What is your all time FAVORITE book?

[mt tom]

read LET'S ROLL! by LISA BEAMER this will tear your heart and make you proud that your an american

[Mr. Mojo]

My favorite non-fiction by RAW is The New Inquisition.

[BigBobber]

Don't get me started. The Patrick O'Brian sea stories are all fabulous.

[Richard Kimball]

The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test is good, but I personally prefer The Right Stuff, also by Tom Wolf, as is A Man in Full, and Bonfire of the Vanities, also noted on this thread.

The Caine Mutiny is one of my personal favorites, along with LOTR. Anything by Herman Wouk is brilliant, but Caine Mutiny and Winds of War are his best. I also liked Marjorie Morningstar by him, but it's not for everybody. For a meandering, philosophical book, I'll still pull out my old dog-eared copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The Bible never gets old. Francis Schaeffer's "The God Who is There" is a brilliant book on Christianity in a post-modern world.

For heavier reading, The Bell Curve is a good, but long read. Robert Bork's The Tempting of America should be read by every thinking person, IMHO. Starship Troopers is a little long on philosophy and short on action for my tastes, but was certainly a worthy read.

For trash reading, Hollywood Babylon is a blast. Moe Howard's autobiography, Moe Howard and the Three Stooges, is short and poorly written, but I love it because it's Moe actually writing it, not a professional writer pretending to be Moe Howard. If you've ever gotten into comic books, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is IMHO, the best comic book ever written. Raymond Chandler writes great old detective books, I can read any of the Philip Marlowe stories over and over.

I find most sports books to be a total waste, but When Pride Still Mattered, a biography of Vince Lombardi is a good read, as is Instant Replay by Jerry Kramer, an accounting of the Packers '67 Super Bowl season (kind of strange choices for a Cowboys fan.) As you may have guessed, I have weird taste.

[dasboot]

"It Takes a Village"

[Mr. Mojo]

LOL

[Capitalism2003]

Anyone read "The Savage Nation?" I just remembered it...saw Mike Savage on TV a few nights ago demolishing some lib...pretty funny.

[CFC__VRWC]

While we're talking sea stories, how about The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy.

[Indy Pendance]

"Reagan's War" by Peter Schweizer. It's about Ronald Reagan's fourty year struggle and final triumph over communism. Very parallel to what's happening in the Middle East today. Almost eerie.

[CharacterCounts]

Humorless one-dimensional heroes giving long-winded speeches?

Just because it took over 1,000 pages to say what most writers could have said in 100 doesn't necessarily make the book bad.

[Capitalism2003]

"Humorless one-dimensional heroes giving long-winded speeches?"

"Just because it took over 1,000 pages to say what most writers could have said in 100 doesn't necessarily make the book bad."

It's called drama people....DRAMA! Buy Atlas Shrugged! :)

[Richard Kimball]

You nailed that one. With all the Rander's at FR, I'm amazed you haven't been nailed to the wall yet. I tried to read it, but had pretty much the same opinion as you.

BTW, books everyone SHOULD have read as a kid, and are still great (I got to read them over again to mine):

Little House series
The Jungle Books
Old Yeller (can I admit I still get misty at the end?)
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

[PJ-Comix]

Just because it took over 1,000 pages to say what most writers could have said in 100 doesn't necessarily make the book bad.

Maybe but if John Galt was my dinner guest I would be screaming at him, "GET TO THE FRIGGIN' POINT ALREADY!!!"

[dasboot]

hehehe

"The Virtue of Selfishness" Rand

"Brave New World Revisited" Huxley (quick read)

And also on the "know thine enemy" list:

"Walden II" Skinner

[xp38]

I agree about the Gulag Archipelago but it is not light reading. I read in the 70s when it was released and knew then I was reading one of the masterworks of the 20th century. Very heavy slogging for my young mind but very worthwhile. I don't think I would call it my all time favorite book. It was like reading of the Bizarro planet. The clapping incident impressed me a great deal.

[PJ-Comix]

BTW, books everyone SHOULD have read as a kid...

Maybe I was a weird kid but I when a kid I mixed my Hardy Boys with "Travels of Xenophon," "Sirens of Titan," and Sherlock Holmes.

[Richard Kimball]

Nyuk, nyuk,nyuk! In the same vein, how about "I know why the caged bird sings"?

[CharacterCounts]

It's called drama people..

It's called trying to stay awake!

Stephen Crane only took about 300 pages to write "The Red Badge of Courage." That's drama.

[PJ-Comix]

The clapping incident impressed me a great deal.

Just be sure you're NOT the first one to stop clapping!

[Capitalism2003]

Ok, so maybe Rand does take her time in disecting the philosophy of the left...but she does it so well..obliterates each argument so perfectly...I really didn't mind the length. ;)

[PJ-Comix]

The Caine Mutiny is one of my personal favorites...

I bought that one at the last minute at the airport gift shop and then stayed up all night on a transcontinental flight reading it.

[Physicist]

History: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.

Science: Spacetime Physics by Taylor and Wheeler.

Fiction: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis.

Poetry: The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser.

[fnord]

I still remember parts of it. There was tremendous detail of names and places, that I glossed over (like the Bible begats ...). But many interesting stories. The realism and detail was extraordinary.

I recall the clapping incident too, and speak of it to friends occasionally to try to make an impression of the insidiousness of the Soviet regime. Hardly anyone can believe it might be real.

[Petronski]

The decline of American started on the day that soy additive began to be used in Slim Jims.

So THAT'S what happened! Ach, they're almost inedible now, like those old wax candies filled with syrup...except instead of syrup it is pepper oil.

I remember when they tasted like meat.

[CFC__VRWC]

Maybe I was a weird kid but I when a kid I mixed my Hardy Boys ...

The Hardy Boys bring back some great memories. I think I read every single one of the books (there were about 80 or so when I was a kid). I could only check out 3 per week from the library, and I'd have those three read by the third day. Those four days until I could get the next three were torture! :)

[PJ-Comix]

Ok, so maybe Rand does take her time in disecting the philosophy of the left...

Brevity is the soul of wit....but perhaps not lit.

I really didn't mind the length.

I did but at least I got some great tips on how to put the make on Randian Chix.

[dasboot]

Hardy Trivia:

What was the name of thei boat?

[whenigettime]

Yes, another Francis Shaeffer fan!! His works are incredible.

A Christian Manifesto is a must-read for all TRUTH-LOVERS!

[sarasmom]

"The Prophet" Kahlil Gibran

But it is not really true to say that is my "favorite", and leave it at that.How to choose?

"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" Douglas Adams

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" Richard Bach

Perhaps a better question is favorite author, but than how could I make a choice between ;

Anne Rice

Marion Zimmer Bradly

Ayn Rand

Stephen King

Johanna Lindsey

Nora Roberts

Clancy

Poe

Allcott

Head spins!

[slimer]

Thank you for the link. It is awesome!

[Richard Kimball]

I can go with any of those choices. Man, hadn't thought about the Hardy Boys in YEARS! Think I'll pull out "The Tower Treasure" and read it under the covers with a flashlight to get the proper effect.

[PJ-Comix]

I remember when they tasted like meat.

They used to be crunchy with just the RIGHT amount of fattiness in the texture. When they started using addiditives it was like tasting a chemical stick.

p.s. If you go to an East European deli and asked for dried Kabanosi, you will get an idea of what the old Slim Jims were like.

[dasboot]

Hardy Trivia:
Name of Tony Prito's boat?

[CFC__VRWC]

Oh man, I can't remember the name of the boat! But didn't the boat belong to their buddy Chet Morton?

[CFC__VRWC]

I take my post back. Chet had the old yellow jalopy.

[PJ-Comix]

History: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.

Actually quite humorous in a cynical way.

[Petronski]

Don't get me wrong, PJ. I remember what they were like. I enjoyed them thoroughly.

[dasboot]

Chet had a jallopy. Remember the color? Don't think he ever had his own boat, though.

[Mr. Thorne]

Ah, friend. A kindred spirit. Same here. Loved Mote, King David's Spaceship. I think Larry Niven got into The Gripping Hand a bit too much for my taste. I just like Pournelle better.

But of course, to appreciate Mote, you OBVIOUSLY need:
Falkenberg's Legion
Prince of Mercenaries
Prince of Sparta
Go Tell The Spartans
and
King David's Spaceship.

High Justice, Birth of Fire and Exiles To Honor help the mix a bit. And just for fun, tune in to the Tran series.

I just wish JP would get the latest Spartan Hegemony novel pumped out. Really enjoy the whole Sci-Fi/Military bit.

So, are there still brownies on his majesty's battlecruiser "Macarthur?"

= )

[dasboot]

Yellow. Correct. But it got painted when it was stolen.

[Denver Ditdat]

The Bishop's Boys - Tom Crouch
Chesapeake - James Michener
Fate is the Hunter - Ernest K. Gann
A Man on the Moon - Andrew Chaikin
Nicholas and Alexandra - Robert K. Massie
Peter the Great - Robert K. Massie
The Last Lion : Winston Spencer Churchill - William Manchester
The Sand Pebbles - Richard McKenna
The Sherlock Holmes stories - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Time After Time - Allen Appel
Time and Again - Jack Finney
A World Lit Only By Fire - William Manchester

[Denver Ditdat]

the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester

And don't forget "The African Queen".

[Mr. Mojo]

Hail Eris!

[PJ-Comix]

Stacked Like Me by Christine Jorgenson.

[CFC__VRWC]

The thieves painted it red, didn't they?

BTW, what was the name of the boat - it's been at least 25 years since I read the books. I may have to make a trip up to Maryland to "borrow" my nephew's Hardy Boys books.

[SamAdams76]

Every Christmas we listen to Orson Welles' 1939 radio production of "A Christmas Carol" complete with a vintage commercial for the lone sponsor (Campbell Soups). I must have read the story at least a dozen times over the years. I also recommend Charles Dickens' other works, especially Oliver Twist and Hard Times. He can be difficult to get through for modern readers but the effort is rewarding. He really brings 19th Century England to life.

I don't believe anybody has mentioned Jack London yet. No decent book collection can be without Jack London's short stories about the Arctic. Especially Call of the Wild, the short story To Build A Fire, and The White Silence. If you are really feeling adventurous, try his Prohibition propaganda novel John Barleycorn and his Dickens-inspired People Of The Abyss, based on his observations of poor people in London at the turn of the 20th century.

BTW, all those links take you to the actual text of the works. Yes, they are absolutely free for the taking as the copyrights have expired. The Dickens works are available online for free as well but I don't have them bookmarked. I have a bunch of these "e-texts" downloaded on my laptop so that when I am traveling or otherwise bored, I just fire up my laptop and fill my brain with great literature. If I like what I read enough, I eventually will buy the book and add it to my permanent library (which is getting quite extensive).

[dasboot]

Yep, red!

"Sleuth"

Tony's was "Napoli"

Smiling, thinking about the boys!

[Denver Ditdat]

Hardy Trivia:

What was the name of thei boat?

Was it "The Sleuth?"

Does anyone remember the "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" series? I enjoyed those as much as the Hardy Boys.

[Diana Rose]

any book by Suzanne Brockmann (romance)
The Windflower by Laura London aka Tom and Sharon Curtis (romance)

[Mr. Mojo]

Pournelle is a blast at sci-fi cons. ...Or should I say, blasted ;)