The best book you've ever read?

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Soldato
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So... Not really being a big reader apart from on holidays and wanting to read a little bit more I thought i'd ask.

What is everyone's best book that they've EVER read???

hopefully it'll give me a few suggestions for classic books to start reading.

For me personally, last year I read a book called 'Eight Lives Down' by Chris Hunter. A real life account of being a bomb disposal officer in Iraq or Afganistan. it's was one of them and I simply couldn't put it down and reallllly didn't want to finish it. Cost me 1$ in Australia and was easily the best book i've ever read. Bargain.

So lets hear all your suggestions for the best book you've ever read. :)
 
To just name one book is very difficult, there are easy dozens of books that I could name which have been great in one way or another. However in the spirit of just sticking to one I'll go with 1984 by George Orwell, it's a book I believe everyone should read at least once in their lives, even if just to say that they have done so.
 
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson is the only book I keep returning to. I must've read it six or seven times and I could still go back to it again. I'm not sure that makes it the best book I've read but it's certainly the most enjoyable.
 
Twilight.

I am kinda semi serious too. In terms of literature, it is average at best. But it is the only book I actually read 3 times. No other book I have read I ever come back to.
 
Reading for pleasure... well, there's lot's of books that I have read many, many times over. But they are all for entertainment - the characters and plots are like old friends who drop in from time to time for a chat about the good old days.

But as for a book that I found persistently engaging, that made me think and entertain a sense of wonder at the world and history of man, and required a little more concentration, I'd have to say is was The Ascent Of Man by J. Bronowski.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I am kinda semi serious too. In terms of literature, it is average at best. But it is the only book I actually read 3 times. No other book I have read I ever come back to.
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While I'd disagree with your choice, I entirely agree with your point. I've read 'worthy' books like 1984 and Great Expectations, and award-winners like Cloud Atlas, but while I've admired them I can't say I enjoyed them.
My favourite book would be Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth. It's historically inaccurate, doesn't dwell on any themes or delve deep into metaphor, but it's engagingly written, plot-driven and entirely escapist fiction. It's an easy pick for me.
 
Hmm, it's tough, as "best" can mean so many different things. In my opinion:

Most accessible/best read for all people of all ages - Harry Potter series

Most impressive development of a fictional/fantasy world - LOTR or Wheel of Time

Most thought-provoking - Brave New World (you could say 1984, but I find Brave New World a little more subtle, and a closer relative to how our society is turning out)

Best written - Crime and Punishment or To Kill a Mockingbird
 
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Thanks for the responses, i'll definitely be checking some of these books out. Keep them coming.

Has anyone read 'of mice and men'? Is it worth a read?
 
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