The best books ever... (Harry Potter)

[Goliath]

Hoping that some of you read books :P I just wanted to know what kind of reading doomworld enjoys. It can be anything, fiction, nonfiction, text books, just rack your brains and come up with some good books.

Most of you might find this surprising but I really like to read, so I will start the list with the five best books ever...

1.Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand
2.Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy
3.Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
4.Angles & Demons- Dan Brown
5.100 Decisive Battles - Oxford

They are in no order, I like them all the same.



*Kinda on topic but not really..I just want to know who like the Harry potter books.

[Ralphis]

I liked Ender's Game

[Scuba Steve]

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

[Sharessa]

Heh, thats odd. I had a dream last night that I was trying to buy the first Harry Potter book just for kicks. The book store let us all get one book of our choice for free. I took so long deciding that the store ended up closing. Heh...

Anyway, my top five favorite books (or series), in no particular order are:

1. The Hitchhiker's 'Trilogy' - Douglas Adams
2. Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
3. Dune - Frank Herbert
4. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5. the Drizzt saga - R.A. Salvatore (can't decide which one is best)

[funkmon]

Ralphis said:

I liked Ender's Game

As did I. I like the Shadow series as well, encompassing Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, and Shadow Puppets.

I also found the Halo books to be pretty good, too, except for the Flood.

I also liked Michael Crichton novels, notably Rising Sun.

In addition to those books, I found the Lord of the Rings series to be superb.

Hmm...notice a trend here? Ender's Game...Ender's Shadow...Halo...Crichton. I think you'll find most of us here enjoy Fantasy and Sci-Fi.

*Harry Potter books are insane. They are completely unbelievable(IE, if Harry's so powerful, why can't he fix his glasses?) and aren't that well written. If one wishes to get out of his own world and into one where magic prevails, then try and read the LotR. There are also numerous online communities dedicated to the subject.

[Erp]

Napalm and Silly Putty - George Carlin
Those Who Trespass - Bill O'Reilly
Star Trek Original Series - James Blish

and from when I was a kid -
Best Word Book Ever - Richard Scarry.

[Sharessa]

If you want to get out of the real world and into one where magic prevails, then play D&D. :P

[funkmon]

Danarchy said:

If you want to get out of the real world and into one where magic prevails, then play D&D. :P

lol. Yeah, but you know what I meant. In literature. Unless there's a Dungeons and Dragons novel. But that would ruin the fun, don't you think?

[Sharessa]

Well, the Drizzt saga is pretty cool, and the Dragonlance novels are okay.

[jute]

my top 3 books of all time:
house of leaves - mark z. danielewski
infinite jest - david foster wallace
glamorama - bret easton ellis

[HateFactor]

Most of the Dragonlance saga, especially "The Legend of Huma" By Richard Knaak and the "Chronicles" (the original trilogy).

[AndrewB]

The only thing the books are good for is changing all instances of the word "wand" to "wang."

[Mogul]

Hmm Harry Potter - no. Hitch-hiker's Guide - yes.

[Coopersville]

I pretty much read (auto)biographies exclusively.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Hmm...to be honest, I liked the first Doom novel (not the three that followed). But outside of that, I really love reading graphic novels such as Akira, Love Hina (my favorite manga), and Tuxedo Gin. But actual books:

-First Doom novel
-The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
-A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
-The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrere
-Botchan by Natsumi Soseki
-Points and Lines by Seicho Matsumoto

I hope to read I, Robot, Wagahai wa neko de aru (also by Soseki), and this book by John C. Lilly over the winter while I'm in Japan.

And the last book I list there (Points and Lines) I highly recommend for anyone who likes detective or mystery novels. It's extremely well-written, and the translation is well-done, too.

[Quast]

funkmon said:

Unless there's a Dungeons and Dragons novel. But that would ruin the fun, don't you think?

dude...there are a shitload

I recommend the Dragonlance and/or possibly Forgotten Realms series of books

I've been reading Dragonlance since HS and have a fair number of books...although I've never read Forgotten realms, it is quite popular, especialy as a D&D campaign world...a number of games as well are based off of it (NWN, Baldurs gate, Icewind Dale) that i am aware of

[NightmareZer0]

Harry potter is quite possibly the worst book ever. I can't wait till the fad dies.

[Endureth]

Danarchy said:

1. The Hitchhiker's 'Trilogy' - Douglas Adams
5. the Drizzt saga - R.A. Salvatore (can't decide which one is best)

Cool beans. I like the Dragon Wing books.

-E

[Goliath]

DJ_Haruko said:

Hmm...to be honest, I liked the first Doom novel (not the three that followed).

yea I liked the first book and the 3rd book but not the others. They are just the same old shit over and over again and Im not into the whole wizard thing writen so gay..I only like wizard and supernatural books writen by Rice.

[sirjuddington]

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever = best fantasy series ever. (IMO at least)

[Job]

I actually really liked Shogun by James Clavell. Catch-22 was a great book too. I'll post more as I recall them.

[Lizardcommando]

The only novel I've ever actually enjoyed was Catcher in the Rye. What's more suprising about that is the fact that this is one of the novels high school juniors (in California, AFAIK) are supposed to read.

For outside reading, I guess I'll have to say Napalm and Silly Putty, Brain Droppings, both by George Carlin, Maus and Maus 2 by Art Spieglman. (I'm not exactly sure if that's the right spelling...)

[Mordeth]

Currently re-reading The Iron Tree by Martin Booth... excellent stuff. Before that King Rat, by China Mieville, mostly because his other two books (Perdido Street Station and The Scar) are just so awesome. As for 'the best'... dunno... it's hard to pick only a few titles from several bookshelves :)

[Job]

Mordeth said:

Before that King Rat...

If you liked that, I'd recommend Tai-Pan or Gaijin.

[Ryback]

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

[deathbringer]

The best books ever... (Harry Potter)

Contradiction in terms!

[sargebaldy]

my 5 favorites so far might be:

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

though i had to disclude series from that list because they're dependent on one another. my favorite series of books include:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

as for a favorite book as a kid, well:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

[BlueSonnet]

I've read a bit of harry potter. Ok from what i saw, but i'm no fan of the books.

Been reading war literature for the past year. Here's a list

1. Journey's end.
2. Oh what a lovely war
3. Birdsong
4. Regeneration
5. Strange meeting.
6. Loads of war poems by Owen, Sassoon and the like.

Otherwise i've read the great gatsby and Death of a salesman recently.

Not reading anything at the moment. I'm more of a comic dude i suppose.

[jute]

sargebaldy said:

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

very good choice.

[dsm]

Imp said:

Harry potter is quite possibly the worst book ever. I can't wait till the fad dies.

...and a new fad far worse steals the spotlight instead :-P