Best book you've ever read?

meltedbuzzbox

off the top of my head

Aztec - Gary Jennings
Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
Flashman papers - George MacDonald Fraser
Memoirs of Geisha - Arthur Golden
Vlad the last confession - C.C Humphreys
Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa
Dune - Frank Herbert

and loads more...

LuttiS

That is so tough... I'm an avid reader and have probably spent more on books than on guitars.. not sure that's something to admit on a guitar forum
I like a bit of everything.. my favourites and what's best are probably two different things.. many books are badly written but have fantastic storys take Harry potter for example.. it's a great read but pretty badly written.. at least at the start. 

Some of my favourites include Hitchikers guide, the forever war by Joe haldeman, nights dawn trilogy by Philip Hamilton, most Harry Harrison books, Terry Pratchett books.. 
Currently working my way through Alastair Reynolds which I'm enjoying.. 

Agree brave new world is a great read. 

Rocker

Reach for the sky - Paul Brickhill

strumjoughlamps

Mosquito Coast - Paul Theroux 
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

most  books by William Gibson especially the excellent short stories collection Burning Chrome.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

sev112 said:

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.

I absolutely loved the book, but didn't think the film was all that good to be honest. All came across a little bit twee in the film version.

Definitely a great read though. 

thecolourbox

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!

I personally can't stand 1984 whereas Brave New World is brilliantly good and terrifying. If you like 1984 I would definitely recommend Brave New World. 1984 always seems to me to be "this is all bad stuff and it's going to be bad for you" which is a fairly obvious really, whereas in Brave New World it's the stuff that you'd think would be good stuff that is the problem. Lots of Shakespeare references to pick up on as well.

My favourite books are:
Finnegans Wake
Alice in Wonderland
Utopia (although I've only read it in German)
The Castle by Franz Kafka

stimpsonslostson

@Sassafras you're not wrong regarding Donna Tartt- Secret History is what I came on here to suggest. 

I'll go with Name of the Wind By Patrick Rothfuss instead. I just wish he'd get a move on with the third book.. It's been 10years! 

ICBM

Cosmos, by Carl Sagan.

Budgie

Lord of the Flies by WIlliam Golding springs immediately to mind.

bodhi

DarnWeight said:

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.  

Yeah, this one.  It's brutal.

Niallseroreilly

Budgie said:

Lord of the Flies by WIlliam Golding springs immediately to mind.

Classic

chillidoggy

Ant and Bee.

Niallseroreilly

thecolourbox said:

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!

I personally can't stand 1984 whereas Brave New World is brilliantly good and terrifying. If you like 1984 I would definitely recommend Brave New World. 1984 always seems to me to be "this is all bad stuff and it's going to be bad for you" which is a fairly obvious really, whereas in Brave New World it's the stuff that you'd think would be good stuff that is the problem. Lots of Shakespeare references to pick up on as well.

My favourite books are:
Finnegans Wake
Alice in Wonderland
Utopia (although I've only read it in German)
The Castle by Franz Kafka

Yeah I would definitely agree on that point about 1984 and Brave New World. But in my opinion the writing in 1984 is as good as it gets. He creates this ridiculously horrifying world and makes it seem real and almost possible... As youve alluded to I think Huxleys 'predictions' are closer in understanding of the human condition but the book took me on the most original journey.

Funkfingers

Difficult to single out just one. Some of my favourites have already been name-checked. Today, I nominate 

Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince

bluechargeboy

axisus said:

Surely you're joking mr Feynman (Richard Feynman) - personal anecdotes from the world's most interesting physicist

@axisus good call. This book is at least partly responsible for setting me on my physics path.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson is a favourite of mine. I enjoy his use of language and nerdy humour, and the themes explored in the book.

Teetonetal

The midnight children by salman rushdie and take me with you are 2 very different but very amazing books. 

I used to read a lot, really ought to start again.

quarky

bluechargeboy said:

axisus said:

Surely you're joking mr Feynman (Richard Feynman) - personal anecdotes from the world's most interesting physicist

@axisus good call. This book is at least partly responsible for setting me on my physics path.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson is a favourite of mine. I enjoy his use of language and nerdy humour, and the themes explored in the book.

Enjoyed SYJMF (although I was well into my career path by then), but it didn't have the same effect on me as In Search of Schrodinger's Cat. 


I am part of the way through Anathem and am really struggling to be honest. It isn't the first Stephenson book I have read, but probably the one I have struggled with the most. I must get back to it though I guess..

celentium

LOTR

mikeyrob73

The Stand -Stephen King 
The Dark Tower series as well I have just re read and enjoyed them more second time round 

bluechargeboy

@quarky I've never heard of that, will have to check it out!

I think Anathem gets very mixed reviews; I think you have to be in the right frame of mind for it. I enjoyed it much more the second time I read it (recently). I have at least liked most of his books. Really enjoyed the Baroque Cycle once I got over my fear of reading a historical novel!