The One Ring Forums: Off Topic: Off Topic: What ar your top 5 favorite books of all time?

The One Ring Forums: Off Topic: Off Topic:
What ar your top 5 favorite books of all time?

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 3:41am

Views: 1158

What ar your top 5 favorite books of all time?

I know that there's a reading thread, but this isn't it :) I wanted to know what people put in their 5 books of all time. Put whatever you love the most.

I'm a huge lover of the classics (yes, I'm the literary type, lol) so mine would be this:

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Small Gods
5. Dracula

What are yours?

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Finding Frodo
Tol Eressea

Jun 21 2013, 3:47am

Views: 960

In no particular order

1. The Hobbit
2. The Lord of the Rings
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Little House on the Prairie (entire series)
5. The Time Traveler's Wife

Where's Frodo?

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 4:08am

Views: 961

A while back...

We discussed which 9 books we'd paint on a staircase like this:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/...Rwu1rnroy5o1_500.jpg

Here was my nine.

1. Lord of the Rings
2. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
3. War For the Oaks - Emma Bull
4. My Ántonia - by Willa Cather
5. Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
6. The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Warner
7. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury
9. The Princess and the Goblins - George MacDonald

They were really 9 books that had some impact on me in my life but I'm fairly comfortable taking the top 5 as my top 5 favorite. It works as well as any other list I could come up with if I could only choose five.

But I might have to have a strong conversation with myself about whether to chose My Antonia or The Princess and The Goblins.

I like Willa Cather very much but the man I would marry and I read The Princess and the Goblins out loud to each other when we first met. We also read Dandelion Wine. So not only did I like them, they have some sentimental value.

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Ataahua
Forum Admin / Moderator

Jun 21 2013, 4:12am

Views: 960

Hmmm.

1. The Lord of the Rings.
2. Jack the Bodiless - Julian May.
3. Changes - Jim Butcher.
4. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm.
5. Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey.

Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."

"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.

Ataahua's stories

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 4:19am

Views: 928

I like your #4 and #5 very much

I've read quite a few of Wilhelm's books and she never fails to satisfy.

I haven't gotten to Changes yet. :-)
I'm at White Night.

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bungobaggins
Lorien

Jun 21 2013, 4:19am

Views: 934

Top 5

1. The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings (I just can't separate them) Wink

2. The Stand
3. The Martian Chronicles
4. The Wastelands (Third book in the Dark Tower series)
5. Anything by H.P. Lovecraft

"You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!" - Gandalf

Darth Bungo: "Gandalf the Gray never told you what happened to your father."
Bilbo Barrel-rider: "He told me enough. He told me you killed him."
Darth Bungo: "No, I am your father."

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 4:20am

Views: 898

another Bradbury fan //

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bungobaggins
Lorien

Jun 21 2013, 4:22am

Views: 902

*Awwwww yeeeaaahhh! high-fives* //**

Lothwen
Rivendell

Jun 21 2013, 4:42am

Views: 923

Tricky question

My favourites tend to change depending on my mood. Blush

But the all time faithfuls are:

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. Pride and prejudice
3. Most of the books by Terry Prachett ( yes I know. Unsure

I couldn't decide)
4. Hamlet
5. Lotr again? Tongue

only joking...Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series

...which is, ouch, also a series, not a book.
5a. A Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

Oh, and also Narnia

Hmm. I'm not particularly good at this...

(This post was edited by Lothwen on Jun 21 2013, 4:44am)

Starling
Half-elven

Jun 21 2013, 5:09am

Views: 916

I have a definite Top 3,

but I might have to think for a bit about the other spots.

1. The Catcher in the Rye
2: Lord of the Flies
3: Animal Farm

Others that would be in there somewhere would include Watership Down, K.M. Peyton's Flambards series, Tintin (yes, really), and the Plumb books (by Maurice Gee, a very good NZ author).

I mostly read non-fiction these days, and a lot of the books I have particularly enjoyed are related to exploration, disasters, and survival stories, as well as natural history, biography and travel.

Great question!

Yngwulff
Gondor

Jun 21 2013, 5:57am

Views: 884

Me?

Not in any Order

Without Remorse - Tom Clancy
LOTR
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlen
The Sword of Shanarra and the Elfstones of Shanarra - Terry Brooks
The Belgariad and the Elenium - David Eddings
Zane Grey westerns
Band of Brothers
Tigers in the Mud

Take this Brother May it Serve you Well
Vote for Pedro!

Elizabeth
Half-elven

Jun 21 2013, 6:56am

Views: 890

Hmmm, lessee.

1, LotR, especially Book V. That's what I can re-read over and over.

2. War and Peace. I read it straight through in about 4 days, during Christmas break my senior year in high school. I ate, slept, and read.

3. Les Miserables, a few years later. Gripped. Incredible how the musical could capture so much of the magic of that book.

Beyond that, there are only authors:

4. Anything by Jane Austin.

5. About 2/3 of the books by Dick Francis. Inventive, exciting, entertaining. But he did write a few clangers.

Anne McCaffrey is great, but her books are one-time reads. Several authors in that category.

(This post was edited by Elizabeth on Jun 21 2013, 7:01am)

RachellovesLOTR
Rivendell

Jun 21 2013, 7:46am

Views: 886

My top five

1.The Lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2.The Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe by C.S Lewis
3. Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes
4. Mossflower by Brian Jacques
5. Catching Fire from The Hunger Games series (Yes, I'm a big Hunger Games fan too) by Suzanne Collins

Of course I have a lot more favorite books besides those listed too ;).

(This post was edited by RachellovesLOTR on Jun 21 2013, 7:46am)

Nunilo
Bree

Jun 21 2013, 8:04am

Views: 883

It's hard to choose

1. Hamlet (definite number one, the best thing I've ever read/seen)

The rest in no order:
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Jane Eyre
4. Richard Preston's Dark Biology series (in particular The Hot Zone)
5. Hobbit/LOTR

There are so many more books that I love, but those are the ones that stand out to me the most Heart

demnation
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 8:19am

Views: 867

Great list!

Mine, in no particular order:

The Lord of the Rings (gasp!)
1984
The Man Who Was Thursday
The Great Gatsby
The Last Man (probably the most fascinating sci fi/apocalyptic novel in existence)

Honorable mentions: Sherlock Holmes, the Earthsea series, Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, REH's Conan, The Hobbit

My Sam Gamgee is indeed a reflexion of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognized as so far superior to myself- J.R.R. Tolkien

(This post was edited by demnation on Jun 21 2013, 8:26am)

arithmancer
Grey Havens

Jun 21 2013, 12:37pm

Views: 867

*Hmmm, books I love* the most.**

Not necessarily exactly the same as those I think are best, then - the ones I keep rereading!

1. Lord of the Rings (Hah, bet that surprised everyone!)

2. Harry Potter (if I must choose one, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"). I came to it later in life (it did not exist in my youth, but I fell hard when I did fall in love with it. This was my first online fandom).

3. Alexandre Dumas' Musketeer series (if I must choose one, "The Three Musketeers". When I was a child/teen, this series was an annual reread, at least. And "Three Musketeers" I have read in three languages - my native language, English, and after 6 years of school French, in the original).

4. Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mystery series. (The one I've read the most is "The Mummy Case". Possibly not my favorite, but so much older than a lot of them that I've had more time to reread it a lot!)

5. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series of SF novels. Together with HP, these are the two entries I only came across as an adult. If I had to pick one, probably "Komarr" for its depiction of an unhappy marriage.Though that is not the one I would recommend to a new reader of the series, just the one that is most personally appealing to me.

(This post was edited by arithmancer on Jun 21 2013, 12:39pm)

Angharad73
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 1:24pm

Views: 847

Not sure I can choose 5...

...but here goes my list of books that I re-read often (annually, in some cases) and that I would not want to be without...

The Hobbit
Sir John Moore (by Carola Oman)
Persuasion
Desiree

Apart from these, I have favourite book series (like Harry Potter) and authors...

Annael
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 2:41pm

Views: 842

okay

Persuasion (Austen)
Our Mutual Friend (Dickens)
Jane Eyre (C. Bronte)
The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
Middlemarch (Eliot)

I have read all of these too many times to remember, and they continue to delight.

The way we imagine our lives is the way we are going to go on living our lives.

- James Hillman, Healing Fiction

* * * * * * * * * *

NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 2:46pm

Views: 826

Love those!

In Reply To

I love all of your honorable mentions :D I'm a big fan of Holmes, Musketeers and Jane Austen, of course ;)

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Escapist
Gondor

Jun 21 2013, 2:55pm

Views: 837

I like an imaginative tale.

1. The Hobbit
2. Watership Down
3. Alice in Wonderland
4. Dune (just the original)
5. Anne of Green Gables

Honrable mentions: LOTR, Christopher Tolkien's edited works of his father's writing, The Secret of NIMH, The Last Unicorn, Through the Looking Glass, Ishmael (the one by Daniel Quinn), the whole Anne series, most of Edgar Allen Poe's stuff (that I have read so far), most of what I have read in the Pippi Longstocking series, The Thief of Always

(This post was edited by Escapist on Jun 21 2013, 2:57pm)

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 3:01pm

Views: 829

I like exploration, disaster, and survival stories, too

along with whatever 'genre' books like The Hot Zone would fall into.

I particularly like reading about local extreme events like the Armistice Day Blizzard (as experienced in Minnesota) and the Hinkley Fire.

And I once read a book on the history of the different neighborhoods of Minneapolis. It discussed how some neighborhoods were built with high density in mind and others were influenced by swampiness etc.

In high school, I went through the entire shelf of biography books. I don't read biographies much anymore, though.

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Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 3:03pm

Views: 836

Hey...

I just listed The Hot Zone in a reply to Starling. :-)

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Brethil
Half-elven

Jun 21 2013, 3:24pm

Views: 841

Excluding Tolkien

Or else JRRT dominates the list. In no order, just thinking titles quickly: (and I went to six. Can't help it.)

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Wisdom of the Bones (Walker/Shipman)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Christie)
Pride and Prejudice
The Other (Tryon)
Peter the Great (Massey)

Manwe, when asked a simple "Yes" or "No" question, contemplated, and responded "the middle one."

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 3:32pm

Views: 819

That's cool :)

In Reply To

I wish I could get into non-fiction books, but I can't get into it for some reason. However, my husband loves non-fiction and reads it all the time (along with sci-fi and fantasy).

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elaen32
Gondor

Jun 21 2013, 4:00pm

Views: 821

Very difficult to name just five but...

considering books I love which have had a big impact on me, in no particular order-
Watership Down
Wuthering Heights
The Lord of the Rings
Pride & Prejudice
The Sunne In Splendour (Sharon K Penman)

Honourable mentions- The rest of Sharon Penman's novels- they are so well researched and well written, other Tolkien works, The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe, Harry Potter Series, Anne of GG series, rest of Jane Austen, The Cazalet chronicles...... Aaagh just too many!

"Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold"

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 4:31pm

Views: 510

it might be you just haven't stumbled upon the specific niche of non-fiction that interests you

or perhaps the right author. Some non-fiction works can be quite dry. I want to know about the large picture but I also want to have some personal accounts or stories, too.

But maybe you never will. I was talking books with a woman I admire very much. She wouldn't touch LOTR with a 10 foot pole. Partly because she's really not into fantasy at all. But she's also not into fiction of any kind. She doesn't read mysteries or suspense or romance novels either. She reads, almost exclusively, self-help and therapy type of books.

That's why it's hard for me to hear Tolkien fans say that people who don't like Tolkien are flawed or missing out on something. People who don't like Tolkien just like different things. :-)

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Eleniel
Tol Eressea

Jun 21 2013, 4:49pm

Views: 514

My top five...

Rather an eclectic mix!

1. Lord of the Rings
2. Lorna Doone (R D Blackmore)
3. Mordant's Need (Stephen Donaldson)
4. Beauty (Sheri S Tepper)
5. Pillars of the Earth/World Without End (Ken Follet)

"Choosing Trust over Doubt gets me burned once in a while, but I'd rather be singed than hardened."
¯ Victoria Monfort

(This post was edited by Eleniel on Jun 21 2013, 4:52pm)

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 4:57pm

Views: 495

True...

In Reply To

I love historical fiction...I guess I just get too close to the characters to like non-fiction, because I always know how it's going to end XD I do like Tolkien, but he would be more to the middle of my list of books I like...but only LotR and The Hobbit (ugh, TS). I hope that's not heresy here, lol. But I don't have as much enjoyment reading LotR as I do for, say, Jane Austen, Conan Doyle or Terry Pratchett, which I can't put down until I'm done. But as you say, people like different things, and I love that. My husband and I have a few interests that overlap, but we like many different things. I love languages, and he loves science- and we have fun teaching each other about the other.

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Old Toby
Grey Havens

Jun 21 2013, 5:32pm

Views: 501

Wow, this is a hard one

And my list probably changes a bit over time. But for now, here's my list, in no particular order of preference:

1. The Lord of the Rings (duh!)
2. Dead and Gone - one of the books in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern vampire series by Charlaine Harris. The series is finished as of this year, but it's been a fabulous ride!
3. Changes - one of the Dresden files books, and the series is still ongoing, but this is one of my favorites. That Harry Dresden - a wizard's work is never done!
4. Hamlet - by you know who. I'm amazed I can finally somewhat understand the writing, thanks to the No-Fear-Shakespeare series which has the original writing on the left side pages and a modern English 'translation' on the right. I adore Hamlet.
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"Age is always advancing and I'm fairly sure it's up to no good." Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)

(This post was edited by Old Toby on Jun 21 2013, 5:39pm)

dormouse
Half-elven

Jun 21 2013, 5:39pm

Views: 493

Hard, very hard....

But I'd say...

1. Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion (can't separate them so I'm binding them in one volume)

2. A.S. Byatt's Possession

3. Alan Garner The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath

4. Helen Clare Merlin's Magic

5. Wade Davis Into the Silence

With honourable mentions for The Hobbit and Kipling's Kim; The Wind in the Willows, Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief, C.J. Sansom Heartstone; the Harry Potter books and the Green Knowe books and Joy Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain because any of them could have been numbers 2 to 5 just as well as the ones I've listed there.

BoromirOfWinterfell
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 5:54pm

Views: 499

And the dithering bouts of indecision continue...

The first is a definite, but the rest are quite mixed because I'll spend the entire night deciding Wink

1. The Lord of the Rings (Specifically The Two Towers, but LOTR can be considered a unity. Leaf By Niggle is my favourite story)
2. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card.
3. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley/ The Road - Cormac McCarthy
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams/Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett (I consider these two to be equally funny and amazing. The Dresden Files are definitely making their way there)
5. Beowulf - Anonymous.

I love literature from almost all genres.
Some honorable mentions: Don Quixote, The Stand, The Pit and The Pendulum, A Song of Ice and Fire, Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark Tower Series, The Divine Comedy, Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Flies, Paradise Lost and lots of others. Smile

"Eala Earendel engla beorhtast
ofer middangeard monnum sended."

"There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it." - Cicero

(This post was edited by BoromirOfWinterfell on Jun 21 2013, 5:55pm)

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 6:02pm

Views: 482

Reading that!

In Reply To

The first is a definite, but the rest are quite mixed because I'll spend the entire night deciding Wink

I'm finally reading Frankenstein right now, and I just love it so far :D It's just so soul crushing, lol. I've read ASoIaF, too, although not in order at all.

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malickfan
Gondor

Jun 21 2013, 6:22pm

Views: 484

Hmm, really hard to narrow it down

And I haven't read Huge amount of books, But I'd say the following would almost always make the list

1) The Lord of The Rings-*that surprised no one*
2)The Forever War (Joe Halderman)
3)The Stand By Stephen King (only read the expanded version though)
4)The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
5)The Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett

Honourable mentions-Everything else by Tolkien, The Road, Watchmen, Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett, Many of the works of Charles Dickens, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (perhaps the best war biography I have ever read). I love reading, but I can't honestly say I have read an awlful lot of new material recently.

This is not a very interesting signature is it?

Brethil
Half-elven

Jun 21 2013, 6:33pm

Views: 472

And somehow I didn't list Dune. (doh) //

Manwe, when asked a simple "Yes" or "No" question, contemplated, and responded "the middle one."

Darkstone
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 7:07pm

Views: 490

Hmmm.....

The Bible
The Collapse of the Third Republic
Watership Down
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody
1632

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Ataahua
Forum Admin / Moderator

Jun 21 2013, 8:25pm

Views: 484

No. 5 is so, so sad.

But it's the best story on cloning that I've read - and I've read a few. (The short story A Rag of Bone and a Hank of Hair sticks in my mind from my teenage years.)

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 21 2013, 8:43pm

Views: 467

I think you meant to say #4 ...

is the one about cloning. Just in case someone who hadn't read either

#4 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
#5 - Dragonflight

got confused. :-)

It's been a long time since I read Wilhelm's book (probably soon after it came out). I should reread it. She was just one of those authors I liked enough to just search out any book by her. Not all her books are science fiction. Other books by her that stand out in my memory: The Year of the Cloud, Juniper Time, and Oh, Susannah!

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RachellovesLOTR
Rivendell

Jun 21 2013, 9:04pm

Views: 460

Of course I love all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings as a whole,

In Reply To

The first is a definite, but the rest are quite mixed because I'll spend the entire night deciding Wink

But I'd say my most favorite one is The Return of the King. There's a lot of action and some of my favorite moments just like in the movie.

Nira
Lorien

Jun 21 2013, 9:23pm

Views: 455

hmmm

1. Night - Wiesel
2. Hobbit/LOTR - Tolkien
3. Any Sherlock Holmes - Doyle
4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Twain
5. Canterbury Tales - Chaucer

"Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?" -Samwise

BoromirOfWinterfell
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 9:38pm

Views: 451

The only problem with Frankenstein is that it's so harrowing.

But other than that, it was great. Smile

"Eala Earendel engla beorhtast
ofer middangeard monnum sended."

"There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it." - Cicero

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 21 2013, 9:44pm

Views: 451

That's what I'm loving about it...

In Reply To

But other than that, it was great. Smile

It completely pulls you out of your comfort zone...and just when you think you know the characters, they do something completely unexpected.

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Nunilo
Bree

Jun 22 2013, 12:14am

Views: 434

It's a fascinating read!

I read it after watching the movie Outbreak. Completely opened my eyes to the world of infectious diseases.

Ataahua
Forum Admin / Moderator

Jun 22 2013, 12:39am

Views: 437

Ha - yes you're right.

Thanks for the correction!

My fondness for Dragonflight is mostly nostalgia - I read it when I was about 13 and I lived and breathed Pern during my teenage years.

cats16
Half-elven

Jun 22 2013, 12:42am

Views: 446

Hmm...here's a tough one :)

*drum rolls*

1. The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit

-gasp, shocker there Wink

2. Moby Dick

-I read this over the course of a month during the summer once. I was mesmerized (and still am) by the level of detail the reader is given into the world of whaling in that time period, especially regarding all of the anatomical descriptions of whales. Melville's details for this is incredible. And I love the story, too. Tongue

I'm pretty sure I was in tears after reading the last sentence of the book. It all came full circle to me, and I couldn't believe the scale of this tale. I'd very much like to read it again sometime, when I'm not trying to read all of Tolkien's major works over the summer. Cool

3. The Brothers Karamazov

-Dostoyevsky's philosophical debates in this work is astounding to me, and the level of thinking I underwent while reading this was exhausting.

4. Anna Karenina

-Another Russian novel that I love.

5. Harry Potter

-I'll say HP, as it really gave me another world of fantasy that I could jump into, besides Middle Earth.

A great thread, bborchar, as I've probably never actually created a list such as this before. I try not to rank other pieces of literature against each other, even subjectively. Now I'm reminded of some books that I need to return to one day. Thanks, I enjoyed this! Smile

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 22 2013, 1:02am

Views: 431

My pleasure :D

I love reading and literature, and it was really hard for me to make my list, too XD I have at least 15 books I could put up in the top 5, but I tried to make mine the ones I thought impacted me the most. Being from the Southern states of the US, "Huckleberry Finn" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are pretty close to my heart- but their messages definitely extend beyond just those states and even to this day. Same with "Small Gods"...I just loved the satire, but the message is very serious. And "Dracula" probably was my first "horror" book ever...it definitely got me into other horror stories. "Pride and Prejudice" was my gateway to British Literature, and it's been a love affair ever since. I've probably read more British Lit than anything else (although I'm a bit cold to Dickens). So, that's why I chose my 5. I love reading what other people have written, though, especially when it's a book or series I love.

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cats16
Half-elven

Jun 22 2013, 1:07am

Views: 435

I really want to read more British Lit.

Admittedly, I've read very few British novels. Even the classics. They are all on my list, but that's the problem with my list- it's too long!

bborchar
Rohan

Jun 22 2013, 1:11am

Views: 429

It was something I never thought I would like...

In Reply To

Admittedly, I've read very few British novels. Even the classics. They are all on my list, but that's the problem with my list- it's too long!

When I was younger. But when I finally did read it, I loved the style of humor that was prevalent in many of them. And I just adore British poetry...yes, I'm a dork XD

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cats16
Half-elven

Jun 22 2013, 1:21am

Views: 424

I'm glad to hear you liked it!

I'm always happy to hear that someone ended up liking something (a movie, book, musician) despite the fact that they thought they wouldn't like it beforehand.

*dorky high-five* Looks like we're at the right place, then! Wink

Annael
Immortal

Jun 22 2013, 2:34am

Views: 413

I have friends like that

they only read spiritual & self-help books. I was talking about LOTR to one of them and she said "I don't like books set in outer space."

I didn't even try.

The way we imagine our lives is the way we are going to go on living our lives.

- James Hillman, Healing Fiction

* * * * * * * * * *

NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967

Morthoron
Gondor

Jun 22 2013, 2:40am

Views: 425

In no particular order...

because I hate to quantify greatness:

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (alternative would be The Silmarillion)
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (alternative would be Oliver Twist)
Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo (alternative would be Les Miserables)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (alternative would be Foucault's Pendulum)
The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Please visit my blog...The Dark Elf File...a slighty skewed journal of music and literary comment, fan-fiction and interminable essays.

Eleniel
Tol Eressea

Jun 22 2013, 7:07am

Views: 295

ooh, yes!, Eco...

I was just thinking I'd missed "The Name of the Rose" off my list... I liked "Foucoult's Pendulum" tto, but not as much. I've been into Medieval mystery novels ever since I read "Rose" and I love Susanna Gregory's "Matthew Bartholomew series set in Medieval Cambridge. Also enjoying SJ Parris and CJ Sansom's Tudor mysteries...

"Choosing Trust over Doubt gets me burned once in a while, but I'd rather be singed than hardened."
¯ Victoria Monfort

Magpie
Immortal

Jun 22 2013, 4:23pm

Views: 288

hey... I read Dragonflight as an adult in my late 20s and I loved it

I think the first three Dragonflight books, the Dragrondrums books, and Moreta were really great reads. As the series progressed, I think it lost its way and I lost interest.

I have the Atlas of Pern that I got signed by Karen at the Marquette Conference. :-)

LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide

Misto
Lorien

Jun 23 2013, 1:33pm

Views: 282

though question

-The hunchback of Notre Dame
-A tale of Two Cities
-Lord of the Rings (wasn't that obvious)
-Philip Roth: The human stain
-Either Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" or The picture of Dorian Grey.

Xanaseb
Tol Eressea

Jun 25 2013, 1:26am

Views: 242

Nice choice with Gaunt's Ghosts! I personally loved the Warhammer Felix and Gotrek series, as well as the Eisenhorn series //

"So your own praise will forever keep your name green,
Both here on Earth and on the stage of the stars" - J.G.Kittel, writing about the composer Jan Dismas Zelenka (1740)
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