Favorite Book (or Books) of all time

[jbishop15]

I recently bought my favorite book ever, Home of the Braves , off Amazon. I had lost my copy some years ago, and just happened to think about it as I was puttering around the sight, looking at things I wanted to buy.

It got me thinking about my favorite books, and then I started to wonder what everyone else's favorites were.

Below is my top ten list. You don't have to do a top ten or whatever, but these ten books have always stuck with me, and I couldn't leave any of them out.

What are y'alls favorites?

1 - Home of the Braves - David Klass (this book is where the quote in my signature came from)

2 - The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides

3 - Another Country - James Baldwin

4 - Why Did I Ever? - Mary Robison

5 - East of Eden - John Steinbeck

6 - The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway

7 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling

8 - White Teeth - Zadie Smith

9 - The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

10 - Bleachers - John Grisham

[colin007]

Great Gatsby All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy The Road - Cormac McCarthy

[newtogolf]

Jack: Straight from the Gut - Jack Welch

Crossing the Chasm - Geoffrey A, Moore

[nevets88]

It's like music w/favorite bands. Way too many to pick. Have to narrow down too, Fic/Non Fic, periods, etc...

[14ledo81]

Great Gatsby All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy The Road - Cormac McCarthy

I have not read any Cormac McCarthy. I will though. Mine as follows (not necessarily in order): 1) Steve Kings Dark Tower Series, especially Wizard and Glass 2) Harry Potter series 3) Genghis Khan series by Conn Iggulden 4) Wheel of time series 5) Dragonlance series 6) Most anything by Steve King Can't think of anything else right now. I am sure I am forgetting some.

[Ernest Jones]

It's like music w/favorite bands. Way too many to pick. Have to narrow down too, Fic/Non Fic, periods, etc...

This. I'll throw a few out there though: - Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner - Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry - A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving - the Century trilogy, Ken Follet - Cheasepeak, James Michener - Great Expectations, Charles Dickens - Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson - The Mysteries of Pittsburg, Michael Chabon - Lord of the Flies, William Golding And a zillion others...

[colin007]

I have not read any Cormac McCarthy. I will though. Mine as follows (not necessarily in order): 1) Steve Kings Dark Tower Series, especially Wizard and Glass 2) Harry Potter series 3) Genghis Khan series by Conn Iggulden 4) Wheel of time series 5) Dragonlance series 6) Most anything by Steve King Can't think of anything else right now. I am sure I am forgetting some.

Cormac McCarthy is ridiculously awesome. I read passages that he's written and it just dumbfounds me.... I also like Stevie King (I see you call him just Steve lol...) and my favorite of his is 11/22/63 - omg that book made me fall in love and cry like an idiot. King's best stuff is so unappreciated among the "elite"...

[Ernest Jones]

Cormac McCarthy is ridiculously awesome. I read passages that he's written and it just dumbfounds me....

I also like Stevie King (I see you call him just Steve lol...) and my favorite of his is 11/22/63 - omg that book made me fall in love and cry like an idiot. King's best stuff is so unappreciated among the "elite"...

I'm going to check out McCarthy as my next read. What do you recommend as a first taste?

[Gunther]

Cool thread. Tough to judge favorite books. I tend to obsess on authors and read all their work then move on to the next. My favorites, in no particular order: 1. Michener - read almost all of his work, phenomenal. 2. Asimov - nuff said. 3. King - read everything he wrote up to '95 or so, got burnt out, moved on, never came back. 4. Tolkien - read the Trilogy 3 times, probably my favorite of all time. 5. Arthur C. Clark - genius.

[JazzFatCat]

It's good to see White Teeth get some love. That's easily one of my favorite books. I'll have to check out "Home of the Braves" and some of those other books.

I think a lot of my favorite books are non-fiction:

- Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)

- A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson)

- Unbroken (Laura Hollenbrand)

- Stiff (Mary Roach)

- A Long Way Gone (Ishmael Beah)

[jbishop15]

It's good to see White Teeth get some love. That's easily one of my favorite books. I'll have to check out "Home of the Braves" and some of those other books.

I think a lot of my favorite books are non-fiction:

- Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)

- A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson)

- Unbroken (Laura Hollenbrand)

- Stiff (Mary Roach)

- A Long Way Gone (Ishmael Beah)

I love White Teeth. Such an incredible weave of stories.

[nevets88]

All this love for White Teeth. If you want to watch it there's a PBS mini-series version:

http://www.hulu.com/white-teeth

[14ledo81]

[quote name="nevets88" url="/t/84242/favorite-book-or-books-of-all-time/0_100#post_1194412"]It's like music w/favorite bands. Way too many to pick. Have to narrow down too, Fic/Non Fic, periods, etc...

This. I'll throw a few out there though: - Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner - Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry - A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving - the Century trilogy, Ken Follet - Cheasepeak, James Michener - Great Expectations, Charles Dickens - Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson - The Mysteries of Pittsburg, Michael Chabon - Lord of the Flies, William Golding And a zillion others...[/quote] I also like Lonesome Dove and Cryptonomicon. The others I have not read. [quote name="colin007" url="/t/84242/favorite-book-or-books-of-all-time#post_1194427"][quote name="14ledo81" url="/t/84242/favorite-book-or-books-of-all-time#post_1194414"] I have not read any Cormac McCarthy. I will though. Mine as follows (not necessarily in order): 1) Steve Kings Dark Tower Series, especially Wizard and Glass 2) Harry Potter series 3) Genghis Khan series by Conn Iggulden 4) Wheel of time series 5) Dragonlance series 6) Most anything by Steve King Can't think of anything else right now. I am sure I am forgetting some.[/quote] Cormac McCarthy is ridiculously awesome. I read passages that he's written and it just dumbfounds me.... I also like Stevie King (I see you call him just Steve lol...) and my favorite of his is 11/22/63 - omg that book made me fall in love and cry like an idiot. King's best stuff is so unappreciated among the "elite"...[/quote] Agree with you on 11/22/63 and the underrated comment. IMO even his "bad" stuff is good... [quote name="Gunther" url="/t/84242/favorite-book-or-books-of-all-time#post_1194443"]Cool thread. Tough to judge favorite books. I tend to obsess on authors and read all their work then move on to the next. My favorites, in no particular order: 1. Michener - read almost all of his work, phenomenal. 2. Asimov - nuff said. 3. King - read everything he wrote up to '95 or so, got burnt out, moved on, never came back. 4. Tolkien - read the Trilogy 3 times, probably my favorite of all time. 5. Arthur C. Clark - genius.[/quote] Try some more King. If you have not read anything since '95', you are missing out on some good ones. This thread is great. I'm going to use for recommendations. I do value your guys opinions.

[colin007]

I'm going to check out McCarthy as my next read. What do you recommend as a first taste?

The Road is quick and devastating. Very different from his other stuff in that it is sparse. Everything is bare bones. If you like westerns then either of the other two I liked. Blood Meridian is like a blood soaked dreamscape littered with scalps and psychotic nightmares. Pretty Horses is part romance, part coming of age, part hardscrabble adventure.

[jbishop15]

Some good biographies/non-fiction:

Einstein - Walter Isaacson

FDR - Jean Edward Smith

Alexander of Macedon - Peter Smith

Editor to Author: The Letters of Maxwell Perkins - John Hall Wheelock (compiler)

Difficult Men - Brett Martin

The Revolution Was Televised - Alan Sepinwall

The Big Book of Basketball - Bill Simmons

Poetry :

Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson - R.W. Franklin (complied and edited)

Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman

[RGoosen]

Dracula - Bram Stoker The Big Miss - Hank Haney The Dirt - Mötley Crue members autobiography

[acetoolguy]

Dunno if I remember 10% of all the books I read but a few stick out.

The Godfather

The Stand

and all 23 of the Master and Commander series. Not each one as a stand alone book, but all them together tell a great story.

Oh, and The World according to Garp.

[blackizzz]

All time favourite:

Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram