What's Your Top Ten Books?

[kitty.lover]

I saw the thread on the worst book ever read so I thought it might be fun to say what our top ten books are; as I know to pick one favourite would be really tough.

Here's mine:

1. Bible (obviously)
2. Charlottes Web (childhood fave)
3. Cradle and all - James Patterson (controversial but riviting)
4. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (controversial but inspiring)
5. PS. I love you - Celia Ahern (made me laugh, cry and everything inbetween)
6. The Cross series - James Patterson (sorry couldn't pick just one)
7. Broken - Shy Keenan (heart breaking true story of child abuse and survival)
8. A Tale of two cities - Charles Dickens (Love it)
9. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens ( christmas fave I love redemption stories)
10. The Lord of the rings - Tolken ( dah goes without saying)

 

[SwanPrincess]

Ummm... my top 10 at the moment would be:

1. Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer love these books!
2. The Host (which will hopefully soon become a series) - Stephenie Meyer
3. The Circle Trilogy - Nora Roberts
4. A Walk To Remember - Nicolas Sparks
5. Arena - Karen Hancock
6. The Named - Marianne Curley
7. Hangman's Curse - Frank Peretti
8. Cape Refuge Series - Terri Blackstock
9. Newpointe 911 Series - Terri Blackstock
10. Hidden Faces Series - Brandilyn Collins

 

[Sabriel]

1. The Bible
2. Sabriel
3. Shade's Children
4. Darkwing
5. Twilight Series
6. The Host (I hope it becomes a series, too!)
7. Watership Down
8. The Warriors Series
9. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
10. Tithe

 

[Isambard]

1. The Master and Margarita
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude
3. House of Leaves
4. The Moor's Last Sigh
5. The Last Unicorn
6. The Romance of Tristran & Isuelt
7. 1984
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
9. Ishmael
10. I, Lucifer

 

[kitty.lover]

For your replies an interesting selection guys.

Amazon here i come (Again lol)

 

[keith99]

Just in the order I wrote down, not by rank.

1) Brave New World
2) The Discourses - Machivelli
3) The Past Through Tommorrow - Heinlein
4) Glory Road - Heinlein
5) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
6) Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott
7) The Three Musketters - Dumas
8) Lord of the Rings

I find Brave New World better than other dark future stories as it looks bright at the start - What a Brave New World with such wonderful people in it, or something like that.

The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection, several stroies that individaully can make a top list. Glory Road has a part that drags, there is a reason (just as going through the swamps with Golem drags in LOTR). Generally the critics missed the reason. If you miss the reason you miss the whole point. I'm a techie, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has a Computer in a unique staring role.

Ivanhoe is surprisingly readable considering how long ago it was written (language changes). If nothing else look at how Jews are treated in the story.

Look at the more complex characterizations compared to any film of all the major characters in The Three Musketeers. Also the ending is rather different from any of the films. ("Do with it what you will, but remember I give it to you").

I'm going to leave myself 2 since I'm sure to recall something I should include.

 

[BjorkIsCool]

-Dune
-A Prayer for Owen Meany
-Mayor of Casterbridge
-Great Expectations
-Harry Potter series
-Grapes of Wrath

 

[kittysbecute]

It is really hard to pick 10. Here are my favorites (other than the bible). (And since it's is so hard to pick I will leave out series of books.)

1. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
4. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
5. Airman by Eoin Colfer
6. Anne of The Island by L.M. Montegomery
7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
8. Finding Alice by Melody Carlson
9. Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

 

[keith99]

It is really hard to pick 10. Here are my favorites (other than the bible). (And since it's is so hard to pick I will leave out series of books.)

1. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
4. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
5. Airman by Eoin Colfer
6. Anne of The Island by L.M. Montegomery
7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
8. Finding Alice by Melody Carlson
9. Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Are you aware of the curious omission in Through the Looking-Glass?

 

[kittysbecute]

Are you aware of the curious omission in Through the Looking-Glass?

I don't know, what is it?

 

[keith99]

I don't know, what is it?

The story centers around a chess set. We meet all pieces except for a Bishop! Seems it was safe to poke fun at the King and Queen, but not the Church.

No I did not notice this myself. It was a key piece in a 'mystery' short story by Asimov.

 

[kittysbecute]

The story centers around a chess set. We meet all pieces except for a Bishop! Seems it was safe to poke fun at the King and Queen, but not the Church.

No I did not notice this myself. It was a key piece in a 'mystery' short story by Asimov.

Are you sure the Bishop was the only one left out? I'll have to read that book again sometime... but I was sure there were more pieces left out...

 

[daydreamergurl15]

My goodness, I have way to many books I love, I need a top 200, so these are not necessarily my favorites, these are the ones I can think off the top of my head

The Bible
Harry Potter Series-J K Rowling (I consider it one big adventure told in seven books )
Twilight and company-Stephanie Meyers (Again another big adventure told in four books)
Confessions of a Shopaholic series-Sophia Kinsella (5 books and counting)
The Baby-Sitters Club-Anna Martin (not too sure if the author is correct, but I learned to read because of these books, so I'm including all of them here).
Sweet Valley High-Francine Pascal (Again, all of them)
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
The Odyssey (don't remember the author)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
This Lullaby-Sarah Dressen
The Ghost and The Promise by Danielle Steel

Believe me, I have many more, I just couldn't think of them quick enough.

 

[Thunder Peel]

1. The Bible
2. Sphere-Michael Crichton
3. You Only Live Twice-Ian Fleming
4. The Lord of the Rings (I'm counting all three as one, since technically they are)-Tolkien
5. Surprised by Joy-C.S. Lewis
6. King Solomon's Mines-H. Rider Haggard
7. U2 At the End of the World-Bill Flanagan
8. The Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck
9. Don't Stop the Carnival-Herman Wouk
10. The Bourne Identity-Robert Ludlum

 

[kittysbecute]

1. The Bible
2. Sphere-Michael Crichton
3. You Only Live Twice-Ian Fleming
4. The Lord of the Rings (I'm counting all three as one, since technically they are)-Tolkien
5. Surprised by Joy-C.S. Lewis
6. King Solomon's Mines-H. Rider Haggard
7. U2 At the End of the World-Bill Flanagan
8. The Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck
9. Don't Stop the Carnival-Herman Wouk
10. The Bourne Identity-Robert Ludlum

I counted Lord of the rings as one as well, for the same reason.
Surprised by Joy was good, I considered putting it on my top ten.. but decided to just have fiction on my list.
I read Grapes of Wrath in highschool, it was an interesting book to read... I had a few hours left to catch up with my english class.. so I was reading it during band practice, and my teacher yelled at me, because I missed my part in percussion.
I haven't read any of the other books on your list, except the bible of course.

 

[kittysbecute]

My goodness, I have way to many books I love, I need a top 200, so these are not necessarily my favorites, these are the ones I can think off the top of my head

The Bible
Harry Potter Series-J K Rowling (I consider it one big adventure told in seven books )
Twilight and company-Stephanie Meyers (Again another big adventure told in four books)
Confessions of a Shopaholic series-Sophia Kinsella (5 books and counting)
The Baby-Sitters Club-Anna Martin (not too sure if the author is correct, but I learned to read because of these books, so I'm including all of them here).
Sweet Valley High-Francine Pascal (Again, all of them)
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
The Odyssey (don't remember the author)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
This Lullaby-Sarah Dressen
The Ghost and The Promise by Danielle Steel

Believe me, I have many more, I just couldn't think of them quick enough.

It was really hard to pick a top 10. I wasn't completely satisfied with my list either. Of the books on your list I've read, the bible, Harry Potter, a babysitters club book (maybe, but I did read a few of the little sister babysitter club books), a few Sweet Valley High books, I read one when they were in 8th grade, and one when they were in college on a road trip and there was a murder mystery or something, Pride and Prejudice, The Odyssey (by Homer), and I might have read Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry.. but I'm not certain.

 

[daydreamergurl15]

It was really hard to pick a top 10. I wasn't completely satisfied with my list either. Of the books on your list I've read, the bible, Harry Potter, a babysitters club book (maybe, but I did read a few of the little sister babysitter club books), a few Sweet Valley High books, I read one when they were in 8th grade, and one when they were in college on a road trip and there was a murder mystery or something, Pride and Prejudice, The Odyssey (by Homer), and I might have read Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry.. but I'm not certain.

I think we probably have the same taste in books. I also love your quote that you're using. Proverbs is one of my favorite books in the bible.

 

[kitty.lover]

I wish i'd made it the top 20 books now as i have just read Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet it's a beautiful story about the/ nope i'm not gonna tell it's totally a girls book but it's lovely a sort of modern fairytale. I'm also now reading The Shack by William P Young which has gripped me so far.

Feel free to add more than 10 if you want to guys

 

[keith99]

Are you sure the Bishop was the only one left out? I'll have to read that book again sometime... but I was sure there were more pieces left out...

Not sure. But I think the Bishops were the only pieces that map nicely to people where the entire class was omitted.

 

[kitty.lover]

How bizarre I play chess (badly) and i loved that book and yet i missed it. How funny