ChatterBank0 min ago
Favourite book
27 Answers
Since there have been so many 'what's your favourite....' and 'top ten....' questions in the music section recently, thought I'd try What's your favourite book of all time...? with reasons please - any comments on what the greatest book of all time is (if this differs from your fave) would be acceptable too!
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The Decamaron by Giovanni Boccaccio is one of my favourite books. It's writen as ten different people telling a story each for ten days, during the Plague. I like it for different reasons. There are different types of story, some funny, some tragic, some risque, with realistic characters. You also get an insight into what people were like at that time, and the fact that they weren't really that different to us (although some views on women, for example, have changed rather a lot). I also liked the Diary of a Nobody, which is quite funny and also gives an insight into the people of the time. Even though the protagonist (can't think of his name off the top of my head) can be quite pompous at times, he is still a sympathetic character, and you want him to do well, even when you know he won't. Among more modern books I'd have to say everything that I've read by Neil Gaiman has been excellent. I love the way he can take aspects of religions, myths, etc. and make a mythology all his own from them. Hope this is the sort of thing you wanted to know.
To Brave Every Danger by Judith Cook true story of Mary Bryant from Fowey in Cornwall, highway woman who was sent to Botany Bay and escaped (for a while anyway) then returned home and was pardoned..
David Niven's The Moon's a Balloon & and Bring on the Empty Horses, they still make me laugh out loud.
My favourite is 'The Mind Parasites' by Colin Wilson. It combines a sci-fi thriller plot with some interesting philosophical concepts. - I especially love the notion of the being invisible, not because he disapears, but because he deflects people's attention away from him in a wsay that means they register that he has walked past, but they wouldn't recognise him again - which sounds perfectly feasible. The end is true optimism, becoming your mind, and contacting the nearest alien civilisation - fantastic work. I think in the running for 'the greatest' would be 'Lord Of The Rings', although I've never managed to get past the first twenty pages!
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One of my favourite books is "An Instance of Fingerpost" by Ian Pears. The book is set during the Restoration and centres on a young woman who is accused of murder. It is narrated by 4 different men but only the last man has all details and tells the complete story. The first 3 each have segments of it and tell it as it suits their perspective.
Stephen King - The Stand (typical story of good v evil but with a very good storyteller doing his business), Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory, All the Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's books, Any Terry Pratchett, Ray Bradbury - Sound of Thunder, Irvine Welsh - Filth, Colin Bateman - Cycle of Violence, Clive Barker's Books of Blood, any P.J. o'Rourke, basically i read a lot so take your pick from the above. And as for greatest book of all time i would have to plump for Dracula.
My favourite book and possibly the most well written is 'A Simple Plan.' It is the tale of how an average man can descend into villainy through circumstances beyond hhis control. Written in the first person, it makes the main protagonisst seem all too human and tends to lead to empathy with him. Very bleak and poignant, at the end its very easy to feel sorry for him.
I usually cannot play favourites, but in 1976 I made an extravagant purchase of The Complete Works of Oscar Wild and it is still my favourite, having given me pleasure and food for thought beyond expectation. Sadly, I can no longer read it, but two years ago this book indirectly thrilled me again via a phone call from my daughter visiting Oscar Wild's grave, describing it to me and thanking me for the love of reading I had bestowed upon her.
