Astra Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 The Lord of the Rings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Call me old fashioned. Homer's Iliad. Sure, the fight scenes can get a bit boring. But the human drama in that story is unsurpassable. I find it amazing that a story that is THREE THOUSAND YEARS OLD can still be so arresting, relevant and evocative of the human condition. Talk about standing the test of time. I'd say that's a good argument for being the best book ever written. (Okay, sure, it started as an oral poem, but I still believe it falls in the book category.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sijjvra Visz Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Well, it's hard for me to pick, but I guess the book I've always enjoyed because it really got me thinking from the first time I ever read it (was about 8 years old) was Watership Down by Richard Adams. I still read it about once a year. And no, I never thought it was a children's book or 'a book about talking rabbits'. I hate it when people assume that. A few other noteworthy ones in no particular order that I'd consider: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest Grapes of Wrath Animal Farm A Song of Ice and Fire (aka, only fantasy series I can stomach ) The Last Temptation of Christ Native Son Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liffguard Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 I don't know whether I'd say it was the best book ever but I'd at least like to nominate Rope Burns by F. X. Toole. Like many other authors nominated here, the man just makes poetry in prose. I remember when I first read the end of the short story Million Dollar Baby and Frank has just killed Maggie. He's walking out of the hospital with "his eyes as dry as burning leaves." That line really got to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokisnow Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 I would say To Kill a Mockingbird is the best book ever written that I've read. the runner up would Huck Finn, LotR or Dune. Personal favorites include Ender's Game, Shadow of the Wind, All Creatures Great and Small, and In Cold Blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freshwater Spartan Posted May 19, 2007 Share Posted May 19, 2007 The best book I have read: The grapes of wrath Best book Ever: I notice people are sticking to fiction. How about Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica I have not read it but it does lay the foundation for all of Physics and indirectly deals with calculus which Newton independently invented. Both pretty big achievments in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ser jon stark Posted May 19, 2007 Share Posted May 19, 2007 lord of the rings and silmarillions is certainly up there also one flew over the cuckoos nest is amazing, it was just written by some guy on acid so you don't know how much of it he wrote while tripping, another good one is fahernheit 451 and i think someone else said this somewhere earlier but i just don't see how any of these books gives me more enjoyment then ASOIAF or makes me think more than Prince of Nothing, those are great stories and should be considered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heal Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 Three simple words War and Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horus Ex Machina Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 Call me old fashioned. Homer's Iliad. Sure, the fight scenes can get a bit boring. But the human drama in that story is unsurpassable. I find it amazing that a story that is THREE THOUSAND YEARS OLD can still be so arresting, relevant and evocative of the human condition. Talk about standing the test of time. I'd say that's a good argument for being the best book ever written. (Okay, sure, it started as an oral poem, but I still believe it falls in the book category.) I'll second that! I liked the Oddessey as well but the Illiad was clearly the better of the two. Dune, Pride and Predjudice, The Comple Works of William Shakespeare, The Canturbury Tales, Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Passing, ... I have too many divergent interests to have one favorite. Oh yeah,... 'Juiced' by Jose Canseco! ... and I'm waiting to see who puts down The Bible first. (Maybe even The Koran, or The Talmud) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ser jon stark Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 well someone already put down the book of mormon which is another religious book so i guess it wins unless people really are worshipping iluvatar from silmarillion like it's been said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horus Ex Machina Posted May 20, 2007 Share Posted May 20, 2007 well someone already put down the book of mormon which is another religious book so i guess it wins The Book of Mormon, I was thinking about that one too. What about Awake! or Watchtower, do we have any Jehovah's Witnesses in here? unless people really are worshipping iluvatar from silmarillion like it's been said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fankan Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Call me old fashioned. Homer's Iliad. Sure, the fight scenes can get a bit boring. But the human drama in that story is unsurpassable. I find it amazing that a story that is THREE THOUSAND YEARS OLD can still be so arresting, relevant and evocative of the human condition. Talk about standing the test of time. I'd say that's a good argument for being the best book ever written. (Okay, sure, it started as an oral poem, but I still believe it falls in the book category.) Definitely agree!! Its a pity that only a few can read it in the original language and thus fully capture its greatness. The word "epic" was defined from this book (from the greek word: epos). Therefore, epic literature-epic fantasy-LoTR-SoIaF-this forum(!!!) owe much of their existence to this book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
From that One Book Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Three simple words War and Peace Right about the number of words, wrong about the book. Crime and Punishment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Today I'm thinking Don Quixote. And that's probably the right answer to the initial question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guarneri Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Favorite book? There should be a favorite in categories. Like, favorite book for the story itself, favorite book for comedy, favorite book for worldbuilding, favorite book for philosophy.... For enjoyment, nothing was a more enjoyable read for me than SoS, but overall I'd go with Dune. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelli Fury Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 my picks would be The Great Gatsby or Great Expectations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maegor The Cool Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 I'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. I read it once, the story was so absorbing i couldn't appreciate all the monumental detail, so i read it again straight after. Spent a while thinking about it, and then read it again. It's been a while now, i only discovered it a few months ago, and i'm itching to read it again. Great choice. I don't know what would be my 'best ever', Watership Down probably, it played a massive part in reading and writing becoming part of my life. Also a disturbingly censervative choice ASoIaF has given me as much enjoyment and stimulation as anything i've ever read, and has made other books of it's genre almost mundane, so it surely rates a mention. Gah, i can't choose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagged Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 It lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volsungr Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Charles Darwin Origin of species. Literature is all well and good but I didn't see this thread being devoted soley to literature and Origin of species shook the very foundations of society in a way no fiction every could. It was work based on years and years of studies it was incredibly ahead of it time and would predict the findings of science in the next 148 years with amazing prescience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
add-on Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 I could've sworn that I'd already responded to this thread. Fiction: The Sun Also Rises. I love Hemingway and this is my favorite of his. Updike's Pigeon Feathers collection should also be mentioned, though the title story leaves a little something to be desired. Poetry: What Narcissism Means to Me and Donkey Gospel by Tony Hoagland. Fantastic poet currently writing and teaching down at Houston University. Very witty, accessible and full of unexpectedly beautiful images. Definitely my favorite poet who is still alive and writing. Here are a few that I found online. I wouldn't read the poem below "Man Carrying Sofa." It's pretty terrible. Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. First big reason I fell in love with poetry. Hughes is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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