Three most favorite books of all time

[NoUseForAnyName]

Disclaimer: This might have been done before but I couldn't find it...

Name your three most favorite books or writings and give a brief explanation as to why you chose them.

And no cheating, not one, not four...three.

1. "It" - Stephen King

It is everything that encompasses the brilliance of King, one of the most underacknowledged (critically) authors in my opinion. I love the themes and the characters as they all transport something very dear to me. The power of friendship and love for instance. It is not a novel about a killer clown, it is so much more.

2. "Crónica de una muerte anunciada" - Gabriel Garcia Márquez
As powerful as it is short. The sense of doom, desperation and desolation just is gripping and moving. It has a powerful message about values and beliefs as well as human cruelty and the style of magic realism is both haunting and beautiful.

3. "Angels in America" - Tony Kushner
Both grand in scale and intimate this play has it all. Humor, sadness, violence. Personal tragedy, national tragedy. Down to earth realism and tripping fantasy. It will make you go through all the range of emotions and teach you some "felt" history as well. And I personally love the atheist undertones.

 

[rae121452]

1) play it as it lays-joan didion.
the best book evoking the seventies i've ever read, plus it's so nihilistic that you've got to love it. when maria's drains started backing up, i started screaming.

2) tess of the d'urbevilles-thomas hardy
this book has so many levels. i re-read it about once every ten years and always discover something new in it.

3) it varies. for a long time i loved 'the great gatsby', i was blown away by just the language. then i re-read it a couple of years ago and was sort of 'meh'. i agree re: 'angels in america'. i've seen it a couple of times as well as reading it and it is definitely a favorite. probably the one book i can say is a total #3 favorite is 'plain song' by kent harnuf. the way it is written is so beautiful it's like listening to music.

 

[FataMorgana]

This thread is going to stress me out.

 

[Sean]

This thread is going to stress me out.

Yeah, how the fuck do you pick three? And my answers now would be different from my answers in an hour.

 

[FataMorgana]

Yeah, how the fuck do you pick three? And my answers now would be different from my answers in an hour.

Exactly. I know how Meryl Streep felt in Sophie's Choice now.

 

[butters]

Yeah, how the fuck do you pick three? And my answers now would be different from my answers in an hour.

now you know swallows and amazons would be on the list each time

 

[butters]

it's an impossible choice, but i'd have to go (for now) with:

game of thrones (the collection)

lord of the rings trilogy, appendices, pre and se quels

stephen king's dark towers series of 8 books+2 short stories

although they are collections, they're still really each all one big story

and imma sneak in the works of shakespeare in there, too. *le shrug*

 

[LLCox]

I have two that will forever be the same.

The Civil War ~ Shelby Foote... Three Volumes

Why... I have sixteen Confederate Veterans in my ancestry... SALUTE !


Armor ~ by John Steakley

Why... It is the BEST first one hundred pages in SiFi and Hella good after that. Too bad Steakley died before he could write another one.

 

[Comshaw]

Yeah, how the fuck do you pick three? And my answers now would be different from my answers in an hour.

So let's modify it to "Three OF your favorite books". That way you don't have to try to choose the three MOST favorite. I could spend months trying to make that decision and come out with naught and a headache.

Three of my favorites:

Dune - Frank Herbert

Dark Sea Running - George Morrill

Snow Falling on Cedars - David Gunterson


Comshaw

 

[Scareltt]

Maybe first is best..

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; L. Frank Baum (it’s the first book I can remember my mom reading to me.)

Fear of Flying; Erica Jong (first smut! In a good way.)

The Stand; Stephen King (my first King read)

I surprised myself it’s all fiction. So I’m calling it my favorite in fiction.

 

[Comshaw]

I have two that will forever be the same.

The Civil War ~ Shelby Foote... Three Volumes

Why... I have sixteen Confederate Veterans in my ancestry... SALUTE !


Armor ~ by John Steakley

Why... It is the BEST first one hundred pages in SiFi and Hella good after that. Too bad Steakley died before he could write another one.

That one is definitely toward the top of my favorites list. I've read it three or four times over the years.

A couple of others by my favorite SciFi author (Joe Haldeman):

The Forever War

MindBridge

All my Sins Remembered

I Saw Joe on a panel at a local SciFi convention. He told a few stories about his time In Vietnam. I always wondered how he was able to relay in his writing the feel of a war. After listening to him talk about his time there I understood why.

Comshaw

 

[sally_sparrow]

The Shining - Stephen King
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte

Subject to change on a daily basis, but these are my typical favorites.

 

[NoUseForAnyName]

So let's modify it to "Three OF your favorite books". That way you don't have to try to choose the three MOST favorite. I could spend months trying to make that decision and come out with naught and a headache.

Three of my favorites:

Dune - Frank Herbert

Dark Sea Running - George Morrill

Snow Falling on Cedars - David Gunterson


Comshaw

Dune is a GREAT pick. It lands my fourth place.

 

[Soshameless11]

The Cay - because it made me fall in love with reading.

The World According to Garp - because it made me fall in love with writing.

The Dead - because the last line is just haunting.

 

[domroger]

Yeah, how the fuck do you pick three? And my answers now would be different from my answers in an hour.

Agreed .

 

[NoUseForAnyName]

Great picks so far. By the way, it really gives me tremendous amounts of pleasure to see so much Stephen King here.

 

[Fermina_Daza]

I can’t say they are my three “favorite” as many books are my favorite at the time I’m reading them. But three books that stuck with me, that I can quote from, that make me intrigued when I see them on someone else’s bookshelf:

1. Janet Fitch’s “White Oleander”
2. Tom Robbins “Still Life with Woodpecker”
3. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love In the Time of Cholera.”

 

[Wrong Element]

The Shining - Stephen King
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte

Subject to change on a daily basis, but these are my typical favorites.

Those of my gender tend to underrate Wuthering Heights. It's terrific.

 

[bellisarius]

1. The Bible (old testament) Not for the religious content. Every triumph and tragedy of the human condition is on display. Every aspect of the human character noble or ignoble.

2. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Second only to the Bible in the examination of the human condition.

3. Whatever book that comes to mind that you enjoyed.

 

[rae121452]

i limited myself to books which i've read. i didn't even think about books that i just love looking at, so:

1) africa adorned-angela fisher (i believe, off the top of my head) beautiful, beautiful photos of every kind of jewelry worn by every group living on the continent of africa. i can spend hours engrossed in this book.

2) avedon-the sixties-richard avedon's photos of celebrities. because i was there and lived through it, so i remember everyone in it.

3) the last sitting-bert stern-stern's photos of marilyn monroe taken during what turned out to be the last weeks of her life. even at the end of her rope she's luminous and the most beautiful woman in the world.

 

[NoUseForAnyName]

1. The Bible (old testament) Not for the religious content. Every triumph and tragedy of the human condition is on display. Every aspect of the human character noble or ignoble.

2. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Second only to the Bible in the examination of the human condition.

3. Whatever book that comes to mind that you enjoyed.

To be honest...and yes, you will all stone me for that...I don't care much about Shakespeare myself but believe that MacBeth is one of the best plays ever written. Might even make my Top 5 list.

 

[FataMorgana]

Those of my gender tend to underrate Wuthering Heights. It's terrific.

I think that would be in my three, I'm still torturing myself over the other two though.

 

[Saint Peter]

Machinery's Handbook
large print edition

There are probably a couple of others. Books are boring.

 

[toeskr]

Machinery's Handbook
large print edition

There are probably a couple of others. Books are boring.

^^^^ Pete gets it mostly right every day.

Tired of reading, stuff.

 

[BrokenBarbie]

Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

The Stand, by Stephen King