Favorite Book and/or Author

[MIDWESTDIVA]

My favorite books are:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Gather Together in my Name
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
The Heart of a Woman
All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes

all by Maya Angelou


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"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." ~Harry S. Truman~

[moe.ron]

I highely suggest a book by Pramoedya Anata Toer. There is a four volume book which tackled Indonesian politics in the 16th century. this book was banned by the preivous government and him prisoned. He fought first Dutch colonialism which landed him to prison. then the Suharto government, which again landed him to prison. From 1979 to 1998. He was released after Suharto was overthrown.

the remarkable thing about this book is that he memorized the story, told it to his fellow prisoner, and they inturn wrote it down and published it abroad. The book was banned till 1998. Truly an amazing man.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

I think my absolute favorite book is The Alienist by Caleb Carr. If you like mysteries/thrillers, this is a good one. Plus it paints a very vivid picture of life in New York before the turn of the century. I enjoyed this book so much it was hard to tear myself away from it for work, sleep, etc !

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[juniorgrrl]

I dont' read much anymore, but two books I love are The Alchemist, by Paulo Cohelo. ITs a great parable-fairytale-adventure-fantastyish story. I also love She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb. Its a great self-indulgent chick book

[RHOyal-Silence]

My favorites:
Kindred by Octavia Butler
All of E. Lynn Harris.
All of Eric Jerome Dickey (especially Milk in My Coffee)
Song of Solomon by Toni Morris


a good book to check out is The Illuminati by Larry Burkett.

[chloe]

i highly recommend The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

[RaeRae]

Hello everyone.I am new to the boards but am a voracious reader and had to add my two cents.Caleb Carr is excellent."The Alienist" was one of the best I ever read.I also enjoy a good true crime book.Has anyone ever read Ann Rule or Vincent Bugliosi?She is a former policewoman and he is a former prosecutor and that both write about their past cases.

[bucutie02]

man with everything going on from school to GREEKCHAT, i dont have time to read anything else. Well i always have to have time to read the monthly Cosmo but anyway, i have been wanting to get back in to it. Does anyone have any suggestions... i like mystery/thriller books but also romantic ones. Since i havent really read any books as a hobby since like junior high, im not caught up with the good authors.... what would you suggest?

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"He is not perfect, you are not perfect. The question is whether or not you are perfect for each other"

[DWAlphaGam]

I knew there had to be a thread about favorite books somewhere, so I did a search rather than starting a new one.


So anyway, I was bored and didn't feel like working today, so I went on barnesandnoble.com and created a wish list of all those classic books I should have read but never did, even though I was an English major in college. For example, I've never read Dante's Inferno or The Grapes of Wrath. My goal is to try to read a new book every couple of months just to better myself as a person (and 'cause I'm a dork like that). I have 15-20 books on my list right now, but I was wondering if there are any books that you guys think should be required reading for everyone, or any favorite pieces of literature you might have. Thanks!

[DWAlphaGam]

Oops, I should probably start with some of my favorites:

Authors--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Shakespeare

Books--Paradise Lost, 100 Years of Solitude, My Antonia, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World

[phimugirlie01]

Well, currently I'm reading "Divine Secrets", one of my sisters lent it to me.

For any education majors, I highly recommend the series written by David Pelzer. It's "A child Called It", "The Lost Boy", and "A Man Named Dave". They deal with child abuse and are exteremely heartbreaking. I started crying when I read "A man Named Dave". It's awful what this woman did to her child.

I also like anything written by Anna Quindlen. She's my favorite author!!

[sugar and spice]

"Classics" I loved:
This Side of Paradise (my favorite book ever -- I like it a thousand times more than The Great Gatsby -- and Fitzgerald's short stories are even better)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1984
Brave New World
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pride and Prejudice
The Faerie Queene
"Daisy Miller"
Lolita
anything by Dorothy Parker

Classics I hated:
Paradise Lost
Great Expectations
Hawthorne's short stories

As an English major, I've found that the literature I'm lacking in tends to be the stuff that was originally written in Russian or Italian or French or what have you -- Anna Karenina, Dante's Inferno, etc. -- since most of my classes are English or American lit classes. Also, since I spent most of my childhood reading junk like Sweet Valley High, I missed out on a lot of children's classics like Little Women or Peter Pan. I went back and read a lot of classic children's books this summer and I would definitely recommend that too -- most of them are just as good and more interesting than the "grown-up" classics.

[KSig RC]

Whoa, you liked The Faerie Queene, but don't like Paradise Lost? Interesting . . . I find the Faerie Queene droll and uninteresting for the most part. Its didacticism makes me want to kick my own ass.

I'm finishing my English (American Lit) degree this year, so I've done extensive reading in the catagories most have picked from, and I'll agree with most all - good selections guys(although Brave New World is potentially the most overrated book ever, in my opinion - Aldous Huxley was a fucking moron).

My favorite "book" of all time would be Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn - although it's more of a full-length essay. My favorite piece of literature of all time would probably be Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" - although I'm not the beatnik epicurian hippy that would make me seem.

In a more "classic" sense, I'll posit that the best (modern) book written would be Moby-Dick, because it never strays from the goals, themes, and style Melville intended (note that Fitzgerald was about there with Gatsby too), although it's not the most interesting read in parts.

For entertainment, however, I stick to things like our good ol' coked-up buddy, Sherlock Holmes, and brain candy. Good stuff.

Originally posted by sugar and spice
"Classics" I loved:
This Side of Paradise (my favorite book ever -- I like it a thousand times more than The Great Gatsby -- and Fitzgerald's short stories are even better)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1984
Brave New World
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pride and Prejudice
The Faerie Queene
"Daisy Miller"
Lolita
anything by Dorothy Parker

Classics I hated:
Paradise Lost
Great Expectations
Hawthorne's short stories

As an English major, I've found that the literature I'm lacking in tends to be the stuff that was originally written in Russian or Italian or French or what have you -- Anna Karenina, Dante's Inferno, etc. -- since most of my classes are English or American lit classes. Also, since I spent most of my childhood reading junk like Sweet Valley High, I missed out on a lot of children's classics like Little Women or Peter Pan. I went back and read a lot of classic children's books this summer and I would definitely recommend that too -- most of them are just as good and more interesting than the "grown-up" classics.

[cuaphi]

Books I've read recently:

I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Partly Cloudy Patriot and Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell

I would highly recommend any of those.

Books on my wishlist on Amazon right now:

Me Talk Pretty One Day and the Santaland Diaries by Dave Sedaris
About a Boy and High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby
The Nanny Diaries when it finally hits paperback next month.

I've also read and liked just about everything by Coupland and Vonnegut. If anyone has any suggestions for more good stuff I'd love to hear it....

[Rudey]

Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy

-Rudey
--Read it.