Favorite Book of All-Time?

Lots of readers here, awesome.

Don't feed the Ayn Rand trolls. If anyone actually says they like her books they are (a) terrible, (b) didn't read them, or (c) a troll.

Some more recent good books

Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano

Motherless Brooklyn - Jonathan Lethem

My Struggle - Karl Ove Knausgaard

Tenth of December - George Saunders (this story from that book in particular is incredible:

http://engl273g-f11-cerrone.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Victory%20Lap%20_%20The%20New%20Yorker-1.pdf

)

Swamplandia - Karen Russell

Some classics:

Jesus' Son - Denis Johnson

What we Talk about When we Talk about Love - Raymond Carver

Life and Fate - Vassily Grossman

War Trash - Ha Jin

Birds of America - Laurie Moore

Also, a few running specific -

What We Talk About When We Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - Alan Sillitoe

Rand-tards could read number two for a book with some similar themes that's actually good.[quote]bookrunner wrote:

I've seen at least a couple of mentions of "Brothers Karamazov," which is terrific, but I'd actually rank "Crime and Punishment" ahead of it.

Comrade of War wrote:

four million steps by Tommy Neeson. Great running story.

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Million-Steps-Florida-Memories/dp/0615868541

5 bucks on amazon. go read it now. its fantastic.

Boy, he didn't try very hard to come up with an original title...

"A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read."

-Mark Twain

lilrunnerboy wrote:

What is your favorite book of all-time?

I'm looking for some new reading material and am interested to see if you guys have any I haven't heard of/read

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

Ender's Game (The book basically changed the way I thought about life and morality)

11/22/63 or The Stand or any Stephen King novel for that matter (Kind of my guilty pleasure books)

A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Kiterunner (I am not an emotional guy and am not easily moved, but after reading each of these books, I astarted crying.)

Glamorama (I feel like this book should be banned, because if everyone read it, there would be a nationwide revolt.)

I'm truly befuddled - I didn't expect so much positive feedback for 11/22/63. I've read a fair number of King's novels and greatly disliked that one (I think it's the only one I haven't liked).

In terms of King's novels, The Stand is one of my favourites, but 'Salem's Lot is probably the one I enjoyed the most.

However, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is by far my favourite novel.

Lots of great suggestions, but I must agree that this is my all time fav, it sums up the realness, absurdity and humour of life so well. Hard to see it never being relevant.

Henry Conrad wrote:

dontflushwhileyousit wrote:

My all-time favorite is Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov.

I love Nabokov. This book is a stunning literary achievement in its complexity of themes, form, and interwoven plot. That being said, I think it's my third favorite of his. Lolita is pretty brilliant itself, but I have to say Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle is my favorite. The language is beautiful and playful, the love story is heart wrenching, and Nabokov, as always, manages to confuse our moral compasses.

Lots of wonderful suggestions on this thread and many fantastic authors. But the prose of Nabokov is just other-worldly. It's hard for me to fathom how somebody could be that brilliant in the use of a language outside his native tongue. Lolita is the work of genius.

As far as the Americans go, Hemingway and Faulkner are both great and rightly considered literary giants - but my heart lies with Stephen Crane (particularly his short stories) and John Steinbeck (particularly The Pearl and Of Mice and Men).

A Fools Progress by Edward Abbey. Desert Solitaire also by Abbey is outstanding as well. (The Monkey Wrench Gang is still a favorite but the whole domestic terror angle makes it s tough sell to new readers in todays society).

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson.

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. (I hate whe people dismiss this book due to Cards political leanings). Enders Shadow is as good but not as well known.

I regularly re-read each of these books.

I like The Second Apocalypse series by R Scott Bakker, a trilogy of trilogies, starting with the Prince of Nothing trilogy, of which the first book is The Darkness that Comes Before.

My favorite book is the Bible. Christian or not, you won't be disappointed for having read it.

Of course, it's actually a collection of books. As great literature, you can't go wrong with:

Genesis

Exodus

The Gospel According to John

For something more modern, I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's very funny and insightful, even if I don't agree with all the insights.

And yes, I get the irony of recommending the Bible and then turning around and recommending something written by an atheist. :-)

Wow Unbelievable wrote:

I've seen at least a couple of mentions of "Brothers Karamazov," which is terrific, but I'd actually rank "Crime and Punishment" ahead of it.

___________________________________________________________

I read 'Crime and Punishment' when I was in my early twenties and doing drugs (nothing heavy, just pot) and reading 'Crime and Punishment' was like living in a nightmare. Nothing but darkness and paranoia. (Notes From The Underground the same)

Though Brothers Karamazov was also extremely dark, Ivan and Father Zossima offered a little hope.

I always thought that 'Brothers K' was to 'Crime and Punishment' what 'East of Eden' was to 'The Grapes of Wrath.'

All are four are great, but I prefer the two that are more hopeful.

The Art of Loving - Eric Fromm

It is the only book worth reading on the topic.

The thought that people like Ayn Rand's philosophy is rather curious. As a poster said above, she is not looked at as a scholar by anyone who wishes to further the exploration of the human condition. Her philosophy of viewing those unable to provide for themselves as parasites is disturbing.

For those of you who don't feel like wading through Atlast Shrugged here is Rand in a nutshell:

Altruism=evil

and

Selfishness=Good

There is a reason Harold Bloom (Most famous literary critic alive) says “Ayn Rand was a writer of no value whatsoever, whether aesthetic or intellectual. The Tea Party deserves her, but the rest of us do not. It is not less than obscene that any educational institution that relies even in part on public funds should ask students to consider her work. We are threatened these days by vicious mindlessness and this is one of its manifestations."

I don't agree with Bloom that she shouldn't be read her work altogether, but I am fearful of the people who lose their critical eye and use her novels as a blueprint for their lives.

My personal favorite texts are A River Runs Through It, The Road, Left Hand of Darkness, Leaves of Grass (Song of Myself), Ender's Game, and Paradise Lost.

[quote]aosefoewfoiaweiogrepo;ajw

Top 3:

Blood Meridian,

Sometimes a Great Notion,

Grapes of Wrath

enough with the rand bashing.

Rand is a polemicist, and her foes always choose the extremes of her polemic to dismiss the entire book.

It's like condemning the Catholic Church in its whole if you disagree with it on birth control.

say A.R.'s work is a pole. 90% of it is fine. but people take the last 10% of the pole, which is probably indefensible, and then dismiss the entire pole.

rand's message of self reliance, avoidance of large government, celebration of achievement, the primacy of the individual...this is basic good behavior and can even be a definition of the protestant work ethic, which has created immense wealth and freedom from want.

if you want to dismiss the protestant work ethic, fine, but I hope you won't.