I'm still trying to imagine a top-5 list without Tolkien.When my brain stops exploding I'll try to come up with a list.
Do they have to be fiction?
Your 5 favourite books
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Primula Baggins
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Tolkien is a gimme. We've retired his jersey. Maybe try thinking of your list as "What else besides Tolkien?"
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Hmmm...
1) Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy in FOUR parts (not the fifth one).
2) Terry Practhett's discworld fiction - I can't choose only one! There will be an omnibus soon - that one!!
3) To kill a Mocking Bird
4) Anne Frank
5) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
1) Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy in FOUR parts (not the fifth one).
2) Terry Practhett's discworld fiction - I can't choose only one! There will be an omnibus soon - that one!!
3) To kill a Mocking Bird
4) Anne Frank
5) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
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Impenitent
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1. Dune trilogy (only the first three books)
2. Pride and Prejudice (and, geez, can't I squeeze the other Austens in there as a kind of omnibus collection?)
3. Shakespeare's complete works - I've got it all bound in one volume, plays and poems.
4. LeGuin's Earthsea books
5. Can't choose, too many contenders. I'll have to come back to it.
2. Pride and Prejudice (and, geez, can't I squeeze the other Austens in there as a kind of omnibus collection?)
3. Shakespeare's complete works - I've got it all bound in one volume, plays and poems.
4. LeGuin's Earthsea books
5. Can't choose, too many contenders. I'll have to come back to it.
Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
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Primula Baggins
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I could live with your list, Impy, especially with the restriction on the Dune series.
Phmph. I'm not getting this figured out, am I?
It's not at all everyone's cup of tea, but I love Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, though they are six fat novels that could never be published in an omnibus version.
And I want O'Brian. All twenty books.
And I want the Exordium series, by Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge, which has been out of print for years (and only came out in mass-market paper) but is my favorite space-opera epic ever. But, again, five books (six?).
And all of Austen including the juvenilia.
Phmph. I'm not getting this figured out, am I?
It's not at all everyone's cup of tea, but I love Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, though they are six fat novels that could never be published in an omnibus version.
And I want O'Brian. All twenty books.
And I want the Exordium series, by Sherwood Smith and Dave Trowbridge, which has been out of print for years (and only came out in mass-market paper) but is my favorite space-opera epic ever. But, again, five books (six?).
And all of Austen including the juvenilia.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Impenitent
- Throw me a rope.
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- Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:13 am
- Location: Deep in Oz
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Impenitent
- Throw me a rope.
- Posts: 7260
- Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:13 am
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See...these could sooooo easily slip into any one of my five berths:
From vison
The Barsetshire Chronicles by Anthony Trollope.
from sf
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
from Elentári
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
Lorna Doone - R. D. Blackmore
from padme
The Little Prince
Thousand and One Nights
from Teremia
David Copperfield
from Pearly girlie
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
from Mahima
Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy in FOUR parts
Terry Practhett's discworld series (as yet unfinished)
To kill a Mocking Bird
I see them and I think, "Of course!
Must have that one! And that one!"
From vison
The Barsetshire Chronicles by Anthony Trollope.
from sf
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
from Elentári
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
Lorna Doone - R. D. Blackmore
from padme
The Little Prince
Thousand and One Nights
from Teremia
David Copperfield
from Pearly girlie
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
from Mahima
Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy in FOUR parts
Terry Practhett's discworld series (as yet unfinished)
To kill a Mocking Bird
I see them and I think, "Of course!
Must have that one! And that one!"Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
I know.. best way to create a "List of books to read" list, isn't it?vison wrote:What makes me laff to myself is how many books you guys picked that I not only haven't read, I've never even heard of them.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
to self.
Really? Like, how omni? Regardless, I want!Mahima wrote:2) Terry Practhett's discworld fiction - I can't choose only one! There will be an omnibus soon - that one!!
Seriously, I could grab any 5 of PTerry's, and be happy.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
What makes me laugh is people's inability to actually stick to 5 books. Everyone shoehorns in trilogys and omnibus editions as if thats somehow one "book". Its not! LotR is one book. The Dune Trilogy ain't. And as for the complete Terry Pratchett collection? Snerk.
I'd be far more impressed if someone said "Here's a 100 page short story, and I would take that as one of my 5 books". That would actually tell me I should maybe look at reading that one short story.
I'd be far more impressed if someone said "Here's a 100 page short story, and I would take that as one of my 5 books". That would actually tell me I should maybe look at reading that one short story.
The Vinyamars on Stage! This time at Bag End
If you want a good, thought-provoking, short story, my husband recommends James Clavell's "The Children's Story" - but not just for children...
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
~Diana Cortes
Wasn't trying to impress you. Was listing MY fav books.Alatar wrote:I'd be far more impressed if someone said "Here's a 100 page short story, and I would take that as one of my 5 books".
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
Okay, this is nigh impossible, but I'll try. (And I'll try not to cheat! 
)
My Top 5 Non-JRRT Books (and that excludes the Bible, too, btw):
(Um, not that JRRT wrote the Bible, you know, but the Bible should be a given, like LotR.)
Ahem.
1) Jane Eyre
2) Something by Laura Ingalls Wilder, probably On the Banks of Plum Creek
3) Something by Philip Yancey, not sure which one I'd pick
4) An anthology of poetry
5) Anne of Green Gables--all of the books in the series smooshed into one GIANT volume!
(Ugh. That was too hard. I made it till the end and then cracked.)
)My Top 5 Non-JRRT Books (and that excludes the Bible, too, btw):
(Um, not that JRRT wrote the Bible, you know, but the Bible should be a given, like LotR.)
Ahem.
1) Jane Eyre
2) Something by Laura Ingalls Wilder, probably On the Banks of Plum Creek
3) Something by Philip Yancey, not sure which one I'd pick
4) An anthology of poetry
5) Anne of Green Gables--all of the books in the series smooshed into one GIANT volume!
(Ugh. That was too hard. I made it till the end and then cracked.)
