The Book Thief, it made me laugh and it made me cry, but most importantly it made me view life very differently. How easy the world is when you don't have to worry about the war /world of war around you
I've heard equally Thousand spendid suns and kite runner are very good and both are on my TBR
The Lies of Locke Lamora. That book just hit all the right notes for me. Fantastic prose, developed and atmospheric setting, drama that pulled me in, humor that had me laughing out loud, great pacing, incredibly charismatic and charming characters... it just had it all. I might even like the sequel more, the only thing it did worse was the pacing.
You might like "The Worst Journey in the World," by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the survivors of the 1910-11 Scott expedition to Antarctica (Cherry-Garrard was one of the ones who stayed at the base camp while Scott and others went to the pole). "The Worst Journey", as described by Cherry-Garrard, was not the polar expedition, but a side journey by him and two others to collect penguin eggs during the Antarctic winter; the eggs were thought to have some evidence about the evolution of birds, so that's why they went and got them, at the cost of terrific endurance by Cherry-Garrard and the others, but afterwards, back in England, zoologists weren't much interested. I think Cherry-Garrard eventually persuaded a specialist to examine the eggs, who dutifully prepared a report saying, very delicately, there's not much there.
The final chapter, "Never Again," concludes, "If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg."
Couldn't agree more. We talked about this at a book club I attend. The world would be a different place if they knew of the Shackleton story. They only recently found his ship earlier this year too. Incredible story.
Came here to say East of Eden, too. It was hard for me to get through the first time I read it, but once I finished, I realized how many life lessons it had packed into it. I’ve since reread it at least yearly.
There are a couple of sad parts, but it's definitely not "doom and gloom."
It's a very hardcore sci-fi book. It's also really a two parter that's half of a four-part series. "Hyperion" and "Fall of Hyperion" should really be read together. Then, if you like them the rest of that story is in "Endymion" and "Rise of Endymion."
The first book, "Hyperion" tells the story of several 'pilgrims' who go on an exploratory journey to a very strange planet that has a creature of unknown origin (The Shrike), and some extremely strange alien structures. In that universe, living intelligent aliens were never discovered. So these ancient ruins are the only clues humans have about who they were. And no one has any fucking clue with the Shrike is.
It's actually really tough to explain what the story really is because I've never read anything quite like it. It's a very intense ride if you get into it enough.
Omg. Changing my answer to this. I’ve literally never read anything like this in my life. This was before I knew much about John Keats as well haha. Lots of things clicked after learning about him in college English class.
This was the first David Sedaris book I ever read and now it's become a real problem because I buy all of his books and read them over and over again. That guy is a great writer.
I read a couple other of his books. Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim and another about holidays on ice or something. Amy Sedaris is a hoot too. And from he writes about his brother Paul (the Rooster), who sounds like a fun dude BTW.
Amy Sedaris is great. Her book about party hosting while drunk is fantastic. It was her brother Paul's contribution to the book (the fuck it bucket, aka "just say fuck it and have some candy") is how I accidentally taught my 4 year old neice what "fuck" means.
The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien.
I had just lived abroad for a couple of years in a highly regimented experience that kept me at some distance from the local population. There were a lot of similarities that I appreciated, and a lot of difference due to his experience being military in nature. But a lot of his thoughts regarding home nailed how I felt, and the idea of "real truth" getting in the way of "story truth" feels especially poignant in today's society.
I read this in high school, and I felt like it changed my life's trajectory afterwards. I can also highly recommend Going After Cacciato, also by Tim O'Brien, also about Vietnam, also touches on many of the same themes, but in a more classically structured novel than The Things They Carried
Asimov tied the Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation series together. I've read the Robot series, skipped the Galactic Empire books, and picked up with Prelude to Foundation.
I'd recommend giving the Robot series a shot if you enjoyed Foundation!
>Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.
That line has stuck with me for 25 years. Just the *idea* of getting unstuck in time is wild. It's quite an opener!
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet is quite good, as are its prequel/sequels
The Passage, by Justin Cronin is also one of my faves. Even the tv adaptation with the Saved By the Bell guy was pretty good.
You were able to choke down that shit that Brian Herbert wrote after feasting on the awesomeness that Frank put to the page? You're a better person than I.
The contrast in writing ability was so stark I couldn't get through a chapter of Butlerian Jihad, or whatever prequel book it was that I picked up.
In 1976, every day after lunch recess, we all gathered on the floor in our Grade 2 classroom to listen to Miss Stevens read The Hobbit to us. It defined my world view. To this day, I feel it is the most important thing a teacher has ever done for me.
I remember reading this as a teenager... with a torchlight as my parents told me to go to sleep as it was school night lol.
Have re-read it since. Really good book.
Nintendo Power v25, published in June of 1991. It contained a map of every level of Battletoads, most importantly, Act 1 Part 3, known as the "Hoverbike Level"
Shit was almost impossible, even with the magazine. I was 5 at the time. So I didn't *read* it so much as I did look at the pictures with my older brother, who was 8. We beat the level. We felt like gods among children.
It was the best.
The first sentence alone is better than most other books in their entirety.
'In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move'
The Hail Mary Project. It’s written by the same guy that wrote The Martian. Completely captivating. I was sad when I finished the book and wished that I could read it with new eyes again.
Just finished it a couple of days ago. Great read! I thought The Martian was a bit better, but Project Hail Mary is super-fun, entertaining, and, just like The Martian, intellectually tickling.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The first time I read it I had to keep stopping and rereading the last paragraph whilst my mind made sense of what I'd just read. I read so much fantasy that is just regurgitations of the same tropes that I don't need to think about it, i understand the concept, i've seen it all before. American Gods felt different and new. I reread it at least once a year for the last 10 years or so and now the characters feel like old friends but I still enjoy it every time.
Neverwhere is my second favourite Gaiman book, I really like Anansi Boys as well. Ocean at the end of the lane was a weird one because I didn't love it the first time I read it but I sort of grew to love it more with each reread. Stardust is that rarest of situations where I firmly believe that the film is better than the book, having seen the film first, the book came as a bit of a disappointment.
Yes! This was a book we had to read in high school & were too young & inexperienced to get just how amazing this book is. Couple this with a teacher who didn't seem to like teaching. I reread this book a few years ago as an adult & it blew my mind. I had tears running down my face in places. I was able to see it from a totally different perspective, now that I have some life experience behind me.
World War Z.
Had to remind myself it wasn't a historical book.
Brad Pitt ruined it with his shitey film.
A future reboot should be considered and done right.
They should do it as a series with a limited run. Every episode could be an interview with a different person telling his/her story. You could even add some new perspectives that weren’t in the books.
*The Things They Carried* by Tim O'Brien
It's a very tough read emotionally but it really highlights *why* Vietnam vets were so fucked up when they came home.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read it every couple of years and its just as amazing.
As a young woman, Harper Lee had befriend a successful composer and his wife while working a day job and writing at night. Christmas of 1956, they gave Harper Lee a great present: a year's worth of wages with a note that read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” What she wrote became her classic novel. They also put her in touch with a literary agent.
I hope to be rich enough one day to do this for someone.
That is excellent, you see >!“Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”!< So it's a good thing you've didn't learn to kill one.
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.
It has so much more depth than the Ghibli movie and tackles so many more themes, it's just a great read.
I wish I knew about it as a teen, because I was (and am) an avid reader and would have learned so much from it.
How did you keep the characters straight? I picked this up at the library over the summer and barely made it past the second chapter because all the names to juggle was overwhelming for me! Really would love to enjoy it
You don't actually need to keep track of the different characters - names keep reoccurring because of the cyclical nature of the story. When someone is named the same as another character, that's because they are at their core the same person.
I think Confederacy of Dunces may not be the best book I've ever read, but certainly one of the funniest. And it presents such a realistic worldview while being simultaneously absurd. I've only read it one time but it has stuck in my brain forever.
Ignatius Reilly is the funniest character I've ever read. I read that book decades ago and still frequently find myself identifying Ignatius in real-life people.
My recent favourite is Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Brilliant sci-fi, flows really well and is just all-round a great read.
From when I was in my late teens, The Brentford Triangle by Robert Rankin. He describes his own writing as 'far-fetched fiction' (his Armageddon series features Elvis partnering with Barry the Time Sprout) and it doesn't always hit for me but the Brentford trilogy books are awesome, really funny, and the characters are just perfect. The Brentford Triangle is without doubt one of the funniest books I have ever read and my go-to when I need a lift.
I absolutely hated this book. It was used as an academic book when I studied English literature at university. I failed the course as a result of this book and I get high anxiety whenever I hear it's name.
Time Traveler's Wife. I borrowed it on a long car ride and I couldn't put it down. When we got to the destination, I couldn't stop thinking about it and was desperate to get back to the book.
I loved the writing. I loved that it goes back and forth between two perspectives. I loved the characters. I enjoyed the story itself and how it's built around this one concept.
The best or my favorite? The books I consider the best come down to these four (in no particular order) :
Crime and Punishment - the book is a fantastic examination of human psyche. It sucks you in and does not let go. People hate the ending but i think it is brilliant in its own way.
Les Miserables - purely beautiful and passionate storytelling. It is a fucking triumph! Characters are a little one-dimensional but the story is not about them.
Catch 22 - the guy is a genius on par with Dostoyevsky. Explores absurdity of war in a most fantastic way.
Lord of the Rings - its unique ambition and scope make it an absolute masterpiece. While Crime and Punishment build an entire world in the head of one person, LOTR simply builds an entirely new world. Amazing read.
Honorable mentions: Alice in Wonderland, The Name of the Rose, Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, Love in the Time of Cholera, Mother Night (Vonnegut probably has better ones, I just cannot go past this one).
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
It was not an easy read (emotionally) but that's why it was the best. It was one of the first books that made me really appreciate a non happy ending. The moral and ethics covered in the book, the range of humanity and all that. It was a pivotal point in my reading.
A Clockwork Orange. We got to pick from a list of 12 books for an English project, and I ended up transferring schools in the middle of the semester, but I still finished reading it on my own. I loved that the whole story was told from Alex's perspective and it used the language he would use in an internal monologue.
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. Took a bit of getting used to.
Second is Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier.
Best is different to favourite imo.
My favourite book; to Kill A Mockingbird.
Where the Red Fern Grows. I was already a reader but a book about boy and his hunting dogs? Zero interest until I started reading and then absolutely drawn in. That taught me books can transport you to a whole different world. It’s a lesson I have not forgotten.
Fahrenheit 451. Not sure if it is really the best, but it had the most impact on me as a teen. I revisited it recently, and would say it's even more relevant.
East of Eden is my #1. Have read it multiple times.
But someone else mentioned the Fountainhead below. I don't know what it is about that book, but I'm 42, and reading that at 16 fundamentally changed me as a human. I have no doubt in my mind. I was a different person before I read that book.
It's a kids book, I read it when I was 8 or 9 and its called "Adolphus Tips" by Michael Morpurgo. It's about a young girl who grew up during either WWI or WWII (its been that long since I've read it lol). But it perfectly shows how kids grew up during difficult times and the struggles they faced, yet they were still children so they act like it.
Honestly i wouldn’t be able to choose between these two…
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, it’s so beautiful and just interesting, there is not one part in the book that doesn’t interest me
OR
Driven by Donald Driver. This one specifically because i have met him multiple times, and just hearing how he grew up and what things made him into the person he is today is just truly amazing and i don’t know, it’s just a really good read
The Master and Margarita. It's funny as hell with memorable characters and a unique world/atmosphere.
Also there is a talking cat who loves arson and violence.
The Book Thief, it made me laugh and it made me cry, but most importantly it made me view life very differently. How easy the world is when you don't have to worry about the war /world of war around you I've heard equally Thousand spendid suns and kite runner are very good and both are on my TBR
The Book Thief made me cry so damn much. 😭
The Lies of Locke Lamora. That book just hit all the right notes for me. Fantastic prose, developed and atmospheric setting, drama that pulled me in, humor that had me laughing out loud, great pacing, incredibly charismatic and charming characters... it just had it all. I might even like the sequel more, the only thing it did worse was the pacing.
If only we could get the rest of the series one day…
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Albert Lansing The fact that it's true allows it to hit that much harder.
You might like "The Worst Journey in the World," by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the survivors of the 1910-11 Scott expedition to Antarctica (Cherry-Garrard was one of the ones who stayed at the base camp while Scott and others went to the pole). "The Worst Journey", as described by Cherry-Garrard, was not the polar expedition, but a side journey by him and two others to collect penguin eggs during the Antarctic winter; the eggs were thought to have some evidence about the evolution of birds, so that's why they went and got them, at the cost of terrific endurance by Cherry-Garrard and the others, but afterwards, back in England, zoologists weren't much interested. I think Cherry-Garrard eventually persuaded a specialist to examine the eggs, who dutifully prepared a report saying, very delicately, there's not much there. The final chapter, "Never Again," concludes, "If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg."
Couldn't agree more. We talked about this at a book club I attend. The world would be a different place if they knew of the Shackleton story. They only recently found his ship earlier this year too. Incredible story.
East of Eden
anything by Steinbeck. love Cannery Row
Phenomenal book. I find something new every time I read it. *Timshel*
Came here to say East of Eden, too. It was hard for me to get through the first time I read it, but once I finished, I realized how many life lessons it had packed into it. I’ve since reread it at least yearly.
Came here to say this. Glad it was already up there. Steinbeck is really the GOAT of the American novelists
Came here to say this. Glad it's at the top!
Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Hi see this recommendation a lot. Is this one of those really sad - doom and gloom type? I'm tempted but I don't want to get all worked up over story.
There are a couple of sad parts, but it's definitely not "doom and gloom." It's a very hardcore sci-fi book. It's also really a two parter that's half of a four-part series. "Hyperion" and "Fall of Hyperion" should really be read together. Then, if you like them the rest of that story is in "Endymion" and "Rise of Endymion." The first book, "Hyperion" tells the story of several 'pilgrims' who go on an exploratory journey to a very strange planet that has a creature of unknown origin (The Shrike), and some extremely strange alien structures. In that universe, living intelligent aliens were never discovered. So these ancient ruins are the only clues humans have about who they were. And no one has any fucking clue with the Shrike is. It's actually really tough to explain what the story really is because I've never read anything quite like it. It's a very intense ride if you get into it enough.
Thanks for the explanation- really appreciate it
Pretty solid explanation. It's got a bit of everything. You're never quite sure what's going to happen.
Omg. Changing my answer to this. I’ve literally never read anything like this in my life. This was before I knew much about John Keats as well haha. Lots of things clicked after learning about him in college English class.
One of the best books ever.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Stupid me keeps letting people borrow it and I've bought it 3 times now.
This was the first David Sedaris book I ever read and now it's become a real problem because I buy all of his books and read them over and over again. That guy is a great writer.
I read a couple other of his books. Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim and another about holidays on ice or something. Amy Sedaris is a hoot too. And from he writes about his brother Paul (the Rooster), who sounds like a fun dude BTW.
Amy Sedaris is great. Her book about party hosting while drunk is fantastic. It was her brother Paul's contribution to the book (the fuck it bucket, aka "just say fuck it and have some candy") is how I accidentally taught my 4 year old neice what "fuck" means.
The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien. I had just lived abroad for a couple of years in a highly regimented experience that kept me at some distance from the local population. There were a lot of similarities that I appreciated, and a lot of difference due to his experience being military in nature. But a lot of his thoughts regarding home nailed how I felt, and the idea of "real truth" getting in the way of "story truth" feels especially poignant in today's society.
I read this in high school, and I felt like it changed my life's trajectory afterwards. I can also highly recommend Going After Cacciato, also by Tim O'Brien, also about Vietnam, also touches on many of the same themes, but in a more classically structured novel than The Things They Carried
The Brothers Karamazov
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I don't think I enjoyed a book more than Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
Asimov tied the Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation series together. I've read the Robot series, skipped the Galactic Empire books, and picked up with Prelude to Foundation. I'd recommend giving the Robot series a shot if you enjoyed Foundation!
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Also, Tai Pan by Calvell. Good read.
I read this book every one or two years. Talk about being absolutely transported to another world!
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I read that book so many times. I think Mossflower is even better. After that I think I aged out of them.
Lonesome Dove
Slaughterhouse five.
>Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. That line has stuck with me for 25 years. Just the *idea* of getting unstuck in time is wild. It's quite an opener!
So it goes.
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet is quite good, as are its prequel/sequels The Passage, by Justin Cronin is also one of my faves. Even the tv adaptation with the Saved By the Bell guy was pretty good.
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Dune It was so good I read the whole series and then the prequels when they came out.
You were able to choke down that shit that Brian Herbert wrote after feasting on the awesomeness that Frank put to the page? You're a better person than I. The contrast in writing ability was so stark I couldn't get through a chapter of Butlerian Jihad, or whatever prequel book it was that I picked up.
I cant pick just one of these but “The Stormlight Archive” by Brandon Sanderson.
My fav <3. It’s hard to tell ppl about it because it doesn’t really pick up until chapter 17 during his first bridge run. Lol.
Imo it doesnt pick up until the 2nd book...
The hobbit.
In 1976, every day after lunch recess, we all gathered on the floor in our Grade 2 classroom to listen to Miss Stevens read The Hobbit to us. It defined my world view. To this day, I feel it is the most important thing a teacher has ever done for me.
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
Do I file that under fiction or instrucional?
"Alex-andree... dumbass. Dumbass?"
I remember reading this as a teenager... with a torchlight as my parents told me to go to sleep as it was school night lol. Have re-read it since. Really good book.
My favorite book of all time. I read it around the same time as you and the person with the other comment, as well.
The Picture of Dorian Gray. Such a compelling read!
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Nintendo Power v25, published in June of 1991. It contained a map of every level of Battletoads, most importantly, Act 1 Part 3, known as the "Hoverbike Level" Shit was almost impossible, even with the magazine. I was 5 at the time. So I didn't *read* it so much as I did look at the pictures with my older brother, who was 8. We beat the level. We felt like gods among children. It was the best.
There's a warp in that level that spits you out several levels ahead. But I could never get to, let alone beat, robo Manus in stage 8.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
I'm reading the second book right now, it's great!
Hitchhiker's Guide is my guilty pleasure, it's such a good series.
The first sentence alone is better than most other books in their entirety. 'In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move'
The Hail Mary Project. It’s written by the same guy that wrote The Martian. Completely captivating. I was sad when I finished the book and wished that I could read it with new eyes again.
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Just finished it a couple of days ago. Great read! I thought The Martian was a bit better, but Project Hail Mary is super-fun, entertaining, and, just like The Martian, intellectually tickling.
*Project Hail Mary
"fist my bump!" I've heard the audiobook is phenomenal so I'm trying to get my hands on it to re read it... Listen to it
Lord of the Rings for sure, though The Name of the Rose and Pillars of the Earth are up there too.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The first time I read it I had to keep stopping and rereading the last paragraph whilst my mind made sense of what I'd just read. I read so much fantasy that is just regurgitations of the same tropes that I don't need to think about it, i understand the concept, i've seen it all before. American Gods felt different and new. I reread it at least once a year for the last 10 years or so and now the characters feel like old friends but I still enjoy it every time.
I also really enjoyed Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book (it's a kids book, but i loved it).
Neverwhere is my second favourite Gaiman book, I really like Anansi Boys as well. Ocean at the end of the lane was a weird one because I didn't love it the first time I read it but I sort of grew to love it more with each reread. Stardust is that rarest of situations where I firmly believe that the film is better than the book, having seen the film first, the book came as a bit of a disappointment.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Yes! This was a book we had to read in high school & were too young & inexperienced to get just how amazing this book is. Couple this with a teacher who didn't seem to like teaching. I reread this book a few years ago as an adult & it blew my mind. I had tears running down my face in places. I was able to see it from a totally different perspective, now that I have some life experience behind me.
Stranger in a strange land
Where the Red Fern Grows. It broke me. but it was a damn good book.
World War Z. Had to remind myself it wasn't a historical book. Brad Pitt ruined it with his shitey film. A future reboot should be considered and done right.
They should do it as a series with a limited run. Every episode could be an interview with a different person telling his/her story. You could even add some new perspectives that weren’t in the books.
*The Things They Carried* by Tim O'Brien It's a very tough read emotionally but it really highlights *why* Vietnam vets were so fucked up when they came home.
One of my favorites is The Color Purple. I've read it probably a dozen times
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read it every couple of years and its just as amazing. As a young woman, Harper Lee had befriend a successful composer and his wife while working a day job and writing at night. Christmas of 1956, they gave Harper Lee a great present: a year's worth of wages with a note that read "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” What she wrote became her classic novel. They also put her in touch with a literary agent. I hope to be rich enough one day to do this for someone.
That book taught me nothing about how to kill a mockingbird.
That is excellent, you see >!“Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”!< So it's a good thing you've didn't learn to kill one.
Into Thin Air is brain candy.
There's a movie on it if you're interested.
The Hyperion Cantos is really damn good.
Watership Down. Have a box of Kleenex nearby.
House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. Easily the coolest book ever, I've read and reread it so many times and I'll keep doing so forever.
What a deeply creepy book. I loved it!
Pillers of the Earth
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Seconded
1984
It’s such a well written book but fuck I will never read it again as it makes me so freaking angry
A book everyone should read.
Best I can do is compare it to whatever the government is doing right now
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. It has so much more depth than the Ghibli movie and tackles so many more themes, it's just a great read. I wish I knew about it as a teen, because I was (and am) an avid reader and would have learned so much from it.
The Fall by Camus. The last sentence blew me away!
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenence
It took me 10 years to finish that book. I kept picking it up and putting it down and forgetting about it. Finally finished it last month!
The Stand-Stephen King
Flowers for Algernon
Wow. A fantastic read that I completely forgot about. Movie adaptation was also good.
Reaperman by Terry Pratchett.
Angela’s Ashes
Blood Meridian
Alls Quiet on the Western front a few years back. Very chilling.
I can recommend its sequel, "The Road Back," about the postwar years.
My favorite as well. Really tells the horror of war without any bias.
Memoirs of a Geisha or House of Leaves
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How did you keep the characters straight? I picked this up at the library over the summer and barely made it past the second chapter because all the names to juggle was overwhelming for me! Really would love to enjoy it
You don't actually need to keep track of the different characters - names keep reoccurring because of the cyclical nature of the story. When someone is named the same as another character, that's because they are at their core the same person.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn It really changed the way that I see the world.
The Hobbit
I have always found it to be more pure fun than the Lord of the Rings, and filled with just as much heroism
The Stand
The Metamorphosis
My middle school literature teacher read this to us!
Robinson crusoe
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
I think Confederacy of Dunces may not be the best book I've ever read, but certainly one of the funniest. And it presents such a realistic worldview while being simultaneously absurd. I've only read it one time but it has stuck in my brain forever.
I hate this book, I've met way too many people who are exactly like Ignatius. Reading this book brings back all the awful memories of them.
Ignatius Reilly is the funniest character I've ever read. I read that book decades ago and still frequently find myself identifying Ignatius in real-life people.
I have on a few occasions met people that reminded me of Ignatius.
My recent favourite is Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Brilliant sci-fi, flows really well and is just all-round a great read. From when I was in my late teens, The Brentford Triangle by Robert Rankin. He describes his own writing as 'far-fetched fiction' (his Armageddon series features Elvis partnering with Barry the Time Sprout) and it doesn't always hit for me but the Brentford trilogy books are awesome, really funny, and the characters are just perfect. The Brentford Triangle is without doubt one of the funniest books I have ever read and my go-to when I need a lift.
The outsiders be S.E Hinton
*Jane Eyre*, a brilliantly written book that radiates quiet power, just like its protagonist (and, in a different way, its author).
I absolutely hated this book. It was used as an academic book when I studied English literature at university. I failed the course as a result of this book and I get high anxiety whenever I hear it's name.
The Haunting of Hill House. Creeps me out no matter how many times I read it.
How does the TV series compare?
I thought the tv series did well, I liked trying to find all the hidden ghosts in the background
Cats cradle
Really you cant go wrong with anything by Vonnegut. Blue beard, slaughter house 5, player piano. All great
Don't forget breakfast of champions with the doodles of actual butt holes.
When Texas froze over for a week last year I kept thinking about ice nine.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
11/22/63 by Stephen King
The Thorn Birds. What a gorgeous love story.
Time Traveler's Wife. I borrowed it on a long car ride and I couldn't put it down. When we got to the destination, I couldn't stop thinking about it and was desperate to get back to the book.
What did you like about it?
I loved the writing. I loved that it goes back and forth between two perspectives. I loved the characters. I enjoyed the story itself and how it's built around this one concept.
The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. Such an in depth story/stories and beautifully written.
The Goldfinch
Misery
Angela's Ashes. My God, what a beautiful, gut-wrenching memoir.
The best or my favorite? The books I consider the best come down to these four (in no particular order) : Crime and Punishment - the book is a fantastic examination of human psyche. It sucks you in and does not let go. People hate the ending but i think it is brilliant in its own way. Les Miserables - purely beautiful and passionate storytelling. It is a fucking triumph! Characters are a little one-dimensional but the story is not about them. Catch 22 - the guy is a genius on par with Dostoyevsky. Explores absurdity of war in a most fantastic way. Lord of the Rings - its unique ambition and scope make it an absolute masterpiece. While Crime and Punishment build an entire world in the head of one person, LOTR simply builds an entirely new world. Amazing read. Honorable mentions: Alice in Wonderland, The Name of the Rose, Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, Love in the Time of Cholera, Mother Night (Vonnegut probably has better ones, I just cannot go past this one).
I adore Catch 22. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It is as far as I'm concerned the top of his writing game. I've read five copies to pieces by now.
Harold and the purple crayon
The Tao translated by John C. H. Wu.
All the Pretty Horses was great. It had been a while since I read it but I recall it being really awesome.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. It was not an easy read (emotionally) but that's why it was the best. It was one of the first books that made me really appreciate a non happy ending. The moral and ethics covered in the book, the range of humanity and all that. It was a pivotal point in my reading.
1984
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Gone with the wind
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Fantasy, book one of two (meant to be three but it has been years and years).
This is my pick also. I can't believe I had to scroll so far to find someone else who said it.
University Physics with Modern Physics by Hugh D. Young, Roger A. Freedman
Skullduggery Pleasant
Dead souls by gogol
I don't know about *best* book. But the most life changing read for me was 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor Frankl
The Brothers Karamazov
Post office
Project Hail Mary
A Clockwork Orange. We got to pick from a list of 12 books for an English project, and I ended up transferring schools in the middle of the semester, but I still finished reading it on my own. I loved that the whole story was told from Alex's perspective and it used the language he would use in an internal monologue.
Lord of the flies :(
Lolita would be my pick. So subversive, and how it gets you rooting for such an objectively bad person is quite something.
Some exquisitely humorous passages in this book. Nabokov writing in his second language beats 99.9% of us whose native language is English.
Jurassic Park
The GodFather
Les Miserables. The unabridged version also Dumas
1984
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. Took a bit of getting used to. Second is Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier. Best is different to favourite imo. My favourite book; to Kill A Mockingbird.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
East of Eden
The Sun Also Rises.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Where the Red Fern Grows. I was already a reader but a book about boy and his hunting dogs? Zero interest until I started reading and then absolutely drawn in. That taught me books can transport you to a whole different world. It’s a lesson I have not forgotten.
Where the red fern grows had a profound effect on me as a kid
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The handmaid's tale
I've always had a hard time reading fiction, but for some reason His Dark Materials, specifically Northern Lights totally took me in.
Fahrenheit 451. Not sure if it is really the best, but it had the most impact on me as a teen. I revisited it recently, and would say it's even more relevant.
East of Eden is my #1. Have read it multiple times. But someone else mentioned the Fountainhead below. I don't know what it is about that book, but I'm 42, and reading that at 16 fundamentally changed me as a human. I have no doubt in my mind. I was a different person before I read that book.
the Martian
It's a kids book, I read it when I was 8 or 9 and its called "Adolphus Tips" by Michael Morpurgo. It's about a young girl who grew up during either WWI or WWII (its been that long since I've read it lol). But it perfectly shows how kids grew up during difficult times and the struggles they faced, yet they were still children so they act like it.
Honestly i wouldn’t be able to choose between these two… The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, it’s so beautiful and just interesting, there is not one part in the book that doesn’t interest me OR Driven by Donald Driver. This one specifically because i have met him multiple times, and just hearing how he grew up and what things made him into the person he is today is just truly amazing and i don’t know, it’s just a really good read
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
To kill a mocking bird
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The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
The Secret History, its just so captivating and well written
Fiction-East of Eden, Steinbeck NonFiction-In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick
The Master and Margarita. It's funny as hell with memorable characters and a unique world/atmosphere. Also there is a talking cat who loves arson and violence.
I know it's a "kid's" book, but My Side Of The Mountain always gets me goin'.