15 books of my life

[Alec]

(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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Garrell]

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]

First time I have seen this thread - what a great idea. Disclaimer: only one book per author

1. Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut (the book that turned me into a reader)
   
2. Geek Love - Katherine Dunn (just the most original novel I have ever read)
   
3. It - Stephen King (the dual narratives with dual climaxes made such an impact on my thinking about story telling.
   
4. 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)
   
5. Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris (the pinnacle of what a serial killer novel should be)
   
6. Necroscope - Brian Lumley (because it opened the door to an entire world of vampire/espionage novels)
   
7. 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)
   
8. Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (Hurston’s novel reads like poetry - I have taught it for 23 glorious years)
   
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (somehow it managed not to let me down)
   
10. Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger (changed my life in college)
    
11. Dune - Frank Herbert (because it opened the door to an entire world of novels)
    
12. Weaveworld - Clive Barker (I could have picked Imagica too because of the completeness of the world building)
    
13. Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (the apocalypse have never been so funny)
    
14. 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)
    
15. Ex Utero - Lauire Foos (one of the funniest books I have ever read)

[Jean]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Tommy]

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.

[Jean]

...and I found yours!

Spoiler:

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]

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)

[Tommy]

...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]

...and I found yours!

Spoiler:

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.

[Jean]

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)

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...for-the-Kindle

[Tommy]

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]

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]

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)

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...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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Jean]

Just wanted to say I really got a kick of seeing your lists.

bears hope to see yours