What are your favourite books of all time?

[TravelingMaaike]

For me, it's Moby Dick (1851) and Les Miserables (1862).

I like the classics.

Updates

7 mo

As for film adaptations, they aren't always accurate and they don't really do the books justice.

[KostasKouvalis]

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Around the World in 80 Days

Magic Tree House series

Goosebumps series

Series of Unfortunate Events series (film adaptation was horrible)

Journey to the Center of the Earth I was actually reading in third grade and the teacher saw how much it intrigued me, and when he realized I wouldn't finish it before summer vacation, he gifted it to me. I still have it. I never thought a book could have such an impact on my life.

The original 1950s film adaptation was brilliant, but we do not speak of the Brenden Frasier one.

The Around the World in 80 Days with Jackie Chan was hilarious, albeit strayed far from the original.

I fucking LOVE Jules Verne! Mysterious Island. They're the only none series books I ever really got into. I never could finish 20,000 Leagues. I don't read at all anymore, but maybe I should get the other Vernes novels. The balloon one sounds interesting. Don't care much for the moon one. Yeah, I think I'll get the balloon one.

[DryGermanGuy]

20.000 Leagues is I think his literary culmination. There is so much story in this book.
Insider tip: Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery. Jule Verne‘s own Robinson story.

[KostasKouvalis]

I totally forgot Robinson Corusoe and The Time Machine and Treasure Island. I read these books ages ago. "The Time Machine" is definitely in my top favorites too

[zeitgeist057]

Les Miserable was good, but too long for me to want to read it regularly. I might read it once more before I die, lol. It was pretty good.

Cryptonomicon is my favorite book by my favorite author, Neal Stephenson. I'm also quite a fan of Snowcrash, Anathem, Reamde, and The Diamond Age.

Accelerando by Charles Stross had a lot of very interesting ideas about what post-humanity could look like.

The Expanse (series) by James Corey

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

A Little Life by Hanya Yanajihara

The Game of Thrones (series) by George Martin, but I am on a strike until he finishes the series. I stopped after book three when I realized it wasn't done.

The Lord of the Ring (series) by J. R. Tolkien

I realize a lot of these choices are mainstream typical, but also there's a reason they are. But I do want to add that there are a lot of popular books that I thought were rubbish. Dan Brown's NYT top sellers are a great example. They are pulp fiction, fast paced, but essentially vapid, and only suitable for middle school/high school.

The Manual of the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coehlo (I like a lot of his books)

Noam Chomsky (author) - a lot of his "books" are simply transcription of his conversations with interviewers.

9 Princes in Amber (series) by Roger Zelazny

William Gibson (author) - Mona Lisa Overdrive, The Peripheral, and All Tomorrow's Parties, a few of his many excellent books

Robert Heinlen (author) - Starship Troopers and A Stranger in a Strange Land, amongst several others

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

Kurt Vonnegut (author) - I friggin' LOVE this guy. Prolific, but hard to go wrong with anything he wrote.

Tom Robbins (author) - another one who never fails to please.

I could go on, but I won't for now. I have an appointment :)

.

[davado88]

#eyeroll

[Rei13]

I really love Pride and Prejudice. It is probably my favorite book of all time. I like the tv show and movie adaptations for it too for the most part and think different adaptations are stronger in some areas than others with bringing the characters and story to life. I also just enjoy Orson Scott Card books in general (Ender’s Shadow was great), Lord of the Rings, IT, Pachinko, and a ton of others. As far as movie adaptions go I think LOTR did well with it mostly cause it cut out my least favorite parts of the first book in particular but the newer True Grit was a really good adaption that felt like they followed the book perfectly and then Memoirs of a Geisha did well too

[davado88]

i had to read pride and prejudice at school is was absolute torture so im glad someone liked it.
Which reminds me - war and peace- which i actually read coz it has a reputation as a masterpiece and i was pretentious enough in my youth to do so.
it was absolute drivel. With the literary worth of a rv soap opera. But whty would i know.

nowadays i love streaming movies and cricket. Reading requires effort but if i want to read ill read a wilbur smith book

[Rei13]

@davado88 If I had to read it I might’ve enjoyed it less to be honest. I haven’t read war and peace since it didn’t look interesting nor any of that other guys books so I don't know about that.

And that’s fair. There are a lot of options to stream so can’t go wrong there

[Jennz6]

Yeah I love 💕 those and what @Simslover92 said Jane Eyre plus “The Old Man and the Sea” don’t forget to read the Bible too

[Jennz6]

The Iliad by Homer

[TravelingMaaike]

Old Man And The Sea was good too.

[zeitgeist057]

I thought there were too many parts of the Bible that really drug on and were boring. There are definitely some good books and chapters in there, it just depends on which author wrote them. I like the parts written by Moses, David, and John the best. Some of those other fellas could take a writing course on how to not bore someone to death, and a few of them also don't write very believably. I don't mind the fiction, as long as it's interesting.

[Miristheiss]

WOW.

WOW.

Moby Dick? It was torture for me to read that. I would have stopped 50 times if I were a quitter. I wanted to finish it though. It took me 4 months to read that because I could only bear a few pages at a time.

I didn't ever think I'd run into someone who had that as their favorite.

1/3 of the book, the part that actually detailed the story of the hunt for the whale was ok, it was the other 2/3's where Herman went on all of these endless tangents about 20 other topics that wore me out and lost me.

Anyway, back to the question, my favorite books?

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens), The Talisman (Stephen King/Peter Straub, Ghost Story (Peter Straub), Without Remorse (Tom Clancy), Velocity (Dean Koontz), The Analyst (John Katzenbach), Six Years (Harlen Coben), The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins), The Last Juror (John Grisham), Airframe (Michael Crichton).

[zeitgeist057]

Dang I forgot I read so much Koontz and King as a youth. And horror isn't even a favorite genre of mine, but I just loved finding something I hadn't read by them. I was thrilled to discover "The Bachman Books"

[lightbulb27]

For the sake of all living things - first time I read a book and had feelings... of despair and connect with others pain. This book about the killing fields.

When Rabbit Howls - True story of Trudy Chase... I could tune into the suffering of a child when for me, I was quite shut down from early life and being a sensitive kid.

... not sure on others, more fact than fiction.

Living with your heart wide open - reading now. excellent concise depiction of problems and solutions.

[DryGermanGuy]

Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe

Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

Jules Verne - Journey to the Center of the Earth

Jules Verne - Around the World in Eighty Days

Thor Heyerdahl - Expedition Ra (nonfiction)

Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose

JRR Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings

Frank Herbert - Dune

Robert Harris - Enigma

Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park

[zeitgeist057]

I was just thinking about Treasure Island this morning. Seems like it might be along the lines of the classics you enjoy.

[DryGermanGuy]

I have read it as a ten-year-old and enjoyed it. Quite a violent story.

[zeitgeist057]

yeah it's been a long time since I read it as a youth as well. I was thinking about "the Black Dot" and what a cool idea that was for a pirate mafia that sent a secret "you're gonna die" message.

[Constatine]

In my bookcase i have

a Trilogy " His dark Materials " by Philip Pullman. book titles : The golden compass, the subtle knife, the amber spyglass

Fantastic Beasts by J. K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling

I do like fantasy / adventure stories

[AmeerX]

Short stories and books by Leo Tolstoy. I especially like his books because they feel like where my current society is now especially Anna Karenina. Munshi Premchand's Novels and stories, Saadi and Rumi's books, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov is also good.

[AmeerX]

@travelingmaaike I hate film adaptations. Very few live up to standard

[zeitgeist057]

Anna Karenina is on the top of my list. But I got intimidated by the cast of characters. I feel like I will need to take notes to keep everyone straight.

[AmeerX]

@zeitgeist057 oh yeah thr novel can be convoluting at times

[davado88]

tolstoy is boring but i love checkov too

[AmeerX]

@davado88 Chekhov is to the point with deep worded sentences

[davado88]

i dont know what that means , i just found his stories interesting

[AmeerX]

@davado88
Umm, observe, "God remembers but man is forgetful"
I really found the meaning of it when I myself was in a difficult situation. He didn't beat around the bush

[Phoenix98]

Iliad by Homer

Odyssey by Homer

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Art of War by Sun Tzu

Secrets of the Tsil Café by Thomas Fox Averill

Voyage of the Slaves by Brian Jacques

Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee

This is Karate by Masutatsu Oyama

The Rifle by Gary Paulsen

Those are some of my favorite books.

[LiamJHayden]

Asimov's Entire Robot/Galactic Empire/Foundation series.
Tolkien's entire saga from The Silmarillion to The Return of the King.
C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia
A Tale of Two Cities
Cien años de soledad
The Pilgrim's Progress
A Wrinkle in Time
I could go on and on.

[zeitgeist057]

I really want to read Foundation. I just got caught up in school and work.

[strateguy632]

yay asimov, now i am reading his galactic series too. space jumping and visiplates clever.

[DJB72]

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Narnia chronicles by CS Lewis have been favourites since I read them as a child and I see new Truths reading them as an adult beyond the stories. I struggled with Dickens as a student but did enjoy the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English they were written in.

[Paris13]

My Published Play. I love Plays!!! xxoo

[Bricealan]

Not my favorite, BUT TRYING TO READ Ian Rand - Atlas Shrugged, only because of it being a classic also.

I do like Michael Connelly- Fair Warning"

I suppose I do not have a 'favorite of all time"

[zeitgeist057]

I thought The Fountainhead was a much more engaging novel, if you wanted to try something else by Rand. I read Atlas Shrugged afterwards, but wasn't as thrilled.

[Bricealan]

@zeitgeist057 Yes, a friend suggested Fountainhead... Thanks!

[zagor]

Yes, generally movie adaptations are far inferior to the books, the more so the more complex the book is.

There are exceptions, usually for beach-reading types of books like Jaws and The Shining. OK maybe Jaws isn't good for beach reading...

I really liked 1984, which I read a couple years ago. Also Of Mice and Men.

I bought War and Peace but it is kind of intimidating to start..

[exitseven]

I liked the Dune trilogy, the Sun Also Rises, and Travels With Charley.

[tfan1]

The original book of Charlie and the chocolate factory - where the movie Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory came from with gene wilder 👍🙂

[Anonymous]

I spent my entire life reading as I am a lifelong social outcast. I've read thousands of books probably.

Harry Potter will always be my favorite. I even re read it sometimes. I've read the series like 15 times now.

[davado88]

thanks for being honest unlike everyone else on this question, Never read harry potter or seen the movie but you know...

[zeitgeist057]

@davado88 lol you're such a funny curmudgeon. What, people are lying about their favorite books now? lol I just can't with you XD XD XD

[Simslover92]

Jane Eyre and Rebecca definitely for me. I like the classics too.

[Mansearching]

To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite. 2nd is Lord of the Flies.

[Mansearching]

The movie versions I've seen of both are word for word of books.

[normalice]

The Scholomance trilogy (Novik), The Curse of Challion (Bujold), Sunshine (McKinley), and the Summoners trilogy (Yates).

(I may have spelled authors' names wrong)

[virtualwasp]

A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey
&
The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery by Rob Dunn

[Anon120498]

My favorite book of all time is probably A Thousand Splendid Suns. It’s been years since I read it and I still think about it all the time, especially with everything happening in Afghanistan right now

[FunkyMonkee]

Probably, "The Real Animal House" by Chris Miller.