Best Book You've Ever Read

Attention readers: What is the best book you've ever read?

No, My Little Pony books do NOT count.

I can't necessarily say I'm sure about the best book I have ever read, but I like Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in particular.

I like how the book plays around on who exactly is the monster. For one, the Monster itself is a learning, kind creature but does indeed murder a few people out of spite for Victor. Humanity is prosperous and can be kind and gentle; it too is a double-edged sword as humanity can murder, pillage, rape, etc. But is the Monster really a monster?--after all, humanity rejected the kind creation upon his appearance and not his ignorance which thus cause the monster to kill (out of hate, disgust, anger).

The entire meaning of the book is whether or not a Philosopher's Stone/Elixir of Life is morally just. Will the creation of man destroy man or will it join it peacefully? This is further played upon when the Monster asks Victor to make a companion; Victor eventually thinks that, although the Monster has agreed to leave mankind forever upon the completion of his companion, the companion itself may not agree and may return to destroy its creator.

But I can't really say I enjoyed it more than the Foundation trilogy, His Dark Materials, so on and so forth.... This is a difficult question as there are many aspects of a book that may cause someone to enjoy it more than others; thus the question may become complex if someone like me over thinks the idea....

Seems a bit odd bringing MLP into an unrelated discussion there, OP.



Difficult to restrict myself to just one book. Even just one series. I have many favourites...I guess, at the moment, I'd say The Light-Field by Traci Harding, but I got more out of the book because I read the other bunch before it.

Actually, many of my favourite books are from Australian authors, so most of them are probably not really known overseas.

Both were made into movies, but i honestly can't decide between these two.

Originally Posted by HylianHeroine

No, My Little Pony books do NOT count.

Since you brought i up, i have one of those old school My Little pony books and an old MLP Episodes on one VCR cartridge thingy.

I really enjoyed The Hunger Games series. So I guess I would have to say them. I haven't read much. And I agree The Outsiders is a fantastic book. I read that in middle school and I finished it quick. Also, I read The Hot Zone which was interesting. Kind of boring at first but then I got into it.

But I guess it would have to be The Hunger Games series.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I love that book to pieces, and I cried more than I have while reading another while reading it. Words cannot describe how much that series means to me.

Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is a very good book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I love Sherlock Holmes. They're my favourite.

Not so much a book but an epic poem, Chesterton's Ballad of the White Horse. I'm at a bit of a loss describing it, since a simple description just won't suffice.

Paris in the 20th Centrury by Jules Verne is a close second. It's not his best book, or really the best book, but it is a satirical distopia setting himself 100 years in the future, illustrating how not only will the world go mad with greed but he would have effectively frozen to death on the street. Unlike most distopias though it is quite upbeat and funny.

My favorite book is and always will be The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.



I really have a strong emotional connection with this book and reading it is always an incredibly nostalgic feeling. I think it's because we read it in my freshman high school English class and high school wasn't an easy time for me in terms of social acceptance. I went to school with a lot of cliquey people (really referring to the girls specifically) who enjoyed backstabbing each other. So I mostly stuck to myself because I got sick of trying to be friends with people who didn't want to be bothered and it was a pretty lonely time for me.

When I wasn't sad about it, I'd feel pretty angry so reading this book at the time was a pretty big comfort for me. I felt like I could relate to Holden in a way and understand him. I was also the type of person who felt sad about transitioning from childhood to adulthood; I didn't want to lose the things I loved about my childhood. And this is a pretty big theme in Catcher, so that's another way I relate very closely to Holden. I still go through times where I miss the innocence and carefree times of childhood, but I try to hold onto those happy memories and let the child still stay alive in my heart. :)

But yeah, I truly love this book and I think it's wonderful that Salinger created a work that captures a time that is so very difficult for many adolescents. It bothers me that certain people like John Lennon's murderer have caused the book to be associated with negativity and being what "triggered" their atrocious actions (Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman was obsessed with the book and supposedly murdered him because he saw Lennon as a "phony" - which for those of you who haven't read the book, phony people are one of Holden's biggest qualms with society).

My second favorite book is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov



It's definitely a controversial classic, and given the nature of the plot and the time in which it was written, I think Nabokov was a very brave writer. Also, I think it's pretty amazing at how eloquent his writing style is especially given that English was not his first language.

I think what I like about this novel so much is that has an incredibly controversial (and disturbing) theme running throughout, but the story is told with character development and isn't downright smut like many people assume prior to reading and only going by the plot synopsis (before actually reading it, I used to think it was just a story about some old pervert who liked little girls and was just some vulgar classic that gained a lot of popularity). But when you actually read it, you get an understanding of why Professor Humbert is as warped as he is and in a way, you simultaneously view him as a monster and can feel some sense of sorrow for him.

I've seen both the 1962 and 1997 versions of Lolita movies and I like them both. Though obviously in 1962, they were very limited in how they could translate a novel of this nature into a movie with censoring and whatnot. So I do like the 1997 version with Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain the best because it's insanely accurate to the book down to tiny details and the performances of both actors capture the characters very well, in my opinion.

1984

Best dystopian novel ever (Brave New World comes in a close second, but fails at making the top spot just because the writing is nowhere near as good as this, and if you mention LotF to me, I might strangle you) . It was the first book that honestly made me cry at the ending, and the writing is just superb. Most of his other books were a little shaky for me (I liked the whole symbolism of Animal Farm, but it can't really count as a masterpiece of the English language, as far as the writing goes anyways. Coming Up for Air was alright, but nothing superb in anyway), but this is epic.

Cat's Cradle

Best satire ever. This has to be the funniest book I've ever read in my life, and the fact that Vonnegut covered some of the most serious issues of humankind with such lightness while still leaving profound themes and messages is amazing.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series

You all knew someone was bound to post this

This series is ashmazing. No series is quoted as much as this one (not proven). There's a laugh out loud joke in every second sentence. I'm lazy and not very good with words so I'll let these quotes speak for themselves. Don't worry no spoilers!

Arthur looked up. "Ford!" he said, "there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out."

"Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself in to its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it," said Marvin.
"And what happened?" pressed Ford.
"It committed suicide," said Marvin

And that's only a few lines from the first book! Read this trilogy of six!

I love exclamation marks!

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

honestly, i can't decide between all the Harry Potter's, The Hunger Game's series and The Eragon Inheritance Cycle.

I'm kind of upset that no one has yet mentioned either of my two favourites:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, and
The Hobbit by James Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

To start, Ender's Game is a fantastic science-fiction story centering around the life of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, and his experiences in the military's "Battle School." It offers a deep look into the mind of an unfortunately broken child genius and his journey into becoming the monster the military needs him to be. At the end, when he realises what he has become, he rejects the government and has a fair bit of inner conflict. But then he finds that he still has hope, and that opens the way for the other three books in the series. See also the parallel novel, Ender's Shadow, written from the perspective of one of Ender's closest Battle School friends.

And then there's the classic novel, The Hobbit. The epic tale of how one small halfling can greatly affect the world around him. It focuses on Bilbo Baggins, as I'm sure most of you are aware, the titular hobbit who, with the assistance of 13 dwarves, learns that a quiet life is not the life for him. It is hard to penetrate the writing, as it is written in a very verbose manner, but once you get past the first few chapters, it really does become a page-turner (albeit, a slow one).

Both of these books are being made into movies, with The Hobbit coming out in December of this year, and Ender's Game being released sometime in 2013. I recommend both books to anyone who asks.

Halo, the Forerunner saga. I love the Halo franchise, and I really love the Halo books too.

Others are: "The Five Ancestors", "Tom Sawyer", part of "The strange case of Dr. Jykll and Mr. Hyde", and "Fellowship of the Ring"

Originally Posted by Willow-chan

My favorite book is and always will be The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

I really have a strong emotional connection with this book and reading it is always an incredibly nostalgic feeling. I think it's because we read it in my freshman high school English class and high school wasn't an easy time for me in terms of social acceptance. I went to school with a lot of cliquey people (really referring to the girls specifically) who enjoyed backstabbing each other. So I mostly stuck to myself because I got sick of trying to be friends with people who didn't want to be bothered and it was a pretty lonely time for me.

When I wasn't sad about it, I'd feel pretty angry so reading this book at the time was a pretty big comfort for me. I felt like I could relate to Holden in a way and understand him. I was also the type of person who felt sad about transitioning from childhood to adulthood; I didn't want to lose the things I loved about my childhood. And this is a pretty big theme in Catcher, so that's another way I relate very closely to Holden. I still go through times where I miss the innocence and carefree times of childhood, but I try to hold onto those happy memories and let the child still stay alive in my heart. :)

But yeah, I truly love this book and I think it's wonderful that Salinger created a work that captures a time that is so very difficult for many adolescents. It bothers me that certain people like John Lennon's murderer have caused the book to be associated with negativity and being what "triggered" their atrocious actions (Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman was obsessed with the book and supposedly murdered him because he saw Lennon as a "phony" - which for those of you who haven't read the book, phony people are one of Holden's biggest qualms with society).

Grand choice, one of my favorites too.


My other favorite book is A Tale of Two Cities. An inspiring story of redemption.

Actually surprised no one said:

The Lord of the Ringstrilogy

Originally Posted by Eldír

Actually surprised no one said:

The Lord of the Ringstrilogy

I did. I just have only read Fellowship of the ring, but plan to read the rest of the series.

Tie between and

Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, A Song of Ice and Fire, Fate/Zero, Battle Royale, The Stand, The Shining, Welcome to the NHK

Note that I speak of the novels only and not of any adaptations, although some are good.