Books books books! - Top 5?

[saintbacchus]

Katze writes:

<<
I've heard it is very tedious and overly descriptive
at some point. Reminds me of Dune. I loved the story,
but the book has it's own glossary - geez! I like
Sci-fi's version of it as well. They did it right by
doing a 6 hour mini-series. The movie that came out
a long time ago is nothing near the real story.
>>

Well, "The Hobbit" was excellent, but I just couldn't
get into the trilogy. As for Dune, I saw the movie
because David Lynch directed it. My thoughts were kind
of like: "Ooh, Kyle MacLachlan! Ooh, Jack Nance! The
sets are very pretty...what just happened?"


<<
Yikes! Read it in high school...can't remember a
darned thing about it...
>>

Basically, it's about a soldier returning from WWI who
amasses a fortune for the sole purpose of impressing a
rich girl. It's really hard to describe what's so
compelling about that...I don't know myself. But I do
love it. It's quite beautifully written, and if you can
get into the story, more's the better. :)


> Red Dwarf is wonderful! Loved the first one.

A note about the Red Dwarf books: the first two are the
best because they were written by the writers of the TV
series, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. The other two were
separate attempts by Grant and Naylor to write the third
book. Let's just say that it becomes blindingly obvious
that these guys are a pair. -_- The first two books
really are paragons of sci-fi humor, though. Rimmer's
Better Than Life fantasy is even more deranged in the
books - poor guy!


<<
My top 5 would have to be (in no particular order):
1. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (this one *is* #1 for me)
2. Neverending story
3. Forever War
4. Watership Down
5. Janet Evonovich's Stephanie Plum series
>>

Hmmm...I'd like to read "Neverending Story" and
"Watership Down" sometime. I'll have to get over the
Harry Potter obsession first, though. :) I haven't heard
of the other three.

I suppose I should cop to my shamefully juvenile taste.
I find that books are such a large time investment
that I usually only read quickies - humor, comics,
TV/movie/game tie-ins, and like that. Sigh! But I have
been known to read a novel or two, and the books that
I try to force on anyone who will read them are:

(In no particular order)
1. "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle
2. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?" by Gary Wolf
4. Red Dwarf - "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" &
   "Better Than Life" by Grant Naylor
5. "1984" by George Orwell

I also have a rather large soft spot for the "Alice in
Wonderland" books. :)

As for what's on my plate, should I ever actually
locate any of them:
1. "Titus Groan" by Mervyn Laurence Peake
2. "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
3. "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket


--Anna