Mi Vida Loca » What is the best book you have ever read?

What is the best book you have ever read?

Published on February 8, 2004 By Locamama In Books

I need to start reading more. I feel that my brain is shriveling from disuse. I just need to find time to get to the library and pay my fine. I always have a fine. I would love to start a reading group but I don't know if I can find the time or participants. I could do an online reading group or join a yahoo group.

Anyway what this all comes down to is I need some suggestions of good books people have read lately. I mainly read fiction and my favorite is mysteries. My favorite author is Elizabeth Peters, Barbara Michaels. I really couldn't even say what the best book I ever read is. I really liked A Fine Balance but the main thing about that book was just that it stayed with me so long after I read it. It made me realize how much I take for granted in my life.

Comments (Page 1)

new-age nomad

on Feb 08, 2004

You'll love "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt. It's awesome. And the sequal, "Tis" is even better!

Trinitie

Tangled Wishes

on Feb 08, 2004

What kinda stuff do you like to read? If you like early twenties stuff, or even before, F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side Of Paradise is really good, I love it.
And for fantasy, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials collection is AMAZING, the best books ever, I think. The Golden Compass, Subtle Knife, and Amber Spyglass. My personal faves. Tell me what kind of genre you like, and I'll spout something out, I'm like a reading whore!

Muggaz

on Feb 09, 2004

My favorite book of all time in terms of not beeing able to put down would be War and Peace.. by Leo Tolstoy. I also like the LOTR series (inc. Hobbit) along with A series called the Tomorrow series by an Australian author by the name of John Marsden. High Society by Ben Elton was also great.

At the moment i am reading the Road to Mars by Eric Idle... a very funny book.

Books will always effect you differetly depending on what kind of mood you are in. I dont know if i would have been able to read War and Peace in the space of 2 weeks if i hadn't of just broken up with my ex... That book was able to take me to another place for hours on end, and i got into it somewhat more than if i was just reading a radom book.

.

Wahkonta Anathema

on Feb 09, 2004

For great writing I would recommend, 'The Year of the French". by Patrick Flanagan[sic?]Next to Shakespeare, this is the best writing I ever encountered. The credits on the jacket tell it all, including the statement he is the first GREAT American writer. I think we have produced many others, such as: Vonnegut, Jr.; a guy who wrote short stories and poems named Poe; and Truman Capote, whose line from his Christmas story brings tears to my eyes to this day to hear or read, "She is still young". (I tell people some of us spend a lifetime trying to master this medium, producing thousands of pages, never achieving what he did with that one).

Dan Kaschel

on Feb 09, 2004

Here are the three books that have had the most effect on my life:

--"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (a little bland if you're not into philosophy)

--The entire "Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan. "Eye of the World" is the first book, wonderful fantasy novels

--"All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren (another philosophy book, but also a phenomenal novel)

~Dan

Wahkonta Anathema

on Feb 09, 2004

One more mention for American writers is becoming Stephen King. I always despised his high-school style and subjects for his books. He spent years kicking out useless wastes of time such as 'It' (I read over 450 pages before throwing it in the trash in anger and frustration at his inability to get to SOME point) . I do beieve however, that in recent years, he has gone back to school, studied his craft, and become a very competent master of the art. I, a person who once insulted him at every mention of his name, now recommend him as a very good writer. A read of his more recent works is also recommended.

Wahkonta Anathema

on Feb 09, 2004

I could go on and on as the memories flood in. Thoreau tells it like it is. Ralph Waldo Emerson is a soul-mate of mine. If I can mention one other very important writer, it would be Ayn Rand. I tell women libbers they should stop rejecting the most important new philosopher to come out of the 20th century and give credit to their own maestro, Ayn Rand. ANY Rand is good and has the power to change your life. I, a tough, tough guy, sat and cried all night as I read 'Anthem'; a short but meaningful book to any individualist. 'The Fountainhead', Atlas Shrugged' are her most widely read. She will teach you that you can walk in the midst of a crowd and be a majority of one.

imajinit

on Feb 09, 2004

The Joy of work by Scott Adams
The Autobiography by John Stuart Mill
Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig
The Man who listens to Horses by Monty Roberts
King Rat by James Clavell

Locamama

on Feb 09, 2004

Wow, I definately have a reading list now. I will be at the library tonight. I already read Angela's Ashes and loved it but I never read Tis yet. I read the LOTR but that was in junior high so I definately might revisit them. I never read This Side of Paradise. It was one that I always wanted to get too. I also like Steven King to a certain extent, I liked The Girl who Love Tom Gordon and Bag of Bones. I don't think I have read anything recently of his. I do love books that can carry me away to another world. I am really bad about books that have a slow start or have major unbelievable inconsistencies. That is one of my biggest aggravations authors who think you are stupid and forgot something from the beginning of the book. Thanks for sharing everyone.

Zoomba

on Feb 09, 2004

Here's a book many people have never heard of, but I consider it one of the best ever written. It's not a great epic, and won't likely ever be considered a literary classic, but everyone I know who has read it is simply bowled over by what it talks about.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

This is one of those books that totally takes how you view reality and history and turns it on it's head. Even if you don't agree with the message it puts forth, you can at least appreciate the mental acrobatics it makes you go through to wrestle with the issues it covers. It is basically a look at human culture in the "civilized" vs. "uncivilized" world in a very unique way that most people don't ever think of, but when they read or hear about it their reaction is "Duh, why didn't I think of it?" The premise of the book itself is kinda odd (it involves a telepathic gorilla), but once you get over that it unfolds into an absolutely beautiful story. If you want a book that is great to discuss with other people, or one that really makes you think, I suggest you put this at the top of your reading list. It's not overly long (my copy is about 262 pages) and is a pretty easy read.

If you end up liking this book, I also suggest picking up the next two in the series:
-The Story of B
-My Ishmael

Both are a sort of continuation of the story of Ishmael (The Story of B is the tale of one of the students of the gorilla and how he passes on the message he learned, while My Ishmael is about another student who goes to Ishmael at the same time as the character from the first book, so it's a different angle on what happens in parts of the first book).

This trilogy is probably my absolute favorite set of books. My copy of Ishmael is so well worn and smudged form numerous readings (both by me, and many of my friends who have borrowed it over the years). Even if this isn't at the top of your list, it should definitely be something you read eventually. These are the sorts of books I think should be included in school curriculums.

PoetPhilosopher

on Feb 09, 2004

Locamama - I just joined a book club for the first time ever for the exact same reasons you said. I am now committed to reading one book every 5 weeks, minimum (until I quit). So far, I have read two books I never would have picked up. I think over the long run it needs to be a combination of familiar books, and mind stretching stuff so finding the right one is probably important. At the very least you'll meet some new people, hang out. The first time I went the host had homemade salsa with CUCUMBER in it! WTF?? Well... now I make salsa with cucumber too. heh. Who knew?

They are easy to find and numerous - local college, barnes & nobel, library, the local online groups, etc, etc.

WiseFawn

on Feb 09, 2004

The War Prayer by Mark Twain, The Harvester by Gene Stratton Porter, and The Prophet by Kahlil Gribran

bionick

on Feb 09, 2004

In school, I was given booklist upon booklist, required reading that became a chore just because it was that; required. A few of them, however, I'm glad that I was told to read. Here's a few:

1.Octavia Butler's Parable of The Sower. It's a utopian novel that has a religious tone. However, the protagonist tries to mold a social system without trying to be the power figure that social leaders often become. (This book is also followed by several others The Parable of the Talents, is one more).

2. Brian Aldiss' SuperToys Last All Summer Long. A collection of short stories, this book includes 3 small stories that gave inspiration to Steven Speilberg's A.I. It's really interesting to see the differences between the content that made it into the movie, and the content that was left out. Incidentally, Aldiss pretty much washed his hands of the whole movie affair. Speilberg and Krubick (who had first option before he passed away) both had their own ideas about where the story should go. Aldiss thought otherwise).

3. Random Acts of Senseless Violence Author: (?) Womack. This apocalypse novel is about a changing society, a declining society. We are allowed to see the fall of the middle class to the poor, oppressed, and undefended. The protagonist is Lola, a young high school student. We see, as society crumbles, so does Lola. There are three interesting things happening in the text: illustrating the fall of Lola's family from class to class, using the text literally to show Lola's decline (Lola's grammar, slang, and word usage changes from an educated level to street level), and then mirroring both with the illustration of the societal degeneration. The author shows how one child fails to come-of-age, rather to seek out her own self-destruction in response to the destruction of her society.

4. The Imaginary Indian by Daniel Francis. If you are even remotely interested in Aboriginal/Native/Indian studies, but don't know where to begin to learn, this is a good place to start. It is an academic text , but the style of writing won't deter you. It shows a lot of examples of how Indian representation began and why. You'll find yourself shaking your head, laughing, feeling angry, and nodding in agreement all throughout the read.

Have fun! And don't even get me started on what I read for fun!

Tangled Wishes

on Feb 10, 2004

I would have to give my support to The Fountainhead, too. It's long but AMAZING. It's my dad's favorite book, too. We talked about it for fifteen minutes, one day, perhaps one of our longest intellectual opinion conversation. Maybe our only one.
I'm also an Agatha Christie mystery book whore, they're easy reading, I can finish one in a day, and they really ARE good.
My favorite books as a child were the whole Chronicles of Narnia. I'm still a child, I suppose, because I very much love them!
There's also two books called Into The Fire and Into the Forge which seem a lot like LOTR to me, but they're also good. The concept is a little different, but the characters are almost exactly the same... I think the names are even similar. They're by Dennis McKiernan.

But seriously, the HONEST TO GOD best books I have EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER read were Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. I mean it. I read them, and during the second one, I was crying so hard, I had to put the book down for at least an hour, while I cried and wrote in my journal about how deeply the book affected me. And even though the central character is a young girl, I think that any child who would read these books would be confused beyond all belief. The concepts, themes of the books, are much deeper than any small child could realize... It touches on religion, and while I read the series for the first time, I was a strong Christian, and though I should have been deeply offended by pretty much the entire series, I loved it and felt it much more deeply than anything I have EVER read. And then I read it again and loved it even more. READ IT!!! AHH!! It is the series of books I WILL shove down peoples' throats, and not feel bad, until THEY READ THEM AND LOVE THEM ALSO!
sorry

Strong feelings, what?

JEPEL

on Feb 15, 2004

Here some of my favorite english written books:

A prayer for Owen, John Irving
Survivor, Chuck Pallaniuk
Confedency of the dunce, John K O'tool
Ubik, Philip K DIck
Bug Jack Barron, Norman Spinrad
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
...

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