I know that Sci Fi and Fantasy has been discussed in an unrelated thread but with the current trend for fave posts I thought I would post favourite books.
PS on this one you are only allowed one. Which means I am off to think about it and will amend this post later.
At the moment cannot get my head past The Bridge by Iain Banks. Not a bad choice though if I do say so myself.
Should set myself such tight restrictions especially when I cannot come up with just 5 in other people's posts - smacks of a bit of hypocrisy
(http://bestsmileys.com/hitting/2.gif)
My favourite book is "Dibs - In Search of Self" by Virginia M. Axline. It's wonderful.
My favourite books are (I never do what I'm told!):
'Conversations with my Gardener' by Henri Cueco
'Moominpappa at Sea' by Tove Jansson
If allowed only one I would go for a Book of Stamps!
Mmmmm, think I'll have to go for "101 best one line jokes "....... ;), but can't pin point one author, too many I like!
Lottie ;D
im sure there have been threads just like this one? but instead music and films.... or just my imagination??
not a big book person, but i recommend any book by bill bryson especially notes from a small island, one of the only books ive found myself reading every free moment, as the cover says: not a book that should be read in public, for fear of emitting loud snorts. and you really do!
Michael Morpurgo writes some fab childrens books that make good grown up reading as well.
Private Peaceful is very good.
If I had to choose just one book it would be Pride and Prejudice
Something I can read over and over again
The World According to Garp - John Irving
Waterland by Graham Swift - so brilliant.
Haven't got one particular favourite. If you'd said Author, I would have to go for Bernard Cornwell. My favourite of his are the 'Sharpe' series of which there are 19 books (I've got the lot) and each one is every bit as good as the one before.
Hmmm, I've just picked up a Bernard Cornwell book, a mediaeval story about the Holy Grail. Don't have the book to hand, so can't remember the title. Not got into it properly yet, but it seems a good story so far. Another writer that I have found interesting, is Umberto Eco. His most well known novel is The Name of The Rose, which was also made into a film. I have also read several Richard Bach books recently, which have presented alternative ways of viewing life, the universe and everything. Pleasant escapism, but thought provoking at the same time.
I don't think I actually have a favourite book, as it is new material that draws me on. I rarely read books more than once . . .
Derekthefox :D
Quote from: Derekthefox on September 05, 2005, 11:15:07
Hmmm, I've just picked up a Bernard Cornwell book, a mediaeval story about the Holy Grail. Don't have the book to hand, so can't remember the title. Not got into it properly yet, but it seems a good story so far.
Derekthefox :D
That'll be one from The Grail Quest Series, only two books so far, so it's either Harlequin or Vagabond both great stories. Can't wait for the next one.
Thomas Sharp Wilt so funny but not really a big book reader oh and i love Harry Potter
Dibber,
I have enjoyed the Wilt books too, particularly since I work in a college and can see the humour from inside . . .
I have read all the Harry Potter books, my family are sworn addicts, but found the last story less satisfying, some elements seemed to lack depth. However, I have to agree that it is good entertaining stuff.
I used to enjoy reading maps, now I enjoy reading music . . .
Derekthefox :D
Quote from: Twospot Ladybird on September 05, 2005, 12:01:45
That'll be one from The Grail Quest Series, only two books so far, so it's either Harlequin or Vagabond both great stories. Can't wait for the next one.
Just checked now I am home, Vagabond it is. I just picked the book up in a charity shop as some interesting holiday reading, it just did'nt get read . . .
Derekthefox :D
I'm an avid reader but can remember being introduced to the books of Derek Tangye (about 30 years ago now) - who wrote about his life on a remote Cornish flower farm in Cornwall with his wife Jeannie....
I was given my first one on my very first holiday in The Mounts Bay area of Cornwall and from that moment on....just had to read them all....they included titles like
'Cottage on The Cliff'.....'Gull on the Roof'.....'The Winding Road'
sadly both Jeannie & Derek have now 'passed on' but their books, which are still available thru Amazon are a delight and make enjoyable 'light reading'
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
I picked it up cheap a couple of years ago because I'd heard of it and thought it sounded interesting...it isn't, it's astounding. So incredibly written and juicy and subtle and action packed and emotional and everything you could want from a book and that's just in the first couple of chapters. Well worth the £1.50 I paid for it.
M.
That is definitely one for my 'must read' list then . . .
Thanks Maddy
Derekthefox :D
I can't decide between Pride and Prejudice and Lord of the Rings for absolute fave, have read both numerous times.
Sorry to break the rules Redclanger, but need to give honourable mentions to Magician by Raymond E Feist, The Harry Potters, The Liveship series by Robyn Hobb, and I also love Vanity Fair by Thackery. Really liked the Da Vinci code too.
ONE favourite book???!!! You've got to be kidding! :o :o :o
I have a list of about 100 favourite books!
However, one of my favourite authors has his own website, so I'll choose The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, just so I can give you a link to some reviews of it:
http://www.jasperfforde.com/review/reviewsall.html
um...
Probably "Blue Beard" by Kurt Vonnegut. Pretty much all of Vonnegut's book end up in my favourite's list. Also love by him "The Sirens of Titan", "Timequake", "Good Bless you Mr Rosewater"...
Also love the books of Philip K Dick.
Mostly at the moment I'm reading non-fiction, particularly about anthropology.
Just one!
:o
An old favourite then. It has resided on the small 'specials' shelf for many, many years - nestling amid an eclectic bunch of fellows.... as I recall, it starts something like this:
...The vibrating clangour from the four great piston engines set teeth on edge and made an intolerable assault upon cringing eardrums. The decibel-level, Smith calculated, must have been about that found in a boiler factory, whilst the shaking cold in that cramped, instrument-crowded flight-deck was positively Siberian in nature. On balance, he reflected, he would have gone for the Siberian boiler factory any time, since, whatever its drawbacks, it wasn't liable to fall out of the sky or crash into a mountainside, which in his present circumstances seemed a likely enough, if not imminent contingency, for all that the pilot of their Lancaster bomber appeared to care to the contrary...
Smith, Schaffer, a triple-cross, the Bavarian Alps, Schloss Adler, cable-cars, a wickedly dry turn of phrase... and Alistair MacLean creates an adventure story that for me has never lost its lustre.
'Where Eagles Dare'
Thanks everyone - that's my reading list sorted out for the next twelve months 8) ;D
Janine McMullen "The Wind In the Ash Tree" about her smallholding in Wales.
Jack Kerouac: anything by him...how can anyone try to write the sound of the sea???????
Wuthering Heights..I read it every Christmas.
Quote from: katynewbie on September 09, 2005, 01:18:40
Janine McMullen "The Wind In the Ash Tree" about her smallholding in Wales.
Jack Kerouac: anything by him...how can anyone try to write the sound of the sea???????
Wuthering Heights..I read it every Christmas.
Have to agree with you on Kerouac - especially On the Road and Dr Sax.
Gadfium Where Eagles Dare - Fantastic :)
Speaking of Wilt. I went to visit my old man in hospital where he'd got to have eye surgery. When I got there he was unconscious as he'd had his op. I had about two hours to wait for a bus so I got this Wilt book out me bag. I sat there reading it and I was trying to stifle my snorts and guffaws (as the ward was full of sick folk) Anyway I was trying to control my splutters, and tears of laughter streaming down my face, when the ward sister came down to console me as she thought I was crying for my poor dear husband laid in bed out cold ;D