I may have exaggerated just a tiny bit regarding god, but I do remember, after laughing out loud and bawling like a baby over the course of a few pages, at least entertaining the thought.
It really is that good. I’ve read about half of River Teeth and, as good as it is, The Brothers K is much better. My copy made it through several other people before I lost track of it and they all loved it. Even my mom, who generally reads crappy grocery store paperbacks, picked it up while visiting and could not put it down. PLEASE, for your sake, READ IT! Nay, I INSIST you read it.
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Green Darkness - Anya Seton
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
Forever Amber - Kathleen Windsor
Lord of the Rings, all three, is, of course, a given and doesn’t have to be in the list!
Old Love by I. B. Singer A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Prince Ombra by Roderick MacLeish Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
Heh. I read Magister Ludi between high school and college and had an identical reaction to yours. I guess I should reread it now.
If you like fantasy, you might want to try The Name of the Wind, which is a bit like the Glass Bead Game at Hogwarts.
I very rarely reread books, so this list isn’t based on rereading. I reserve the right to revise it at the drop of a hat.
The Crooked Timber of Humanity, by Isaiah Berlin. This collection of essays on the history of Western thought fundamentally reshaped my worldview, turning me from a radical into a liberal. It was one of the great changes in my life.
The Blank Slate, by Stephen Pinker. This book was utterly convincing to me in its suggestion that our personalities as individuals and as a species are heavily influenced by our genes. This has profound implications, and has changed my worldview almost as much as Berlin’s book did.
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas. I’ve heard it described as the best adventure novel ever written, and I believe it. It’s not just a cracking good yarn, it’s also a complex, beautiful meditation on the nature of vengeance and forgiveness.
Harold and the Purple Crayon. It’s a children’s book that embodies for me the limitless imagination that is one of my favorite things about kids, and that I aspire toward.
The Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook. This book isn’t especially well-written; I’ve read hundreds of books written better. But its influence on my life is tremendous: I have spent more time engaged in the hobby of gaming than in any other hobby, most likely, and I’ve built many friendships around it.
I notice that at least a dozen people have mentioned **Watership Down **as one of their favorites. Anyone wanna take a brief stab at explaining what makes this book so great. (Obviously, I have never read it. I think it has something to do with rabbits.)
I’ll make ya a deal. I’ll read your Great American Novel if you’ll read mine. Paradise Falls by Don Robertson. You’ve probably seen one or (if you’re lucky) both volumes at secondhand stores or garage sales. I ignored the book for years because it was a book of the month club selection, and my first thought was soapy potboiler. It’s about an up and coming man of business in the years right after the Civil War. He makes Charles Foster Kane look like a puss. I haven’t run across another novel that encompasses the post-war changes in America like this one does.
Then I read Robertson’s The Ideal Genuine Man, because of Stephen King. King liked the book so much, he published it himself. It knocked my socks off and since then, I’ve bought and traded and managed to find just about everything Robertson has written.
He’s out of print except for his Morris Bird books. The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread is the first to come back. It evokes childhood in the 50’s like nothing else; it’s painfully sweet.
He’s also written Civil War novels that rival the Shaara novels for authenticity and eloquence, and a long novel that takes place entirely on Election Day 1948, A Flag Full of Stars. Two of his Bird novels have been made into TV movies. Peter S. Beagle wrote the screenplay for one of them, and is a big Robertson fan.
Oh dear. I have blathered on. And I didn’t even touch on Praise the Human Season or Victoria at Nine.
Biggles Learns To Fly - Captain W. E. Jones
The Dogs of War - Frederick Forsyth
Goodbye, Darkness - William Manchester
The 13th Valley - John M. Del Vecchio
A Genius For War (A Life of General George S. Patton) - Carlo D’Este
The rabbits are anthropomorphized - but not fully. I mean they are rabbits, sure, but they have human personalities. The story is epic, sweet and dripping with pathos. You will cry like a baby.
Well, it’s not in my top 10 but it’s a very fine book. I don’t love it enough to give you a deep sales pitch, but I’ll tell you that the book features one of the goddam scariest villains in literature… and, yeah, he’s a rabbit.
The book handles the anthropomorphizing of rabbits pretty much flawlessly. You’ll learn stuff about rabbits and won’t mind that the little bunnies know how to talk.
If I remember, it’s mostly a quest story.
The follow-up book Shardik (about a bear, and which I read before Watership) was one of my five or ten most annoying reads ever.
My own list is pretty much from my “wonder years” of reading, mid teens to late twenties. And of course, it’s mostly arbitrary.
Sotweed Factor-- John Barth
Catch 22-- Joseph Heller
Alive: The story of the Andes survivors-- Piers Paul Read
Lord of the Rings trilogy-- Tolkien
That’s four and let me give a shout out to some other books that could use some love:
Lord of Light-- Zelazny
1984-- Orwell
Holes-- Sachar
Naked and the Dead, Tough Guys Don’t Dance-- Mailer
The Gods Themselves-- Asimov
900 Grandmothers-- Lafferty
Gone With the Wind-- Mitchell
Something by Anne Tyler… Maybe the Accidental Tourist
Something by Tom Robbins… Lord, can he write when he’s got a good story.
Sometimes a Great Notion… Kesey (prefer it to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
Glory Road-- Heinlein
Something by Phillip K. Dick,
Something by Vonnegut
Something by McMurtry
Something by John LeCarre
Something by Emore Leonard
Grapes of Wrath–Steinbeck
-Ender’s Game/Ender’s Shadow (Orson Scott Card). They fit together so brilliantly and are separately fascinating.
-The Giver (Lois Lowry). I get caught up in Jonas’ world so easily.
-Dry (Augusten Burroughs). Such a fully realized, intense portrayal of alcoholism.
-The Long Walk (Stephen King). Awesome concept, awesome execution.
I can’t believe that there are no classics on my list, but here goes:
Long Walk–Richard Bachman. I first read it when I was only a couple years older than the Walkers. It made me realize that there is a fine line between life and death.
First Blood–David Morrell. The first time I ever found myself cheering for a serial killer.
Love, Dad–Evan Hunter. I grew up with a wayward sister. This novel helped me understand that it was just a time in history and she could overcome.
Johnny Got His Gun–Daulton Trumbo. A good story of loss, survival, and understanding. Also the only book that may be considered a classic on my list.
The Stand–Stephen King. Epic good vs. Evil. If I was born in Iraq, I would have said Satanic Verses.
Absolutely a deal! This book sounds excellent. Can’t promise I’ll read it immediately as I have quite a queue, Watership Down being high on the list and moving up fast due to this excellent thread. Thanks for the recommendation. (By the way, I went to read Amazon reviews and found only one. You might recognize it. :))
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - R A Heinlein
Gaudy Night - Dorothy L Sayers
Island in the Sea of Time - S M Stirling
The Mote in God’s Eye - Niven and Pournelle
Shogun - James Clavell
I really want to include one each of the Aubrey/Maturin and Flashman series but they miss out because I can’t decide which one :smack:
Ha! It’s probably a waste of time for books that are out of print, but I plan on pimping all his books. Robertson didn’t even have a Wiki page until recently.
I ordered The Brothers K yesterday and will bump it to the top of the TBR. I’ll let you off the hook on Paradise Falls since it’s OOP and it’s quite long – but The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread is in print and it’s a lot shorter. It’s as good as Paradise Falls and as a coming-of-age story, it rocks.