Top Ten Books

[KMill]

More for my list:

Mathematics and The Imagination - Edward Kasner. (Edward Kasner invented googol).

Never Push When It Says Pull - Guy Browning

The Underachiever's Manifesto - Ray Bennett. Highly recommended!

[Detective TurtleHolmes]

I didn't mind Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. I couldn't help but imagine Sean Connery's voice in my head, though.

That was the book that introduced me to him. FP is faster paced, more complex, and is a great read for conspiracy theorists.

I might have a look into it.

[pieces o'nine]

I didn't mind Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. I couldn't help but imagine Sean Connery's voice in my head, though.

That was the book that introduced me to him. FP is faster paced, more complex, and is a great read for conspiracy theorists.

I might have a look into it.

I read Foucault's Pendulum first; I liked it very much and in search of others by him found Name of the Rose. Travels in Hyperreality and Misreadings are collections of his musings & essays, both good. Island of the Day Before, though, meh. I started it in 1996 and finally gave up a couple years ago on page 276.

Also on my perennial favorites list, in no particular order:
Poems of Anna Akhmatova
Sheri S. Tepper: Gate to Women's Country
T.S. White: The Once and Future King
John Shelby Spong: Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism
Ira Levin: This Perfect Day
Madeline L'Engle: A Wrinkle in Time
Leonard Shlain: Art & Physics
Red Alan Wolf: The Dreaming Universe
Allan Sherman: The Rape of the A*P*E*

[black bart]

Oh I forgot 'The Once and Future King' that's going in my top ten...even though it's now a top eleven!

[Rainswept]

My list will be pretty skewed towards fantasy since that's what I read the most of, and I'm limiting myself to one book or series per author so as not to have only like 2 authors taking up the list. Some of these like Atlas, are just what I consider exceptional writing that anyone might appreciate, while others like the Belgariad are just dear to my heart because of when/where I first read them.

1. Atlas Shrugged ~ Ayn Rand (u all saw that one coming.)

2. A Song of Ice and Fire ~ George R.R. Martin (best-written fantasy series I've ever read)

3. The Belgariad ~ David Eddings. (read these in 7th grade when I was first in children's homes, reignited my love of reading)

4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ~ Mark Twain (my favorite classic)

5. Ender's Game ~ Orson Scott Card (my favorite sci-fi book, the followup's never got to me quite like the original did.)

6. Mistborn Series ~ Brandon Sanderson (second best-written fantasy series I've ever read)

7. Harry Potter Series ~ J.K. Rowling (incredibly popular, but still unappreciated. It's hard not to enjoy these)

8. Wheel of Time ~ Robert Jordan (got me through basic training, soo much downtime to read while waiting in line everywhere)

9. Dresden Files ~ Jim Butcher (Nothing amazing from a literary standpoint, but you just plain like the characters.)

10. Othello ~ William Shakespeare (cause it's a crime to have a list of stories without Shakespeare)

11. Hannibal Lecter Series ~ Thomas Harris (Very well written and scary, and I needed at least 1 more non-fantasy on the list)

Ok so it's 11. I'll stop.