Best book you ever read.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Cuilionn
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 02:47 PM

Tae reward masel for a few months o haird "responsible grown-up type" wairk, Ah went tae the local library an ransacked the sae-called "juvenile" section for Celtic folklore-inspired fiction.

Twa verra satisfyin results: Nancy Bond's "A String in the Harp" (Welsh history/folklore, ISBN 0-689-80445-8) and Franny Billingsley's "The Folk Keeper" (Child Ballad-influenced, complete wi selkies & things that gae bump in the nicht, ISBN 0-689-82876-4).

Ah suid alsae recommend the "Green Knowe" buiks by Lucy Boston, (English history & folklore) & onythin by Jane Yolen, especially her short-story collections sic as "The Moon Ribbon" & "The Girl Who Cried Flowers."

Wi that, Ah'm aff tae the library aince mair!

--Cuilionn

Subject: Timbrel
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 12:48 PM

Just got the downloaded copy of this book! Read 5 chapters already and I love it! My 11 and 12 year old love it and I had to stop them from reading too much as it was getting late. Well done! You have got even an adult excited about finding out what happens in the future pages.

Recommend this book!!!!

Subject: Excellant!
From: GUEST,ladyfox
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 12:40 PM

Just got the downloaded copy of this book! Read 5 chapters already and I love it! My 11 and 12 year old love it and I had to stop them from reading too much as it was getting late. Well done! Yuo have got even an adult excited about finding out what happens in the future pages.

Recommend this book!!!!

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,sarah springall
Date: 08 Jul 04 - 02:18 AM

the best book i have ever read is by Chris Saint John a an author of children's books. He recently published a book called Timbrel. Timbrel is a fantasy story about a little girl who dreams she is a fairy princess from another world. It is fast paced and full of action Chris Saint John has an energetic style and a great sense of humour. His imagination is vivid as is his prose

You can buy his book at www'lulu.com/chrissymonds the ISBN 1-4116-0807-0

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 08:03 AM

Some that have stuck with me in the past few years;

My Year of Meat, by Ruth Ozeki
Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman
The Fresco, by Sheri S Tepper
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, by Thad Carhart


Some wonderful children's books include-

"Sabriel", "Lirael", and "Abhorsen", by Garth Nix

Not to be missed Children's Book (For all ages) is-

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: freda underhill
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 07:11 AM

The Jigsaw Man by Paul Britton, tho a bit gory in places, is a fascinating book by a British forensic/criminal psychologist, about his investigative work with criminals. more interesting than those i've read by US "profilers".

Any book by Robin Hobb.(fantasy writer)

Mayada, Daughter of Iraq, by Jean Sassoon - this book is an incredible true account of an upper class Iraq woman's time in jail under Saddam Hussein's regime.

If you are a lawyer, and you want to change the world, read "Lionel Murphy - a Political Biography" by journalist Jenny Hocking. This story of an Australian left wing lawyer who became a judge and then Attorney General, is inspiring for any lawyer or politician in any country to read. its interesting to read how he changed a country, and how conservatives forces in the country "crucified" him in response.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: jacqui.c
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 03:20 AM

My granddaughter,Meghan, read GREAT EXPECTATIONS at the age of 8.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 15 Apr 04 - 03:07 AM

Guest [two posts back]--nobody believes me, but I'll repeat it again----I read the "Ragged-trousered Philanthrophist" before my ninth birthday. Hardly usual childhood reading--but I was an odd kid [still am----!]

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: ranger1
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 04:17 PM

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (avoid the really bad movie)
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
anything by Charles de Lint
The Lord of the Rings
Beowulf (in translation)
Le Mort d'Arthur (in translation)
365 Days (can't remember the author)
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
the Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr

And too many more to list at the moment

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 04:17 PM

Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan, The Green Fool and Tarry Flynn by Patrick Kavanagh.
The Ragged trousered philanthropist by Robert Noonan. [he used the non-de-plume Tressell].
On another mans wound by Ernie O`Malley.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 12:30 PM

Eureka Street.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Stu
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 11:25 AM

The New York Trilog by Paul Auster

The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin - your life will be enhanced if you read this book!

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 02:29 AM

Spirit Lake--McKinlay Kantor
Andersonville---same author.
Sitka--Louis Lamour
The Lion in the North --John Prebble

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: kendall
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 09:04 AM

Rock Formations in death valley by Beauregard Bottomly

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: s6k
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 08:56 AM

1984, george orwell

dark side of the moon - william corlett

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,M'Grath of Altcar
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 06:20 AM

The Lydian - Chromatic Theory of Tonal Organization in Composition and Arrangement. - by George Russell. Anyone else here read it? Mmmmm new thread perhaps?

If fiction it is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 05:33 AM

the instruction book for my microwave, i didn't read all of it though, it got a bit boring towards the end.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Jawbone
Date: 13 Apr 04 - 04:51 AM

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 12 Apr 04 - 07:02 AM

Refreshing this..

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Apr 04 - 02:06 PM

Amos
Yes, The Poisonwood Bible was indeed both amazing and heartbreaking.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Penguin Egg
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 06:36 PM

Here are some books about music:

Victor Jara: An Unfinished Song by Joan Jara
Dazzling Stranger : Bert Jansch and the Britsh folk and blues revivial by Colin Harper
Deep Blues by Robert Palmer
Alexis Korner by Harry Shapiro
Mystery Train by Greil Marcus
Conversations with Eric Clapton (circ. 1976) by Steve Turner

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,earthling
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 02:56 PM

THE MAGUS by John Fowles
WALKING ON GLASS by Iain Banks
THE MAGIC TOYSHOP by Angela Carter

reading THESE IS MY WORDS   by Nancy Turner at the moment.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 02:06 PM

My favourite fiction is:
Most novels, short stories, and novels by Thomas Hardy, but       especially "The Mayor of Casterbridge"
Waterland by Graham Swift
Gulliver's Travels by the other Swift
Most Roddy Doyle, but especially "Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha"
The Bridge by Iain Banks
The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan
Lanark by Alisdair Gray
Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh
Both "Slaughterhouse 5" and "The Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Most Harlan Ellison, but especially "Strange Wine."
Catch 22- Joseph Heller
The Grapes of Wrath by John Stenibeck
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway
Any Graham Greene
In Case of Emergency by Georges Simenon
The Gormenghast Triology by Mervyn Peake
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Best of Robert Block
The Time Machine by HG Wells
Captive Universe by Harry Harrison
Dying Inside and Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
FLuke by James Herbert
and I like the stories of Brent Dorman that appear in Forum but which, as far as I am aware, yet to be collected.

......... and best political books are:
Heroes by John Pilger
The View From the Ground and The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn
Deferring Democracy by Noam Chomsky
The Heavy Dancers by EP Thompson
The Thomas Paine Reader
Essays by George Orwell

.... and best history books:
The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson
Cromwell:Our Chief of Men by Lady Antonia Frasier
William Cobbett; The Poor Man's Freind by George Spater
Thomas Paine:A Political Life by John Keane
Industry and Empire by Eric Hobsbawm


I am reading Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom, which is proving fascinating.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 01:18 PM

mabe not the best but one of the funniest- Stories told in the kitchen by Kendall Morse.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Amos
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 11:32 AM

One of my recent (last ten years) favorites is anything by Barbara Kingsolver ...especially the Poisonwood Bible.


A

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 11:14 AM

How strange...I was just thinking how nice it would be to have a thread on this subject! Now I'll have to make the time YET AGAIN to read this whole thing, and the others listed above!

I have one true addiction, and they are books. I know this thread has been out of circulation for a long while, but if anyone reads this, and wants to offer some of their favorites, I'd be most beholding...

As to my own favs...the top on my list is "Magister Ludi ( or The Glass Bead Game) by Hermann Hesse

It's a long list, and in some cases easier to mention authors, as I seem to read my way through whatever someone I really like has written.

My latest is Sheri S. Tepper, which if you like Science Fiction or Feminist literature, or just a darn good read, I highly recommend.

I hesitate really getting going here, because like all addictions, I can wax lyrical...and truth be told, I'm far more interested in seeing what some of you have to recommend.

If this thread gets re-energized, I'd be happy to add on to it..but let's see if there are any other bites!

xx..e

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Tonya
Date: 09 Apr 04 - 12:37 AM

These five books all tie. Each and every one of them are awesome and must reads.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor
A Picture of Freedom, by Patricia C. McKissack

Each of these books are extremely well written, have complex yet understandable plots full of twists and turns, and can be deeply analyzed. All of them have powerful endings. Very unforgetable books.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 05:40 PM

A bit gory, though.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Fergie
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 11:00 AM

Stevie Wonder received a present of a cheesegrater. He said it was the best book he ever read.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: VIN
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:23 AM

I reckon 'Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' and Ursula K Le Guin's 'The Dispossessed' must ranked among my faves (and of course Tolkiens Ring saga)

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:08 AM

A tie between The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Giants In The Earth.

If I could only have one book, though, it would be the Bible.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Hugh Jampton
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:03 AM

My "Pass Book" by Woolwich Equitable makes excellent reading at the moment!

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 09:24 AM

The Waves By Virginia Woolf. Return of The Native, Thomas Hardy. The Cold Moons Aaron Clement. Ivanho, Walter Scott. Narciss and Goldmund, Herman Hesse. Fifth Business, Robertson Davies. Silas Marner, George Eliot. The Lost Garden, Helen Humphries.The Spire, William Golding. The Name of The Rose. Umberto Eco. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte. By Grand Central Station I sat Down and Wept, Elizabeth Smart.
Non Fiction..Down and Out In Paris and London, George Orwell. Broca's Crain, Carl Sagan. Voltaire's Bastards, John Ralston Saul. The Western Canon, Harold Bloom. Goodbye To All Taht, Robert Graves. England Have My Bones, T. H. White, Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain.The Letters of Lord Chesterfield to his Son. Caught In a Web of Words, Elizabeth Murray.
   And oh so many more, a grand thread and great lists.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Merlin
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:32 PM

Lord of the Rings, The Hobbitt, The Silmarillion-Tolkien The Merlin Trilogy(obviously)-Mary Stewart Trinity-Leon Uris A Canticle For Leibowitz-Walter Miller Any poetry by Tennyson or Yeats

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: sadie damascus
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:49 AM

I'd have to say "The Corn King and the Spring Queen", by Naomi Mitchison (published circa 1945?)

Although Malamud's "God's Grace" is pretty wonderful.

Is anyone going to sort and collate this list and make us up an easily read chart or something?

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: FOG(Friend of Gnome)
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 09:05 PM

This has been a fascinating thread. As both a lover and teacher of literature it never ceases to amaze me that writers such as Swift,Dickens and Tolstoy not to mention Tolkien and Heinlein seem to hold their own. For anyone who hasn't come across this guy can I strongly recommend 'The River Why' by David James Duncan.Its still available I think in King Penguin I used to think I was such a cynic that it would take a miracle to get me to grin and cry through words again but this did For all you aging hippies out there that feel like a reaffirmation of life and joy. Buy it. E-mail me and tell me what happened to you. Cos I'll tell you what-all of you -it changed my life.

Phil

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Grab, cookie-less
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 09:13 AM

"Skallagrigg" by William Horwood does it for me. Amazing book. The first 2 Dark Tower books by Stephen King. Stephen Donaldson's Gap series. And Tolkien, of course.

Grab.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Feb 01 - 08:28 AM

Tall Story by Warren Peace

No but seriously folks - I read Alan Kline's biography of Woody Guthrie and "Bound for Glory" back to back. I was spell bound.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 18 Feb 01 - 04:08 PM

I give in - I've got to put my choices up. BEST - not read it yet, but I've had delight, enjoyment, education, and inspiration from many books including the following; MOBY DICK, the opening statement by Ishmael relating his reasons for going to sea is outstanding. TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY, especially the chapter about the old actor. This sparked off a desire to travel in America which I do whenever the chance arises. THE INCOMPLEAT FOLKSINGER; Pete Seeger, need I say more?. THE LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, by Nelson Mandela. THE RIGHTS OF MAN, by Thomas Paine. MULES AND MEN, by Zora Neale Hurston. Tons more, many of those mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Reading right now - LAST NIGHTS FUN by Cairan Carson, wonderful stuff. NAEMANSON - please give me publishing details for DRIVE DULL CARE AWAY, that sounds right up my street. Thanks, Burl.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 10:06 PM

Dialouges with The devil--Taylor Caldwell-Incredible story in the form of letters written between Archangel Michael and Lucifer, a former Archangel on their ideological differnces on the fate of Man. Narcissus And Goldmund--Herman Hesse

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Katcina
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 09:42 PM

I guess it all depends on the criteria for being the best but the one that stands out in my mind the most is "Insomnia" by Stephen King. It has the honor of being the only book in my vast reading history, besides calculus in high school, to make me cry. I don't cry at movies either so that makes it especially memorable for me.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 09:03 PM

Lots of books.
The Narnia Books
The Harry Potter books
Anything by Madeline L'Engle
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Also the rest of the series.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Animal Farm
The Girl Who Owned a City
The Raven (yes I know this is a poem, I still love it)
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
Maniac Magee
Everything that Tamora Pierce writes
So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
Downsiders
Owl in Love ignore the title, it's a good book
The Lives of Christopher Chant by Dianna Wynne Jones(part of a quartet)
The Giver Gathering Blue they're both by Lois Lowry
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede
The Transall Saga
If I didn't put the author, either you should know it or I can't remember it.

HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 19-Feb-2001.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Firecat
Date: 17 Feb 01 - 06:34 PM

I would ike to take this opprtunity to refresh the thread and nominate the HARRY POTTER books by JK Rowling, as well as all the others

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,ursa
Date: 07 Nov 00 - 09:07 PM

Trinity-Leon Uris and the sequal, Redemption
Angela's Ashes-Frank McCourt
Much Ado About Nothing-Shakespeare
The Great Hunger-? The story of the famine in Ireland
Of course, To Kill a Mocking bird-Harper Lee-perhaps the all time favorite
Tzun Tzu-The Art of War.
As a child, I loved Harriett the Spy and the Little House Series

HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 19-Feb-2001.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 10:05 PM

Just wanted to remind you all: The neglected sequel to this thread is here. This one's, ehhh, a little long. :)

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: kimmers
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 10:03 PM

Children's books? Anything by Lloyd Alexander or Joan Aiken. Also, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare.

Fantasy? Tolkien's works, of course. Also, the Winter of the World trilogy by Michael Scott Rohan. And anything by an obscure fantasy writer named Teresa Edgerton. Oh, and Tad Williams' books.

SF? Anything by Connie Willis. Much of Robert A. Heinlein's works, although his last few works were a little weird for me. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Adventures. Others too numerous to mention.

General fiction? The World According to Garp, by John Irving. East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck. Many works by Twain. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flag. Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna something-or-other.

History? Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose. The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. An obscure French book called The History of Food (author?) Shelby Foote's three volume history of the American Civil War.

Other nonfiction? David Keirsey's Please Understand Me, William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways, Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and James Kunstler's The Geography of Nowhere.

I'm not much on romances, Westerns, or mysteries, so I can't comment on those.

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: mmm
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 10:01 PM

i am amazed that almost all my favorite authors have been mentioned its nice to see people with the same taste in books as i do. i am surprised not to see any mention of the harry potter series my son and just finished reading the last book and really loved them (he was harry potter for holloween) tolkien, anne McCaffrey and piers anthony are my all time fantasy writers mmm

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: death by whisky
Date: 06 Nov 00 - 08:57 PM

Just finished Around Ireland with a Fridge...Tony HAwkes Just starting..Mister,are you a priest?...Edward Daly

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,Guest still
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 07:52 AM

The Bible.
As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
The Prophet and all other writings by Kahlil Gibran
The Sleeping Prophet by Jess Stern
There Is a River by Tom Sugrue
Anything by Taylor Caldwell
Meditation, Gateway to Light by Elsie Sechrist
Any thing by Eula Allen
And the list goes on and on, but it always comes back to the Bible.
:o) Gs

Subject: RE: Best book you ever read.
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 02:22 AM

Sacajawea--Anna Lee Waldo
The Name of The Rose--Umberto Eco
The Drifters--James Michener
And A Voice To Sing With-Joan Baez