What is the best book you've ever read (beside the WOT series)?

[Suttree]

Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Hmm....maybe "Stranger In A Strange Land", by Robert Heinlein I'm hardly a sci-fi or fantasy junkie, but I guess I've read a fair amount. I can't really think of one I enjoyed reading more than this. Maybe it was the time in my life that I read it.

 

Literature/General Fiction - Probably "White Noise", by Don Delillo. I don't see how anyone could fail to enjoy this book. Well, I guess I do. No, I don't. "The Castle", by Franz Kafka would actually dethrone it for me in terms of sheer awe, but in terms of sheer enjoyment, nothing beats "White Noise" for me. Of the ones people have mentioned, "Blood Meridian" and "The Catcher In The Rye" were simply amazing, and so were lots of others. It's very difficult to pick; I feel like I'm choosing based on my mood as much as anything.

 

Drama/Theater - Beckett is King, but "Night Mother", by Marsha Norman affected me more than any other play I've ever seen or read.

 

Nonfiction - "Amusing Ourselves To Death", by Neil Postman had a big impact on me when I first read it, and it changed the way I looked at a lot of things. Somewhere back there I saw someone talking about a comparison between "1984" and "A Brave New World" and that's essentially what this book is about. He's of the opinion that both were powerful books, but that as far as our current society is concerned, Huxley's vision proved much closer to what's come to pass. A society saturated with entertainment, convenience and technology is far more docile and subdued than one seething beneath an oppressive government regime, and it's a far more subtle form of propaganda at that. "Understanding Media", by Marshall McLuhan and "Straw Dogs", by John Gray were also powerful

 

Journalism - "We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live", by Joan Didion. Her sentences pretty much put to shame anything I've ever tried to write. She has this insightful way of getting at the core of whatever she's writing about that simply impresses the hell out of me. I also like some of David Foster Wallace's pieces.

 

Hey Suttree, since I can see you're a McCarthy fan, have you ever read or seen that play he wrote. "The Sunset Limited"? Next to BM it's by far my favorite thing he's done. HBO's production of it with Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel Jackson was terrific. It's super dark, but I can watch it over and over again

 

Wow batcaver, some great calls above. Seriously impressed. Loved "White Noise" and Didion is also high up my list. Her fiction is awesome as well. "Play it as it Lays" and "The Last Thing He Wanted" are both ace. Just ridiculous how talented she is.

 

As for "Sunset Limited" been meaning to check it but haven't had the chance yet. Thanks for the heads up and reminding me!

[batcaver]

I've never read any of Didion's fiction, but I should. In fact, I wasn't even aware of those books, so I'm glad you mentioned them. Maybe I'll try to listen to one of those at work soon. Thanks for the props!

[SesameTree]

Hm, I think my favourite (after Jordan), would have to be Tolkien.

 

Beside that i really enjoyed works of Terry Pratchett.

[SylvanFox]

Fantasy: I like ASOIAF, but I find that it's not as good on the re-read. I still like WoT better. Also, I once picked up this really awesome book at the library called 'Fudoki' by Kij Johnson. It was way, way cooler than I expected. It's about a cat who turns into a person, and is getting around people and trying to interact with them, and makes some really cool observations. I loved it so, so much. Oh, and the Dark Tower series was definitely one of my favs. And I liked Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

 

Sci-Fi: The series about the Dragonriders of Pern. That was kind of cool, but it's been a really long time since I've read it.

 

Normal books: 'The Story of Lucy Gault' by William Trevor... That's all I can think of right now.

[CUBAREY]

Lord of the Rings, Dune series, Dickens, Crime and Punishment, The Gambler, The Old Man and the Sea, Don Quixote, everything from Faulkner, Everything by Edgar Allen Poe, W.E.B. Griffin's American military series's. Jane Austin, could go on but that is a good smattering of what I like.

[BFG]

Well the only fantasy I've read is WoT...well I read a lot of it as a kid, but only ones I remember is Redwall and The Merlin series, but those were not favorites.

 

Sci-fi would be any Michael Crichton, haven't read much else here. Wait! Enders game...loved that one.

 

Classics. Easy. The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Three Musketeers (original)

 

Thrillers Any John Grisham or James Patterson.

 

Horror. Steven King. Favorite book by him would be the Tommyknockers.

 

I read anything and everything, but my favorite of all time is WoT. Nothing beats it in y book. Those one top are what would come close...and thats not even the tip of the iceburg.

 

If you liked Tommyknockers then try 'The Midwich Cuckoos' by John Wyndham. It's a bit older and language wise may be a bit old fashioned, but it's an amazingly told story!

 

For myself:

 

GRRM: SOIAF

Iain Banks: Player of Games & Use of Weapons in particular

John Wyndham: the Midwich Cuckoos

Mary Stewart: Crystal Cave trilogy (although apparantly their's now a 4th)

 

William Golding: Lord of the Flies

Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird

Maragret Atwood: Cats Eyes

Iain Banks: The Wasp Factory

Richard Askwith: Feet in the Clouds

 

Think I'll stop now

 

[bBC radio version of Douglas Adams Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy 1-4]

[batcaver]

 

Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird

 

 

Somehow I've never read this. I gotta get around to that. I feel like I'm missing out on some crucially American experience.

[BFG]

^modern american literature does seem to fill a lot of the modern classics list. For once, the film adaptation is also really good.

[Sagacious Lu]

Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird

 

 

Somehow I've never read this. I gotta get around to that. I feel like I'm missing out on some crucially American experience.

 

Well, between Jr. HIgh, HIgh school and College I was assigned that book in three different classes. I was impressed the first time although I have to admit that by the third time I had to write an essay on the same damn book I was good and sick of it. I won't go so far as to call it "The Great American Novel" but it's definitely worth a read.

[Durinax]

ASoFaI

Quite a few dragonlance novels I find really interesting, particularily the minotaur trilogy, icewall trilogy, and Ogre Titans trilogy. Tried to ready the goblin one but it is a little painful due to the substantial lack of proper english (to try and emulate goblin education)

[wotfan4472]

The next best novels are: 1. The Speaker of The Dead

 

                                         2. Xenocide both by Orson Scott Card

 

                                         3. Halo: Cryptum

 

                                         4. Halo: Prymordium both by Greg Bear

 

                                         5. The Coming of The Terraphiles by Micheal Morecock

[Asha’man Hall]

Dresden files - Jim Butcher

codex of alera - Jim Butcher

lord of the rings - tolkien

mistborn - sanderson

[Smittyphi]

Dresden files - Jim Butcher

codex of alera - Jim Butcher

lord of the rings - tolkien

mistborn - sanderson

 

That about makes up my list as well.  I also like some Chrichtons books as well as some of Grishams.

[Mr Ares]

The next best novels are:   5. The Coming of The Terraphiles by Micheal Morecock

Really? That wouldn't even make my list of top ten Doctor Who books. You should check out some of the really good ones, like the Burning, the Taking of Planet 5, the Adventuress of Henrietta Street, Alien Bodies, Interference, Timewyrm: Revelation, Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Lungbarrow, the Also People or the Turing Test. All out of print, but so worth it if you get your hands on a copy.

[KimHolz]

Beside The WOT series? Can't decide really, probably a chuck up between The Night Angel Trilogy (Brent Weeks), The Mistborn Series and The Gentleman Bastard Series (Scott Lynch).

[goksekor]

For Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

 

Vampire Chronicles - Ann Rice - Really good read and the first book has a good movie adaptation but they killed that venture with the second book

Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb - Good "Perrinism" here

Tawny Man Trilogy - Robin Hobb - This trilogy is like a conclusion of the first one, should be read in this order.

Belgariad Series - David Eddings -

Dark Tower - Stephen King - This hits a real tough patch around book 4 but it is a good read all in all. Stephen Kingism is self evident though (unexplained occurences, mechanisms that feel glitchy, unresolved subplots etc). It might not appeal to some people's taste.

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson

 

Out of genre:

Blue Feather - Richard Bach - Really awesome read and a small one

Most of Clive Cussler

Most of Michael Crichton

[Teenage_Kicks]

A few of my personal favorites - 

 

Sci-Fi / Fantasy

 

LOTR, (Note, Not the Hobbit... its the only Tolkien book that i don't like)

Anything by Terry Pratchett, Favorite though would be either "The Truth", "Mort" or "Going Postal"

The Black Magician Trilogy, by Trudi Canavan

The Dresden Files, I'm not really a "Urban Fantasy" Guy, but......

Some of HP Lovecraft

Rivers of London (and subsequent books), by Ben Aaronovitch

 

 

Some Military Sci-Fi Oddities (Seeds were planted from my Childhood)

 

Eisenhorn Trilolgy, by Dan Abnett

The Night Lords Trilogy, By Aaron Dembski-Bowden

 

 

Outside of Fantasy (Mixed Genres)

 

Life Expectancy, By Dean Koontz

IT, By Stephen King

The Jack Reacher Series, By Lee Childs (Keeps me entertained)

Eddie & Nina Chase Series, By Andy McDermott (As Above)

Anything by Richard Montanari

The Devil Rides Out, By Dennis Wheatley

Most of Sherlock Holmes, (Again, something i picked up when i was a kid.... Which has lingered)

Of Mice an Men, by John Steinbeck (First book i truly read, back in school)

Sharp's ......... series, by Bernard Cornwell

 

I've tried to avoid repeating the obvious ones, so apologies if any of these are repeated from previous posts

 

Tony