The Best Book That You Have Ever Read ?

[rich p]

<shudders>

MASH without the humour, and MASH wasnt funny either.

Humour wasn't the point.

I resisted the tempatation to shudder though.

 

[Bandini]

If we are talking novels, Mysteries by **** Hamsun is a favourite. Hard to pick just one though - depends on mood. Shakespeare is obviously the best writer of all time - or he never writ nor no man ever loved.

Ha! Why does it asterisk K n u t??? Weird!

 

[just jim]

The Shipping News - E Annie Proulx

It's not perfect, but neither am I.

 

[mangaman]

Also forgot Tristram Shandy by Lawrence Sterne.

Not the easiest read but very funny and hugely influential all over the world

(and contains the first bicycle related reference I believe- written in 1759 and has a brief reference to Tristram's uncle owning a boneshaker which he rode so often he turned gradually into the bike and the bike turned into him)

This was taken up by Flan O'Brien in the 3rd policeman and played with.

Sorry to bore anyone - I love talking about books.

 

[jimboalee]

I'm tempted to say Noddy in Toyland.

IIRC (it's been a while) it's got everything in it. Nudity, financial penury, racial prejudice, illegal immigrants, cruelty to animals, unauthorised building, and it culminates in a courtroom drama with a very dodgy judgement...

Oh, and I think it follows up with a case of TWOC'ing and there's definitely a guy driving around without licence or insurance...

Have you got it? 1951 "Here comes Noddy again".

My copy is locked in the safe.

Here's the offending part.

 

[jimboalee]

The Goodies File.

1974. Tim Brooke Taylor, Bill Oddie & Greame Garden,

 

[slowmotion]

The Big Sleep. Raymond Chandler.

A beautiful brevity of phrase.

 

[swee'pea99]

Riddley Walker - Russell Hoban

 

[Ashtrayhead]

The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck

 

[661-Pete]

Have you got it? 1951 "Here comes Noddy again".

My copy is locked in the safe.

Here's the offending part.

Blimey! No, I don't think I ever saw that one: though I've heard of the books' 'reputation' I never knew it was that bad (didn't all the - er - G*****gs get transformed into politically-safe 'goblins' in more recent copies?). I suspect that my liberal-minded, Guardian-reading parents gradually 'relieved' me of the offending tomes, one by one, once they realized their purport. Anyway, none survived into my adulthood...

 

[Theseus]

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I could only manage one chapter a week and it wasn't until I also read a biography of Stephen that it started to make sense.

Another close runner is Dahlgren by Samual R Delany. The second half is even stranger than the first.

Both books are on my list because they made me pause and think at times before continuing rather than being simple narratives that can be read from cover to cover straight through. I am (or used to be when I read a lot) a fast reader. It took me just over a week to read the Dune books.

For the best short book I can highly recommend How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Another close runner is Dahlgren by Samual R Delany. The second half is even stranger than the first.

Yeah, it's pretty amazing.It would be up there for me too.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Mention of The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien reminded of The Best Of Myles by the same author, which is a collection of pieces he wrote for (I think) The Irish Times over a period of years. It's one of those books you should not read on a train because people will keep looking at you when you burst out laughing.

 

[Andy in Sig]

You need to read more then!

That's about the only Hermann Hesse work I haven't read, and I am not convinced of his superiority yet, but I will give it a go.

When I finished it I was left thinking that the book should be read by anybody who ever gets involved in teaching, which is not a directly obvious conclusion to come to. I'd be interested in your take on that if you do get around to reading it.

 

[Andy in Sig]

I've read a lot of good books, these just come to mind:

Miles from Nowhere (a round the world bicycle adventure) by Barbara Savage.
The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Gouge
Berlin Game (I think it was Len Deighton, read it a long time ago)

Love spy stories

Which is the first of nine books telling the story. Perhaps it doesn't count as great literature (although it is fine writing) but what makes it stand out for me is that the characters are so utterly real and three dimensional. For instance everybody knows an idiot like Dicky Cruyer.