What is the best book you have ever read?

[Mik]

I was thinking about this the other day while having a conversation about books while on a date and figured that I'd bring it to you guys and encourage us all to share. When I figured out what I thought that the best book I've ever read was it actually surprised me, so maybe the process might do the same with some of you guys.

I realise that best is a subjective term, but I'm meaning in your personal opinion, where it be because its the one that you think is the highest quality, the one that moved you or stayed with you or made you laugh or whatever it is that you use to define what is the best. Ideally I'm hoping that people wont just come in and cite what the polls or the media dictate is the best book, but the one that they actually think for whatever reason is the best.

I found that it was something I really had to think about and the conclusion I came to is that Wuthering Heights is to me, the best book I've ever read. Its so well written with the visual imagery of the Yorkshire moors so expressive. I found it relentlessly bleak and powerful with such incredibly well drawn and memorable characters that every now and again I find myself thinking about certain moments in the book.

I love the story, its a doomed and tragic romance littered with the odd glimmer of hope and it appeals to me annoyingly brooding emo occasional sensibilities. I like that Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice and that inspired pretty much every romantic comedy novel and film ever since and yet this is the one with the more complex and compelling characters and that Bronte wrote something that was similar and yet so completely different and hopeless.

Its maybe not the book that I think is the best written, its not the one I've read the most, its not necessarily the one that I enjoyed the most. But overall I really do think its the best book I've ever read.

What is yours?

(btw, I'll do this for TV show and film too once I've had time to think about them)

[JP]

The book that got me back into reading as a teenager, changed my perception on what it was that interested me and hooked me into being an absolute devotee of the author immediately was Men At Arms, one of the City Watch books in the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett.

I was on work experience with Virgin Trains for two weeks during year 10 and a lot of that time was spent sat on a train doing nothing, so having heard my friends mention before how they enjoyed the Discworld books, on the way through New St at W H Smith I grabbed the first one I saw and went to sit on a train for a few hours to Bournemouth while shadowing the conductor (which meant sit there like a plum).

This was the first book I had read in years and I finished it on the journey there and back and must have read it another 5 times since. My favourtie literary character in Sam Vimes, the gender and race politics so deftly handled, the tension and of course with a discworld book, how incredibly funny it is.

It's genuinely been heartbreaking to read his last couple of books. Inspirational in a way, but I was a carer for my Nan before she passed away and I know exactly what Alzheimer's can do and at what speeds it takes effect. He is not long for being able to continue what he was meant to do and that is so terribly sad.

[Cewsh]

I know that it isn't necessarily a remarkable work of literature, but Night Watch by Terry Pratchett has to be mine. I've read it a solid 30 times by this point, and I've never read anything as enjoyable and affecting as that is. It's really the peak of the blend of murder mystery and dry humor that he does, and I'm selling it bizarrely short to even describe it like that.

[Rip]

Damn straight Cewsh, I'm a huge Pratchett fan and Night Watch is the one I find myself going back to again and again, Snuff runs it close though.

[Simon]

Of Mice And Men. Just a fucking perfect, beautiful story. Steinbeck's other books are great as well - Tortilla Flat is a personal favourite.

At the other end of the scale, Mick Foley's Have A Nice Day. Fuck you, it's brilliant.

I recently finished Homicide: Life On The Street, which immediately went into my top I-don't-know-how-many-but-it-was-great books of all time.

[maxxmisery]

On the Road

Absolutely love this book, read it so many times that I can't count. I remember getting my hands on it when I was about 14 and flipping through it thinking about how lame it would be, but when I finally sat down to read it, it changed me. This book sparked my interest in traveling and meeting different people, and even put me in a bit of an experimentative drug phase as a teenager. To this day I read it a couple of times a year, for the nostalgia and for the story. Jack Kerouac and his group were such an interesting group of people to me.

That being said, the movie that was recently made about it was shit. I was angry after watching it....

[JP]

Special mention to Popcorn by Ben Elton.

[Simon]

Which one was Popcorn? I read a load of Ben Elton books when I was younger, some were great (Stark, Dead Famous) and some were absolute wankypants. The guy has no quality control.

[JP]

Which one was Popcorn? I read a load of Ben Elton books when I was younger, some were great (Stark, Dead Famous) and some were absolute wankypants. The guy has no quality control.

It's his satire of Natural Born Killers, so a satire of a satire. And it is fucking amazing.

[Cewsh]

I just noticed that both JP and I answered with Vimes within a minute of each other. :heart:

[Bad Collin]

1984. I am a big fan of dystopian worlds and the story of Winston Smith's defiance is gripping.

Obviously it is also a very influential novel and some of its concepts penetrate modern society in a way most people don’t realise.

Some lines are immortal:

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”

“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”

“Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”

[turdpower]

I, Partridge.

[BBF]

Of Mice and Men for me too. It ignited my love of reading during school and I've read it countless times since then. I just read it on the bus to work this past week in fact. Superb little book.

[I steal cable]

Wuthering Heights was one of the most boring books I have ever read. Only managed to finish cause my gran wanted to talk about it with me. Told her it was cack. I'm pretty sure she agreed with me, maybe she liked to see me suffer or something.

GCSE English killed Of Mice and Men for me. CAN YOU SEE THE SYMBOLISM IN THE LIGHT AND THE DOG. LOOK AT THE MEANING OF THE WOMAN, SHE BE BAD - BOO. sorry, just can't read it again without thinking about writing an essay on the American Dream.

Catch 22 is my favorite book. You either love it or hate it though, takes a bit of getting used too. I've never laughed so hard whilst reading. Some brilliant quotes and truly great characters.

where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?

[Slare]

My three have already been mentioned in here actually.

1984 because it just completely warped my mind as a 14 year old reading it for the first time and I get something new from it every time I read it. It opened up a whole genre to me and lead to me reading incredible pieces like Brave New World and The Road.

Have a Nice Day - just completely changed my mindset on wrestling. I read this when I was 10. Totally innaprorpiate for me to read but I was absolutely fascinated by the look behind the curtian and the whole world of wrestling and the territories that I had absolutely no idea of. Obviously I thought it was cool because it was such an adult book too. I remember heading into Primary School with it (we got 15 minutes of reading time every morning) and while everyone sat with Goosebumps and the like, I was tearing through this bad boy. Still read it every few years and absolutely love it.

I, Partridge - I've probably read this 6 times and listen to the audio-book 2 or 3. Just has funny line after funny line. It's completely relentless and genuinely the funnies thing I've ever read

[turdpower]

GCSE English killed Of Mice and Men for me. CAN YOU SEE THE SYMBOLISM IN THE LIGHT AND THE DOG. LOOK AT THE MEANING OF THE WOMAN, SHE BE BAD - BOO. sorry, just can't read it again without thinking about writing an essay on the American Dream.


Hahahaha, I completely agree.

I remember the play we had to do was "A View From The Bridge" which was about incest in Brooklyn. Bit odd.




I, Partridge - I've probably read this 6 times and listen to the audio-book 2 or 3. Just has funny line after funny line. It's completely relentless and genuinely the funnies thing I've ever read


It was my toilet book for a while. Until I read it a few times. Now it's in my car as my constant "commute to work" CD's in the car. Lost count how many times I've heard it now.

I even made the playlist from the back of the book :ashamed:.

[Jacknife]

Lord of the Flies is one of my favorites. Loved it the two times I've read it. Also, special mention to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer.

[Mik]

THE BEST BOOK you've ever read. Thats why its difficult and takes some thinking about, I'm not wanting a top 3 or a list of your favourites, I want your ONE book and what makes it the best.

I've got to admit, I absolutely loved 1984, that was my introduction to reading the 'classics' and Catch 22 is a book I've read 3 or 4 times and it really does improve on every reading.

[turdpower]

You're wrong Mik. You're thinking of Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab.

[Mik]

Rosk bought me that...I havent read it yet. But oddly that book got a mention on the aforementioned date.

[lotjx]

Lord of the Flies maybe it for me. Opened my eyes to a lot of literature techniques and great story. I ended up teaching it and the school got upset with me mentioning Christ symbols. Needless to say I didn't stay very long. I will say The Stand is a close second.

[Peter Griffin]

Stig of the dump.

[Tyson]

It's actually a series: "A Dream of Eagles" by Jack Whyte.

[The Rick]

My favorite book is probably Foley's Have A Nice Day. I enjoyed his story so much. I read it in one sitting, and have gone back to it on a few other occasions. There isn't a section that wasn't thoroughly entertaining.

[T.I (uh oh)]

My favorite has already been mentioned - Nineteen Eighty Four.

I don't read much. My bookshelf pretty much consists of sports/wrestling biographies, and video game strategy guides, and even in school, I'd read the first chapter of the prescribed texts before ditching it. That changed when my Year 11 English teacher gave us Nineteen Eighty Four. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in a day or two, and re-read it about 5 times that year. I'm not big into politics or political theory, but the entire thing pretty much justified, or re-enforced all my beliefs. Ten years later, and 65 years after it was written, it continues to provide relevant comparison to today's world (IMO), and I try to read it every couple of years.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's more than a book for me.

[Simon]

I need to read more classic books. I haven't read 1984, Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, Wuthering Heights (or any of that bollocks), Animal Farm, Huck Finn...

[McBain]

For me it's got to be High Fidelity. It's a book that resonates with the hopeless romantic in me as much as the passionate music lover. I haven't read it in a good while but I know the next time I do I will love it just as much as ever. :yes:

[Mik]

I need to read more classic books. I haven't read 1984, Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, Wuthering Heights (or any of that bollocks), Animal Farm, Huck Finn...

Catcher in the Rye is infuriating and Animal Farm is okay but 1984 is much better.

[McBain]

Yeah I gave up half way through Catcher. Extremely nauseating.

[MMH]

The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones. A kids book technically but she is/was rather good.

[WizoOzz]

Dunno if it's the best book I've ever read, but my favorite book is Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. I love McCammon's books. He's like Stephen King, only his books read more straightforward. This one is a pretty big read, but well worth it.

Catcher in the Rye was absolute garbage. I was expecting something that would change my life essentially. Instead, I got a whiny bitch kid who got kicked out of school and just whined his way through the book. Fuck that.

I was the master of not reading "classics" and b.s.ing my way through assignments on them in high school. Managed to write an essay on The Scarlet Letter that we were given a few topics on, and without cracking open the book and writing about a totally different subject that everyone else in class did, managed to get the highest grade in class. :beer:

Now, I actually want to read the shit I was supposed to back then. Ugh. I'm old . . .

[MMH]

Oh and La Bette Humaine by Emile Zola. Fantastic stuff.

[Jacknife]

To Kill A Mockingbird is a good one too.

[Alf]

Tough one. For me it's either The Road (utterly heartbreaking) or Wizard and Glass, part of the Dark Tower series. It's utterly immense.

[JP]

Tough one. For me it's either The Road (utterly heartbreaking) or Wizard and Glass, part of the Dark Tower series. It's utterly immense.

Apart from The Gunslinger, which while good is a bit of an anomaly when read alone (though finally fits in after finishing The Dark Tower) every single one of the entire series is majestic.

The storytelling base in Wizards and Glass gives King the chance to really embellish on the history of not just Roland but the entire world, it gives everything more substance because of it. For me The Drawing of the Three is the best of the bunch and possibly Wolves of Calla just behind it, but as a pure fantasy novel Wizards and Glass takes some beating.

[StevieV]

Gangster by Lorenzo Carcaterra (The guy who wrote Sleepers).

I remember this as being my favourite book for a long time. It was given to me and i passed it on after reading it. I've never come back to it and quite frankly a lot of the story has slipped form my memory.

I will be looking to buy a new copy shortly to see if it holds up.

[Mik]

Tough one. For me it's either The Road (utterly heartbreaking) or Wizard and Glass, part of the Dark Tower series. It's utterly immense.


Apart from The Gunslinger, which while good is a bit of an anomaly when read alone (though finally fits in after finishing The Dark Tower) every single one of the entire series is majestic.

The storytelling base in Wizards and Glass gives King the chance to really embellish on the history of not just Roland but the entire world, it gives everything more substance because of it. For me The Drawing of the Three is the best of the bunch and possibly Wolves of Calla just behind it, but as a pure fantasy novel Wizards and Glass takes some beating.


The Road was pretty high up there for me. Wizard and Glass was such a high point for the Dark Tower series that it made it a shame that nothing else could reach that standard.

[MikeHunt]

Watchmen

[Seanny One Ball]

I'm sorely tempted to say Phantom Of The Opera by Gaston Leroux but that's potentially because I have read it recently.

It is brilliant either way and anybody who is put-off by the Lloyd Webber musical should be assured that the book bears little relation to the stage version and is absolutely brilliant as a stand-alone work.

[connorboy]

The Godfather. Fantastic book

[El Capitano Gatisto]

I couldn't pick a best. At different points in my life I have read books that have really struck home. I couldn't give a single best because of that difference really. I suppose the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy "Trilogy" are books I kept going back to (after my dad introduced me to them when I was 12/13) and I think really even heavily influenced my sense of humour and helped shape a way of thinking about things. They are genius books. It's been a few years since I read them, it's probably time I read them again. I usually find a facet of the books to enjoy as I get older and understand more of the humour.

Plenty of other books have blown me away at various points in my personal development.

I usually enjoy classic books but I read The Great Gatsby recently (coincidence with the new film version being out, looks awful) and I didn't get it. I didn't enjoy reading it or find it a particularly interesting story.

[McBain]

Watchmen

Great choice. Really loved this.

[wardy]

I haven't read too many books but I did read Glue by Irvine Welsh on holiday last year and it might well be my favourite. Hilarious but heartbreaking.

[McBain]

Will have to check that out. I read Porno by him and really enjoyed it.