Your Top Five Favorite Books?

[Noodle]

Damn fine thread, and reading other picks brings back good memories of boodks gone by.

Now, as to movies that were better than books, I'd say the Godfather movies (I and II) were better than Puzzo's novel. Also, the Silence of the Lambs flick beat the crap out of the book. And, I always thought the Lord of the Rings trilogy was ponderous and enjoyed the movies much more than reading Tolkien.

Next topic, yes, Red Storm Rising was cooler than the Hunt for Red October, and I'm surprised that hasn't been done as a movie.

Finally, top five books is tough, tough, tough. I'm going to limit this to post 1960 fiction that other folks haven't listed:

Gravity's Rainbow So hard, but so worth it. You have to work at this one, but man, it makes you wonder at how brilliant a mind can be.

Possession What's not to like? Drives home the point that "nothing is as it seems."

Gorky Park If you're of a certain age, and have a love for the great Russian novels, you can't resist this modern incarnation of the tortured Russian soul. Plus it has KGB dudes doing KGB stuff!

Winds of War/War and Remembrance Melodramatic, sure, and a crappy TV series. But if you want to get a sense of the horror of the holocaust and of the honor of US warriors, then these books are tough to beat.

Slaughterhouse-Five Whoa. Strap in for a disturbing ride with Kurt V.

[K-town]

Gorky Park If you're of a certain age, and have a love for the great Russian novels, you can't resist this modern incarnation of the tortured Russian soul. Plus it has KGB dudes doing KGB stuff!

Wow, Gorky Park. Great, great book. The sequels were actually really good, too: Polar Star, Red Square, Havana Bay.

Martin Cruz Smith is an excellent author. Everything I've read from him was well written, thoughtful and intelligent.

BTW, another author who does series novels is Bernard Cornwell. Liked the Sharpe series, but thought the Archer series (about an English archer in the English/French 100 Years War, and the search for the Holy Grail) was better.

[MJZiggy]

This was a good thread...

[digitaldean]

Mine are probably more slanted toward the spy type of novels....

Debt of Honor - Tom Clancy
Flags of Our Fathers - James Bradley
Executive Orders - Tom Clancy
The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45, Steven Ambrose
Distant Replay - Jerry Kramer
(had to get a Packer theme in there somewhere)

[oregonpackfan]

I'll mix a group of "Grown-Up" books and children's books.

Lonesome Dove

Shogun

Undaunted Courage

Where The Red Fern Grows

Love You Forever

[Freak Out]

Best fucking book ever:

Me write book...it bigfoot memoir.





Iron Mike......your sig scared me you fucker.

[DonHutson]

The last really good book I read was titled Mafia Summer. I love mob books, even more than mob movies.

Underboss by Sammy the Bull and Peter Maas is one of my all time favorites. Wiseguy from Nicholas Pileggi with Henry Hill is outstanding, also - even though you know the basic story from Goodfellas.

Try 'The Outfit' by Gus Russo. Great history of the Chicago mob starting after Capone went away.

I love that so much of the narration from GoodFellas came straight from Wiseguy. No screenwriter could have come up with some of those lines.

[Iron Mike]

Iron Mike......your sig scared me you fuck.

Bwahahaha!!!!

[Iron Mike]

[wist43]

1984

Year may be off, but it is prophetic... just a matter of time. Obama gets in, we're all the closer

Ironically, Orwell was a socialist... go figure

[mraynrand]

Good choice. Books for November reading:

1984
Animal Farm
We
Brave New World
Anthem

[Iron Mike]

Good choice. Books for November reading:

1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World

Just go ahead and add in The Outsiders and The Catcher in the Rye and you've covered my Sophmore English Class. :P

[Tyrone Bigguns]

What? No "Native Son?"

Racists!!

[mraynrand]

What? No "Native Son?"

Racists!!

I prefer Invisible Man - but if you need a Native, how about Return of the Native?

[Tyrone Bigguns]

What? No "Native Son?"

Racists!!

I prefer Invisible Man - but if you need a Native, how about Return of the Native?

I would not prefer some euro trash writer who published his story in some effete magazine.