Hello
Guest

Sponsored Links


Topic: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time  (Read 48555 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

  • *
  • Posts: 17

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Aug 2002
  • Location: Guildford
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #45 on: September 02, 2004, 01:39:05 AM »
the novels that have really moved me or made me really laugh or that have enhanced my life in some way, when i started to try and list them became a long list, which could go on a bit, so It isn't finished:


Stone Junction-Jim Dodge
the child in time-Ian McEwan
Black dogs-Ian McEwan
Sleeping in Flame-Jonathan Carroll
Outside the dog museum-Jonathan Carroll
Buffalo soldiers-Robert O Connor
Karoo-Steve Teish
Flicker-Theodore Roszek
The town beyond the wall-Eli Wiesel
the instance of the fingerpost-Ian pears
the discovery of heaven-harry mulisch

I don't read a lot of non-fiction but three books i found incredibly powerful and evocative were these:


The rings of saturn-WG Sebald
The emigrants-WG Sebald
The book of dreams-Peter Reich
Scum of the earth-Arthur Koestler


James
Mr.  Mindy.


  • *
  • Posts: 919

    • Dharma in the Dishes
  • Liked: 13
  • Joined: Jun 2004
  • Location: Midlands
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #46 on: September 02, 2004, 07:19:54 AM »
Someone earlier said they don't like to read books over and over, but I'm just the opposite. If I find a book I love, I will read it again and again. My mother always thought that was so weird. :) Here's a list of books I've read so many times that I've actually had to buy new copies of them! (It was the only criteria I could come up with to help me make a list that wasn't so long it would bore you to tears!)

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (admittedly, the first copy was lost when I dropped it in the bathtub. Tough lesson at age 13---don't try to shave your legs and read at the same time!)

the entire Little House on the Prairie series, Laura Ingalls Wilder (yes, I actually wore them all out and had to replace them. The first set was a gift from my aunt when I was 8 years old.)

the entire Anne of Green Gables series, Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald (I wrote many a paper on this novel in university! You can't beat it for symbolism and a sumptuous, lyrical prose style. Fitzgerald's style is like a frothy wedding cake! And to think the man was just trying to impress that schizo wife of his.  ;)  )

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

These are the books that stand out in memory from my childhood and teen years as ones I read to death.

I'd also like to mention that I love and value self-help books. After my divorce, I discovered the writing of Melody Beattie and have read her books over and over, particularly Codependent No More and Beyond Codependency.





 


  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 18728

  • Liked: 2
  • Joined: Sep 2003
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #47 on: September 02, 2004, 11:31:03 AM »
the entire Anne of Green Gables series, Lucy Maud Montgomery

me too me too!!


  • *
  • Posts: 1379

  • Contraltos do it lower....
    • Forever Autumn
  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Aug 2004
  • Location: England
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #48 on: September 14, 2004, 04:15:50 PM »
Books.  I could go on and on about my love for the written word and my love of story, for ages.  However, for now, I'll be brief (be thankful, it's a rarety...LOL).  My favourite favourite book (since I have MANY favourites) would be Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis.  This retelling of the ancient myth of Psyche and Cupid, told - in the first person - through the eyes of Psyche's older sister, is one of those powerful, moving, potentially life changing books.  It makes one take a long, hard look at themselves, their motives, and the difference between selfish and selfless love.  I HIGHLY recommend it.
I was born in the Summer and at Night...my mother named me AUTUMN DAWN.  True story.

Jamie's...beyond the stars and past eternity.

EMAIL or PM me for information about gigs or about booking me (solo gig) or the band.



  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 4555

  • Liked: 8
  • Joined: Jan 2003
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #49 on: September 15, 2004, 04:09:21 PM »
Ohhhh...the Anne of Green Gables series!  I LOVED it! Such beautiful and, dare I say it, wholesome stories!   ;D


  • *
  • Posts: 166

  • Schenectady to Newcastle to Toronto
  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Mar 2004
  • Location: Toronto
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #50 on: September 15, 2004, 07:39:27 PM »
I love really girly books. . . i.e. anything by Jane Green and Marian Keyes.  They are both British but many of their story lines involve America.  My favorites so far:  Bookends (Jane Green) and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (Marian Keyes). 


Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #51 on: September 15, 2004, 07:59:12 PM »
I liked Jemima J, and my fave Marion Keyes is Rachel's Holiday.  I looooove Luke!  I keep waiting for her to write about the other sisters in Rachel's family.  She's done Claire, Rachel, and Maggie(? don't have the book next to me) but no Helen or whichever one the wispy hippy one is.  ;D  I love the family dynamic in her books.


  • *
  • Posts: 166

  • Schenectady to Newcastle to Toronto
  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Mar 2004
  • Location: Toronto
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #52 on: September 15, 2004, 08:05:18 PM »
I just finished Jemima J and I really liked it. Spellbound was good too.  I am dying to get her latest one (about a MIL that butts in too much!)

I haven't read Rachel's Holiday! I'll have to look for it.  I read Angels which I think is about Maggie, right?  The family is hysterical. . . she has the concept of 'Catholic guilt' down!


Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #53 on: December 05, 2004, 03:44:26 PM »
'My Dream of You' by Nuala O'Faolain. 

'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte

'Girl in Hyancinth Blue' by Susan Vreeland


  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 2691

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Jun 2004
  • Location: Atmospheric
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #54 on: January 12, 2005, 07:24:31 PM »


The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

 

Me, too! Me, too! I find myself turning to that book whenever there's some sort of crisis in my life. It's beautiful and simple. It makes me cry.
I know I'm late - where's the booze?


  • *
  • Posts: 31

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2004
  • Location: Brum
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #55 on: March 09, 2005, 08:23:40 PM »
My fave is '1984'.
It's refreshingly depressing!
I feel kinda proud to have read it while it was still fiction! (just)
I remember speaking to a Romanian guy in 1993. He said it was like a documentary of life in Romania. (except they had a happy ending!)
'We' by Evgeny Zamyatin was written 30 years before '1984' & was clearly a big influence. It is astonishing to read, now.
One of the most over-rated books must be 'Brave New World'. It's like Huxley got bored at the end & was thinking, 'how can I pull the plug on this?'!!
These are small... those are far away.


  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 6435

  • Unavailable for Comment.
  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Aug 2002
  • Location: Leeds
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #56 on: March 09, 2005, 08:26:53 PM »
One of the most over-rated books must be 'Brave New World'. It's like Huxley got bored at the end & was thinking, 'how can I pull the plug on this?'!!

Ah, I loved Brave New World. It was a negative utopia but part of me just thought "hey, it could work".  :)
There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared:  twins.


  • *
  • Posts: 31

  • Liked: 0
  • Joined: Sep 2004
  • Location: Brum
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #57 on: March 10, 2005, 12:02:25 AM »
You only have to look at the enduring influence of Huxley's ideas to know how powerful they were. But the plot just seems to be there to hang some good ideas on. As a story, 1984 is more complete. You feel immersed in it's world. Maybe not so surprising as you have to learn a whole new language to read the book!
These are small... those are far away.


  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 7890

  • London Rollergirl
  • Liked: 1
  • Joined: Nov 2004
  • Location: On the derby track
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #58 on: March 10, 2005, 12:49:19 AM »
Small Island

Time Travelers Wife

a Heartbreaking work of staggering genius

Where did it all go right? growing up normal in the 70's
But never fear, gentlemen; castration was really not the point of feminism, and we women are too busy eviscerating one another to take you on.


  • *
  • Posts: 24035

    • Snaps
  • Liked: 11
  • Joined: Jan 2005
  • Location: Cornwall
Re: Your Favorite Book(s) of all time
« Reply #59 on: March 10, 2005, 09:17:57 AM »
the child in time-Ian McEwan
Black dogs-Ian McEwan

I loved Black Dogs, too. Was The Child in Time good? I love Ian McEwan. He's got to be one of my favourite authors. Along with Oscar Hijuelos, Truman Capote (in his younger days), Dylan Thomas and Fitzgerald.
My Project 365 photo blog: Snaps!


Sponsored Links