The one book everyone should read?!?

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Replies

  • vikingchix
    vikingchix Posts: 105 Member
    I love to read, always have....Hmmm? To name a couple...

    Pillars of the Earth-Great book, a little long so maybe not one to start out
    Watership Down-I don't know why I love this book so much. I have read it about a million times :-)
    For fun paperbacks....I love a good murder mystery (if you have a Half Price Books near you, you can pick up a "bag of books" for a buck or two!)

    Read what you like and what interests you. It does not have to be deep and meaningful, it can just be for fun :-)

    Good Luck!
  • laserturkey
    laserturkey Posts: 1,680 Member
    James Lee Burke writes an awesome series featuring a Louisiana detective named Dave Robicheaux. The Neon Rain is the first one. My favorite is Sunset Limited.

    ETA: Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis is also excellent. Oh, and The Screwtape Letters. Or anything else by C.S. Lewis. :-)
  • I didn't go thru all the replies b/ c there are so many, so I don't kno if this was mentioned, but I thought Middlesex was a really good read. Its about a hermaphrodite. Her grandparents were actually brother and sister so it's pretty weird but I couldnt put it down.
  • klawwill77
    klawwill77 Posts: 15 Member
    bump
  • The Book of Mormon
  • DaRizzKid
    DaRizzKid Posts: 44 Member
    A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. its exactly what it states. AMAZING!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Harry Potter!
    It's my obsession. It's been my favourite ever since I first read it over 10 years ago. Although I'm aware that the simple writing style makes it not for everybody.

    Her writing style is actually very sophisticated, especially starting in book 4. It's EASY to read, but it isn't simple. It's a very complex and well-developed story.

    You're right, I just worded it wrong. What I meant was that because it is written to be easy for children to read, it wont suit everybody's tastes, because some people like books that use bigger words and such. :)

    Those people are stupid. :-) lol

    50 Shades uses a lot of very big words. HP is awesome. Theme, plot and a gripping story are more important to a good book than big words, for sure. I have to actually force myself to read things other than Harry Potter anymore! I read them twice in a year and am itching for a third read, but trying to read OTHER things.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    I didn't go thru all the replies b/ c there are so many, so I don't kno if this was mentioned, but I thought Middlesex was a really good read. Its about a hermaphrodite. Her grandparents were actually brother and sister so it's pretty weird but I couldnt put it down.

    It was not mentioned, but I second that recommendation. Great book. And a pretty easy read.
  • bump just to go back and get some great reads :flowerforyou:
  • Moby D/ick.

    Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.

    Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon.

    Hunger by Knut Hamsun.

    The Island Of The Day Before by Umberto Eco.
  • LanaeCarol
    LanaeCarol Posts: 158 Member
    Lots of great books have been mentioned. My favorite is the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. There are actually 5 books in this series and they are all hilarious.
  • Jennyisbusy
    Jennyisbusy Posts: 1,294 Member
    If you wanna be freaked the frack out than read some true crime - Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, or an Ann Rule book. (They make me grateful for my life!)

    I also just finished What Comes Next by John Katzenbach - and I was so uncomfortable reading it but I could not put it down!

    For those who mentioned Middlesex, Jeffery Eugenides also wrote the Virgin Suicides and it is a great read too. I have his latest book the Marriage Plot on my 'to read' list.
  • m16shane
    m16shane Posts: 393 Member
    Thanks for all the great books! I have a list compiled.
  • willowbrooke1
    willowbrooke1 Posts: 24 Member
    Some faves to start with:

    The Lord of the Rings

    To Kill A Mockingbird

    The Color Purple

    The Harry Potter series

    Of Mice and Men

    The Grapes of Wrath

    The Hunger Games Trilogy

    The Hobbit

    Daughter of the Forest Trilogy

    Angels and Demons

    Call of the Wild

    and one of my guilty pleasures is Louis L`Amour, his later years, such as Bendigo Shafter and the Lonesome Gods.

    Sorry I didn`t put author names down, I am running behind as I got caught up in this thread. Enjoy your reading, whatever you pick!!
  • I love to read, always have....Hmmm? To name a couple...

    Pillars of the Earth-Great book, a little long so maybe not one to start out
    Watership Down-I don't know why I love this book so much. I have read it about a million times :-)
    For fun paperbacks....I love a good murder mystery (if you have a Half Price Books near you, you can pick up a "bag of books" for a buck or two!)

    Read what you like and what interests you. It does not have to be deep and meaningful, it can just be for fun :-)

    Good Luck!

    Watership Down also gets my vote!
  • KilikiMom
    KilikiMom Posts: 237 Member
    I am a girl so take what i say how you will

    first of all yes i did read 50 shades of grey...and i dont think i'd ever reccomend that to ANYONE!!! horrid books....its bad when the sex scenes get boring and monotonous....

    anyways some books that i have loved

    The Jaran Series-Kate Elliot
    The Wheel of Time Series -Robert Jordan
    Thirst Series - Christopher Pike
    The Hunger Games books - Suzanne Collins
  • DLKeeble
    DLKeeble Posts: 200 Member
    What is it?

    Truthfully I'm not a book worm at all. I tend to get board when I read unless its a amazing book. So I'm looking for a great book that I can read, especially if its a classic. What should it be? BTW I'm a guy so no "Fifty Shades of Grey" haha

    The Pillars of the Earth and World with No End
    A Town Like Alice
    A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
    Count of Monte Cristo
    The Book Thief
  • DLKeeble
    DLKeeble Posts: 200 Member
    Only one??? Goodness!

    Well, since you're a man, I'd say Moby Dlck because men seem to really love that book, but I didn't like it.

    As for what I would recommend, my absolute favorites that are not gender specific would probably be either Les Miserables or the Harry Potter series. There are seven books in HP, but it's really one continuous story, so it's more like one really long book (and so, so awesome).

    The Book Thief is a really good piece of historical fiction, and very powerful.

    Oy. I have a BA in English literature and when I didn't have a full-time job, I used to read three or four novels a week, so you're asking the impossible from me! Check out my goodreads.com page if you want a whole list!

    I second The Book Thief
    I have a short attention span and usually lose interest in books easily- but this was a great book. Loved it from beginning to end.
    The book stayed with me for quite awhile. It was very interesting narrative, but I loved it.
  • DLKeeble
    DLKeeble Posts: 200 Member
    What is it?

    Truthfully I'm not a book worm at all. I tend to get board when I read unless its a amazing book. So I'm looking for a great book that I can read, especially if its a classic. What should it be? BTW I'm a guy so no "Fifty Shades of Grey" haha

    I totally forgot one of favorites that will keep you laughing.
    The Cold Dish. They have made a series now on tv about the Sheriff. "Longmire"
  • Jelaine56
    Jelaine56 Posts: 88 Member
    The Bible.

    It will change your life.

    You will never be the same..
  • Anything by Robert Ludlum is great!
  • bhawk82
    bhawk82 Posts: 24 Member
    The girl with a dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson is very gripping a thriller :-)

    I want to read this!! And call me weird if you will, but also The Hunger Games series :)
  • Just finished Liars Poker. Great perspective on the financial industry.
  • Bakerchk
    Bakerchk Posts: 424 Member
    I'm late to this but The Shack by William Paul Young.
    Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.

    This book seriously changed my life.
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
    The Bible.

    It will change your life.

    Meh... never could get into the Bible. Too preachy.
  • magj0y
    magj0y Posts: 1,911 Member
    The Bachman collection of short stories. It was stephen king's pen name.
  • Bakerchk
    Bakerchk Posts: 424 Member
    The girl with a dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson is very gripping a thriller :-)

    I want to read this!! And call me weird if you will, but also The Hunger Games series :)

    I've also heard this is an amazing book!
  • jessc4343
    jessc4343 Posts: 214 Member
    'The Last Lecture' by Randy Pausch

    edited to add the "Divergent" series by Veronica Roth. This is a great series for those still "hungover" from Hunger Games. She's only written two of the three books so far though, so take your time - the final book won't be released until sometime next year (I think...).
  • Since you're a guy and seem like you want a "guy's book" I'llrecommend Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy.

    No trilogy.
    No recurring characters.
    One and done - the entire story is encompassed in one book.

    Granted, it's a lengthy book, but it has a multitude of intriguing stories.

    It's especially thrilling if you're at all interested in the Cold War.

    This is not to say that trilogies or recurring characters are bad (I'd personally recommended both Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series).

    I just thought I'd post something different.