Welcome to BigSoccer, and more importantly, welcome to the books forum. Since you're new here, I'll play along, though if you start a thread like this, you could provide a better lead in if you listed your faves... So, in no particular order, my non-fiction First Re-Read Shelf contains: Watership Down -- Frank Adams. This is a storyteller's book, and in Hazel, we have the best leader in fiction. The Lord of the Rings -- JRR Tolkein. I think I can safely say there will never be a better fantasy epic. Dune -- Frank Herbert. The greatest world ever created. Macbeth -- William Shakespeare. OK, OK, it's the Bard's most accessible play, but still... To Kill a Mockingbird -- Harper Lee. Even more impressive after reading the first draft that is Go Set a Watchman. A Christmas Carol -- Charles Dickens. It's not Christmas for me until Scrooge buys the prize turkey at the Poulterer's. 101 Dalmations -- Dodie Smith. It's the book that I've read the most. It -- Stephen King. I love novels that tell multiple stories at the same time, and King has mastered it here. The Invention of Hugo Cabret -- Brian Selznick. The man has invented a new form of prose. Suds in Your Eye -- Mary Lasswell. Maybe the best bad book ever written. The Forgotten Door -- Alexander Key. He's more famous for Escape to Witch Mountain, but this is better. One Thousand and One Nights -- I've read a couple retellings, my favorite is by Hannan Al-Shaykh. Les Miserables -- Victor Hugo. OK, just kidding. One of my favorites, but it's not a easy re-read. The Moonstone -- Wilkie Collins. The first great mystery. Green Eggs and Ham -- Dr Seuss. Juvenile literature was never the same. Their Eyes were Watching God -- Zora Neale Hurston. More great lines/passages than Les Miserables in 1/5 the text.
Three there are. Moby Dick, or The Whale – Herman Melville. “Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?" Nostromo, A Tale of the Seaboard – Joseph Conrad. “There is no getting away from a treasure that once fastens upon your mind." Absalom, Absalom! – William Faulkner. “Maybe nothing ever happens once and is finished”
It is with some whimsy that I remark that Val lists certain books as non-fiction. Watership Down is clearly non-fiction, but Les Miserables is fiction. The movie that stars Gerard Depardieu as Jean Valjean is non-fiction, though.
His others in the series are also very good. If you like science fiction, look at the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Delightfully snarky and fun. https://www.marthawells.com/murderbot.htm
Wow thanks a lot, looks good! I'm reading the gap cycles right now, into the second half of first book, once over I'll go through your recommendation!
The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of The Brothers Karamazov is still my favorite read. Fabnestock and MacAfee did a great job with the unabridged Les Miserables. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is the best written history I've ever read. Quiet by Susan Cain has helped me channel my introversion into a burgeoning academic career. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is the epitome of YA fiction and SciFi melded together. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens made me weep for the last 30 pages or so. A Prayer for Owen Meany is my favorite of John Irving's works, and one I go back to often. Planet Walker by John Francis is a fascinating memoir. Educated by Tara Westover is probably the best fairly new book I've read. If not that, then Nomandland by Jessica Bruder was.
This is so true, he's not my cup of tea but A Tale of Two Cities was just so emotional. This books is quoted in the House of Cards fith season last episode, - very moving.
My favorite childhood movie was the animated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from 1979. I don't know if I read the book because I knew the plot, but I read other books including The Horse and His Boy after that. A woman who is popular on YouTube picked up a book, read too quickly, and said it was The Silver Chain. The title is The Silver Chair. You wouldn't have to do much to change a handwritten "n" to an "r." One time before a vacation, elementary school showed some of the movie. They never finished showing it, but I didn't mind because I had seen it a bunch of times. I would watch that now over anything Disney. I don't let scary things, and I never tried Harry Potter.
I can't say it's a favorite book, but the book I've been most impressed with lately is "Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Celine.
Jimmy Buffett of all people was a good writer, imho. I just have Tales from Margaritaville from my teenhood, but I've though of buying either a novel or a biography by him, but I need to look at his bibliography.