chuck Palahniuk - Read Fight club and Choke... that is some mind altering shit
Tolkein
Koontz
Anderson
Frank Herbert

And so many more in my 700+ book collection I just can not think of all I enjoy.. No such thing as Best books I would have to think

[insanebassman]

I have to say, one of the greatest books I ever had the pleasure of reading repeatedly was "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

so that has to be a definate on this rhetorical list....

[pol]

dr. seuss - every kid should read these

[N£MO]

The English dictionary.

[NightStalker]

The Lord of the Rings.

[ang3968]

I have read sooooo many books.... where to start

I love Stephen King, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Scott Turow, Richard Patterson North, Nick Earls.... and I could go on forever, but I wont

[gaz_k]

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?

[eng60340]

To kill a mocking bird

my study text for literature.

[javakel]

Wow...there are definitely some interesting novels listed. I just don't see how one could have "a" favorite. Personally, I have never read ANYTHING that didn't leave some sort of lasting impression. I noticed that most named a few books they liked, but I haven't noticed much dialogue on what actually makes them so profound. That just proves how difficult it is to rank literature and other creative forms of expression. It's a highly personal thing, and since everyone experiences different things in their respective lives, the significance and impact of a particular novel varies from person to person. In fact, one person could read a book multiple times, and with each reading it could be interpreted differently and alter its impact on the reader.

And so...*ahem* gaz-k, THAT is one reason to read. Studying literature is a way of gaining knowledge from all sources. It's one of the few ways that ideas can be exchanged between people....not only in the present, but in the future for years to come. I think it's healthy to regard reading as an asset...not a burden. That's just the wrong mentality. In fact, it's the wrong mentality for anything. Okay..so I'm off my soapbox now. But I do understand why some might have an aversion to reading...especially if they were enrolled in the public education system. They teach literature all wrong. You shouldn't HAVE to scour a book looking for the "meaning" or theme. As many prolific writers of the past and present have noted...truly great literature achieves this without effort. It's the affect....not the cause or reason.

Oh yes...just off the top of my head, some reading recommendations:

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison; The Awakening, Kate Chopin; Walden, Thoreau; Paradise Lost, John Milton; She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb; Zombie, Joyce Carol Oats; Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth; Exquisite Corpse, Poppy Z. Brite; House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday; Lolita, Vladimir Nobokov; Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert; White Noise, Don DeLillo; PUSH, Sapphire....and oh so many more!!!

But wait...I can't forget one of my "favorite" contemporary authors: Sherman Alexie....

The Toughest Indian in the World, The Business of Fancydancing, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, and his newest, Ten Little Indians

[Gooch2k]

I'm going to have to go with the majority here and say The Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit.