EWB's Favourite Book: VOTING

[Skummy]

So...it looks like I last tried this in September, and apparently just lost interest or something. Let's have another crack at it, because lists are fun, right?

Standard list rules apply - 10 points for number 1, 9 points for number 2 and so on and so forth. Vote for your top ten.

Books can be fiction, non-fiction, whatever you like.

Whether a "series" or what-have-you can be taken as individual books or a single book will be judged on a case-by-casis basis; for example, I'd accept Lord Of The Rings or Gormenghast as a single book, as they are effectively continuations of the same story, but not Discworld or Harry Potter, as they are different stories taking place in the same universe. Jury's still out on The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but I'll probably accept all of the Douglas Adams books as a single "book", if only because they have been released as such.

I may also rope in some of EWB's more literary-minded types to write some guest entries when it comes to countdown time.

Anyways, here's my list;

1. "Kafka On The Shore" - Haruki Murakami

2. "Naked Lunch" - William S. Burroughs

3. "Dandy In The Underworld" - Sebastian Horsley

4. "Crash" - JG Ballard

5. "Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas" - Hunter S. Thompson

6. "Gormenghast (series)" - Mervyn Peake

7. "The Picture Of Dorian Gray" - Oscar Wilde

8. "Shoplifting From American Apparel" - Tao Lin

9. "The Prize" - Daniel Yergin

10. "At The Mountains Of Madness" - HP Lovecraft

Vote away.

[fr34k]

I'd be willing to write a guest entry if you want me to.

1. "Infinite Jest" - David Foster Wallace

2. "Women" - Charles Bukowski

3. "1984" - George Orwell

4. "The Catcher in the Rye" - J.D. Salinger

5. "Fight Club" - Chuck Palahniuk

6. "A Clockwork Orange" - Anthony Burgess

7. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" - Hunter S. Thompson

8. "Naked Lunch" - William S. Burroughs

9. "Lord of the Flies" - William Golding

10. "American Gods" - Neil Gaiman

My list changed a bit since last time:

1. "Factotum" by Charles Bukowski

2. "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk

3. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

4. "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs

5. "Post Office" by Charles Bukowski

6. "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess

7. "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

7. "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

8. "Junky" by William S. Burroughs

9. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

10. "The Gun Seller" by Hugh Laurie

For fun, this is my Top 5 authors:

1. David Foster Wallace

2. Charles Bukowski

3. Chuck Palahniuk

4. William S. Burroughs

5. Neil Gaiman

[Ace]

1. The Redemption of Athalus by David Eddings

2. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

3. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

4. Have A Nice Day by Mick Foley

5. Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

6. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

7. Mort by Terry Pratchett

8. e by Matt Beaumont

9. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling

10. A Lions Tale by Chris Jericho

[Timmoru Suzuki]

1. 'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson

2. 'On Writing' by Stephen King

3. 'Have a Nice Day: A tale of Blood and Sweatsocks' by Mick Foley

4. 'The Wrestling' by Simon Garfield

5. 'The Stand' by Stephen King

6. 'The Picture of Dorian Grey' by Oscar Wilde

7. 'The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler

8. 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck

9. 'Mort' by Terry Pratchett

10. 'To Be the Man' by Ric Flair

My current Amazon wishlist is so filled of books that I think if you did this in six months (and, you might >_>) this list would be totally different.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World" by Haruki Murakami

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

"Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami

"Pandora's Star" by Peter F.Hamilton

"Dance Dance Dance" by Haruki Murakami

"Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk

"White Noise" by Don DeLillo

"The Trial" by Franz Kafka

"English Passengers" by Matthew Kneale

"1984" by George Orwell

I'm leaving out non-fiction although Mark Cavendish's autobiography and "Roule Britannia - A History of British riders at the Tour de France" would probably have squeezed into the top ten.

[badotori]

1) "A Song of Ice And Fire (series)" - George R. R. Martin

2) "Across The Nightingale Floor" - Lian Hearn

3) "The Mirror Of Her Dreams" - Stephen Donaldson

4) "13 And A Half Lives of Captain Bluebear" - Walter Moers

5) "The Importance Of Being Earnest" - Oscar Wilde

6) "The Farthest Shore" - Ursula K. Le Guin

7) "The Belgariad" (series) - David Eddings

8) "American Gods" - Neil Gaiman

9) "Vathek" - William Beckford

10) "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" - J. K. Rowling

Thanks for reminding me I still have Gormenghast to read, Skummy. Bought all three for £3 at a book sale a few months back but I haven't got round to it yet.

[Skummy]

Thanks for reminding me I still have Gormenghast to read, Skummy. Bought all three for £3 at a book sale a few months back but I haven't got round to it yet.

I only finished it recently, it's fantastic. Pretty heavy-going in places, but one of the better novels I've read in a long time, just a wonderful job of creating an atmosphere.

[Damian WayLNKe]

1. The Stand by Stephen King (Last Year: 1)

2. Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale (LY: 3)

3. The Prestige by Christopher Priest (LY: 2)

4. Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk (LY: 6)

5. The Lost City of Z by David Grann (LY: 7)

6. The Extra Man by Jonathan Ames(LY: 5)

7. Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut (LY: 4)

8. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (LY: 8)

9. The Separation by Christopher Priest (LY: NEW)

10. Moneyball by Michael Lewis (LY: 9)

---------------------

(11). Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (LY: 10)

My list has not changed that much. Did we ever get results from the last voting thread?

[Skummy]

Nope. Apparently I either forgot about it or couldn't be bothered

[caucasianheat]

1. "Heart of Darkness" - Joseph Conrad

2. "Dubliners" - James Joyce

3. "Wiseguy" - Nicholas Pileggi

4. "No Country for Old Men" - Cormac McCarthy

5. "The Third Policeman" - Flann O'Brien

6. "The Sweet Science" - AJ Liebling

7. "Getting Up" - Craig Castleman

8. "The Virgin Suicides" - Jeffrey Eugenides

9. "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" - Michael Chabon

10. "The Hockey Sweater" - Roch Carrier

[Meacon Keaton]

1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (Yeah, I know, this book gets shit from people here but I loved it, so fuck off.)

2. The Shining by Stephen King (Use to creep me out as a kid, but now that I'm older, I can appreciate the story even more.)

3. The Stand by Stephen King (Just something about post-apocalyptic worlds that really entertain me.)

4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Can't really explain this. Just have always loved it. Have read it several times, and sure will read it several times more.)

5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Just such a brilliant concept. I remember grabbing this off the shelf at the library when I was in fourth grade, and it easily went over my head. But I gave it another chance in high school, and have loved it ever since.)

6. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (This was one of the first books I read that made me say outloud "Whoa".)

7. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (…and this was the second one. Before these last two books, I had only really read sports biographies and Goosebumps, so you can imagine how differently I viewed the world after that…)

8. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (Took me FOREVER to sit down and read this. My best friend pitched it to me for months before I borrowed it just to shut him up. Glad I did. Turns out, he knew what he was talking about.)

9. The Holy Bible by God (I'm not religious. I think maybe some of the stories could have happened and maybe have just been exaggerated. But if you go into it with an open mind, and read it just for the entertainment value, it's actually kind of cool.)

10. 1984 by George Orwell (This was like Brave New World. I read it way too soon, mainly due to the fact that I was born in 1985 and that is close to 1984. But when I read it again later on, I couldn't put it down. Just creepy stuff, and quite interesting to see Orwell's vision of the future.)

[Skummy]

....shit, I forgot Catch-22. ...the rest of you had better vote for it now

[Ace]

7) "The Belgariad" (series) - David Eddings

I almost voted this as well in my list, as I'm re-reading it now, but overall I think Athalus just makes a much better representation of how awesome Eddings is. To try and place Belgariad ahead of Mallorean, Elenium or Tamuli wouldn't be fair.

[Skummy]

I swear half of what you just said wasn't even words

[Ace]

Go read/look up Eddings. Then you'll understand.

[badotori]

7) "The Belgariad" (series) - David Eddings

I almost voted this as well in my list, as I'm re-reading it now, but overall I think Athalus just makes a much better representation of how awesome Eddings is. To try and place Belgariad ahead of Mallorean, Elenium or Tamuli wouldn't be fair.

I have read Althalus and, although I think it has a great beginning (the walk to the House At The End Of The World and the first meeting with Dweia are brilliant), the minute the ensemble is gathered, it became formulaic to me. The ending of Althalus - and the way that ending is achieved, with everyone having their own particular counterpart and they have to find them, one by one - had nowhere near the impact the Belgariad had on me. Plus, I just like the characters of the Belgariad more, even if there are a few who are pretty superfluous (looking at you, Lelldorin). The idea of the House is brilliant though.

And, as much as I enjoyed it, there's no getting away from the fact that The Malloreon is basically just the Belgariad in a new cover. The Silk/Hunter relationship is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but their quest is basically the same except you replace the orb with a kid. The chapter depicting the start of a plague from the view of one infected sailor was great though, probably my favourite scene in the books. The Belgariad though just has more memorable moments throughout and a better pair of villians, IMO.

[Walker]

1. "1984," George Orwell

2. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick

3. "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller

4. "The Importance Of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde

5. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams

6. "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess

7. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell

8. "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk

9. "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk

10. "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque

[Redefine Sick]

1. World War Z - Max Brooks.

2. Battle Royale - Koushun Takami.

3. The Stand - Stephen King.

4. 1984 - George Orwell.

5. The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton.

6. The Eyes Of The Dragon - Stephen King.

7. The Shadow Over Innsmouth - H.P. Lovecraft.

8. Brave New World - Alduous Huxley.

9. The Death Of WCW - R.D. Reynolds.

10. Wiseguys - Nicholas Pillegi.

Bloch's "Psycho" is easily number 11.

[Gazz]

1. 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' by Hunter S. Thompson
2. 'IT' by Stephen King
3. 'His Dark Materials' by Philip Pullman
4. 'Neverwhere' by Neil Gaiman
5. 'Battle Royale' by Koushun Takami
6. 'American Psycho' by Brett Easton Ellis
7. 'Lunar Park' by Brett Easton Ellis
8. 'Misery' by Stephen King
9. 'Fear and Loathing: On the campaign trail '72' by Hunter S. Thompson
10. 'Choke' by Chuck Palahniuk

I could of easily just done a top 10 complete of HST.

[Guest mr. potato head]

Limiting myself to one book per series because otherwise Adams and Larsson would dominate.

1) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams

3) The Accidental Time Machine - Joe Haldeman

4) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

5) Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell

6) The Night They Stole The Stanley Cup - Roy MacGregor (What? )

7) The Last Patriot - Brad Thor

8) The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

9) Lord Of The Flies - William Golding

10) Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes