What is your favorite book?

[thebaghwan]

I need some good reading material but when I go to the bookstore its like a case of overload. I like to read most anything. Would like to hear your reccomdendations and a little of why. Thanks DU!

[Goldmund]

1. "Narcissus and Goldmund", Hermann Hesse

One of the few books I've ever read (and read 10 times over again) that truly changed me.

[welshTerrier2]

46. remarkable book !!

i read it only once many years ago ... one of these days, I'll have to read it again ...

[Trinity]

2. Non-fiction - Demon Haunted World - Carl Sagan

Fiction - depends really, if you like horror try anything by Clive Barker...



Peace? :hippie: :smoke: :freak:

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Can't pick just one, so you get a list.

Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow Brilliant, complex, frequently hilarious novel whose underlying theme is the unholy alliance of industry and government that made the 20th century what it was.

Pynchon, again - The Crying of Lot 49 fairly short, a paranoid fantasy about a centuries-old conspiracy and underground postage system used by anarchist, rebels and revolutionaries that may have hidden agents everywhere, or may be the elaborate practical joke of a dead man on a former lover.

David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest Amazingly rich novel that's a kind of extended meditation on addiction...what causes it, what it is, how it's manifested...and its various forms in postmodern, postindustrial society, from mindless entertainment to drugs, with the ultimate representation being a film so tremendously entertaining that no one who sees it wants do do anything but watch it continuously for the rest of their lives.

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon Two novels in one, following a WWII codebreaker and his grandson, a tech geek working with a late '90's data startup on the Pacific Rim, in intertwining stories which converge upon the theme of Japanese war gold (with a lot of humour and action in between...if you've read any Pynchon or Umberto Eco and liked it, you'll probably like Stephenson).

[2Design]

4. several

Mister God this is Anna - nice story based on true story about a little girl during england bombing - spiritual
I call this my bible. has a lot more guts and life in this little girl than any church I have ever been too. I have read this book maybe 10 times.

I like Danille steele. Good romance. She does a good job describing the jobs people have and the settings of the those people and jobs. It gives me a chance to travel and see other places while learning about other occupations.

Dreamweaver MX 2004 by Lynda Weinman. I like technical books and her teaching method is the best I have seen. She explains why not just how.

God on a Harley - Fun

Our wildest Dreams by Joline Godfrey - Women entrpreneurs - upbeat

Soul Retrieval - Sandra Ingerman - Cool shamanism book written as a story.

:crazy:

[HuckleB]

5. Whatever I'm reading at the moment!

Right now, it's "Artificial Respiration" by Ricardo Piglia.

[mistertrickster]

6. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

You emerge from reading it, as in a dream with your mind on fire . . .

[RetroLounge]

47. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Oh my gosh, that's such a great book.

and 100 years of Solitude.

Just amazing reading experiences...

RL

[BBradley]

7. The Stranger - Albert Camus

[wryter2000]

8. If you like romance

Read Flowers from the Storm my Laura Kinsale. The finest book I've ever read in the genre. If you feel like aiming a little lower :), you can read one of mine. Taming Angelica or Always a Princess by Alice Chambers, aka moi.

How could I forget? If you like erotica, try one of the Secrets volumes from Red Sage. I'm in volumes 1, 6, and 8 as Alice Gaines.

[democracyindanger]

9. Any Paul Auster

'The New York Trilogy' and 'In The Country of Lost Things' especially.

Any Knut Hamsun, particularly 'Hunger.'

If you like graphic novels, try 'Goradze' or 'Palestine' by Joe Sacco. He's a foreign-correspondent-comic-book-artist.

[Mz Pip]

10. Books that I've read more than once

I classify as favorites.

Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clark. It's Sci Fi about the end of humanity as we know it.

Dragon's of Eden - Carl Sagan. The Book of Genesis as a metaphore for evolution.

Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy. It's really 6 books. THere are been 2 dramatizations of it on PBS. The first one from 1968 is the better of the 2. The books are amazing.

If you like crime/mysteries there's John Sanford's "Prey" series, Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" series, and Kathy Reich's books about a forensic anthroplogist, who's name slips my mind.

MzPip
:dem:

[JitterbugPerfume]

14. for fiction--

anything by Tom Robbins or Kurt Vonegutt Margaret Atwood

for SF-- Foundation series by Issac Asimov or Dune series by Frank Herbert

non fiction Jared Diamond or Carl Sagan

[camero]

11. The Celestine Prophecy

I'm not into fiction much except for Vonnegut, CS Lewis, and Asimov but I found this book very interesting.

http://www.maui.net/~shaw/celes/celestine.html

[Beaker]

12. Catch-22

a GREAT read.

[TN al]

13. That answer has changed at various stages of my life...

...From young adulthood until now they are:

Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Three Musketeers, Alexander Dumas
The Call of the Wild, Jack London (and just about anything else by London)
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (along with other Fitzgerald titles)

During the period of my adulthood I have also read more books by James Michener than by any other author.

Also can we just assume that anyone who says "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is a disruptor and tombstone them?

[zbdent]

15. Suggestion: before running off to the bookstore

try really stimulating the local economy and going to a second-hand store first. You might find much more bang for your buck.

After checking that out, then decide to support a major book chain.

[achtung_circus]

16. Jerome K Jerome's

Three Men In A Boat,
(To Say Nothing Of The Dog)

Timeless humour, IMO the funniest book written in the English language.

[Whoa_Nelly]

17. Papillion

One I have re-read several times.
Currently am reading "Krakatoa". a fascinating history leading up to the day that the great volcano exploded.

[HEyHEY]

32. Great CHoice!

I loved that book soo omuch... it was a simple - engaging read

[baby_bear]

18. Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

It is profound and compelling and you will remember it all your life.

s_m

[psychopomp]

19. I quite enjoyed the Diamond Sutra

Shambala books put out an abridged version that is quite a good read:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0877730059/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-8569833-3623007#reader-page

[Guy Fawkes]

20. I'm sorry, but being a bookaholic, I'm giving you a list

1. Angels in America by Tony Kurich
2. The Hitchhicker's guide (series) by Douglas Adams
3. Neromancer by William Gibson
4. Catch-22 by Kurt Vonnegut (sp?)
5. Vurt by Jeff Noon
6. Automated Alice by Jeff Noon
7. Pixel Juice (also by Noon)
8. Macbeth (in the original Klingon)
9. Lies and the Lieing Lier's Who Tell Them (Al Franken)
10. Merriam-Webster's new world dictionary

[LWolf]

41. Catch-22 is by Joseph Heller.

And a great read!

Vonnegut is also great. Any Vonnegut; I never found one I didn't like.

[non sociopath skin]

21. There are very few books so special I've found time to read them twice...

... but these ones I have. So I guess they must have something going for them:

George Orwell: 1984
Charles Dickens: Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend
Thomas Hardy: Under The Greenwood Tree
Iris Murdoch: Under The Net
Emile Zola: Germinal
Jean Cocteau: Les Enfants Terribles
Christopher Isherwood: Goodbye To Berlin
Alain-Fournier: Le Grand Meaulnes
Peter Ackroyd: Hawksmoor

Enjoy!

The Skin

[Senior citizen]

22. All Our Relations by Winona LaDuke

Great overview of what has been, is, and will be going on in the world.

[FDRrocks]

23. Crime and Punishment

I just read it for the first time 2 months ago. It blows every other work of fiction I've read out of the water.

[PittPoliSci]

29. when i read that in high school...

There was a ridiculous typo on the COVER of the book. It read:

Crime and Punsiment.

My teacher remarked "i hope someone gets fired over that."

The rest of the book wasn't much better, as far as errors go.

[FDRrocks]

49. Thats horrible....

Makes you wonder how crap like that makes it through the production process.

I hope you enjoyed it, despite the flaws. It's really a good read. I have a copy of the mass market paperback, and the translation seems great.

[Kellanved]

24. well

fiction : Heinrich Mann: "Der Untertan" (The Patrioteer)
contemporary fiction : Wladimir Kamina: "Russendisko" (Russian Disco)
History: Sebastian Haffner : "Preussen - Ohne Legende" (The Rise and Fall of Prussia )
Historic Novel: Sebastian Haffner : "Geschichte eines Deutschen" (Defying Hitler)
Non-Fiction: Hofstadter: "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid "

Professional : Gamma et al. : "Design Patterns".

[matcom]

25. Animal Farm

although, pick up something else as it is a short one

[robertpaulsen]

26. Franny and Zooey by Salinger & Dharma Bums by Kerouac

It's a tie between those two. Both are dealing with a quest for spiritual truth yet both have unique ways of finding it.

Plus, they're both fast reads. It took me about 2 hours to read Franny and Zooey one time. Both writers have an incredible gift for narrative flow.

[flamingyouth]

27. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers

And I'm way ahead of the Oprah craze here - I read it for the first time when I was in fifth grade and didn't quite get all of it, but I've read it about 15 times since and just love it. It always makes me cry. Such an amazing book.

[2cents]

28. Yellow Pages n/t

[bookman]

30. To Kill a Mockingbird n/t

[flamingyouth]

42. That's my second favorite

Such a great book, and a great film as well.:D

[PittPoliSci]

31. nonfiction and fiction

Fiction: the works of Tolkien

Nonfiction: (currently) A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn

[HEyHEY]

33. Tough call - but I'll say Angela's Ashes or Black like me.

[Emboldened Chimp]

34. Don Quixote

[roguevalley]

35. check biographies. nothing more inspiring than a great life. :)

[BigMcLargehuge]

36. Startship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein

1. It's a great adventure story
2. Heinlein's take on franchise and crime/punishment is very interesting
3. very readable

[NashVegas]

37. "The Three Musketeers"

Adventure.
Loyalty.
Betrayal.
Vengeance.
Satire.
Gossip.

What more you need?

[arwalden]

38. Ender's Game

[Skittles]

39. All Creatures Great and Small

James Herriot (Scottish veterinarian)

[LWolf]

40. Let's take a look.

Being a confirmed bibliophile and ex-librarian, there is no such thing as one favorite book. Since I don't know anything about your literary tastes, I'll just throw the kitchen sink at you; authors, rather than titles, just to narrow the list down.

Mark Twain
Barbara Kingsolver
Tolkein
Sharon McCrumb
Caleb Carr
Joanne Dobson
Cormac McCarthy
Fanny Flagg
Harriet Doerr
Rita Mae Brown
Minette Walters
Robert Bly
Kurt Vonnegut
Ray Bradbury
Jules Verne
Agatha Christie
Conan Doyle

oops, I'm getting carried away. I'll just list a few of the books I read this year, and in the past, that I really liked.

The life of Pi: Yann Martel

The secret life of Bees: Sue Monk

Prodigal Summer: Kingsolver

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe: Fannie Flagg


I'll stop now. Really.

[mitchum]

43. "Madame Bovary"...

the world of fiction can be divided into "before MB" and "After MB"

for a more contemporary novel, try Richard Price's "Ladies Man"

[salonghorn70]

44. The Sun Also Rises

What more can I say? Its Hemingway.

[welshTerrier2]

45. The Magus

by John Fowles

[Servo300]

48. "The Learning Tree"

by Gordon Parks

[Philosophy]

50. Wuthering Heights

A tragedy of unrequited love. Pretty much sums up my personal life.