What's the best book you have ever read? Why?

The Count of Monte Cristo is a great adventure read. I'm glad it wasn't tainted for me by being assigned as school work. This is one classic I read on my own accord in high school.

My favorite book is George Orwell's bleakest of nightmares, 1984.

my two favourite books Lewis Carroll's - Alice in Wonderland/Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass & Jonathan Carroll's Land of Laughs

Alice in Wonderland is such an incredible book. I am also glad, I read it on my own cognizance rather then begrudgingly read for homework in high school.

i didn't read until i was out of high school, it's interesting that my other fave is by another carroll and the subject matter is similar

In a used book store, Thomas Abbey, an avid fan of Marshall France, a deceased writer of unique children's books, has a chance encounter with Saxony Gardner, another enthusiast of that reclusive man. Together, they set out to the town of Galen, to meet Anna France, the writer's daughter, in order to obtain her permission to write Marchall France's biography. Prepared for rejection, they are warmly welcomed and settle into the community and their literary endeavor.
However, they find an uncanny resemblance between the town of Galen and its inhabitants, and the literary world of their idol. Figures from Marshall France's books are alive in Galen, and Thomas and Saxony begin to question if the books were patterned onto Galen, or if the writer's magic created Galen. Equally disturbing is Thomas' role as biographer, who appears to create reality by his writing, and begins to question the motives of Anna and the inhabitants of Galen. Events reach a crisis point when Thomas' biography reaches the time of Marchall France's arrival in Galen.

I forgot to mention actually, my favorite books as a child was The Count of Monte Cristo, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Oscar Wilde's short stories. I was a tomboy...

When very young, my favorite books were Walter Farley's Black Stallion series and Island Stallion series. Later, it became Oliver Twist. Then several books by Phillip Wylie. Now, it is still Wylie, still Dickens, but added in are Miller's Tropics books; Joyce's Ulysses; Faust, Part One; Dr Faustus; and Kerouac's Desolation Angels. There are others. I don't consider that any one book can be "the greatest."

I forgot to mention why, but I mentioned too many books to undertake such a task, particularly so late in the night.

Nice to see someone else give a nod to Phillip Wylie, whose Generation of Vipers written at the start of WWII is unequaled for its disection of pre-war America and human motivations.

One book? I have read Robert Fitzgerald's translation of the Illiad more than any other book, reading it every few years for the sheer enjoyment of the words and images they conjure. But the best to have resonated deeply inside of me has been Living Buddha, Living Christ, by Thich Nhat Hanh.

I would be hard pressed to say ONE book is my favorite. I belonged to a book group for more than 14 years and we all agreed that there are different books for different times of life.

I was a 'skilled' reader early on, but my hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, kept students out of the "adult room" until they were in high school. Now, adult does not mean porn or even slightly racy material but novels. The sort of thing anyone can and could buy in any book store almost anywhere. I spent seventh and eighth grade completely bored.

When I was finally allowed in the adult room, the first 3 books I checked out were Main Street by Sinclair Lewis; Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, and The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Of course, I read Ben-Hur because I had seen the overblown Charlton Heston movie just three years before. Why I chose Lewis and Galsworthy, I am not certain. I must have heard about them. At 14, I thought the Forsytes were a waste of time. To my mind, nothing happened. On the other hand, I love Main Street and thought it was a great book.

Ironically, the same year that PBS did its great adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, my book group read Main Street. I hated Main Street as 50+ year old woman. I just could not read it . . . I thought Lewis's writing style was boring beyond belief. However, I adored Galsworthy. Rereading the book after more than 40 years revealed things I had missed as a young sprout.

Now, there are books that I love because I read them aloud to my now adult children: The Tolkien Trilogy; the Narnia books; A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle and the other books that related to it; all of Bill Pete and Dr. Seuss . . .

I wonder why this topic stop so soon? College summer holiday is coming at end of April, plan to lost some weight, read some books, great stories and learn a substantial amount of new English vocabularies.