Best books you've read

[Senses]

Following on from the Da Vinci Code thread. I'm sure you'ev read some interesting stuff I've never seen/heard tell of - so come on share!

My picks would be:

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It's a great, eye opening book. Touching, artistic and Alexander draws upon his own experience in the prison camps. The book looks at far more than one mans life and looks at human nature in a fresh way.

and also

I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou - Funny, sad, evocative - Maya has such a way with words that for me really does enliven the text and it appeals to your senses.

Also a mention must go to Readers wives volume III issue 8 ;D

[bamos]

Issue 8 was poor. You should have got Issue 4. Wow, Selina from Chichester really has got 'it' going on.

I tend not to read books that are too 'interesting'. I have the attention span of a gnat, so I like my literature to be fairy easily digestible. I was a constant source of pain to my English teachers, who recognised that I had talent and a way with words, and would urge me to reada some of the 'classics', but could never make me. Because I get boed easily and would rather make a list of my All-time Top 500 songs or something.

My favourite book, and I would recommend everyone picks it up, is 'Three Men & A Boat' by Jerome K Jerome. It really grabbed me, very, very funny.

[Senses]

Selina hey - would you swap 4 (used) copies of Razzle for that 1 then ;D

Also must add to the list The Giver - tis a kids book but wicked and I can't decide which Rohl Dahl book was bestest!

[chrispy]

the last great, absorbing book i read was mrs dalloway. it just was touching, and very well written.

also 'everything is illuminated' by jonathan safran-foer, is so well written, and very funny in parts.

erm, i can't really think of anything else at the mo...

[chrispy]

oh man, roald dahl was brill. so hard to choose the best- i liked matilda, i also like the bfg (i found it sweet), but probably charlie and the chocolate factory, for characters like veruca salt!

[chrispy]

Senses said:

Also a mention must go to Readers wives volume III issue 8 ;D

erm, what's that? or maybe i shouldn't ask...

[DangerousDoug]

gotta admit, i read reeeeaaaaally slow so it takes me ages to read books and therefore have not read that many. but i did enjoy His Dark Materials and Lord of the Rings was good if you like fantasy (wich i do ;D ).

used to read those fighting fantasy book where you "choose your own adventure!!", fantastic.

i read a lot of comics. infact thats all i do in work seeing as i work in a comic shop and there's noubt else to do!!

readin Straship Troopers at the mo. been told its all about socialism and i should read it coz its classic...... meh.

the only book ive read more than once is a semi-fiction about Gaelic Mythology.

[Senses]

I knew someone at Uni who looked like the BFG! ;D

[Monpot]

This guy Patrick Neates wrote a book called 12 Bar Blues which I love. It's got 3 narratives that are semi connected; one about a 1930s jazz trumpeter, one about a woman in the 90s tracing her family, and one about an affrican chief with marital problems. It's just ace. I can open it at random these days, and just read a few pages for fun.

On a more 'classic' note, i really like To Kill A Mockingbird and The Grapes Of Wrath.

Can someone explain why Catcher In The Rye is considered such a classic? I liked it when I read it, but I never really understood why it's held as one of the greats.

[Fellalady]

My Name Is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok.

This book is amazing. It's about a jewish boy from Brooklin who grows up to become a painter who paints his version of the crucifixion. It's about his battle between art and religion and his family. I don't seem to be selling it very well. Basically it's the only book I've read twice, I've bought it two times now but don't actually own it myself because I keep giving it away as a present to other people.

Roald Dahl got me into reading books.

BFG
Georges Marvelous Medicine (Wishpig, help!!)
The Witches
Boy
Danny The Champion of The World (especially this one)
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Supercooler.

[wishpig]

apart from harry potter i would recommend reading 'The Great Gatsby' by F Scott Fitzgerald if you haven't already and also, 'Franny and Zooey' and 'The Catcher in the Rye' by JD Salinger.
i love the thirties.

[creakyknees]

Used to like Homer, Michael Moorcock, John Wyndham, HG Wells, Len Deighton. I used to think that Catch 22 was the best book.
But then I got into Robert Graves initially his Greek Myths books, then his Claudius books, then I was nearly ready for a real big one......The White Goddess unbelievably difficult (Especially considering I knew a load of other stuff similar and already knew loads of botany and tree lore).
He describes it as a 'grammar of poetry' (true poetry)
and ties this up along the way with poetical myth, linguistics, religeon and history. It is phenomenally difficult, but subsequently more rewarding ultimately, you will need a host of other reference books, or a lot of knowledge already, otherwise it would seem that you are just taking his word for a lot of stuff, although he does back up with references.
I wouldn't suggest you buy the book, you may not thank me, but if you ever see a copy....have a glimpse and gasp in awe about how much learning this guy has put into this one book.

Unfortunately although I still read other prose books, none of them strike me as great or extraordinary after this.

[tafkac]

I grew up fully believing the Lord of the Rings was the best book ever. People tend not to be able to look past the elves and goblins to the raging anti-modernist polemic within. The people who made the films totally misunderstood the book. Its all about the romantic, environmentalist backlash against the capitalist machine, industrialisation and commodification. That's why I liked 'His Dark Materials' so much. It was like the next step - polemical, but much less backward-looking.

I am well picky about books. I hate at least 80% of books I read, and tend not to be able to take them at face value, like I can't read Sartre's novels as novels because I can't bear existentialism. I never really have favourite things, but the last book I read that really had a profound impact on me was Peter Carey's 'The True History of the Kelly Gang'. I don't know why, it just rules. Also J.M. Coetzee's 'Disgrace' is fucking fantastic.

And I agree with the Jonathan Safran-Foer commendation.

And 'To Kill a Mockingbird' owns you too.

[chrispy]

tafkac said:

I Also J.M. Coetzee's 'Disgrace' is fucking fantastic.
And 'To Kill a Mockingbird' owns you too.

yeah, 'disgrace' is great. very powerful stuff.

and mockingbird's just a classic that everyone should read.

man, i haven't read properly in ages. i just read one book every few months. hardly ever these days. erm, rant over.

[Wiggles]

One of my favorites at the moment is Frankenstein, everybody should read it.

I also love anything by Kazuo Ishiguro. His style is really unique (actually dangerously close to being a one trick pony), but what an angle! The Unconsoled is great.