Best book you've ever read?

[AngloDoom]

Although I've read a lot of books considered 'good Literature', my all-time favourite still has to be His Dark Materials. Something about it being aimed at a younger audience, the plot gradually becoming more mature as the pages turn, has really stuck with me since I first read it - especially since I was the same age as that characters on the first reading. Although there are better written books and books that delve more deeply into similar subject matters, it's the first book I'd read with so much depth and impact.

EDIT -

This is one of those questions to which my answer changes based on my mood. At this moment it'd probably have to be the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. This is largely due to my age and mental development when I was first reading the trilogy, but even going back now I love it. It combines a somewhat childish fantasy adventure with commentary on the nature of religion and existence with more than a few nods towards theoretical physics. It also describes the most beautiful worlds.

Massively ninja'd, just add all that I'd said to this post.

Interesting how we both read it young and it affected us because of our age, though.

 

[lacktheknack]

The "The Portable Poe", which contains ludicrous amounts of Edgar Allan Poe in one small-ish book, or "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which is pretty much the book that defined my sense of humor.

EDIT: WOO POST 22222!

 

[Sandjube]

The Well of Echoes by Ian Irvine, followed by the trilogy that Joe Abercrombie wrote, I can't remember what they're called, up on my bookshelf somewhere. Goooooooooooooood stuff.

 

[Buffoon1980]

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

If you've only read (or heard of) her other big book Atlas Shrugged and hated it, I still recommend The Fountainhead. It's more about the personal, individual side of Rand's controversial view of life.

 

[VladG]

It's hard to pick one definitive winner, but it would probably be A Song of Ice and Fire

Excellent characters, some of the most realistic, well rounded, believable and relatable I've ever read. A fascinating world, both familiar and exciting to explore and a great setting to a great plot.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Although I've read a lot of books considered 'good Literature', my all-time favourite still has to be His Dark Materials. Something about it being aimed at a younger audience, the plot gradually becoming more mature as the pages turn, has really stuck with me since I first read it - especially since I was the same age as that characters on the first reading. Although there are better written books and books that delve more deeply into similar subject matters, it's the first book I'd read with so much depth and impact.

EDIT -

This is one of those questions to which my answer changes based on my mood. At this moment it'd probably have to be the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. This is largely due to my age and mental development when I was first reading the trilogy, but even going back now I love it. It combines a somewhat childish fantasy adventure with commentary on the nature of religion and existence with more than a few nods towards theoretical physics. It also describes the most beautiful worlds.

Massively ninja'd, just add all that I'd said to this post.

Interesting how we both read it young and it affected us because of our age, though.

I'm not sure I'd call it my favourite, but the same goes for me. I was the same age as Will and Lyra when I read them and they really stuck with me. It was simultaneously so imaginative, yet so grounded. Dark and mature, but easy for a kid to read. It was probably the first story I encountered - in any medium - which was more than just a story. Where the themes and allusions made me think more deeply about life.

I'd say the HDM trilogy is up there, but right now I'd have to say either The Mysterious Stranger or 1984 are my favourites.

 

[Cerebrawl]

As someone who has literally read thousands of fantasy and sci-fi books(at least up in the one thousand and more), my favorite book is still a bit of pulpy action/horror b-movie style fun named Monster Hunter International, by Larry Correia.

For a more serious, and thought provoking series of good literature, I'll probably have to give the award to Tale of the Malazans: Book of the Fallen by Steven Eriksson.

That said it's tough to to really single out the best when you've gone through as many books as I have, especially since it spans a reading period of more than 20 years, and my own knowledge, maturity and taste has changed.

I mean I remember reading Isaac Asimov's entire sci-fi collection of interconnected series and stories as a teenager and liked it because it was so thought provoking, but it's not exactly rivetting literature, it's quite dry, and I'd probably find it boring now. Some books and series I've read I'm afraid to return to in case it breaks the magic, like Robert A Heinlein, William Gibson, Ursula Le Guin or Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis.

I'll throw out some of my favorite authors, aside from above mentioned: George RR Martin, Alastair Reynolds, Ian M Banks, Robbin Hobb, Peter F Hamilton, Peter Watts, Vernor Vinge, Lois McMaster Bujold, Dan Simmons, Raymond E Feist, L E Modesitt jr, JV Jones, Trudi Canavan, Frank Herbert, Greg Bear, Terry Pratchet, Gene Wolfe, Karen Miller, Marko Kloos, Peter Grant, Brian Aldiss, Conn Iggulden, William Duggan, C S Friedman, Charles Stross, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Larry Niven, John Birmingham, Jim Butcher, Mary Doria Russel, Aldous Huxley. I could go on but I ran out of steam a bit.

 

[Zen Bard]

Tough call out the "Best Book I Ever Read" since I'm still a voracious reader and continue to be impressed by the many talented authors out there.

Still, there are a few favorites:

Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock - Read it during my formative freshman year in high school and in a weird way, felt the main character's quest for identity paralleled mine. When I later learned that Mr. Moorcock intentionally set out to create the "Anti-Conan" hero, it all made sense. Here was a wholly unique world not based on European Folklore. It featured a main character who was a frail, sarcastic non-human sorcerer engaged in a battle not between Good and Evil...but Law and Chaos.

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny - An absolutely breathtaking story intentionally written to be read as fantasy or science fiction, a balancing act it accomplishes beautifully. It was also my first introduction to Buddhism. Plus it has one of the most shameless puns in all sci-fi literature.

American Gods by Neal Gaiman - I read this book again and again every few years. The story and characters are all skillfully woven through the mythologies of mankind. It's insightful, informative and just a lot of fun. Only the Gods are real.

Slow Chocolate Autopsy by Iain Sinclair - Read this one recently after encountering the character of "Norton" in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century". The writing style is so unique it's been described as almost incomprehensible. But in a single line, Sinclair can create a level of imagery it would take most authors a page to accomplish. And all the stories are similarly witty and weird.

 

[SerithVC]

Jurassic Park and the Lost World by Michael Crichton. Two books that once i started reading them i just couldn't put them down. Read them both in under a day each. They actually made me want to get up and do something with my life. Then there are the Dragonlance novels, which only the autumn, winter, spring, summer, second generation, dwarven depths, and highlord skies books were really enjoyable for me. Now i have to bring up what may be the two best series of books in my opinion. The Deathgate Cycle (7 Books) and the Tears of Artamon Trilogy. Both series i have a hard time putting down and now i really want to go and read them again lol. Thanks OP, thanks, now there goes another week or two to reading.

 

[OneCatch]

And before anyone gets on my case, I know that Card is a horrible person but I still enjoy his writing and I warn people about his stance on gays before recommending his books to others.

Honestly, I think Card is a seriously... confused individual. His books are laced with characters that are of ambiguous orientation, and the entire second half of the Shadow Saga basically discusses how wonderful it is for people to be self-sacrificing for family and kids (including one celebrated character who is gay and marries a woman for the express purpose of bringing children into the world).

His views are nasty and judgemental, and I don't know enough to claim anything about Card himself. But honestly, having re-read the Ender books since he went full-blown homophobe, I just felt kind of sorry for him. It's like they were written with an apologetic (or at least explanative) subtext.

On topic, Catch-22. The username kind of gives it away. I've not read a better book yet!

 

[Belaam]

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites. Read it at least once a year or so, and have gone through about four copies. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett is also a nearly flawless book.

Non-Fiction, I would say The Invisible Gorilla by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, which discusses ways in which our memories are unreliable and the pairing of Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond and Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Those two should be required reading for high school history classes.

And before anyone gets on my case, I know that Card is a horrible person but I still enjoy his writing and I warn people about his stance on gays before recommending his books to others.

Honestly, I think Card is a seriously... confused individual. His books are laced with characters that are of ambiguous orientation, and the entire second half of the Shadow Saga basically discusses how wonderful it is for people to be self-sacrificing for family and kids (including one celebrated character who is gay and marries a woman for the express purpose of bringing children into the world).

This. I seriously wonder if he is suffering from some sort of neurological degenerative disease. His social messages now seems completely and totally at odds with the message of his writing. The original Ender's Games series is essentially an argument that all sentient beings are worthy of respect regardless of how personally off-putting their societies are, or even if they have hurt humanity in the past. It continually blows my mind that an author whose works promote the humanity of "buggers" and "piggies" doesn't seem to want to consider the humanity of some actual humans.

 

[tangoprime]

I could obviously pick some classic piece, but honestly? Haldeman's The Forever War. Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Both were outstanding and made a big impression, but The Forever War was just outstanding, everything about it was just perfect. Shit, it even wins for how good the ending is despite how bleak the rest of the book is, and how much I thought the downer ending was coming, it surprised me and left me feeling nice.

Seriously, pick that shit up, Hard Scifi doesn't get much better than this one.

Honorable mention: Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

 

[AT God]

When I was in Middle School, which was the last time I relatively read for fun, I read almost everything by Gary Paulsen, who was the guy who wrote the book most people in my city had to read as students called Hatchet. I liked his other books in the series despite them smelling of cash ins. One that he wrote that I still remember vibrantly was the Transal Saga, which was a lot like Far Cry 3 except imagine Jason Brody was a normal guy who instead of being captured, was time travelled to the past, and then helped build up society using future knowledge. And then at the end he gets sent back and he awakes in the middle of a modern city covered in animal skins and crude firearms he helped make.

Another one by Paulsen, I can't remember its name, but it told like 4 distinct stories from different times, and one short story was about a guy in the Korean war who was horrified by the violence but was an excellent shot, and when his base was being shelled by artillery, they found out a Korean child was directing the artillery and only he could make accurately shoot at that distance. (Made sense to me in 6th grade) After he begrudgingly shot the child, they put up another, and then another, and he shot like 30 kids to save his friends, and then killed himself in transit on the way home. It was my first real experience with something that morbid and also similar to the reality of war. I really liked Paulsens books, although I think I would hate them these days since Middle school was a shitty time in my life.

Metro 2033 is the last book I read recreationally and actually enjoyed, I read it after playing the game and ended up liking them both pretty well, I need to get 2034 and hope 2035 actually gets published/translated because I want to see which ending from Last Light the author picks to use as canon.

 

[Folksoul]

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. "The book of revelations in the style of Monty-python." It is beautiful.

 

[Collegeboy21]

I'm going to have to pick a series, and that series is the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Book 12, The Gathering Storm is probably my favorite. The series has some slow spots being as long as it is, but man, The Gathering Storm was just EPIC.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I wouldn't be changed by a work of art, no matter how big or great. I suppose the best story I've ever read, that is often considered to be amazing and philosophical, is Hesse's Siddharta. 'Bout a guy who's discontent with his life, so he leave home. That's pretty much it. He meets people, learns about the different philosophies that he's been raised his entire life to ignore and or be hostile towards. Then he grows old, and dies. Book ends.

 

[Flutterguy]

Much of the works of Alduis Huxley or George Orwell when I was in my teens. Bkth very politically motivated authors with a great amount of insight, atleast they seemed very insightful at the time.

Lately although I have not been reading I've taken to the habit of listening to lectures or books on tape. Manly P Hall i currently my favourite scholar, but he does have a habit of making ' alternate history' based on his religious beliefs I cant qlways buy in to. When he talks of philosophy or human nature though he is spot on.

 

[TheVampwizimp_v1legacy]

I'm going to have to pick a series, and that series is the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. Book 12, The Gathering Storm is probably my favorite. The series has some slow spots being as long as it is, but man, The Gathering Storm was just EPIC.

I'm not sure if I want to call it my personal number 1 favorite, but The Wheel of Time is way up there. I read The Eye of the World about 6 years ago, and of course got drawn in immediately. I read up to the 11th book, Knife of Dreams, then stopped because the last 2 books had yet to be published. Last year, when I heard A Memory of Light had just been released, I began re-reading the series from the beginning. It took me 13 months to read all 14 books, and I finished just last week.

I've never invested so much time into one fictional world before, not even Tolkien and Middle-Earth. After over a year of nothing but The Wheel of Time, I'm now in a bit of a depression. I'll never get to see these characters again, and never experience what else happens in this fantastic world.

If I had to pick one as a favorite, the first one is probably just the very best. Unlike some of the other installments, especially the ones in the middle like Lord of Chaos and The Path of Daggers, The Eye of the World is perfectly paced and never feels like it's longer than it should be. I think it's about the best example of "several unassuming characters take a fantasy journey to save the world" I've ever seen. Like I said, I don't think it's my very favorite thing I've ever read, but I'm finding it hard not to talk about it right now.

I think, on topic, my favorite book is Dune by Frank Herbert. It's hard to pick one for sure, but Dune is something I absolutely adore everything about, and I just like to think about it all the time.

 

[MrFalconfly]

A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking.

 

[Libra]

I would have to go with The Chosen by Chaim Potok. Heartwrenching, but beautiful and relatable as well. It is one of the few books that has ever made me cry.