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What's the Best Book you've ever read?

93JC

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Hmm...

Probably "Nineteen Eighty-Four", with "Animal Farm" a close second. I'm not a fan of George Orwell in any particular way but those two were excellent in every way.
 

highlander

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Yeah, those Mistborn books are really cool. :) Have you read his other books?

I've read everything except for that one teen series he wrote. (Alcatraz or something like that)
 

miss fortune

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something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury... it made me tingle (in a non sexish way... minds out of the gutter) and I couldn't put it down :holy:
 

kelric

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I'll just stick to the fiction... I don't really tend to judge nonfiction in the same way.

  1. Name of the Wind / Wise Man's Fear / The Doors of Stone (not yet published, I hope it's as good) -- Patrick Rothfuss
  2. Sailing to Sarantium / Lord of Emperors - Guy Gavriel Kay

There are also a whole bunch that would come in at around 3. Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin, almost (but not all) anything by Vernor Vinge (his ex-wife Joan is up there too), Brandon Sanderson, or Guy Gavriel Kay. Snow Crash and Anathem by Neal Stephenson, The Wheel of Time (the early books), I'd even throw Harry Potter in there for the engaging and fun tone.
 

Raven Eyed Pantomime

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Probably The Wasp Factory since it describes the protagonists relationship to ritual so completely it provides a frame of reference that's usable to myself. The story itself is like a mutilated corpse wrapped up in a tasty burrito to be washed down with a tall glass of dissociation.
 

Mal12345

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Probably The Wasp Factory since it describes the protagonists relationship to ritual so completely it provides a frame of reference that's usable to myself. The story itself is like a mutilated corpse wrapped up in a tasty burrito to be washed down with a tall glass of dissociation.

Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just sixteen, and unconventional, to say the least.

'Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

'That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.

'It was just a stage I was going through.'
 

Raven Eyed Pantomime

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Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just sixteen, and unconventional, to say the least.

'Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

'That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.

'It was just a stage I was going through.'

:)
 

Coriolis

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I read far too much to choose just one also. Top candidates are:

The left hand of darkness by Ursula LeGuin
Seven days in May by Fletcher Knebel
The moon under her feet by Clysta Kinstler
John Adams by David McCullough
 

Redbone

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Toss up between Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin and Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle. Probably go with Left Hand of Darkness because the sequel to Golden Witchbreed tore my heart out of my chest. :cry:
 

Polaris

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The book I most enjoyed reading was The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, which is about someone who is determined to realize their creative vision in the face of great adversities. I'm probably the only person on this planet who can read and enjoy Ayn Rand without in any way being an Objectivist.
 

Mole

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I asked Badger what is the best book he has ever read, and he gave a snort and looked at me over his glasses.

Well, he said, Deep underground, in front of the fire, and with a glass of port, I really enjoyed, "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind", followed by a chaser of, "The Laws of Form".

But my dear Mole, Badger went on to say, These are not books for you, these are not books for you to read at home. No, Moley, fill your mind with, "The Wind in the Willows", don't trouble yourself with philosophy. Be content with your careless and carefree life and enjoy the company of your friends.
 

Firebird 8118

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The Great Gatsby - as much as I normally hate stories with tragic endings, I love the motifs and symbolism in this one.
 

Nijntje

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I read a book recently that moved me to tears. And I'm not the type to cry over a book. However, I have read so much since, that I can't remember for the life of me what it was called. Pity.

I'm very fond of Brave New World and 1984. But to boil down to one book? That's like asking which sense you could live without. It's possible to do, but why would you want to?
 
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