What is the Greatest Book Ever Written...has been moved

Lord Bane, something tells me you'd find a book called Time and Again to your liking. It's my dad's favorite book (out of hundreds over a lifetime of reading), written by Jack Finney. I personally haven't read it, but my instincts tell me to mention it here . My dad very much liked The Shipping News, by the way.

 

My personal favourite is Dinotopia by James Gurney. It did all three of the criteria needed for a good book. It has some amazing illustrations in it as well by the same person. Two thumbs up!

 

I loved the Cathcer in the rye, it was one of the greatest books written of all time. I think JD salinger is a brilliant man, but I dont think he wroate anything worth while after that book.

 

Since this thread is purely about individual taste, I'll just list my favourites, though I won't claim they're the greatest ever.
Ghost story by Peter Straub
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson
LOTR by you know who
Love in the time of cholera by Marquez
Cimarron rose, well anything by James Lee Burke, and virtually all of Stephen King's novels.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the works of William Gibson and his Sprawl Thrilogy, i personally feel Count Zero is the greatest book of all time

 

As much as I love Tolkien, his works just didn't have much of a social meaning, not to say that all books should. LOTR is great for a casual read.

If your looking for a great book with social impact, I would have to say William Golding's Lord of the Flies. It's amazing how Golding encompasses all parts of society with a handful of boys stranded on an island. He wrote it aimed at WWII, but I think it can be applied to virtually any time period.

A good book that's a tearjerker would have to be The Long Walk, by some Polish guy with an impossible name. It's really a testament on how the human spirit can endure.

And how can I forget the Diary of Andy Warhol?

 

I found A Fable by Willaim Faukner, Of Mice and Men, by Steinbeck, and The Illiad By homer ( if that who he or she or they really is/are)

 

Currently I would say Lord of the Rings. I just got the book last summer(all three "parts" in one book), and never really started it right away. I haven't really finished it yet(about to move onto Return of the King, as soon as school is out and I have more free time), but it's been excellent so far. Greatest book I've read in a while, but I'm sure there are many others that I've read in the past. Just don't feel like trying to use this brain of mine to think back.

 

Fiction: War and Peace or All Quiet on the Western Front

Non-Fiction: Chronicles of Plato- Philosophy is great.

 

Fiction: War and Peace or All Quiet on the Western Front

Non-Fiction: Chronicles of Plato- Philosophy is great.

 

I agree with Sultan, The Catcher in the Rye was the last book that I have read that really stuck with me.
At the time that I read it, my junior year of high school, I really felt a conection with that book.
I remember my Literature teacher recommended it to me, but of course, like every rebellious little teenage brat, I thought, "A book? Bah!"
But once I got around to reading it a few times (its not very long), I loved it dearly, and it still has a special little place in my heart.

 

"The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann.

Surprisingly noone mentioned "The Wuthering Heights", one of the greatest romances ever writeen.

 

For greatest entertainment books, it has to be LOTR of course, Dune, The Name of the Rose, and The Hobbit.

Lord Bane will hate me for this, but I've read IT and wasn't that impressed. It's nowhere near as good as The Stand, King's best book IMHO. There's also a glaring flaw in the plotting, namely that you see them all as adults right at the beginning, and this thus spoils any tension in seeing them as kids, since you know nothing too bad can happen to them.

 

Nothing physically can happen to them as kids. The youthful time is an exploration more in psyche than what the human body can endure.

 

The darkest things that can happen to a person, I believe, involve the mind.

 

Many of that things being result of injuries inflicted to the body.

 

The Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey.

A common sense guide for every day living.

 

i too find It to be King's greatest work. The scars that childhood leaves behind is the major theme of the book. It also scared the bejeebus out of me.
That said, The Talisman and The Shining are my other two favorite King books, i havent read them all.


As for the Greatest ever, it would have to be the Odysey by Homer(s). Not only is a great read but it has social significance and is the basis for literature today. His encounters represent the problems of real life. The problems of Oddyseus are still around today and the book has the mythical journey of the hero to avoid these perils.



As for my faavorite books, i would have to say, Lord Of the Flies, Catcher in The Rye, Fight Club, A Seperate Peace, Of Mice and Men, Grapes Of Wrath, A Time To Kill, Crime and Punishment, Oedipus rex, the Republic, Candide, and the prince.

Probably more, cant think of them now

 

Well, all the childhood stuff in IT didn't convince me. It didn't seem to me that the kids in it, be it the Losers or Henry Bowers and his gang, behaved consistently or in the way you would expect kids in the 50s to behave. They felt way too much like 80s kids dropped into a 50s setting, rather like something from Back to the Future.

For example, these kids are meant to act like kids, and in some ways they act like typical 11-12 year olds, but then they swear, smoke, and even make passing comments about homosexuals. Maybe I'm making too much of it, but it doesn't ring true. The girl in it doesn't even know what her mother means when asked if her father has ever touched her, which seems particularly improbable.

 

Well the kids swear and curse b/c they are the trouble makers, maybe its cause im from the Bx, but that didnt seem strange to me. I do see what you are saying to a point, but it really distract me from the gripping story.

 

"The girl in it doesn't even know what her mother means when asked if her father has ever touched her, which seems particularly improbable."

Back then, that sort of thing was covered up and just not talked about. I've spoken to my parents about growing up in the fairy tale 50s and basically, they appeared to be so good because they hid everything. The kids knew and found out the hidden truths, but never really spoke about them in public. In their groups, sure, which is why I believed the Losers and Bower's Gang. But in public, they didn't even talk about how they fought between each other. Everything was hidden and that's a theme; they forced their inner demons and conflicts out, ripped out the forced euphoria of the town in an almost Biblical sense.

 

I've read about the same kind of thing that went on during that time. King has pretty much always remained true to reality in his stories (when they resemble reality, that is).

 

If your looking for a great book with social impact, I would have to say William Golding's Lord of the Flies. It's amazing how Golding encompasses all parts of society with a handful of boys stranded on an island. He wrote it aimed at WWII, but I think it can be applied to virtually any time period.

Right on! The symbolism is cool, too. Out of all the books I've read in my English class in the past school year, Lord of the Flies was my favorite. I'm not sure what I would say is the greatest book ever, though.

 

It is more a paper than a book but

The Principia De Mathematica?

or actually as far as impact

The Bible?

 

from the first post in this topic:

"Aside from the Bible or any other holy text, I'd have to go with 1984, by George Orwell. If you havn't read it, you should... amazing."