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Top 5 Novels

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Avatar of frenchduke
frenchduke
Oct 3, 2007
0
#21
Quixotical wrote: 2. the River God series by wilbur smith, yes, im aware listing a series as one book is cheating :P

I wanted to list all three as well as my second choice, but chose Warlock as the single best. Although on second thoughts I think Rivergod was my favourite.

I have read almost every book written by Wilbur Smith, but Rivergod and and Warlock were standouts of phenomenal brilliance. IMHO the man is a genius.

 all 3? theres 4 now though, or dont you count the seventh scroll? the Quest (no4) was my favourite, its amazing.
i havent read many others of his, although my shelf is filled with them, school has kind of taken over atm. I read one of the courtneys, monsoon, which was great.


Avatar of Quix
Quix
Oct 3, 2007
0
#22
frenchduke wrote: Quixotical wrote: 2. the River God series by wilbur smith, yes, im aware listing a series as one book is cheating :P

I wanted to list all three as well as my second choice, but chose Warlock as the single best. Although on second thoughts I think Rivergod was my favourite.

I have read almost every book written by Wilbur Smith, but Rivergod and and Warlock were standouts of phenomenal brilliance. IMHO the man is a genius.

 all 3? theres 4 now though, or dont you count the seventh scroll? the Quest (no4) was my favourite, its amazing.
i havent read many others of his, although my shelf is filled with them, school has kind of taken over atm. I read one of the courtneys, monsoon, which was great.

Nope I didn't know about The Quest. And yes its hard to include the seventh scroll since it wasn't even set in the same millenium. Good book though.


Avatar of Rauros
Rauros
Oct 3, 2007
0
#23

My god, I can't believe how much everyone reads here. And I thought I was an avid reader. I haven't heard of most of the books you're talking about, especially your intellectual Russian ones. I'm sure they're great though. Anyway, my fav five are:

The Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings... Epic.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Chronicles of Narnia


Avatar of MindWalk
MindWalk
Nov 9, 2007
0
#24

Picking five is tough--and I generally prefer short stories to novels.  Five I remember having enjoyed and that spring to mind now (and that I don't remember seeing listed anywhere above) are

(1). The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; (2) Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; (3) Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury; (4) The Time Masters, by Wilson Tucker; (5) The Gods Themselves, by Isaac Asimov. 

I wish I had another list or two to include some others! 


Avatar of TonightOnly
TonightOnly
Nov 9, 2007
0
#25
Tokien!
Avatar of Puppaz
Puppaz
Nov 10, 2007
0
#26

I was sure I'd already posted in here, but maybe it was a similar thread, or maybe even a different forum, my mind is going to mush these days...

A top five is really hard, there are so many books I've loved for different reasons, and if I was to post again these would probably change from week to week...

 

1) If on a Winters Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

2) The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

3) Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin

4) Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

5) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

6) The Monk by Matthew Lewis

7) Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol

 

Ok, so its seven, but I they're all pretty much interchangable and I couldn't pick 5 out of them all and leave the other 2 out, I love them all for very different reasons.


Avatar of Sliptong
Sliptong
Nov 11, 2007
0
#27

Dostoevsky claims his place in many people's lists: Tolstoy is a great read for a long weekend, but Dostoevsky will haunt your dreams forever. 

Crime and Punishment

Hunger - Knut Hamsun

Anna Karenina ( edges out W&P ?)

The Dream of Red Mansions - Cao Xue Qin

Evgeny Onegin (A novel in verse?) Pushkin

Runners up: Dead Souls; Lolita; The Little Devil (Sologub); The Master and Margarita; Don Quixote.

 What about top 5 short stories/novellas?

The Overcoat - Gogol

The Nose - Gogol

Die Verwandlung - Kafka

The Captain's Daugther - Pushkin

The Horla - Maupassant

The Steppe - Chekhov (tough to choose just one)

 


Avatar of Sliptong
Sliptong
Nov 11, 2007
0
#28
How could I have forgotten the very best short story - Joyce's "The Dead" ...
Avatar of chessica
chessica
Nov 11, 2007
0
#29

1. Catcher in the rye

2. Garp

3. The joy luck club 

4. The kitchen Gods wife

 5. Great Expectations

 


Avatar of fischer-inactive
fischer-inactive
Nov 12, 2007
0
#30
Sliptong wrote:How could I have forgotten the very best short story - Joyce's "The Dead" ...

Yes, yes, yes!  I love that story.

 

The last few pages of "The Dead" are literary perfection.


Avatar of marihikari
marihikari
Nov 12, 2007
0
#31

my top 5 favorite novels so far-

1-a wrinkel in time (madeline l'engle).

2-The Bar Code Tatoo

3- The outkasts of 19 shuler place

4- all of the harry potter books

5-the secret life of bees

of course these are in no particular order, i have not yet ranked these.


Avatar of spaceman
spaceman
Nov 12, 2007
0
#32

not much of a book reader, but even I could put down 'Neuromancer' by William Gibson.

For any Sci-fi lover - this is a must-read. 

I will definitely read some of your recommendations :) 


Avatar of GuyWithHair
GuyWithHair
Nov 12, 2007
0
#33

Hey is it just me or is next to nobody from Australia here?

Anyway, it don't matter which is the top five, but have absoloutely have to read Terry Goodkind's sword of truth series. i couldn't put any of them down if you put a huge magnet to try detach me.


Avatar of Icekube
Icekube
Nov 16, 2007
0
#34

 

This seems to be a nice site!

My fav books:

1. 'The Fall'- Albert Camus

2. Brothers Karamzov- Dostoevsky

3. Hero of our time - Lermontov

4. Short stories by Maxim Gorky...Especially 'Konavalov' 

5. Works of Edgar Allan poe (all mysterious AND funny tales!) and Oscar Wilde 

there are many more...maybe i need to recollect Smile

 

 


Avatar of Icekube
Icekube
Nov 16, 2007
0
#35

 

Damn!

How could i forget Victor Hugo's masterpiece 'Le Miserables' !

Greatest book ever written....

Also, 'Great Dialogues of Plato' 


Avatar of fischer-inactive
fischer-inactive
Nov 18, 2007
0
#36
Even though they're not novels, I totally agree about the dialogues of Plato. They are among the best written works ever produced.
Avatar of Sliptong
Sliptong
Nov 22, 2007
0
#37
Just knocked over another Simenon/Maigret novel, any fans?
Avatar of Chantel
Chantel
Nov 22, 2007
0
#38
What nationality is Wilbur Smith?
Avatar of Chantel
Chantel
Nov 22, 2007
0
#39
I, btw, love anything written by Dean R. Koontz and Stephen King! These guys know how to give you sleepness nites!
Avatar of Quix
Quix
Nov 22, 2007
0
#40
Chantel wrote: What nationality is Wilbur Smith?

 He was born in Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia (now called Zambia) Not far from you eh?