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The Best Books Ever Written
Aug 12th, 2007 at 10:28pm
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Here's a random question for you guys.  In your opinion, what are some of the best books ever written?  Is there a book that you love to read over and over, or one that made a particularly large impact on you as a child?  I'll kick it off with a few of my favorites.


  • The Giver - Lois Lowry
  • Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson
  • The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
  • The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
  • The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
  • The Belgariad Series - David Eddings
  • The Malloreon Series - David Eddings


What do you guys have on your shelves that you could never part with?

-b0b
(...has been looking through his library today.)


  

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Re: The Best Books Ever Written
Reply #1 - Aug 12th, 2007 at 11:25pm
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I am affected by a lot of the books I read but these are the ones that I can read over and over and over. And I do!


Fav book: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card


--Early Childhood--

Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis
The Wizard of Oz Books
Hardy Boys
John Bellair's books (kinda spooky books for young adults)
The Giver - Lois Lowry
21 Balloons -William Pene du Bois (maybe my 2nd favorite, its just a fun kids book)


--Childhood--

LotR - Tolkien
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Worldwar and Colonization Series - Harry Turtledove
Tom Clancy novels, particularly Red Storm Rising
The White Mountains - John Christopher
Ringworld Series - Larry Niven (Pretty much all of niven's stuff)
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Armor - John Steakley
Starship Troopers - Heinlein


--Recent--

Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan

Will post more as I think of them.
  

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Re: The Best Books Ever Written
Reply #2 - Aug 13th, 2007 at 1:51am
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When I was younger I use to like Charlotte's Web until Clue Me In made me read it every year but here's my lists:

Elementary Years:

- Indian In The Cupboard (I really only liked the first one)
- Three Musketeers (I dreamed of being these guys!)
- The Phantom Tollbooth (One of the weirdest books I've ever read...might explain how I turned out)
- A Wrinkle In Time (I've only recently learned that there were sequels to this book)
- Bridge To Terebithia (most of these books I fell in love with when I was in Clue Me In *beat Briney's school cough cough*)
- Where The Red Fern Grows
- Naria Series

Middle School Years:

- The Giver (didn't like the ending so much...would like to read it again and see how much makes more sense since I'm now more            schooled)
- War Of The Worlds (one of my all time favorites...it's just so beautifully written.  Trivia: H.G. Wells wrote a book chronicling government take over of the world and he helped to form the early stages of the Illuminati in America.  Also, in WOTW Wells was torn between two different types of Martians.  Here's the one he didn't go with...does it sound farmiliar?: big, black almond shaped eyes, child sized, grey skin, no nose or lips or hair...hmmm)
- 1984 (If you asked me what book I would take if on a desert island other than The Bible...this would be it.  I think this is the best book ever written...by a man.)
- Fahrenheit 451 (another well written book...I have the author's autograph as well.  Did you know that the early copy of this book was published when Playboy was going into its second issue and Heffner was almost broke?  13 y/o boys can thank Ray Bradbury!)
Moonshot (About the Apollo launches and the early space program.  One of the books that got me interested into the whole space subject)

I'm sure I have many, many more.  However, even for me, this is stretching my memory.  I will post updates if I think of others.

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(Wizard Of Oz series is scary and trippy!)
  

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Re: The Best Books Ever Written
Reply #3 - Aug 13th, 2007 at 7:28am
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-- Early Childhood --

Where's Waldo: Halloween Series

I didn't do much reading as a kid, I was more the adventurous type always spending time outdoors.
  

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Re: The Best Books Ever Written
Reply #4 - Aug 14th, 2007 at 2:11am
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God b0b....the Bellgarion?  While they are decent fantasy books, I'd say they are far from "great".

I don't know how you can even compare it with any of the Shannara books (Which I just finished reading the High Druid trilogy and it rocked face), or the Wheel of Time, or a Song of Fire and Ice, or the Sword of Truth.  The books by David Eddings are predicitable, short, and easily figured out in advance.

Pfffft.

But in closing, The Giver is one of the best books every written and should be a requirment for all children to read.
  
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Re: The Best Books Ever Written
Reply #5 - Aug 14th, 2007 at 8:33am
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The Belgariad series was absolutely amazing.  There were certain parts of that series that I had to read four or five times before moving on because they were so freakin' good.  Garion and Ce'Nedra's wedding comes to mind as one particularly powerful area.  The characters were fresh and original, which is becoming a rare concept in contemporary fantasy fiction.

Granted, the Malloreon series wasn't as good, but it was still a fantastic read and entirely worth my time.  It did a great job of wrapping up the loose ends from the Belgariad, and was completed in epic style by Polgara the Sorceress and (to a lesser degree) Belgarath the Sorcerer.

Unfortunately, David Eddings' work went straight downhill from there.  The Elenium and The Tamuli were not nearly as interesting, but they weren't horrible either.  Sparhawk was way too powerful to really develop much as a character.  Considering his martial and magical abilities (and the fact he had a goddess traveling with him), there was never a feeling of danger.  There was never a situation he couldn't get himself out of.

Redemption of Althalus was much the same way, although with even staler characters.  Every single character was a complete rehash of a character from an earlier series, and the "god complex" was even worse in this book than with Elenium/Tamuli.

Regina's Song just sucked.  Talk about a painful book to read...

Elder God's was so-so.  More rehashed characters, including yet another child-goddess that can manipulate people by sitting in their laps.  Come on!  There wasn't a single moment in that entire series that jumped out at me.

In short, David Eddings was a fantastic author and still stands out as a fantasy fiction icon.  That being said, it's time for him to retire.

-b0b
(...chicka bow wow.)
  

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