I'm on a frighteningly voracious roll. My heart is filled with literary avarice.
MY APETITE IS RAPACIOUS AND STUFF


So what is the single best book you've ever read? Your number one favourite. No cheating. Name a single book that blew your mind like no other book has blown it.

Like so:


River God by Wilbur Smith
Its about an ancient egyptian slave called Taita. The book is an incredible piece of work and is the only one to actually make me choke back tears. Its brutal and violent, but very heartfelt as well. The cool thing about this one is that I really didnt know anything about ancient egypt and yet by the end I had such an incredibly vivid idea of it. Smith's imagery is powerful, but it does not in the slightest get bogged down in its own splendor, as so many other writers tend to.
Personally its also an important landmark to me, because it was really the first grown up book I've ever read. I was content with the likes of his dark materials and artemis fowl, and then BAM I pick this shit up with its torture and rape and war and after I finished young adult books lost their shiny. I still remember when warlock came out they advertised it on tv and I was like holy shit, a book on tv? I have to read it. But the library was out and I had to make do with the prequel, River God, which is vastly superior anyhow. Warlock is pretty good though as well. I've read it every couple of years since and

Spoiler: (highlight this text to read it) Tanus' death

still gets me every single ****ing time.
After I finished River God we were reading an alex rider book at school and it just seemed pathetic in comparison. To this day I havent found a book that grabbed me like River God does.

ur turn

That's a bloody hard one.

I finally read Dune a wee while back after having it recommended to me by a loan of people of the years. Kind of put it off as I didn't think it'd be something I enjoyed.

But I was completely wrong, it was absolutely brilliant. SO freaking good.

I haven't been reading so much as of late, which is a shame. Need to rectify this I think.

Pandoras's Star - Peter F Hamilton

I have read a lot of really good books. But in terms of impact and wow factor.

Dead House Gates. Malazan book of the fallen. Stephen Erickson

Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World

first adult fiction book I read; was quite a step up from asterix/tintin comics

Dune for sure. Nothing else blew my mind like it.

Magician by E. Feist, Read it as a teen and with the coming of age story, it really clicked for me. Probably wouldn't be as good if I re read it now though.

2666 by Roberto Bolano. I've never read anything else that has as profoundly impacted me afterwards, and I don't even know if I could describe why.

It's hard to choose but my desert island books would be the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Lord_Montgomery wrote: Magician by E. Feist, Read it as a teen and with the coming of age story, it really clicked for me. Probably wouldn't be as good if I re read it now though.

Its still really good if you look at it as a standalone, its just a shame that its another one of these interminable fantasy series where the quality declines over time and the stakes are so low that nothing really matters and there's just another protagonist and antagonist over the horizon

Yeah wasn't much of a fan of the rest of the riftwar series. Magician really stood out though.

Magician is one of my favourites too. That first Riftwar trilogy was awesome. But yeah, it went full retard pretty quickly.

Personally thought that The empire trilogy was better then the riftwar saga.

As for best book, an odd one but Fierce invalids home from hot climates by Tom Robbins would probably take it for me.

The Sterkarm Handshake.

Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury was a true visionary.

I've read pretty much all Raymond E Feists books and his standard has slipped significantly. He also needs to write less about higher conflicts/magic because his writing featuring thieves or non magic users reads much better. I'm honestly sick of Pug and his entourage.

Ragabol wrote: Personally thought that The empire trilogy was better then the riftwar saga.

Yeah same. Some of Feists better work imo.

I really like Robert A. Heinlein's work.

Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers stand out for me.

Mind you if I look at re-read status then Eddings (Garion, Sparhawk, Reginas Song) is top of the list.

(BT)MikeMan wrote: I really like Robert A. Heinlein's work.

yeah same here, The Man in the High Castle is my personal fav of his.

(BT)MikeMan wrote: Mind you if I look at re-read status then Eddings (Garion, Sparhawk, Reginas Song) is top of the list.

I'm halfway through The Redemption of Althalus. It's one of the shittest books I've ever read, and I'm only pushing through so I can learn how not to write.

It's filled with distinctly inane female illogic and insists on continually treating me like a retard.

Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

The novel is a fictitious account of the real life Glanton gang who travelled the Southern states of the USA and northern Mexico in the late 1840s. They were scalphunters contracted by local Mexican governments. This novel features the greatest villan ever, Judge Holden. A 7 foot tall albino paedophile psychopath genius.



Regarding Raymond E. Feist I think the Riftwar and Serpent War were good as well as The King's Buccaneer. Everything after that was shit except for Exiles Return which I enjoyed. Now Feist is an awful writer who keeps recreating the same characters and now it's just embarrassing. I forced myself through his most recent books because I really dug Magician etc when I was 14.

I read pillars of the earth when I was 13.

It changed me for sure, for better or worse.

River god was very good also, really enjoyed that one. Might give it another read....

sigh I never read fiction these days for some reason, just non-fiction.

I haven't even picked up a dance with dragons after several months....it's just sitting on my bookshelf

werewolves? wrote: yeah same here, The Man in the High Castle is my personal fav of his.

Philip K dick wrote the Man in the High Castle

Really enjoying the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, gonna start the 3rd one after I've finished A Feast For Crows.

zippy wrote: Philip K dick wrote the Man in the High Castle

LOL @ Crossed wires