Best book you've ever read?

cruxiform

Too hard a question to answer for me! I guess I'd think about books that have had an effect on me, good or bad. 'How To Eat Fried Worms' by Thomas Rockwell is one. We read it at school, I absolutely loved it and it got me into reading fiction. As an adult 'The Diceman' by Luke Rhinehart has stuck with me. 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks is another. 

ourmaninthenorth

Hawksmoor - Peter Ackroyd.
On Broadway  - Damon Runyon.
The Lady in the Lake - Raymond Chandler. 

Kilgore

Kurt Vonnegut. Take your pick.

DefaultM

You want to read some books? I've been reading The Stand uncut since April and I'm only just over half the way through.  

Sassafras

Not saying they're the greatest books ever written but the Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries by Lawrence Block are terrifically entertaining and very funny. I've just read 5 of them on the trot and I could easily get through another 5 straightaway.
Donna Tart writes a good book too.
If it's classics you want, I find Charles Dickens hard to beat.

EricTheWeary

axisus said:

'Best' book ..... not sure to be honest

My favourite books are

Fermat's last theorem (Simon Singh) - fascinating book on maths
Surely you're joking mr Feynman (Richard Feynman) - personal anecdotes from the world's most interesting physicist

My father was half way through the Feynman book when he died so I read it ( in some odd sort of tribute way) - I found it surprisingly interesting. Helped me make sense of some of the jokes on Big Bang Theory anyway. 

The only book book of any size I remember reading in a single sitting was Crosstown Traffic by Charles Shaar  Murray, although wether it’d stand up as my best ever I don’t know ( and doubt). Sort of a contextualised history of Hendrix. 

I’ve rarely ever reread a book so saying the last thing I read was better or worse than something I read 30 years ago is probably a bit meaningless. However, the last book I read and thought was just fascinating was A Very English Scandal by John Preston. About the Norman Thorpe scandal but will reaffirm your beliefs if you think the British political classes are rotten and superbly written.

scrumhalf said:

This, hands down:

https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1300972946l/437143.jpg

His one on Shakespeare is very good ( Shakespeare The World As A Stage ) - short but tells you a lot of useful stuff ( and I highly suspect that Ben Elton has a copy to hand when writing Upstart Crow). 

I’m not much of a fiction reader ( or reader at all really, I’m basically listing all the books I’ve ever read here...) but my default is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. What happens when a top literary author has a go at sci fi. 

Merry Christmas  

Sassafras

siraxeman said:

Easily by a country mile + 10....the Bible!! worldwide best seller of all time!! no.2 book is about the bible - Pilgrims Progress.

I agree with you on Pilgrim's Progress. Not because of the writing but because my copy has got some wonderful woodcuts and illuminated script. It's a work of art.

kaypeejay

Hard to pin down one book but I really enjoyed To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee. 

Phil_aka_Pip

Douglas Hofstädter - Strange Loops
Robert Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance
Douglas Adams - Hitch Hikers Guide
God (via various humans) - The Bible

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Niallseroreilly said:

Looking to read some great books over Christmas, any personal favourites? Any genre

My personal shout is 1984 by George Orwell. I would put it up there was one of the greatest pieces of art ever created. 

If you liked 1984, have you read Huxley's 'Brave New World'? Written around the same time as 1984, it's another dystopian future story, but comes at it from a very different but equally powerful angle.

I'd argue it's an equally prescient visionary work, despite being less well known and less a part of popular culture. One of the best sci-fi novels ever IMO.

As for greatest book ever, God knows! Far too many great books to narrow it down to just the one!

DarnWeight

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

I read it shortly after my son was born, and it resonated with me like nothing else I've ever read.  For a relatively short book, it's a very hard, dark read with a massive emotional heft to it.  

Sesh

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Niallseroreilly

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Niallseroreilly said:

Looking to read some great books over Christmas, any personal favourites? Any genre

My personal shout is 1984 by George Orwell. I would put it up there was one of the greatest pieces of art ever created. 

If you liked 1984, have you read Huxley's 'Brave New World'? Written around the same time as 1984, it's another dystopian future story, but comes at it from a very different but equally powerful angle.

I'd argue it's an equally prescient visionary work, despite being less well known and less a part of popular culture. One of the best sci-fi novels ever IMO.

As for greatest book ever, God knows! Far too many great books to narrow it down to just the one!

Yes I read it after 1984, and I liked it but for some reason doesnt resonate as much as 1984 with me, but just the opinion of a mere prole.

sev112

Book of the year for me (and probably many years)
:
A man called Ove

bought it for summer holiday and finished it in 2 days.  Made me laugh out loud lots, and made me cry - seriously, and I’m a 51 year old man. 
wife and teenage daughter were intrigued. So daughter took it and cried several times in 2 days and couldnot put it down, and loved it.
Mrs then had to, and it even broke her frosty exterior as well.

took us a couple of months to find the Swedish film of it on Prime. Was worth it and the subtitles.  Even though we all had read the book, we were all 3 of us crying and laughing through the film

fabulous.
hope a few of you take up the challenge and run the whole range of your emotions.

In fact, given the interest that the “life changing” thread on here got, I wholly encourage you all to give it a go.

Sassafras

Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.


Only joking.

quarky

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Robert Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance
Douglas Adams - Hitch Hikers Guide

I could have easily included those two as well also 5/5 books.

Sporky

The Orthogonal series by Greg Egan. Science fiction that isn't fantasy-in-space. Mind bending and a ripping yarn.

west

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/82104.How_I_Found_Freedom_in_an_Unfree_World  ;

i wish someone had told me about this when i was 16 , i read it much later and it still helped put some events in to perspective ....

Tone71

Clive Barker - Weaveworld

Transported me as a 20 year old to an amazing fantasy land, utterly brilliant.

quarky

sev112 said:

Book of the year for me (and probably many years)
:
A man called Ove

Definitely one to add to my list.