PDA

View Full Version : 15 books of my life



IWasSentWest
08-20-2010, 03:21 PM
Yes, I stole this from facebook. But I think it's cool and will arouse thy readers, so voila!

Here are the rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books or stories you've read that will always stick with you. They don't have to be the greatest books you've ever read, just the ones that stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. And a series of books counts as one book. And feel free to discuss!

Here are mine...may change it eventually.

1. The Dark Tower - Stephen King
2. A Song Of Ice And Fire - GRR Martin
3. Harry Potter - J.K Rowling (shut up)
4. The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
5. The Stand - S. King
6. Chronicles of the Black Company - Glen Cook
7. The Kingkiller Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss (only the first one has been released, but I am 100% positive I will enjoy the rest.
8. The Sword of Truth - Terry Goodkind
9. Black Friday - James Patterson (haven't read it in years, but I am pretty sure it's still fantastic)
10. The Runner - Christopher Reich (idk why, I just love this book)
11. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
12. 1984 - George Orwell
13. The Pendergast Novels - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
14. The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier
15. Rats Saw God - Rob Thomas

The last two books are young adult novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed them. Also, "The Body of Christopher Creed" is another pretty good young adult book. Not as memorable though. Any questions?

alkanto
08-20-2010, 03:29 PM
Awesome idea!

Here are mine (no special order)
1. Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
3. The Dark Tower - Stephen King
4. 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King
5. The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
6. King Raven Trilogy (Robin Hood) - Stephen R. Lawhead
7. Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
8. A Song of Ice and Fire - George R.R. Martin
9. Go Dogs Go - Dr. Seuss (:D)
10. Pickman's Models - H.P Lovecraft
11. The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe
12. A Seperate Peace - John Knowles
13. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
14. The Belgariad - David Eddings
15. Tears of Artamon - Sarah Ash

Brice
08-20-2010, 03:29 PM
I'll get to this tomorrow. :)

IWasSentWest
08-20-2010, 03:43 PM
i was gonna put the belgariad, but decided against it. it is a fantastic series though

and nice dresden file listing!

chtorrwar19
08-20-2010, 05:23 PM
so in the order I thought of them:

The Dark Tower - King
Golden Apples of the Sun- Bradbury
Farenheit 451 - Bradbury
It - King
The Chrysalids - John Wyndham
Boy's Life - Robert McCammon
War against the Chtorr - David Gerrold
Stranger in a Strangeland - Heinlein
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
Hearts in Atlantis - King
Magician - Raymond E. Feist
Harry Potter - Rowling
Lotr - Tolkein
A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson
Day of the Triffids - Wyndham

BROWNINGS CHILDE
08-20-2010, 06:43 PM
1.The Dark Tower - King
2.It-King
3.The Stand - King
4.The Servants of Twighlight - Koontz (I don't want to hear it)
5.The Black Cat - Poe
6. Lord of the Flies - Golding
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Kesey
8. 20,000 Leaques Under the Sea - Verne
9. The Mouse and the Motorcycle - Cleary (What?)
10. The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
11. The Da Vinci Code - Brown (Again...What?)
12. Jurassic Park - Crichton
13. Huckleberry Finn - Twain
14. A Christmas Carol - Dickens
15. Dracula - Stoker

IWasSentWest
08-20-2010, 08:37 PM
i have to say brownings childe...your books fit almost everyones list. spice it up a little! haha, i keed of course

BROWNINGS CHILDE
08-20-2010, 08:41 PM
i have to say brownings childe...your books fit almost everyones list. spice it up a little! haha, i keed of course

???

Only like 4 of the books I listed are on anyone else's list.

IWasSentWest
08-20-2010, 09:22 PM
i mean they are almost all literary classics except for a few, so they are on most peoples "all time greatest" lists

Jean
08-20-2010, 11:06 PM
well, we have this thread (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?p=470545), but since the present one is for both King and non-King, probably the two may be allowed to coexist...

woodpryan
08-20-2010, 11:21 PM
1. The Dark Tower, Stephen King (especially Wizard and Glass)
2. The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty
3. House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
4. IT, Stephen King
5. Pet Sematary, Stephen King
6. Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling
7. The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson
8. The Shinning, Stephen King
9. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
10. Hell House, Richard Matheson
11. Interview With the Vampire, Ann Rice
12. The Stand, Stephen King
13. Dreamcatcher, Stephen King
14. The Mask, Dean Koontz
15. Door to December, Dean Koontz

I wanted to list mine before reading the others so that I wasn't influenced in my thought process in any way. Not listed in any order really. Just the first books that came to my head. There are many that will stick with me forever. Good thread.

BROWNINGS CHILDE
08-20-2010, 11:56 PM
well, we have this thread (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?p=470545), but since the present one is for both King and non-King, probably the two may be allowed to coexist...

Went back and found my post from that thread, it was pretty much the same. Couple that I thought about putting on this list were on the other one.

Sickrose
08-21-2010, 01:16 AM
Here are mine:

1 1984 - Geroge Orwell
2 The ragger trousserd Philanphtopists - Rpbert Tressell
3 Coming up for air - George Orwell
4 Tinity Leon Uris
5 The House of the Dead - Dostoevsky
6 The cathcer in the ry - Sallenger
7 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
8 - Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
9 - The DArk Tower Series - of course :)
10 - Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy
11 - How the dead live - Will Self
12 - No Logo - Naomi Klein
13 - Hidden Agendas - John Pilger
14 - Northanger Abbey - Austen
15 - Hearts in Atlantis - King

I did it off the top of my head and W/O reading th others, otherwise I would be here all day.

Darkthoughts
08-21-2010, 04:25 AM
Copied from my notes on fb:

1. The Hobbit ~ JRR Tolkien
Actually, I think I always put The Hobbit first in these lists, because I read it when I was really young and felt as if it had been written especially for me. It was the first book that I felt a really profound connection to.

2. A Prayer For Owen Meany ~ John Irving

3. American Gods ~ Neil Gaiman

4. Jeeves and Wooster ~ PG Wodehouse
I'm cheating a bit because this really covers the whole collection of books and short stories about Jeeves and Wooster. The stereotyped upper class English genmtleman is so overdone in books and film, but Wodehouse is the original master. His books are sheer perfection.

5. Norwegian Wood ~ Haruki Murakami

6. Dracula ~ Bram Stoker

7. Last Call ~ Tim Powers
This is actually the first book in a trilogy, Tim Powers is on another level of sci-fi/fantasy writing.

8. Black House ~ Stephen King & Peter Straub

9. The Drawing Of The Three ~ Stephen King

10. The Crow Road ~ Iain Banks

11. The Pilo Family Circus ~ Will Elliot

12. The Beach ~ Alex Garland

13. Monsignor Quixote ~ Graham Greene

14. The Naming Of The Beasts ~ Mike Carey
If you like Gaiman, you'll love Carey.

15. Watership Down ~ Richard Adams

I'm a huge Dresden and Potter fan, but I think of them more as easy reading and I was trying to be more selective in an attempt to narrow down the hundreds of books I could have picked into 15 :)

Jean
08-21-2010, 04:51 AM
1. Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2. Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Kingsley Amis. Lucky Jim
4. G.K.Chesterton. Father Brown Stories
5. Леонид Соловьев. Повесть о Ходже Насреддине [Leonid Soloviov. The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin]
6. Братья Стругацкие. Трудно быть Богом [The Strugazky Brothers. It's Hard to Be God]
7. Charles Dickens. Nicholas Nickleby
8. Stephen King. It
9. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre
10. Дмитрий Быков. Орфография [Dmitry Bykov. Orthography]
11. Александр Куприн. Поединок [Alexander Kuprin. The Duel]
12. Аркадий Гайдар. Судьба барабанщика [Arkadiy Gaidar. A Drummer's Destiny]
13. Jaroslav Hašek. The Good Soldier Švejk
14. Федор Достоевский Братья Карамазовы [Fedor Dostoyevsky. The Karamazov Brothers]
15. Михаил Булгаков. Театральный роман [Mikhail Bulgakov A Theatrical Novel (aka A Dead Man's Memoir)



4. Jeeves and Wooster ~ PG Wodehouse
I'm cheating a bit because this really covers the whole collection of books and short stories about Jeeves and Wooster. The stereotyped upper class English genmtleman is so overdone in books and film, but Wodehouse is the original master. His books are sheer perfection.
grrrrrrrr I didn't have a slot for him! I so need this one little tiny extra slot!.......

Darkthoughts
08-21-2010, 04:53 AM
:lol: That's how I felt about making the list! Mine should have had To Kill A Mockingbird, Jane Eyre and It on it too.

Jean
08-21-2010, 04:56 AM
sweetheart, did you ever read Lucky Jim? It seems like nobody did, except Fruno who did on my advice and loved it immensely

Brice
08-21-2010, 06:22 AM
1. Rosemary's Baby-Ira Levin
2. The Exorcist-William Peter Blatty
3. The Monk-M. G. Lewis
4. Deathbird Stories-Harlan Ellison
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes-Ray Bradbury
6. Imagica-Clive Barker
7. The Dark Tower
8. The Books Of Blood-Clive Barker
9. The Great And Secret Show-Clive Barker
10. A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess
11. The Shining
12. H. P Lovecraft Complete & Unabridged (yes, I'm cheating here, but fuck it)
13. It
12. Psycho-Robert Bloch
13. The Silmarillion-Tolkien
14. Pet Sematary
15. Carmilla-Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

Walkingman79
08-21-2010, 07:37 AM
1.IT-Stephen King

2.The Dark Tower-Stephen King

3.ISMAEL-Daniel Quinn

4.A Wrinkle In Time-Madeleine L'Engle

5.Deception Point-Dan Brown

6.Through The Looking Glass-Lewis Carrol(Charles Dodgson)

7.The Da Vinchi Code-Dan Brown

8.Where The Red Fern Grows-Wilson Rawls

9.Hearts In Atlantis-Stephen King

10.Chariots Of The Gods-Erich von Daniken(intense shit)

11.Of Mice And Men-John Steinbeck

12.The Story Of B-Daniel Quinn(sequel to ISHMAEL)

13.Garcia-Blair Jackson

14.The Lord Of The Rings(including The Hobbit)-J.R.R Tolkein

15.The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer/The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn -Mark Twain(Samuel Clemens)

AIMB
08-21-2010, 08:01 AM
The stand
It
The Giver-Louis Lowry
The Dark Tower
Middlesex-Jeffrey Eugenides
It's a Good Life-Jerome Bixby
The Road-Cormac McCarty
Breakfast at Tiffany's(every story in the book) truman capote
The Outsiders- S.E. Hinton
1984 -Orson Wells
On the Road (in high school obviously)
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand (my grandmother gave it me when I was like 10)
Fight Club- Chuck Palahniuk (even though I can't stand his writing anymore, this belongs on my list)

Wow, I'll have to give the last few some thought. These are just what came to
mind because I have read them all 5+ times.
I've probably read The Stand and The Giver more than 10.

Darkthoughts
08-21-2010, 09:20 AM
sweetheart, did you ever read Lucky Jim? It seems like nobody did, except Fruno who did on my advice and loved it immensely
No, but I shall on your recommendation :thumbsup:


The Outsiders- S.E. Hinton


You rule :huglove:

Jean
08-21-2010, 09:46 AM
sweetheart, did you ever read Lucky Jim? It seems like nobody did, except Fruno who did on my advice and loved it immensely
No, but I shall on your recommendation :thumbsup:
if possible... notify me when you start, ok? I feel like it's time for me to re-read it (I normally do once three years); last time I did, it was at the same time as Fruno was reading, and it's a miraculous feeling, knowing that you're going through the same pages, passages, and lines. It's like our minds touching.

alinda
08-21-2010, 09:57 AM
:excited: *goes to get a copy of Lucky Jim*

Jean
08-21-2010, 10:01 AM
PLEASE DO IT NOW

AIMB
08-21-2010, 10:11 AM
sweetheart, did you ever read Lucky Jim? It seems like nobody did, except Fruno who did on my advice and loved it immensely
No, but I shall on your recommendation :thumbsup:
if possible... notify me when you start, ok? I feel like it's time for me to re-read it (I normally do once three years); last time I did, it was at the same time as Fruno was reading, and it's a miraculous feeling, knowing that you're going through the same pages, passages, and lines. It's like our minds touching.


Has anyone ever tried to start a book club on this site? I think even if you have read something a lot it's really cool to read along with someone else. It gives you a fresh look at it. Just like showing someone a movie you love.

Jean
08-21-2010, 10:30 AM
we have a book club!!! (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/forumdisplay.php?f=113)

where have you been, my blue-eyed daughter? I missed you

IWasSentWest
08-21-2010, 10:33 AM
they have one ape

and yeh, the giver is a great book. simple but not simple. it's fucking good

AIMB
08-21-2010, 10:55 AM
we have a book club!!! (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/forumdisplay.php?f=113)

where have you been, my blue-eyed daughter? I missed you

Cool! I am going to check it out. I've been here just haven't logged in in a while since my Antivirus kept telling me to stay away.


they have one ape

and yeh, the giver is a great book. simple but not simple. it's fucking good

I love it, they gave it to us in school. They probably don't do that anymore because of him dreaming about the girl naked.

Stockerlone
08-21-2010, 11:00 AM
Ok, my book list:

Tunnel in the Sky - Heinlein
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Edda
Odyssee + Ilias - Homer
The Stand - King
Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles - Bradbury
1984 - George Orwell
The Cask of Amontillado - Poe
Foundation Trilogy - Asimov
Musashi - Yoshikawa
Taiko - Yoshikawa
St.Pauli Night - F.Göhre
Pastime - Parker
Watership Down - Richard Adams

Brice
08-21-2010, 11:06 AM
Yes, we have one, April!

Off topic: It's good to have you back with us. :)

Sickrose
08-21-2010, 12:46 PM
I am seeing 1984 a lot and am loving it. Out of my whole list that is my fav, I can never underestimate the impact 1984 had on me.

Darkthoughts
08-21-2010, 01:18 PM
if possible... notify me when you start, ok? I feel like it's time for me to re-read it (I normally do once three years); last time I did, it was at the same time as Fruno was reading, and it's a miraculous feeling, knowing that you're going through the same pages, passages, and lines. It's like our minds touching.

I would love that, Jean. I'll let you know when I get a copy :rose:

Argh, Stockerlone, you're making wish I'd put some Bradbury on my list now :doh: I think I would have chosen Something Wicked This Way Comes :thumbsup:

BROWNINGS CHILDE
08-21-2010, 05:05 PM
sweetheart, did you ever read Lucky Jim? It seems like nobody did, except Fruno who did on my advice and loved it immensely
No, but I shall on your recommendation :thumbsup:
if possible... notify me when you start, ok? I feel like it's time for me to re-read it (I normally do once three years); last time I did, it was at the same time as Fruno was reading, and it's a miraculous feeling, knowing that you're going through the same pages, passages, and lines. It's like our minds touching.

This might be a good book club nomination, Jean.

Edit: shoulda finished reading the thread before I commented.

IWasSentWest
08-22-2010, 09:35 AM
they have one ape

and yeh, the giver is a great book. simple but not simple. it's fucking good

I love it, they gave it to us in school. They probably don't do that anymore because of him dreaming about the girl naked.

they gave it to us in fifth grade i believe. nudity in books shouldnt be a big deal. hell, it's not like you can see anything

and 1984 def. should be a must read for anyone, anywhere. that book will stick with me forever

AIMB
08-22-2010, 11:35 AM
Oh and I dont know if you guys have heard (or those of you who put it on your list) HBO is in filming right now making a show based on "A Song of Ice and Fire".

It's called "Game of Thrones" IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/)

Off Topic, I know.

It's been on my list for a while, I have to read it now though b/c I don't want to get spoiled by the show.

IWasSentWest
08-23-2010, 03:47 PM
everybody knows that, DA. it's been in the works for years

come on ape, keep up

jhanic
08-23-2010, 04:16 PM
I've been trying but I just can't come up with only 15 books that affected my life. Maybe because I'm older, there are literally dozens of books, both fiction and non-fiction, that have affected me and my outlook on life. I give up!

John

pathoftheturtle
08-23-2010, 04:33 PM
I second that. I'm sure could give 15 major ones for each decade.
Fortunately, I've already listed many of those books that influenced me since the '70s here (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?t=3319), and I have done a list of novels in Top Ten Non King.
So, if y'all remember about those, and that I might have to mention more later, I guess I can do this. The first 15 I think of, not counting books of the Bible and such, right?
Oh, the Places You'll Go! -- Dr. Seuss
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten -- Robert Fulghum
The World's Religions -- Huston Smith
States of Grace -- Charlene Spretnak
The Kingdom Within -- John A. Sanford
Illusions -- Richard Bach
Walden -- Henry David Thoreau
The Wisdom of Insecurity -- Alan Watts
The Celestine Propecy -- James Redfield
Mutant Message Down Under -- Marlo Morgan
Way of the Peaceful Warrior -- Dan Millman
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance -- Robert Pirsig
Blue Highways -- William Least Heat-Moon
Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness -- Edward Abbey
Lake Wobegon Days -- Garrison Keillor

turtlex
08-24-2010, 05:28 AM
In no order :

The Dark Tower Series ( all in the series ... so that's 7 right there )
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Lord Valentine's Castle - Robert Silverberg
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Nine Stories - JD Salinger
Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Body Farm - Patricia Cornwell
Walden - Henry David Thoreau

Path? I love these two, they'd be on a longer list if I could go on ... Way of the Peaceful Warrior - Dan Millman and
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig. Or maybe, if we did a Religious / Spirituality book list.

Sincerely, I love books so much ... I think I could do a few from each year.

Brice
08-24-2010, 05:29 AM
In no order :

Dark Tower ( all in the series ... so that's 7 right there )
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Lord Valentine's Castle - Robert Silverberg
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Nine Stories - JD Salinger
Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Body Farm - Patricia Cornwell
Walden - Henry David Thoreau


Series count as one. You get another six. :)

turtlex
08-24-2010, 05:34 AM
:lol:

Seriously? I was just coming back here to figure out how I missed To Kill A Mockingbird and then wrestle with which of the books to knock of my list so I could include it!

Updated Then :

In no order :

The Dark Tower Series ( all in the series ... but they count as one!! )
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Lord Valentine's Castle - Robert Silverberg
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Nine Stories - JD Salinger
Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
The Kay Scarpetta Book Series - Patricia Cornwell
Walden - Henry David Thoreau
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Maus - Art Spiegelman ( two in the series, graphic novel )
Deaths of Jocasta - JM Redmann
The Stand - Sai King
A Walk Across America - Peter Jenkins
Off To The Races - a children's book by Frederick Phleger

Brice
08-24-2010, 05:37 AM
seriously. :D

turtlex
08-24-2010, 05:43 AM
Please see above ... I updated! :ninja:

Brice
08-24-2010, 05:44 AM
:thumbsup:


I still need to read the second Maus.

pathoftheturtle
08-24-2010, 10:16 AM
...Series count as one. ...Yeah, I figured I could just name the first book or a favorite book of mine for each author... in most of those cases, their other work has also meant a lot to me.


A Walk Across America - Peter Jenkins:wub: These books led to my interest in Blue Highways, and to some other trips.

Oh, and I could also have mentioned
An Actor Prepares -- Constantin Stanislavski
naturally.

AIMB
08-25-2010, 08:28 PM
everybody knows that, DA. it's been in the works for years

come on ape, keep up

Ha ha whatever. Like I said I have never read them. I appreciate the name calling in acronym form though. :)

woodpryan
08-25-2010, 09:58 PM
1. Rosemary's Baby-Ira Levin
2. The Exorcist-William Peter Blatty
3. The Monk-M. G. Lewis
4. Deathbird Stories-Harlan Ellison
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes-Ray Bradbury
6. Imagica-Clive Barker
7. The Dark Tower
8. The Books Of Blood-Clive Barker
9. The Great And Secret Show-Clive Barker
10. A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess
11. The Shining
12. H. P Lovecraft Complete & Unabridged (yes, I'm cheating here, but fuck it)
13. It
12. Psycho-Robert Bloch
13. The Silmarillion-Tolkien
14. Pet Sematary
15. Carmilla-Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

Great list Brice!

Jean
08-25-2010, 10:20 PM
path - can you, just for the sake of satisfying bears' curiosity, make up a list of fiction only?

turtlex
08-26-2010, 02:49 AM
A Walk Across America - Peter Jenkins:wub: These books led to my interest in Blue Highways, and to some other trips.



:wub: I love those books. :couple:

IWasSentWest
08-26-2010, 08:55 PM
everybody knows that, DA. it's been in the works for years

come on ape, keep up

Ha ha whatever. Like I said I have never read them. I appreciate the name calling in acronym form though. :)

what can i say, i'm a giver

Brice
08-27-2010, 04:02 AM
1. Rosemary's Baby-Ira Levin
2. The Exorcist-William Peter Blatty
3. The Monk-M. G. Lewis
4. Deathbird Stories-Harlan Ellison
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes-Ray Bradbury
6. Imagica-Clive Barker
7. The Dark Tower
8. The Books Of Blood-Clive Barker
9. The Great And Secret Show-Clive Barker
10. A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess
11. The Shining
12. H. P Lovecraft Complete & Unabridged (yes, I'm cheating here, but fuck it)
13. It
12. Psycho-Robert Bloch
13. The Silmarillion-Tolkien
14. Pet Sematary
15. Carmilla-Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

Great list Brice!

Thank you! :)

Yaksha
11-06-2010, 11:39 PM
And so we go

1. The Dark Tower-King
2. The Sword of Truth- Goodkind
3. Pendragon Series- McHale
4. Harry Potter- Rowling
5. New Jedi Order Series- Multiple authors
6. Battle Royale- Takami
7. Percy Jackson and The Olympians- Riordan
8. His Dark Materials- Pullman
9. The Ship Who Searched- McCaffrey with Mercedes Lackey
10. Alex Cross series- Patterson
11. Rot and Ruin- Mayberry
12. The Season of Passage- Pike
13. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde- Stevenson
14. Frankenstein- Shelley
15. It -King

ErinPatricia
11-10-2010, 09:09 AM
Dark Tower Stephen King
Harry Potter J.K. Rowling
The Belgariad David Eddings
The Malloreon David Eddings
The TalismanStephen King
The Obnoxious Jerks Stephen Manes
Brave New World Aldous Huxley
Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
Lord of the Flies William Golding
Babysitters Club (seriously these got me hooked on reading, Sweet Valley and Nancy Drew books too)
Other Peoples Heroes Blake M. Petit :wub:
The Little Mermaid Hans Christian Anderson (the first book I remember checking out repeatedly from the library
Hitchhikers Guide to the GalaxyDouglas Adams
The Stand Stephen King
The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett

lordmerchant
11-19-2010, 02:36 PM
Here is my list, a good melting pot of fantasy,sci-fi, horror and thrillers

1. The Dark Tower series - king (obviously)
2. The Stand - King (absolutely love this book, for me it's up there with DT)
3. I am legend - Matheson
4. Jurassic Park - Crichton (always loved dinosaurs as a kid, the movie was great, but the books were spectacular)
5. Consider Phlebas - Lain M Banks (great sci-fi)
6. The Forever War - Joe Hadelman (great sci-fi again, one of the best anti-war novels I have read also)
7. LOTR - tolkein (everybodys read this one right?)
8. The wasp factory - Lain Banks
9. The postman - David Brin (nota great movie, but the novel really is great - give it a go)
10 - The road _ cormac mccarthy (found it very difficult to get used to the prose, but persevered and enjoyed it)
11 - The incredible shrinking man- Richard MAtheson
12. The colour of magic - Terry Pratchett (first of the discworld novels and funny as hell)
13. Animal Farm - George Orwell (Read this as a child, and enjoyed it, it was only when i read it as a teen when i understood its allegory)
14. The zombie survival guide (never hurts to be prepared)
15. 1984 - Orwell

what ya think?

RainInSpain
11-23-2010, 04:37 AM
Gee, this is way more difficult than I thought - as soon as I think of one book, a dozen others jump right into my mind. So I'll try to choose a few, including those I liked all the way back in my childhood.

1. The Dark Tower
2. "Les Rois Maudits" (The Accursed Kings series) by Maurice Druon - this is my second-favorite series, though it's way behind TDT :)
3. "L'Île mystérieuse" (The Mysterious Island) by Jules Verne - read it when I was around 10 y.o. and was enchanted by Cyrus Smith (very knowledgeable engineer, just like my Dad :) )
4. "The Prodigal Daughter" by Jeffrey Archer. I was about 13 at the time, and this was the first book I read entirely in English (not having read a Russian translation before (or after, for that matter)) - thanks to my English teacher at school who noticed my interest in the language.
5. Novels and stories about Sherlock Holmes - by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (can't beat the characters logical reasoning skills - I seriously envy those who possess them to such extent)
6. "Занимательная физика" and "Живая математика" (Physics for Entertainment and Lively Mathematics) by Yakov Perelman (these were my table books when I was a preteen - they were such a good introduction to the world of science)
7. "Слово о словах" (A Word About Words) by Lev Uspensky (a book on popular linguistics - I've always been equally interested in languages and in science)
8. "The Teachings of Don Juan"/ "Tales of Power" / "The Art of Dreaming" by Carlos Castaneda
9. "В списках не значился" (Not Listed In the Muster Roll (?)) - a novel by Boris Vassiliev about herioc Soviet soldiers who defended Brest fortress from the German Wehrmacht during the very beginning of Operation Barbarossa. (I still find myself on the verge of tears whenever I think of this novel.)
10. "Im Westen nichts Neues" (All Quiet on the Western Front) by Erich Maria Remarque
11. "Лезвие бритвы" (Razor's Edge) - a sci-fi novel by Ivan Yefremov (I love how in that novel there is a bit of everything - philosophy, detective story, anthropology, etc.) I also like Yefremov's other works - The Bull's Hour (even though it is about the victory of Communism, it's still a good piece of sci-fi), At the Edge of Oikoumene (2-part historical novel), Stellar Ships, and others.
12. "Люди как боги" (People Like Gods) - sci-fi series by Sergey Snegov
13. "A Descent into the Maelström" by Edgar Allan Poe (his other works as well)
14. "Quo Vadis" by Henryk Sienkiewicz. His novels about Polish history are also quite interesting, especially the trilogy - With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, Fire in the Steppe (Pan Wolodyjowski).
15. "Звездные дневники Ийона Тихого" (The Star Diaries and Memoirs of a Space) by Stanislaw Lem - a good example of sci-fi with a healthy dose of humor and irony.

It looks like the list is full already, and I have not yet mentioned Ray Bradbury, Robert Shekley, Mikhail Bulgakov, Alexandre Dumas (pere, author of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers"), Boleslaw Prus ("Pharaoh"), James Fenimore Cooper, Bronte sisters, Agatha Christie, Ivan Bunin ("Dark Avenues") and an army of other writers whose works I love.

Jean
11-23-2010, 06:03 AM
5. Novels and stories about Sherlock Holmes - by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (can't beat the characters logical reasoning skills - I seriously envy those who possess them to such extent)
6. "Занимательная физика" and "Живая математика" (Physics for Entertainment and Lively Mathematics) by Yakov Perelman (these were my table books when I was a preteen - they were such a good introduction to the world of science)
7. "Слово о словах" (A Word About Words) by Lev Uspensky (a book on popular linguistics - I've always been equally interested in languages and in science)
11. "Лезвие бритвы" (Razor's Edge) - a sci-fi novel by Ivan Yefremov (I love how in that novel there is a bit of everything - philosophy, detective story, anthropology, etc.) I also like Yefremov's other works - The Bull's Hour (even though it is about the victory of Communism, it's still a good piece of sci-fi), At the Edge of Oikoumene (2-part historical novel), Stellar Ships, and others.
12. "Люди как боги" (People Like Gods) - sci-fi series by Sergey Snegov
13. "A Descent into the Maelström" by Edgar Allan Poe (his other works as well)
15. "Звездные дневники Ийона Тихого" (The Star Diaries and Memoirs of a Space) by Stanislaw Lem - a good example of sci-fi with a healthy dose of humor and irony.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gif

Bears are surprised, however, not to see anything by the Strugazki brothers there. Also, have you read Повесть о Ходже Нaсреддине (Леонид Соловьев)? Are you reading any Пелевин or Быков now?

RainInSpain
11-23-2010, 06:46 AM
5. Novels and stories about Sherlock Holmes - by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (can't beat the characters logical reasoning skills - I seriously envy those who possess them to such extent)
6. "Занимательная физика" and "Живая математика" (Physics for Entertainment and Lively Mathematics) by Yakov Perelman (these were my table books when I was a preteen - they were such a good introduction to the world of science)
7. "Слово о словах" (A Word About Words) by Lev Uspensky (a book on popular linguistics - I've always been equally interested in languages and in science)
11. "Лезвие бритвы" (Razor's Edge) - a sci-fi novel by Ivan Yefremov (I love how in that novel there is a bit of everything - philosophy, detective story, anthropology, etc.) I also like Yefremov's other works - The Bull's Hour (even though it is about the victory of Communism, it's still a good piece of sci-fi), At the Edge of Oikoumene (2-part historical novel), Stellar Ships, and others.
12. "Люди как боги" (People Like Gods) - sci-fi series by Sergey Snegov
13. "A Descent into the Maelström" by Edgar Allan Poe (his other works as well)
15. "Звездные дневники Ийона Тихого" (The Star Diaries and Memoirs of a Space) by Stanislaw Lem - a good example of sci-fi with a healthy dose of humor and irony.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gif

Bears are surprised, however, not to see anything by the Strugazki brothers there. Also, have you read Повесть о Ходже Нaсреддине (Леонид Соловьев)? Are you reading any Пелевин or Быков now?

I have never been particularly interested in Strugazki brothers' works - don't really know why. Throughout all my attempts to read any of their books (and there have been a few as you can imagine) I felt 'out of sync' with them. Maybe I should just try again now that I am older.

"Повесть о Ходже Насреддине" was a book that my parents read me at bedtime when I was little, and I also read it myself later - it's awesome. If I had another 15 slots on the list, I would have definitely included it.

I only read Быков's columns somewhere on the Internet, and saw him on TV a few times - he sounds like an interesting guy. Which of his books would you recommend to read? (Oh, I've just realized I have his "Орфография" book - is it good?)
As to Пелевин, I had tried to read "Чапаев и Пустота" many years ago - and it almost drove me insane with its 'surreal reality'. Haven't tried any other of his books, though.
I read very little of modern Russian literature - I have so little time for reading, and it's difficult to separate garbage from good books (at least I have not found any reviewers whom I would trust). I did read Рубен Гальего "Черным по белому" (enormously painful to read), Павел Санаев "Похороните меня за плинтусом" (ditto) and Сергей Минаев "Духless" (after reading this book I thanked all higher powers that 'that' world is not a part of 'my' world, although it is dedicated "to the generation of 1970-1976", which is my generation).

Jean
11-23-2010, 09:16 AM
Орфография is one of my favorite novels ever; I do wish you would try it, and hope you will love it. (which is not certain, of course.) Чапаев и Пустота is the best of everything Pelevin has written, also I love at least two more of his novels (Generation P and Омон Ра) and some short stories, and rather like anything else he has written. Talking about Strugazkie, I would highly recommend Град Обреченный to begin with.

RainInSpain
11-23-2010, 12:27 PM
I will try "Орфография", most definitely. Perhaps Strugazkie, too. Pelevin just might be a bit too much for me at the moment, but I appreciate your thoughts on his books.

pathoftheturtle
11-23-2010, 01:35 PM
I wish I could read Russian. I've always wanted to learn Slavic languages.

Lem certainly stretched my brain. You picked some good authors, RiS. And, as a kid, I also loved Holmes and The Mysterious Island.

RainInSpain
11-23-2010, 01:57 PM
I wish I could read Russian. I've always wanted to learn Slavic languages.

Why not start it now? (Learning, I mean.)
I am so thankful to my parents that (1) they passed on to me good genes that enabled my language acquisition, and (2) enrolled me in a very good school with exceptional English studies program.
I can't remember who said it, but each new language is a new world that opens to you.


Lem certainly stretched my brain. You picked some good authors, RiS. And, as a kid, I also loved Holmes and The Mysterious Island.

Thank you. And :couple:

blavigne
11-23-2010, 02:57 PM
Just thought I''d throw my list into the mix, you guys sure named some good ones! :)

1. The Dark Tower Stephen King
2. The Celestine Prophecy James Redmond
3. The Outsiders SE Hinton
4. The Stand Stephen King
5. David Copperfield Charles Dickens
6. It Stephen King
7. Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls
8. The Green Mile Stephen King
9. The Prophet Kahil Gibran
10. Eric Doris Lund
11. The Shining Stephen King
12. Duma Key Stephen King
13. The Rosary Murders William X Kienzle
14. My Enemy, The Queen Victoria Holt
15. Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell

Voozle
11-23-2010, 03:11 PM
10 - The road _ cormac mccarthy (found it very difficult to get used to the prose, but persevered and enjoyed it)
The Road is a favorite of mine as well, although I'm not sure I understand the ending. Have you read anything else by McCarthy? I just picked up The Orchard Keeper, but I haven't started it yet.

Jean
11-26-2010, 06:40 AM
4. The Stand Stephen King
6. It Stephen King
12. Duma Key
bears' favorite King books, these

blavigne
11-26-2010, 07:42 AM
I thought Duma Key was initially a little hard to get into but once it grabbed me, I didn't want to put it down. It still scares me, not clowns, balloons and spiders kind of stuff but on a deeper level. The Stand is unforgettable to me, the characters feel so real when you read that book!

I am sure that the first novel I ever read was David Copperfield. I have probably re-read it twenty or more times throughout my life although sadly, I do not currently own a copy. I must have been nine or ten the first time. I remember wanting to be Dora so badly for so long. I thought she was the very definition of "romance". Being older, and hopefully wiser now, I would choose to be Agnes who not only lived but in the end, got the man too. :)

Jean
11-26-2010, 08:10 AM
It still scares me, not clowns, balloons and spiders kind of stuff but on a deeper level.
Yes.

candy
11-27-2010, 10:41 AM
i have been chomping on the end of my pen trying to narrow this down to 15 (i know i was supposed to name the first 15 that popped into my head, but they may not have been the 15 books of my life - so i cheated:P)

1. The Dark Tower Books (stephen King)
2. Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradury)
3. Plague Dogs (Richard adams)
4. The Lord of the Rings
5. The Stand (stephen King)
6. The Narnia series (CS Lewis)
7. Lightening - (Dean R Koontz)
8. Desolation Road (Ian McDonald)
9. Weaveworld (Clive Barker)
10. The Bad Place (Dean R Koontz)
11. Tommy Knockers (stephen king)
12. A clockwork orange ( Anthony burgess)
11. The Prestige (christopher priest)
12. The Langoliers (stephen king)
13. Fluke (james herbert)
14. I robot (issac asimov)
15. 5 people you meet in heaven (mitch albom)

i think that it. although i still have some i think should have made it to the list (this list differs to my facebook one, only slightly though)

pixiedark76
11-27-2010, 01:39 PM
15 books of my Life

1. Hearts in Atlantis- Stephen King
2. Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck
3. Carrie- Stephen King
4. Christine- Stephen King
5. 'Salem's Lot- Stephen King
6. The Dark Tower Series- Stephen King
7. The Outsiders- S.E Hilton
8. The Juniper Tree and other Blue Rose Stories-Peter Straub
9. The Throat- Peter Straub
10. From a Buick 8- Stephen King
11. Mystery- Peter Straub
12. Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck
13. Riding The Bullet- Stephen King
14. Insomnia- Stephen King
15. Harry Potter- J.K. Rowling

rosered
08-12-2011, 09:06 PM
1.-The wind-up birt chronicle, Haruki Murakami.
2-Harboiled wonderland and the end of the world, Haruki Murakami.
3.-Crime and punishment, Doestoevski.
4.-Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote.
5.- Complete fictions, Jorge Luis Borges.
6.-Knowledge of hell, Antonio Lobo Antunes.
7-Tropic of cancer, Henry Miller.
8.-The great Gatsby, Fitzgerald.
9.-Tales, Edgar Allan Poe.
10.-Throught the looking grass and what Alice found there, Lewis Carroll.
11.-The angel of shadows, Ernesto Sábato.
12.-Rayuela, Julio Cortazar.
13.-Q&A, Viras Swarup.
14.-Harry Potter series.
14.- The Dark Tower series.

Merlin1958
08-12-2011, 09:21 PM
OK, late participant, but I can get behind this. Here we go!!!

My "Top 15 Books":


1. Lord of the Rings
2. The Hobbit
3. A Big Front Yard, Clifford Simak (Short Story)
4. The Foundation books, Isaac Asimov
5. The Dark Towe seriesr, S. King
6. Dracula, Bram Stoker
7. Swan Song, Robert McGammon
8. Seven Deadly Sins Books, Lawrence Saunders
9. The Exorcist books, William Peter Blatty
10 Jaws, Peter Benchely
11. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
12. I, Robot series, Isaac Asimov
13. Floating Dragon, Peter Straub
14. Salem's Lot, S. King
15. The Talisman/Black House, S. King/Peter Straub

Can I get an "Honorable mention? The Passage, Justin Brooks

Jean
08-13-2011, 04:24 AM
9. The Exorcist books, William Peter Blatty


http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

Seymour_Glass
08-15-2011, 03:56 PM
The Works of J.D. Salinger (Cheap, I know, but who wants to take up more spaces?)
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by michael Chabon
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno
Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azzerad
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
His Dark materials by Phillip Pullman
It by Stephen King
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
VALIS by Philip K Dick
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

MPatrick
08-17-2011, 10:40 AM
1. Dark tower - Stephen King
2. Replay - Ken Grimwood
3. 1776 - David McCullough
4. Charm School - Nelson DeMille
5. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
6. Salems Lot - King
7. The Stand - King
8. It - King
9. Alienist - Caleb Carr
10. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
11. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
12. Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
13. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
14. The Shining - King
15. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

jhanic
08-17-2011, 12:14 PM
I like seeing Replay there. That's one of my favorites.

John

redrose
08-20-2011, 01:32 PM
1. DT - stephen King
2. Lord of the rings - JRR Tolkien
3. The forgotten soldier- Guy sayer
4. all quiet on the Western front - Erich Maria Remarque
5. Eragorn- Christopher Paolini
6.For whom the bells tolls- Hemingway
7. Minswap- Robert Sheckley
8. The samurai- Shusaku Endo
9. August 1914- Solzhenitsyn
10. Life and Destiny- Vasili Grossman
11. The city of the beasts (trilogy)- Isabel Allende
12. The godfather- Mario Puzo
13. Caesar- Colleen McCullough
14. The eyes of the dragon-- Stephen King
15. Harry Potter- Rowling
16. War and Peace- Tolstoi

Jean
08-20-2011, 10:01 PM
7. Minswap- Robert Sheckley
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif
Did you read Dimension of Miracles? This is bears' favorite.

CRinVA
08-21-2011, 11:21 AM
I'll bite!
In no particular order however!

1. The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
2. The Stand by Stephen King
3. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein
4. Dune Series by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, Kevin J Anderson
5. Lord of trhe Flies by William Golding
6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7. The Shining by Stephen King
8. Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
9. The Green Mile by Stephen King
10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
11. The Chronicles of Narnia Series by CS Lewis
12. Out of the Silent Planet Trilogy by CS Lewis
13. The Talisman/Black House Series by Stephen King, Peter Straub
14. Hitchikers Guid to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams
15. Sacajawea by Anne Lee Waldo

Honorable Mentions:

Dahlgren by Samuel Delaney
IT by Stephen King
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Shanarra Series by Terry Brooks
Odd Thomas Series by Dean Koontz
The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

cozener
03-07-2012, 01:57 PM
Per Bear's request...

Dune...Frank Herbert
Lord of the Rings...JRR Tolkien
Exit to Eden...Anne Rice
Dark Tower...Stephen King
Grendel...John Gardner
God Emperor of Dune...Frank Herbert
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy...Douglas Adams
Salem's Lot...Stephen King
The Hobbit...JRR Tolkien
Chronicles of Amber...Roger Zelazny (the first five books...counting them as one cuz I cheat like that)
To Kill a Mockingbird...Harper Lee
Traveler...Richard Adams
Story of O...Anne Desclos
Cry to Heaven...Anne Rice
The Stand...Stephen King

So there...

:smile:

divemaster
03-09-2012, 11:24 AM
Since this is supposed to include "my life," I've listed a couple of kid's books that helped hook me on reading.

in no particular order...

Where the Red Fern Grows -- Wilson Rawls
The Enormous Egg -- Oliver Butterworth
The Bonfire of the Vanities -- Tom Wolfe
Memoirs of a Geisha -- Arthur Golden
Starship Troopers -- Robert Heinlein
The Stand -- Stephen King
The Dark Tower series -- Stephen King
Christine -- Stephen King
The Magus -- John Fowles
Re-Birth (aka The Chrysalids) -- John Wyndham
The Chronicles of Narnia -- C.S. Lewis
The Weapon Shops of Isher -- A.E. van Vogt
Crime and Punishment -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1984 -- George Orwell
Radical Son -- David Horowitz (non-fiction)

Odetta
03-09-2012, 11:50 AM
In no particular order... here are the first 13

The Stand - SK
Imajica - Barker
1984 - Orwell
Vampire Lestat - Rice
The Outsiders - Hinton
The Pianist - Szpilman
The Handmaid's Tale - Attwood
Angela's Ashes - McCourt
Harry Potter - Rowling
The Road - McCarthy
MacBeth - Shakespeare
My Life - Keller
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl

frik
03-09-2012, 12:13 PM
In no particular order:

1. J.R.R. Tolkien--The Lord of the Rings
2. S. King--The Stand
3. D. Simmons--Carrion Comfort
4. George R.R. Martin--Fevre Dream
5. S. Donaldson--The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
6. R. McCammon--Boy's Life
7. Arthur C. Clarke--Childhood's End
8. I. Asimov--The Foundation Trilogy
9. F. Herbert--Dune
10. H.P. Lovecraft--At the Mountains of Madness
11. Arthur C. Clarke--Rendezvous With Rama
12. T. Tryon--The Other
13. C. Barker--The Books of Blood
14. I. Levin--Rosemary's Baby
15. P. Straub--Floating Dragon

sk

Mattrick
03-16-2012, 02:44 AM
This hard for me to do. Can only think of a few books. Will have to re-visit this thread in the future when I've read more books.

blavigne
03-16-2012, 04:16 AM
These are not in any particular order
1. The Dark Tower (all)
2. Black House
3. The Talisman
4. The Stand
5. The Dead Zone
6. The Shining
7. Firestarter
8. David Copperfield
9. Where the Red Fern Grows
10. Charlotte's Web
11. The Outsiders
12. The Green Mile
13. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
14. A Million Little Pieces
15. Go Ask Alice

beam*seeker
03-16-2012, 07:08 AM
I will plagarize heavily from some of your lists, while adding my own. BTW, glad to see others enjoying K Vonnegut Jr, another fave of mine.

This list is not in order of preference, its in the free association order these jumped into my head...

Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls)
Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)
Hedda Gabler (Henrik Ibsen)
King Lear (Wm Shakespear)
Phaedra (Jean Racine)
Candide (Volataire)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
Galapagos (Kurt Vonnegut JR.)
The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)
The Plague Dogs (Richard Adams)
Hearts In Atlantis (Sai King)
The End of Eternity (Isaac Asimov)
The Imp of the Perverse (E A Poe)
Call of Cthulu (H P Lovecraft)

Lady Santos
03-21-2012, 07:32 PM
What a great thread! I see many books I need to add to my reading list here :)

Here goes:
1. The Dark Tower (Sai King, of course)
2. The Outlander Series (Diana Gabaldon)
3. The Camulod Chronicles (Jack Whyte)
4. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
5. A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Madeline L'Engle)
6. American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
7. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
8. Jurassic Park (Michael Chricton)
9. Dangerous Angels (Francesca Lia Block)
10. Wicked (Gregory Maguire)
11. Piece by Piece (Tori Amos)
12. The Outlaw Bible of America Poetry
13. Verses that Hurt
14. Le Morte d'Arthur (Sir Thomas Malory)
15. Who Killed Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie)

Lurker
03-23-2012, 09:55 PM
Doing this brings back memories...

1. LOTR
2. Dune
3. Pilgrimage - Zenna Henderson
4. The House on the Strand - Daphne du Maurier
5. The Stand
6. The Glass Bead Game - Herman Hesse
7. The Sneeches and Other Stories - Dr. Seuss
8. Stranger in a Strange Land
9. Refuge - Terry Tempest Williams
10. The Name of the Rose -Eco
11. The Eight - Katherine Neville
12. The Cairo Trilogy - Naguib Mahfouz
13. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet - Eleanor Cameron
14. The Three Investigators Series
15. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde

Cook
03-24-2012, 07:06 AM
This is in no order... might edit-in some long forgotten at a later time

Smilla's sense of snow - Peter Hoeg
Johnny got his gun - Dalton Trumbo (read this before I was 17)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Dark Tower series - Stephen King (DOTT favorite)
A Prayer For Owen Meany - John Irving
Wheel of time series - Robert Jordan
Hyperian series - Dan Simmons
Wayfarer redemtion series - Sara Douglass
Vampire series - Anne Rice
The Passage - Justin Brooks
Girl, tattoo trilogy
I consider this last a really good children's story....
Lightning - Dean R Koontz

Girlystevedave
04-26-2014, 10:23 AM
I had to scroll through these to see if I ever posted.
So, here goes. In no real order...

1. The Dark Tower - Stephen King
2. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
3. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
4. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
5. Desperation - Stephen King
6. Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
7. The Hand That First Held Mine - Maggie O'Farrell
8. The Talisman - Stephen King
9. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
10. Night Shift - Stephen King
11. From the Dust Returned - Ray Bradbury
12. The Dead Zone - Stephen King
13. Seven Secrets of Seduction - Anne Mallory (shut up. It's my word porn, and a guilty pleasure. But, I still love the book :lol: )
14. Red Sky At Morning - Richard Bradford
15. Horns - Joe Hill (even though I've only just read it recently. It's already easily one of my favorites)

Jean
04-26-2014, 10:29 AM
15. Horns - Joe Hill (even though I've only just read it recently. It's already easily one of my favorites)
aha!! what did I say?!

Girlystevedave
04-26-2014, 10:30 AM
:lol:

Yes, Bears were right.
Bears were right.

It is an amazing book.

stroppygoblin
04-26-2014, 03:32 PM
Giving this a go and playing by the rules...
1. The Dark Tower series
2. The Stand
3. The Phantom Tollbooth
4. The Lord of the Rings
5. Stranger in a Strange Land
6. Nine Princess in Amber
7. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
8. Grey Lensman series
9. The long walk
10. 2001 a space odyssey
11. My Grandfathers war memoirs
12. Dune
13. War of the Worlds
14. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
15. Catch 22

ap275
04-27-2014, 04:53 AM
Not in any order:
Foundation/Robot Series - Asimov
Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle
Mars Trilogy - Robinson
City - Simak
Martian Chronicles - Bradbury
Hyperion series - Simmons
Stand - King
Time Machine - Wells
Iliad/Odyssey -Homer
American Gods - Gaiman
20 Thousand Leagues Under Sea/Mysterious Island - Verne
Fire Upon The Deep - Vinge
Animal Farn - Orwell
Lord of Light - Zelazny

ap275
04-27-2014, 05:05 AM
Not in any order:
Foundation/Robot Series - Asimov
Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle
Mars Trilogy - Robinson
City - Simak
Martian Chronicles - Bradbury
Hyperion series - Simmons
Stand - King
Time Machine - Wells
Iliad/Odyssey -Homer
American Gods - Gaiman
20 Thousand Leagues Under Sea/Mysterious Island - Verne
Fire Upon The Deep - Vinge
Animal Farn - Orwell
Lord of Light - Zelazny

ap275
04-27-2014, 07:08 AM
Not in any order:
Foundation/Robot Series - Asimov
Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle
Mars Trilogy - Robinson
City - Simak
Martian Chronicles - Bradbury
Hyperion series - Simmons
Stand - King
Time Machine - Wells
Iliad/Odyssey -Homer
American Gods - Gaiman
20 Thousand Leagues Under Sea/Mysterious Island - Verne
Fire Upon The Deep - Vinge
Animal Farn - Orwell
Lord of Light - Zelazny

ap275
04-27-2014, 07:09 AM
Not in any order:
Foundation/Robot Series - Asimov
Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle
Mars Trilogy - Robinson
City - Simak
Martian Chronicles - Bradbury
Hyperion series - Simmons
Stand - King
Time Machine - Wells
Iliad/Odyssey -Homer
American Gods - Gaiman
20 Thousand Leagues Under Sea/Mysterious Island - Verne
Fire Upon The Deep - Vinge
Animal Farn - Orwell
Lord of Light - Zelazny

Br!an
04-27-2014, 04:42 PM
Here's the first fifteen I thought of:

The Dark Tower – Stephen King
Obviously.

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair
I still eat meat. I am however more conscious and selective. Pink Slime anyone?

Silent Spring - Rachel Carson
Everything on Earth is interconnected, so act like it.

A People’s History of the World – Howard Zinn
Zinn puts history in perspective.

Animal Farm – George Orwell
"All pigs are equal. Some pigs are more equal than others."
"Representative Democracy" anyone?

A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
Simply brilliant. Physics made accessible, cosmology too.

Cosmos – Carl Sagan
Simply brilliant. Cosmology made accessible, physics too.

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
I love books. Don't fuck with my books. I am still horror stricken from this story!!!

The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
Epic fantasy.

1984 – George Orwell
"Big Brother is watching you."
"We have always been at war with Eurasia."
He was a prophet.

Manufacturing Consent – Noam Chomsky
Corporate media at "your" service.

The Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein
Now you know. Don't be fooled again.

Walden – Henry David Thoreau
I've never seen a loon.
I have reread this book dozens of times though.

The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitesyn
Snowden had to flee to Russia.

The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
"Wherever somebodies stuglin' for a place to stand
For a decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody is strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes ma,
You'll see me!"

Honorable mention: The King James Bible; Civil Disobedience - Thoreau

Deaf&Dumb
05-20-2014, 06:28 AM
1. Dark Tower-SK
2. LOTR-JRRT
3. Haunted-Chuck Palahniuk
4. The Cay-Theodore Taylor
5. On A Pale Horse-Piers Anthony
6. It-SK
7. The Tripods(trilogy)-John Christopher
8. My Lobotomy-Howard Dully
9. Oh, The Places You'll Go-Dr.Seuss
10. The Stand-SK
11. The Iceman Killer-Philip Carlo
12. The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy(whole series)-Douglas Adams
13. Flowers For Algernon-Daniel Keyes
14. The Hobbit-JRRT
15. Into Thin Air-Jon Krakauer

The Talisman
11-21-2017, 11:07 AM
Just been lurking, and thought I'd participate in this thread...

From childhood:

The Machine Gunners - Robert Westall
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl
The Hobbit - Tolkein
Carrie's War - Nina Bawden

As an adult:

Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird - Lee
The Dark Tower
IT
The Stand
The Night Angel trilogy - Brent Weeks
Lord of the Flies - Golding
Shannara series - Terry Brooks
Animal Farm - Orwell
The Talisman

jsmcmullen92
11-22-2017, 08:24 AM
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Mistborn - Sanderson
Desperation - King
Harry Potter - Rowling
Hyperion - Simmons
Under the Dome - King
Ready Player One - Cline
Horns - Hill
Locke & Key - Hill
Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
The Sword in the Stone - White
Walking Dead - Kirkman
Catch 22 - Heller
Holes - Sachar
ASOIAF - Martin

firemonkey66
11-22-2017, 10:49 PM
No particular order

1) Sphere - Michael Crichton
2) Stinger - Robert McCammon
3) John Dies at the End series - David Wong
4) The Door Into Summer - Robert Heinlein
5) The Dark Tower series - King
6) IT - King
7) Eyes of the Dragon - King
8 ) Dune series - Frank Herbert
9) Nightmares & Dreamscapes - King
10) Skeleton Crew - King
11) Night Shift - King
12) Everything's Eventual - King
13) Different Seasons - King
14) Dead Sea - Tim Curran
15) Blood Music - Greg Bear

Ben Mears
11-24-2017, 09:29 AM
As read chronologically...

Winnie The Pooh - A. A. Milne
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Rabbit Hill - Robert Lawson
Homer Price - Robert McCloskey
Hardy Boys Series - Franklin W. Dixon
The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury
'Salem's Lot - SK
The Dead Zone - SK
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Semi-Tough - Dan Jenkins
North & South - John Jakes
Friday Night Lights - H.G. Bissinger
Summer Of Night - Dan Simmons
Rookie - Jerry Jenkins
11/22/63 - SK

Tommy
01-24-2018, 04:25 PM
I've attempted to do this several times but each time my list is different.

Tommy
07-24-2018, 11:26 AM
Catch-22
In Cold Blood
IT
Harry Potter Series
Lolita
Hannibal
The Great Gatsby
Blood Meridian
The Exorcist
The Vampire Chronicles
Crime and Punishment/ The Brothers Karamazov (I can't choose, don't make me!)
Invisible Monsters
The Stranger
On the Road
Moby Dick


This was hard and still not completely satisfied with the list.

becca69
07-24-2018, 01:38 PM
The Scarlet Letter
The Stranger
The Talisman
The Stand
A Song of Ice & Fire series
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
Red Rising
The Handmaid's Tale
The Name of the Wind
Outlander (series)
The Tell-Tale Heart (everything Poe)
The Southern Reach series
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Vampire Chronicles
Life of Pi

Tommy
07-24-2018, 01:56 PM
Nice list becca! I really tried to work Poe into my list.

Also, American Psycho needs to be on my list too. :pullhair:

becca69
07-24-2018, 02:01 PM
Nice list becca! I really tried to work Poe into my list.

Also, American Psycho needs to be on my list too. :pullhair:

There are so many I wanted to add... I actually had 18 on there before I had counted them up.

Tommy
07-24-2018, 02:13 PM
Nice list becca! I really tried to work Poe into my list.

Also, American Psycho needs to be on my list too. :pullhair:

There are so many I wanted to add... I actually had 18 on there before I had counted them up.

For some reason, 15 is a hard number. 10 or 20 would be easier I think but 15, rough!

Father Cody
07-25-2018, 07:56 PM
“The Dark Tower” by Stephen King
“Cannery Row” by John Steinbeck
“The Outsider” by Albert Camus
“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka
“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
“The Dunwich Horror” by H.P. Lovecraft
“Anomaly” by Peter Cawdron
“Night Shift” by Stephen King
“The Manitou” by Graham Masterton
“1984” by George Orwell
“James and the Giant Peach” by Roald Dahl
“The World is Flat” by Thomas L. Friedman
“The Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
“The Ritual” by Adam Nevill
“The Terror” by Dan Simmons

biomieg
07-25-2018, 11:49 PM
First of all, these are '15 Books of My Life', not 'THE 15 Books of My Life' (I would never be able to make a true lifetime Top 15). Not in any particular order other than slightly chronological, and yes - I had to count 'series' as single books:


Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Dune (first four books) - Frank Herbert
Night Shift - Stephen King
Skeleton Crew - Stephen King
The Stand - Stephen King
The Dead Zone - Stephen King
The Talisman - Stephen King
Swan Song - Robert McCammon
Wool, Shift, Dust - Hugh Howey
Summer of Night - Dan Simmons
The Terror - Dan Simmons
ASOIAF - George R.R. Martin
Wayward Pines - Blake Crouch
Replay - Ken Grimwood
11/22/63 - Stephen King

mikeC
07-26-2018, 06:15 AM
Carrion Comfort (most evil villain in a book I've ever read, the woman)
1984 (soul crushing, will never forget that empty void it created)
Tommyknockers (scenes from this book run through my head every summer)
Fear (most surprising ending I've ever read)
Far Side Gallery Any (I love to laugh)
Calvin and Hobbes Any (the best)
Einstein's Dreams (Theoretical philosophical science fiction, these stories are short and sweet and stuck with me for years)
Rant (best audio book experience ever)
Scarlet Letter (probably one of the few books I've finished that I actually hated)
Animal Farm (this book plays out everywhere every day)
Hearts in Atlantis ( so many things I love about this book)
The Giving Tree
Are you My Mother
The Deep (my wife and I always make fun of this book for some reason, it's a good book but we make fun of the narrator quite a bit)
On Writing.

ur2ndbiggestfan
07-26-2018, 06:30 AM
I wasn't going to participate in this, but seeing 1984 made me think.
In no particular order then:

1. 1984
2. TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO
3. THE HOBBIT
4. FIRESTARTER
5. THE STAND
6. LYONESSE TRILOGY
7. I AM LEGEND
8. 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY
9. THE NIGHT OF THE RIPPER
10. THE PAINTED BIRD
11. THE EXORCIST
12. HELL HOUSE
13. GATEWAY
14. WALPURGIS III
15. NINE PRINCES IN AMBER
15 (cheating!) BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

This list seems weird even to me. But at the time I read them, these books had a profound impact on me.

St. Troy
07-26-2018, 06:31 AM
It
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter
Shadowland by Peter Straub
Suffer The Little Children
Crouch End
The House With A Clock In Its Walls by John Bellairs
The Ballad Of The Flexible Bullet
Orange is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity by David Morrell
A Christmas Carol
Harry Potter series
The Chronicles Of Narnia
Lord Of The Rings
We Don't Die: George Anderson's Conversations with the Other Side by Joel Martin
The Treasure Of Alpheus Winterborn by John Bellairs
Atlas Shrugged

Ben Staad
07-26-2018, 04:02 PM
The Hobbit
The Road
The Gunslinger
Westlake Soul
Gone South
Fahrenheit 451
IT
Works by Edgar Allen Poe
LOTR
1984
The Dunwich Horror (short story but WOW!)
Swan Song
The Red Badge of Courage
Otherland Series
Lord of the Flies

Tough list to generate. If I made this list again tomorrow I am certain it would be different.

Father Cody
07-26-2018, 04:17 PM
The Dunwich Horror (short story but WOW!)


Agreed!

jsmcmullen92
07-26-2018, 04:27 PM
otherland series? As in Tad Williams? Have you tried memory sorrow and thorn?
The Hobbit
The Road
The Gunslinger
Westlake Soul
Gone South
Fahrenheit 451
IT
Works by Edgar Allen Poe
LOTR
1984
The Dunwich Horror (short story but WOW!)
Swan Song
The Red Badge of Courage
Otherland Series
Lord of the Flies

Tough list to generate. If I made this list again tomorrow I am certain it would be different.

Ben Staad
07-26-2018, 04:42 PM
Yes to both. I wore those books out as a teenager. I still have the PBs and the HC's of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. They are basically ruined but still readable. They may actually be some of the first HC's I ever bought.


otherland series? As in Tad Williams? Have you tried memory sorrow and thorn?
The Hobbit
The Road
The Gunslinger
Westlake Soul
Gone South
Fahrenheit 451
IT
Works by Edgar Allen Poe
LOTR
1984
The Dunwich Horror (short story but WOW!)
Swan Song
The Red Badge of Courage
Otherland Series
Lord of the Flies

Tough list to generate. If I made this list again tomorrow I am certain it would be different.

jsmcmullen92
07-26-2018, 04:57 PM
Yes to both. I wore those books out as a teenager. I still have the PBs and the HC's of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. They are basically ruined but still readable. They may actually be some of the first HC's I ever bought.


otherland series? As in Tad Williams? Have you tried memory sorrow and thorn?
The Hobbit
The Road
The Gunslinger
Westlake Soul
Gone South
Fahrenheit 451
IT
Works by Edgar Allen Poe
LOTR
1984
The Dunwich Horror (short story but WOW!)
Swan Song
The Red Badge of Courage
Otherland Series
Lord of the Flies

Tough list to generate. If I made this list again tomorrow I am certain it would be different.Interesting so you chose otherland over MS&T. I have both sets and have yet to read either. Not sure where to start

Br!an
07-26-2018, 05:27 PM
Yes to both. I wore those books out as a teenager. I still have the PBs and the HC's of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. They are basically ruined but still readable. They may actually be some of the first HC's I ever bought.


otherland series? As in Tad Williams? Have you tried memory sorrow and thorn?
The Hobbit
The Road
The Gunslinger
Westlake Soul
Gone South
Fahrenheit 451
IT
Works by Edgar Allen Poe
LOTR
1984
The Dunwich Horror (short story but WOW!)
Swan Song
The Red Badge of Courage
Otherland Series
Lord of the Flies

Tough list to generate. If I made this list again tomorrow I am certain it would be different.Interesting so you chose otherland over MS&T. I have both sets and have yet to read either. Not sure where to start

I'm a Tad Williams fan. Both series are great. Pick either one and just start.

Merlin1958
07-26-2018, 06:02 PM
LOTR
The Shining
Red Badge of Courage
The Exorcist
'Salem's Lot
Dracula
Catcher in the Rye
Davinci Code
Twinkle, Twinkle Killer Kane
Treasure Island
First Deadly Sin
Silence of the Lambs
The Godfather
Swan Song
Jaws

Honorable Mention: Ghost Story, The Hobbit and Helter Skelter

Father Cody
07-26-2018, 06:05 PM
LOTR
The Exorcist
Silence of the Lambs
Swan Song

I really need to get my ass in gear and read these.

ur2ndbiggestfan
07-26-2018, 06:42 PM
Man, I totally forgot about CATCHER IN THE RYE. My list would probably change every day too.

vincent
07-27-2018, 12:22 AM
IT
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
House of Leaves by Danielewzki
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Absolom Absolom by Faulkner
The Virgin Suicides by Geoffrey Eugenides
The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins
Harry Potter
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Dracula
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Mathilda by Dahl

jsmcmullen92
07-27-2018, 05:22 AM
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Mistborn - Sanderson
Desperation - King
Harry Potter - Rowling
Hyperion - Simmons
Under the Dome - King
Ready Player One - Cline
Horns - Hill
Locke & Key - Hill
Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald
The Sword in the Stone - White
Walking Dead - Kirkman
Catch 22 - Heller
Holes - Sachar
ASOIAF - Martin


I just have to re-order mine and maybe replace one or 2.


Stormlight Archive - Sanderson
Harry Potter - Rowling
Ready Player One - Cline
Mistborn - Sanderson
Locke & Key - Hill
Desperation - King
Hyperion - Simmons
Under the Dome - King
Horns - Hill
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
The Sword in the Stone - White
Wayward Pines - Crouch
Catch 22 - Heller
Holes - Sachar
ASOIAF - Martin

jsmcmullen92
07-27-2018, 05:24 AM
IT
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
House of Leaves by Danielewzki
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Absolom Absolom by Faulkner
The Virgin Suicides by Geoffrey Eugenides
The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins
Harry Potter
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Dracula
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Mathilda by Dahl

Ive been wanting to pick up something by Stephenson but wasn't sure where to start. Also how the hell did you read House of Leaves?

vincent
07-27-2018, 06:20 AM
On Stephenson: he's great! Good ones to start with: Cryptonomicon - World War II code-breaking (the grandfather) and programming the early internet (the grandson), Snow Crash - his debut, sci-fi, here he coined the term Avatar as we use it still), Reamde - fast-paced action thriller about blackmail/extortion via an RPG game that explodes into real world car chases.

On House of Leaves: I thought it was amazing. I focussed on the story as much as possible: A family discovers when measuring that the inside of their house is half a meter longer than the outside of their house. The book he wrote after that, Only Revolutions, now that was taking it too far :)

Alec
04-10-2020, 04:08 AM
(1) Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson
(2) Word of Honour by Nelson DeMille
(3) Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon
(4) The Religion / The Twelve Children of Paris by Tim Willocks
(5) Lonesome Dove / Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry
(6) The Pillars of the Earth / World Without End by Ken Follett
(7) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien
(8) The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
(9) The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
(10) The Stand by Stephen King
(11) The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
(12) Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke
(13) The Godfather by Mario Puzo
(14) When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith
(15) Past Caring by Robert Goddard.

(Outstanding book: The Religion by Tim Willocks)

Garrell
04-10-2020, 04:43 AM
So Speaks the Nightbird is good? The whole series also? Just finished Swan Song and was blown away. It was my first McCammon book.

Alec
04-10-2020, 05:12 AM
I believe, having enjoyed Swan Song, you will thoroughly enjoy Speaks the Nightbird. The whole series is well worth the time, however of all the seven books so far, this first one has the edge for me.

frik
04-10-2020, 06:35 AM
So Speaks the Nightbird is good? The whole series also? Just finished Swan Song and was blown away. It was my first McCammon book.

The series is amazing. Speaks the Nightbird is the first, and far and away my favorite so far.
All of McCammon is worth reading. His best, imo, is Boy's Life.
Enjoy - whatever you'll be reading next.

sk

Girlystevedave
04-10-2020, 07:01 AM
So Speaks the Nightbird is good? The whole series also? Just finished Swan Song and was blown away. It was my first McCammon book.

I enjoyed Speaks the Nightbird. :thumbsup:

Garrell
04-10-2020, 07:07 AM
Settled. I need to finish Dissappearance at Devil's Rock by Paul Tremblay, then a new release by some superstar author comes out on the 21st , then Speaks the Nightbird

DoctorZaius
04-10-2020, 10:07 AM
First time I have seen this thread - what a great idea. Disclaimer: only one book per author


Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut (the book that turned me into a reader)

Geek Love - Katherine Dunn (just the most original novel I have ever read)

It - Stephen King (the dual narratives with dual climaxes made such an impact on my thinking about story telling.

Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons (I am not cheating here, as the publisher made Simmons break this epic in half for publishing reasons - just breathtaking)

Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris (the pinnacle of what a serial killer novel should be)

Necroscope - Brian Lumley (because it opened the door to an entire world of vampire/espionage novels)

Darkness Take My Hand - Dennis Lehane (the second book in one of my favorite series features two hard boiled detectives, Kenzie and Gennaro, and one of my favorite literary characters, their sociopathic friend Bubba Rogowski)

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (Hurston’s novel reads like poetry - I have taught it for 23 glorious years)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (somehow it managed not to let me down)

Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger (changed my life in college)

Dune - Frank Herbert (because it opened the door to an entire world of novels)

Weaveworld - Clive Barker (I could have picked Imagica too because of the completeness of the world building)

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (the apocalypse have never been so funny)

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton (Martin Scorsese says that his film version of this novel is his most violent film - the book is equally vicious in a way that few others can be)

Ex Utero - Lauire Foos (one of the funniest books I have ever read)

Jean
04-24-2020, 11:52 PM
Started in another thread, continued here:



It, if we're talking King books now, with the Stand a very close runner-up
(otherwise... everything Dickens and Dostoyevsky ever wrote, and Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis). Yours?

(actually, as a mod I am supposed to redirect us both to a thread where favorite books are discussed, LOL)

It will just be one post for me, my eyes have gotten to where I can't read, at least not for more than ten minutes at a time so I am way behind.

Of King's IT is my favorite as well and The Stand too, just like Bears!

Not King, I also love Dostoevsky (especially Crime and Punishment and The Brothers' Karamozov).

Anything by William Faulkner.

Anything Truman Capote wrote, love James Joyce, Moby Dick, Thomas Harris (for the most part).
Catch-22, Lolita, The Great Gatsby, I like Anne Rice and Chuck Palahniuk too.

Maybe we should be redirected! Ha! Sorry, more to name....I've actually never read Dickens, except for A Christmas Carol.

did you read Idiot and Devils by Dostoyevsky? these are my favorites, although all other stuff by him is equally superb

Catch-22 and Moby Dick have always been among my favorites, but bears never could get into any Joyce. Maybe should give him another chance.

Tommy
04-24-2020, 11:57 PM
Started in another thread, continued here:



It, if we're talking King books now, with the Stand a very close runner-up
(otherwise... everything Dickens and Dostoyevsky ever wrote, and Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis). Yours?

(actually, as a mod I am supposed to redirect us both to a thread where favorite books are discussed, LOL)

It will just be one post for me, my eyes have gotten to where I can't read, at least not for more than ten minutes at a time so I am way behind.

Of King's IT is my favorite as well and The Stand too, just like Bears!

Not King, I also love Dostoevsky (especially Crime and Punishment and The Brothers' Karamozov).

Anything by William Faulkner.

Anything Truman Capote wrote, love James Joyce, Moby Dick, Thomas Harris (for the most part).
Catch-22, Lolita, The Great Gatsby, I like Anne Rice and Chuck Palahniuk too.

Maybe we should be redirected! Ha! Sorry, more to name....I've actually never read Dickens, except for A Christmas Carol.

did you read Idiot and Devils by Dostoyevsky? these are my favorites, although all other stuff by him is equally superb

Catch-22 and Moby Dick have always been among my favorites, but bears never could get into any Joyce. Maybe should give him another chance.

I started the Devils but got a third of the way through. I really like it but my eyes... The best place to start with Joyce in my opinion is A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man OR Dubliners, particularly the story, The Dead. Exquisite!

I did one of these lists somewhere, will hunt it down and see if it still applies, did you ever do one, Jean? It's tough!

Tommy
04-24-2020, 11:58 PM
1. Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2. Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Kingsley Amis. Lucky Jim
4. G.K.Chesterton. Father Brown Stories
5. Леонид Соловьев. Повесть о Ходже Насреддине [Leonid Soloviov. The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin]
6. Братья Стругацкие. Трудно быть Богом [The Strugazky Brothers. It's Hard to Be God]
7. Charles Dickens. Nicholas Nickleby
8. Stephen King. It
9. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre
10. Дмитрий Быков. Орфография [Dmitry Bykov. Orthography]
11. Александр Куприн. Поединок [Alexander Kuprin. The Duel]
12. Аркадий Гайдар. Судьба барабанщика [Arkadiy Gaidar. A Drummer's Destiny]
13. Jaroslav Hašek. The Good Soldier Švejk
14. Федор Достоевский Братья Карамазовы [Fedor Dostoyevsky. The Karamazov Brothers]
15. Михаил Булгаков. Театральный роман [Mikhail Bulgakov A Theatrical Novel (aka A Dead Man's Memoir)



4. Jeeves and Wooster ~ PG Wodehouse
I'm cheating a bit because this really covers the whole collection of books and short stories about Jeeves and Wooster. The stereotyped upper class English genmtleman is so overdone in books and film, but Wodehouse is the original master. His books are sheer perfection.
grrrrrrrr I didn't have a slot for him! I so need this one little tiny extra slot!.......

FOUND IT!!

Jean
04-24-2020, 11:59 PM
I think I did some day in the course of these years (oh Lord... decades!), I'll find mine

Tommy, do you have a Kindle? It helps greatly. Incredibly.

ETA: oh, you found it!!!! I definitely have to revise it.

Jean
04-25-2020, 12:02 AM
...and I found yours!

Catch-22
In Cold Blood
IT
Harry Potter Series
Lolita
Hannibal
The Great Gatsby
Blood Meridian
The Exorcist
The Vampire Chronicles
Crime and Punishment/ The Brothers Karamazov (I can't choose, don't make me!)
Invisible Monsters
The Stranger
On the Road
Moby Dick


This was hard and still not completely satisfied with the list.
ETA: while I was looking, you foud it yourself, LOL

Looks like I've only read half of those. Yes, the Exorcist! YES! love it

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:02 AM
Catch-22
In Cold Blood
IT
Harry Potter Series
Lolita
Hannibal
The Great Gatsby
Blood Meridian
The Exorcist
The Vampire Chronicles
Crime and Punishment/ The Brothers Karamazov (I can't choose, don't make me!)
Invisible Monsters
The Stranger
On the Road
Moby Dick


This was hard and still not completely satisfied with the list.

HERE'S MINE!

Still holds up OK for me, some changes I would make but not many, wish it were 20 and not just 15.

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:04 AM
I think I did some day in the course of these years (oh Lord... decades!), I'll find mine

Tommy, do you have a Kindle? It helps greatly. Incredibly.

ETA: oh, you found it!!!! I definitely have to revise it.

No Kindle or any kind of Pad device. I spend all my money on books. (That I can't read) :doh:

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:05 AM
...and I found yours!

Catch-22
In Cold Blood
IT
Harry Potter Series
Lolita
Hannibal
The Great Gatsby
Blood Meridian
The Exorcist
The Vampire Chronicles
Crime and Punishment/ The Brothers Karamazov (I can't choose, don't make me!)
Invisible Monsters
The Stranger
On the Road
Moby Dick


This was hard and still not completely satisfied with the list.

Yes, talking earlier I forgot how much I love Cormac McCarthy, love, love,love his dark books. I also really like Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon too.

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:09 AM
...and I found yours!

Catch-22
In Cold Blood
IT
Harry Potter Series
Lolita
Hannibal
The Great Gatsby
Blood Meridian
The Exorcist
The Vampire Chronicles
Crime and Punishment/ The Brothers Karamazov (I can't choose, don't make me!)
Invisible Monsters
The Stranger
On the Road
Moby Dick


This was hard and still not completely satisfied with the list.
ETA: while I was looking, you foud it yourself, LOL

Looks like I've only read half of those. Yes, the Exorcist! YES! love it

The Exorcist scared the crap out of me and I had already seen the movie years before!

Half of yours I can't pronounce and never heard of, I like Russian writers a lot so I would probably be on board with trying some of those from your list. :thumbsup:

Jean
04-25-2020, 12:10 AM
I think I did some day in the course of these years (oh Lord... decades!), I'll find mine

Tommy, do you have a Kindle? It helps greatly. Incredibly.

ETA: oh, you found it!!!! I definitely have to revise it.

No Kindle or any kind of Pad device. I spend all my money on books. (That I can't read) :doh:

but that is why you can't read!!!!!!! look, it's really really very important

A kindle is not "any kind of Pad device". It is totally unique. It does not hurt eyes. It reads exactly as if it were paper and ink (that is the main point), but you can make the font as big as you like. And you can do a shit ton of other good things.

this thread was started ten years ago, and in the ten years that passed I could add lots and lots of never-ending Praise for Kindle. It solves all reading problems, like money, room, eyes, whatever.
https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?11293-Arguments-for-the-Kindle

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:12 AM
By the way, I don't necessarily think Hannibal is Thomas Harris' best book. I think Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs are better books but there is something about Hannibal, it's absolute weirdness and dare I say a bit of sloppiness, for lack of a better word, really made that one stick in my head.

Jean
04-25-2020, 12:12 AM
Come to think of it, I definitely have to revise my list asap. Thank you for bringing it up, Tommy (bearHugs! - can't get to my bearsmileys at the moment. ***you can see a huggling bear here***)

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:16 AM
I think I did some day in the course of these years (oh Lord... decades!), I'll find mine

Tommy, do you have a Kindle? It helps greatly. Incredibly.

ETA: oh, you found it!!!! I definitely have to revise it.

No Kindle or any kind of Pad device. I spend all my money on books. (That I can't read) :doh:

but that is why you can't read!!!!!!! look, it's really really very important

A kindle is not "any kind of Pad device". It is totally unique. It does not hurt eyes. It reads exactly as if it were paper and ink (that is the main point), but you can make the font as big as you like. And you can do a shit ton of other good things.

this thread was started ten years ago, and in the ten years that passed I could add lots and lots of never-ending Praise for Kindle. It solves all reading problems, like money, room, eyes, whatever.
https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?11293-Arguments-for-the-Kindle

I will have to give it a try on Bears advice but my eyes are weird, it's a nystagmus that causes them to jump back forth uncontrollably not necessarily how big the font is but that too is a part of it. I had surgery years ago and they tear up constantly as well. Sucks but we work with what we have....

Jean
04-25-2020, 12:26 AM
oh man I am so sorry. One can't imagine anything worse for a reader than an eye problem. There still must be some answer (what if kindle has some yet unknown magic powers? what if some other reader does?..) - maybe some eye yoga, qigong, whatever? There must be.

Tommy
04-25-2020, 12:37 AM
oh man I am so sorry. One can't imagine anything worse for a reader than an eye problem. There still must be some answer (what if kindle has some yet unknown magic powers? what if some other reader does?..) - maybe some eye yoga, qigong, whatever? There must be.

Something magical will probably come around once I'm dead knowing my luck. I am going to give audible books another try though I didn't care for them the first time around. Speaking of...about time for me to sign off and let them rest for a while. Thanks for speaking with me, Jean.

kingfan2323
04-25-2020, 12:42 AM
Very sorry about your eyes, Tommy.
Just wanted to say I really got a kick of seeing your lists. The diversity of taste even within a list is incredible. Hannibal and IT sharing spots with Dostoevsky and Dickens! Love it.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Jean
04-25-2020, 01:05 AM
Something magical will probably come around once I'm dead knowing my luck. I am going to give audible books another try though I didn't care for them the first time around. Speaking of...about time for me to sign off and let them rest for a while. Thanks for speaking with me, Jean.bears are here anytime your eyes let you palaver! And I will do some eye yoga research - for us both http://images.vfl.ru/ii/1587804682/098b4df7/30324127_m.gif (http://vfl.ru/fotos/098b4df730324127.html)http://images.vfl.ru/ii/1587804682/098b4df7/30324127_m.gif (http://vfl.ru/fotos/098b4df730324127.html)http://images.vfl.ru/ii/1587804682/098b4df7/30324127_m.gif (http://vfl.ru/fotos/098b4df730324127.html)

Jean
04-25-2020, 01:07 AM
Just wanted to say I really got a kick of seeing your lists. bears hope to see yours http://images.vfl.ru/ii/1587804682/b6c75874/30324128_m.gif (http://vfl.ru/fotos/b6c7587430324128.html)

kingfan2323
04-25-2020, 01:09 AM
Just wanted to say I really got a kick of seeing your lists. bears hope to see yours http://images.vfl.ru/ii/1587804682/b6c75874/30324128_m.gif (http://vfl.ru/fotos/b6c7587430324128.html)I'll work on it for sure. Never done one.

seeking: anything DT related #246

daniel_pyle
05-06-2020, 09:59 AM
I want to play!


The Shining—Stephen King
Harry Potter—JK Rowling (especially Chamber of Secrets, if I had to limit it to just one)
Jurassic Park—Michael Crichton
Frankenstein—Mary Shelley
Goosebumps—RL Stine (loved these as a kid, and they were definitely pretty formative in my life)
NOS4A2—Joe Hill
Brother—Ania Ahlborn
Intensity—Dean Koontz
Off Season—Jack Ketchum
In the Dark—Richard Laymon
Bird Box—Josh Malerman
Lord of the Flies—William Golding
Summer of Night—Dan Simmons
Boys Life—Robert McCammon
The Road—Cormac McCarthy


There are many other King books I'd add (especially Misery, Pet Sematary, and The Drawing of the Three), but I decided to limit it to one per author to give the list a little more variety.

Edit: I can't believe The Ruins wasn't one of the first ones to pop into my head. I won't go back and add it now, because I guess that would defeat the whole point, but it's definitely a book I love and think about often.

ajw2910
03-01-2021, 10:38 AM
As stated earlier, hard to pick just 15. All of these may be on others lists already but, in no particular order:

1. The Dark Tower (King)
2. Carrion Comfort (Simmons)
3. Swan Song (McCammon)
4. The Stand (King)
5. Abarat (Barker)
6. Matthew Corbett series (McCammon)
7. It (King)
8. The Terror (Simmons)
9. The Ceremonies (Klein)
10. Headhunter (Slade)
11. Straw Man series (Michael Marshall Smith)
12. Natchez Burning trilogy (Iles)
13. Bob Lee Swagger series (Hunter)
14. Pendergast series (Preston &Child)
15. Watership Down (Adams)