Top three books of all time

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z103

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(Hope this as good as its sister thread - top three songs of all time)

I'll go first :D

x. 1984
x. The giver
x. Truckers
 
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1. Beano
2. Bunty
3. Bare This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language Monthly
 
1. East of Eden - John Steinbeck (read it ages ago and loved it but try to re-read it recently and couldn't get into it. Could be a one-time thing.)

2. Scar Tissue - Anthony Keidis (yes, yes, I know it's not the height of literature, but it's a cracking read. You'll wonder how the man is still alive after reading it.)

3. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks (a random choice, granted, but if you've any interest in how our minds are so bizarre, you'll love it.)

Naturally, I reserve the right to update this list next week... ;)
 
The world according to Garp (John Irving)
The Outsider (Albert Camus)
Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
 
We need to talk about Kevin (Lionel Shriver) should appear somewhere in the list.
 
I'm still pondering this one, have one book but trying to get just two others.

Might have to go with the top books for this week.
 
BillK said:
We need to talk about Kevin (Lionel Shriver) should appear somewhere in the list.
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We need to talk about Kevin is one of my top reads also.
1984
Shadow of the Wind

(and because he's one of my favourite, laugh out loud authors, I have to include something by Joseph Connolly but now which one....?)
 
The Pornographer- John McGahern
Call me the Breeze- or anything else by Pat McCabe
The Dalkey Archive- Flann O'Brien
 
Legend by David Gemmel..............Gritty fantasy fiction and full of surprises
The Golden Rendevous by Alister Mclean.............
Battle field Earth by Ron Hubbard (The movie was total rubbish but the book is a cracking good read)

Mrs SLF's 3 are

Nightwatch - Terry Pratchett
Life of Pi - Yann Martell
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien


SLF Junior's (4) are

Mr Small by Roger Hargreaves
One Snowy Night by ?
The Lorax by Dr. Suess
 
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time Mark Haddon
I was laughing out loud reading some of this
Happy and sad parts, brilliantly written


The Kite Runner
A thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini
Loved both of these, enjoyed the film of the Kiterunner too

Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Stayed up allmost throughout one night reading this. Just could not put it down.
 
I was sitting in front of my books this morning ( just the ones I've managed to hang on to despite donations to charity shops, family, friends etc) thinking about this. Sorry but it is absolutely impossible. Then I thought maybe if you categorised it by say top three humourous books, or humourous authors. So I thought, well right has to be John B, and the also late but great Pete McCarthy, David Lodge. Hmmm but then what about Marian Keyes, Richard Russo...eh, think I'm in trouble again. No, cannot answer this question.
 
Caveat said:
Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
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Hear, hear - I read it once every few years, and get something new from it every time.
To make up my three, I'd add
http://www.amazon.com/Middlesex-Novel-Jeffrey-Eugenides/dp/B0013TFBDI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214036515&sr=1-1 (Middlesex: A Novel) by Jeffrey Eugenides
http://www.amazon.com/Sleepers-Lorenzo-Carcaterra/dp/2266071289/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214036892&sr=1-2 (Sleepers) by Lorenzo Carcaterra
 
I'm a little disappointed to see James Joyce's Ulysses, being such a diligent fan myself.

Best one I read this year was 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy (also No country for old men) such a story about love in a depressing scenario. Highly recommend it.

Reading John Boyle's Mutiny on the Bounty at the moment - he's a great storey teller.

A writer whose typewriter / word processor should be confiscated? John Banville, his last offering as 'Benjamin Black' with such implausible story lines. Aargh!
 
Birds Without Wings by Louis de Berniere

The Power of One by Bryce Courteney

Tandia the sequel to the above
 
Deirdra said:
A writer whose typewriter / word processor should be confiscated? John Banville, his last offering as 'Benjamin Black' with such implausible story lines. Aargh!
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Sacrelige!

Haven't read Benjamin Black but in general Banville is an absolutely superb craftsman IMO.
 
Dear Reader, my top three….

No.1: ‘Reading the Irish Landscape’ Frank Mitchell and Michael Ryan.

‘It is a mark of its brilliance that the reader looking for a comparable account of the landscape of any other western country will look in vain’

Should be required reading for anybody living under an Irish sky.


No.2:‘From Dawn to Decadence’ 1500 to the Present : 500 Years of Western Cultural life.
Jacques Barzun.

Still not finished it after I started it seven years ago as it is the kind of book that leads you off down obscure side trails. Very interesting .

No.3: ‘The World according to Clarkson’. He’d make a great PM eh?

Honourable mention ( as S.L.F reminded me) to ‘Battlefield Earth’ , good oul yarn.
 
Fingalian said:
No.2:‘From Dawn to Decadence’ 1500 to the Present : 500 Years of Western Cultural life.
Jacques Barzun.

Still not finished it after I started it seven years ago
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I haven’t finished this one either, but I’m working on it.



It’s also nice that no AAMs have proposed Lord of the Rings – about the worst book ever written (and no I didn’t finish it).



Anyway, my top three fiction are:

1.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]The Fountainhead: Ayn Rand
2.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Treasure Island: Robert Louis Stevenson
3.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Childhood’s End: Arthur C Clark.

[FONT=&quot]Honourable mention: The Gadfly: Ethel Linian Voynich[/FONT]
 
MandaC said:
The Kite Runner
A thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini
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I think you might like The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

My three (and it could change but just the "wow" factor I remember when reading these.

x. The shadow of the Wind/The Kite Runner/A Thousand Splendid Suns
x. Pete Macarty, was half way through the second book just after I moved to Ireland, when I found out he was dead...and it changed the book for me.
My Sisters Keeper - Jodi Picoult. Subsequent books became a bit predictable but this was the first I read and it stayed with me for days after.

Had a bit of a flirtation with Ross O'Carroll Kelly in recent months much to the amusement of my collegues. Thankfullly, it passed.
 
1. The Sea - John Banville
2. Cannery Row - John Steinbeck
3. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller, The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger, The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck, Slaughter House 5 - Kurt Vonnegut, Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad, Lord of the Flies - William Golding, All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque, amongst others...
 
S.L.F said:
Mrs SLF's 3 are

Nightwatch - Terry Pratchett
Life of Pi - Yann Martell
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
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PMU said:
It’s also nice that no AAMs have proposed Lord of the Rings – about the worst book ever written (and no I didn’t finish it).
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I'd have to disagree PMU, I have loved Lord of the Rings since I was about 11 or 12. It is one of those books I pick up time and time again. It isn't perfect but then I can't say anything is.

I'd have to go with Vanilla on this though, how could I possibly choose only three?
 
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