What's The Best Book You Ever Read?

[Doc Tinker]

Unlike my daughter, who will check out a dozen books on Friday and read them all by Monday, I'm a plodder, when it comes to reading for pleasure. My daughter will also read the same books again, which I almost never do. I very rarely read the same book twice, or watch a movie twice, for that matter. Instead, I like to read a little and set the book down, while I digest the story. If it's a really good book, I don't want it to end, so I read slower.



There was one book that I got so totally engrossed in that I read it nonstop, and it was a nice fat book too. I had trouble setting it down, to do my chores or even to sleep at night.



That book was "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett





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Is there one book that impressed you more than any other?



Doc

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

The Day After Tomorrow



This story of life and rebellion in post-nuclear America is driven by an entertaining and fast-moving plot. It contains many of Heinlein's favorite themes: religion, mass psychology, indefatigable American optimism and ingenuity in the face of adversity and oppression. Not to mention the usual undertones of sexism and racism. Recommended for Heinlein fans who can't get enough





Don't know why but this book for some reason drew me in and has been in the back of my head forever.

 

[illflem]

Green Eggs and Ham is the all time best

illflem I am can read it in a box with a fox

Till they lay me down to for ever rest





BTW, the only book that has been printed more times than Green Eggs is the Bible

 

[klenger]

I would have to say "Hook Line and Sinker" by Len Dighton. We named our cat after the main character "Bernard" Sampson, which is pronounced Ber-nerd. Len wrote 3 trillogies about the MI-6 spy network during the cold war. It was amazing how he was able to blend the reality of the close of the cold war into the plot of his books. It's as if he knew about the sudden callapse of East Germany and the USSR before it happened.

 

[slo-ryde]

The Stand & Tommyknockers from Stephen King



The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Tolkien



Watership Down by Richard Adams

 

[RMcCulloch]

Fiction:



The Lady by Anne McCaffery

Farnham's Freehold by Robert Heinlein

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Executive Decisions by Tom Clancy



Non-Fiction:



Brave Men by Ernie Pyle

Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis

Everything But The Flak by Martin Caidin

One Shot - One Kill by Carlos Hathcock



FWIW, Doc, I'm more like your daughter in that I do tend to read, and re-read, a lot. In fact, at least for my tastes, my library is more comprehensive than the one the taxpayers supply.



SWMBO says that we needed the truck to be able to haul my library.

 

[Doc Tinker]

RMcCulloch, My daughter would understand what you said, "my library is more comprehensive than the one the taxpayers supply"



She buys as many books as she checks out from the library. I don't go into her room for fear of breaking my neck on a pile of books. Guess it's time to fire up the table saw and make her some shelves.



Personally, I have a hard time spending money on something that I can get for free, if I can wait long enough. There are some books that I will buy in paperback. I did buy all of the "Clan of the Cave Bear" series, by Jean Auel, as they were released, in hardcover. I enjoyed that series, but haven't re-read them.



Doc

 

[nickleinonen]

i don't have the attention span to sit down and read a book. i wish i did, but can get through about 1 page in a book after reading the same few lines over and over again before i get frustrated and fed up with it. magazines i can handle, and service literature/instruction manuals, but books, heck no. last book i read was catcher in in the rye back in grade 12 highschool... before that was "lord of the flies" in gr 11, before that was "the chrysliads" [sp?] in gr 10, and before that was way back in public school gr 6 "where the red fern grows". gr 5 "island of the blue dolphans"...

 

[JPLB22]

I second " The Stand " and " Tommyknockers " by Stephen King. Those two stories really held my attention. King can really make you feel like you are one of the characters in the book.

 

[E7mack96]

pretty much anything by Grisham



I really enjoy those books. I usually read a book in a day.

 

[RMcCulloch]

Originally posted by Doc Tinker

Personally, I have a hard time spending money on something that I can get for free, if I can wait long enough.

Doc,



The problem I have to deal with is that most of the books I'm interested in are either on my shelves, out of print, or very hard to find.



Most of my library is in paperback, including my collection of 25-cent Mike Hammers.



Hardbound books take up too much room, although some (like Morrison's "US Naval Operations in WW2") are available in no other form.



Bob

 

[JSmith]

The Bible

 

[JTBMC]

First is the Holy Bible,

Second one is, A Tough Trip thru Paradise, true memoirs by Andrew Gracia of Montana

TJ

 

[RichB59]

Hemingway.

I set out some years ago to read all of his books and short stories. I have managed to get thru alot of them. I also read his biography by Carlos Baker which is a good read. Clyde Edgerton is also one of my favorites.



Rich B





PS forgot Larry (Mcmurtry)sp? Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo

 

[tntway]

no question

i'm with the above brothers...





THE HOLY BIBLE

 

[wcaldwell]

Another vote for the BIBLE (All 66 Books by 40 authors written over a period of a thousand (or so) years).



Wayne

 

[klenger]

Wayne, I would have to agree, but have never actuall read all of it.

 

[RustyJC]

The Bible is the most life-changing book I've ever read!



Rusty

 

[NETim]

Another vote for Hemingway

"For Whom The Bell Tolls". Papa's best work IMHO.



Tim

 

[mjendrejcak]

Anything from Stephen King or Dean Koontz.

Anything on astrology or psychology



Lately it seems all I have time for is work related stuff. So every night I read a book from cisco, microsoft or novell.