all time 5 favorite novels

[cassar]

This one's just for the book worms hiding in amongst the c'mon patrons and you know who you are (cough..dannyboy2k..cough) list your top five best ever reads should they be sci fi, fantasy, thriller or whatever mine are as follows they are mostly comedic in nature.

1. "THE WILT ALTERNATIVE" by tom sharpe, laughed so hard i nearly peed.the siege scene wicked.

2."WILT" the pre cursor to the above, just the second book made me laugh more. never murder your blow up doll.

3."RIOTOUS ASSEMBLY" again by tom sharpe. close to the knuckle belly buster. rubber in a hot climate (be warned chrome)

4. "INDECENT EXPOSURE" again same as the above. shows how E C T can go so wrong.

5." DUNE" frank herbert and son, just sci fi classic as far as im concerned.

 

[IdofEntity]

I'll bite.

1) Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand): Lots of us had to read it in High School, but I still love the philosophy behind it.

2) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert Heinlein): The use of luna speak, a kind of eastern european influenced language, really added a lot of charm to the book.

3) Jurassic Park (Michael Chrichton): Captured my imagination for the first time and is probably what turned me into a bookworm.

4) Neuromancer (William Gibson): Gave rise to the Cyberpunk genre and coined the infamous word "Cyberspace". Tech fans will love it.

5) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams): Those cheeky brits. Absurdist humor and a couple of thinly veiled insults thrown at the whole of humanity. Don't Panic.

 

[matty1001]

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressel: A working class account on how socialism can create equal opportunities for all classes set in the early 1900's.

Wasp Factory, Iain Banks: His debut, about a child growing up on a small Scottish island. Very strange.

Distant Voices, John Pilger: Investigative journalism at its best. Pilger has balls the size of space hoppers.

Feersum Endjinn, Iain M Banks: Worth reading just for the chapters with Ergates in. It's a sci-fi by the way.

Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell: Documentation fom when Orwell went homeless and penniless.

Peace and love...

 

[Joek]

Ooh, a toughie! I don't know whether these are the 'best', but these are some that I tend to pick up each year and start to read again, so...I guess...they are

(in no particular order)

1. Michael Moorcock's Elric books. Can't really separate them.

2. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

3. Arthur C Clarke: Rendezvous with Rama (and definitely not the terrible, terrible 'sequels' that followed...

4. William Gibson: Neuromancer

5. Robert Rankin: The Antipope

Actually, thinking about it, probably the best one out of them all is Rankin's 'Antipope' - wonderfully funny, and superbly written. I recommend it without any hesitation whatsoever. And who knows? If I hadn't been on the underground train one night and witnessing a man piss himself with laughter whilst reading it, I'd have been none the wiser.

 

[In Chigh P.I.]

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressel: A working class account on how socialism can create equal opportunities for all classes set in the early 1900's.

Wasp Factory, Iain Banks: His debut, about a child growing up on a small Scottish island. Very strange.

Distant Voices, John Pilger: Investigative journalism at its best. Pilger has balls the size of space hoppers.

Feersum Endjinn, Iain M Banks: Worth reading just for the chapters with Ergates in. It's a sci-fi by the way.

Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell: Documentation fom when Orwell went homeless and penniless.

Peace and love...

Total respect mate, my list would look very similar to this. Ian Banks, George Orwell,

and of course im a ragged trousered philanthropist by profession :thumb:

 

[Beelzebrush]

hmmm... very tricky but books that spring immediately to mind

The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
Desolation Angels - Jack Kerouac
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Lonesome Traveller - Jack Kerouac
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Buddha of Suburbia - Hanif Kureishi
The Painted Word - Tom Wolfe
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
The Sea Wolf - Jack London
Mr. Nice - Howard Marks
The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig

Anything by Roddy Doyle, especially Tha Van, The Snapper and The Commitments, but all the others are excellent reads too.

Hmm... a couple or so more than 5

Ack! I can't stop editing this post lol

 

[funnymouth]

1) in her majesties secret service - ian fleming (all of 'em)
2) the odyssey - homer
3) lord of the rings -tolkien
4) the stand -stephen king
5) frankenstein - mary shelly

honorable mention (excluded because of preference, or because they didnt qualify as novels):
high time to kill - raymond benson
the Dunwich horror - H. P. lovecraft
poe

i had a tough time, as i typically read philosophy and informational texts. i only chose a single book from each author.

 

[freakinacage]

1 - lotr
2..............tbc

 

[DannyBoy2k]

Oh, good lord. Why not ask something EASY, like, how far is it, in inches, to the nearest star, or 'how high is up'.

Ok, in no particular internal order:

Honor Harrington on Bailisk Station, by David Weber.
The Phoenix Guard, by Steven Brust.
Storm Front, by Jim Butcher(Well, anything by Jim Butcher, but Storm Front was the first one I read).
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey(though I suppose I should make it Phoenix and Ashes, since I'm IN it, but...).
Number of the Beast, by Robert Heinlein.

A couple of these are 'favorites' since they're the first I read, and they got me hooked on the author. The rest of the works by this author are as great, but that first one got me thoroughly caught. I could probably count 10-20 more that could as easily place in the list, anything from Hunter S. Thompson to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

 

[breadhead]

I don't think it's possible for me to name an actual top 5, I've read so many books that I've enjoyed immensely, 5 that come to mind fairly quickly:

Lord of the Rings - Tolkein
1984 - George Orwell (so bleak and depressing)
Perdido Street Station - China Mieville (if you like steampunk/fantasy and haven't read this I highly recommend it)
Time - Stephen Baxter (the book that got me into Sci-Fi)
Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan (brilliant sci-fi)

I'm trying to expand my horizons a bit beyond the Sci-Fi and fantasy I've always read though.

 

[johnboyjjb]

Ender's Game -Orson Scott Card
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
A Time To Kill - John Grisham
Mossflower - Brian Jacques
Seven Days in May - Fletcher and Bailey

 

[BarstoolProphet]

1 - Fahrenheit 451. (Did I spell that right?) by Ray Bradbury
2 - Kill-o-byte by Piers Anthony
3 - Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
4 - The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
5 - Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Stuck with the series for 7 books, then gave up)

 

[evil tendencies]

1) The Big Sleep (Raymond Chandler)
2) The High Window (Raymond Chandler)
3) The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (H.P. Lovecraft)
4) War and Peace
5) The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula LeGuinn)

 

[Dragonsreach]

Can't give you Five as I have so many that I consider favourites, but in no particular order:-

The Count of Monte Cristo Alexander Dumas
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Neutron Star Larry Niven (ok its short stories so what)
The Uplift War David Brin
Dreamsnake Vonda N McIntyre
The Exile Waiting Vonda N McIntyre
Steppenwolf Herman Hesse
Lord Valentine's Castle Robert Silverberg

 

[Joek]

Ender's Game -Orson Scott Card

That's a wonderful book. Proper 'old-fashioned' sci-fi. Brilliant stuff.

Lord Valentine's Castle Robert Silverberg

Glad someone mentioned this one - I'd got swayed by the Josh Kirby cover many years ago, and I'm glad I did. Love the way Silverberg mixes fantasy and sci-fi to make something fairly unique really.

 

[Chrome]

I'd never be able to name a specific book as my favourite, I can however make up a list of my favourite series of books (No real order here, just naming them as I write):
1: The chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the unbeliever - Stephen R. Donaldson (all of the chronicles I've read this far, haven't gotten to the last yet) How to describe it? The insane fantasies of a shunned leprous writer... Or is it?

2: The wheel of time - James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (Robert Jordan) I'll finish it as soon as Brandon Sanderson finishes up what's left of it

3: The Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny. If you're up for a good abstract fantasy read, this is definitely something to pick up.

4: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - Tad Williams, Still one of my favourite series from my favourite author

5: Otherland - tad Williams, If you haven't read it, do it. These books touched me.

Well, I guess I should stop there...

 

[BPI]

Always tricky to come up with a top 5 I'm happy with for more than 5 minutes but let's give it a shot...

The Elephant & The Bad Baby - by Elfrida Vipont (a lovely woman, I met her shortly before she passed away), illustrated by Raymond Briggs (one of my favourite British cartoonists, his Ethel & Ernest is a beautiful book for anyone who's only done the lighter Snowman or Fungus titles. This one should be in every pre-schoolers library though ).

The Outsiders - by S.E. Hinton (I read it at the perfect age (10 or so) & still return to it from time to time. I like Rumblefish too but this is my fave of hers).

Girlfriend In A Coma - by Douglas Coupland (I like Generation X a lot but Girlfriend is the one of his that really touches me).

Sandman Mystery Theatre (~70 issue run published by DC Comics - Vertigo) - by Matt Wagner & Steven T.Seagle, mostly illustrated by Guy Davis (My favourite Romance in comics, Wesley Dodds & Diane Belmont fall in love amidst the swirl of pulp fiction elements. Beautifully coloured by Matt Hollingsworth (I think). If you're tempted to give it a go, ignore the grotesquely overpriced book collections & pick up individual issues for 50p each instead, you get the letters pages that way too which were well worth a read).

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series - some of the earlier ones are a little weak in hindsight but I can't really pick a favourite. Certainly the most reread books I own.

Cheers, B.

 

[DannyBoy2k]

1: The chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the unbeliever - Stephen R. Donaldson (all of the chronicles I've read this far, haven't gotten to the last yet) How to describe it? The insane fantasies of a shunned leprous writer... Or is it?

Gods...THE single most dystopic, black, pessimistic and generally negative series of books EVER. There's no denying Donaldson is SKILLED, but I wish to hell I hadn't read them and I never will again. Taking uppers to cope with a book isn't my idea of fun. Death, doom, doom, doom, rape, doom, doom, doom, more death, doom. Oh, and DOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Do note that this is MY opinion, and if you like it, by all means read and enjoy. Me, I'll pass.

 

[Joek]

Gods...THE single most dystopic, black, pessimistic and generally negative series of books EVER. There's no denying Donaldson is SKILLED, but I wish to hell I hadn't read them and I never will again. Taking uppers to cope with a book isn't my idea of fun. Death, doom, doom, doom, rape, doom, doom, doom, more death, doom. Oh, and DOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Actually, I never really liked the way it was written - it felt a bit too much like he was trying a bit too hard on it.

However, his GAP series of books are some of the best Sci-Fi I've read, so all's forgiven

 

[Chrome]

Gods...THE single most dystopic, black, pessimistic and generally negative series of books EVER. There's no denying Donaldson is SKILLED, but I wish to hell I hadn't read them and I never will again. Taking uppers to cope with a book isn't my idea of fun. Death, doom, doom, doom, rape, doom, doom, doom, more death, doom. Oh, and DOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Do note that this is MY opinion, and if you like it, by all means read and enjoy. Me, I'll pass.

Hehe, well it was supposed to be gloomy. XD I think that's part of what sold it for me, this constantly, sometimes aggressively, pessimistic person who constantly gets proven wrong and gets joy of life almost literary shoved down his throat. Perhaps I wouldn't enjoy it to the same extent if I re-read them today but at the time I believe I could relate to them with my sis going through what she did around then...