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The best book you've ever read...

William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Frances FitzGerald's Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam

Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August

Barbara Tuchman's Stilwell and the American Experience in China

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Thanks for starting this thread~~
 
Pyrite said:
William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
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If you liked that take a look at The End by Ian Kershaw. It looks at the war from the German side. It's not sympathetic to the Nazi side but does show how Germans also suffered under Hitler and examines the incomprehensible support for him in the midst of their ordeal.

Pyrite said:
Thanks for starting this thread~~
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You're welcome. I'm getting some excellent reading material tips.
 
Ian Kershaw.....thanks! I've been trying to remember his name.
 
This is a short story not a book but Beyond the wall of sleep is one of my favorite HP Lovecraft stories.
 
My favorite fiction book is -- Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rølvaag.

I have a couple of favorite history books which include -- We Were Soldiers Once...and Young by Gen. Harold G. Moore and war journalist Joseph L. Galloway and Lincoln by David Herbert Donald.

I have read William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich five times. I wanted to try to understand how Hitler gained so much power and how he convinced people do do what they did.

Someone included a poem. Here is my favorite poem:

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

I first read this poem when I was a freshman in high school. It has been my favorite poem ever since. I have often wondered how Langston Hughes knew about my life. As a teacher, I had this poem displayed in a poster that I had created that took up a significant part of one wall.
 
Hornfischer is excellent on WWII Navy history. I've read everything of his I could find.
 
Grand Mal said:
When my hips were getting badly arthritic I told my doctor that if I had to run to save my life, I couldn't do it.
He told me to stay out of bear country!
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About four years ago I tried to hop-run with my cane to catch a bus.

The driver saw me in the rear view and backed up.

Running with a cane is hilarious
 
Bok Tuklo said:
You are kidding me?!!

The Windup Girl is not Juvenile. I think the forced orgasm on the titular character in a sex club might not be for 12 year olds.
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Yep. I first encountered Bacigalupi in the Juvie/Young Adult section of the public library. I took a chance & read it; excellent writing, as noted. His work is impressive, but for sure that Windup Girl is not rainbows & unicorns. He tackles tough topics & situations, unflinchingly, but not usually graphically - not in the books of his that I've read so far, except for WG.
 
Allan said:
...in your life.

What's that one page-turner we should all read?
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My top ten novels:
1. Pride and Prejudice (cliche answer, but it really is the best English-language novel IMO)
2. The Great Gatsby (hence the name)
3. Anna Karenina
4. The Poisonwood Bible
5. Lolita
6. The Great Divorce
7. Station Eleven
8. The Sound and the Fury
9. Life of Pi
10. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Some honorable mentions: The Bell Jar, Frankenstein, Rebecca, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
 
mrjurrs said:
Certainly not the best book I've ever read but my favorite would be Stephen King's The Stand.
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Ditto. I've read that one more times (at least a dozen) then any other book.
 
mrjurrs said:
Me too. And the adaptations to the screen have really not made the cut imo.
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Haven't seen the second version, but i am familiar with the first. I was disappointed in it.
 
Roadvirus said:
Haven't seen the second version, but i am familiar with the first. I was disappointed in it.
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I finished it, but was not thrilled with it.
 
Maybe it is just a matter of taste. I can't stand some of the authors mentioned here.
 
George Orwell's 1984
Joseph Heller's Catch-22

Those two books are just perfectly written.

Honorable mention to the amazing Dune of Frank Herbert.
 
First novel was Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon which (as King's only classic fantasy novel) was an odd entry point, but I don't regret it. I knew who Randall Flagg was immediately in The Stand.

Best book easily is Freakonomics. No one book did more to help me understand how things work, most especially how incentives control ALL of our behavior. It manages to be funny in the process, and the follow-ups books are also good.
 
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