Your five all time favorite books

Discussion in 'BS Forum' started by Dierking, Mar 7, 2019.

  1. statjeff22

    statjeff22 2008 Green Guy "Most Knowledgeable" Award Winner

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    I think I would go with Larry Niven - he likes the hard science, but also has a fondness for detective and adventure stories. If we're talking Golden Age authors, I think Fred Pohl is the obvious comparable person. If there are Asimov fans out there who are looking for someone else to start reading I would encourage considering the two of them. I certainly don't think Heinlein is the right one - I think he and Asimov were very different.
     
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  2. Rollo Tomassi

    Rollo Tomassi Well-Known Member

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  3. ukjetsfan

    ukjetsfan Well-Known Member

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    Over the years I have considered several titles to be the 'best book I've ever read', so let's see if I can remember five of them...

    1 - Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
    2 - The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway
    3 - The Thousand Autumns of Jacon de Zoet, David Mitchell
    4 - Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield
    5 - The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Louis de Bernieres

    Mitchell is my current favourite author - I love every book he's ever written. Steven Pressfield had an amazing run with Gates of Fire, Killing Rommel, Last of the Amazons, the Afghan Campaign etc, but he hasn't written anything for a while. George RR Martin is superb, but I bear a grudge against him because I don't think he's ever going to write the next Song of Ice and Fire book.
     
  4. phubbadaman

    phubbadaman Well-Known Member

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    I liked Cloud Atlas, and actually liked the movie as well. I've only also read The Bone Clocks, which I thought was not as good. It was after that I read all of his books fit into a larger "universe" so I may go back to him at some point.

    I've recently read some Guy Gavriel Kay, and his writing is excellent. He writes semi-historical fantasy books. I've read The Lions of Al-Rassan and Tigana. Not sure they are in my top 5 books, but I'd recommend them.
     
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  5. Rollo Tomassi

    Rollo Tomassi Well-Known Member

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    Loved Gates of Fire. In my top 5 all time. Have read it 3 times.
     
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  6. ukjetsfan

    ukjetsfan Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, The Bone Clocks is good but I didn't think it was great. Slade House follows on from it and is really good. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (not Jacon, as I wrote earlier!) includes the most moving passage of writing I have ever read, where a British warship is bombarding a Dutch trading post. Number Nine Dream is great too. Ghostwritten is like an earlier incarnation of Cloud Atlas, it's interesting but not as polished. Black Swan Green I found okay but nothing really special. He's a magnificent author, though, at his best.
     
  7. ukjetsfan

    ukjetsfan Well-Known Member

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    I agree. It's just wonderful.
     
  8. Rollo Tomassi

    Rollo Tomassi Well-Known Member

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    On the Marines Commandment recommended reading list.
     
  9. Dierking

    Dierking Well-Known Member

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    That’s about the battle of Thermopylae?
     
  10. Rollo Tomassi

    Rollo Tomassi Well-Known Member

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    Yup. Historical fiction about the 300.

    Outstanding. Can not recommend it strongly enough.
     
  11. ukjetsfan

    ukjetsfan Well-Known Member

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    That's interesting.
     
  12. Dierking

    Dierking Well-Known Member

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    Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell

    With the old breed by EB Sledge

    Anything by George Pelecanos

    someone mentioned Alive, if that’s the book about the Paraguayan rugby team that survived a plane crash in the Andes, another excellent choice.
     
    #72 Dierking, Mar 23, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2019
  13. Brook!

    Brook! Soft Admin...2018 Friendliest Member Award Winner

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    Ince Memed by Yasar Kemal
    Benim Adim Kirmizi by Orhan Pamuk
    Peygamberimizin Hayati by Salih Suruc
    Suc ve Ceza by Dostoyevski
     

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