The Greatest book Ever.

[Astra]

The Lord of the Rings

[LugaJetboyGirl]

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.)

[Sijjvra Visz]

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

[Liffguard]

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.

[lokisnow]

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.

[Freshwater Spartan]

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.

[ser jon stark]

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

[Heal]

Three simple words War and Peace

[Horus Ex Machina]

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)

[ser jon stark]

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

[Horus Ex Machina]

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

[fankan]

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.

[From that One Book]

Three simple words War and Peace

Right about the number of words, wrong about the book.

Crime and Punishment

[Stego]

Today I'm thinking Don Quixote.

And that's probably the right answer to the initial question.

[Guarneri]

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.

[Kelli Fury]

my picks would be

The Great Gatsby or Great Expectations

[Maegor The Cool]

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

[Jagged]

It lives.

[Volsungr]

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.

[add-on]

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.