If you had to pick 1 (or 2-3) book(s) they someone should no miss out on reading what would it be? (name and author)
My own few I would recommend are:
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (obvious but true)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (truely brilliant)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (A fantastic way to look at the meaning of your life)
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb (actually the start of a 9 book series, a fantasy based novell that is brilliantly written)
Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (not yet completed, but on a par with lord of the rings)
Please let me know what your favourites are and why :)
2007-10-05 00:31:22 · 175 answers · asked by younggreguk 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
I can't believe no-one has mentioned this. One of the oldest military books ever written, used by many great generals throughout history, applications outside of war (relationships, business, negotiation), and on the required reading list for business executives, US marines and MBA students.
It's just full of history and useful tips on life in general.
2007-10-07 12:55:04 · answer #1 · answered by Equinox 5 · 5⤊ 3⤋
I think this book has made the most impact on me - The Source by James Michener. It expains so many human behaviors. Ths history of religions told through stories. The Source takes place in Israel at an archeological dig. Starting from the earliest level through to the 1960's he spins beautiful stories while the reader learns the history of man and religion. Some other books that I have loved are: Stones from the River - U. Hegi -- The reader gets a perpective of the german mind during Hitler's reign. Some of the citizens agree with him and others do not. Great read. Angela's Ashes - McCourt - Irish The Poisonwood Bible - B. Kingsolver- Congo Wildswans - J. Chang- China Cry, The Beloved Country - A. Paton- Africa Middlesex - J. Eugenides- Greek Reading Lolita in Tehran - Nafisi- Middle East All of the above are wonderful books. Some are true stories. I enjoy very much learning about different cultures and gaining a better understanding of human behavior.
2016-04-07 05:09:56 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I concur with Cazmo 2911's comments about what books mean to you and where you are in your life.
Intriguingly, despite the questioner asking for 1-3 books for recommendation (s)he gives several... and quite rightly because there are so many excellent books. So here goes and not in any particular order:
1. Chris Wooding - The Haunting of Alaizable Cray
2. Chris Wooding - The Braided Path trilogy
Don't be put off by the lousy cover on the Scholastic version of Alaizable - a teen fantasy book but absolutely stunning.
3 and 4 Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and
The Tawny Man trilogy - which are really a 6-book series.
5 Robin Jarvis - Tales from the Wyrd Museum trilogy
6 Garth Nix - The Abhorsen trilogy
7 Eoin Colfer - The Supernaturist
8 Eoin Colfer - The Wish List
9 Greg Keyes - The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone trilogy
10 Greg Keyes - The Age of Unreason quartet (to be completed)
11 Christopher Paolini - The Inheritance trilogy (to be completed)
12 Robert Joran - Wheel of Time series (to be completed)
13 K J Parker - The Engineer trilogy (to be completed)
14 Trudi Canavan - The Black Magician trilogy
15 Trudi Canavan - The Age of the Five trilogy
16 Margaret Mahy - Maddigan's Fantasia
17 Philip Pullman - Dark Materials trilogy
18 Terry Pratchett - soooo many! but Going Postal
19-21 Terry Pratchett - The Wee Free Men; A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith
22 Terry Pratchett - The Carpet People
23 Jonathan Stroud - The Bartimaeus trilogy...
and it would be so easy to go on and on and on... lol!
2007-10-08 16:55:40 · answer #3 · answered by puddiepaws 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Lord of the Rings is one of my first recommendations to people.
I found the first three books to Robert Jordan's wheel of Time series to be some of the best fantasy written; however, it was the early nineties when these came out and the only other writer that surpassed his writing was Terry Brooks with his Scions of Shannara trilogy.
Jordan has lost the plot, literally; he's made what should have been a trilogy into something unwieldy and boring. After book five I lost all interest.
Sean Russell's The Swans War trilogy is a series that's truly well written and underrated.
2007-10-07 06:39:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
The Tawny Man trilogy - which are really a 6-book series.
5 Robin Jarvis - Tales from the Wyrd Museum trilogy
6 Garth Nix - The Abhorsen trilogy
7 Eoin Colfer - The Supernaturist
8 Eoin Colfer - The Wish List
9 Greg Keyes - The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone trilogy
10 Greg Keyes - The Age of Unreason quartet (to be completed)
11 Christopher Pa
2014-11-03 21:00:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The book group at my Library have just read The Five People You Meet In Heaven and they all throughally enjoyed it - I have it waiting here at home to be read so thanks for reminding me! I work in a library and always have piles of books awaiting my attention! I'm working my way through the last Rebus novel just now, good reading so far!
I think The Green Mile, Stephen King, is a book everyone should read. It is one of the only books I will re-read. I think I have read it 3 times in as many years, it is haunting, moving and will bring any living person to tears.
1984 by Orwell is a fantastic read. One I 'had' to do at school but have returned to it recently and it is as true a warning today as it was when it was written. I had to keep double checking the date is was published when reading it again as it is hard to beleive it was so long ago, yet his 'predicitions' are as apt today as they have ever been.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time by Mark Haddon is a fantastic read. Really easy to read, I done so in a day, but a great way of getting a perspective on live from those living with a learning disability.
A Place Called Here and If You Could See Me Now by Cecilia Aherne. Don't dismiss her as yet another young Irish chick lit author - there are 100's of them around but she is different. These books give you a different slant on life. The first I mentioned is set in a parrallel land where all the things you thought were missing go - from socks to people! The second is written by an invisible friend - fantastic!
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. This is a book pitched at the Teenage market but there are some great reads amongst them. Being aimed at teenagers means there is something worth readingon every page as you can't allow a teenage reader to lose interest or they are gone! Elsewhere is a place people go when they die and they un-age until they are ready to born again. Gets you mind asking all sorts of questions which, in my opinion, a good book should do.
2007-10-05 20:48:42 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
The Sleeper Awakes (H G Wells)- a cautionary tale of a dystopian society that predates Orwell's 1984.
Dracula (Bram Stoker) or Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)- both seminal works of the Gothic Horror genre.
The Lost Continet (Bill Bryson)- far and away the funniest contemporary travel book available. Also The Clumsiest People in Europe (Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer, abridged by Todd Pruzan)- a 19th Century travel book with 19th Century prejudice that illustrates how today's acceptable is tomorrow's shocking.
2007-10-05 05:51:14 · answer #7 · answered by The Tenth Duke of Chalfont 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Stairs that Kept Going Down. The Secret Passage. The Secret Garden. Tarka the Otter. The Call of the Wild. The Ice Schooner. The Wisdom of the Overself.
2007-10-05 00:41:35 · answer #8 · answered by bottle babe 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Do androids dream of electric sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a book that most people think they remember, and almost always get more or less wrong. Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner took a lot from it, and threw a lot away; wonderful in itself, it is a flash thriller where Dick's novel is a sober meditation. As we all know, bounty hunter Rick Deckard is stalking a group of androids returned from space with short life spans and murder on their minds--where Scott's Deckard was Harrison Ford, Dick's is a financially over-stretched municipal employee with bills to pay and a depressed wife. In a world where most animals have died, and pet-keeping is a social duty, he can only afford a robot imitation, unless he gets a big financial break. The genetically warped "chickenhead" John Isidore has visions of a tomb-world where entropy has finally won. And everyone plugs in to the spiritual agony of Mercer, whose sufferings for the sins of humanity are broadcast several times a day. Prefiguring the religious obsessions of Dick's last novels, this asks dark questions about identity and altruism. After all, is it right to kill the killers just because Mercer says so?
2007-10-07 00:11:00 · answer #9 · answered by mattheweamer 1 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Watership down by Richard Adams
2007-10-05 23:45:31 · answer #10 · answered by k00lgoddard 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Raymond E Fiest 'magician' is a much better book than lord of the rings in my oppinion.
The style of writing is modern and gritty, it is one of the few fantasies that has been highly acclaimed by the New York Times.
If you like Robert Jordan you will be impressed by Fiest's graphic imagary, I have read Robert Jordan and I got upto book 5 or 6 in the wheel of time.
With Jordan his books become tedious, there are times where he could have written two books in one with some clever editing, but Fiest manages to keep the action going all the way through his early works.
2007-10-05 00:54:10 · answer #11 · answered by true_strike 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋