So what IS your favourite book?

[ashtonDs]

arrrgh...
I've read so many, I can't remember them all, but here's a short list:

Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Read them to each of my kids (all at different times) and several times by myself.
Hitler's Willing Executioners, by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
America, John Stewart
The Celestial Bed, Irving Wallace
Pern Series, Anne Mccaffery
Dune, Frank Herbert
The Bible Yeah, I know. But you haven't sat down with my crowd to study it.

Originally posted by sisterhoney61:
...golden retriever in order to be happy

sisterhoney, I may have to disagree on that one. Red is pretty cool. Don't know what I'd do without him. He takes me for walks, plays ball with me... huh, what? OK I'll shutup now

[kitara]

The Great Gatsby is amazing, as is The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood... anything by Euripides is always brilliant, and then there's the cheesy kids books; like the Northern Lights books by Phillip Pullman, Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix, the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz, and, of course, Harry Potter

[TomOfSweden]

The Bible Yeah, I know. But you haven't sat down with my crowd to study it.

I'm reading Lost Christianities by Bart Ehrman.

If you're interested in the Bible and Christianity it's a fascinating read. Marcionism was a Christian sect which could rival the sect which later became Catholisism in size. They branded each other as heretics. And if they'd won Christians today would have believed in two gods.

All the different variants of the Bible is amazing. The Gnostic Bible even survived.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_library

Or the Ebionites who's gospel of Matthew has two extra chapters. Marcionism only took Paul's and Luke's seriously, and saw the rest as filler. Ebionites rejected Paul.

With all these different Bibles we get radically different Christian theories. It's an amazing read. Every page is mind-blowing. I read "the history of God" by Karen Armstrong. Which is a great book, but she describes a much simpler compilation of the Bible than what was actually the case. It's understandable, since it's long enough as it is.

I wouldn't call Lost Christianities my favourite book, but if you've got any interest in Christianity/theology, it should be a must read.

[tessa]

My all time fav is 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

Same for me. An outstanding piece of literary art.

[Kuskovian]

Well the one I have read the most often would have to be: the 1977 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia (best gift my parents ever gave me other than thier love).
I know its dated, but for me it is a hell of a lot easier.
I allways reach for it way before the internet (especially wikipedia).

As far as favorite books go, I supose it is a close tie between Uhuru by Robert Ruark and For Whom The Bell Tolls by Hemingway.

[Virulent]

I don't really read a lot of fiction... though I do have some favorites... "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" is a great bit, and a great lesson; though in novels I'm very fond of The Stranger. The final passage is one of the best things ever written;

As if that blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I completely empathize.

Mostly though I read non-fiction.

I'm quite fond of Sex, Time, and Power. Its a clever thesis that the peculiarly human sapience we're all so proud of is the result of menstruation, along with the attendant conjecture that women attained sapience before men. I buy a copy for every woman who earns my respect.

I love The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Of all political philosophers, I think that Malcolm X espoused the ideas I find most livable. In a similar vein, Goldman's Anarchism. Orwell's writings from Burma are never far from my mind.

Finally, anything written by Feyerabend, though especially Against Method. A lot of people seem to like to crib off of Hempel, Popper, & Kuhn when discussing the history & philosophy of science; I don't know where they were educated but the simple truth is they're sophists. Feyerabend is the only author who has the intellectual courage to deconstruct science-as-it-is.

[Rational Head]

We the Living, The Virtue of Selfishness, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Capitalism~~ Ayn Rand.

Ethics of Liberty~~Murray Rothbard

Time Will run Back~~Henry Hazzlitt.

Human Action~~~Ludwig Von Mises!

[sardis]

0ne of the many in my top 3....

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Falling in love with a time traveller has it's complications...and rewards

The triumph of love over time.

An amazing book

[sardis]

I'll start with Genome by Matt Ridley. Every page was mind boggling and awesome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome_%28book%29

another book which isn't my favourite but deserves to be mentioned because it's so awesome is Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. It's just pure genius. So is all his books, but this one stands out I think.


So what do you think guys?[/QUOTE]

If you enjoyed Genome you should try The Red Queen by Ridley

Explains what I should have known about sex when I was 18

[MissElizabeth87]

So, I've always been more-than-slightly obsessed with reading... I've got quite a bit more than one favorite of all time. haha.

Books that I can read over and over again: The Sloppy Firsts Series by Megan McCafferty. Insomnia by Steven King. Robin McKinley's rewritten fairy tales.

Books that I love for sentimental reasons: Jacob Have I Loved (first book I ever read on my own). The Secret Garden. Anything by Madeleine L'Engle. Any of Tolkien's works (including the Simarillion!!). The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

Books that have taught me... well, a LOT: Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge (It's Christian non-fiction, but it's just a really good book about being a woman). Our Town by Thornton Wilder (It's actually a play, but it's beyond amazing). Chocolat- can't remember who that's by right now... but oh my goodness.

There are others but those are the ones I could name off the top of my head.

[DarkPoet]

"If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" by Italo Calvino, a must read for everyone interested in writing.

"Fool on the Hill" by Matt Ruff. Made me laugh so hard I literally dropped from the couch. "Set this House in Order" by the same author is also worth reading. A little lighter, but nonetheless hilarious, are Martin Millar's "The Good Fairies of New York" and Bo Fowler's "Scepticism Inc."

My all time favourites are Hermann Hesse's "Glass Bead Game" and " Narcissus and Goldmund".

[JimmyJump]

"The World According To Garp" (John Irving), "2001, a Space Odyssey" (Arthur C. Clarke), "Caliban" (Isaac Asimov), "Sinuhe, The Egyptian" (Mika Waltari) and "Ancient Evenings (Norman Mailer) are currently my top five.

Other favourite authors include Jack Vance, Erich von Däniken, Robert Ludlum, Vernor Vinge, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, etc.

[Shwenn]

Surprised nobody mentioned Phillip K Dick(androids), Dashiell Hammett(red harvest), Jim Thompson(too numerous to mention)(Grifters). John Irving(Hotel New Hampshire)
What about "Dune"
"The Floating Opera" (Barth)
"The thought Gang" by Tibor Fischer is the funniest book I've ever read

I will have to get The Thought Gang immediately because this is the first time I've born witness to a fellow Barth fan. I read "Lost in the Funhouse" in a creative writing class and it changed everything I'd thought about writing. As for "Hotel New Hampshire", when that movie 'Hope Floats' came out, I actually got angry. I could only think, "It's SORROW floats. Not hope. Sorrow."

My all time favorite book ever is:

Les Liasons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

I don't care how many movie treatments of this book you've seen, it's worth reading and reading carefully.

Other favorites authors/books:

Literature:
William T. Vollmann - You Bright and Risen Angels
Arudhati Roy - The God of Small Things
Margret Atwood - The Blind Assassin
Cormac McCarthy - Border Trilogy (Though The Crossing made me briefly suicidal)
Raymond Carver - Anything. Just pick anything. It'll rock your inner world.

Sci-Fi:
Neil Stephenson

Horror:
Stephen King - but only his short stories. His books do nothing for me. His short stories put me in quite a state.

[lstsl]

I too love reading and look forward to reading some of the books listed above

TANGENT: anybody here have an e Reader? It's like an iPod for books, the screen is specially designed for reading text so it doesn't strain your eyes like lcd or led screens... all sorts of cool stuff, the battery lasts for 75,000 page turns (War and Peace five times over). I love mine!

But anyways; favorite books:

The Hobbit, but not LotR (it was just too slow for me, loved the movie though)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Pandora's Star trilogy and Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES!!!!!!!! by Robert Jordan (whom I will never, ever forgive for dying while writing the last book. EVER!)
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently series by Douglas Adams (who I will never, ever forgive for dying while writing The Salmon of Doubt)
The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (great word play, and a satire of everything that ever happened on earth at any time, often simultaniously!)

And the MacDonald Hall series, No Coins Please, I Want To Go Home etc by Gordan Korman (I know they're little kid books but they are great, kids conspiring against adults. Kind of like 'Escape tunnel from East Germany' type thing but less depressing.

All university textbooks, and highschool science texts!!

This is in no way a complete list

[Thorne]

THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES!!!!!!!! by Robert Jordan (whom I will never, ever forgive for dying while writing the last book. EVER!)

Fortunately he left copious notes and ideas. His wife (?) has already hired another writer to complete the series based on these notes. Don't know when it will be done, but at least we know it's coming!

[Shwenn]

TANGENT: anybody here have an e Reader? It's like an iPod for books, the screen is specially designed for reading text so it doesn't strain your eyes like lcd or led screens... all sorts of cool stuff, the battery lasts for 75,000 page turns (War and Peace five times over). I love mine!

That is so unappealing to me.

I'm a total print junkie. Like all junkies, I'm reverential about the whole ritual that surrounds getting my fix. The heroin addict loves the act of cooking the powder in a spoon. The smoker relishes opening a new pack of cigarettes. I'm that way with actual books.

The smell of a new book. The feel of an old one. Turning a page. Feeling the weight balance slowly shift from right to left. Watching the book begin to bulge as the binding is continuously distressed.

I don't want to give any of it up.

[Thorne]

That is so unappealing to me.

I'm a total print junkie. Like all junkies, I'm reverential about the whole ritual that surrounds getting my fix. The heroin addict loves the act of cooking the powder in a spoon. The smoker relishes opening a new pack of cigarettes. I'm that way with actual books.

The smell of a new book. The feel of an old one. Turning a page. Feeling the weight balance slowly shift from right to left. Watching the book begin to bulge as the binding is continuously distressed.

I don't want to give any of it up.

I agree with you, Shwenn. I'm pretty much the same way.

On the other hand, I wouldn't mind having some kind of cheap, durable reader that I could upload text files into without having all kinds of expensive, unnecessary bells and whistles. I just want to READ the friggin things!

[Meena]

The Objective Ethics
By Ayn Rand!

[Butkus]

I read "Battle Cry" by Leon Uris just before joining the Corps. I knew them all at one point or another and lost most of them just as in his work. "Johnathan Livingston Seagull" is still inspiring. Ann Sperber's biography of Edward R. Murrow is a lesson in integrity. Davis Maraniss's work, "When Pride Still Mattered" is a study in the often high price of success.

[bip0lar]

Hm, I think I'll go with Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, Huxley's Brave New World and, as far as plays are concerned, Ibsen's A Doll's House.
Beautiful, dark, cynical, exceptional pieces of literature.

[darlingUK]

Well, I'm quite "old-school" in my literary choices. Identifying an ultimate book is a bit tricky, but I'd have to say that anything by Dickens and Thackeray is a must for me.

In terms of contemporary fiction i'd go with 'The Crimson Petal and the White' by Michel Faber.
And John Milton's Paradise Lost is just epic and wonderfully written.

What would we do without books!!?

kisses
x

[Roadrunner2005]

My pick:

Yukio Mishima, "Sea of Fertility"
G. Garcia Marquez, "100 Years of Solitude"
Kundera, "Immortality"
Haruki Murakami, "Dance, Dance, Dance"

[Butkus]

"Battle Cry" by Leon Uris. I knew them by different names but I knew them all. Most of them are on a wall in Washington,D.C.

[Dr_BuzzCzar]

That is so unappealing to me.

I'm a total print junkie. Like all junkies, I'm reverential about the whole ritual that surrounds getting my fix. The heroin addict loves the act of cooking the powder in a spoon. The smoker relishes opening a new pack of cigarettes. I'm that way with actual books.

The smell of a new book. The feel of an old one. Turning a page. Feeling the weight balance slowly shift from right to left. Watching the book begin to bulge as the binding is continuously distressed.

I don't want to give any of it up.

Add me to that group. When traveling I'll read a minimum of 5 books a week. I don't do the bar scene anymore so hotel time tends to be reading time as well as airplane time is reading time too. Flying is hell on a control freak.

On OP question:

I read extensively from literature to trash. It would be absolutely impossible to narrow to just one book.

Authors I've read everything I can find:
Hemingway
Criton
Michner
Clavell
Roark
Hunter
Edgerton
Herbert
Verne

[Masternicktr]

Marx and Engels "on Religion"

[~kay~]

I'm not too sure about life changing, but I have a few favourites.

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. Ive reread the entire series 3 times, and Enders Game itself about 6 times. I fell in love with Ender reading that book.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Probably my all time favourite book by my all time favourite author. Even if that book completely ruined me from eating KFC ever again.

Not a life changing book, but definitely a favourite is Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I've never laughed so hard in my life than when I read it. Definitely got a few strange stares reading this on the bus and laughing so hard I cant breathe. Not for grammar nazis.

The most recent read that has stuck with me was The Boy In the Striped Pajamas. Not 100% sure what the authors name is but a beautiful book nonetheless. I cried for an hour when I finished it and read it cover to cover with short food breaks in between.

[Midnite]

It would be hard for me to pick one book as my favorite, I have several favorite authors though, not that everything may have written is the best book that I have ever read.

Robert Heinlein to start off with Time Enough for Love is my favorite by him, but I loved most all of his books.

Tom Clancy, most of the books that he is written by himself in the fiction genre are quite excellent.

Stephen King's the Stand is an outstanding book and one of the few that I enjoyed reading by him.

Any John Norman's Gor series.

The Bible is always an interesting read, and to me it changes somewhat every time I read it, not because the book itself actually changes but because my attitudes and feelings change.

Just my input

[Emerson]

I know, kind of a dead topic, but I can't help myself.

I went to a college where basically all we did is read. And then read some more. And I love reading. A list of my favorites could fill pages, and the top are always in flux, but right now...

The top 5, in chronological order.

The Oedipus Cycle - Sophocles
Don Quijote - Cervantes
Treatise on Human Nature - David Hume
Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche
Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino

[lucy]

Goethes "Faust" will always be in my top five.
For entertaining "The hitchhikers guide to the universe" by Douglas Adams and many books by John Irving and T.C. Boyle, especially "Hotel New Hampshire" and "Water music".

The only book that has changed my life was a rather lousy written book with great pictures of Tasmania which made me pack my bag and travel thru Australia for almost a year and visit the places i've lived the first four years of my life.
I came back rather different to how i was when i left.

[Pearlgem]

In no particular order:

'Private Peaceful' by Michael Morpurgo moves me to tears every time I read it.
'The Oxford Book of English Verse' I will never be done with.
The poetry of Donne, Auden, R S Thomas.
Shakespeare!
'The Pickwick Papers' or anything by Dickens delights me.
'Interview with the Vampire' by Anne Rice is just riveting and so sensual.
'Dr Faustus' by Marlowe feasts the imagination.
Any Alan Coren for supreme wit and invention with language. Ditto, PG Wodehouse.
'Gerald's Game' by Stephen King. BDSM gone wrong and the creepiest escape attempt ever.
'Black Narcissus' and 'In this House of Brede' by Rumer Godden. She's a wonderful, insightful writer.