Your Favorite Book(s) of all time

I don't usually like to read the same book over and over either but one I have read several times and always makes a profund impression on me is Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, an autobiographical account of World War I.  I recommend it to everyone.

One of my favourites, Britwife! GREAT book! It had been on my " to be read" list for a few years before I read it last year. Very powerful.

yes it is VERY powerful and I am convinced if everyone read it there would never be anotherwar. OK that may be a slightly naive statement but that is how it makes you feel.

There's quite a few...I am the daughter of a librarian so I read like a fiend in my youth.

As a youngster I loved the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe series (heck I'd read it today if I had it on my hands).  And can't remember the name of the book but it had something to do with a young boy who had some special skills, his bookish but interesting sister & teseracs (not spelled that way) & a unicorn at one point...it's coming to me but not clear.  LOVED that series. Darn...what was the name!

For my job I read Mary Pipher's book, Reviving Ophelia...if you deal with teenagers at all, it's a must read.

Love anything by Rutherfurd (I think that's his name)...London, Sarum, etc.  I think he's one person who got me interested in ancient England and my celtic roots.

There's quite a few...I am the daughter of a librarian so I read like a fiend in my youth.
As a youngster I loved the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe series (heck I'd read it today if I had it on my hands).  And can't remember the name of the book but it had something to do with a young boy who had some special skills, his bookish but interesting sister & teseracs (not spelled that way) & a unicorn at one point...it's coming to me but not clear.  LOVED that series. Darn...what was the name!

Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time series? I love them! Just introduced them to the children's librarian where I work! The second and third are, Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet !!

Scoobie, I think you missed the point of my comment which was IRONY! Personally, I am not in the habit of insulting other forum members (not deliberately anyway!). 

ps you might find "Black Looks" by bell hooks a good read, if you haven't read it already.

Cheers, Liz, no problem. I'm reading a lot from and about Frantz Fanon at the minute who was a Psycotherapist from Mosembique. Looking, being viewed and the eyes in general seem to be a big theme in his writting. So "Black looks" might be just up my street. Thanks, I'll look it up!

Just finished the da vinci code!! Oh yes it's damn good!  There's really no slow bits in the book at all!   Now reading "the time travellers wife" looks interesting

Aaah...A Wrinkle in Time...wow...

**memories...**

hehe

Just finished the da vinci code!! Oh yes it's damn good!  There's really no slow bits in the book at all!   Now reading "the time travellers wife" looks interesting

I am halfway through da vinci code...love it...completely love it... reminds me a bit of celestine...  a great fiction that surrounds itself around facts and theories

I am halfway through da vinci code...love it...completely love it... reminds me a bit of celestine...  a great fiction that surrounds itself around facts and theories

I can't wait!!!!  Just bought it yesterday after I saw a lady on the train reading a paperback copy.  I hate hardcover, so I was waiting.  Just have to finish my other book and I'm set!!!

This is the kind of question I both love and dread, as I spent about 8 years working in various bookstores.

fiction:
anything by the late great Douglas Adams
THE POISONWOOD BIBLE, Barbara Kingsolver
CRYPTONOMICON, Neal Stephenson
THE SECRET HISTORY, Donna Tartt
ENGLISH PASSENGERS, Matthew Kneale
I vaguely remember reading The Alienist and quite enjoying it
FACTOTUM, Charles Bukowski

nonfiction:
political books by Noam Chomsky, George Monbiot, John Pilger, Greg Palast, Gore Vidal
A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, Howard Zinn (my political education began here)
ROGUE STATE, William Blum
WEB OF DECEIT, Mark Curtis
religious books by Karen Armstrong
science books by Stephen Jay Gould (also late & great)
OUT OF IT, Stuart Wilson, which is about drugs
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES, Jane Jacobs
THE MAKING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB, Richard Rhodes
Robert Caro biographies (eg., Lyndon Johnson, Robert Moses)
HOMICIDE, David Simon (source of the excellent TV series)
THE BOOK OF WHOLE FOODS, Karen MacNeil
1984, George Orwell (heh heh, I know it's fiction, but sometimes I'm not so sure)
MILLENNIUM, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
anything by Studs Terkel, or should I say, as told to him

Oh, A Secret History!!!!  I read that when it first came out!  BRILLIANT!!!!!  Have not read her latest book, anyone know how it is? 

When I read "The Prince of Tides" by Pat Conroy about 10 years ago, it impressed me that this book should be read by every budding author. The writing was brilliant! Very descriptive, had me on the edge of my seat, even though I'd seen the movie! And so, as my normal pattern, if I read one book by an author and like it, I usually read all that author's books, so I couldn't wait until "Beach Music" came out...

...and I hated it, so I haven't read any more by Pat Conroy.

However, of all the books I've read over the years, I've never forgotten just how MUCH I enjoyed reading "The Prince of Tides".

Oh wow!  I *loved* the Prince of Tides, but also did not really care much for any of his other writing...although I liked the movie The Great Santini.   

But I hated the POT movie.  Barbra Streisand ruined it.

Just finished the da vinci code!! Oh yes it's damn good!  There's really no slow bits in the book at all!   Now reading "the time travellers wife" looks interesting

Okay already - I bought the darn book.

And it better be good....

I am one of those who can't choose a favourite book...someone once likened it to choosing a favourite child or friend..can't do.

But I *will* say which books I read this year were my favourites (so far):

ANNA KARENINA-I started with the whole Oprah thing, but just went my own way with it.  What an incredible story!  My favourite aspect was the fact all the characters all had flaws that weren't their "fatal flaw".  I'm sooo tired of books where the good characters are all beautiful, smart and perfect, and the "bad" characters look and act all bad.

HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy-so fantastic, I want every American teen to know about these books.

HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy-so fantastic, I want every American teen to know about these books.

I have them, I need to read them now!  I've heard only the greatest things about them!!!