Author Topic: You HAVE to read this book. (Read 8710 times)

idreamofskiba · « **on:** January 28, 2009, 01:29:52 PM »

If you could suggest only one book to someone as a must-read, what would it be? (I don't mean anxiety related, I mean all time favorite book.)

Pan · « **Reply #1 on:** January 28, 2009, 02:08:55 PM »

My favourite ever book is The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

The prose and language is beautiful and there are so many truths of human existence running through the narrative. If anyone has not read it I implore them to do so as you can view life in a totally different context after a bit of messing about on the water!

This is my favourite passage and one that I can literally quote as I have read it so many times...lol.

"Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fullness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

retrogurl88 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 01, 2009, 07:29:58 PM »

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, kinda sad but truly inspirational.

It stresses the importance of "seizing the moment," and following your childhood dreams.

sarah78 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2009, 11:53:25 PM »

East Of Eden-John Steinbeck

This piece of literature, is the ONE book I recommend everyone read at one point in their lifetime..It truly is marvelous!

(It is a raw and in depth look into the human race, good and evil, moral code etc.. the story is thought provoking and beautiful.

Here are two quotes

A child may ask, "What is the world's story about?' And a grown man or woman may wonder, "What way will the world go? How does it end and, while we're at it, what's the story about?" I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught--- in their lives, in their thoughts in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too--in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and Vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite any changes we may impose on field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well---or ill"

" In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world."

It certainly left me peering in and opened me back up to my spirituality...

If you choose to read it... ENJOY!

star-mile · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2009, 11:25:10 AM »

how can anyone pick just one?! lol. i would have to say there's two of them--

-the guardian by nicholas sparks; it's a beautiful book from cover to cover, and its so heartfelt i cried tears of happiness throughout the book.
-breaking her fall by stephen goodwin; it's such a touching book, about how far a father will truly go to save his daughter from the harsh realities of the world when she's so young.

i love books, but i can definitely narrow it down to those two!

Noahs Mom · « **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2009, 02:06:55 PM »

"Who Moved My Cheese" by Dr Spencer Johnson. It's a book you can read while taking a long bath, but I think it does a lot for personal growth and self-whining.
Other than that -- I have too many favorites ranging from "Persecution" by David Limbaugh to "Twilight"! lol!

NightOwl · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2009, 04:29:26 PM »

I don't know. My favorite story/play was always Oedipus Rex. I like most Shakespeare (plays, hate poetry) and Edgar Allan Poe.

A lot of books I read as a kid or read currently but are more known for kids are the ones that are funnest to read really though. For anyone who has read or watched the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe and liked it... I think you would really like The Magician's Nephew. I'm reading all of the Narnia books at the moment. I read that one years ago, but I have read a few others recently. I still have 2 and 1/2 books to go, I think. lol

star-mile · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2009, 11:36:26 AM »

I loved Shakespearean plays. My favorite was probably Macbeth, but of course I also loved Romeo and Juliet :)
I enjoyed reading Agatha Christie too, especially Then There Were None.

Can't really exclude the Twilight series either

I love those books!!

Del · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2009, 10:49:21 AM »

I love The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck). A favorite from college is "Two Old Women" by Velma Wallis - a great motivational story that can be read in a few hours.

NightOwl · « **Reply #9 on:** February 28, 2009, 04:42:36 AM »

Quote from: star-mile on February 23, 2009, 11:36:26 AM

I loved Shakespearean plays. My favorite was probably Macbeth, but of course I also loved Romeo and Juliet :)
I enjoyed reading Agatha Christie too, especially Then There Were None.

Can't really exclude the Twilight series either I love those books!!

My favorite was Julius Ceasar, but I liked those two plays also. I took several college literature courses so between high school and college I read Hamlet, Julius Ceasar, Romeo And Juliet, Henry IV Part II (I think part II anyway), and seems like one other, but I can't remember. I know I didn't read Othello.

jenaniah · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2009, 01:18:36 PM »

To Kill A Mockingbird

laa43 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 28, 2009, 01:27:09 PM »

The Stand by Steven King

retrogurl88 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2009, 05:29:01 PM »

The Summer of Love by Lisa Mason!

You can read a brief description about it here:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/lisa-mason/summer-of-love.htm

CoolCalmAndCollected · « **Reply #13 on:** March 29, 2009, 11:03:09 PM »

Whoa, wait, hold up! You guys are a bunch of super-intellectuals!

Are we finding a common thread here? Are the worriers the "brainy" people, too?

? ? ? ? ?

electric*eyes · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2009, 02:30:20 AM »

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

rubberband · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2009, 11:38:33 AM »

I've been reading books by Jodi Picoult lately. I read one of them in one day because I couldn't put it down.

star-mile · « **Reply #16 on:** April 04, 2009, 07:56:58 PM »

Stalked by Brian Freeman :) currently reading that and it's amazing! I'm thinking of looking into other Brian Freeman books as well.

Alsooo My Sister's Keeper, it was a very emotional book for me to read because my grandfather was diagnosed with it and died from it not too long ago.

It's very deep and touching, though.

Pan · « **Reply #17 on:** April 11, 2009, 06:20:08 PM »

Quote from: iamlivingwithanxiety on April 11, 2009, 04:33:47 PM

I'm reading The Power of Now by Eckard Tolle. Great stuff in it for people with anxiety. I blogged on it today. http://iamlivingwithanxiety.blogspot.com/

Make sure you get the follow up entitled A New Earth. I quite liked The Power of Now but A New Earth just blew me away. Tolle talks about a concept called the pain body which is a real eye opener.

Sally Bowles · « **Reply #18 on:** April 11, 2009, 11:11:26 PM »

I highly, highly recommend Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Positively defies all description!

groovy · « **Reply #19 on:** April 16, 2009, 11:19:23 AM »

The Alchemist and Veronika Decides to Dieby Paulo Coelho

Both all time favorites. I love Coelho.

zulumabala · « **Reply #20 on:** April 27, 2009, 12:48:03 AM »

'How to be free' by Tom Hodgkinson. not a novel but great, because it teaches you not to give a 0103!

Pan · « **Reply #21 on:** April 27, 2009, 06:28:26 AM »

Quote from: zulumabala on April 27, 2009, 12:48:03 AM

'How to be free' by Tom Hodgkinson. not a novel but great, because it teaches you not to give a ****!

The Idler rocks...lol

el-k · « **Reply #22 on:** May 03, 2009, 10:27:17 PM »

No question but "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
I've read many books but this fantasy adventure about an Indian boy lost at sea with a tiger is a phenomenal read - it's tragic, funny and heart-warming. I believe it won the Man Booker Proze for fiction in the UK in 2002.

Pan · « **Reply #23 on:** May 04, 2009, 07:49:18 AM »

Quote from: el-k on May 03, 2009, 10:27:17 PM

No question but "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
I've read many books but this fantasy adventure about an Indian boy lost at sea with a tiger is a phenomenal read - it's tragic, funny and heart-warming. I believe it won the Man Booker Proze for fiction in the UK in 2002.

Along with XBox 360 games I just buy books all the while and they sit on my shelf unread for years. I promise myself that I will stop doing it but just can't stop myself

Anyways, The Life of Pi is one of the books I currently have gathering dust so I may well force myself to get started on it....has been recommended by lots of people.

el-k · « **Reply #24 on:** May 04, 2009, 03:18:08 PM »

Quote from: pan on May 04, 2009, 07:49:18 AM

Quote from: el-k on May 03, 2009, 10:27:17 PM
No question but "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
I've read many books but this fantasy adventure about an Indian boy lost at sea with a tiger is a phenomenal read - it's tragic, funny and heart-warming. I believe it won the Man Booker Proze for fiction in the UK in 2002.

Along with XBox 360 games I just buy books all the while and they sit on my shelf unread for years. I promise myself that I will stop doing it but just can't stop myself

Anyways, The Life of Pi is one of the books I currently have gathering dust so I may well force myself to get started on it....has been recommended by lots of people.

Don't have the XBox game habit, but my wife and I definitely a book seller's best friends! Try Pi and I hope you enjoy it!

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Author Topic: You HAVE to read this book. (Read 8710 times)

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