books?

mentalimplosion

i was thinking about the movies thread and, simultaneously, feeling ridicously unread so i was wondering, what's everyones' favourite books?

mine:
the bell jar
prozac nation
on the road
the rules of attraction
less than zero
nausea
the secret history
bonfire of the vanities
story of my life
brave new world
1984

Liquorice

Okay..I haven't read many good books but...
1984-George Orwell
Animal Farm-George Orwell
The Increasingly Inaccurately Titled Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy of Five-Douglas Adams
Entertaining Ambrose-Deirdre Purcell
The BFG-Roald Dahl
Noughts and Crosses-Malorie Blackman
The Chronicles of Narnia-C.S. Lewis
Matilda-Roald Dahl
His Dark Materials Trilogy-Philip Pullman
The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well, The Tin Princess(essentially all part of the same story)-Philip Pullman
All of Oscar Wilde's short stories
To Kill A Mockingbird-Harper Lee
The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath
I also really like myths and legends-Nordic, Native American, Celtic, Greek, Roman, Indian, Japanese...anything really.

So there you have the good books I've read. Maintain in mind I've read loads of really goddamn awful books.

Raphael

Lord of the Rings
Hitch-Hikers Guide
The Darren Shan Saga
The Arthur Trilogy
The Founation Books
The Space oddyssey series
Anything by Ludlum

article6

JRR Tolkien's Middle-Earth books
Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide and Dirk Gently books
Terry Pratchett's Discworld and Johnny books (notice a theme yet?)
George Orwell's Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Plato's Republic
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Seamus Heaney's anthologies (does poetry count? Well, it does now. Heaney's my favourite poet, as I've said here before, after Thom Yorke)
&c.

ll=llannah

the code book by simon singh (damned good book...especially when he goes into talking about quantum physics in the last bit)
the chronicles of narnia
the golden compass/the subtle knife/the amber spyglass
The Diamond in the window by Jane Langton (its supposed to be a kids book but its fantabulous..it goes in and out of dreams, takes place just after the transcendentalist movement...its just plain cool)
the american political tradition by richard hofstadter (not as daunting as it sounds)
P.T. 109 by Robert donovan (about Kennedy in WWII- someone mentioned something about Kennedy in WWII in another post somewhere...the book is partially political propaganda, but a good deal of it is true. damned interesting. but know your military acronyms before you read it or you will get EVER so confuzticated)
beloved and the bluest eye by toni morrison
uncle tungsten, man who mistook his wife for a hat.....basically everything oliver sacks has written
the mists of avalon by marion zimmer bradley
my friend flicka, thunderhead and the green grass of wyoming by mary o'hara
the anne of green gable series by l.m. montgomery (i can't help but love all 8 of those books...anne's writing and dreaming and naming obessions are so like mine...)
waiting for godot by beckett. ( i know its a play, but i felt like putting it down anyway. and as long as i'm on the play tangent- shakespeare. is damned good. and the sexual inference on every other line is so amusing.)
juniper by monica furlong
animal farm
some stuff by victor hugo and maupassant
antigone by jean anouilh (same basic story as antigone, but i like the allusions to the french during the occupation during WWII and the resistence movement)

...there are so many more...these are just the first few that came to mind...

Aliminator

Ones to add to above:
Death of a Salesman - A. Miller
The Art of Rhetoric - Aristotle
Space Odyssey trilogy of 4 - A. C. Clarke
Dark Material's Trilogy - P. Pullmann
L'Etranger - A Camus
.......more to come

Cait

An equal music - Vikram Seth
The solitaire mystery - Jostein Gaarder
Tess of the d'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
To kill a mockingbird
l'étranger
shakespeare, beckett, wilde.....

i liked the bell jar, but it rather drove me insane/paranoid

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

High Fidelity
The Mammy / The Chisellers / The Granny
They **** You Up
The Language Instinct

Barry Aldwell

Originally posted by twix_girl
P.T. 109 by Robert donovan (about Kennedy in WWII- someone mentioned something about Kennedy in WWII in another post somewhere...the book is partially political propaganda, but a good deal of it is true. damned interesting. but know your military acronyms before you read it or you will get EVER so confuzticated)

Listening to people's ideas of military ranks, units and acronyms is hilarious. Especially when they do it at 2.30AM on IRC.

Anyway, the topic. I read a lot of war books. I really need to go buy some new ones. I finished rereading D-Day by Stephen Ambrose a few days ago, and I may go and get PT109 from the library. I refuse to buy politician's life stories.

ll=llannah

D-Day by Stephen Ambrose

is great.



and i'd forgotten catcher in the rye.

Alaronshannara

The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. That is one heckuva series!

Anything at all by Douglas, and I loved David Edding's "Belgaraid" and the sequel, "Mallorian".
Ender's Game is an excellent book. Excellent.

Do comics count? If so, X-men, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Spiderman, The Darkness (Sooo cool...), and The Sandman by Niel Gaiman (Absolutely the coolest series ever. Totally surreal). I'm also collecting 'The Eternal', more news on this when I know if it's good or not.

Being as I am, I'm gonna recommend the Darkness and the Sandman to everyone. They should be primary school textbooks, were they not so gorey or philosophical (that order). I have a collector's ed. of issue #1 Darkness!
No! Don't come near! I'll take you all down with me! *ninj* :ninja:

Spenguin

The lord of the rings trilogy.
I like the harry potter books.
I like the brian jaques books.
I like dilbert books but I'm not sure if they count.
To kill a mocking bird.
Be amazed at my variety of books that are... good.

Mystic Fibrosis

Off the top of my head...
Jean Baudrillard - Simulacra And Simulation
Jean Baudrillard - The Spirit Of Terrorism
Anything by Robert Rankin
Greg Palast - The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (Michael Moore for smart people)
Terry Pratchett / Neil Gaiman - Good Omens
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations



Comics:
The Darkness (but only the second volume, *unf* like, got all issues so far) Incidentally, the band also rock.
Anything by Brian Michael Bendis ( especially Torso)
Blood & Water (they've stopped releasing this but it's still really good)
Transmetropolitan. I wholeheartedly recommend this to ANYONE. Except those with frontal lobotomies.
100 Bullets
Dark Days
30 Days Of Night
etc......

Squeee

Most of my favourite books have been mentioned....except "the Lorax". I know it's a feckin Dr. Suess book, but it's so brilliant, it really mad me sad when I was a heartless child who laughed at all emotion..."Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back"
"Through the years, while my buildings have fallen apart, I've worried about it with all of my heart". It's a really cool children's book. Also, the Winnie the Pooh books. They're great! "the house on pooh corner" is a really sad book. I'm aware that the books I've mentioned are all children's books but my favourites have been mentioned already. Except for the Anne Rice chronicles.
Comics wise, Lenore (nobody seems to have heard of that one) and JTHM, and obviously Squee.
And I'm also aware that's it's a bit odd to mention something like JTHM along with winnie the pooh, but I am very small so I'm not supposed to make sense. W00t!

Alaronshannara

Oh yes! Lenore! Ah, that's great stuff. And Ragamuffin! I wanna be Ragamuffin the Eternal! He's cynical, fluffy, and HUNGRY! The only characters I liked outta WTP were Eyore, cos he was funny, and, uh.. I liked the others when I were smaller.

Barry Aldwell

Right now I'm reading Hamlet. Not by choice, mind.

/me shakes fist at 5th year

/me hatches plan to travel back to 4th year using a time machine strapped to a wheelchair

nosmo

The Code Book rocks my pants.
1894, Brave New World, blah
Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon
William Gibson - Everything, but especially Neuromancer and Virtual Light
Shakespeare - Merchant of Venice
Lots by Stienbeck
Roald Dahl

More, but meh.

Not books, strictly speaking, but poetry by Ginsberg, Kerouac and Whitman

twirly sponge

Ohmygod Ana! I was gonna start a book thread cos I was thinking I haven't read any good books! We are such twins!

Anyway, I haven't read a whole lot but my favourites are Sophie's World, the Lord of the Rings books, Winnie the Pooh, I LOVE Winnie the Pooh, i have a huge book of all the Winnie the Pooh stories together. Also the Harry Potter books, Charlie and the...um, I dunno, I can't think of any more.

il corvo

comic books dont count!well unless they're graphic novels like the sandman comics(pure genius!) but books ; The vampire chronicles(already mentioned by aoife) Hitch hikers of course.
the catcher in the rye
fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe(also a great movie)
the shining
white oleanders( im only mid way through this one but so far it's brilliant.
if we are including poetry anything by ginsberg (oh yeah!)
fear and loathing in las vegas(the movie was ****! johnny depp was so wrong)
prozac nation was good but very depressing. more now again not as good.
anything by bill bryson(so funny)
theres a hell of alot more but i cant think right now so meh.

Mystic Fibrosis

Originally posted by il corvo
comic books dont count!well unless they're graphic novels like the sandman comics(pure genius!)

Earth to [person]. The Sandman IS a comic.

s0l

The Hitchhikers Guide books.
The Dirk Gently Books (that includes salmon of doubt, even if it will never be finished, and I WILL kill ANYone who writes the end of it.)
The 2001 series by Arthur C. Clarke.(although I am only on number 3 atm)
The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (yes I know he does go into minute description of things but *** that just adds to the beauty of what he was creating, an entire mythology)
The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod
The Stone Canal by Ken MacLeod
All of Iain M Banks novels (I really have to read the Iain Banks ones)
The foundation series by Issac Asimov
The 1st & 2nd Chronicles of Thomas Covenent The Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Fatherland by Robert Harris
Archangel by Robert Harris
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
The Books of Blood by Clive Barker
The Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The Empire Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

And that's about it.

Peterfing

His Dark Materials Trilogy - been said I know, but I had to say again - Philip Pullman

Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen - Garth Nix (I haven't actually read the 3rd one, Abhorsen yet as its not released but the first two were brilliant so I'm just assuming the final book will be the best!)

Any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett (I can't believe they haven't been mentioned yet!)

Pride and Prejudice - Austen

Journey to the River Sea - Eva Ibbotson (haven't read it in a couple of years but it was good)

Noughts & Crosses - Malorie Blackman (so damn good and depressing)

Adn on a non book side:
Calvin and Hobbes

And any Far Side comics by Gary Larson

Peterfing

Ooops, just saw, Discworld was mentioned in the post RIGHT before mine

mentalimplosion

Originally posted by il corvo

white oleanders( im only mid way through this one but so far it's brilliant.

ohmygod, that book ROCKS. the moment you're finished, put it down, go to the toilet, pick it up and start again.

and i forgot steal this book, franny and zooey (better than catcher in the rye?), american gods, der Grundrisse. damnit, trying to remember what i just finished yesterday....

Awaywthdfaeries

Beyond the Rainbow
Sabriel, Lireal (hopefully abhorson)
Animal Farm
I Capture The Castle
The Wheel of Time Series
The Virgin Suicides
the Secret Garden
The Little Princess
The Railway Children
A Different Life

nosmo

Originally posted by mentalimplosion
and i forgot steal this book

*nosmo clutches face

It's a nice piece of history to have, but GAWD reccomending it as a book..

Military level Black manuals all the way, baby

Barry Aldwell

Originally posted by nosmo
Military level Black manuals all the way, baby

/me demands explanation of said manuals

the evil lime

Due to my innate lazyness, I'll keep this short
Almost anything by :

Philip Pullman

JRR Tolkien

Steven Ambrose (WW2 stuff)

Terry Pratchett

Douglas Adams

Scott Adams
(yes it does count, 'The Dilbert Principal' as far more words than pictures)

neko-chan

okies.
1) the belgariad series, the malloreon series, belgarath the sorcerer, polgara the sorceress and the redepmtion of althalus, all by david and leigh eddings. pure genius.

2) lord of the rings, and the hobbit, by the man himself, jrr tolkien.

3) discworld, any and all of them, by terry pratchett.

4) his dark materials trilogy, philip pullman.

5) harry potter series, by jk rowling.

6) all of the galactic milieu-related books by julian may. mmm...

there's a LOT of others I'm forgetting here, but I'll just add that if comics count, then definitely the cardcaptor sakura manga and chobits, by clamp. also http://www.megatokyo.com <-- megatokyo, best webcomic EVER.

kay, 'm done now.

firebird

I could echo almost all these posts - but the only books I'm gonna repeat are two of Alim's - its amazing how good schoolbooks can be, sometimes =p
Death of A Salesman
L'Etranger
Broken April (Ishmail Kadare)
In Camera (Jean Paul Sartre)
Die Unendliche Geschichte (can't remember, can't be bothered looking it up)
Irishches Tagebuch (Heinrich Boll) - but only in the original

Barry Aldwell

Originally posted by firebird
its amazing how good schoolbooks can be, sometimes =p

Except, of course, if the book's name is "Hamlet"

Aliminator

i'd forgotten Broken April. gets better the more times u read it.

Squeee

Oooh! Someone mentioned "The Virgin Suicides"! That is a fabulous book, I absolutely fell i love with it and its inexplicable characters!!! Anyone who saw the film and didn't like it, ignore that, I thought the film was only okay. It's a bit too short though, I got through it in a day.

ll=llannah

dear god, i forgot alice in wonderland and through the looking glass!!!! (the latter especially ... i mean, does it get much better that tweedle dum and tweedle dee and poems that start "was brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe; all nimsy were the borogroves and the mome raths outgrabe"...ok, i'm stopping now, sorry...i mean, not that i know all of it....no...of course not..........)
but they are so delightfully dark and silly. (that combonation, mind you)
ah, what a lovely pedopheliac lewis carrol was. (lovely not because of the pedophelia, mind you . . )

Outcast

J.R.R Tokien: LOTR
The Hobbit
The Silmarillion
History of Middle Earth 1-12.

Philip Pullman-His Dark Matierials
Nick Hornby-About a Boy, Fever Pitch
The Clan of the cave bear
Life of Pi
The Tao of Muhammad Ali
Touching the void
The Gaffers
Countless others!

John1188

fav books:

anything by David Eddings but particularly The Redemtion of Althalus
The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings
Noughts and Crosses
1984
The Alchemist
To Kill a Mockingbrid (before my english teacher destroyed it)
Animal Farm
The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
Harry Potter 1 and 3 to 5
all Artemis Fowl
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (upto what i've read)
and probably others that i can't think of right now...

*******

Mystic Fibrosis

Quicksilver!!!

'Tis the new one by Neal Stephenson. Dear god, it's good.

2smartbyhalf

The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy = epic
The His Dark Materials Trilogy = glorious
Hitch-Hikers guide? Not as good as Discworld, but good none the less
The Wheel Of Time decilogy?, by Robert Jordan. Even though the ends are beginning to fray, the first 8 are pure gold.
The Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett = always funny
and all the other misc. literature like WB Yeats,Romeo & Juliet,and the great masterpiece that is Doonesbury