What Was One Of The Best Books You've Ever Read?
 

Fuck yes "The Green Mile," fuck yes John Coffey, and fuck yes Steven King.

Quote:

Paul Edgecomb: On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That is was my job? My job? John Coffey: You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you hurtin' and worryin', I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand? Paul Edgecomb: Yes, John. I think I can.

Quote:

John Coffey: I'm sorry for what I am.

Probably The Soulforge, The Chronicles & the Twins Dragonlance trilogies. It's always nice to see the journey an evil character will take to bring them to the depths of their depravity.

Man, I am such a fantasy geek.

Forever and ever, Gabo.

The Legend of Drizzt
&
Blue Moon Rising

Instead of just naming books it would be good if we maybe said something about what we liked about them, fellas?

I think everyone knows my feelings about Terry Pratchett at this point so I will contribute that I really enjoyed Terry Brooks' Shannara novels (or at least everything before the Voyage trilogy) as well as his Running with the Demon series. He had this way of writing books where the good guys were always a hair's breadth from being utterly fucked and I enjoyed the way he portrayed magic as like, this thing you used because it was your best option but it hurt like hell and every time you did it ripped a strip right off of your soul.

Oh! And his Magic Kingdom of Landover books, because I really wish some wizard would sell me a magic kingdom where I could be king and fight demons and evil wizards and cool shit like that.

Not to mention having a totally nubile dryad wife, a talking dog, the Paladin as an alter ego, and a kick ass living castle to live in.

In a similarish vein; I really enjoyed the Xanth novels. They may have been throw away reads, but damn, did I enjoy the yarns Mr. Anthony wrung out of that setting.

Talking dog butler.

I mean lots of magic kingdom dudes got talking dogs, but do they have talking dogs that can buttle? Not unless they're the Magic Kingdom of Landover dude, they don't!

Was Abernathy the butler? I thought he was an accountant or something.

Firstly, 100 years of Solitude (assuming my very poor spanish has translated that correctly) is a totally awesome book. It is quite romantic in that the plot is less important than the overall themes of the book ( in this case they are to do with time and history mostly) but the plot is still excellent and makes you care about it.


I've only read the Voyage trilogy of Brooks and found it ok but not particulalry noteable. How is it different from his other work?

As for my contribution, Melmouth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin. It is generally considered the last gothic novel and is perhaps the greatest. Lots of disturbing atmosphere, lots of interplay of narrative structures, some brilliantly written tragic characters and some satire that would make Swift proud.

I'd like "Candide" a lot more if I could find that part (is this spoilers? Do I need to worry about spoilers for "Candide?" May as well) where Candide and his buddy meet up with this rich jerk, and Candide's like, "Dude, you got some awesome crap," and the rich jerk's like, "This awesome crap sucks. I hate it. It needs to be more awesome for me to call it awesome." And Candide's like, "Wow, this guy's, like, the smartest guy in the world 'cause he has all this awesome crap and he hates it all." See, because if I could find that part, then I could quote it, and that would save me a lot of typing/talking whenever someone starts throwing around the old, "I hate X for no reason and am therefore a better, more cultured person for it," spiel.

Also, it's kinda funny and tragic; and, thankfully, this thread is called "One Of The Best" and not "The Best," which is a far more difficult question; so I can go with "Candide."