best books you ever read any genre

[bronte]

Let's talk about the best book or books you EVER read, any genre. I have many favorites but I think the best would be a triology by Edith Pargeter "THE HEAVEN TREE", "THE GREEN BRANCH" and the "SCARLET SEED". What's the best book you ever read?

[bronte]

Let's talk about the best book or books you EVER read, any genre. I have many favorites but I think the best would be a triology by Edith Pargeter "THE HEAVEN TREE", "THE GREEN BRANCH" and the "SCARLET SEED". What's the best book you ever read?

Hello? Anyone out there?

[Gothmeister]

Let's talk about the best book or books you EVER read, any genre. I have many favorites but I think the best would be a triology by Edith Pargeter "THE HEAVEN TREE", "THE GREEN BRANCH" and the "SCARLET SEED". What's the best book you ever read?

Hello? Anyone out there?

Gothmeister here,

My favorite read from a entertainment standpoint would be Christopher Rowley's novel "STARHAMMER" Del Rey Ballantine books published in 1986. In my opinion this and his follow up " THE VANG" are the best space opera I've come across.

[bronte]

Let's talk about the best book or books you EVER read, any genre. I have many favorites but I think the best would be a triology by Edith Pargeter "THE HEAVEN TREE", "THE GREEN BRANCH" and the "SCARLET SEED". What's the best book you ever read?

Gothmeister here,
My favorite read from a entertainment standpoint would be Christopher Rowley's novel "STARHAMMER" Del Rey Ballantine books published in 1986. In my opinion this and his follow up " THE VANG" are the best space opera I've come across.

Oh my! I just looked on amazon.com for Starhammer and it's over a 160 dollars for used, no new ones listed. Guess I won't read it unless price comes down

[Monique Devereaux]

I have three favorites that I have read multiple times. One is the non fiction work "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. The second is "The Exorcist" by William Peter Blatty. SO much more intense than the movie. The book actually makes my heart rate speed up and my palms sweat. The movie just makes me laugh. The third is Dennis LeHane's "Shutter Island' a VERY Gothic psychological thriller, currently a movie from Martin Scorsese. The film is getting rave reviews but it didn't live up to my expectations.

As far as Gothics I frequently enjoy rereading "The Other" by Thomas Tryon and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson.

[paigenumber]

I find this question so difficult to answer because I have had so many favourites, even within any one genre. To say which is the best overall is nearly impossible.

Personally, I find the writing of older masters much more appealing than authors of today. When I heard people complain of Dickens in my teens, I listened to them and avoided his works. We did not read any of his works in high school so I had no idea. I was very pleasantly surprised when I started his tomes in adulthood. He is definitely one of my favourite authors and I would recommend his works to anyone. Back in high school, I would have said Thomas Hardy was my favourite. I still consider him a great writer.

Mysteries and romances, amongst which Gothics would belong (IMO), are harder to classify and more difficult to choose one or two. You can break them down into smaller subgenres, then you might get somewhere, but then you'd have a big list. Mysteries can be divided into cozies, detective, crime, true crime, romantic, gothic; romances can be historical, modern, gothic, etc. I've loved too many in each of those to point out anyone as my top favourite.

Then there are children's books that would rank as some of my favourites. Even as an adult, I can still look back to Narnia, The Secret Garden and such like, with a degree of sentimentality.

[bronte]

I find this question so difficult to answer because I have had so many favourites, even within any one genre. To say which is the best overall is nearly impossible.

Personally, I find the writing of older masters much more appealing than authors of today. When I heard people complain of Dickens in my teens, I listened to them and avoided his works. We did not read any of his works in high school so I had no idea. I was very pleasantly surprised when I started his tomes in adulthood. He is definitely one of my favourite authors and I would recommend his works to anyone. Back in high school, I would have said Thomas Hardy was my favourite. I still consider him a great writer.

Mysteries and romances, amongst which Gothics would belong (IMO), are harder to classify and more difficult to choose one or two. You can break them down into smaller subgenres, then you might get somewhere, but then you'd have a big list. Mysteries can be divided into cozies, detective, crime, true crime, romantic, gothic; romances can be historical, modern, gothic, etc. I've loved too many in each of those to point out anyone as my top favourite.

Then there are children's books that would rank as some of my favourites. Even as an adult, I can still look back to Narnia, The Secret Garden and such like, with a degree of sentimentality.

[b]Hey! I like Thomas Hardy also. I think he is very much ignored these days. He is an author that can make me cry AND laugh. In one book he was talking about a man who would "shake hands like he was pumping water" which makes me smile.Another a man was "well into his conversation before he walked in the door" which makes me laugh because I have an Uncle that does the same thing. And there was the mother who bought two of EVERYTHING so her daughter would have something when she married but in the meantime the house had two of everything in it. But the sad parts are VERY sad. I think he was far ahead of his time in some of the subject matter like in "The Woodlanders" a young man having and affair with an older woman. And the "Mayor of Casterbridge" a guy selling his wife to a sailor. I think anyone who has not discovered Thomas Hardy should read his books!

[AliceChell]

I have heard so many good things about The Heaven Tree trilogy. I really must read it. My favorite author of all time is Jane Austen and her six books are my favorites ever. I greatly admire her writing. How about you, bronte?

[Penfeather]

One of the best books I've ever read (well, actually three books) would be the Lyonesse trilogy by Jack Vance. The three are: (1) Lyonesse, also published as Suldrun's Garden; (2) The Green Pearl; and (3) Madouc. This is a fantasy/epic fairy tale/medieval romance unlike anything else I've ever read, utterly haunting and beautiful. I urge readers to look for this masterpiece on Amazon. Even readers who don't usually like the fantasy genre will be swept in by Vance's wonderful storytelling.

Another book I consider a great work of art is Watership Down by Richard Adams. Again, there is nothing like it. In mood and style, it is unique and impossible to forget.

I could probably name a few others but those are the two that come to mind immediately.

[AliceChell]

Hello Penfeather, I know a lover of the fantasy genre to whom I will pass on this information. In fact, I'm rather tempted to read these books myself!