Your Favourite Book of all Time

tSubh Dearg

Beruthiel wrote:

I can't seem to find this on play.com
does it come in three parts and if so, what is the name of each one?
thanks

It's a triology. The books are;
Northern Lights
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass.

It's a very good series though the style annoyed me a little at the beginning but I stuck it out and really enjoyed it.

Beruthiel

thanks Jo

John

I think Northern Lights was renamed at some stage so be careful you don't buy the same book twice!

Beruthiel

Don't say that now
I've just ordered them!!!

r3nu4l

amptypockets wrote:

hard to pick just one so here's my top 5
his dark materials- phil pullman

A friend of in recommended this to me on Friday. Will try it out.

MrJones

what's the buzz with this kerouac guy? what exactly is so good about his books???

Youbee wrote:

My favourite book is On The Road by Jack Kerouac - Inspirational!
Puts me in a good mood for a month every time I read it. (5 times and counting)
TnaG showed a film about kerouac on wednesday but it was cock.

MrJones

Actually bob dylan chronicles vol 1 is one of my favourite.
also charles dickens -great expectations.

Andy-Pandy

MrJones wrote:

what's the buzz with this kerouac guy? what exactly is so good about his books???

Theres only one way to find out. That is the joy of reading.

rogueCBR

Beruthiel wrote:

Don't say that now
I've just ordered them!!!

Look for this:

The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William H. Davies

A free version can be accessed at:

http://freepages.books.rootsweb.com/~alwyn/Supertramp/index.htm

Bad page scans, i know. But read the first couple of chapters for a flavor...

I can't emphasize enough how beautiful this book is...

(Amazon have it!)

RuggieBear

just bought his dark materials trilogy based on the recommendations of this thread...it had better be good;)

Got it in waterstones...they are doing a 3 for 2 on all fantasy/scifi books. so it cost me 22 for the three of them

catlover16

I have too many favorites. I like all kinds of books.

Serpentine

Definitely any F Scott Fitzgerald, esp The Beautiful & Damned sigh I just fell in love with his writings even the short stories, also to be a complete cliche Catcher In the Rye is still an insightful read!

The Picture of Dorian Gray and also Valley of The Dolls are personal faves I love!

Rich_Why

I to would have way to many favourites but the first one that always comes to mind is "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. Changed my life!

Serpentine

Rich_Why wrote:

I to would have way to many favourites but the first one that always comes to mind is "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. Changed my life!

Yeah definitely! Was meant to put some Joyce in my own list, as always my mind went blank! the books so full of great images I really felt inspired & identified with stephen's paralysis & frustration! Ok you can all tell I did English now

LovelyHurling

Rich_Why wrote:

I to would have way to many favourites but the first one that always comes to mind is "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. Changed my life!

Absolutely. I am eternally grateful to my old (physics!) teacher for introducing me to this book. Its written with incredible commitment to symbolism and deep, drawn out thoughts. I didnt appreciate it properly until my second reading, the first time you have to get over all of the allusions and meanings, the second time you know all of that and can just enjoy it.

I also loved 'The Scorching Wind' by Walter Macken I thought it was a wonderfully warm, personal account of such a cold hearted historical event.

Lorri_L

I love lots of different books but my favourite one would have to be 'Heaven' by Virginia Andrews.

RuggieBear

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is quite possibly the worst book i've ever been forced to read.

I detested it from the first fucking MooCow on the first fucking page.

LovelyHurling

blasphemy tbh. Stephen Daedalus ya ledge

nando

My faves include:

Mansfield Park, jane austen (love all her books really)
The Lovely Bones, alice sebold
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime, mark haddon
To Kill a Mockingbird, harpur lee
..... and embarrassingly perhaps the Harry Potter books:o
maybe not the greatest books ever but the ones I re-read often.

Beruthiel

RuggieBear wrote:

just bought his dark materials trilogy based on the recommendations of this thread...it had better be good;)

Mine arrived in the posted yesterday and I started the first one last night (it is still called Northern Lights btw)
Started reading it in bed last night and couldn't put it down, arrived late into work this morning.

RuggieBear

Beruthiel wrote:

Mine arrived in the posted yesterday and I started the first one last night (it is still called Northern Lights btw)
Started reading it in bed last night and couldn't put it down, arrived late into work this morning.

I've just finished the second one....they are rather good.:)

John

I want to read them again now

odhran

Me too, I've been craving a reread for about a week now, but I'm trying to restrain myself.

shrapnel222

Sci Fi: 'Hyperion' and 'The fall of Hyperion' by Dan simmons (simply phenomenal)

Litt: 'Narcissus and Goldmund' by Hermann Hesse

unputdownable: 'Perfume' by Patrick Suskind

RuggieBear

shrapnel222 wrote:

Sci Fi: 'Hyperion' and 'The fall of Hyperion' by Dan simmons (simply phenomenal)

I've come very close to buying them a number of times in Waterstones recently.

L31mr0d

I'd view my favourites not as books I loved reading through once, but books i've reread over and over:

Mine would be in order:
1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2. 1984 by George Orwell

shrapnel222

@ruggybear: get the first one, if you don't like it then don't bother with the second, but definitely give it a go. i've been reading scifi for 20 years now, and it really is something special:D

punchdrunk

charles bukowski factotum,gritty real life

shakey neil young bio

band of brothers stephen e ambrose,military history

rule of four for the whole smart ****ers da vinci code buzz

cue

The Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson ties together every conspiracy theory I ever heard into a crazy sci-fi epic. The 7 Year Hitch by David R Grant reminds me that it is possible to travel around the world by horse and cart with kids. The Dead School by Patrick McCabe is funny and sad at the same time. Molvern Caller by Alan Warner shows how to write like a real woman. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk is black with humour. Little Infamies by Panos Karnezis is gentle and strange. Love that Dog by Sharon Creech is the childs book which adults will not part with. Louis de Berniere's south american triogy combines rural magic with cocaine politics and wild history to great effect. Still, the two that I return to are Mark Leyners My Cousin, my Gastroenterologist and the ego twist of Et Tu, Babe.

BossArky

I've probably posted a different book on this thread previously, but recently someone asked me what my fav book was... and in the recent past (6 to 12 months my fav would probably have been The Grapes of Wrath.

It is hard to choose just one, as there are so many great ones out there.