The Greatest book Ever.

[Eurytus]

But The Silmarillion (completed by Tolkien, merely assembled and edited a little by his son and Guy Gavriel Kay) had the biggest impact on me. Far more exciting and original than Lord of the Rings.

The Silmarillion was never completed to his satisfaction by Tolkien. The level of detail in the Turin and Tuor sections of Unfinished Tales was what he was aiming at for the Silmarillion but he never got there. Hence CT and Kay had to edit the Silmarillion together from pretty disparate sources, some elements written post LotR near the end of Tolkien's life and some from pre-LotR. It is apparent by the way in which some key events have an almost skeletal brevity whilst others, like Turin and Beren obviously have more detail behind them.

A good work of creation certainly, perhaps the greatest. But purely as a book I could not consider it the best.

For me that would possibly be David Copperfield. In my view the best of Dickens' books, which obviously places it pretty high anyway, and contains many of Dickens' best characters in just one book.

I think both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange deserve to be up there too.

And I also like The War of the Worlds a great deal.

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene is another book that I think is superb.

[Mike]

100 Years of Solitude has got to be up there. Epic, tragic, and heartbreaking. I've read it twice and it haunts me still.

And yes, it was recommended by Oprah.

I agree fully with some of the other books mentioned. The Silmarillion has stayed with me since I read it in my high school days. To Kill a Mockingbird is fantastic, as is 1984. I would also suggest Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. Never read Gravity's Rainbow, but of what I have read of him, Lot 49 is the best. (Sidenote: A friend of mine, who loves Gravity's Rainbow, showed me a passage in the novel containing the chorus lyrics for Smells like Teen Spirit. It wasn't word for word but it was damn close. Wondered about that ever since and it makes me want to read the book when I have time, but it seems like a massive undertaking)

Michael Chabon is a wonderful writer and I loved Kavalier and Klay, but the end left me disappointed. Can't really recall why since I've only read it once, 5 years ago.

[direwolf]

don't know if this is a truley answerable question, as there are so many different angles to approach the question. i think the original write up on the silmarillion was good though.

i would have to say, for me, A Clockwork Orange and Song of Soloman have had a big iimpact, and ACO particularly spans culture and time, which is a plus. Waiting for Godot.

dont know why Portrait of the Artist is so revered. sure, ulysses is one of the most monumentous pieces of literature, but POA was just boring and seemingly obsolete. sorry.

[WolfLord]

I choose Anna Karenina. I strongly disagree with kryptonite. it's not that you're a bad person, I just don't agree.

[nobodymN]

I'm not sure what the greatest book ever is, but looking at some replys:

ll narrow it down to best novel by a living American author and say Blood Meridian. A disturbingly conservative choice, but it is that good.

That's a damn good book, and I think Mccarthy is one of the best authors on the planet currently, along with Ishiguru (Remains of Day, ) and Jose Saramago who I think is just brilliant, and Rushdie (not to mention Pynchon), and to throw a SF author in there I really think on the most underated authors is JG Ballard. I was also extremely impressed with Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves which only came out a few years ago.

I'm one of the people that truly think that there iisn't anybody that I have read that shows as much as ability (to the point of making many just feel stupid) as James Joyce - I'm not sure if any of his books are the greatest ever written (they certainly have to be in the conversation) but I'm pretty sold that there was never a more talented writer I have read. That doesn't necessarily equate to best novel, admittedly.

If I went with some national bias, I'd say Mishima Yukio who is as talented as I have ever read as well, I mean start with Confessions of a Mask and just read all his work, and I also think Katherine Mansfield is severely shorted when she is not mentioned in topic like this. Calvino and Kafka are names that come to mind as well.

Let me quit keep beating around the bush though - this would change probably every hour but I will go with Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time

I do want to comment about 1984 whic hseems to be popular. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and Orwell's other works as well, but I'd like to thank the greatest book ever isn't a book that is deemed so accesible that it's standard in many grade school curriculums. Comparing his work to Joyce or Faulkner or the like seems rather overly complimentary in my mind.

[Eurytus]

I do want to comment about 1984 whic hseems to be popular. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and Orwell's other works as well, but I'd like to thank the greatest book ever isn't a book that is deemed so accesible that it's standard in many grade school curriculums.

Why should a book need to not be accesible to be deemed the greatest ever. I would think that many children's books could be in the running. Some of Roald Dahl's children's books are as close to perfection as any adult book I have read. Should they be ruled out because they are too accesible?

[nobodymN]

Why should a book need to not be accesible to be deemed the greatest ever. I would think that many children's books could be in the running. Some of Roald Dahl's children's books are as close to perfection as any adult book I have read. Should they be ruled out because they are too accesible?

First - the term we are discussing "greatetst" hold different meaning to all of us responding...

With that in mind, yes, but, you certainly are welcome to your opinion. I don't consider any childrens's book I have read when I think of the greatest books ever written, but I'm sure some do - and more power to them. I can't comment on Dahl - I am not familiar with the work enough to make a value statement.

I think Hemingway is probably the best example of an author who carries literary merit while remaining very accessible - and to be honest I find him largely inadequate compared to the authors I mentioned. But than again I'm sure there are some who love his work. So the answer is no, I don't think accesibility is neccesarily a talent , and admittedly (when thinking on the subject) most of the works I'd consider are at least semi-errudite. That's just me however. - if somone else think otherwise, that's terrific.

[Kyptonite]

Why should a book need to not be accesible to be deemed the greatest ever. I would think that many children's books could be in the running. Some of Roald Dahl's children's books are as close to perfection as any adult book I have read. Should they be ruled out because they are too accesible?

It's intellectual snobbery.

[Ser_Denys]

What about Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey? Does no one here read him???

[Angalin]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet: the King James Authorised Version of the Bible. Whatever you may think of it as religion, the written text is astounding in its beauty.

[kyuss]

I dont know what the greatest book ever is. I do know that ASoIaF is one of the best stories I have ever read, and quite frankly most other stories pale in comparison.

I noticed that most people here are voting for authors that are well-renowned, "The classics". Dare I say that most books written decades ago are plain simple and boring. Few captivate the imagination of an epic series like ASoIaF...

maybe that's why I dislike LoTR because of it's predicatible plot and lack of character development, and maybe that's why I think that Shakespeare shouldn't be taught in schools. I find it hilarious how teachers try to pass on Shakespeare's simplistic ideas as revolutionary plot developments that you can learn moral/life lessons from. Hilarious.

Go ahead and play it safe with your opinions.. choose the classics. I'm sure average joe out on the street will agree with you, because it's socially acceptable.

[Brude]

The best book I have ever read is Moby Dick. It's monumental, strange, powerful, hilarious, moving and deeply, deeply profound. I know after having read it twice that I've only fathomed a small part of what the novel is trying to say.

Melville is the only novelist I've read that gives me the same sense of awe at his talents that Shakespeare gives me. There are a lot of great writers I have yet to read, but those two are the tops in the English language, for me.

[Nous]

Based on my limited experience:

1. Atlas Shrugged

2. Brothers Karamazov

3. Quo Vadis

The standard I use is integration. How well the separate elements of the book- characters, plot and style- combine to contribute to its theme. Nothing in the book should be accidental - every word is the way it is for a reason. The book has to be enjoyable. It needs to be able to provoke thought and emotion.

[Jughead of the Round]

Favs:

The Brothers Karamazov (friends were baffled when I seriously called it 'casual reading')

Catch-22 (my fav at the end of high school, fits my sense of humour nicely)

Watership Down (I've returned to his book again and again)

[Werthead]

Another suggestion I'd put up (still as a secondary choice to Silmarillion though) is the original novel of Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Very dark but with greater depth and better world-building than the film (which is still pretty good). It's Lord of the Flies on speed.

[rado907]

Not saying it's the best book ever (cuz saying a thing like that is a bit ridiculous), but Don Quixote is pretty good.

But if someone called Don Quixote the -funniest- book ever, I couldn't disagree...

[Kyptonite]

I dont know what the greatest book ever is. I do know that ASoIaF is one of the best stories I have ever read, and quite frankly most other stories pale in comparison.

I noticed that most people here are voting for authors that are well-renowned, "The classics". Dare I say that most books written decades ago are plain simple and boring. Few captivate the imagination of an epic series like ASoIaF...

maybe that's why I dislike LoTR because of it's predicatible plot and lack of character development, and maybe that's why I think that Shakespeare shouldn't be taught in schools. I find it hilarious how teachers try to pass on Shakespeare's simplistic ideas as revolutionary plot developments that you can learn moral/life lessons from. Hilarious.

Go ahead and play it safe with your opinions.. choose the classics. I'm sure average joe out on the street will agree with you, because it's socially acceptable.

I agree with you to a great extent.

But I do think LOTR is a fantastic story that perhaps wasn't quite so problematic when it was written.

[EHK for Darwin]

I couldn't get into Moby Dick. Maybe it's because I was in 8th grade at the time, but the damned thing bored me to death. Just when something was actually starting to happen, the thing would segue into an 80 page diatribe describing some obscure and arcane whaling/sailing technique that none of us gave a damn about...and by the time the book got back on plot you complete forgot where the hell you were. The descriptions were just too excessive, drawn out, and dull.

And I couldn't get into Catcher in the Rye...cause I constantly found myself wanting to strangle Holden Caufield.

I think the Scarlett Letter was the worst and most painful book ever assigned in High School.

And granted, i still have alot of the great authors to read (haven't done any Dosviesky (sp) or several others), but 1984 would probably be near the top of my list.

[MaroonedHopes]

I think that Shakespeare shouldn't be taught in schools. I find it hilarious how teachers try to pass on Shakespeare's simplistic ideas as revolutionary plot developments that you can learn moral/life lessons from. Hilarious. Go ahead and play it safe with your opinions.. choose the classics. I'm sure average joe out on the street will agree with you, because it's socially acceptable.

Sure, whatever makes you feel better.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Hey, 100 Years of Solitude was recommended by Oprah, and I think it's up there!

My 2 all time favorite books: A Hundered Years of Solitude and The Mist of Avalon. (I like variety). If I was forced to choose, I'd say 100 yrs, even though I've read Mist 10x more than it.