What are your top 3 favorite books of all time?

Question

I get so overwhelmed when I go to pick a new book to read. I really have no patience. I end up reading books that I know I love and are already familiar. I really want some new stuff this summer. John Steinbeck is my favorite author.

Answer 1

Trying to tailor my suggestions to someone who likes Steinbeck....

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It deals with faith, fate, and the meaning of friendship. Laugh out loud funny and heartbreaking at the same time. And you'll never be able to look at something written in ALL CAPS the same way again.

I've not read it yet, but on my list is The Kite Runner. Everything I've heard about it is fabulous. It's the story of two Afghani men, one who escapes and one who doesn't. Sounds like it has the 'slice of life' approach of Steinbeck.

My favourites of all time are Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter and Seymour, An Introduction, by JD Salinger.

Also, if you want something different, but the same, have you read Steinbeck's journals? I read his published notes of how he wrote Grapes of Wrath, and it was a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an incredible writer and his process.

Answer 2

Dresden file book series by Jim Butcher.There are 8 books in the series beginning with stormfront.It narrates the story of Harry Dresden,chicago's only professional wizard who works as a detective.He stands between the general population who is ignorant about the supernatural world and the monsters - vampires,werewolves,fallen angels,fey.He is aided by Bob,a talking skull.Karrin Murphy-a police officer and Thomas-a white court vampire.

Dragonjousters series(joust,alta,sanctuary) by Mercedes Lackey.The setting is ancient Egypt.Hunger, anger, and hatred are constants for young Vetch, rendered a brutally mistreated and overworked serf by the Tian conquest of his homeland. But everything improves when a Tian jouster requisitions Vetch to become the first serf ever to be a dragon boy. His training is intense, and his duty clear-cut: to tend his jouster, Ari, and his dragon, Kashet. He discovers that, because Ari himself had hatched Kashet, the dragon is different from others that have been captured live in the wild and must be drugged to be made tractable. Vetch finds he really likes and understands dragons, and soon he becomes the best dragon boy of all. He still harbors anger, however, toward the Tian invasion. Could he, perhaps, hatch a dragon, and then escape to help his people?

Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini.When his best friend, a young clergyman, is killed in a mockery of a duel by an arrogant noble, just to quiet his eloquent expressions of democratic ideals, Andre-Louis Moreau vows revenge. From that point, through meteoric careers as a consummate actor and scenario writer, then as a fencing master, and finally a politician, the brilliant Moreau keeps thwarting the aims of the aristocratic Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr. However, the nobleman causes pain to Moreau as well, and the time must come when the two will meet to settle their enmity once and for all. You are not likely to guess how their confrontation finally turns out. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this swashbuckling novel is exciting throughout, and it presents one of the most dashing heroes in fiction, a man who can fight equally well with his mind, his mouth, his pen, and his sword, a man who stirs up events wherever he goes.

Landslide by Desmond Bagley.Bob Boyd wakes up in a hospital with no memory,the only surviver of an accident.He was burned badly all over and needed extensive plastic surgery which was payed by a mysterious sponser.He is told that he's a geology student with a bad history.However Bob recovers and gets on with his life.Hired by the powerful Matterson Corporation to survey land before they build a great new dam, he begins to uncover the shaky foundations of the Matterson family and becomes a fly in their ointment.His accident and the Matterson family have more in common than he thought.

Answer 3

The Steppen Wolf By Herman Hesse
The Little Prince By A. de Saint Exupery
And
Mythago Wood By Robert Holdstock

Answer 4

1. The Kite Runner
2. The Count of Monte Cristo
3. The Cider House Rules

Answer 5

The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, King Fortis the Brave

Answer 6

Let's see... 1. The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse/ The Steppen Wolf 2. Demian/Narzis und Goldmund by Hesse 3. The Collector by John Fowles/ Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Hesse because he turns contradiction to some sort of art and he toys with it in all of his books. It's masterpiece is The Glass Bead Game in which are summarized his ideas about the constant battle between the rational side and the sensual side of the human being.

Golding because I agree with his perspective on the essence of the human being, that is in each one of us lies the seed of evil, that is the premise we're starting our life from.

Fowles makes me wonder if I value my life as it is, what do I want to change about it but mostly... am I being gratefull for what I have, for what I have achieved?

Answer 7

Harry Potter, King Fortis the Brave and Eragon. The first one is a series and the next two are the first books of trilogies, but all the better. Even more great books to read!

Answer 8

Atlas Shrugged, Silence Of The Lambs, The DaVinci Code.

Answer 9

The Hyperion series by Dan Simmons

Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azzerad

Disgrace by JM Coetzee

Answer 10

Theres loads more, but, you asked for three so...

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Harry Potter series by You Know Who
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I also like Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and I really like Good Night Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian and classics such as Gulliver's Travels and Silas Marner