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What's your favorite book? Why?
- Thread starter fedrorpet
- Start date
Here's a third. I mostly enjoyed the history plays, Richard II through Richard III. My boyfriend and I had shirts made that said "Team Lancaster" and "Team York". I obviously chose the Lancaster one. :p
I love King Lear mostly because I think it's so telling about the terrible things people do to get ahead. My favorite tragedy by Shakespeare has to be Macbeth, though. Whenever I get a spot on my clothes, I invariably break out with "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" Ah, excellent.
In terms of Shakespeare's comedies, I'd have to go with A Midsummer Night's Dream followed closely by The Taming of the Shrew.
Have you read The Daughter of Time, ChristovaOnIce? It's a novel about how Richard III was in reality how he's been misrepresented. I personally found it to be one of the most boring books I've ever read but you could give it a go.
I've always been a bit partial to Twelfth Night among the comedies, perhaps because it was the first Shakespeare play I read besides Macbeth. I thought the sexual wordplay was pretty fantastic (I was like 12 at the time).
The Henry VI plays are unfairly overlooked by a lot of people. I think this is probably due to their being overshadow by Richard III and their lacking any really powerful and central character(s) like Hamlet, Iago, Othello, Macbeth, Rosalind, Cleopatra, Lear, Falstaff, etc.
The Henry VI plays are unfairly overlooked by a lot of people. I think this is probably due to their being overshadow by Richard III and their lacking any really powerful and central character(s) like Hamlet, Iago, Othello, Macbeth, Rosalind, Cleopatra, Lear, Falstaff, etc.
Unfortunate to see that noone has mentioned any Vonnegut yet, I abso-fucking-lutely love his writings.
To that end, my favorite book is The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut. I think in terms of the somewhat existentialist nature of the story, it's alot like Hitchhiker's Guide, though personally I find it easier to read all in all due to Vonnegut's style of storytelling, almost as if you could imagine him telling you the story himself. Whereas Adams I think gets a bit redundant at times, and, it's hard to explain, but I think the effort in Adams' writing is obvious, whereas Kurt made it seem much more loose and casual.
If I could indulge myself, some other top picks of mine are-
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
the original Dune trilogy (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune), by Frank Herbert
some other Kurt Vonnegut favorites of mine are-
Slapstick!
Slaughterhouse 5 (duh)
Galapagos
To that end, my favorite book is The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut. I think in terms of the somewhat existentialist nature of the story, it's alot like Hitchhiker's Guide, though personally I find it easier to read all in all due to Vonnegut's style of storytelling, almost as if you could imagine him telling you the story himself. Whereas Adams I think gets a bit redundant at times, and, it's hard to explain, but I think the effort in Adams' writing is obvious, whereas Kurt made it seem much more loose and casual.
If I could indulge myself, some other top picks of mine are-
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
the original Dune trilogy (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune), by Frank Herbert
some other Kurt Vonnegut favorites of mine are-
Slapstick!
Slaughterhouse 5 (duh)
Galapagos
vonnegut is just delightful. i have a particular affinity for his short story collection, welcome to the monkey house.
beyond that, slaughterhouse five is wonderful of course, breakfast of champions is my favourite work of his, and galapagos is pretty sweet too. those are the ones that stand out but really, all of his books are excellent.
beyond that, slaughterhouse five is wonderful of course, breakfast of champions is my favourite work of his, and galapagos is pretty sweet too. those are the ones that stand out but really, all of his books are excellent.
Unfortunately most of my books are in storage now because my family is in the process of moving.
Nineteen-Eighty-Four and Animal Farm are keepers for utopia as dystopia critique. Sadly I have not had a chance to pick up Brave New World yet.
Dante's Inferno was also a gripping read, descending progressively through each level to reach a frigid, barren bottom.
Nineteen-Eighty-Four and Animal Farm are keepers for utopia as dystopia critique. Sadly I have not had a chance to pick up Brave New World yet.
Dante's Inferno was also a gripping read, descending progressively through each level to reach a frigid, barren bottom.
norwegian wood by haruki murakami
fight club by chuck palahniuk
fight club by chuck palahniuk
I'm sorry, but I thought SH5 was just OK. Maybe it was the fact that I had to rush through reading it because of time constraints for class, but some of the parts just seemed very odd to me. The little child in me hates 50 page chapters too!
It was really interesting though!
As for my favorite books, I only have a few since I don't read much. I really liked The Giver by Lois Lowry; it's really juvenile but it's so cool too! I loved the premise and I thought it was written well. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch was inspiring and and touching, and A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer was horrifying.
Edit: Oh yes, Catcher in the Rye was good too. Great book to use on the SATs too!
I Think The Hobbit and the Lord of the rings trilogy are far better in the book form than in the movies. Some things that are in the books are not very well explained or shown in the movies and books last longer. You can take a movie and watch it in one sitting however books would take much longer and allow you to savor the book and actual storyline. I don't actually read much although it's something enjoyable that I hope to soon be able to make more time for. :P. Obviously some great books like Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy are classics and would not go without mention.
My favorite book at the moment is Cheating Death, Stealing Life by Eddie Guerrero. I love this book because it is not just about pro wrestling, it is also about life and growing up and learning from mistakes. Eddie Guerrero was born into a wrestling family the Guerreros. He went through a lot of times of trouble but he came back and got himself together. Eddie Guerrero overcame in situations that countless others in his same place would have failed. This is a really good read even if you hate pro wrestling.
reading something for school and reading something of your own volition are very different!
ahhh norwegian wood is totally on my to-read list. dance dance dace made me fall in love with murakami
but in all honesty i didn't like fight club very much. i really enjoyed choke, but i dunno. can't really explain why i guess.
I really liked slaughterhouse 5, how he started with the story of his visit to his friend, during which he exposed his intended climax and then all but completely gave up on it by the end of the story..
Of Vonnegut's books I've also read Cat's Cradle which was good, but I didnt like nearly as much..
Have a nice day.
Of Vonnegut's books I've also read Cat's Cradle which was good, but I didnt like nearly as much..
Have a nice day.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about Ender's Game! I enjoyed it more than the other books in the series that I read (I started with Xenocide because I just randomly found it somewhere, I thought it was OK at the time but I read it in 7th grade so yeah).
Speaking of science fiction, I'm currently at the beginning of Dune, and it seems great so far. However, I heard some of the sequels weren't so great. Which ones should I avoid?
Speaking of science fiction, I'm currently at the beginning of Dune, and it seems great so far. However, I heard some of the sequels weren't so great. Which ones should I avoid?
the movie interpretation of fight club was amazing. it was more appalling and thrilling but at the same time the great quotes of his are only great when written.
I was mainly talking about the rest of the Ender's Game and Shadow series. Ender's Game's sequels are a lot more deep if you look at it from a theological view, and have a certain flair to them different then Ender's Game, but this is on purpose: Ender's Game is written as if a child, albeit a very smart child, had made it; conversely, Speaker for the Dead and it's Sequels are more mature because Ender has matured.
Ender's Shadow's series is more of the flavor of Ender's Game, but with Bean as the main character. It intoduces much more drama to Battle School, and the new characters, such as Achilles, are very ... intense.
o wow lol wrong question to ask ppl that like reading XD
i have a ton of fav books but 1 series i like in particular is about the Knights Templar
i have a ton of fav books but 1 series i like in particular is about the Knights Templar
That was then, This is now by S.E. Hinton
a wild sheep chase - haruki murakami
- the ironic detachment in the middle of bizarre circumstances is wonderfully done and extremely funny. theres just something about this book that i find endearing, making it my favorite murakami.
cathedral - raymond carver(short story collection but w/eeee)
- so empty and isolated, when some kind of hope shines in it's just amazing and makes the end of the book astounding.
dead souls - nikolai gogol
- you can come into this knowing absolutely nothing about the contemporary russian periods, within 2 sentences of gogol describing a character you can 100% understand the satire.
- the ironic detachment in the middle of bizarre circumstances is wonderfully done and extremely funny. theres just something about this book that i find endearing, making it my favorite murakami.
cathedral - raymond carver(short story collection but w/eeee)
- so empty and isolated, when some kind of hope shines in it's just amazing and makes the end of the book astounding.
dead souls - nikolai gogol
- you can come into this knowing absolutely nothing about the contemporary russian periods, within 2 sentences of gogol describing a character you can 100% understand the satire.
Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon. It's an amazing book/series. I'm a huge fan of fantasy books and this one remains my favorite because of how different it is. The main character is a female which sets it apart, but it doesn't end there. I love how music plays a large role in the book. It's intertwined in almost all facets of the story. Oh, and it has a beautiful, heart wrenching romance. Don't pay much attention to what I wrote. It doesn't do the book justice. Just check it out for yourself.
I found that Ender's Shadow was a better telling of the same story, personally. But yes, that series is quite a good one. It used to be my favourite science fiction before I got into Banks.