best book you've read

[Penhalion]

For fiction I really enjoy Barbara Hambly and particularly her first vampire novel "Those Who Hunt The Night'. Like many here I am a long time fan of Sherlock Holmes and Lord of the Rings as well as HP Lovecraft.

For light mystery I like Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody books and an old favorite is Lord Peter Wimsey.

[Scott Nelson]

"Valis" by Philip K. Dick.

[DVV]

JK Huysmans "Down There" ; "A Haven"; "Downstream"
JL Borges "The Garden of forking paths"
RL Stevenson "The Pavilion on the Links"
GK Chesterton :"The man who was Thursday"; "The Ball and the Cross"
Dostoïevski : "The Eternal Husband"
T De Quincey : "Confessions of an English opium eater"
E Poe : "Narrative of Gordon Pym"
F Scott Fitzgerald : "Tender is the night"
JH Chase : "Have a change of scene"; "Trusted like the fox"
A Conan Doyle : "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
K Hamsun : "The Hunger"
E Waugh :"Brideshead revisited"
A Bierce : "Oil of Dog"
E Jünger : "On the marble cliffs"
M Boulgakov : "The Master and Margarita"
S Rohmer : "The mystery of Dr Fu Manchu"; "The Devil Doctor"
A Schnitzler : "Rhapsody"
R Queneau : "We always treat women too well"

[Cogidubnus]

Hello David

It's got to be a reflection upon me rather than you, but whilst I regard myself as reasonably well read, the only ones on your list I've read are Chesterton's "The man who was Thursday", Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and Waugh's "Brideshead revisited".

I now feel somewhat inadequate.

All the best

Dave

[DVV]

Oh, Dave.... Books are too many. I sure haven't read many that you love.

But we have tasted the same whiskies, haven't we ?

[Cogidubnus]

But we have tasted the same whiskies, haven't we ?

Absolument mon ami!

Dave

[pinkmoon]

JK Huysmans "Down There" ; "A Haven"; "Downstream"
JL Borges "The Garden of forking paths"
RL Stevenson "The Pavilion on the Links"
GK Chesterton :"The man who was Thursday"; "The Ball and the Cross"
Dostoïevski : "The Eternal Husband"
T De Quincey : "Confessions of an English opium eater"
E Poe : "Narrative of Gordon Pym"
F Scott Fitzgerald : "Tender is the night"
JH Chase : "Have a change of scene"; "Trusted like the fox"
A Conan Doyle : "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
K Hamsun : "The Hunger"
E Waugh :"Brideshead revisited"
A Bierce : "Oil of Dog"
E Jünger : "On the marble cliffs"
M Boulgakov : "The Master and Margarita"
S Rohmer : "The mystery of Dr Fu Manchu"; "The Devil Doctor"
A Schnitzler : "Rhapsody"
R Queneau : "We always treat women too well"

I've read most of the fu man chu books they are very good a bit politically incorrect now

[Magpie]

Individual books that I reread on a regular basis:

Shadowland, by Peter Straub
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
The Three Musketeers, my Duma
Moonfleet, by Faulkner
The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie

There's also several series that I love, and reread often:

Discworld, by Terry Pratchett
Repairman Jack, by F. Paul Wilson
Sharpe, by Bernard Cornwell
Sven Hassel's WW2 novels
Raffles, by E.W. Hornung.
Lovejoy, by Jonathan Gash

Anyone who gets a chance to read Nancy Barker's vampire novels would be in for a treat--good luck finding them though.

[Magpie]

My landlord has actually asked me to get rid of some of my books, as having a enclosed space crammed with hundreds of dry, papery, combustible object makes him a little nervous

Thanks to the wonders of ebooks, I've actually increased my library while decreasing that actual number of books in my home (not by much, to my wife's despair....)

[pinkmoon]

Individual books that I reread on a regular basis:

Shadowland, by Peter Straub
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
The Three Musketeers, my Duma
Moonfleet, by Faulkner
The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie

There's also several series that I love, and reread often:

Discworld, by Terry Pratchett
Repairman Jack, by F. Paul Wilson
Sharpe, by Bernard Cornwell
Sven Hassel's WW2 novels
Raffles, by E.W. Hornung.
Lovejoy, by Jonathan Gash

Anyone who gets a chance to read Nancy Barker's vampire novels would be in for a treat--good luck finding them though.

I have found Sven hassles books very entertaining over the years

[DVV]

I've read most of the fu man chu books they are very good a bit politically incorrect now

So many masterpieces would be politically incorrect now.
Huysmans would be a mere woman hater.
Poe, a racist.
Jünger, a nazi.
Dostoïevski would be branded as a putinist.
Etc, etc.
They would all be censored.
Unfortunately, finner feelings and good literature are two different things.
Look at the reason (if I can call it so) why Borges didn't get the Nobel. What a shame.

By the by, talking of Borges, I'd like to add Bioy Casares' extraordinary "Invention of Morel" to my list.

[Steve S]

Individual books that I reread on a regular basis:

Shadowland, by Peter Straub
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
The Three Musketeers, my Duma
Moonfleet, by Faulkner
The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie

There's also several series that I love, and reread often:

Discworld, by Terry Pratchett
Repairman Jack, by F. Paul Wilson
Sharpe, by Bernard Cornwell
Sven Hassel's WW2 novels
Raffles, by E.W. Hornung.
Lovejoy, by Jonathan Gash

Anyone who gets a chance to read Nancy Barker's vampire novels would be in for a treat--good luck finding them though.

I remember reading Sven Hassel's back in the 1970's........Read all of Cornwell's, but think the "Viking" series are better than the "Sharpes" Fighting through complete Dumas..done all the Musketeer-related ones,now for the rest!

[Nick Spring]

Favourites

For what it is worth here are some my favourites, not all but some and in no particular order:

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

Mammoth Pike - Fred Buller

No need to lie - Richard Walker

Winnie The Pooh - A. A. Milne

The Country Blues - Samuel Charters

Beyond A Boundary - CLR James

Ten Great Bowlers - Ralph Barker

cheers

Nick

[Carol]

I have two books that qualify for the title of 'the best book I've read'.

J.B. Priestley - 'Angel Pavement' and
Mrs. Belloc Lowndes - 'I, too, have lived in Arcadia'

Carol

[Magpie]

Thinking back, I'm surprised at just how many bloody good books I was "forced" to read in school:

Moonfleet
Day Of The Triffids
The Chrysalids
1984
Brave New World
Wuthering Heights
The Great Gatsby
Fifth Business

Many of which I've reread, voluntarily, since.

Of course they made is read some absolute dross too, like The Stone Angel and Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, and of course the shameless gutting of anything by Shakespeare.