The Best Books You Have Read

Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow rich

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Presumably you are also reading Terry Pratchett.

 

You don't read books.

 

Trilogy?

AFAIK it's five books.

 

Trilogies can have more than 3 instalments! Scary Movie 4 is the 4th movie and final chapter in the trilogy!!!1

 

Dune by Herbert

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Mordant's Need by Donaldson

The Sage of Pliocene Exile by Julian May

The Lord of the Rings by God

A Song of Ice and Fire by Martin

Childe Harold by Byron

War and Peace by Tolstoy

Lots of guilty pleasures too, such as Gemmell, Moorcock, Rawn, Hobb, Kerr, etc.

 

I read mostly fantasy series, but on the top of the list is.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin
Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

 

Haven't you seen it advertised as a "a triology in 5 parts"? A joke, of course, but fitting none the less. When there were just the four, I think it was described as something like "the increasingly inaccurately named HHGTTG triology".

 

Oh, so it's just like Brentford Trilogy from Rankin with its what, 7 or 8 books? Cool.

 

I can't ignore threads like this. You gotto be passionate about things like this. Therefore:

The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami(?) - not usually a fan of translated works but this rocks.

The Third Policeman by Brian Nolan aka Flann O'Brien - hilarious & highly recommended.

The Onion Eaters by JP Donleavy - hilarious, surreal in parts & surprisingly & genuinely moving.

Non-fiction:

The Mind in the Cave by David Lewis-Williams - can't sum this one up but definitely worth a look.

 

Hitchiker's Guide for comedy,
Slaughterhouse Five,
Jitterbug Perfume,
Still Life With Woodpecker
those are my top, but others include
A Tale of Two Cities,
Pride and Predjudice,
Galapagos

More Tom Robbins and Vonnegut to come, but I have long lists ahead of me.

 

I seriously think that anyone who rates LOTR trilogy in their top ten, just hasnt read enough books. Its good what it started, but the writing is very childish and simplistic in parts. I felt mocked when i was 6 when I read it for the first time, and I cant get past the Tom Bombadil chapter nowadays.

Anyway :

Necroscope series : Brian Lumley (its now about 14 books inc the 3 Vampire World books) - Best vampire books ever.

Magician, Serpent War Series : Raymond E. Feist - solid well paced and epic fantasy.

Thomas Covenant Series : Stephen R. Donaldson - the 'real' LOTR IMO.

Nightsdawn trilogy : Peter F. Hamilton - First and last 100 pages of the 3300 pages spanning 3 books are a let down. The middle 3100 are some of the best sci-fi ever.

IT : Stephen King - first read this when I was 8 years old. Have read it so many times the book is falling apart. There isnt one page of the 1116 in this book I dont love. This is the seminal childrens book. No other book Ive read captures the freedom, the angst, the joys and the pains of childhood quite so well. The ending is much better played out in your head, than it is to see the crappy SFX on TV.

My own as yet unpublished 1st book of two trilogies. Publisher made me an offer based on the first two chapters, w00t.

 

Yes, Shakespeare sucks too. I just can't stand how derivative he is compared to modern works.

 

OMG! How can you say that!
DNA was a genius, Pratchett is just mediocre at best, and really, life is too short for that.
Sure, Pratchett tries to be the fantasy equevilant of Douglas Adams, but he never even get's close.

At the moment I'm reading Haruki Murakamis The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
I'm not sure it's one of the best books I've ever read, I'll reserve judgement on that till it's had chance to sink in.
But one thing is for sure; Murakamis is one of the few authors that masters the art of making reading his/her material actually addictive.
When I've been away from the book for a few hours, it's not just that I want to read again, I crave it!

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle being +600 pages (and not a letter to long) probably looks a bit daunting to some, in that case I wholeheartedly recommend reading either A Wild Sheep Chase or Norwegian Wood (BTSA) first.
But anyone wanting to read WUBC should be aware that the English/American translation is cut and edited to smithereens, so maybe the German or French version is better (I only know the Danish).

 

How can you slag off LOTR and then praise Thomas convent? IIRC one entire book is devoted to an incredibly dull trip on a granite boat where absolutely nothing happens. (I, do, however think his more recent series (was it "Mordant's Need" and "A man rides through" weren't too bad).

As for Tom Bombadil, perhaps you are missing the point.

 

Dont suppose anyones read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, gotta be another Limey or two here who has.

 

Isn't that about the guy with leprosy in the real world having lots of fun on some distant planet with those goat-like creatures? I found it rather mediocre if it's that.

 

That would be the one, yes.

But loads better than the Second Chronicles of TC (which, alas, are the ones he autographed for me. Que sera).

 

Don't read the first book in the third Covenant series then. Ugh. Very hard reading even for a die-hard Covenant fan such as myself.

According to Donaldson, his Mordant's Need series sold only 1/10th as well as the last Covenant books, and his Gap sci-fi series sold only 1/20th as well as his Mordant's Needs. He basically considers himself a failed writer who had one hit that started his career; it's been all downhill ever since.

 

Saw an interview with him recently where he said he's thinking of going back to TC.

Some writers, when they get commercially successful, think they can start writing for themselves instead of for the readers. I think he is such a case.

Oh, duh, you said "1st book in 3rd". . so clearly he has gone back to it. Haven't read it, and with that ringing non-endorsement, prolly won't.