# Your top 5 favorite books of all time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049 "2009-02-16T04:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![echowit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@echowit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echowit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/161 "2009-02-19T19:26:03Z")
Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek Teaching a Stone to Talk Letters from the Earth Juniper Time Not the Bible Don’t know why, but these get reread more than most. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/162 "2009-02-19T20:03:47Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > In my case, I have several authors who have written more than 5 books that could probably lock up the top 5 all by their lonesomes. So rather than pick one, I’ll just phrase them differently. > > The writings of Terry Pratchett > The writings of L. E. Modessit, Jr. (Recluce) > The writings of David and Leigh Eddings > The writings of Tony Hillerman > Atlas Shrugged. Incredibly and frightening prophetic. I’m shocked by the lack of Alan Dean Foster on your list. I thought he would cut the top 5 for you. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/163 "2009-02-19T20:13:43Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I feel like my list is really low-brow compared to some of y’all’s. You should post in **Khadaji** ’s monthly Whatcha Readin’ threads. I always feel like I’m the only one reading fluff! ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/164 "2009-02-20T05:53:28Z")
Pride and Prejudice - Jame Austen Stranger in a Strange Land- Heinlein Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency- D Adams Ender’s Game - O. Scott Card ---
**Author:** ![3cushion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/da6949/32.png) [@3cushion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3cushion)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/165 "2009-02-20T07:27:43Z")
That Dark and Bloody River - Alan W. Eckert Catch-22 - Joseph Heller Double Whammy - Carl Hiasen Dead Solid Perfect - Dan Jenkins Children of the First Man - James Alexander Thom 3cushion ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/166 "2009-02-20T07:57:58Z")
_Watership Down_ (my all time favorite novel since I was like 10. Yes, it’s its difficult to recommend or describe to someone who hasn’t read it without making it sound silly and childish, but it is neither of those things. This is not a Pixar novel). _Huckleberry Finn_ (probably the greatest American novel ever written) _East of Eden_ (Just an awesome, awesome book. Maybe even better than _Finn_) _Blood Meridian_ (I don’t think any novel I’ve ever read has made me think as much as this one did) P.G. Wodehouse’s collected Jeeves and Wooster stories. They’re like mood enhancing drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/167 "2009-02-20T23:29:38Z")
Not including the Bible: 1. LOTR 2. _John Adams_ by McCullough 3. _That Hideous Strength_ By C.S. Lewis 4. _The Continental Op_ By Dash Hammett 5. _The Great Divorce_ by Lewis. It was hard to leave out _1984_. I’m going to have to re-read _Lolita_. I liked it but I wouldn’t have considered it one of the all-time best books. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/168 "2009-02-21T01:03:02Z")
Here are mine (at least my five favorites today – ask me on a different day and you might get a different answer), in no particular order: _Ulysses_, James Joyce. The English language hot-rodded to the breaking point. A work of genius. Joyce will be remembered as long as Homer, and justly so. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels. Yes, I know there are twenty of them. So what? I’m counting them all as one novel. It’s really one novel in twenty volumes anyway. And, **Shodan** , if you liked the Hornblower novels, you’ll love these. They’re much better (not that the Hornblower novels aren’t great). _The Power and The Glory_, Graham Greene. Catholicism and human weakness in the hands of a writer who knows them both intimately. _The Return of the Native_, by Thomas Hardy. I’m really putting this here as a stand-in for anything by Hardy. _Lord Jim_, by Joseph Conrad. Another great book about human weakness and redemption. Written, in English, by a man for whom English was a second language. Amazing. **infinitii** , your mention of Sei Shonagon’s \*Pillow Book \*made my day. A classic. While it’s not a novel, her personality shines through every word. I practically fell in love with her while reading this book, even though she’s been dead for centuries. I’ve had a crush on her ever since. **Estilicon** , I’m a huge Trollope fan. Haven’t read all of his books, but I will. And, finally, my first favorite book (by which I mean the first novel that really gripped me, to the point where I was actually living in its world), was _Ivanhoe_, by Walter Scott. I was probably 12 years old. I’m 49 now. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/169 "2009-02-21T06:52:35Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > And yes, now I need to order \*\*Watership Down \*\*and find out what the fuss is all about. I just ordered it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/170 "2009-02-21T07:04:08Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > **infinitii** , your mention of Sei Shonagon’s \*Pillow Book \*made my day. A classic. While it’s not a novel, her personality shines through every word. I practically fell in love with her while reading this book, even though she’s been dead for centuries. I’ve had a crush on her ever since. The same with me. I got it because I love lists, but little did I know how exquisite it was. The McKinney translation has some interesting cultural annotations and explanations which I found enhanced it, if you haven’t seen that version. Also: upon re-reading this thread, I am sad I didn’t provide any commentary on the five choices I made. Oh well, I’ll know better next time. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/171 "2009-02-21T11:54:55Z")
I requested _The Brothers K_ from the library and I’ll be picking it up today. I’m anxious to see what the fuss is about. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/172 "2009-02-21T15:23:02Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > I requested _The Brothers K_ from the library and I’ll be picking it up today. I’m anxious to see what the fuss is about. My copy arrived yesterday and I started it last night. If 50 pages is enough to form an opinion, I love it. But it’s exhausting. It reads fast but I want to slow down and appreciate it. I love family sagas (like _The Forsyte Saga_), coming of age stories (_Black Swan Green_), books about family relationships (_Wish You Were Here_), especially when they include the little details, stuff that’s important but that we don’t realize as important. So far, this book has everything I like. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/173 "2009-02-21T15:45:34Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > And, finally, my first favorite book (by which I mean the first novel that really gripped me, to the point where I was actually living in its world), was _Ivanhoe_, by Walter Scott. I was probably 12 years old. I’m 49 now. Lordy, yes. I read that book when I was a kid and it made a huge impression. Not quite as much as The Scarlet Pimpernel, though, which completely colored my view of fiction and turned me into a lifelong fan of secret identities. I thought Rebecca and Brian de Bois-Guilbert got the short end of the stick, though. Rowena was such a… wuss! ---
**Author:** ![statij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@statij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statij)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/174 "2009-02-21T16:56:20Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > My copy arrived yesterday and I started it last night. If 50 pages is enough to form an opinion, I love it. But it’s exhausting. It reads fast but I want to slow down and appreciate it. I’m so glad to hear this! I actually don’t even have a copy (gave it away and haven’t found the first edition I plan to replace it with) but I read the first couple pages at the book store yesterday and just the first few paragraphs can almost bring me to tears. Heart-breakingly good. The part that ends with one of my favorite lines of the book: “There he is. Papa. There is my father.” as he lays as a child in his father’s lap. ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/175 "2009-02-21T18:32:22Z")
Order depends on day/mood. Although I don’t normally reread a book, I return to these again and again. I am 45 btw. 1. A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore (I laugh until I blow diet coke out of my nose EVERY time I read it) 2. Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving 3. The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings trilogy- Tolkien 4. Ride the Wind - Lucia St Clair Robson (fictionalized account of Cynthia Ann Parker and the last days of the Commanche) 5. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (I have had a weird fascination with Afghanistan ever since I read Caravans by James Michener when I was 12 or 13 yrs. old. Also should include…Memoirs of a Geisha, The Little House Series, Lamb - Christopher Moore, Little Big Man. ---
**Author:** ![TheseGoToEleven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@TheseGoToEleven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheseGoToEleven)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/176 "2009-02-25T14:30:10Z")
Wow - just reading these lists is going to be a project, before I even get to any of the books… 1. Speaker for the Dead, \*Orson Scott Card \*- Surprised not to see it mentioned by other fans of Ender’s Game, to which it is a sequel. Fascinating look at the problems involved in trying to understand a truly alien culture, and up there with Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. 2. Water for Elephants, _Sara Gruen_ - What a great book; everybody I recommended it to loved it as well. Remarkable story about an unusual life in depression-era America. 3. The Lord of the Rings, \*J.R.R. Tolkien \*- Read it for the first time in 7th grade, and about a dozen times since then. Always though it would make a great movie 🙂 4. The Princess Bride, \*William Goldman \*- Even better than the movie, and I \*LOVE \*that movie! 5. The Pillars of the Earth, \*Ken Follet \*- Unlike anything else KF ever wrote, and the best historical novel I have ever read, bar none (can’t wait to read the sequel, World Without End). Like Michener, but better. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/177 "2009-02-25T21:10:27Z")
Just five??? OK maybe… 1. The Man Who Folded Himself - David Gerrold 2. Blue Coyote - Liza Ketchum 3. Momo / Neverending Story - Michael Ende 4. Timefall - James Kahn 5. The Philosopher’s Stone - Colin Wilson see all my favs [here](http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1820781) \*honorable mention: Fifth Sacred Thing - Starhawk Enemy Mine - Barry Longyear Enigma - Milligan Fegredro Brooklyn Dreams - J.M. DeMatteis Replay - Ken Grimwood Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series esp So Long and Thanks for All the Fish - Douglas Adams Dark Tower series - Stephen King Rama series - Arthur C Clarke Still Life with Woodpecker & Even Cowgirls get the Blues - Tom Robbins Sphere - Michael Crichton The Fountain - Darren Aronofsky Watchmen - Alan Moore Testament, Ecstasy Club - Douglas Rushkoff The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein - Theodore Rozak Interstellar Pig - William Sleator I only counted fiction. If we’re counting non fiction, Selfish Gene / Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins, Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams, and Sex Lives of Cannibals by Troost might be in there somewhere…\* ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/178 "2009-02-25T21:21:23Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > 1. The Pillow Book – Sei Shonagon (as translated by Meredith McKinney) Is that related at all to the movie with the same title? ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/179 "2009-02-25T21:56:58Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Is that related at all to the movie with the same title? Well, the movie references the book, and I guess you could say it was ‘inspired’ by it, but the movie is actuallii a modern story and is completely different. FWIW, I really liked the movie and was inspired to get the book after watching it, but I like them for completely different reasons ultimately. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049/180 "2009-02-25T22:06:28Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > Well, the movie references the book, and I guess you could say it was ‘inspired’ by it, but the movie is actuallii a modern story and is completely different. FWIW, I really liked the movie and was inspired to get the book after watching it, but I like them for completely different reasons ultimately. Is the book just a ‘list of things that make me happy’? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-top-5-favorite-books-of-all-time/486049.md?page=10)