best book you've ever read

[bednobs]

What is the best book you've ever read?
for me it would have to be his dark materials by phillip pullman
ok, so it's not technically 1 book, but i bet if i get any answers, people will be giving 2 or three!

[DTCwordfan]

well it wouldn't miss your ass JTH

[jackthehat]

It's set in a recognisable, if different 'world' and you just have to accept some of the things (like the armour-making polar bears, etc.) but they are quite beautifully written and do make you think....like I said, I enjoyed them :o)

[jackthehat]

I thought you'd flounced off, somewhere, DTC ?

Don't let us keep you............

[joggerjayne]

The Dark Materials trilogy was just an allegorical tirade against the Catholic church.

I enjoyed the books as stories, though.

[China Doll]

'The Dark Materials trilogy was just an allegorical tirade against the Catholic church. '

^^^ Well bednobs and jack should have just said that in the first place... Now I might buy it... ;0)

[joggerjayne]

LOL China

It is a very good read, actually.

[jno]

don't know why anyone would buy an anti-Catholic tirade when they can read R&S for free. I think I'll go with Catch-22.

[bednobs]

well i didn't even notice - too wrapped up in the story

[joggerjayne]

bednobs ...

The Magisterium, with their obsession with the original sin, and who wanted to separate children from their daemons, was a thinly veiled allusion to the Church.

[jno]

JJ, you could read it as being an attack on atheists who insist that daemons are superstitious nonsense and humanity must learn to live in a purely scientific universe.

I am guessing Pullman did not mean it this way, however.

[beeseejay]

The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh. A masterpiece of black humour.

[joggerjayne]

I think Pullman's been pretty outspoken in a "Yes, I was attacking the Church" kind of way.

[bednobs]

hmmm clearly too thickly veiled for me to even realise!

[jno]

JJ, yes, I know. But when you get tangled up in allegory there's sometimes more than one parallel you can spot.

[SeaJayPea]

Nobody's mentioned Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird - great read. And, just being squeezed into second place is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.

[joggerjayne]

Oh, yes ... The Curious Incident was a great book.

Not sure if it makes the "Best Ever" list, though.

[lady-janine]

to kill a mocking bird - harper lee
josiah wedgwood - brian dolan
the brothers karmasov - dostoyevsky

[joggerjayne]

You read The Brothers Karamazov?

Crikey.

Is it worth the effort? I might give it a go it it is.

I've read Anna Karenina.

[tiggerblue10]

Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice and Les Liaisons Dangereruses.

Factual - Elizabeth I by quite a few authors.

[lady-janine]

dt - please get off my horse. can be very tempremental at times and does not like strangers. will try to throw anyone not completely familiar with.
come and have a cup of builders instead.
jj - did you enjoy anna karenina? i thought it was so romantic.
there are lots of books i like but those are the ones i read again and then again
also read dear mr leach - edmund de waal by dipping into it quite a bit and hans coper and lucy rie by tony birks