I know it's been done before, but let's do it again, okay? Just for me? Please?
I will not put LOTR on my list. I regard it as a "given", a "freebie".
My 5 are NOT in order of wonderfulness, they are all equally fabulous and readable.
1. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
2. The Horse Knows the Way by John O'Hara.
3. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.
4. The Barsetshire Chronicles by Anthony Trollope.
5. Nana by Emile Zola.
This list tends to change from moment to moment, but here it is for today.
Your 5 favourite books
Your 5 favourite books
Dig deeper.
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sauronsfinger
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Okay Vison - my top five non- JRRT books
1- Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
2- Generations - Strauss & Howe
3- Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
4- Shogun - James Clavell
5- The Age of Roosevelt - 3 volumes - Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
1- Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
2- Generations - Strauss & Howe
3- Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
4- Shogun - James Clavell
5- The Age of Roosevelt - 3 volumes - Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.... John Rogers
My top five...hmm....let's see
1. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
2. The Eight - Katherine Neville
3. Beauty - Sheri S.Tepper
4. Lorna Doone - R. D. Blackmore
5. Mordant's Need - Stephen Donaldson
1. The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
2. The Eight - Katherine Neville
3. Beauty - Sheri S.Tepper
4. Lorna Doone - R. D. Blackmore
5. Mordant's Need - Stephen Donaldson
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
five? Why five?
I like way more books than five. I don't have just five favorites (including LoTR). I could almost do this by age.
As a kid
1. Alice in Wonderland
2. The Little Prince
3. Prince Caspian
4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
5. Black Beauty.
All of which I was trying to read before I even went to school. Alice was read to me by my grandmother and I was so entranced by the book that I forced myself to learn to read. I loved the tea party, had to re-read it multiple times and luaghed every time. I must have been around 4 or 5, but I distinctly remember it.
As a teenager...
1. Steppenwolf
2. Red Badge of Courage
3. Don Quixote
4. Thousand and One Nights
5. The Illiad and Odyssey.
As an Adult
The list is too long.
The Kid list also includes The Hobbit. The teenager includes LoTR. I tried reading LoTR too young and was totally confused so at about 11 or 12 I read them again.
Now I read and take my time and digest the books and heaven forbid the books reference something else because sometimes I get too involved in looking up the references.
I like way more books than five. I don't have just five favorites (including LoTR). I could almost do this by age.
As a kid
1. Alice in Wonderland
2. The Little Prince
3. Prince Caspian
4. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
5. Black Beauty.
All of which I was trying to read before I even went to school. Alice was read to me by my grandmother and I was so entranced by the book that I forced myself to learn to read. I loved the tea party, had to re-read it multiple times and luaghed every time. I must have been around 4 or 5, but I distinctly remember it.
As a teenager...
1. Steppenwolf
2. Red Badge of Courage
3. Don Quixote
4. Thousand and One Nights
5. The Illiad and Odyssey.
As an Adult
The list is too long.
The Kid list also includes The Hobbit. The teenager includes LoTR. I tried reading LoTR too young and was totally confused so at about 11 or 12 I read them again.
Now I read and take my time and digest the books and heaven forbid the books reference something else because sometimes I get too involved in looking up the references.
From the ashes, a fire shall be woken. A light from the shadow shall spring. Renewed shall be blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king.
Loving living in the Pacific Northwest.
Loving living in the Pacific Northwest.
), I might just take just the books on my list.If I was on a desert island, I'd take some bad books too, fire starter and all that.
If I was on a dessert island, I'd take a spoon.
If I was on a dessert island, I'd take a spoon.
From the ashes, a fire shall be woken. A light from the shadow shall spring. Renewed shall be blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king.
Loving living in the Pacific Northwest.
Loving living in the Pacific Northwest.
In England we have a long-running radio show called "Desert Island Discs", where the celebrity interviewee has to chose 8 discs to take with him to said island, out of which one is nominated as the ultimate choice. He/She also gets to choose ONE book, as well as the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, and one luxury item.
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
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Primula Baggins
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ONE book? 
Even with the Shakespeare, that's far from enough.
I've always wanted to try to claim that Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books are really a single unfinished novel in 20 substantial volumes. . . .
Even with the Shakespeare, that's far from enough.I've always wanted to try to claim that Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books are really a single unfinished novel in 20 substantial volumes. . . .
“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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Primula Baggins
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He's on my list, too. Who could be lonely on a desert island with that cast of characters for company?
“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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Primula Baggins
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A fully loaded ebook player. . . . 
“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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Primula Baggins
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Oh, yeah. 
This is why I own about ten pairs (the el cheapo kind). I can always find a pair within a couple of minutes.
On a desert island I'd want to be sure to have the pair that are sunglasses with reading lenses built in.
This is why I own about ten pairs (the el cheapo kind). I can always find a pair within a couple of minutes.
On a desert island I'd want to be sure to have the pair that are sunglasses with reading lenses built in.
“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
Yes!! The guy who was in his nifty bomb shelter, all happy and fixed up, thinking he was Mr. Smartguy and then - broke his glasses. Served him right.
I have many pairs, but I there are times when I can't find any. I have actually, and I blush
to admit it, have actually had them on my head and have been running around the house shouting at myself about where my bloody glasses are. Chris and the boys laff. Brutes.
I have many pairs, but I there are times when I can't find any. I have actually, and I blush
to admit it, have actually had them on my head and have been running around the house shouting at myself about where my bloody glasses are. Chris and the boys laff. Brutes.Dig deeper.
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Primula Baggins
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I tried for a while hanging them around my neck on one of those chains but (a) the kids laughed at me. Hard. and (b) having them in the way when I don't need them was not much better than not having them when I do need them. So I bought a couple of three-packs at Costco and was good to go.
I do like the combination of contacts and reading glasses much better than bifocals. Bifocal designers assume everyone reads by peering down their noses at the page—or worse, the screen. When my contacts are out and I'm in my bifocals I at last understand the tilted-up-nose, arched-eyebrows pose so many Ladies of a Certain Age affected when I was a kid. They weren't trying to look like Joan Crawford (my early theory), they were just trying to read something.
I do like the combination of contacts and reading glasses much better than bifocals. Bifocal designers assume everyone reads by peering down their noses at the page—or worse, the screen. When my contacts are out and I'm in my bifocals I at last understand the tilted-up-nose, arched-eyebrows pose so many Ladies of a Certain Age affected when I was a kid. They weren't trying to look like Joan Crawford (my early theory), they were just trying to read something.
“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
The other five which are not LotR:
1) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
2) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
3) Possession by A.S. Byatt
4) Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
5) Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick
Numbers 4 and 5 are movable feasts.
1) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
2) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
3) Possession by A.S. Byatt
4) Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
5) Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick
Numbers 4 and 5 are movable feasts.
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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