What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

[Jaymann]

This took some thought, and where it is a series I went with the first book in the series, so it could be a single book (and sometimes they are the best of the series). If there are any of these you haven't read, IMO you have a treat in store. I am interested in what others think, as maybe I have somehow missed some of the best. Here are mine in roughly chronological order:

1. Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny (first book in the Chronicles of Amber)
2. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer (first book in the Riverworld Saga)
3. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
4. The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie (first book in The First Law Trilogy)
5. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle)

[LordMortis]

Five is really hard.

Maybe, in no order

Waterland - Graham Swift
The Busdriver who Wanted to be God - Etgar Keret
Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey
Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera


Or maybe I'll feel totally different in 15 minutes

[LawBeefaroni]

This is tough but the first 5 I thought of, no particular order:

The Complete Poems of Keats and Shelley

Neuromancer - William Gibson

The Woodcutter's Duck - Krystyna Turska

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

[Skinypupy]

Off the top of my head.

1. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
2. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
3. 1984 - George Orwell
4. The original Dragonlance Trilogy - Weis & Hickman (they're objectively not great books, but are a series I always come back to. Currently listening to the audiobooks.)
5. Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - Scratch that, it's Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

BONUS: Least favorite book ever was Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield was a twat.

[TheMix]

Now that's probably an impossible (for me) question.

There are a lot of books that have blown me away, that I thought were profound or though provoking, but that I'll probably never read again. Then there are books like Ender's Game and ARMOR that I've read multiple times; that I can open up to any page, start reading, and be immediately hooked.

Which basically means that I'm like LordMortis... I could pick 5 now, but if I did any more thinking I'd probably have a different 5 before I could even click the Submit button. And a different 5 in 15 minutes.

[hitbyambulance]

5. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle)

i've been trying to read this for the past 7 or 8 years - i just can't get into it. i'll probably try again soon.

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

so incredibly repetitive i'm having the same issue. yeah, everything is circular and contradictory and futile I GET IT YOU MADE YOUR POINT IN THE FIRST CHAPTER. still gonna try it again.

[stessier]

BONUS: Least favorite book ever was Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield was a twat.

When did you read it? I was listening to a podcast today where they were commenting that their high school sevles HATED the book, but re-reading in their 30s brought a new perspective/appreciation for it. (I've never read it.)

As for my list, I don't know if they are my favorite or are even particularly good, but they are the ones I remember fondly - likely because the time in my life when I read them (in no particular order) -

1. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
2. Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
3. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
4. Star Trek: The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane
5. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I do not recommend Battlefield Earth - remember fondly because I read it around age 13 and loved it. A re-read in my 30s showed it does not hold up.

[LordMortis]

BONUS: Least favorite book ever was Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield was a twat.

It was the book I didn't read for four different lit classes in high school

(ID Lit, American Lit I, Z&E, Freshman Lit, yep four times)

I also didin't read it the first time it was required in College.

I did get all the way through it the second time it was required in College by then I learned not hate it. Probably because by then I had hit full Pan Syndrome myself. *shrug*

I still can't get through Faulkner or Pynchon. Doesn't matter what book. I can't do it.

My vote for least favorite book I could not finish of all time is As I Die Reading. Faulk Faulkner.

Edit

When did you read it? I was listening to a podcast today where they were commenting that their high school sevles HATED the book, but re-reading in their 30s brought a new perspective/appreciation for it. (I've never read it.)

heh, How about 23 or so?

[stessier]

5. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle)

i've been trying to read this for the past 7 or 8 years - i just can't get into it. i'll probably try again soon.

Oh, that's a good one. Keep trying to get into it.

[hitbyambulance]

My vote for least favorite book I could not finish of all time is As I Die Reading.

my mother would agree with you

[Skinypupy]

BONUS: Least favorite book ever was Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield was a twat.

When did you read it? I was listening to a podcast today where they were commenting that their high school sevles HATED the book, but re-reading in their 30s brought a new perspective/appreciation for it. (I've never read it.)

I read it first in HS, and remember that I didn't like it much. Added it to my "catch up on reading classics" effort in 2007, so I would have been 33. I had a visceral reaction in how much I hated everything about that book, but forced myself to finish it.

Makes me think I need to give that effort of reading some classics another go. I don't read nearly as much as I should.

(Side note: If you would have asked me how long ago that re-reading effort was, I'd have said probably just 5-6 years ago. The fact that it was actually nearly double that is somewhat...horrifying. Years really do start to simply blur together after you have kids.)

[hitbyambulance]

Added it to my "catch up on reading classics" effort in 2007

reading that thread now, i find the musings of 12-years-ago LordMortis to be... lyrical and illuminating

[Holman]

Yeah, I can't make a list of five favorites. It would change tomorrow.

But here are five books I wish everyone (or my countrymen, anyway) would read:

1) The Lord of the Rings (inspiring heroic narrative)
2) Moby Dick (plumbing the soul of America)
3) The Killer Angels (history as personal action)
4) The Great Gatsby (arrogant greed kills the soul)
5) The Handmaid's Tale (bad religion kills human possibility)

[Ænima]

Top o' the head:

1) Hyperion - Dan Simmons
2) Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
3) A Storm of Swords - George RR Martin
4) Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
5) The Hitchhiker's Guide - Douglas Adams

[TheMix]

But here are five books I wish everyone (or my countrymen, anyway) would read:

2) Moby Dick (plumbing the soul of America)

Oh no. Sorry, but I can't get behind that one.

I hated that book so much. I lost track of how many times I wanted to throw it across the room. No thank you. Ugh. I'm sure my past English teachers are either rolling over in their graves or have their ears burning. But there it is.

[raydude]

There is (was?) a free audio reading of Moby Dick whereby they have some well known people read a few chapters apiece. Benedict Cumberbatch being one of them. It was quite good.

[Holman]

But here are five books I wish everyone (or my countrymen, anyway) would read:

2) Moby Dick (plumbing the soul of America)

Oh no. Sorry, but I can't get behind that one.

I hated that book so much. I lost track of how many times I wanted to throw it across the room. No thank you. Ugh. I'm sure my past English teachers are either rolling over in their graves or have their ears burning. But there it is.

I hear you!

No one should even attempt it before they're 25-30 years old, and then only if they've also read most of American history and the Bible.

Moby Dick is mis-taught as a Serious Timeless Classic when it is actually a rollicking satire of religion and politics and virtuous pretensions. As such, it is hilarious on every page.

[hentzau]

OK. I'll give it a whack.

1. Time Enough For Love - Robert Heinlein
2. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
3. Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope
4. My Side of the Mountain - Jean George
5. The White Dragon - Anne McCaffery

[Lassr]

I keep a list of all the books I've read and rated them so looking through the list these stick out for me:

I chose books from a few different genres and in no particular order:

Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

Honorable Mentions:

Spoiler:

Alien-Alan Dean Foster
Jurassic Park-Michael Crichton
Star Trek Probe-Margaret Bonanno
The Dark-James Herbert
Phantoms-Dean Koontz
Rocket Boys-Homer Hickam
The Relic-Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Contact-Carl Sagan

[Skinypupy]

5) The Hitchhiker's Guide - Douglas Adams

Holy hell, how did I forget this?!

Put it in place of place Fahrenheit 451 on my list.

[Jaymann]

Some great ideas here. Of those mentioned I would strongly second Neuromancer, Catch 22, Snow Crash, and The Killer Angels.

[dbt1949]

The Lord of the Rings
The Dark - James Herbert
Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy
Old Man's War
Phantoms - Dean Koontz

[gilraen]

I've never been any good at picking "favorite" anything. A few books that come to mind (probably meaningless to most):

The Strugatsky brothers - Monday Begins on Saturday
Ilf and Petrov - The Twelve Chairs
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
Clifford Stoll - The Cuckoo's Egg

I remember really liking Catcher in the Rye but I haven't read it since high school. Everyone seems to love Neuromancer but I could barely get through it. Started reading Nine Princes of Amber last year, but for some reason got interrupted and never picked it back up - now I'll probably start from the beginning, since I already forgot who most of the characters are.

[gameoverman]

These are just the ones that pop up in my mind first:
Night Shift- Stephen King. I have to put him on this list because his stuff is what made a reader out of me and this was the book that did it.
Stalking the Nightmare- Harlan Ellison. A collection, not a novel, but it's still a book. Stephen King mentioned Harlan Ellison in Danse Macabre which is why I started reading Ellison's work.
Watership Down- Richard Adams. Stephen King mentioned it in Danse Macabre which is what made me read it.
Ghost Story- Peter Straub. I already knew about Peter Straub before reading Danse Macabre because he was mentioned in Fangoria alongside Stephen King.
King Rat- James Clavell. My brother loved the movie version and recommended I watch it. Since I was a reader by that point, I immediately checked to see if it was based on a book and read the book. The movie is good but the book is on another level.

[Lassr]

The Lord of the Rings
The Dark - James Herbert
Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy
Old Man's War
Phantoms - Dean Koontz

Seems we like a lot of the same. The Dark came close to making my top 5 as did phantoms.


Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[Hipolito]

1984 - George Orwell
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History - Michael H. Hart

[YellowKing]

I rarely ever re-read books, so I don't know if some of these selections hold up as well now in my 40s as they did when I first read them in my teens or 20s. But they hold a special place in my heart. In making this list, I simply looked on my bookshelf and found the books in which I still had my original tattered paperback version.

1. The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien - No surprise here. It's the book that kicked off my obsession with fantasy that continues to this day.

2. Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett - This book is special to me because it was recommended to me by my grandmother. At the time I read it, it was probably the longest novel I had ever read. It's a sweeping bit of historical fiction. What Tolkien was to my love of fantasy, this book was to my love of historical fiction and history in general.

3. The List of 7 - Mark Frost - This was one of the first books I read that was of the genre that featured real historical figures (in this case, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) caught up in occult mysteries. This book sparked an intense love for all things Victorian England, and I can't count the number of books I read which were some variant of this story. Hell, I can't count the number that just used Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! Yet despite my love of the genre, this one will always be my favorite. One of the characters in the book even inspired an MMO avatar name I still use to this day.

4. Boy's Life - Robert McCammon - Much like Stephen King's "The Body" (made into the phenomenal movie STAND BY ME), Boy's Life is a slice-of-life story about kids growing up in the early 1960s and is filled with all the nostalgia of the day. However, Boy's Life's novel format allows the story to unfold at a more rich, leisurely pace. This was an utterly magical novel for me, and is by far McCammon's masterpiece. A rare example of an author out-King-ing Stephen King.

5. Pet Sematary - Stephen King - There's no way I could leave a Stephen King book off this list, as his work has had the biggest impact on my life in general. He's my favorite author, period, flaws and all. I really struggled to pick WHICH King book to put on the list, because I could rattle off at least 5 of his I could swap into this spot. Ultimately I went with Pet Sematary because it's the King novel that introduced me to him. I read this book in my teens, and I utterly devoured everything he wrote that was available at the time. This book is why I've read every King novel and short story, and have seen every film adaptation of his work.

Actually, going back through this list made me want to re-read all of these except for Fellowship of the Ring. I've read enough damn Tolkien and seen enough Middle Earth movies.

[Jaymann]

Ilf and Petrov - The Twelve Chairs

I loved the Mel Brooks movie, will definitely check out the book.

[McNutt]

This took some thought, and where it is a series I went with the first book in the series, so it could be a single book (and sometimes they are the best of the series). If there are any of these you haven't read, IMO you have a treat in store. I am interested in what others think, as maybe I have somehow missed some of the best. Here are mine in roughly chronological order:

1. Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny (first book in the Chronicles of Amber)
2. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer (first book in the Riverworld Saga)
3. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
4. The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie (first book in The First Law Trilogy)
5. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle)

That is weird. I've never read the first book on your list, but your other four would probably be in my top five. My fifth would be Hyperion.

[Hyena]

No order:

From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz
Watership Down
Dragon riders of Pern series by Anne McCaffery
Hobbit by Tolkien
Watchers by Dean Koontz

[Ænima]

This took some thought, and where it is a series I went with the first book in the series, so it could be a single book (and sometimes they are the best of the series). If there are any of these you haven't read, IMO you have a treat in store. I am interested in what others think, as maybe I have somehow missed some of the best. Here are mine in roughly chronological order:

1. Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny (first book in the Chronicles of Amber)
2. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer (first book in the Riverworld Saga)
3. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
4. The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie (first book in The First Law Trilogy)
5. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle)

That is weird. I've never read the first book on your list, but your other four would probably be in my top five. My fifth would be Hyperion.

Yeah, all those would be pretty high on my list except I haven’t read the Farmer book. I’d probably choose Best Served Cold for my favorite Abercrombie though.

[Pyperkub]

This took some thought, and where it is a series I went with the first book in the series, so it could be a single book (and sometimes they are the best of the series). If there are any of these you haven't read, IMO you have a treat in store. I am interested in what others think, as maybe I have somehow missed some of the best. Here are mine in roughly chronological order:

1. Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny (first book in the Chronicles of Amber)
2. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer (first book in the Riverworld Saga)
3. The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
4. The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie (first book in The First Law Trilogy)
5. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (first book in the Kingkiller Chronicle)

That is weird. I've never read the first book on your list, but your other four would probably be in my top five. My fifth would be Hyperion.

The first Amber series is amazing. Zelazny is one of my favorite F/SF authors.

[Archinerd]

I can't narrow it down to just five, so instead I'll just name a few that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
Slaughterhouse V - Kurt Vonnegut
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette - Hampton Sides
Perdido Street Station - China Miéville
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

[Jeff V]

Dune - Frank Herbert
Broca's Brain - Carl Sagan
The Octopus - Frank Norris
The Campaigns of Napoleon - David Chandler
I, Claudius - Robert Graves

[Smoove_B]

This discussion is a literary version of The Kobayashi Maru. I've been thinking about this since the thread was started and I couldn't possibly figure this out. As soon as I get 5, I remember another and have to resort the list; it's not possible.

[Jaddison]

Winds of War and War and Remembrance - Herman Wouk
Exodus - Leon Uris
Starship Troopers- Heinlein
The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Fields of Fire - Jim Webb

[LordMortis]

This discussion is a literary version of The Kobayashi Maru. I've been thinking about this since the thread was started and I couldn't possibly figure this out. As soon as I get 5, I remember another and have to resort the list; it's not possible.

Start with The Monster At The end of This Book and work your way forward.

What a fantastic book. Do I get to re-submit yet?

[TheMix]

This discussion is a literary version of The Kobayashi Maru. I've been thinking about this since the thread was started and I couldn't possibly figure this out. As soon as I get 5, I remember another and have to resort the list; it's not possible.

Yeah. Honestly, I'd have a hard time coming up with my top 5 Science Fiction authors, or my top 5 Fantasy authors. Picking specific books? Impossible.

[hepcat]

From my English major days:

A Farewell to Arms - Hemingway
This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
(I'm a sucker for American literature from that time period...Gertrude Stein and the rest of the expats living overseas, etc.)
Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

From other days:

Books of Blood - Clive Barker (to be truthful, I just love short horror stories in a collected format...but Barker does 'em the best, imho)
All things Lovecraft....well, anything from the archives of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines of the 20s through 50s...but especially works from H.P., the great Ray Bradbury, the prolific Richard Matheson, the creepy Robert Bloch, etc.

[Jeff V]

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.

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.