For me....The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

VEry tough to choose between:

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky

Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

I used to read a lot of science fiction and there are a couple at the top of my list that I would recommend to anyone that likes science fiction;

"The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
"The Robots Of Dawn" by Isaac Asimov- part of a multi book series called the robot series.

White Oleander - Janet Fitch

Daniels Story - uhh... i forget ] Both WWII stories
]
If i should die before i wake - uhh.... ]

[[FEAR; BUILDS WALLS.]]

Johan Bojer Den Siste Viking [www.lofoten-opplevelser.no] (its environment)
Published in 1921... Art by [www2.skolenettet.no]
Väinö Linna Okänd Soldat (Tuntematon Sotilas) (1954)http://hem.bredband.net/bokhylllan/reviews/linna/tuntematonsotilas.htm
...A tough race too... NO, wait,
gotta say Ernest Hemingway Islands In The Stream as well! (posthum. 1970)

Gimme these three in any comprehensive language &
I will do fine on the Lost-Island.

graham greene's the end of the affair and the quiet american are pretty great..

Anymore for Big Papa? [www.cubatravelusa.com]

x



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-01-25 17:01 by Sohoe.

THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
THE LONG GOODBYE by Raymond Chandler
DRACULA by Bram Stoker
are my top three

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Without a doubt , one of the greatest books ever written ..

"Crime and Punishment" - Fjodor M. Dostoevsky
"Père Goriot" - Honore de Balzac
...but there's many others.

boston2006 Wrote:
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> Moby Dick - Herman Melville
>
> Without a doubt , one of the greatest books ever
> written ..


You're right about that...Crime & Punishment as well

Dostoyevsky, or as I would call him, Dostojevskij, was a genius.
He even has his own fansite [www.fyodordostoevsky.com]

I have no fav book by him (maybe The Gambler then);
but his style has influence me much as a writer and as a
human being as well as a musician and a music connaisseur.

It strikes ya every now & then how often we think alike here!

Jeezuz, you may as well ask what my fav. Stones' song is!

Anyway, including but certainly not limited to (i'm gonna try to organize this somewhat chronologically):

History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides
Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus
Confessions, Saint Augustine
Book of the Courtier, Castiglione
Utopia, Thomas More
Paradise Lost, Milton
Lost Illusions, Honore de Balzac
Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Disgrace, JM Coetzee

and on and on . . .

Rocky Dijon Wrote:
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> THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett


GREAT choice---one of the few movies to do the book justice.

Well, well, I could cook mine down to three.
I always has the last read book as my fave; but then a few ones remain.

Love the Dune series by Frank Herbert....his son's aren't as good.
Any Dashiell Hammet, or Chandler books do it for me.

Shaturam by Gregory David Roberts is fantastic! A long interesting read.

Life of Pi is great!

Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul

The Honorable Schoolboy By Le Care'

Smiley's People- Le Care

Shibumi: A Novel -by the mysterious Trevanian. This is hard core espionage that must have influenced the makers of Alias...it is a great read! All his books are great!

The Gunslinger Series- Steven King

The Stand- Steven King

Crime and Punishment

Berlin Noir

Rage of Angels - Sidney Sheldon

Well now I've got to go to the library and check out a few

Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul... Great choice Whitem8!
& damnit ya mentioned Stephen King... He is very high ranked by me!

Erik_Snow Wrote:
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> "Père Goriot" - Honore de Balzac

i love the whole human comedy, erik, but c'mon, lost illusions kicks poor ole goirot's "cont" any day of the week!

of ALL TIME is the operative.

childhood Smokey by Will James
The Picture of Dorain Gray by Oscar Wilde

Thanks Baboonbro...I smile just typing that name..
Yeah, used to love King, then got a bit tired for me, then I discovered the Gunslinger series and I LOVE IT!

I love most anything from V.S. Naipaul...his writing is so lyrical and gives such a great eastern voice...You would like Shantaram! Great book!

ishmael by daniel quinn
i can actually say that the book changed me forever

Ok, that sounds like a cool book! Ishmael...
This is great I am getting lots of reading ideas for my upcomming vacations.
Thanks everyone!

I admire so many of the books that have been mentioned here!

If you love to read and like to be deeply caught up in a book, especially on a rainy day, I would recommend "When We Were Orphans" by Kazuo Ishiguro, who is Japanese heritage raised in England.

He is relatively young and has written a number of novels, most notably "Remains of the day."

Thought I would give "Orphans"a try when it was published several years ago, although theoretically it's not a plot that would necessarily call to me.
It takes place in Shanghai in the first 30 years of the 20th Century and revolves around a young boy's growing up. In my mind, although it is not a perfect book, it is a great one. There are pages and passages that are so evocative and wonderfully written that I felt I was in the room with the characters. And I am someone who is easily bored!

If you love Melville, this might be a book you'd like to try.

I have always loved Animal Farm. The book always seems so pertinent.

josh.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Josh2131 Wrote:
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> I have always loved Animal Farm. The book always
> seems so pertinent.
>
> josh.


Another EXCELLENT choice.

Glass Slide..agree...Josh, That was an excellent choice.