best book you've read

[Cogidubnus]

Hi GUT

I agree with you wholeheartedly about the Canterbury Tales - I should probably have mentioned them myself...brilliant...I love the Wife of Bath letching up the men's legs, I love the lewdness of the arse out the window of the Millers Tale...in truth it's the earthly reality of it all which convinces...glorious stuff and brilliant on stage with the right company...

...and anything by Dickens...well yes...Christmas Carol has become a little passe...but the characters both in this and all the rest are still as present and realistic as they ever were...and yes I've not quite read all the works despite starting at eight years old with the Pickwick Papers...but I WILL get there...

All the best

Dave

PS Agatha Christie - I think I've almost all of her worthwhile ones in paperback - about four feet on a shelf! I've a few Tommy and Tuppence one's which are sadly a bit dated though!

[SirJohnFalstaff]

I'd say "Au Bonheur des Ogres/ La Fée Carabine" by Daniel Pennac. (they were translated as "The Scapegoat" and "The Fairy Gunmother").

"Les Rois Maudits" by Maurice Druon. (Historical fiction from the burning of the Templars to the Hundred Years war. Translated as "The Accursed Kings".

And "American Tabloid" by James Elroy.

[GUT]

OK I'll jump in.

The first will sound stupid..

It was called "The Ghost of Dibble Hollow" I read it when I was about 6 and it probably got me hooked on reading, then when I was about 40 I found it in a 2nd hand bookshop and couldn't resist and enjoyed it almost as much.

2nd

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, I think I was probably the only 14 year old in my class that really enjoyed the olde English.

3rd

Anything by Dickens

4th

When I was about 10 mum introduced me to Agatha Cristie's works

[Cogidubnus]

Hi Jason

I know I'm forty years late on this but I'm currently reading all the presidents men by Woodward and Bernstein and it is absolutely gripping .

Yes that's a very good book indeed...

When this thread started I stated my all-time favourite as "Lord of the Rings" - it now has a non-fiction counterpart in Helena's excellent George Chapman book...please don't ask me to choose between them...

There are very, very, many runners-up though, including the following fairly LIGHT reading:-

Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
The Kraken Wakes - John Wyndham
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlen
Time Enough for Love - Robert Heinlen
A Horseman Riding By - R F Delderfield
To serve them all my days - RF Delderfield
Send Another Signal - Jack Broome
Red for Danger - LTC Rolt
Historic Railway Disasters - OS Nock
The High Girders - John Prebble
Puck of Pooks Hill - Rudyard Kipling
The Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Travels with my Aunt - Graham Greene
Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene
The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen
Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment)

Oh I could go on all night...I will read ALMOST anything (including a lot of "crap" but all those above (and hundreds more) are great reads I'd recommend to anyone...heavier reading? Well that's a different world...I have to admit I alternate...

All the best

Dave

[Scott Nelson]

I'll read anything I can get for free.

[Archaic]

Seeing this thread I just realized that a number of my favorite books have conjunctions in the title:

1. 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy. (read at least 5 dozen times since age 13 or 14... read my first softbound copy literally to pieces; the binding came loose & pages fell out! Still have it though.)

2. 'Nicholas and Alexandra' by Robert Massie. (ditto; launched my interest in Russia History & Literature.)

3. 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. (ditto...everything by Jane, but P&P's my favorite.)

4. 'Complete Works of Shakespeare', especially 'Macbeth'. (bought first copy of Complete Works at age 12.)

5. 'The Once and Future King by T.H. White'. (read dozens of times)

6. 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy (ditto)

7. 'Poems of Wilfred Owen'. (ditto)

8. 'Poems of Stephen Crane'. (ditto)

9. 'Collected Poems of John Donne'. (ditto)

10. Other greats of Russian Literature: Dostoevsky (esp. 'Notes from Underground'), Turgenev, Chekov, etc. (ditto)

11. 'Vanity Fair' by William Thackeray. (ditto)

12. 'A Nervous Splendour' by Frederic Morton

13. A large assortment of Ripper books...my book shelves are collapsing!

14. A large assortment of Memoirs by émigrés from the Russian Revolution, most written c.1918- 1920s.

15. History books on the Romanovs, Imperial Russia and the Russian Revolution such as 'Fate of the Romanovs' by Wilson & Penny.

16. 'Morte D'Arthur' by Thomas Malory (still have my beloved copy from age 12.)

Looking at my list, I realize I first read most of these books as a teenager (except of course the ones published later), yet they are still my favorites that I re-read regularly.

When a book is really good, you can read it again and again... and no matter how many times you read it, each reading becomes a new and even richer experience. In my opinion William Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy are the absolute masters of this.

Best regards,
Archaic

[pinkmoon]

I know I'm forty years late on this but I'm currently reading all the presidents men by Woodward and Bernstein and it is absolutely gripping .

[Beowulf]

Well, I have to confess to having read the Lord of the rings about 17 times. I just loved that book, even though I did read the other books in the trilogy and the Hobbit a few times.

So, to me, not so geeky

[Cogidubnus]

Done that without the preparation...several times...sad? qui moi?

Dave

[robert newell]

The geekiest thing I've ever done--one time I got up at 7 am, settled myself into a comfy papasan chair with a thermos of tea and some sandwiches, and starting reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and 24 hours later I finished The Return of the King. Only bathroom breaks and thermos refills.

The second geekiest thing was I read the five books of the Belgariad in five days.

I wish I had that kind of time these days...

Now that sounds awesome!

[Magpie]

The geekiest thing I've ever done--one time I got up at 7 am, settled myself into a comfy papasan chair with a thermos of tea and some sandwiches, and starting reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and 24 hours later I finished The Return of the King. Only bathroom breaks and thermos refills.

The second geekiest thing was I read the five books of the Belgariad in five days.

I wish I had that kind of time these days...

[robert newell]

Great thread..It's funny, I look at hundreds of books on my shelves and realize that I've read so many, many, more over my almost six decades. I try to do the math and cannot figure out how I accomplished anything with the amount of time I've spent with a book in my hands. Best book ...Crime and Punishment.......Robert

[Beowulf]

Thank you! Was big, wasn't it? Interesting build with the flint lines. I wonder if that is for strength, seems they wouldn't do it for beauty but it works out to be kind of attractive.

I wonder if the stories of the ghosts are true, though they are entertaining. I'm glad Sampson preserved the old stories.

Stewart, I think that is the same book I do have but a newer addition. Love that cover.

I saw the older one is selling for about 75 dollars.

[Robert]

Looks good, Stewart.

Beowulf, if you'd like to see film of Castle Burgh, here's a little item :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6baQMU8tFwc

[Stewart P Evans]

Burgh Castle

...
Didn't get a chance to see this. I did look up Burgh Castle on Google maps, and 'wandered about a bit' on googles map view.
Of course being from the other side of the pond...and a bit inland (Arizona) I have been totally unaware of Norolk. The Bure, Yare and Waveny. I'm always looking at the map in the book. Suddenly sizing myself waaaay down and I'm there, looking for the old castle, the ghosts and the rivers.
...
I've wondered if on those days there are flocks of people at Burgh Castle or Breydon Water or other places.
...

You might like this book which has chapters on Burgh Castle and Breydon Water.





Ghosts of the Broads by Charles Sampson, London, Yachtsman Publishing Company Limited, 1931.