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Five Favorite Books

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sunvalleylaw

sunvalleylaw

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Facebook had another top 5 thing going on and I saw that one of our other fretters had answered it. So I did too. These are the ones I listed off the top of my head.

The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien
To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey
The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury, and
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain/Clemens

I am enjoying the Dark Tower series, but I am not ready to say it supplants one of the above yet. What are your five? :)
 
Good thread Steve. I will limit myself to one each from Tolkien and King.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
It - Stephen King
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
 
Rocket said:
"The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge", "A Separate Reality", "Journey to Ixtlan", et al. - by Carlos Casteneda
Colossus Trilogy ["Colossus: The Forbin Project", "The Fall of Colossus", "Colossus and the Crab"] - by D.F. Jones
"Shadowland" - by Peter Straub
Click to expand...

I might have to check those out, they look good.

Of the books I've read in the last few years:

Guns, Germs and Steel / The Third Chimpanzee - Jared Diamond
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Short Stories - Shiga Naoya
Moomin series books (Japanese translated version) - Tove Jansson
The Moomin novels are essentially for kids, but they're highly imaginative, a good read.
 
1 Hop on pop
2 Green eggs and ham
3 Cat in the hat
4 One fish two fish red fish blue fish
5 There's a wocket in my pocket
 
Too many books to choose the top 5 really. As I am going to work by train, I read - constantly!
Two outstanding books among the last two years were:

Il Gattopardo - Tomasi Di Lampedusa (I have read this in its original Italian version)

The year of living biblically - A.J. Jacobs - a fantastic adventure, a real story

The other topps change from time to time, such as Dan Brown's and Simon Beckett's novels.
 
I read a lot and try to balance the pulp with the more intellectually stimulating to slow down my brain turning to mush .

Catch 22 by Joeseph Heller
Foucault`s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
Hitler My Part In His Downfall by Spike Milligan.

Maybe you should start a thread on books you`ve read but failed to understand and finish .
 
There are too many to list a Top 5, but my all-time favorite is a short read called:

Illusions, by Richard Bach

If you haven't read it, I highly suggest it. I've never read another book like it. Might be life changing - will certainly open up a new way of looking at life. :AOK:
 
i simply can't do that, i've read too much. i was a communications/journalism major, then an english lit major, before i went to law school.

same if you asked me my five favorite movies.

so i thought really hard and came up with some authors.

tolkien

stephen king [specifically lisey's story, the stand, the dark tower series, and the talisman, which was written with straub]

steinbeck... [grapes of wrath, of mice and men] [faulkner always gave me a headache]

c.s. lewis

the works of e e cummings... as a poet, he spoke to me. i know that's not a book, but i'm treating this topic openly. :)
 
For me, and keeping in mind that these were major books in subtle ways, that ended up teaching me things about life and myself.

Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand

Shogun - James Clavel

In his own write - John Lennon

Cities in Flight - James Blish

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance,,,,,

Steve
 
Good ones Steve! Ok folks, keep 'em coming. They don't have to be strictly all time favorites or anything, just 5 you really like. Seems a good way to get some good summer reading ideas.
 
Here's some good stuff I've read in the last couple of years. I'll do a music-related list and a general one.

Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music by Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain
Guitar: An American Life by Tim Brookes
Guitar Man: A Six-String Odyssey, or, You Love that Guitar More than You Love Me by Will Hodgkinson


Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford
 
Rocket said:
"The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge", "A Separate Reality", "Journey to Ixtlan", et al. - by Carlos Casteneda
Click to expand...
et al. ? Man, I stopped after the first three: great stories but I never did get my Jr Shaman badge.

Geraint Jones said:
Foucault`s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Click to expand...
Nice to see Eco on the list. Have you read The Island of the Day Before?

It's nothing like Foucault's Pendulum, but I think that it's a great book.

Ro3b said:
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Click to expand...
Kavalier & Clay is a great story. Are any of his others any good? I've only read this one.

I found Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell a fun read, but somehow forgettable.
 
tot_Ou_tard said:
Kavalier & Clay is a great story. Are any of his others any good? I've only read this one.
Click to expand...

I read Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union a couple of years ago and thought it was quite good.
 
+1. You might not think a detective story set in a Jewish exile community in Alaska would keep you up at night reading, but it definitely will.
 
Nice to see Eco on the list. Have you read The Island of the Day Before?

It's nothing like Foucault's Pendulum, but I think that it's a great book.
Click to expand...

Thirteen years ago I took a year off work and went off on an extended holiday around Australia,NZ and a chunk of SE Asia , in my rucksack for the trip I packed The Island of the Day Before . I lugged that book around for the whole trip , now that should go on my list of failed to understand/finish , I did try but it was to much for me .I was too tight to throw the book away in fact its in my book case now as a reminder of my failure .
 
I lugged "Anna Karenina" around on a senior year college vacation in the US Virgin Islands. I even used it as a pillow when we had to sleep in the FLA airport on a layover at the end of the trip because we did not save enough money for a hotel room. :D :rotflmao: I still have that copy, and though I was able to write an excellent paper that got me a good grade based on the lectures without even finishing the book, I will re-read it one of these days. The short story Master and Man remains my favorite Tolstoy, although I very much enjoyed all I learned from my study of, if not complete reading of, Anna Karenina
Geraint Jones said:
Thirteen years ago I took a year off work and went off on an extended holiday around Australia,NZ and a chunk of SE Asia , in my rucksack for the trip I packed The Island of the Day Before . I lugged that book around for the whole trip , now that should go on my list of failed to understand/finish , I did try but it was to much for me .I was too tight to throw the book away in fact its in my book case now as a reminder of my failure .
Click to expand...
 
I used to read much more. In the last 20 years or so, with a wife and kids I've really slacked off.

This is just a jumble of different things. Some were actually my favorites, although I've forgotten many of them over the years. Some I read fairly recently and so still remember that I enjoyed them.

Revenge of the Lawn - Richard Brautigan
- I must have read this short book more than 50 times from 1970 to 1990. But if you know this book you will know it is a very quick read

In a sunburned country - Bill Bryson
- Funny as hell and informative

Something like an autobiography - Akira Kurosawa
- I read it many years ago, and recently picked it off my bookshelf and read it again
 
Ro3b said:
+1. You might not think a detective story set in a Jewish exile community in Alaska would keep you up at night reading, but it definitely will.
Click to expand...

I read a lot of books in audiobook format because I have chronic migraine issues and sometimes I can't physically read too much or it gives me terrible headaches, but I am too avid a reader to just not read. The audiobook for The Yiddish Policeman's Union was read by Peter Reigert (who many of you may know from his performance as Boone in Animal House). It was a great reading and really got me hooked on the story.

I finished it in two days and then later read it again in physical book form. Great story. I still haven't read any other of Chabon's books but there are a couple on my list to pick up at some point. If that book is indicative of his style, I think I'll enjoy the rest of his stuff as well.

As an American Jew myself, I found the concept of a Jewish exile community in Alaska fascinating. I first learned about the book listening to a Fresh Air interview with Chabon and it was that concept that made me check the book out.

Good to know other people liked it too.

Tot, looking forward to your thoughts if you wind up reading it. Long days and pleasant nights. :)
 
When I was in high school I took an AP (advanced placement) English class my senior year. I picked Dostoevsky for my presentation. I read Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot and a few of his short stories. The Brothers Karamazov was brutal: I divided the total number of pages in the book by the time that I had to read it and forced myself to read a set amount of pages per day. I never would have gotten through it had I not done this.

My all-time favorites are:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
The Battle Circle Trilogy by Piers Anthony
War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle

L'Engle is probably my favorite author. I've read just about every book of fiction she had written. I also have signed copies of the two aforementioned books.

I also really enjoyed the Golden Compass series by Philip Pullman and Breakfast with Buddha by Rolland Merullo.

tung


sunvalleylaw said:
I lugged "Anna Karenina" around on a senior year college vacation in the US Virgin Islands. I even used it as a pillow when we had to sleep in the FLA airport on a layover at the end of the trip because we did not save enough money for a hotel room. :D :rotflmao: I still have that copy, and though I was able to write an excellent paper that got me a good grade based on the lectures without even finishing the book, I will re-read it one of these days. The short story Master and Man remains my favorite Tolstoy, although I very much enjoyed all I learned from my study of, if not complete reading of, Anna Karenina
Click to expand...
 
Tung, your list on Facebook was what prompted this thread. I enjoyed "A Wrinkle in Time" very much way back when, but forgot all about it. I will have to pull it from the library and re-read it. I never read "The War of the Worlds" but I bet it is good.

P.S. The same russian lit prof that was instructing us in Tolstoy also taught us about Dostoevsky. I agree, it was brutal. He was just too dark for me. Tolstoy was long winded, but I could get into the characters better.
 
A Wrinkle in Time is my favorite book. Its awkward adolescent characters really spoke to me, having been an awkward adolescent myself. It was the first YA (young adult) book. If you get a chance to re-read it, let me know what you think.

War of the Worlds is good too. Wells predicted many things that only occurred decades later: space travel and lasers for example. His other books are good too: The Invisible Man and The Time Machine.

Yes, those Russian authors are dark. And very long winded as well. :D

tung


sunvalleylaw said:
Tung, your list on Facebook was what prompted this thread. I enjoyed "A Wrinkle in Time" very much way back when, but forgot all about it. I will have to pull it from the library and re-read it. I never read "The War of the Worlds" but I bet it is good.

P.S. The same russian lit prof that was instructing us in Tolstoy also taught us about Dostoevsky. I agree, it was brutal. He was just too dark for me. Tolstoy was long winded, but I could get into the characters better.
Click to expand...
 
I read both The Invisible Man and Time Machine around the time I read A Wrinkle in Time. I also felt a bit awkward during pre-adolescent and adolescent years, til I made peace with it and myself at about 16.5-17 so I know what you mean.
 
tunghaichuan said:
A Wrinkle in Time is my favorite book.
Click to expand...

:AOK:
I loved that series of books. I already have a copy waiting for Ella.

Speaking of favorite childhood books, mine is The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
 
I re-read it pretty often as well and you're right, it's still as good as it ever was.

Did you ever see the film which was directed (in part) by Chuck Jones? It could have been better, but it's not bad. It stars Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) as Milo. Incidentally, we named our cat Milo after the boy in the book. :D
 
I didn't know there was a film, thanks for the heads up. :AOK:

tung


R_of_G said:
I re-read it pretty often as well and you're right, it's still as good as it ever was.

Did you ever see the film which was directed (in part) by Chuck Jones? It could have been better, but it's not bad. It stars Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) as Milo. Incidentally, we named our cat Milo after the boy in the book. :D
Click to expand...
 
It's only available on VHS but some people still have VCR's, right?

They actually aired it a few weeks ago on Turner Classic Movies so I was able to record it to my DVR.
 
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - Douglas Adams
"Slaughterhouse 5" - Kurt Vonnegut
"Heavy Weather" - P.G. Wodehouse
"Ishmael" - Daniel Quinn
"Post Office" - Charles Bukowski

I'm going to regret this list a bit later when I think of other stuff that deserves more to be up there.
 

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