best book you've read

[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.

[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

[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....)

[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.

[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

[Cogidubnus]

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

Absolument mon ami!

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]

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]

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"

[Scott Nelson]

"Valis" by Philip K. Dick.

[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.

[louisa]

Being a bit of an amateur criminologist I love reading about true crimes. I must have read thousands of books over the years on the subject.

However, I have recently discovered an author by the name of Ann Rule. She has written about 27 books and I've read about six of them so far.

The book that I HIGHLY recommend is called 'Everything She Ever Wanted'. (Check out the reviews on Amazon). It's the true story of a series of complex murders and explores the personality of a very sick woman. This really is a page turner, you won't be able to put it down!

Ann Rule's research into her subject matter is phenomenal yet she writes in a way that you feel as though you're reading a novel.

I shall be buying more of her books.

[pinkmoon]

I rate Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy as my favorite piece of fiction.
Frank Herbert's Dune has to be greatest sci fi novel ever.
Truman Capote's In cold blood is the greatest crime novel.
William Peter Blatty's The Excorcist is the greatest horror novel.
Scott Turow's Presumed innocent is the best suspense novel.
In the true crime arena, helter skelter and Zodiac are probably my faves.
Charriere's Papillon is the greatest autobiography.

Good taste in books especially papillon the exorcist is a very good horror book however I think the devil rides out by Dennis wheatley is the best horror book of all time

[Steve S]

Forgot to mention his "The Steel Bonnets" Marvellous history of the Border Reivers........

[The Good Michael]

LOTR (again...)
Collected Lovecraft
Northwest Passage (Roberts)
Sword at Sunset (Sutcliff)
Any of the Flashman series...Oh,and G McD F's War memoirs "Quartered safe out here"

Pyrates and the American by Frazier were excellent as well. I read Flashman when I was in the military. The last few weren't out yet, so I waited and waited and was in such a feeling of euphoria as each subsequent book came out after I was finished with my enlistment. Those books were a historian's work with great humor. Nothing ever reached me like Flashman.

mike