Top 5 Favorite books of All Time

[TheDude]

I'm looking for some good reading and I wanted to see what you all like: Here's mine.

1984 - George Orwell
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
The Stand - Stephen King
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy

 

[Yorick]

Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
Philip K Dick - A Scanner Darkly
Chuck Palahniuk - Choke
JD Salinger - Catcher in the Rye

(Stephen King's Green Mile is a very close 6th. As well as Cut by Patricia McCormick.)

 

[Eejit]

Consider Phlebas - Ian M Banks
Shogun - James Clavell
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Startide Rising - David Brin
The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson

 

[Narvi]

AAAAH WHY DO YOU LIKE CONSIDER PHLEBAS IT WAS DEPRESSING

Look to Windward, by Iain M. Banks.
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett.
1984, by George Orwell.
Excession, by Iain M. Banks.
A Storm of Swords, by GRR Martin.

 

[Eejit]

It wasn't really depressing, now Against a Dark Background, THAT was depressing.

 

[repiV]

I don't think I can pick five, I haven't been into reading long enough.

Absolute MUST READS though are:

Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, utterly incredible books.
The Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton
The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum - possibly the best thriller ever.

 

[ríomhaire]

First books that come to mind:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
Hogfather - Terry Pratchett
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
The Hitchhickers' Guide to the Galaxy series - Douglas Adams

 

[Narvi]

It wasn't really depressing, now Against a Dark Background, THAT was depressing.

Spoiler

Everybody was dead by the end. It was depressing. Admit it.

First books that come to mind:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick
Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
Hogfather - Terry Pratchett
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
The Hitchhickers' Guide to the Galaxy series - Douglas Adams

HDM is a trilogy. Cheater!

 

[Ennui]

My favorite books change, but right now I'll throw out...

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut (also Player Piano)
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
William Gibson's work as a whole

 

[Jintor]

I can't restrict mine to top 5, but if we're talking fiction works, the first that come to mind are...

Neil Gaiman - Sandman (specifically, "The Wake")
Douglas Adams - Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Salmon of Doubt was good, too)
Terry Pratchett - Night Watch (my favorite Discworld book of all time)
Colleen McCullough - The First Man in Rome
The Man Who Was Thursday - GK Chesterton

 

[Steven]

1984 - George Orwell
1984 - George Orwell
1984 - George Orwell
1984 - George Orwell
1984 - George Orwell

 

[Eejit]

Spoiler

Everybody was dead by the end. It was depressing. Admit it.

Spoiler

Borza et al were working for the religious fanatics. The Mind and the Special Circumstances agent survive.
Against a Dark Background is far more depressing imo.

And guys you can't name series' of books as an individual favourite, that's cheating.

 

[Darkside55]

By 'books' are we limited to only the written word only? Because if graphic novels are permissible my top books ever are Alice First and Second. Assuming ONLY written novels:

1. The Redemption of Althalus - David and Leigh Eddings
2. Hudson Hawk - Geoffrey Marsh
3. The Halfling's Gem - R.A. Salvatore
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
5. Stormrider - David Gemmel

 

[Narvi]

Spoiler

Borza et al were working for the religious fanatics. The Mind and the Special Circumstances agent survive.
Against a Dark Background is far more depressing imo.

Spoiler

She commits suicide later. Anyway, the whole book was about building up this character, giving him hopes and dreams, then taking them away. How does this not depress you? He got the girl pregnant, for crying out loud! And then the girl died! And then there's a chance he commited suicide! As a character piece, it was horrendously depressing Hell, the Culture would have won the war anyway, even if Horza had succeeded.

 

[Sulkdodds]

1. Lord Jim or Heart of Darkness or Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. I CAN'T DECIDE
2. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban.

I don't know about the rest yet. Maybe Tristam Shandy.

 

[watermonster]

Terry Pratchett - Night Watch (my favorite Discworld book of all time)

YES. Yes, yes, and yes.

I'd put the whole Discworld Night Watch on the list, really.
I haven't read too many varied literature, so my list is really small so far. I've started reading Stephen King (Carrie!), I might be getting a favourite from there.

1) Terry Pratchett - Night Watch
2) Isaac Asimov - I, Asimov (memoirs)

 

[Pesmerga]

The Fan Fiction and Reading (Books, Mags & Comics) forum rules are a bit dated, it seems.

 

[kupocake]

Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, Ragtime.

Not sure on an exact order.

 

[theotherguy]

1. Ender's Game (series)- Orson Scott Card
2. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?- Phillip K. Dick
3. The Blind Watchmaker- Richard Dawkins
4. Hyperion
5. Isaac Asimov's Robot Visions

 

[Jintor]

1. The Redemption of Althalus - David and Leigh Eddings

I will be honest with you good sir... enjoyable that book is, but a favorite-list maker it is not.

Eddings is wonderfully, wonderfully generic. Enjoyable, but generic.

 

[Laivasse]

I will be honest with you good sir... enjoyable that book is, but a favorite-list maker it is not.

I really hated The Redemption of Althalus I figured I should try out some Eddings and the synopsis of TRoA sounded great, but I just couldn't get into it at all. Gave up on checking out Eddings as a result... Oh well, horses for courses.

My top 5:

1. Weaveworld by Clive Barker.
I generally don't like many of his books, especially when he attempts to be shocking, but Weaveworld is just superb. Love it.

2. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge.
Vinge is big on Technological Singularity hypothesizing. What AFUtD is is the idea of technological singularity extrapolated to a galactic stage. A little weak on characterisation, but the concept just utterly blew my mind.

3&4. Quicksilver and The Confusion by Neal Stephenson.
These are the first and second books of the Baroque Cycle trilogy. Truly mind expanding historical fiction. No books have been more enlightening for me in terms of historical insight, helping me to understand trade and currency and helping to attach personalities to historical personages (even though much of that latter part is completely made up by Stephenson) - all while being extremely funny. The only reason I haven't included the 3rd book (The System of the World) is because I haven't read it yet.

5. Um...I guess Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.
Wth, everyone loves Good Omens.

 

[Jintor]

Oh shit, i forgot to post Good Omens. I already have both PTerry and Gaiman on the list though.

 

[15357]

1. 1984 - George Orwell. I just love this book. I must have read it a dozen times.

2. Of Men and Soldiers

3. The God Delusion, 'nuff said.

4. Animal Farm

5. Hmm.... I dunno, maybe Storm of Steel?

 

[Dodo]

1. Jurassic Park FTW

2. The lost World

3. generic "Aliens" comic

4. generic "Aliens" comic

5. generic "Aliens" comic

 

[Polaris]

Stephen Hawking - A Brief History of Time
Lewis Carol - Through the Looking-Glass
Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene
Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park

 

[Acepilotf14]

James A. Michener - Hawaii
George Orwell- 1984
Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles
Lois Lowry - The Giver
John Steinbeck- Of Mice and Men

 

[Lambda]

Hmmm, seems a lot of people have read 1984. Better check it out later. Anyway:

1. Of Mice and Men
2. Timeline
3. Game of Thrones
4. The Silmarillion
5. The Illiad

Great Expectations

That "classic" gave me a headache.;(

 

[Jintor]

I'll be honest: i didn't like 1984. I preferred Animal Farm.

 

[Warbie]

The Amtrak Wars (series) by Patrick Tilley.
The Fionavar Tapestry (series) by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett.

 

[repiV]

The Amtrak Wars (series) by Patrick Tilley.

Shit, I just looked that up on Google cos it sounded interesting.
There was this book I remember reading like 10 years ago, in an underground civilisation and this dude trained to fly onto the "overground". And then he had to "bite the arrow" to be accepted amongst the Mutes.
Could never remember for the life of me what it was called, though.

That's the one, right?

 

[Warbie]

That's the one, right?

Yeh, that's it Great series of books.

 

[Gray Fox]

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Freakonomics - Steven Levitt

 

[kupocake]

That "classic" gave me a headache.;(

The only reason a Dickens book would give anyone a headache is if they're reading the typically small text that most editions are published with. Great Expectations is a pretty straightforward book. And about half the size of everything else he wrote!

Or you could just watch the South Park version. It's pretty faithful.

 

[Darkside55]

I will be honest with you good sir... enjoyable that book is, but a favorite-list maker it is not.

Eddings is wonderfully, wonderfully generic. Enjoyable, but generic.

Enjoyability is what makes the list. "Althalus" is one of the few books I'll reread rather than shelve forever; most of the things on my list are. That's what makes them favorites to me: will I ever bother to read this book again, cover to cover?

Whether it's generic or not (which I personally don't feel it is) never factors into it. I could read something imaginative and new but unless it's thoroughly, consistently engrossing I'll stick it in my library after I'm done with it and never touch it again. Whereas something like Redemption of Althalus I can read a hundred times over and never feel bored of it. That's a favorite.

 

[Warbie]

I must admit I have a soft spot for Eddings. There's plenty of fantasy writers that write better books, but he's the king of easy reading.

 

[Jintor]

Enjoyability is what makes the list. "Althalus" is one of the few books I'll reread rather than shelve forever; most of the things on my list are. That's what makes them favorites to me: will I ever bother to read this book again, cover to cover?

Whether it's generic or not (which I personally don't feel it is) never factors into it. I could read something imaginative and new but unless it's thoroughly, consistently engrossing I'll stick it in my library after I'm done with it and never touch it again. Whereas something like Redemption of Althalus I can read a hundred times over and never feel bored of it. That's a favorite.

I reread almost all of my books, so I guess my favorites list is the ones I re-read more. And I've only re-read Edding's books around four times, because after the first time I just started being able to spot the gaping flaws in his writing.

I gotta admit though that he's really really good and easy reading, like Warbie said.

 

[theotherguy]

The Amtrak Wars (series) by Patrick Tilley.

I wikied that, and it actually sounds pretty awesome, I might check it out.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Catch-22
Use of Weapons
Angela Carter
Joseph Conrad
1599
Bleak House
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Tristam Shandy
His Dark Materials
+ Riddley Walker
Everything Ever by Joseph Conrad

There is no way I'm going to be able to arrange this into a top 5. I shall stop here.

 

[dfc05]

This will probably change up in the future as I read more books, but for now...

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
I also liked The Pearl and Of Mice and Men so it's hard to decide between them, bleh.

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Because it's just packed full of awesomeness.

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Wonderful tale, surprised this hasn't made it onto anyone else's lists.

A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
Most depressing book I've read... As I Lay Dying comes kinda close but in a more "wow, that's disturbing" way. A Scanner Darkly made me want to just lay in my room staring at the walls.

 

[Seppo]

1. dragonlance
2. lord of the rings