Best book you've ever read?

M

mjalali

New Member
What is the best book you have ever read? Both in the fiction category, and the non-fiction category.

My favorite fiction book was Flowers for Algernon (which I highly recommend you read too!) and my favorite non-fiction book was Thinking, Fast and Slow (which you should definitely read if you're interested in human behavior).

How about you guys? What's your favorite fiction and non-fiction book?
 

I can’t remember the name of my favourite book but it was about the life of a Geisha women.
It told of all the training they go through, what was expected of them etc., and why it was viewed as a respected tradition and not a smutty lifestyle of shame. It was a very interesting read.
 
I read so many books that I can't pick a single favorite. One that made a lasting impression on me was Still Alice, about a woman with early onset Alzheimer's.
 

With so many books under my belt, it's impossible to come up with a clear favorite. I did enjoy, thoroughly, the first books in "The Cat Who" series, and "The Time Machine." In non-fiction, I read many books on trees and tree climbing that were very interesting and held my attention. "1984" still gives me a chill, as so much of it is now coming to pass. Orwell had it right. He was just off by thirty to forty years.
 
C'est Moi said:
I read so many books that I can't pick a single favorite. One that made a lasting impression on me was Still Alice, about a woman with early onset Alzheimer's.
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Hi,that is a wonderful book.I saw the movie version in '15 starring Julieanne Moore,Alec Baldwin,Kristen Stewart.Julieanne was terrific as Alice,Alec Baldwin as her husband,Kristen Stewart as one of their daughters.Julieanne won Best Actress Oscar for her heart breaking performance Sue
 
I've read a lot of books over the years, can't pick a favorite,a couple I've loved over the years:
Ken Follett's 'Pillars of the Earth'' '86,story of building a Gothic Cathedral in 1200's in England
"Lonesome Dove' '85 by Larry McMurtry,a cattledrive to Montana The mini series had an all star cast,Robert Duvall,Tommy Lee Jones,Danny Glover, Anjelicia Huston,Diane Lane
historian David McCullough's book"John Adams'' '01 fascinating,read most of the author's other books Sue
 
Catch Me If You Can and Moby Dick. That was many years ago. Wife likes reading the Bible. Neither of us are much for reading, except magazine articles.
 
treeguy64 said:
With so many books under my belt, it's impossible to come up with a clear favorite. I did enjoy, thoroughly, the first books in "The Cat Who" series, and "The Time Machine." In non-fiction, I read many books on trees and tree climbing that were very interesting and held my attention. "1984" still gives me a chill, as so much of it is now coming to pass. Orwell had it right. He was just off by thirty to forty years.
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I enjoyed the Cat Who series too.

I always thought that it would make a great television series with Tom Selleck playing the part of Jim Qwilleran.

I guess I don't really have a favorite just a lot of good books over the years.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I enjoyed the Cat Who series too.

I always thought that it would make a great television series with Tom Selleck playing the part of Jim Qwilleran.

I guess I don't really have a favorite just a lot of good books over the years.
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Agree, concerning Selleck. It was sad how the series had a number of ghostwriters towards the end of LJB's life. The books were so bad, so poorly written. I wish she had just let it go, but perhaps she needed the money.
 
Best?

As for novels, they come in bunches for me.

Orwell’s 1984 riveted me

Phillip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint, also

Melville’s Moby Dick

Right now reading Charles Bukowski’s Ham on Rye
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Of which, turns out, I can put down…having a hard time picking it back up

Of late, not a lot of quiet time

And, well, any more, shiny things distract me



As for non-fiction, Henri Charrière’s Papillon

Read it more than twice

The movie didn’t disappoint, either
 
A few off top of my head:

The Godfather - also loved the movie
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Thornbirds
The Other Side of Midnight
Presumed Innocent - also loved the movie
Kaffir Boy

@ Gary O'
I really liked Papillon book and movie
 
The Lonesome Dove. I find myself rereading it at least every other year. I enjoyed the miniseries too but I feel as though I am living in that world when reading the book.
 
Keesha said:
I can’t remember the name of my favourite book but it was about the life of a Geisha women.
It told of all the training they go through, what was expected of them etc., and why it was viewed as a respected tradition and not a smutty lifestyle of shame. It was a very interesting read.
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That's probably Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, a novel written in the form of an autobiography, which many people seem to think is a real autobiography..

My choices:
novel - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (read it in English translation)
science - The Principia by Isaac Newton (also read in English translation) and Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
 
I've read literally thousands of books, so I couldn't possibly think what is overall the best book I've ever read.. but 2 which come to mind that I have read over and over again are both by the same author... Private Battles and Our Hidden Lives by Simon Garfield....
 
My favorite, which some will class as fiction and some will say is non fiction, is the Bible. I've read the entire Bible 4 times. It has everything: love, lust, incest, talking donkeys, miracles, demons, angels, strange machines coming from heaven, promises, murder, betrayal, forgiveness, redemption, laws, storms, cannibalism, hope, despair, stonings, death, wars, building, destruction, horror, beauty, resurrection, people at their worst and people at their best.
 
moviequeen1 said:
Hi,that is a wonderful book.I saw the movie version in '15 starring Julieanne Moore,Alec Baldwin,Kristen Stewart.Julieanne was terrific as Alice,Alec Baldwin as her husband,Kristen Stewart as one of their daughters.Julieanne won Best Actress Oscar for her heart breaking performance Sue
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I saw the movie, too. As with most books made into movies, the movie did not compare to the book... though it was a well-done movie.
 
I can't really pick one book that is my all-time favorite, but I have a few that I still like to read over and over again after all the rest have vacated my memory. I can kind of describe them as "comfort" books. When the world or my life "goes nuts", these books take me back to a place of sanity. They are "Dear Miss Demeanor" by Joan Hess, "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle, "Uncertain Voyage" by Dorothy Gilman, and "The Tightrobe Walker" by Dorothy Gilman.
 
I can't think of a particular fiction book but as far as non fiction, I was so inspired by the 3 books Dr. Tom Dooley wrote about his time in Vietnam. I was in high school when I read them and was very interested in the medical field back then. I remember making a report on them in an English class during my senior year. I still have the books. This thread has renewed my interest and I think I'll dig them out and reread them. I seldom reread books.
 

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