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Tchocky

Wasp Factory for me.

Read everything there apart from Dune and Divine Comedy. Might fisk later

mawk

well i read 5 of them.. so i guess i could be doing worse..

I went with the wasp factory, though it was tough.

i mean 1984 and old man are probably both better. and i love the **** outta the old man. but i guess i just enjoyed the wasp factory. i read it square in my teens and it lodged itself in my brain.

what a great and only a little pointless twist at the end. I didnt see it coming till waay late. like when he finds the potassium bromide. even then i was thinking its probably something else something else.

been nearly 8 years since i read it though..

Karlusss

Lots of the books are very worth reading (I've never read Dune) but I had to go with 1984. Very few books change how you look at the world like 1984 does, however clichéd that might sound. Look at Big Brother, for god's sake. An important political philosopher, Orwell, not just a cracking author.

Lexus1976

Catch 22 - Heller
The old Man and the Sea - Hemmingway
1984 - George Orwell
Catcher in the Rye Salinger
The Wasp Factory

So far out of the above books i've read I thought Catch 22 was the best. Will be reading Dune tonight

Zaph

I've read 6 on that list:

Dune - classic "space opera" SF book. well worth a read if you're into that sort of thing, and first two sequels aren't too bad, but it all goes pear shaped after that.

Catch 22 - read it 20-odd years ago while I was still at school, so can't remember much about it other than a vague memory that I enjoyed it at the time.

Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy - given my name I could hardly have voted for anything else! One of the most enjoyable books I have ever read (and repeatedly re-read). hugely imaginative and very funny.

The Old Man and the Sea - already nominated this on the books to avoid thread. A contender for the most boring book ever written, a complete load of b*ll*cks and a waste of both mine and Hemmingway's time.

1984 - again one I read while I was in school, but made a more lasting impression than Catch 22. Excellent book, everyone should read it sometime.

Short History of Nearly Everything - I love Bryson, currently reading his latest book, and this is entertaining, informative and very well written. You'll forget you're reading something educational.

Of the rest of the list, I read Franny & Zooey by Salinger and that put me off him for life and the others don't really appeal to me at all so I doubt I'll ever read them.

Lexus1976

Still have to read 3 of these

Tar.Aldarion

nesf wrote: »

Tar, have you looked at Stephen Erikson's Malazan series yet? Well worth a read.

What a fantastic series.

kitsune9t

i'd have to go for catch 22. such a screamingly funny and technically brilliant book.
short history of nearly everything or whatever is TERRIBLE. Like most of brysons books it gives you the illusion of learning something about something/where new but actually only gives you some innaccurate snapshots. i'd advise anyone who's interested to read a good book on science instead.

HalloweenJack

I have only read Catch 22 and Catcher in the Rye.

I think Catch 22 is much better. It's a really funny book and it's a bit longwinded but it's still very good.

GhostInTheRuins

I've only read The Wasp Factory out of that list, but there's at least three others there that I've been meaning to read for some time.

Sconsey

Well I've read six of the books listed and I had a hard time deciding between Dune and HHGTTG, both great in their own ways. I went for Dune in the end because I love SF books (and there aren't enough good ones). I remember when I first read HHGTTG it was the first time I ever laughd out loud reading a book (the moment where Slartybartfast told them his name ). I read an article a while back where someone was saying the reason the Hitchhikers movie was crap was because the real genius of the book was in the language, which couldn't be translated to film, I have to agree, here's an example.....
"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.'

Catch22, I guess I just didn't get it, I didn't like it at all. Same goes for that Brief History book, it became very boring and repetitive for me, began to read like a school text book.

Catcher and Wasp Factory, enjoyed them both.