h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"The Prince" by Niccolo Macchiavelli. Very good.

I was recently thinking this thread over, and i thought that i would post another book..
I think that "California Gold", I forgot the author is a great book. For those unfortunate enough to have not had a chance to enjoy it, i is the story of a penniless man who walks from pennslvania across the country to california (poor guy, going THERE of all places) and his life as he gradually makes a fortune and goes from the kindly wanderer to the greedy rich man that he is so disgusted by in the begining of the book. great book.

"The Destiny of Nathalie X" by William Boyd is a book that I'm enjoying a lot at the moment. It's another book of short stories; whilst in the main I think I preferred "On the Yankee Station", "Nathalie X" is also good, especially the title story. I first read this book when I was about thirteen, so I think missed some of the subtext, but five years on it's brilliant.

Gosh what a lot of books people have mentioned.

IMHO, There's not enough mentioning of Philip K. Dick - one of the greatest authors of the 20th century, regardless of genre. I did see someone mention 'Do Androids Dream...?', but really everyone should read 'Valis' - probably my favourite book of all time. YOU SHOULD ALL READ IT NOW.

Also, in a "great book but hard to call 'favourite'" category, 'If This Is a Man' by Primo Levi. One that everyone should be forced to read and inwardly digest...

Oh, and kudos to those who picked Vonnegut - 'Cat's Cradle' and Galapagos' would be my choices there...

Ah, yes, completely forgot Levi. Can't believe that I did: he fundamentally changed my outlook on life and finally made me understand why the survivors feel so guilty. I agree, this should be compulsory reading. On the other hand, 'If Not Now, When?' is probably my favourite. 'The Truce' is often overlooked as it is usually published with 'If This is a Man', but it seems just shattering that people who had survived Auschwitz should then find it so difficult to get home.

I don't think ANY book should be compulsory reading! It gives the opposite result! Here in Belgium, we used to get a list of books that we HAD to read, and it gave me an aversion towards Dutch literature for a couple of years... It's like they only give you the kind of titles you can find in museum-archives!
Anyway, I personally think it's better to help young people to find the kind of genre they really like!

tsk, tsk, HONestly. To think I didn't notice the problem with the title before...d'oh!

Punctuation, people!

Anyway, okay, I take your point about things being compulsory usually having some kind of reverse effect, but some things are too important to be left to the whims of teenagers. For me, the upheavals of last century should really be necessary knowledge, and "If This Is A Man" (along with "The Truce", the name of which I forgot before, thanks manolan) is essential reading about the holocaust

So, well, oh all right then, maybe not compulsory, but highly recommended. DO read Primo Levi, it's worth it. All his other books are worth having a butcher's at too.

Oh, great. I complain about punctuation and then forget a full stop.

Dang.

Haven't seen Thomas Pynchon mentioned. gravity's rainbow will blow your socks off. A must also is Riddley walker by Russel Hoban, if you want to despair about the human race and our destructive impulse and have agood laugh at the same time.

Ah, the best children's book of all time - "How Tom beat Captain Najork and his Hired Sportsman" by Russell Hoban, as well as the follow-up, "A Near Thing for Captain Najork", both now sadly out of print in the UK. Pure genius.

talking about children's books I strongly recommend all of Astrid Lindgren's. Except the "Kati" books, which are early work and not very noticeworthy.
But all the rest is just great. I only know the german titles though, so I can't tell you what to ask for. They made my childhood more interesting.

How about Tove Janssen's superb Moomin books ? They are cracking. Ramsey Campbell also writes superbly and can actually take the reader into the mind of serial killers as opposed to the voyeuristic Thomas Harris novels. The effect this has is truly frightening - The Count of Eleven is one of his best.

What's the best book you've ever read ? ZARQUON! What a question...

It's an impossible question but o.k. :

"Hocus Pocus" by Kurt Vonnegut.

I'll probably have another favourite tomorrow though...

TM.

A very difficult question. When I'm lucky, the best book tends to be the one I am reading. This situation tends to make 'best book' a bit of an oxymoron. So here is a highly reccomended sampler of my most recent 'best':

'Fresco' by Sheri Teppar (aliens with an apparently better idea pick an ordinary housewife to be the ambassador from Earth)

'Horse Heaven' by Jane Smiley (the good, bad and the ugly of the horse racing world featuring not a few characters who happen to be horses)

'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kingsolver (The family of a evangelical Baptist preacher from Georgia meets the Congo on the eve of Independance)

'The Heart of Redness' by Zakes Mda (a novel about the ancestors and descendants of the Khosa Cattle Killing in a small coastal village in the Eastern Cape of South Africa)

I'll soon come up to having mentioned about twenty "best books" but I will tell youmy latest ideas about it anyway: "Saltwater" by Charles Simmons definitely was one of the best books I read this year for its simplicity and truthfulness.
And I used to love all of Edith Nesbit's books.

It's a difficult one?

the first book I read was the secret diary of a. mole when I was around 13 and I loved it! and I've always had a book at hand since.

I'm now 27 and many reads later it's hard to choose a single one- but here's my shortlist:

1984- george orwell- scary!

walking on glass, and any of ian banks early stuff- wired and wonderful.

stepenwolf- herman hess- very inciteful

the arthur triogy by bernard cornwall- excellent

at present I'm not reading much fiction but more history books. I love anything from the roman ocupation of britan to the middle ages. sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!!

be seeing you...

Walking on Glass is great and very underated. I thought the Bridge was interesting if a bit overlong. The wasp factory was good (scary weird sh**!) and the Crow Road and Espedair Street were both quite touching. My favourite though is complicity. Dark, nasty but unashamedly humerous. It's the sick black humour and intelligent social satire (not to mention cool ironic murders and sadomasichism to boot) that puts it above the others in my eyes. Whit was alright but I was somewhat disapointed with the Business (such a good start, no ending) and Canal Dreams. Song of Stone just confused me (although the language was beutiful which is quite strange for Banks)

I'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE CROW ROAD AND ESPIDAR STREET, YES THEY ARE BOTH EXCELLENT.

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THE IAN M BANKS SCI FI STUFF?

I'VE TRIED IT BUT CAN'T RALLY GET INTO IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I DIDN'T READ 'THE BUISNESS' AS IT GOT BAD REVIEWS- I KNOW YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR OWN MIND UP ON THESE THINGS BUT THERES NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY TO WASE READING RUBBISH!

BE SEEING YOU...

"What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immoveable object?" Excellent.

If you want to get into the science fiction stuff, I suggest Inversions (the Culture influence is completely irrelevant, but would be clear if you had read another Culture novel). Player of Games is my personal favourite, but State of the Art may provide an easy "in" as it contrasts the Culture with late C20 Earth.

you're still talking about Ian Banks as the author of these scifi-books?

Other -in my opinion- great SF is Hyperion by Dan Simmons, and the classics : Dune (Frank Herbert), of course (but not all six parts!), and anything by Larry Niven or Asimov.