What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Archinerd »

Jeff V wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:25 am
Archinerd wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 9:46 am
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette - Hampton Sides
Fantastic book, definitely in the top 5 for the year I read it (2-3 years ago), probably in my top 50 of all time.
I read it on your recommendation.
Jeff V wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:25 am
Perdido Street Station - China Miéville
I tried reading him twice but failed (not this book though). His style just did not resonate with me...I don't often abort books without finishing them (even dreadful ones) but his were making my brain bleed.
My guess is this one probably won't change your opinion.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by El Guapo »

1984 - George Orwell
The Big Short - Michael Lewis
Guests of the Ayatollah - Mark Bowden
Dune - Frank Herbert
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller.

The above is the correct list.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by raydude »

I judge my favorite books to be books that I have re-read multiple times and/or will continue to re-read when I don't feel like reading something new, because I like re-visiting that world and I have forgotten the details. With that, my top 5 are:

Dune - Frank Herbert
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Old Man's War - John Scalzi
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by coopasonic »

This thread leads me to wonder if I have read 5 books.

That's a joke. Sometimes, I will read a second book in the same year!

I've found that top X lists are very challenging to me. My opinion tends to be much more binary. Either I like it or I don't. Degrees of like are harder to determine. LIke some people have a ready answer for favorite book, food or movie and I simply don't.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Smoove_B »

Best I can do is list a book no one has provided yet. It's definitely in my top something of something.

What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson.

Don't judge the book if you've only seen the movie. I liked the movie, but as usual,, the book spoke to me first.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Jeff V »

coopasonic wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:20 am
I've found that top X lists are very challenging to me. My opinion tends to be much more binary. Either I like it or I don't. Degrees of like are harder to determine. LIke some people have a ready answer for favorite book, food or movie and I simply don't.
Every year, there's a few books I might give 8 tentacles to, indicating I really, really liked it a lot. I very rarely do reruns in books or movies, so if I remember that I both liked a book (or movie) a lot and can remember why, it's a candidate for an all-time favorite list. If I do re-read or re-watch something and still experience a high degree of enjoyment, that would make it a candidate, too. On my list, 2 of the 5 were read twice.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by El Guapo »

Smoove_B wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:32 am Best I can do is list a book no one has provided yet. It's definitely in my top something of something.

What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson.

Don't judge the book if you've only seen the movie. I liked the movie, but as usual,, the book spoke to me first.
Does the book include Cuba Gooding Jr.?
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Cylus Maxii »

There are so many. Some have already been mentioned like My Side of the Mountain, Dune, Starship Troopers, Pillars of the Earth, The Hobbit, Hyperion, Snow Crash, Time Enough for Love, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Here are a few more from my shelves:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
Midnight at the Well of Souls - Chalker
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Miller
Ranger's Apprentice - Flanagan
Dragon's Egg - Forward
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by xenocide »

It's a tough choice. Like a lot of others have said my list might not contain the "best" books I've read but the ones that have stuck with me whether because of my age when I read them or how much I love them.

Dune - my clear #1. The others on my list are in no particular order but Dune is #1.

Eye of the World - Robert Jordan. Wheel of Time is still easily my favorite fantasy series. While I often consider book 6 to be my "favorite" book in the series, I love book 1 as well and it is the one that started it all. WOT is the most involved I've ever been with books I read. Back in the hay day I was checking wotmania.com on a regular basis, reading forums, reading theories, rereading the entire series with each new book, etc. I don't think I'll ever have quite that whole experience again. Since the completion by Sanderson I've reread them twice and still love them.

Dragonlance 1-3. These are the books that started me reading. Yes, I read a book here and there before I read these, but these are the books that really got me into reading in a serious way. When they were coming out I read every single one I could get my hands on. Most of them I'll never read again but I do revisit the first 3 now and then. Yes there are fantasy tropes and they are designed around selling a D&D campaign setting. But there is some great stuff as well. Raistlin is pretty unique and his relationship with Caramon is great. Flint may be a typical dwarf but his friendship with Taselhoff (who is not typical) is also great. And I consider the death of
Spoiler:
Sturm
to be one of, if not my favorite death scene ever.

Ender's Game - because it's awesome. Ender's Shadow makes it even better.


Can't decide on a 5th right now.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by xenocide »

Archinerd wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:48 am
Jeff V wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:25 am
Perdido Street Station - China Miéville
I tried reading him twice but failed (not this book though). His style just did not resonate with me...I don't often abort books without finishing them (even dreadful ones) but his were making my brain bleed.
My guess is this one probably won't change your opinion.
Mieville can be tough. I differ from a lot of opinions I've seen in that I like Perdido Street Station better than The Scar. The Scar has a ton of cools concepts, ideas, and characters. Unfortunately the book is told from the point of view of a boring character who does almost nothing. I would have liked it much more from Doul's perspective. I think Perdido has a better story than Scar. At the risk of offending a ton of people, I think of The Scar the same way I think of The Big Lebowski. A collection of awesome scenes, characters, and lines. I can watch youtube clips all day long. But the movie as a whole is not that great. Mieville can be the same. Awesome characters, ideas (I mean how cool is the possible sword, awesome concept), and scenes. But the novels as a whole are not always that great.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

YellowKing wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:07 pm
5. Pet Sematary - Stephen King
I cringe every time I see that written.

Or as someone else put it:

But I’ve come to believe that Pet Sematary left me with a deeper scar, a psychic affliction more profound than the one from the flashbacks about the emaciated sister, or from the cat’s multiple deaths, or from “No fair! No fair! No fair!” The damage is in the title itself: Sematary. An obvious misspelling, maybe—most of us probably know the real word starts with a C. But can you spell the rest? It’s not cematary or cemetary. It’s cemetery. And it is a word I will never be able to write with confidence because of my fateful early exposure to King’s gruesome vision (of his characters’ spelling abilities). I have since learned I’m not alone.

....

This horror is real. And it is international. In France, where children should be writing the word as cimetière, posters are telling them it’s Simetierre. In Portugese, it should be properly be written Cemitério, but posters are advertising Samitério de Animais. (Strangely, Germany and Spain seem to be spared. I guess some countries still care about their young people.)

It is a good book though.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Jeff V »

LawBeefaroni wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:41 pm
YellowKing wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:07 pm
5. Pet Sematary - Stephen King
I cringe every time I see that written.

It is a good book though.
It was the first SK book I ever read. I saw the movies of Carrie, The Shining, Dead Zone and I think Cujo and wondered what the fuss was about, as I didn't find any of those movies especially noteworthy (I tend to recall the comedic elements the most - so, "Heeeer's Johnny!" and "Redrum!" from the Shining are the mos memorable from The Shining, for example). I find his books far more interesting though and with Pet Sematary I thought "holy shit, this guy can write!"

Some of his books would appear on a much longer list, although my favorite of his is "On Writing."
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by em2nought »

Les Misérables "abridged" - never did make it to the end of the full version
Captains Courageous
Beau Gueste
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Prisoner of Zenda

I really do need to read "The Dead Zone" since it's my favorite SK movie. Amityville Horror almost made my list but I think it was too scary for thirteen year old me to finish.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by xenocide »

Jean Valjean's stories is one of the best of all time. I did read the Unabridged Audiobook, 60.5 hours. However, Jean Valjean's story only makes up like 1/5th of the book. Most of the book was great but there were some parts I could have done without. The two I remember most are the ungodly amount of time spent at the beginning with the priest's sister and the Waterloo section. All I remember about the Waterloo portion was the narrator says something along the lines of "better historians than me have written all about Waterloo so I don't need to tell you the details.." then he goes into a long detailed description of Waterloo.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Paingod »

  1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The whole 5 book trilogy, a yearly re-read for me since I was 16... so I've read it something like 25 times now. I've gifted three copies by lending them out and buying myself a new one each time. Anytime I travel, I bring it with me.
  2. Time Enough for Love. While it gets bogged down in some preachy spots, it's also an interesting wish for humanity and that ruby necklace gets me every time.
  3. Lord of the Rings. The whole trilogy. Another yearly re-read in the red leather-bound hardcover (such an awesome feel & smell).
  4. Armor, John Steakley. It's not high art, but I keep re-reading it.
  5. The Wayfarer's Series, Becky Chambers. A look at humanity's future in the stars, as a minor player in the grander scheme. I wouldn't classify these as favorites (yet), but it was the first series of books in a while where I was eager to grab the new volume of as soon as it came out - and I like the storytelling. Each book works by itself without heavy reference to the others (not the same characters).
I also recently really enjoyed and chewed through The Murderbot Diaries (trilogy).
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by hitbyambulance »

lots of reminders here of books i need to actually put on the reading queue list
Paingod wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:32 pm [*]Armor, John Steakley. It's not high art, but I keep re-reading it.
recent years i've gone back to books i couldn't finish the first time around and completed them. this is one i abandoned partway through and will _not_ be going back to, ever.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Paingod »

hitbyambulance wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:43 pm lots of reminders here of books i need to actually put on the reading queue list
Paingod wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:32 pm [*]Armor, John Steakley. It's not high art, but I keep re-reading it.
recent years i've gone back to books i couldn't finish the first time around and completed them. this is one i abandoned partway through and will _not_ be going back to, ever.
Out of curiosity, why? I'm not going to go on some kind of fanboi rampage - just wondering.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

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xenocide wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:15 pm Ender's Game - because it's awesome. Ender's Shadow makes it even better.
I agree with the first sentence (since I mentioned Ender's Game as one of my choices for a book that I have read many times.

However, I completely disagree with the second sentence. I really wish that I'd never read Ender's Shadow. It pretty much ruined Ender's Game for me. I have to pretend that it doesn't exist in order to enjoy the first book. Luckily I only read Ender's Shadow once, so I've mostly been able to put it out of my mind. I have no idea what he was thinking when he wrote that. Ugh.

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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Scuzz »

Five books....that's a really hard thing to do.

I guess the following would be on the list today. Tomorrow the list could change.

The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
Perhaps the book I have read more than any other.

The Powers That Be by David Halberstam
This book led me to read more about by Halberstam and more about Nixon and Vietnam.

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut was one of my early favorites and this is my favorite.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
A great first book by one of my now favorite authors.

The Civil War by Shelby Foote
I have read a lot of Civil War books, and this is special.


I think listing favorite authors may be easier and perhaps more interesting.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Exodor »

Off the top of my head:

-Good Omens - Neil Gaiman/ Terry Pratchett
-Snowcrash - Neal Stephenson
-The Stand - Stephen King (yes, it's my favorite SK novel Shut up)
-Hitchhiker's Guide - Douglas Adams
-The Soul of Baseball - Joe Posnanski


I tried to re-read Lord of the Rings when the movies came out and I found it nearly unreadable. I got bogged down in book 3 and never finished. :oops:
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by em2nought »

xenocide wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 1:48 pm Jean Valjean's stories is one of the best of all time. I did read the Unabridged Audiobook, 60.5 hours. However, Jean Valjean's story only makes up like 1/5th of the book. Most of the book was great but there were some parts I could have done without. The two I remember most are the ungodly amount of time spent at the beginning with the priest's sister and the Waterloo section. All I remember about the Waterloo portion was the narrator says something along the lines of "better historians than me have written all about Waterloo so I don't need to tell you the details.." then he goes into a long detailed description of Waterloo.
Mentioning Waterloo makes me think of Sir Walter Scott which leads me to Robert Louis Stevenson who I can't believe I left off my list. Might have to drop Hemingway for "The Master of Ballantrae"
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Jolor »

A current recollection ... I'm sure the list would change wildly as I recall long-ago reads, but, these spring to mind:

Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay
The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt
Jade City - Fonda Lee
Vicious - V.E. Schwab
The Orenda - Joseph Boyden
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Archinerd »

I remember liking Beowulf but I'm not sure if it still holds up.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Sepiche »

In no particular order:
- The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
- The Stainless Steel Rat, Harry Harrison
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

hitbyambulance wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:42 pm
LordMortis wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:41 pm My vote for least favorite book I could not finish of all time is As I Die Reading.
my mother would agree with you
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by hitbyambulance »

Archinerd wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:09 pm I remember liking Beowulf but I'm not sure if it still holds up.
if you haven't read the Seamus Heaney translation, do so
Paingod wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:47 pm Out of curiosity, why? I'm not going to go on some kind of fanboi rampage - just wondering.
writing was godawful and sociopolitical slant was yucky. but mostly the writing sucked. that's unpardonable. i gave up _Ready Player One_ for also being terribly written and pandering to its target audience.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

It's impossible for me to pick my top 5 books; instead, I'll list the limited number of books I've read multiple times, in order of how many times I've read them. That must mean something, right?

1) Lord of the Rings trilogy (read maybe four times?)

2) Dune (read twice)

3) I, Claudius (read twice)


I think that's it. I' not sure they would fit into my top five, bu here are a few other books I've read recently and really enjoyed.

Hyperion

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

Washington Black
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Jolor »

'Washington Black' is high on my "want to read list". Have you read 'Half Blood Blues', by any chance?
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Madmarcus »

YellowKing wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:07 pm 3. The List of 7 - Mark Frost
That one doesn't make my list but I remember it as surprisingly good.

Lord of Light
Riddlemaster of Hed
Master and Commander (not the best in the series but the first)
Getting Right with Tao

the last one is tough because every time I start writing I think of another book.The Lord of the Rings should be it but The Once and Future King is a strong contender.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Ralph-Wiggum »

Jolor wrote:'Washington Black' is high on my "want to read list". Have you read 'Half Blood Blues', by any chance?
I haven’t, but I’m now going to put it in my queue!
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by JCC »

I love this topic, but was surprised to realize I can really only name 3 that are heads and shoulders above the rest. I will add two more if after further mulling I come up with 2 definitive books for #4 and #5.

The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King
I was greatly disappointed with the final 2.05 books of the Dark Tower series. I felt like King rushed to finish after his brush with mortality and just shit the bed doing so. I would be TOTALLY 100% OK with him saying "look guys, I fucked it up," and rewrite the final 3 books into a much better conclusion. BUT, King is the author that got me to read virtually ANY other books for pleasure besides the Target Doctor Who books when I was a kid so I can't leave him out. And, I thought the Dark Tower was pretty much perfect prior to the epilogue of Wolves of The Calla. And,while I could have picked other books from his massive amount of works, I think this would be my single favorite. I will always have deep affection for King and I feel 100% convinced that he is both the most overrated AND underrated author ever.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers' Stone - J.K. Rowling - Feel free to mock me for putting this on my list at age 46 instead of age 16, but I don't give a shit. These books are awesome. And, unlike so many other book series I have read over the decades, there were no "disappointing" books and she nailed the ending. Just a wonderfully imagined universe and a tightly planned multi-book plot that just worked out beautifully. I also discovered these books during a time of great depression in my life, and they helped me immeasurably. I was totally charmed and entranced into the universe (at the time the first 4 books were out). I also thought they did a great job with the movies.

A Memory of Light - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - I read the Eye of the World as a freshman in college without really having read any sort of "high fantasy" before that (unless you count King's Eyes of the Dragon - which I suppose qualifies) and was blown away. Yes, like many others I was bemoaning the glacial pace of the series in its long middle - and even swore the series off after book 10 until it was finishsed. But this was another masterfully planned series, and the final book is just magnificent. The Last Battle more than lives up to more than a dozen books of build up and is loaded with tons of characters you love kicking all kinds of ass. I re-read the whole series again last year, and without the prospect of knowing you have to wait years for the next volume, even the slower books don't chafe quite so badly knowing that so many great moments are coming. Before the series was concluded I am sure I would have listed The Eye of the World instead as my favorite from the series. But, the final book is so magnificent, I have to list it here instead.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Skinypupy »

JCC wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:57 amHarry Potter and the Sorcerers' Stone - J.K. Rowling - Feel free to mock me for putting this on my list at age 46 instead of age 16, but I don't give a shit. These books are awesome.
Dude, I included Dragonlance on my list. No judgement here.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Lorini »

Lord of the Rings-J.R.R. Tolkien
Watership Down-Richard Adams
Ten Little Indians/N*s-Agatha Christie
You Are Not Your Brain-Dr. Jeffery Schwartz, neuroscientist & psychiatrist
Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad-Fergus Bordewich
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Lassr »

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:30 am
JCC wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:57 amHarry Potter and the Sorcerers' Stone - J.K. Rowling - Feel free to mock me for putting this on my list at age 46 instead of age 16, but I don't give a shit. These books are awesome.
Dude, I included Dragonlance on my list. No judgement here.
Deathly Hallows is on my list and I'm now 53. I still watch the movie marathons when they are on.
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Jolor »

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:58 am
Jolor wrote:'Washington Black' is high on my "want to read list". Have you read 'Half Blood Blues', by any chance?
I haven’t, but I’m now going to put it in my queue!
:)
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by JCC »

Skinypupy wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:30 am Dude, I included Dragonlance on my list. No judgement here.
Haha! I read the first couple of dragonlance trilogies a decade or two ago. When it comes to Weiss/Hickman I preferred the Death Gate cycle, but yes I did enjoy those original Dragonlance books. (As someone who never played D&D outside of a computer game.)
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by JCC »

Lassr wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:49 am Deathly Hallows is on my list and I'm now 53. I still watch the movie marathons when they are on.
They did such a great job with those movies as well. Amazing how well casting the 3 main kids went. It's also amazing to compare the look and feel of the first movie to the Yates ones since they look and feel so different. But of course it was all so tonally consistent with the books. I still need to upgrade the first 4 movies to blu ray.
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Scuzz »

Madmarcus wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 6:51 am
YellowKing wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 10:07 pm 3. The List of 7 - Mark Frost
That one doesn't make my list but I remember it as surprisingly good.
I have read that as well. The strange thing is Mark Frost made his name writing books about golf. At least one of which has been made into a movie. The Greatest Game Ever Played.
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Sepiche
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Sepiche »

Scuzz wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 2:55 pm The Civil War by Shelby Foote
I have read a lot of Civil War books, and this is special.
I'd heard of Shelby Foote, but never read his books on the Civil War. A few hours into Vol. 1 now, and greatly enjoying the detail provided and writing style.

Thanks for the recommendation.
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Pyperkub
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Re: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

Post by Pyperkub »

Archinerd wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:09 pm I remember liking Beowulf but I'm not sure if it still holds up.
Niven/Pournelle's The Legacy of Heorot was a pretty interesting SF take as I recall.
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