From the top of my head. 1. Lord of the Ring - Stunning 2. Grapes of Wrath - wow 3. The Hobbit 4. Pride and Prejudice (something to remember HighSchool English reading assignment) 5. Game of Thrones (first book of The Song of Ice and Fire Series) -great story telling and drama
I'll bite. 5 most "enjoyable" books, regardless of their literary merit, in no particular order: Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy Shogun, James Clavells Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson On there should probably be "Angles & Demons" which- purely on page-turner ability- is a good book.
Does "enjoyable" mean genre fiction? If so, Sacred Clowns - Tony Hillerman Neon Rain - James Lee Burke Body of Truth - David Lindsey Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry A Thin Red Line - James Jones
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - J. LeCarre The Hot Zone - Richard Preston Dune - Frank Herbert All The President's Men - Woodward & Bernstein and I'll second Helter Skelter - Bugliosi
Good thread. Let's see: To me, it's hard to measure enjoyment since it comes in so many varieties. So for my top five I'll have to list entire authors at times: 1) Richard Brautigan's Dreaming of Babylon had me literally on the floor laughing and kicked my ass out of a minor depression. That was almost 20 years ago, and I just now got the pun on the main character's name (C. Card) 2) David James Duncan's The River Why. While I managed to stay off the floor with this one, it did pick me up quite a bit in other ways, and it humorous in places. 3) Carol Jackowski's Ten Fun Things to Do Before You Die. One funny nun 4) Robert Parker's Spenser novels. A refreshing brain-stretch. All but two of them are quite good. 5) The Velvateen Rabbit is my favorite to read to neices and nephews, though I kinda wish I'd given it a run-through the first time I read it, as it was a bit embarrassing to have my neice saying "it's okay Uncle Dave. He's going to become real" when I started getting weepy a bit. (Nothing a good bar-fight later that night couldn't cure, though!)
Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown The Dark Half - Stephen King Wuthering Heights - Charlotte Bronte (it's a girl thing) The Republic - Plato
I'd have to break this up by genre, so I'll start with action/suspense. Rainbow Six: Tom Clancy Angels & Demons: Dan Brown Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown Point of Impact: Steven Hunter (can't think of a 5th right now)
Five that come to mind right away: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy (brilliant but also damn readable) Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (hated Gravity's Rainbow, though) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John LeCarre This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Dune-Herbert Catch 22-Heller Bombardieers-Bronson Gravity's Rainbow-Pynchon A Confederacy of Dunces-Toole
1) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (on acid) 2) Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas 3) Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (sober) 4) Red Badge of Courage 5) Of Mice and Men The other book I've read: Pagan Babies
I've met this guy and got to know him somewhat. He lives in San Francisco and is a huge soccer fan. Very nice guy. Never read his book, though.
In no particular order: Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card About a Boy - Nick Hornby The Essential Ellison - Harlan Ellison
Wow that's great! Maybe I'll run into him at a soccer game. I read another book of his (The first million..., it was okay). Bronson has a great sense of humor and Bombardieers is a very entertaining book (highly recommended).