Favorite Books

[Admin]

Despite running a classic literature site, my favorite book isn't so classic.

My favorite is actually a series of books, The DragonLance Saga by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There are actually nearly 60 books I think, but the main storyline is what I'm talking about and spans maybe 16 books. When you get to the end of it it's just amazing.

Lord of the Rings is good too, I like DragonLance better though.

The Wheel of Time is entertaining - however I wouldn't call it good writing. Robert Jordan often seems very unoriginal in how he sets up the various cultures, because he simply borrows and blends from real cultures. When I'm reading it I think "Okay so these people are the Victorian Japanese, those people are the Rennaisance Turks.." and so on.

Non-fantasy books I've liked include The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gulliver's Travels...

Books I've hated.

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
The Lord of the Flies

[MortalFool]

I don't really have a favorite book, I love to read so much, but my favorite author is Mercedes Lackey. I also like Douuglas Adam's Hitchhiker books. (I've only read the first two, but I've ordered the others--They're on their way)

[weirdoe]

The trouble with 'Crime and Punishment' is probably its translation. It's not like I speak Russian - but one of my friends says there's no really satisfying english Dostojewsij-translation at all. So take some Russian and enjoy... :)

I liked 'The Dragonbone Chair' (Tad Williams) and its sequels better than 'The Lord of the Rings', though I admid that Williams is another Tolkien apprentice really.

One of MY favorite books is 'Time's Arrow' by Martin Amis. It's a story told by a soul that's living a person's life in reverse.
Thus he's growing younger from the beginning (his death), works in reverse, eats in reverse, turns good deeds into bad deeds because he does them in reverse and vice versa. It's hilarious at times, though there's a serious idea about it, too (the only way of considering holocaust something good), plus a good deal of this 'the cause is the effect is the cause' philosophy (Derrida and that).

Well. Just read it.

And I hated 'The Lord of the Flies', too.

[prospicio]

My favorite book is Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. It did not make for a quick read, nor was it an action-packed thriller, but I was extremely impressed with both the author's ideas and eloquence as well as his willingness to "practice what he preached."

[Lucian M. Silvian]

Here are some very good books. Unfortunately I cannot find these books translated into Enlish.

Here they are:
Pharaoh by Boleslow Prus, and Les Roi Maudits by Maurice Druon.
I would like to know if they are published in English.

[russb]

On 2002-01-22 13:15, Admin wrote:

The Wheel of Time is entertaining - however I wouldn't call it good writing. Robert Jordan often seems very unoriginal in how he sets up the various cultures, because he simply borrows and blends from real cultures. When I'm reading it I think "Okay so these people are the Victorian Japanese, those people are the Rennaisance Turks.." and so on.

Non-fantasy books I've liked include The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gulliver's Travels...

Books I've hated.

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
The Lord of the Flies



i completely agree WRT The Wheel of Time Soap Opera :)

i did enjoy reading The Scarlet Letter though, and would add The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) to a list of my favorites

[bluto]

1984 by George Orwell. The Brothers Karamozov by Dostoevsky. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Fight Club by Chuck Palahuniuk (I think thats how his name is spelled). Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. The Stand by Stephen King. Crash by Ballard. Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter. Garth Ennis-he writes comics but 99% of his work I've found is excellent.

[northorbitranger]

Hi Chris,

I would love to know what it is that you hated about Crime and Punishment. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and I can't imagine anyone disliking it. But then, a friend of mine recently described Moby Dick as boring, so maybe I have an unusual tolerance for all things tedious.

Cheers,
North

[Admin]

Well, the insane ramblings of Raskonikov, which you are not sure if they are real or imagined, didn't do it for me. Basically I couldn't stand the rambling, that book would ramble for pages.

[Black Flag]

On the contrary, Raskolnikov's ramblings are what I liked, especially after he receives the letter from his mother (which she actually thought would cheer him).
It's the stupid, drunken clerk that he meets whom I don't care for.
(Not to sound too unagreeable).

[BWG]

I read so much there is no way I could name a "favorite" book. Some of my current reads that I really enjoyed are:

Jacob Have I Loved - Katherine Paterson
House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus III
Out of the Night that Covers Me - Pat Devoto
Ethan Fromme - Edith Wharton

Hated:

The Scarlet Letter
Wuthering Heights

Loved:

Jane Eyre

[Athena]

Their Eyes Were Watching God
-Zora Neale Hurston

Uncle Tom's Cabin
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

East of Eden
-John Steinbeck

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
-Ken Kesey



Black Elk Speaks
-John Neihardt

Charlotte's Web :)
-E.B. White

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
-A.Wolf as told to John Scieszka

_________________
. . .and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. . .

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Athena on 2002-03-27 19:02 ]</font>

[Siddhartha]

I also loved the Dragonlance saga I've read many of the books. My personal favorite from them was probably Dragons of summer flame (mostly because of the return of Raistlin).

other favorites:

Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Even Cowgirls get the blues - Tom Robbins
Anything by Chuck Palahniuk (author of fight club)

I also hated Scarlet letter

[happypidgeon]

Ooooooooo...... definately Beowulf. Can't explain it, just love it :D . I'm also a fan of almost anything by Bradbury, he's so poetic and I'm a sucker for it!

~Kris

[fionnmaccuhal]

I too hated the Scarlet Letter, and loved the Weis and Hickman Dragonlance, long ago. They have a lot of other great stuff, including the Death Gate Cycle, which I personally enjoyed even more than Dragonlance, and they are currently working on the Starshield series, which is nice.

As for a favorite, it's just too hard to choose. Some mentioned here stand out, including the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and I think I'd add the Illuminatus! Trilogy into the running.

[useyourmind]

"a Quest Among the Bewildered" by Wulf Zendik

This was a tough one for me because of the great number of books that have influenced me, and all my sentimental favorites - you'd almost have to say that there's a favorite book in each and every category, fiction or non, bio, sci-fi, classic, other, and then there's shakespeare. So many books...

I finally come to which book has the most lasting value, the most impact, the most power to enrich my life, and the book i'd most choose for someone else to read - and I don't mean just to kill time!
So, I think it deserves to be newly elevated to a status deserving of the emotional impact it made on me, and the possible social and cultural impact on humanity.

This is a must read for any thinking feeling human being, if only for the wonderful descriptions of how it feels to be in love and for the author's courage to be honest about the things that everybody thinks and feels, but are afraid to say to each other.

-dennis

Here's a URL for anyone interested http://www.aquestamongthebewildered.com/

[Ruby]

I really go through phases as far as what genre of books I read. When I was young (and I still pick them up once in awhile), my favorite books were : The Secret Garden, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and this one called Ruby in the Smoke.

Now that I am older, I read everything from the classics to horror. My faves are:
Incarnations of Immortality series
Pride and Prejudice
The Great Gatsby
Silence of the Lambs

Just to name a few. I seem to be in the minority though when I say I did enjoy The Scarlet Letter, Wuthering Heights, and Lord of the Flies. I did not like Heart of Darkness and this one book about the Civil War...for some reason the name escapes me. I picked it to read for a summer book report....Oh well.

[Eric, son of Chuck]

I'm not sure if I could pick a favourite author, let alone a favourite book. My taste is just a bit too eclectic, or as my sister would say, random. In grade 8, I lived off of my dad's old philosophy texts from university, so I have a place for Confucius, Aristotle, Machiavelli, etc.

Grade 9-11, I was obsessed with Terry Pratchett. I'm in Grade 12 right now, and I'm back on Pratchett, mostly because I met the guy a couple weeks ago at a reading he did.

However, my Literature 12 class gave me a nice broad view of things, so I'm now big on Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and all the other old epics. Hence my name. ) I ended up writing a mock epic abour WRITING a mock epic, with Eric, son of Chuck (me) as the title character. And I blame Beowulf, and Eaters of the Dead entirely for this. D

[happypidgeon]

Beowulf rocks. 'Nuff said.

:D

~Kris

[Gwenivere]

"Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet. Wow.....a little racy but gorgeously written. Great plot, great characters, great setting, very realistic.

[Gwenivere]

"Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet. Wow.....a little racy but gorgeously written. Great plot, great characters, great setting, very realistic.

[andina]

Hello!
I love "The Little Prince" .....

[chidemont]

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is easily the funniest book I've ever read. If you haven't read it, and you want some laughs, check it out.

[zeowyn]

Ive always loved Charles Dickens-GREAT EXPECTATIONS, DAVID COPPERFIELD etc.- JANE AUSTENS books are great unless you get bored by all the balls and pretty dresses :)- TOLKIENS books of course are... well...I cant find the words.they might be a bit too good actually-TOLSTOIS WAR AND PEACE was incredible-JANE EYRE is marvellous-
CRIME AND PUNISMENT was in its own way very good-
THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY was one of the funniest most amusing things ever, really puts things into perspective.You should also read MADAME BOVARY-so thats my wiev of having a favourite book. ;)

[Eric, son of Chuck]

Zeowyn, if you liked Hitchhiker's Guide, you'd love just about ANY Terry Pratchet.

[D'Artagnan]

Hi Chris,

I would love to know what it is that you hated about Crime and Punishment. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and I can't imagine anyone disliking it. But then, a friend of mine recently described Moby Dick as boring, so maybe I have an unusual tolerance for all things tedious.

Cheers,
North
I'm often surprised there's actually people who didn't find Moby-Dick boring! If you are ever curious about reading dozens of essays on 19th century whaling, then Moby-Dick is the book for you. I wasn't, though, so I found it painfully boring, really. I did enjoy Crime and Punishment quite a bit, though.

My own personal favorite is The Count of Monte-Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas.

[profrandom]

Gaiman's American Gods and Sandman
Dune
the Idiot
Hitchhiker's Guide
Focualt's Pendulum
Gates of Fire
Watchmen

[Leaf]

Top few would be, Lord of the Flies, I don't get how so many hated it, 1984 by George Orwell, The Martian Chronicles-Ray Bradbury and Julius Caesar- Shakespeare.

Books disliked: great Expectations- charles dickens
Books hated: Bodily Harm- Margaret Atwood.

[Vronaqueen]

why do they call wuthering heights a classic? Did anyone else think healthcliff was a whiner and his love a total snob? :evil: Anyone, now that I got that off my chest, my favs are Roscoe by william kennedy, the eyre affair by jasper fforde, and Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller

[Morgan]

My top books are The Plague, The Glass Bead Game and The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
I didn't exactly hated Lord of the Flies, but while reading it I was so terrified, that i decided not to experience that ever again.

[Gumby]

Orson Scott Card "Enders Game" all the way!!!
Its the most inspiring book i've read

[hal9000]

"The appeal of Ender's Game is hard to explain. One
of my personal thoughts is that people who love
the book can really identify with Ender. When I
read Ender's Game, I felt as if I was Ender. He is
a child who is way above the level of all the
other children in his school. He finds school
extremely boring because he is never challenged
(something a LOT of gifted and talented children
identify with.) Ender is constantly made fun of
because he is a "Third". In the future, families
are only allowed to have two children unless they
are given permission from the government to have
more. The I.F. is looking for the one who has all
the right characteristics to lead Earth's fleet.
Ender's older siblings Peter, and Valentine, who
are just as intelligent as Ender but were rejected
for other reasons, are the only reason Ender was
allowed to exist.The characters in the book are so
believable, and you really care about them. The
book is also very good science fiction and has a
lot of thought provoking ideas such as the
"Ansible" which carries messages across the
universe instantly. Ender's Game won both the Hugo
and Nebula Awards. The best way for you to
understand why Ender's Game is so widely popular
is to read it for yourself. I would recommend this
book to anyone interested in science fiction or
even anyone who enjoys reading at all."

http://www.ender.com/ender/

Interesting...

[Morgan]

Enders Game...I'm glad I'm not the only one who found that book amazing...However, i was rather dissapointed in the two sequels, Xenocide and Speaker for the Dead...

[Noah]

A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy - Laurence Sterne
Although I only have an incomplete copy and don't understand the French parts. I'm still looking for a complete copy.

[jebers]

My favourite novel is Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, it has changed the way I see things forever and I strongly recommend it to anyone, especially to those with strong political views or those who are discontented with the world today.
I also loved The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings part 2) and the rest of the trilogy too.

[Zooey]

I've considered The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler my favorite book for several years now. Though I don't know if I'd consider one of the greatest books ever written, though it definitely vies for the position of greatest mystery novels ever written. It's more like comfort food- or the literary form of it.

Raymond Chandler was a very talented, and it sadly underrated as an author. He didn't have crisp plotlines of, say, Agatha Christie, but he could write descriptions like few others I've come across. Can you really think of others who could give poetic descriptions of a decaying, post WWII Los Angeles? Even if it's not needed, the L.A. Chandler created in his novels are always vibrant because of the care give to even the minutest of details.

And don't forget the wit constantly utilized by Philip Marlowe. Many of the classic lines from the screen version of The Big Sleep (1946) were written by Chandler in the original novel. ("She tried to sit in my lap while I was standing up," etc.)

(By the way, I also highly recommend Farewell, My Lovely and Lady in the Lake, as well as The Little Sister and The High Window, which are more minor Chandler efforts).

________________________________

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

Catcher in the Rye (which is another favorite, as seen below) is the Salinger book everybody knows about. Franny and Zooey actually isn't a novel at all- rather, it's two short stories combinded into one book. One centers around Franny, the other Zooey, and the connection between them is that they are siblings.

I liked this movie for the same reasons, or because of my love for, Wes Anderson's 2001 movie The Royal Tenenbaums, for Franny and Zooey are both part of a family and were both considered (along with their other siblings) child geniuses, and now that has all faded, and now they are all cynical young adults who's intelligent, caustic comments try to mask their breaking hearts and internal confusion. It's a heartbreaking story about absolutely nothing really. But I like books like that. Franny and Zooey hits a chord in me like few other books do.
________________________________

Other books I adore:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
A Streetcar Named Desire (or anything else) by Tennessee Williams
The Trial by Franz Kafka

_________________________________

My least favorite book of all time:

The Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain

[Lector]

has no one read Dune? that would have to be one of my favorites. Also on the list would have to be: Enders Game, 1984, The Once and Future King, Gates of Fire, Watership down, and Leviathan.

[Eliza]

Ack! so many books, so many genres! Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien, but I think can almost be assumed without writing it! I loved the Dune series but I got a bit bored at around book four. The Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullars but I also like absolutely everything she wrote. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Newer novels that I read recently but will likely remain on my all-time-favorites list are The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

[Razeus]

Don Quixote by Cervantes. The type of book that needs to be read once a year (I can't wait til I finish it!)

[Monica]

Favourite book? That's an easy question. "Foucault's Pendulum" by Eco. One and only :D

[RightHand]

Too many to list but that list would be topped by
Grapes of Wrath (and everything else by Steinbeck)
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby
Is Paris Burning
Armageddon

[rodanho]

i have to admit that i am a classic lover,and thus all the books that i like may be a little old fashioned. but still i simply dote on them! my favourite book is david copperfield,charles dickens is my favourite writer, so loving his semi-autobiography seems really natural. and then, i like romeo and juliet. it is such a marvellous book, with so many beautiful sonnets and love poems. i also like oscar wilde's the picture of dorian grey,which really displays the wisdom and deep insight of a great writer.

[Molko]

I dont really have a favourite book, but here's a list of the books I most enjoy reading:

Brave New World
1984
Animal Farm
Jane Eyre
The Brothers Karamzov
The Idiot.......

There's more but at the moment I cant think of any :)

[Molko]

Ohhhhh and add A Clockwork Orange to that list! I looove that book! :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[baddad]

"The MOnkey Wrench Gang"......Edward Abbey.....1975.

This book puts a face to ecoterrorism......and in fact had (has?) a bit of a cult following.....

[Scorpionwingz]

The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Charleston - John Jakes
1984 - George Orwell
All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Remarque

[Snukes]

I can't do one favorite either, but if I was forced, I would probably have to say Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carol

Also very much enjoyed:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
Mostly Harmless - (crowning jewel on a wonderful trilogy ;)) Douglas Adams
Voyage of the Dawntreader - (another favorite in a truly excellent series) C.S. Lewis
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus - Orson Scott Card
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - Tom Robbins
Lamb: the Gospels According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend - Christopher Moore

I'd better stop. I could go on and on. I'm going to be pirating this thread for reading suggestions, just as soon as I can afford to buy books or can find a library and have some free time.... *sigh!*

[Major Plath Fan]

The Bell Jar--Syvlia Plath
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
Frankenstein--Mary Shelley
Gone With the Wind-Margaret Mitchell

And many others I cannot think of right now. ^_^

[ucdawg12]

My favorite book is Thomas Pynchon's first novel V. The only other book I have read by him was The Crying of Lot 49 (which I thought was great as well). I picked him for an English project this year (the only reason was because I saw his name on this forum under appearing on The Simpsons heh) and wow, I was blown away. The man is amazing and V. is just an awesome story, very funny and it was so much deeper than I could have imagined after reading what some critics had to say. Before V. my favorite book was Moby-Dick, and I think V. really reminded me of Moby-Dick in the way it just seemed to contain so much knowledge. I think that once I read Gravity's Rainbow it will be my favorite but I am waiting until I graduate college so I stand a chance at understanding it. :)

[Gabo9]

I'm often surprised there's actually people who didn't find Moby-Dick boring! If you are ever curious about reading dozens of essays on 19th century whaling, then Moby-Dick is the book for you. I wasn't, though, so I found it painfully boring, really. I did enjoy Crime and Punishment quite a bit, though.

My own personal favorite is The Count of Monte-Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas.

We must be on the same page, good heavens could there ever be a more mindless and boring story than Moby Dick the white whale. How many pages was it again? (800+? it sure was hefty)

I remember having to read it for 8th grade lit course, it was a brief intro to what we should expect of High School. Thank goodness we never read Moby Dick in any of my high school lit classes, I would have probably dropped out. haha

I am quite surprised to read and learn that many hated most of the traditional High School mandatory reads : To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Ethan Fromme, The Great Gatsby, A tale of Two Cities, Ragtime, Of mice and Men and alikes, I loved Dickens, Shakespeare and adored the russian authors, Tolstoy and Dostoyievsky. Ana Karenina, Antonia and Crime and Punishment are among my favorites of all time. I will always cherish The Count of Monte Cristo, it saved my sanity during the one summer I worked as a doorman, those breaks were long and just as boring, without Alexandre Dumas I would not have survived that dreaded summer job.

I adore Virginia Woolf, Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway cannot receive enough praise from me.

[Silvia]

I don't have a favourite book too, but I in the last years I enjoyed Mordecai Richler' Barney's version....ah, and then I loved Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen and also the count of Monte Cristo!!
I still have to read so many things...

[oguzhan]

the great expectations - charles dickens in fact all books of c&d are my favourites

[Guzmán]

Tough to decide. I guess some of my favourites are:
The Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Justine - Lawrence Durrell
The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

[andave_ya]

Favorite book

Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
not a classic, but ought to be.

Least favorite
(I feel sort of cheeky saying this because I haven't read 1 percent of all books worth reading.)

Moby Dick
Herman Melville

[*Classic*Charm*]

Favs:

THE CRUCIBLE!! (Not a novel, but my favourite piece of literature EVER)
The Great Gatsby
The Silence of the Lambs
Any Shakespearean Pleay, particularly King Lear

Forgive me, I haven't read enough of the Classics.

I can't really say I've HATED any book. There are many that I have not enjoyed reading, but I can still appreciate them, such as:

Heart of Darkness (reading it was like trudging through mud- it's the longest 100 pages I've ever read, but it is brilliant nonetheless)

[dorindapaige]

Faves:
Anything by Peter David (Sir Apropos of Nothing was a scream and his Star Trek novels are the best of any.)
Hamlet/Macbeth (can't choose between them!)
The Once and Future King
Bullfinch's Mythology

Really Enjoyed:
Middlesex
The Time-Traveler's Wife
The Undead and Un-whatever series (silly vampiric fun!)
Anything by Phillipa Gregory

Least Faves:
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Chuck Palahniuk

[Matrim Cuathon]

Damn, why couldnt i ahve discovered this site sooner...
there are so many posts i wish toc omment on but they are all years old.
and the number of books named. i want to read them all and i could if i had them but actually obtaining so many, ugh!!!!!

suprisingly i actually loved Emma by Austen and i want to read her other books. Hehe, im not actually finished with Emma, but i did finish it when i was 10, but so long and so many books, just cant remeber...
I also enjoyed C and P quite a bit. The "ramblings" in it were very much an imporant part of the story. and the social theories were fun as well.

[grace86]

Damn, why couldnt i ahve discovered this site sooner...
there are so many posts i wish toc omment on but they are all years old.
and the number of books named. i want to read them all and i could if i had them but actually obtaining so many, ugh!!!!!

suprisingly i actually loved Emma by Austen and i want to read her other books. Hehe, im not actually finished with Emma, but i did finish it when i was 10, but so long and so many books, just cant remeber...
I also enjoyed C and P quite a bit. The "ramblings" in it were very much an imporant part of the story. and the social theories were fun as well.

There is a thread called "Revive an Old Thread" or something of the sort. LitNet is trying to bring some of the old ones back, so please feel free to comment on anything that strikes your interest.

I share your problem of finding so many good books here to read and have the lack of time to read them.

My favorite book at the moment is as well, Crime and Punishment, if I am correct (I think I am) in assuming that was your abbreviation.

By the way, welcome to LitNet, hope you find it awesome and have fun commenting on any thread you like.

I am reading Heart of Darkness...and I am afraid I have to agree that it is rather hard to get through right now...hope it doesn't make that list of least favorite.

[Woland]

I am reading Heart of Darkness...and I am afraid I have to agree that it is rather hard to get through right now...hope it doesn't make that list of least favorite.

I would suggest staying with it. I didnt like it at first either but it kind of stays with you (like a commercial jingle you cant forget.)

[Tenacious]

The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

[Black roses]

Loved:
Lord of the Flies- William Golding
Bag of Bones- Stephen King
Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
Hogfather- Terry Pratchett
Silence of the Lambs- Thomas Harris

Hated:
Anything by Jane Austen
Hannibal Rising (though I enjoy the other books in the series)

[mS_?]

Favorites:

Crime and Punishment
The Borther Karamazov
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikabu, this one ive never seen mentioned on this site, oh well, great book anyway.

Least Favorites:

Great Expectations
Moby Dick was a goos story buta bit bring, not saying that was a least favorite btw.

[grace86]

I would suggest staying with it. I didnt like it at first either but it kind of stays with you (like a commercial jingle you cant forget.)

Thanks, I will keep that in mind and definitely stick with it. It's tough though because I don't have time to read it, and it is a slow read, so overall it isn't as much of a pleasure to read as it could be.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind and definitely stick with it. It's tough though because I don't have time to read it, and it is a slow read, so overall it isn't as much of a pleasure to read as it could be.

Do stick with it. As I said earlier, reading it is like trudging through mud, but once you finish it, you just sort of sit there in awe of it. At least I did. It's slow, but it's profound. Even if you don't like it, you can at least appreciate it. And it's nice to understand the context of the famous words, "The Horror, the horror"

[ennison]

Matrim Cuathon - 'there are so many posts i wish toc omment on but they are all years old.'

I never even noticed Matrim (so you're more net alert than I am) and I began commenting on 'old' threads. I don't think it matters too much because in a sense everything on here is 'live' and even replying to questions posted some time ago, while it may not help the original poster, may help someone else. I've noticed lots of similar queries from young students and schoolchildren appearing over and over. Maybe I'll be smacked on the ethereal wrist for saying this but I think you should pass a comment on anything you find interesting.

[reckless]

What a shame that no one here appreciates Moby Dick (and all the while commends the literary merit of Ender's Game).

[Redzeppelin]

Moby Dick is a wonderful book - one of the best ever written. Melville's ponderings of the nature of reality are fascinating.

[GimmyDiamond]

Favourite . . . um, well, here are some I really really liked and/or loved . . .

*Little Women
*The Moscow Vector
*Crimes of the Century
*Edge of Light (I know, a romance book, but it's sooo much more than that to me)
*Where Many Rivers Meet (poems by David Whyte-love "The Well of Grief"- and am currently reading)
*The Hell with Love: Poems to Mend a Broken Heart (one of my all time favourite poetry anthologies- have gone back to it many many times . . .)

[GimmyDiamond]

I'm sooo daft . . . the Bible . . . there isn't another book I read every day, quote so often, try to live by, learn from to such an extreme extent, talk about as often as I do, am as inspired by, or uplifted and reassured by as the Bible . . . no book has ever offered to me as much as it has and will continue to offer . . . The Lord is . . . my shepherd . . . my strength . . . my shield . . . my comfort . . . my light . . . my salvation . . . my hope . . . my all in all . . .
No book could be as lovely and important to me as it is . . . it's answers and guidance I seek first (or try to - I usually make a big mess of things when I don't!) some aspect of it is applicable in every situation
My favourite book is without a question The Bible

[ennison]

Remember The Bible is an anthology and there are differing versions of it rather than one single agreed version. I read it every day also.

[Redzeppelin]

I'm sooo daft . . . the Bible . . . there isn't another book I read every day, quote so often, try to live by, learn from to such an extreme extent, talk about as often as I do, am as inspired by, or uplifted and reassured by as the Bible . . . no book has ever offered to me as much as it has and will continue to offer . . . The Lord is . . . my shepherd . . . my strength . . . my shield . . . my comfort . . . my light . . . my salvation . . . my hope . . . my all in all . . .
No book could be as lovely and important to me as it is . . . it's answers and guidance I seek first (or try to - I usually make a big mess of things when I don't!) some aspect of it is applicable in every situation
My favourite book is without a question The Bible

Well said: I agree fully.

[hyperborean]

here's the link to the book of judas if anyone is interested:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/_pdf/GospelofJudas.pdf?fs=www7.nationalgeographic.com&fs=magma.nationalgeographic.com

I saw it on the National Geographic Channel and I decided to go find a version I can read.

[JBI]

Personally, from an atheist perspective, I found the bible to be quite dull. I enjoyed Hesiod's Theogony much more than Genesis, and Homer's Iliad far more than the Israelites in Egypt. I guess the text speaks to different people in different ways. You perhaps may find wonder and meaning in its words, but from a non believer's perspective, the writing in my opinion is quite dull.

The books I truly loved, in no particular order

The Name of the Rose -- Umberto Eco. Absolutely brilliant
The Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas
The Odyssey -- Homer. Odysseus' quest to get home is magnificent, and a timeless classic.
Candide -- Voltaire. Brilliant.


plays:
Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
The Miser by Moliere
The Crucible by Arthur Miller (I think he wrote it, I don't remember)
Oedipus Trilogy by Sophacles
Electra by Euripides (I think he wrote that, I may have mixed up Greek play writes)


Probably though, if I had to choose one book to stick with, it would have to be The Name of the Rose. That book captures the early 14th century church almost perfectly, and the plot is just brilliant.

[loe]

Yes, The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller
but Electra was written by Sophocles.

My favorites are:
Walden by H.D.Thoreau
Notes from Underground by Dostoyevsky

Greetings

[WaxenWings89]

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy.

[Laindessiel]

Well, the insane ramblings of Raskonikov, which you are not sure if they are real or imagined, didn't do it for me. Basically I couldn't stand the rambling, that book would ramble for pages.

Uh-huh. But they're tolerable, especially when you get to the last words of the last sentences. :p No seriously, Dostoyevsky couldn't have done without Raskolnikoff having a deranged mindset. It wouldn't be an adventurous one.

[Laindessiel]

I don't have a favorite book. I like lots of books but I can't seem to find a "favorite", I just realized.

[wratchild]

Perhaps ''A dreamer's tales and other stories'' by Lord Dunsany

[Bii]

I too would find it difficult to name an absolute favourite, but one book I often read and re-read is The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter - there's something about it I can't quite put my finger on, but I love it and enjoy it every time I read it.

[Martian Poet]

Ulysses by Joyce, with The Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson in 2nd.

[duriel]

If I had to pick one, I suppose it would be Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle, by Valdimir Nabokov. But really, who wants to pick just one?

[~*Dark Faerie*~]

Choosing just one I find is kind of limiting, but my top favorites are *drum roll*

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (an ultimate classic, gothic but not ridiculously so, characters that I believe I'll always remember and feel for) I cry every time on the part when Helen dies.:bawling:

Désirée by Annemarie Selinko. Best historical "romance" period. I weird favorite I guess. I borrowed my mom's early edition of it and it immediately became a favorite of mine.

[Domer121]

The Little Prince....Antoine de Saint-Exupery

[ESHQUIA]

What is your favorite books and why?

[Pandora Eve]

It was The Count of Monte Cristo. I loved the journary of Dantes and how at the last minute he was able to pull back enough to save himself. Now though I have picked up East of Eden and The Count has been knocked off from first place. The truths that John Steinbeck has captured in East of Eden are just incrediable. I am now sold on John Steinbeck and will be reading him for awhile. Eighth grade English and reading The Pearl unfornately kept me away from this brillant writer.

[Book-Lover]

One of my favorite books is "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It really opens your eye to slavery and oppression. It makes you appreciate the importance of freedom for all mankind, and the work that still needs to be done.

[annakarina]

I have so many - but off the top of my head I'd say Notes From Underground, To Kill a Mockingbird and Christ Stopped at Eboli. What a horribly hard question though!
One biggie I have never managed to get on with though is Joyce: I can only take so many metaphors and my mind starts wandering... ditto some of Woolf. Ulysses and The Waves are both gathering dust on my bookshelf...

[n_maw]

I also would have to say The Count of Monte Cristo. It's been a couple of years since I last read it, but I remember thinking, wow, I wish all classic books were this much fun to read. I sailed through it so quickly, I should go back and read it again.

[Nico87]

. There are actually nearly 60 books I think

More like 190 actually!

[read old books]

Hello Forum Members;
I am looking forward to sharing information with all of you, and all you sharing with me. I have Les Miserables in two volumes, printed by T. Nelson & Sons, Ltd. They were printed in Great Britain before
1924. If you know who the interpreter was, please let me know.

[Dori]

Hello Forum Members;
I am looking forward to sharing information with all of you, and all you sharing with me. I have Les Miserables in two volumes, printed by T. Nelson & Sons, Ltd. They were printed in Great Britain before
1924. If you know who the interpreter was, please let me know.

Err, do you mean translator?

Lascelles Wraxall produced the first British translation in 1862. Other translators of Les Miserables include Charles E. Wilbur, Isabel F. Hapgood, Norman Denny, Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee, and, at last, Anonymous.

[HunterBrown1968]

Some of my favorite books have be by John Steinbeck. I loved "The Winter of our Discontent" when Mary says to Ethan (the main character) "You say such dreadful things even to the children....And they to me. Ellen, only last night, asked, 'Daddy when will we be rich?' But I did not say to her what I know: 'We will be rich soon, and you who handle poverty badly will handle riches equally badly.' And that is true. In poverty she is envious. In riches she may be a snob. Money does not change the sickness, only the symptoms."

Also Steinbeck's book "Cannery Row" when Doc says, "It has always seemed strange to me......The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding, and feeling; are the concomitatants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism, and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce ofthe second!"

Also, his Nobel Prize Banquet speech was one of the best I've ever read and so true to where we stand in our humanity.

[Beautifull]

hey everybody! everyone had a lot of author's works that they read, now here's another question:What are your favorite books?

i know i hve a few, so i will start this off.

1.The Host by Stephenie Meyers. i just justfinished this book...it was really good!

2.Twilight by Stephenie Meyers

3.New Moon by Stephenie Meyers

4.Eclipse by Stephenie Meyers

5.Rosehaven by Catherine Coulter.Very good book to those who love romances.

6.Time and Again by Nora Roberts.

7.Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

8.The More I See You by Lynn Kurland

9.Until You by Judith McNaught

10.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. this book is in my top ten favorite books mostly because even thoughi had to read it for my class, i enjoyed it...(i hate reading assigned books for some reason)and i can remember everything that happened in the book. only books i loved are the ones i remember.

this is my top ten favorite books. what's yours?

[jaywalker]

''The Good Soldier Svejk'' by Jaoslav Hasek.

[Tournesol]

'Charley' by Joan G. Robinson

It's about an 11 yr old girl who runs away from home, and lives in a forest for two weeks. She felt that no one loved her, or cared for her. When she was found, she realised that they had all cared about her.

[Beautifull]

hmmm...sounds interesting Tournesol...i think i'll check it out!

[Flying_tree]

The Hours by Michael Cunningham and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf in conjuntion with one another. There is a lot in the way of insight bewtween the two of them.

[superhero99]

From what I've read up until now, my favorite is either Lord of the Flies (William Golding) or Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck). I just loooved both works, from beginning to end. The characters in them were really well written and developed. And in both cases, I wasn't sure how they were going to end which defiantly kept me interested. Least favorite: Anything by Jane Austen. I just find her writing very dry.

[Vincent Black]

Les Miserables without a doubt! The plot is just so all-encompassing and powerful, the characters so realistic! ah I can't get enough of it!

[ESHQUIA]

theodor w. adorno - minima moralia

[Barbarous]

''The Good Soldier Svejk'' by Jaoslav Hasek.

That's a great favorite book! I'm looking forward to taking it off my shelf and reading it...eventually...

[Phaedra's Love]

The Swimming-Pool Library & The Line of Beauty, both by Alan Hollinghurst (he writes beautifully)
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (his short stories are great too)
The Witches by Roald Dahl :)
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
I'm sure there's more but I can't remember...

Plays:
Anything Shakespeare wrote!
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams (the only one I read from him -- but I'm sure I'll love his other works as well)
Crave, Phaedra's Love & 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane


In Japanese:
The Sputnik Sweetheart & The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, both by Haruki Murakami
AMEBIC by Hitomi Kanehara

[George_Berkeley]

Favorites:
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
A Dream Play by August Strindberg
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Candide by Voltaire
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec
Last Days by Raymond Queneau
The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

Hated:

Harry Potter
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
A Separate Peace by John Knowles

[monaghme]

Hello, this is my first post, my favorite book is A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole published in 1980, eleven years after his death. It's one of the few books I feel the desire to read again and I think I'll read it every few years for quite a while.....very funny.

I was so happy to see that it was someone elses favorite book, even though they posted that 8 years ago! This is one historic thread!

[Amoxcalli]

Probably my favourite work of fiction is Wedding Song, by Mahfouz. It's only a novella, but there was a sense of urgency in it that I won't forget.

[keilj]

Despite running a classic literature site, my favorite book isn't so classic.

My favorite is actually a series of books, The DragonLance Saga by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There are actually nearly 60 books I think, but the main storyline is what I'm talking about and spans maybe 16 books. When you get to the end of it it's just amazing.

Lord of the Rings is good too, I like DragonLance better though.

The Wheel of Time is entertaining - however I wouldn't call it good writing. Robert Jordan often seems very unoriginal in how he sets up the various cultures, because he simply borrows and blends from real cultures. When I'm reading it I think &quot;Okay so these people are the Victorian Japanese, those people are the Rennaisance Turks..&quot; and so on.

Non-fantasy books I've liked include The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gulliver's Travels...

Books I've hated.

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
The Lord of the Flies


If you like Gatsby, you might like Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald, or For Whom the Bells Tolls by Hemingway


Those are a couple of my all-time favorites, in addition to The Grapes of Wrath, The Prodigal Parents by Sinclair Lewis, The Possessed by Dostoevsky...

[Modest Proposal]

Despite running a classic literature site, my favorite book isn't so classic.

My favorite is actually a series of books, The DragonLance Saga by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There are actually nearly 60 books I think, but the main storyline is what I'm talking about and spans maybe 16 books. When you get to the end of it it's just amazing.

Lord of the Rings is good too, I like DragonLance better though.

The Wheel of Time is entertaining - however I wouldn't call it good writing. Robert Jordan often seems very unoriginal in how he sets up the various cultures, because he simply borrows and blends from real cultures. When I'm reading it I think &quot;Okay so these people are the Victorian Japanese, those people are the Rennaisance Turks..&quot; and so on.

Non-fantasy books I've liked include The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gulliver's Travels...

Books I've hated.

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
The Lord of the Flies

I'm not trying to be obstreperous, I just thought it was funny that three of my favorite books are,

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
and... Lord of the Flies
I actually feel about 'Lord of the Flies' as Nabokov felt about Shakespeare, something like: You know he is quite good, despite how many people like him.

If I had to chose my single favorite work it would probably be... Melville's "Piazza Tales"

[WingedWolf]

I also loved the Dragonlance saga I've read many of the books. My personal favorite from them was probably Dragons of summer flame (mostly because of the return of Raistlin).

other favorites:

Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Even Cowgirls get the blues - Tom Robbins
Anything by Chuck Palahniuk (author of fight club)

I also hated Scarlet letter

Tom Robbins is my favorite! I love all of his books. Also Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is a great read :nod: and there is a new version with a foreward to Tom Robbins. It all comes full circle.

[aquarium444]

I've read a few short stories that were good:

"The Boat" by Alistair Macleod.
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft.
"Rats in the Walls" by H.P. Lovecraft.
....
Shakespeare plays, "Othello" and "Hamlet".
Oedipus Rex....
The Bible....
....
"Dracula" by Bram Stoker (powerful description).
"Treasure Island" by Stevinson (great characters).
I liked the Harry Potter books 1 - 3.
I liked a few of the Ravenloft fantasy horror books.

I'd read more but I lose interest quickly, however occasionally I can get right into a story and get a lot out of it. I find it hard work, especially, literature.

[Jeremydav]

I found "The Hunger Artist" by Kafka to be my favorite piece of literature.

[Cygnus X-2112]

It's very hard to pick just one, but if I had to pick one book i could read over and over again it would be The Divine Comedy.

[blazeofglory]

I am not tired of recommending the Prophet by Khalil Gibran.

[tiredstudent]

ive read scarlet letter and lord of the flies..... they certainly are not favorites of mine, but they are classics, they are good books. just not..... enjoyable i guess.

i like dune... by frank herbert
and light of eidon sereis by karen hancock
and blood of kings by Jill williamson

thats just a few of my favorites.