Can you pick one favourite book?

Swiper the fox

I wonder, is there any chance we could have a thread without honourable mentions to three or four other books, who can pick a current favourite and leave it at that? Of course we will discuss/agree with/ridicule:o certain choices.
I am going to go for 'On Chesil Beach' by Ian McEwan, nice and short, beautifully written and a closing chapter that will stay with me forever.
I could change my mind but that is what I would say now.

echo beach

That is like asking a parent to choose their favourite child and most of us have only a few children but hundreds of books.

Severard

In the last five years or so I have picked up the pace at which I read a book quite a lot, from fantasy to sci-fi and from alternate history to actual events but one book that has always been at the forefront for me if I had to pick one would be The Forever War by Joe Haldemen. At 256 pages it's fairly short, so one could complete it in a week easily.

What really stood out for me was -

The concept of returning home after a stint at war to an Earth that one doesn't recognise was profound. The use of interstellar travel means that the main character has less and less of a connection with humanity, as society charges rapidly each time he returns from war.

The only thing he then can relate with is war, even though he has such a disliking for it. At one point the main character is almost completely isolated from humanity including culturally (almost everyone else speaks English differently than he does) and sexually (At one point, almost everyone else is homosexual). Both points of which his subordinates now loathe him for as they have to learn 21st century English & accept someone who is heterosexual.

And the sense of hopelessness and pointlessness of the war in general that the character felt towards the end of the book, it really was immersive.

If you can wrap your head around the concepts of time dilation and special relativity then it really is a great read.

Queenalocin

This one - And Ladies of the Club published in 1982, the characters were so far ahead of their time, it's the one book I always go back to.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22...And_Ladies_of_the_Club%22

Second Toughest in_the Freshers

Trainspotting

buck65

Eyrie by Tim Winton was my favourite read this year.

confusticated

I think The Book Thief has stuck with me and made more of an impact on me than any other book I've read.

Andrew Laeddis

The Outsider - Albert Camus

Every single time.........

buck65

Andrew Laeddis wrote: »

The Outsider - Albert Camus

Every single time.........

Great book, need to re-read

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

buck65 wrote: »

Eyrie by Tim Winton was my favourite read this year.

I was all set to say Great Expectations, without doubt, and then I remembered Tim Winton.... Breath, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music.... how can I pick just one?!?!

Seriously though... I'd say Great Expectations. I've read it 3 times and loved it every time. Most other books, even ones I love, I've only ever read once.

Dirty Dingus McGee

All the Pretty Horses for me.

It's such a sad story and it's beautifully written as well.The sense of hope youth,expectation and freedom from the start of the book being taken away is devastating.

I'm quite a slow reader and it would usually take me at least 3 weeks to read a book of that length but I started reading it and couldn't put it down it took me only a couple of days to read and I got completely wrapped up in the story and the characters that my own mood shifted in line with the characters experiences (to a much greater degree than with other books I've read).

It's quite simply a masterpiece and a book I believe that anyone could enjoy.

skippy15

A star called Henry, by Roddy Doyle
only book iv'e ever re read. There are follow ups that progress the story nicely but Henry got me hooked on reading again

Melko

Silmarillion by Tolkien

Wailin

Chickenhawk-Bob Mason.
Went through a period of reading Vietnam books many years ago and this one blew me away.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63699.Chickenhawk

Coffee Run

Trainspotting

Arghus

I don't think I could conclusively say one single book is my absolute favourite. At different times of my life I've felt extremely attached to particular books, some of which have kept a place in my heart that no book I've read in the last couple of years can ever really hope to take.

Examples - The Phantom Tollbooth
Catch 22
Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man
All The Pretty Horses
Against The Day
1984

Uncle Ben

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. I like the classics.

huey1975

American Tabloid

Arghus

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

All the Pretty Horses for me.

It's such a sad story and it's beautifully written as well.The sense of hope youth,expectation and freedom from the start of the book being taken away is devastating.

I'm quite a slow reader and it would usually take me at least 3 weeks to read a book of that length but I started reading it and couldn't put it down it took me only a couple of days to read and I got completely wrapped up in the story and the characters that my own mood shifted in line with the characters experiences (to a much greater degree than with other books I've read).

It's quite simply a masterpiece and a book I believe that anyone could enjoy.

I remember reading it and thinking that Cormac McCarthy was the one contemporary author that I could imagine people still reading a hundred years from now. Every action in the book- changing a tire, drinking coffee - seems poetic and meaningful, and not in a way that ever feels pat or tiresome. There is this sense of a deep wisdom about life that runs through every page in that novel. I think it was Roger Ebert who wrote something along those lines, when he was expressing his scepticism about adapting The Road for film. He said that McCarthy was, in a sense, unadaptable because it wasn't so much about what he wrote about, it was about how he wrote about it .

oliviablond

Fighting Club

Brindor

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

bpmurray

It changes over time for me and, I suspect many more. Currently, it's The Martian - while the movie got the essence of the story, the crucial details and inventiveness of the protagonist were not really addressed.

eviltwin

The passage by Justin Cronin

marienbad

HHhH- Laurent Binet . An extraordinary book around the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich .

sadie06

The book that stayed with me for the longest and still does to this day is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Paddy Samurai

Depends on the circumstances........

If I was on a desert island with only one book I would pick The Religion by Tim Willocks as the one book I could read multiple times.

If I was told I had a week to live I would read Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem again.

catbear

Treasure Island. I've read it three or four times, it's just such a good yarn and a short read too. I always feel adventurous after it.

Of Human Bondage stayed with me for a long time after even though its not a book I'd embark on again.

My dessert island book would have to be "How to build a raft".

Paddy Samurai

Cancelled,LOL Forgot I had already posted.

PressRun

Middlemarch by George Eliot is a masterpiece. From political, historical and social perspectives, her attention to detail in this novel is just astounding. The novel's various plot threads are very carefully woven and there's just layer upon layer, with something new to be found with every reading. Eliot was an intellectual powerhouse who was so thoroughly informed about the society she lived in and completely sympathetic to human frailties. She has very few equals in English literature, to be honest.

LionelNashe

sadie06 wrote: »

The book that stayed with me for the longest and still does to this day is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I've just started that one. I'm liking it so far.

I read No Country for Old Men a while back; thought it was pretty good. The language is very to the point, almost like stage directions. The book had about ten first-person monologue chapters by the sheriff (who I can't help but picture as Tommy Lee Jones) which were quite interesting as well.

deisedude

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

cowboyBuilder

I'm caught between The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
and Stephen King's It .


It - I have never read such character development as this story has - amazing stuff, felt I personally knew all of them and that last paragraph is heart breaking to read.

The Name of the Rose - so atmospheric, really well written, and just a great story !

marienbad

cowboyBuilder wrote: »

I'm caught between The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
and Stephen King's It .


It - I have never read such character development as this story has - amazing stuff, felt I personally knew all of them and that last paragraph is heart breaking to read.

The Name of the Rose - so atmospheric, really well written, and just a great story !

And Umberto Eco died this week , the same day as Harper Lee .

nothrowaway

Infinite Jest.

Kablamo!

The old man and the sea. I've no idea why but it really captured my imagination when I first read it. I'd say I pick it up around eight times a year.

Nekarsulm

Every year or so, I re-read Erskine Childers "The riddle of the sands".
And then, by extension I read "To the Baltic with Bob" by Griff Rhys Jones.
Two great stories.

Spanish Eyes

It is always going to be an individual choice. And changes as you get older, sorry more mature!

Like music so.

Not even going to try now. Maybe tomorrow.

heathledgerlove

Catcher in the Rye. Turned my silly head 15 years ago and love it more and more, for different reasons, every time !

drunkmonkey

The book of Est is probably my most treasured book, I've read all of the Luke Rinehart books, my introduction to him was the diceman, that book has had an incredible influence on my life, it's quite average at the moment but I know the most thrilling times in my life are just a dice throw away. I don't know of any other series of books that have given me such a taste for life.

mansize

1984 the final paragraph made it excellent

dohouch

American Pastoral =Philip Roth

Funny thing though, normally when I find an author I like I would dive in and read everything from them, but for some odd reason in this case I have no desire to read another from him. Odd, very odd.

marienbad

dohouch wrote: »

American Pastoral =Philip Roth

Funny thing though, normally when I find an author I like I would dive in and read everything from them, but for some odd reason in this case I have no desire to read another from him. Odd, very odd.

A brilliant book and one of my favourites ( just now released as a film I believe)

I think I know exactly what you are saying about not rushing to pick up the next book by Roth . I have been reading him since Portnoy's Complaint and as the years have gone by and the books have become more pessimistic ( is that the best word ?) I am usually so drained when I finish one that I am slow to go for the next , but when I get round to it I am dragged right back in . Truly great writer , how he has not won the Nobel Prize is beyond me

holy guacamole

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.

Captures the horror of war and its effects on the psyche of those involved like nothing else I've ever read. But in addition to that it deals with love, passion and loss in a measured and profound way.

Although ostensibly about WWI and the massacre of so many young men, it's a book that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone, whether they're interested in military history or not. Because of what it deals with, human emotion, the fragility of the spirit, it's a book that transcends genre and could be equally enjoyed by a 15 yo boy or a 70 yo woman.

HamsterFace

Paddy Clarke ha ha ha for me. Even though I grew up in a different era, in a different part of the country, Doyle perfectly captured what it's like to be a boy growing up.

The dynamics of your gang, the terror in hearing your parents argue, the strange things that you love in your house as it's the center of your universe - captured perfectly in the narrative.

And it seemingly doesn't just apply for Irish, I've seen reviews from the US on Amazon saying similar. A worthy booker prize winner.

lizzylad84

At a push I could pick 2
Dracula and the woman in white.

Swiper the fox

lizzylad84 wrote: »

At a push I could pick 2
Dracula and the woman in white.

So now you have to decide which one you prefer, honourable mentions are frowned upon in this thread, it's never easy.

Speedwell

Winter's Tale (Mark Helprin). NOT the film.

The Hound of the Baskervilles and/or The Turn of The Screw - though that's a novella.

Can't choose between them.

Jimbob1977

'Catch 22' by Joseph Heller

I never thought a book could make me laugh out loud!!!!

Genius

Akrasia

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

'Catch 22' by Joseph Heller

I never thought a book could make me laugh out loud!!!!

Genius

It's the best there is

Akrasia

bpmurray wrote: »

It changes over time for me and, I suspect many more. Currently, it's The Martian - while the movie got the essence of the story, the crucial details and inventiveness of the protagonist were not really addressed.

I was gonna go with something by George Orwell, (Homage to Catalonia)

but you reminded me about The Martian. I read that book 3 times and I searched everywhere for a hard SciFi book that was as good, but nothing came close.