I realize that we haven’t had a week go by yet, but I want to test the new “Your View” category to ensure that it really is worth pursuing. Therefore, we have our second installment of “Your View” a mere two days after the last. This time our question relates to literature – one of the more popular categories on the site.
As I mentioned in the comments on the previous “Your View” list, these posts are meant to help us all get to know each other better and to promote the brilliant community spirit that the site has developed.
What is the best book ever written?
I think the best book ever written is The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles.
Paul Bowles was a beat writer and I was really torn between this book and Naked Lunch by William Burroughs. I opted to exclude Burroughs because I read Naked Lunch at a time in my life that was very up and down and I am not sure if the emotions evoked by the book were from the writing or my own life.
However, The Sheltering Sky really managed to take me to a place I had never been before – I felt the heat of the desert and the struggles in the relationship described. Bowles managed to retain the spirit of the Beat generation whilst writing in a fairly conventional manner.
There are so many books I would dearly have loved to have put here, but I had to pick one. If you want to know the runners up, you can view my very self-indulgent list the Top 10 Favorite Books of JFrater (it was my birthday – I was allowed!)
So – tell me – what is the best book ever written and why?
big_bro_shane: I don't think you can say that Jesus is the one hero – there are many heroes in the Bible – King David for example – there is an old testament too
sure, but they are just like extras in a movie. Jesus can’t even be compared to the other, smaller heroes of the Bible. The whole Word of God, old and new testament, points to the ultimate hero: Jesus
Some hero. He ‘died’, but got brought back to life and made a king, or in other words, he didn’t actually sacrifice anything. Now he just sits there watching millions die everyday on earth with indifference. Wow, what a hero.
Jesus is a hero. Imagine yourself be crucified for he sins of others. He is our king , but when He came to this world, he never abused his highness all over us . And though He is God, didn’t consider himself to be equal with God . Insead , he became a man, and live with humans , being obedient to God (he Faher) until His death on the cross. That’s an ultimate hero.
Actually, God is not just watching and sitting on us. He also cares us, knocking the door of our hearts ,seeking on us. He always love us . The problem is that we are the ones who don’t seek Him. It’s just like that we let Him seek on us and we just wait. And if something happens on us, we blame Him directly without even knowing Him and His love.
The Giver, Ender’s Game, or The Lovely Bones
God, I hope you are joking or 15.
yay for being first!
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee imho, this is the only book that truly opened people’s eyes to what was happening in the south still.
Harper Lee writes with a fine hand and a sharp mind, all of the characters are well developed and you become so engrossed in the story that you can not put it down.
I read like other people breath and this is one of the books that I pick up every 6 months or so. It is one of the few books out there where everytime I read it I find something new.
My favorate book is 20,000 leagues under the sea by Jules Verne. I love all his books!You should read some of his work if you havn’t already…his ideas were so ahead of his time it’s amazing to read his books about submarine, air, and space travel before any of that stuff was a reality! In this book though he describes almost exactly how SCUBA gear works before it was invented…OK i’m rambling but you get my point
gosh it’s gotta be a tie between It and The Stand both by Stephen King, the greatest storyteller ever!
O and jfrater did you get my email? I think I put in the right email but I think I might have put .net instead of .com on accident
oops…
ooooooooooo difficult…very difficult lol
Mine changed just recently though as it was once ‘The Name of the Rose’ by Umberto Eco but a couple of days ago I read ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ by JG Ballard….
And it is amaaazing! Just pure surrealism, confusion, anger, violence, ***** and fantastic imagery and wording…
I believe the Holy Bible is the best book ever written. I do not say this to start any religious animosity or unnecessary debate…I do believe this to be the best book written.
Over the span of several hundred years, written by shepherds, fishermen, fig-farmers, prophets, kings, and commoners, this book tells one influential, inspirational story with one hero (Christ); one villain (Satan); and one theme (redemption).
It is an impressive book, too often argued over than truly read and too often debated rather than lived, which is why many seem dismissive of its beauty. And while their are many versions, I prefer the King James because of the majesty of its poetic language. Again, I share only because it is a book I enjoy and believe to be the best written. Please let it not be for argument.
Now if I was being super-serious as a former English Lit Major and a failed English Professor and as a soon-to-be-published-writer (cross your fingers), I would have to say The King James Version of the Bible. Ya come for the churchin’, ya stay for the gloriously poetic Elizabethan language. Y’all.
BUT.. since I think this must be taken more from a personal point of view… I am oh so severely tempted to say James Joyce’s Ulysses. But then I would have to be honest and admit that while I DO think it’s the greatest novel of the 20th Century *at least,* it is one ***** of a read and in the two times I have HAD to plow through it (for college) and the one time I read it by choice–I really had to force myself through chunks of it. It has the density of a pound cake that’s been drenched in honey and motor oil.
SO… ignoring all the other great classics I should mention first… I will instead offer up my personal fave, my beloved Henry Miller and say that the greatest book ever written is:
Tropic of Cancer.
Because it is without sentiment, falsehood or romance and yet is full of life and awareness and is so ugly it is staggeringly beautiful.
Henry is still far too unappreciated in the country. We should be ashamed.
riley: interesting – my flat mate suggested lovely bones too!
fishing4monkeys: I did get it – thanks
indiefreak19: have you read Foucaults Pendulum? It is better than Name of the Rose (both are by Eco) – I strongly recommend it.
brendan: the stand is the best thing Stephen King ever wrote! I love it. If only they could make a blockbuster film of it instead of the awful mini-series they have made.
SocialButterfly: if you liked that, read Other Voices, Other Rooms by Capote – he was Dill in Mockingbird and Harper Lee is one of the main character in the Capote book – they were childhood friends. You can get it here:
Other Voices, Other Rooms (Modern Library)
the best book ever is El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha
jfrater: I noticed that was on your favourite books list (I’m a sucker for links), A friend of mine recommended it as well, I just haven’t gotten around to purchasing it.
I had no idea that Capote was Dill but now that you mention it, this makes total sense.
brendan: I know I might get bugged for this but my favourite King novel was Dreamcatcher.
jfrater: I actually have ‘Foucault’s Pendulum’!!!! I have it on a big pile of books and have read the first chapter and had to put it aside as had to read aboutthree books for my university course!
But I want to read it so bad and it may put up a fight for my best ever book once I get through it!
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Magus
if i had time id write a more detailed description of why, hopefully someone else will elaborate
I love Randall’s comments–’ya come for the churchin’ and stay for the Elizabethan language ya’ll (I take he’s a fellow southerner)
jfrater: I understand there are many heroes within the Bible–King David, the man after God’s own heart, is one to be sure–as are Moses, Joshua, Abraham, et al.. I am not downplaying individual heroism (or actually heroic faith). I wrote from the perspective of my personal faith in which OT types were fulfilled by NT personhood of Christ. The OT is very important to Christian faith and is filled with many heroes, I just believe their heroism came from their faith in the promised Messiah (Christ). To me, He is the overarching hero of the book
Brendan
For Stephen Kings it’s “Hearts in Atlantis”
Overall, “The Catcher in the Rye”. Holden Caulfield is so real to me. Shades of his journey are found it the stories of all adolescent boys.
Can I just ask a question? Why does everybody love Catcher in the Rye? I've read it, and was severely disappointed. For being considered one of the greatest books ever, it has very little plot, and is basically 200 odd pages of *****ing about just about everything.
I am an adolescent boy, and I have never met anybody as pessimistic and cynical as Holden Caulfield. It does not seem real to me, it seems like somebody decided to write complaints about everything in life.
My favorite book of all time would have to be The Taking by Dean Koontz. Brother Odd by Dean Koontz and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck also warrant acknowledgement.
Anthem, by Ayn Rand
big_bro_shane: I don’t disagree – but I think that without the heroes of the OT we would not have been prepared for Christ and may have missed the NT entirely!
Rob: To be honest I found Catcher in the Rye to be incredibly boring!
ktk420: Mice and Men: brilliant!
Christopher Borne: I am in the middle of Atlas Shrugged – I am enjoying it as much as I have ever other time i have read it – it is timeless.
Count this as another vote for Slaughterhouse 5.
Ruairi: I loved the Magus, though I think Fowles’ best book is The Collector – a much lesser known book of his: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collector
big_bro:
Nope, sorry. Born and bred New Yorker. That’s right. A Yankee. City folk. Gotham and America’s Babylon and all that. The Empire State. Ha.
Aside from the Bible:
Of all the books I’ve loved, I believe the best book ever written is A Rage to Live by John O’Hara. It’s very character driven, and by the end of the book you feel as if you’ve known each character their entire lives. It’s beautiful, funny, realistic and just plain lovely.
I’d say “Catch-22″. It’s hilarious, compelling, distressing and generally splendid. Yossarian is one of the great literary characters.
The best book I’ve read in the past three years is “The Third Party” by Glenn Patterson. I can definitely see it becoming a modern classic. It’s very atmospheric and I just, ahh, wonderful, it makes me want to jump on a plane to Japan immediately.
(It’s set in Japan, that wasn’t just a non-sequitar)
randall–you d__n yankee, stop using ya’ll…it’s deceitful
jfrater–I believe we are explaining the same point from two different perspectives; but I’m glad we could do so civilly. I love when the Bible is dicussed rationally. And let me take the chance to say…this is an awesome site!
mac: I love ‘catch-22′. The absurdity and ridiculousness of everyday living ‘and everybody gets a share’
Greetings; love your site. I am much less productive now that I’ve found it.
My 2 cents:
The Bible
“1984″, Orwell
“The Road”, Cormac McCarthy
I love King also, if I had to throw in one of his I’d say “‘Salem’s Lot”.
Okay, that’s 4 books. Sorry.
Too many to choose from, really. I agree with your take on “Catcher in the Rye”, maybe I just didn’t get it, but nonetheless I found it a snoozefest.
Ohhh, another one is I Have Words to Spend by Robert Cormier.
Zach: thanks
I don’t know I don’t appreciate Catcher in the Rye – it is such a popular book. Perhaps if someone could tell me what the literary merit was in the book I might be able to approach it from a different angle!
Mac: Catch 22 was great – I would love to read more Heller – I just haven’t had time so far. Any recommendations for a second one?
I would say “L’etranger” (Also known as): The Stranger and The Outsider, by Albert Camus
best book ever written IMO.
I agree.
I know it is a short story and not something considered in itself a book, but it is an elegant literary piece of work.
Edgar Allan Poe- The Masque of the Red Death
As for books, I can not put claim that one work would be my the best book ever written. I can not even say that one book is my favorite. But I will say that one I do enjoy is
Steven King- Bag of Bones
or even
The Long Walk (part of the Buchman series)
Take it for what you will…..
by the way i still stand by my thoughts of “Your Veiw” is an excellent idea.
If I pick a book that I find both beautifully written and that I would also read again, it would have to be Middlemarch. I know some people have found it difficult to get through, but I find that once you get used to the rhythms of an older, unfamiliar written language, it is utterly captivating. If was going to go older, I’d say The Canterbury Tales are fantastic. If you aren’t interested in picking through the middle English, there are some great translated versions.
As for the Bible… I think the Bible is fascinating, though I am not particularly religious. There are many beautifully written and wonderful poems, stories, etc. in there. The many different writers all contribute something, but if I were going to pick a “Best Book Ever Written,” I would rather choose a book by one author. Just because I would have to qualify the Bible by saying that I think some parts by some authors are well-written, but not other parts by other writers. Does that make sense? It is just my arbitrary decision though, I don’t mean this to criticize people who choose it.
Also, I quite literally read the book Matilda by Roald Dahl over a hundred times when I was a kid. I guess I just found the story incredibly appealing. So I’ll throw that in as my favorite children’s book
Ravyn: glad you agree – the idea is to help keep the community feel of the site by letting the regular readers/commenters chat without being interfered with by temporary visitors that are hitting the site because of front pages on their favorite social network (which is not listverse).
Sometimes A Great Notion – Ken Kesey. If you ever wanted to know what living in Oregon feels like, or aspire to become a logger. A great book.
The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas. A great novel about Napoleonic life. Also, there’s revenge, murder, money, and sword fights. Dumas also wrote The Three Musketeers, and The Man in the Iron Mask
1. HitchHiker’s Guide (Trilogy) – priceless
2. The Stand
3. Of Mice and Men .. amen!
Jamie, I’ve only read Something Happens, and didn’t enjoy it, which is a shame, although apparently Catch As Catch Can (collection of short stories and essays) is very good.
I think any writer would be challanged to surpass or equal their masterpiece (and of course, some don’t even try, like Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee).
Mac: so true – though luckily some do – William Burroughs for example – famous mostly for Naked Lunch, but all the books that followed were masterly!
My top 10 are as follows
1.The Harry Potter Series
2.The Artemis Fowl Series
3.Roll of thunder, hear my cry
4.Tom Sawer
5.Hucklberry Finn
6.War and Peace
7.The War of the worlds
8.Cirque Du Freak (the whole series)
9.The Giver
10.And anything by Edgar Allen Poe.
There, thats my 2 cents
OMG….my idea worked. thanks JF! Now for favorite authors….lolz
Sosh there are so many to choose from. how can i pick between Obsidian Butterfly from laurell k. hamilton and enders game by orson scott card or sword of shannarah by terry brooks or Legacy of the Drow by r.a. salvatore. Redwall by Brian Jaques. The skies of Pern by Anne McAfferey. chronicles of narnia by c.s. lewis, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by douglas adams, killkeny by louis L’Amour, Left Behind by timothy LaHaye, davinchi code by dan brown. and that doesn’t even begin to cover the great books i’ve read. i guess i would have to say message to garcia is the best book ever. short and best moral. Semper Fi
oh…and try reading andersonville. good book but so hard to read.
I think Harry Potter is the best book series ever, mainly because of its contributions of literature to children, and letting me see the very hot Emma Watson as Hermoine
i wouldn’t consider the bible the best book ever, mainly because it tells a lot of lies it proclaims to be true, and some very disturbing things, like the story of Moses’s son having his foreskin cut off by flint, OUCH!
I personally am a huge, huge fan of Wilde, so I’ll cheat and say The Importance Of Being Earnest. (A play, I know, but indulge me..) Hereby I include the Picture of Dorian Gray, as his only actual novel.
1284 by Orwell.
The book thief by Markus Zusak. It made me cry for 45 minutes straight. It’s narrated by death.
I’m sure I know of a lot more but I can’t think much right now. Just wanted to comment.
the giver, story of b, ishmael
the golden compass
Some combination between
Cat’s Cradle
Catch-22
1984
Also throw in Of Mice and Men in my list
Csimmons: A lot of books tell lies that they proclaim to be true. For instance, the Scarlet Letter starts with a preface saying that the following story can be verified by documents and evidence discovered by the narrator. This is not believed to be actually true, but is rather a literary device used by Nathaniel Hawthorne to give dramatic emphasis to the story. Another example is one of my favorite books, Demian, which was published under the name of the narrator, Emil Sinclair, and written in first person though in reality it was written by Herman Hesse.
To Kill a Mockingbird, definitely. Quickly followed by Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.
jfrater: I’ll be one to voice my opposition to these “best (blank) ever” your-view lists. Perhaps I concentrate too much on the objective of the list, or what I perceive as the objective, namely…a serious discussion about why a book or movie or whatever is better than every other one, and the fact that most people seem to take “best (blank) ever” casually to mean “my favorite (blank) ever.”
I mean…yes, yes, it facilitates discussion….but how can anyone say one great book or movie is better than other great books or movies? There is definately an upper echelon in both cateogies, but one that stands out…..eeeeesh. I think maybe I would find it a bit easier to swallow if you clarify whether we are supposed to discuss, literally, the best book ever written or just name our favorite books. I have a hard time with a list about “best book ever written” that includes the harry potter series and any stephen king book (though I absolutely ADORE both) with books the likes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and War and Peace.
Anyway, that’s my two cents. Good idea, a little clarification would be nice so the LV community can work together towards a common goal, rather than *****ing about why one pop-culture book is better than another.
lol @ Csimmons #44 -
I hope you are referring to the latest film(s?) with regards to her hotness
Greatest adventure book: The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Greatest book of 19th century: Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (it actually changed the way I look at life)
Greatest book(s) of 20th century: Light in August, William Faulkner (shockingling realistic) and The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (the most beautifully tragic work ever)
Favorite book to read over and over: Of Mice and Men
And authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, etc., are overflowing with creativity but seem to lack meaningful substance. Real writers (in the classical sense) have it all in truly realistic form.
Thanks
Out of the Silent Planet, 1984, Animal Farm, Ulysses and Girlfriend in a coma.
And my pick for greatest book of all time, as stated previously on another list, is Don Quixote. Not only is it the best-selling non-religious, non-political, book of all time, but its influence has permeated throughout literary and artistic works for nearly 400 years. It continues to be relevant today. For me personally, I find Quixote himself a fascinating figure. The rest of society sees him as a deluded romantic, fighting evil giants who are not there, loving ugly women he believes to be beautiful princesses, and espousing the long-believed-to-be-dead notions of chivalry. However, there is something noble in his blind idealism, in his attempt to give meaning to his life, to live with honor, despite the doubts of everyone around him. Who is more foolish? Those who submit themselves to hopelessness and live dull and loveless lives or Quixote who adapts his perspective and lives a happy honorable life fighting evil in the name of his doting princess?
I would take 1984 out of the running, but that’s just me. That book was interesting, but very boring and dry. Of course, I could be biased. I’m sure I might have enjoyed it more if I had picked it up of my own accord and didn’t have it shoved down my throat in 10th grade. Same goes for the Great Gatsby. Same goes for All the King’s Men. (I did like Gatsby slightly more than the others, though. It’s beautifully tragic.)
My personal fave is James Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Oh Stephen Dedalus…..