Best book you've read?

[wild&precious life]

So, what is the best book you have ever read? You know, the one book that you will never ever forget reading. The one book that perhaps changed your life? I need some good recommendations. I haven't read anything good in a while and am looking for some good recommendations. Thanks in advance.
Leslie

[Avonlea]

1. The Color Purple

2. The Grapes of Wrath

3. 1984

4. The Long Winter

5. Rilla of Ingleside.

[Avonlea]

Also, 6. Gone With the Wond. Much, Much better than the movie, although I love the movie as well.

[Aura_Kitten]

ohhhh i'm such an avid reader, honestly. it's hard to pick!!

but overall.... i'd say my top few:

1. Brave New World (hands-down, this one changed my life)
2. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 (tie for 2nd place )
3. A Prayer for Owen Meany
4. The Fourth Hand

also...
5. Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (non-fiction) -- i consider this a should-read / must-read for everyone (or at least everyone in America)
6. The Stand (the only book of Stephen King's that i feel comfortable recommending to EVERYONE )


ok ok i'll stop there....... .............. maybe........ :

[JessicaS]

To Kill a MockingBird

[terrordactyl]

the red tent
i loved harry potter
alas babylon
anything by janette Oak
many more i can't think of right off the top of my head

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Originally Posted by abimommy

To Kill a MockingBird

ITA

I guess I have to ask, how big are posts allowed to be. I am a bibliophile with an out of control bibliobido.

But, some of the best books I have ever read are, in no particular order:
*Bag of Bones by Stephen King
*The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
*The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
*The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
*Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
*The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery by Wendy Moore
*Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx
*The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
*Beowulf
*The Alienist by Caleb Carr
*Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden
*Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945 by Stephen E. Ambrose
*Dracula by Bram Stoker
*Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
*In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequence by Truman Capote
*In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
*The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
*Lord of the Flies by William Golding
*The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
*Moby-Dick, or, the Whale by Herman Melville
*The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
*Psycho by Robert Bloch
*The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
*The Shining by Stephen King
*Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
*Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
*Watchers by Dean R. Koontz

... and that's just for starters...

[kwilki8]

I have a pretty lengthy list too, but here are a few that really stand out to me

Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Hamlet
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L'Engle
Beloved by Toni Morrison
and, ditto To Kill a Mockingbird

[wild&precious life]

I loved Beowulf, especially the translation by Seamus Haney. But I love Grendel by John Gardner even more. It's the story from the monsters point of view. I think, to answer my own question, Grendel would be the most important book I've read so far. Although Brave New World is a close second.

[mamalisa]

NewCrunchyDaddy, I loved The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. It was so wonderfully written and set the tone of the times and setting perfectly.

I'll come back with my list!

[NewCrunchyDaddy]

Originally Posted by wild&precious life

I loved Beowulf, especially the translation by Seamus Haney. But I love Grendel by John Gardner even more. It's the story from the monsters point of view. I think, to answer my own question, Grendel would be the most important book I've read so far. Although Brave New World is a close second.

I'm studying Beowulf (Heaney's translation) in my Brit Lit class right now, and I think I've decided that I want to go on to graduate work and study Anglo-Saxon Literature mostly because I want to be able to read Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon it was written in.

Originally Posted by mamalisa

NewCrunchyDaddy, I loved The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. It was so wonderfully written and set the tone of the times and setting perfectly.

Have you picked up his new one, Thunderstruck? I got it for Christmas and am about 80 pages into it right now - just as good as Devil.

[wild&precious life]

Originally Posted by NewCrunchyDaddy

I'm studying Beowulf (Heaney's translation) in my Brit Lit class right now, and I think I've decided that I want to go on to graduate work and study Anglo-Saxon Literature mostly because I want to be able to read Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon it was written in.

I want to learn German so I can read Rilke in the original language. Or at least have someone read it to me in German.

[wild&precious life]

Originally Posted by Aura_Kitten

1. Brave New World (hands-down, this one changed my life)

This one definitely made me think!!

[***Heather***]

Cahoots! I accidentally closed my window! I'll try to rewrite my post...


Favourite books:
The Greatest Spiritual Secret of the Century
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Poisonwood Bible (deep and depressing but good)
Ishmael & My Ishmael
Harry Potter series
Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit (read The Hobbit as a class in 5th grade, it was one of the books that started my reading craze)
Lord of the Flies (it's been awhile, should reread!)
Tomorrow when the war began(read this as a teen, totally opened my eyes/made me think about life differently. Looked for a link and found out there's a WHOLE SERIES! My library has totally cheated me on this one. Why can't they buy sets!
Diary of Anne Frank
His Dark Materials trilogy (can't believe they're making this into a movie!)

Great books, but don't necessarily fall into the 'change my life' category:
Anne of Green Gables
Little House on the Prairie
Dean Koontz books (esp. The Taking)
Gone with the Wind
Clan of the Cave Bear series (SO interesting!)
Where the Heart Is
Zion Chronicles

I know there are more, just can't think of any.

[***Heather***]

Originally Posted by Shaina

the red tent
i loved harry potter
alas babylon
anything by janette Oak
many more i can't think of right off the top of my head

I have a *ton* of her books! I've never heard of anyone else reading them! I used to get them as gifts from my grandparents. I have the Love Comes Softly series, Seasons of the Heart, a bunch of the Women of the west books (misc stories). They're sweet books to relax with. I reread them when I'm feeling stressed. Quick read, not trashy and they all live happily ever after. Plus I just like reading about pioneer times.

Good to hear someone else enjoys them too!

[swimswamswum]

Hmmm.

White Teeth
Love in the Time of Cholera
1984
Handmaiden's Tale
The Catcher in the Rye
Love Medicine
The Bluest Eye
How to be Good
The Color Purple
Harry Potter
100 years of solitude
To Kill a Mockingbird

[merpk]

The OP asks for one book. I don't know if I could pick just one. But "To Kill a Mockingbird" does come close.



"The Chosen" was also very special to me for many many years.




But as an avid (and if I may say so, quite prolific) reader, it's hard to give a single best. But these are two of the those that stay with me the most.

[ColoradoMama]

Some of my faves:
The Stand
Night by Elie Wiesel
To Kill a Mockingbird
Phantom of the Opera

[Roo_Online]

East of Eden was a favorite of mine for years.

A few years ago I was on a kick to read classics. I read Ivanhoe, Robinson Crusoe, Three Musketeers, Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights. I can't say they changed my life, but they were very satisfying reads.

And for much ighter fare, I love David Sedaris' books. I laugh every time I read them.

[Imvishta]

I've been out of school for a long time, so a lot of the books other posters mentioned I really enjoyed, but aren't with me anymore, KWIM?

One book I really enjoyed was White Oleander (forget the movie; don't even bother), by Janet Fitch. I felt like I really got to know the Astrid and wanted to know what happened to her after the book ended. If you had a really narcissitic mother you might identify with this character.

I felt the same way recently when I watched Brokeback Mountain. I want to know what Ennis is doing now! And, I'd love to read the collection of stories from which the film was taken: Close Range : Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx.

On a completely different note... Bill Bryson is hilarious! He's found in the travel section, but really his books are just collections of or one long personal essay on a particular place. I'm a Stranger Here Myself is one you almost must read aloud and laugh the whole time.

As far as The Stand... I know people really enjoy that book, but I found it sooooo depressing for some reason. And, it seemed sooooo repetitive. But, after reading about 500+ pages I felt compelled to finish the whole book. That's the way it is with books, though. I'm sure there are others who hated the ones I loved.

I will add To Kill a Mockingbird. Great voice there.

Anyone read Running with Scissors? Should I read it or see the movie, or both?