Best books you've read

[Smileadelic]

I'm with Wishpig on this one. "The Great Gatsby" is probably my favourite novel of all time.

Beyond that, anything goes really. I love everything from James Joyce to Douglas Adams.

[John Brainlove]

the outsider - albert camus,
great apes - will self,
on the road - kerouac,
ghostwritten - david mitchell,
a heartbreaking work of staggering genius - dave eggars,
crime and punishment - dostoevsky,
the unbearable lightness of being - milan kundera

All brilliant.

[Monpot]

tafkac said:

...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.

I bought this for my dad, and then stole it for myself. It's brilliant.

[prettyvacant]

money by martin amis is one of the best books i have ever read.
i really didn't like it the first time i read it because i was reading it for english and therefore read it in little bits and bobs and got entirely confused.
the second time, i read it almost all in one go and realised what an amazing book it is. the whole thing is like one massive poem, it's absolutely brilliant.

i also love the life of pi (can't remember who it's by), geisha by arthur golden and breakfast of champions by kurt vonnegut. all fabulous. (and, of course, lord of the rings and his dark materials, which go without saying

[Smileadelic]

You did it for English? Ah, maybe that explains things.

I only say that because it took a bit of a toasting on the DiS boards a while back. Which was odd, because I would have thought it would really appeal to a young, reasonably literate audience like that. Maybe if people were being "forced to do it" that would put them off.

I think it's great, personally.

[John Brainlove]

I read Money. I found it a bit of a slog, and remember afterwards feeling it was a little.. hollow.

[Smileadelic]

Heh, it's funny. I actually found it to be quite the proverbial page-turner. Maybe it was just the audacity of calling the protagonist John Self and having a character named Martin Amis as his alter-ego...

[Monpot]

I hated 'studying' books in English. Took us a bloody year to get through Of Mice And Men, and we only did one act of Macbeth -cos that was the relevant one for the coursework.

[cadd]

Last book I read was Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I'd read A Day In The LIfe Of a few years ago.

I've got an omnibus of the first 3 parts of Maya Angelous autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings/Gather Together In My Name/Singing And Swinging And Getting Merry Like Xmas. I read it in my late teens and have read more of her autobiographical work and poetry. A remarkable and inspiring woman and a life truly lived.

I don't think I've bought a book in a while but I've got a backlog of several hundred. Last book I read wasn't Cancer Ward, it was John Peel-A Life In Music by Michael Heatley, part of my xmas from my mum. I was already well absorbed in music before I got into John Peel but he took my tastes and turned them upside down and opened my ears and mind to so much new stuff.

I enjoy Jack Kerouack, especially his books concerning travel, which I love. Also like William Burroughs. Haven't read any Sven Hassel for years. Really like Raymond Chandler, some truly great oneliners in his books. Anthony Burgess, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegout, Truman Capote, etcetc.

I've developed a really good habit of accidentaly taking some of the best books I've ever read on holiday with me.

[prettyvacant]

John said:

I read Money. I found it a bit of a slog, and remember afterwards feeling it was a little.. hollow.

yeah, thats just how i felt the first time i read it. was a bit unfulfilling really. but i love how clever it is. maybe trying a little to hard to be clever, but it is nonetheless.

[ana milgram]

Hey, John, how about a books/comics area?

some great stuff mentioned already, I'd like to add:

"Story of the Eye" Georges Bataille
"Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep" Philip K Dick (anything by him really)
"Naked Lunch" William Burroughs
"Sexing the Cherry" Jeanette Winterson

and all Grant Morrison comics, if I'm allowed them

I'd like to be able to add something by Kathy Acker, but although I love her style, I don't think I've read anything that lives up to it as a whole

[Senses]

"A remarkable and inspiring woman and a life truly lived."

I'll second that Cadd!