Best/Worst books you ever read

kfallon

For me there are 3 books I can remember not leaving down once I started reading them:

The Van
The Biography of Vincent O'Brien (by his wife Jacqueline)
Paolo Di Canio's autobiography

The worst, by far, was 'Emma' for the Leaving Cert, what a load of bollix, boring as fook!

I'm also hoping to get some ideas for my next purchase from the replies even if it is AH!

FortuneChip

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan was a great read, some hilarious stuff in it.
Count of Monte Cristo is probably my fav book though. Got through it in about a week, just couldn't put it down. Some overly convenient twists in it, but all in all, it was amazing, Edmund Dantes is a hero!

I hated War & Peace (although I'm not sure I can say that if I didn't in fact finish it). Got about 400 pages in, and thought, when is stuff going to happen?

ArtyM

PEIG = worst ever

red menace

FortuneChip wrote: »

I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan was a great read, some hilarious stuff in it.
Count of Monte Cristo is probably my fav book though. Got through it in about a week, just couldn't put it down. Some overly convenient twists in it, but all in all, it was amazing, Edmund Dantes is a hero!

I hated War & Peace (although I'm not sure I can say that if I didn't in fact finish it). Got about 400 pages in, and thought, when is stuff going to happen?

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown easily the worst book I ever read

alexa5x5

Best, The Lord of the Rings books.

Worst, PS I love you

Biggins

Best book I've read recently: http://lnw.me/fJ6hN9
"Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated"

Extremely funny, sad, shocking, informative and certainly an eye opener to the real world of television making.

WARNING: Adult themes/topics. NOT suitable for young readers.

(Available in eReader format too)

In_My_Tree

The worst book I ever read was The Bible.



Oh snap!

Kevin Duffy

The Da Vinci Code for the worst. I still feel it's a stain on my soul that I read it.

Apart from the classics I adore like Huck Finn, Cannery Row and TKAMB, maybe the best (though I understand the problems with it) I've read and I'd recommend if you haven't read it already, is Shantaram.

ArtyM

Best - East of Eden

Blazer

red menace wrote: »

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown easily the worst book I ever read

Any of Dan Brown's books really...They're great upto 3/4 of the way in and then it's like he just loses complete interest and writes the shíttiest ending he can think off so he can rush off and start the next book...and do it all over again.

mikemac

I don't buy books realy anymore, you can get audiobooks from some subscription sites or itunes

Best-Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey
Loved it.

Worst, forget the name but that Dan Brown book and they were investigating something in ice. Terrible description from me but man, what an awful book

Hookah

The best would easily be the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. All 3000 pages of it.

I pine for an Eliza De La Zeur to my Jack Shaftoe.

Tonyandthewhale

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

The Da Vinci Code for the worst. I still feel it's a stain on my soul that I read it.

Apart from the classics I adore like Huck Finn, Cannery Row and TKAMB, maybe the best (though I understand the problems with it) I've read and I'd recommend if you haven't read it already, is Shantaram.

Great book.

brummytom

Enduring Love was good up until about 3 chapters from the end, just sort of tailed off.


I read a great book on holiday last year called Ghost, by Robert Harris. Incredible book, literally couldn't put it down. I think I read the whole thing in a day.



Worst book? I'm going to be crucified but... anything by Dickens. It's just tedious.

steddyeddy

The selfish gene and sasquatch the apes amongst us are among the best the worst would be any dan brown dribble.

windowgobo

Mr. Nice best book.

Rochester

The worst ever, so far at least:

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.

Foul language being one of the reasons.

im invisible

Trainspotting is a great book, probably my favourite, untill i read Cloud Atlas by davìd mitchell,

ladysarastro

favourite book ever is The Gargoyle. keep rereading it!!

worst was probably one by jordan...

beano345

best:

1984 - george orwell
count of monte cristo - alexander dumas
the running man - stephen king
cosmos - carl sagan
papillon - Henri Charrière

worst:
naked lunch - william burroughs

mikemac

My second post but I'll include this one as non fiction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation
Fast Food Nation, have read it several times.

There was a film with Bruce Willis, Greg Kinnear and Avril Lavigne. Film is an insult to the book, a truely awful film

But the book is great and a real education

krudler

ladysarastro wrote: »

worst was probably one by jordan...

Jordan is probably the only person who's written more books than she's ever read.

elefant

My favourite books are all the Ross O' Carroll Kelly novels. Just incredibly funny.

I don't think I could name the worst book I ever read. If it doesn't interest me, I just don't read it anymore, and put no more thought into it. I wouldn't class any book as bad, just certain books interest me less. Dan Brown's books mightn't be the best written or the most intellectual stories you'll come across, but they're enjoyable for what they are.

Jazzy

beano345 wrote: »

best:

1984 - george orwell
count of monte cristo - alexander dumas
the running man - stephen king
cosmos - carl sagan
papillon - Henri Charrière

worst:
naked lunch - william burroughs

nice list... i liked naked lunch tho!

Deus Ex Machina

At the moment I think Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is my favourite book, and I'm going to end this comment now before I reconsider.

starviewadams

Read a great book about globalization by Joseph Stiglitz last week,very eye opening!
One of my favourite books ever is Home Before Night by Hugh Leonard,had to read it for school years ago and I loved it,same with To Kill A Mockingbird!

Worst book I've had the misfortune to read would have to be The Rock's autobiography,even as a 12 year old I knew it was trash!

Icaras

I liked filth a lot, small gods by terry prachett. Book by I M Banks was the worst loads of detail but nothing really happened.

ciano1

Pffft... Books are nothing else than the internet made from a tree!

Queen-Mise

im invisible wrote: »

Trainspotting is a great book, probably my favourite, untill i read Cloud Atlas by davìd mitchell,

Agree completely. Cloud Atlas is brilliant - and what's weird is I couldn't tell you why. Trainspotting is weird to read - reading in a scottish accent.

I am after reading the three books of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - enjoyed them.


Worst book I ever read was - The Sword & the Stone, I threw it in the bin after reading about a third of it. It was awful. After that then probably a lot of chick lit, some of it is truly woeful.

leahyl

Not without my daughter - amazing and gripping story, fantastic read

Biggins

ciano1 wrote: »

Pffft... Books are nothing else than the internet made from a tree!

we'llallhavetea_old

leahyl wrote: »

Not without my daughter - amazing and gripping story, fantastic read

didnt even know that was a book, loved the film, must get it.

can't really pick one favourite book but i literally couldn't put down His dark materials, philip pullman. had the three books in one and loved every single bit of it.

worst, eh, yeah, dan browns books, start off brilliant and you're flying through them and then the endings.. fcukin hell. and any chick lit really, mind numbing drivel, have never gotten any further than one or two pages in one.

strobe

My favourites are probably Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. One of the few books I've read more than once. Great craic. The A Song of Ice and Fire books are great, all of them. Highly recommended even if you don't like fantasy I'd urge you to give them a shot. A lot more grown up and realistic than the likes of TLOTR etc. Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of the few 'classics' that I have read that lived up to the hype. There is also a science fiction book called Ubik by Philip K Dick (the guy who wrote the books that the Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly movies are based on). Think Inception but infinitely better. It borders on genius at times.

In terms of non-fiction The Bootleggers: The Story of Chicago's Prohibition Era is great. Covers everything from the original Irish immigrant gangsters starting bootlegging during prohibition through the war with the Italians and Jews right up to Capone's imprisonment and the end of prohibition. Couldn't put it down. Also Killing Pablo is great. Details the US and Colombians attempt to bring down Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. Some crazy stuff. He turned himself in at one stage on condition that he was allowed build himself his own private prison with pool tables and things. It also does a good job of examining why the 'war on drugs' became such a big thing with the end of the communist threat and all the various government departments like the CIA and FBI and military intelligence competing to be the main funding recipients in the new 'war'.

(Those links may contain spoilers further down the page, so careful with that)

landsleaving

Best I've read - fiction: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and non fiction, Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissenger

Worst, Non Fiction - Ian Wright's autobiography. Fiction: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

mikemac

leahyl wrote: »

Not without my daughter - amazing and gripping story, fantastic read

Good film, saw it years ago
I'll check out the book

Lorrrrraine

I was sleeping in a random house after a party a few years ago. My friend had her head in a bucket for the majority of the night so I thought I'd pass the time by reading the only book I could find. It was some Cecelia Ahern thing; I've never hated a book so much. I think my friend who was getting sick into that bucket was having a better time than me.

TheAnswer

red menace wrote: »

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown easily the worst book I ever read

Pretty much anything by Dan Brown, pure sh1te TBH.

UpCork

It is difficult to pick a favourite, however I did love The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns - both by Khaled Hosseini and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Worst book is "Freedom" by Johnathan Franzen. It has received rave reviews but I found it long, monotonous and boring. I enjoy reading in the evening in bed and most night I read it out of habit (i.e. that I read every evening in bed) rather than actually wanting to read it because it gripped me and wanting to find out what happens

leahyl

feelingstressed wrote: »

Good film, saw it years ago
I'll check out the book

Never saw the film but the book is incredible - I've read it about 4 times - brilliantly written

TheAnswer

Best book I've read in recent times would be "No Country For Old Men". loses it a bit in the last couple of chapters but completely unputdownable (now there's a word!)

Caoimhín

Best non fiction; "Risk, The Science and Polotics of Fear" by Dan Gardiner.

Fiction; either "To Kill a Mockingbird" (for a comfort read) or "Day of the Jackel" for a pure thriller.

Stompbox

'Cat's Cradle' by Kurt Vonnegut. An essential read for everyone!

thunderthing

I'm not going to put any of these books down as the worst, but in general I find that some GAA-related books can be awfully written, even ones with ghost writers. One that sticks out in my mind was Liam Dunne's book, but the story was good, so I wouldn't say it's a bad read.

Absolute worst I've read was 'Void Moon' by Michael Connolly. One of my friends had about 10 of his books, picked one randomly and said they were good and that I could keep it. Threw that one away immediately after finishing it, awful stuff.

El_Dangeroso

beano345 wrote: »

worst:
naked lunch - william burroughs

Haha! Yes, you need to be on quite a few hallucinogens to get through that one!

Fair play for Michael Cronenberg for making a half decent movie out of it, best enjoyed half pissed at around 3am.

gypsy_rose

Loved Lolita and East Of Eden too, have to get my hands on them again. The Ascent of Man by J. Bronowski is non fiction but it's a great read too.

I really hated that new book Room for some reason, couldn't finish it, I just found the child's perspective so irritating.

leahyl

Graham Nortons autobiography was hilarious! Wouldn't say it's the best book I've ever read or anything but it's a good laugh:pac:

OPENROAD

Loved Nick Hornbys High Fidelity, very enjoyable read imo.

Kevin Duffy

kf, given your love of the horses I also recommend the Border Trilogy by Corma McCarthy. It's not perfect, but it is a great read, very absorbing.

Hmmm...could boards do with a book exchange? 'cos I'd happily pass you on my copy.

Quigs Snr

For entertainment value, I loved Stephen Kings "The Stand" when I was younger. Big fan of Robert Jordans stuff too even the later books in the series. Magician of course is great too. Cosmos by Carl Sagan and the somewhat similarly themed Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson are great.

Worst... well I would endure most books but I must confess that I was very dissappointed with the Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. It starting off as if it was building up to be something profound and then it was basically a scene from the mummy returns, the end. Pretentious new age twaddle. I will keep an open mind though and try another of his books at some stage.

RichieC

My favourite is Hyperion and its followup's.

ladysarastro

krudler wrote: »

Jordan is probably the only person who's written more books than she's ever read.

Just found out recently that she doesn't even write them. she gives a general idea and some poor sod does the work and jordan puts her name to it