What are your top 5 books of all time?

[Subscriptism]

A Wise Man's Fear-Patrick Rothfuss (If you haven't read these two then leave the house and go buy them now, no right now they are fucking fantastic.)
Name Of The Wind-Patrick Rothfuss
A Storm Of Swords-George R.R Martin
A Clash Of Kings-George R.R Martin
A GAme OF Thrones-George R.R Martin

 

[N3squ1ck]

1) A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (all of them)

2) Harry Potter (all of them)

3) 1984

4) Stephen Kings The Stand

5) The Hobbit

EDIT: I would have made 4/5 of this list out of Terry Pratchetts books, but sadly, I don't know the English titles, so that is my list now

 

[kanyewhite]

5)Thud! by Terry Pratchett. I must admit that I'm completely new to Discworld, so this one's liable to change as I read the other books. That said, this is the only time I've ever actually gone "Aww" at a book, and the only time I've gone "Aww" at anything involving children (you know which bit I mean.), so props to Pterry for achieving that much.

Moving Pictures will probably have a similar effect. I was on a bit of a Discworld kick and getting a bit overfed with it, but Moving Pictures was surprisingly gripping, and the story's climax was very good.

Good dog indeed.

OT:

1) The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
2) A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
3) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
4) Looking For Alaska by John Green
5) A tie between American Gods by Neil Gaiman and Paper Towns by John Green. Gun to my head, I'm probably leaning towards Paper Towns just because it impacted me more emotionally.

I HATED Paper Towns. It felt like John Green wanted to write a quirky pop culture mystery and then had to shoehorn a road trip in it and have an anti-climactic ending.

 

[Guffe]

Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Count of Monte Christo (these are actually 6 books but I'll count them as one)
Mogworld
Jam
Lord of the Rings

Just rambled up 5 books I like since there are really many good books out there

 

[kyuzo3567]

Cannot do books as I like too many of them but I can give you series.
1. The Dresden Files- Jim Butcher
2. Codex Alera- Jim Butcher
3. The Night Angel Trilogy- Brent Weeks
4. Nightside- Simon.R.Green
5. The Lord of the Rings- Tolkin OR Secret Histories- Simon.R.Green I can never choose which I like more.

1. Yes!
2. Yes!
3, Yes!
4. Legend of Drizzt (R.A Salvatore)
5. Either A) Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind) or B) Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson)

I could never pick favourite books... it would have to be series

P.S... Honourable mention to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King
P.P.S... Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

5. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - I wish I had an Electric Monk to believe in things for me.

4. Ubik - A real mind bending plot set in a world where dead people are hooked into machines to allow their relatives to communicate with them and a conflict between those with psychic abilities and those with anti-psychic abilities.

3. 1984 - I love Orwell's books but 1984 is definitely my favourite.

2. Life, The Universe and Everything - I could just say the entire Hitchhiker's Guide series but that would be cheating kind of. Life, The Universe and Everything if my favourite book from the series as it has two of my favourite characters from the series, Wowbagger and Agrajag.

1. The Brothers Karamazov - The book is full of interesting characters, conflicting interests and ideologies, with a good murder plot thrown in for good measure.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Cannot do books as I like too many of them but I can give you series.
1. The Dresden Files- Jim Butcher
2. Codex Alera- Jim Butcher
3. The Night Angel Trilogy- Brent Weeks
4. Nightside- Simon.R.Green
5. The Lord of the Rings- Tolkin OR Secret Histories- Simon.R.Green I can never choose which I like more.

1. Yes!
2. Yes!
3, Yes!
4. Legend of Drizzt (R.A Salvatore)
5. Either A) Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind) or B) Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson)

I could never pick favourite books... it would have to be series

P.S... Honourable mention to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King

Someone with taste. It's about time. Got to ask does Sword of Truth improve after the 5th. I liked the first 4 but I just could not get into 5 and a friend of mine says that they do not improve again plus Goodkind gets really preachy.

 

[Imthatguy]

4) Brave New World - About a truly alien society to our own, this is one book to keep you thinking

I detect unprecedented levels of sarcasm!

 

[kyuzo3567]

Someone with taste. It's about time. Got to ask does Sword of Truth improve after the 5th. I liked the first 4 but I just could not get into 5 and a friend of mine says that they do not improve again plus Goodkind gets really preachy.

Depends, he does get a little more preachy but 'm usually too immersed in the story that it doesn't bother me... 5 is a pretty slow and boring book until near the end, but the 6th is probably my favourite book in the series. The 7th book is hit and miss, it introduces important plot items and characters, but Richard and Kahlan aren't the main characters, either you'll hate it and find it boring, or you'll love it. It seems to depend on your age, most adults and older teenagers enjoy the 7th whereas younger teens will find it boring. My advice is to read them but get the books from the library so if you don't enjoy them you haven't wasted money

 

[kyuzo3567]

1: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2: Cthulhu: Tales of the mythos by Robert E. Howard
3: A Liar's Autobiography
4: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon anthology
5: The Chronicles of Prydain collection (the series that included "The Black Cauldron")

You are officially awesome merely for your mention of Chronicles of Prydain.. that was my favourite series as a child... dammit now I need to update my list again

 

[spartan231490]

5) Wizard's First Rule
by Terry Goodkind
4) Phantom
by Terry Goodkind
3) The Name of The Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
2) A Wise Man's Fear
by Patrick Rothfuss
1) Faith of the Fallen
by Terry Goodkind

If you haven't read "The Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind, or "Kingkiller Chronicles" by Patrick Rothfuss, you're missing out. They stand head and shoulders above any other books out there.

 

[spartan231490]

snip

Someone with taste. It's about time. Got to ask does Sword of Truth improve after the 5th. I liked the first 4 but I just could not get into 5 and a friend of mine says that they do not improve again plus Goodkind gets really preachy.

Yes. I personally liked 5 alright, but my friends didn't, but the 6th is definitely the greatest of the series. book 7 is tough reading, not because it's bad, but because the main character is a completely new character and you see very little of the characters from previous books until the very end. Book 7 and 8 both are very preachy, but after that it gets really good again. If you don't finish the series, you're missing out on some of the greatest books out there.

 

[corneth]

5. Mark Yarm- Everybody loves our town
4. J. D. Salinger- Catcher in the Rye (yes, I know the internet hates this book)
3. Haruki Murakami- 1Q84
2. Douglas Adams- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
1. William Golding- Lord of the Flies

 

[Queen Michael]

In no particular order:

The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy
(If I can't count that as one book, then Blood Meridian by the same author)

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

The Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en

Beijing Doll by Chun Sue

Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

 

[Queen Michael]

1Q84-I LOVE Haruki Murakami. This book starts out really simple, and after a couple pages you're left with this "what is going on?" felling in your stomach. THen comes the "oh, no, it's not like that...WTF did she just do that?" The book just gets weirder and weirder. It keeps you one the edge of your seat. It's a long one, but it's worth it.

There are very few books I'm as glad to have read as that one.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I love lists! I feel somewhat under-read though so please don't laugh too hard at my top five...Also this will likely not be in any particular order.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Despite the big reveal at the end of Goblet of Fire, I think the fifth installment of the series is the real 'shit-just-got-real' turning point of the series. I also loved Dolores Umbridge as a villain although...having her get raped by a tribe of pissed off Centaur was probably a little much (though many would argue that she had it coming). Also I really love the characters of Luna Lovegood and Nymphadora Tonks.

The Hobbit - This was the book that really got me into non-scholastic reading. I've talked about not liking The Lord of the Rings and outright hating Two Towers but I've always really liked The Hobbit. It was a simpler story but it seemed to be bigger because of that. I loved the transformation of Bilbo from a tubby little hole-dweller into a full on Adventurer and I really liked the Dwarves too (who I fell out with for some reason until about the first Dragon Age).

Soul Music (a Discworld book) - Soul Music is the book wherein a strange new sensation rocks the people of Ankh-Morpork. The book is littered with references to the history of Rock n Roll and has a large focus on the heads of Unseen University and Death of the Discworld who is my all time favorite character in the series. Death, in this book, is taking another of his reflective holidays which leaves his Grand Daughter Susan in charge of the family business (at least until she can find him). I rather like Susan as a character and I love how she and The Death of Rats play off of each other.

Path of Destruction (Star Wars: Darth Bane) - Way back when the Star Wars prequel trilogy was damaging the Star Wars brand name, the Knights of the Old Republic series was selling Xbox consoles and instilling within me a love of The Old Republic lore. I couldn't buy this book quickly enough when I first laid eyes on it and I didn't realize it at the time but there is also a comic adaptation of this but I strongly prefer the novel. This is basically the story of Dessel's early years: how/why he joined The Sith, where he was born, how he was raised etc. I sympathized with him for the most part but this book (and the other two in the trilogy) wonderfully illustrate the range and, depth of his power and sadistic nature.

Herbert West: Re-Animator - It's really more of a toss-up between Lovecraft's zombie story and, Cool Air (another short-story by Lovecraft). This is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories which centers around Herbert West who believes that life is a largely chemical process and thus takes great pains in developing a liquid-injection made to cancel out Death. It doesn't work exactly as West would have liked but I love the different beats to this one. West starts out as a sort of wide-eyed idealist but you grow to dislike him to the point that the ending is very satisfying.

Yeah, I'll keep these in no particular order. Hey, wanna know my top-5 graphic novels? Still no particular order...

Superman: Red Sun

Batman: Long Halloween

Batman: The Killing Joke

Infinity Gauntlet

Marvel Zombies

 

[shrimpcel]

5. The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien

I was not going to include this originally, but I felt that having the "books" of #4 count as separate books would be a bit unfair for the list. So yeah, LOTR, the best and only worthwile fantasy book as far as I'm concerned. I'm surprised to see so many fantasy books in other people's lists. And perhaps a few non-anglophone writers wouldn't hurt you either.

4. The Illiad and The Odyssey - Homer

The founding works of Western litterature, honor, violence and incredible myths are all present.

3. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevski

I do believe this is my favorite novel in Russian litterature, the sheer paranoia of the main character makes this a suspenseful read.

2. Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

Long story, but worthwile because of the powerful messages about human nature and the workings of society that are included in it.

1. Les Trois Mousquetaires - Alexandre Dumas

I read this novel way later than I should have, and I still liked every last bit of it. It's funny, it's adventurous, and it has a lie right in the title: nothing's missing.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

In no particular order:

Terry Pratchett - Night Watch
Perhaps Pratchett's darkest Discworld novel, and easily my favourite. It is poignant and insightful, without sacrificing any of Terry's usual wit.

Douglas Adams - Life, The Universe, And Everything
Although any of the Hitchhiker's novels could count.

Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451
Nuff said, I think.

George R.R. Martin - A Game Of Thrones
Again, this one doesn't need too much explaining.

Isaac Asimov - The Bicentennial Man
Of all Asimov's short stories, this is his strongest. A shame that the movie adaptation managed to be so boring.