Sheep the Evicted Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 I haven't read nearly enough to seriously reply, but my interest was piqued so i will anyway. Heres things as they currently stand in my life. The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas. Sure the middle was iffy and the ending was less than perfect but the guy is a master writer and when it was good it was damn near perfect. Your really can't get much better drama. Or at least i haven't seen it yet. Though this might sound stupid to you demagogues of the ancient epics i have always found Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman to be a masterpeice. I still think its Pratchett best book; closely followed by Nightwatch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmail Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Don't forget incredibly boring. No doubt respectable, but best book ever? Hardly. Probably Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Well written, more accesible than Ulysses. The only contenders I can think of are The Grapes of Wrath or the Great Gatsby. James Joyce was brutal. The Sil for the win on account of sheer ambition. It can be a little hard to finish, simply because Tolkien died before he completed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mlle. Zabzie Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Most of the books I would nominate have already been mentioned, though a special shout-out to Jane Eyre, Lolita, 1984, The Sound & the Fury, War & Peace and Catch-22. I personally would also nominate one of Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the D'urbervilles or Jude the Obscure (hard for me to pick one Hardy as my favorite), as well as Madame Bovary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of Oop North Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I might have responded, but MMM mentioned Blood Meridian and it really is that good. So, I'll put my vote in for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prince Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 The grapes of wrath for me. Steinbeck is probably my favorite writer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossman Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Absalom! Absalom! is the best Faulkner novel ever The Sun Also Rises- incredible depth to that book. The Count of Monte Cristo- my personal favorite, though it's technically a newspaper serial published in book form and gets a little clunky in parts. Honorable mention: The Brothers K by David James Duncan (No, not Karamazov) Watership Down To Kill a Mockingbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pita Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy By Douglas Adams. This is a book(Or trilogy of 5 books) that has so much hidden stuff in it, and it could probably be analyzed for new meaning every time you read it. It's one of the only books I've read that stays funny after a fifth re-read, and it can still manage to make you think. Also, let's not forget The Fifth Sorceress. That book makes you think hard. MUST RESIST STUPID PUN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Bryon Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I'm going to throw out a few underdog choices: The Good Earth - Pearl Buck It's one of those books that I love cover to cover, though at one point I will get so disgusted with the main protagonist that I throw the book at the nearest wall before picking it up again and cooing sweetly to the book that I will never hurt it again. Alas, Oprah got her mits on it and shamelessly promoted it on her show. Oh well. Utopia - Thomas More Not the full title, obviously, but my Latin is a bit rusty. For the time that it was written and the topics and issues that it covers, Utopia has arguably been one of the most influential books of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold Storm Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 One of my all time favs has been All Quiet on the Western Front this book just paints vivid pictures in my head of the fighting during WWI. Read it first in the 6th grade and have continued to read it every year or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Triskele It is a separate book, read more here: http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-K-David-Jam..._sim_b_title_13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheep the Evicted Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 ETA: I wouldn't put it up there for best book ever but I thought Stoker's Dracula was pretty darn good. Strange that. I loathed having to study it. I thought the book itself was poorly written and the characters themselves, with the exception of Dracula, clunky and unsuccessfully realised, but its worse crime at least for me, was that it was a horror/thriller that was BOOORING. I like to think of it as the Davinci code of the late 19th century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNanwasmywetnurse Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Of Human Bondage, William Somerset Maugham, if I had to pick one. Lot's of good books were listed in this thread though. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well read people on this forum are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smeech Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Either Slaughterhouse-Five or A Farewell to Arms A Farewell to Arms was rough. It tore me apart. Walking back in the rain... I almost tear up thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigei Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Dream of the Red Chamber or A Dream of Red Mansions or Hónglóu mèng by Cáo XuÄ›qÃÂn (Cao Zhan). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankenGregor Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I don't know about BEST EVER, I will admit to not being well-read enough to make a statement (is anyone?). However just for favorites, I'm going with East of Eden. Nearly a perfect book, in my opinion. Also shouting out for Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday Not only is it one damned good adventure story, but Chesterton also makes a very eloquent arguement in favor of his faith. I'm not a Christian but books like Thursday makes me understand why one would want to be. On this note, I totally call BS on disallowing the Bible. Nearly every piece of fiction written in Europe and America (for starters!) is in its debt. For straight up fun, I'll take Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. Entertainment value aside, Chandler's prose stands up with the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Blackfish Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Also a big fan of East of Eden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacchys Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Greatest Book Ever is a tough thing to come up with. Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein is up there. Catch-22 has been mentioned and it's definitely a great book, but God Knows is Heller's best work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not another Stark Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 There are numerous serious contenders... Gilgamesh Iliad Odyssey Mahabaratta Ramayana Genji Monogatari Quixote Shakespeare - but if I have to pick one... Padarise Lost Brothers Karamazov War and peace Moby Dick Search of Lost Time Silmarillion (without any doubt the biggest creative act by a single human in recorder history) Should also be some Chinese classic, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell which one deserves more - Romance, Water Margin, Red chamber...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossman Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 OK, I was just called Dostoyevsky's book "The Brothers K" because I didn't want to write "Karamazov." So is there also some book simply called The Brothers K that you are referring to? Sorry if I came across like I was directing my comment at you. I just assumed people would not have heard of The Brothers K by Duncan, so I was throwing in that added comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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