Your Top 5 List is...

[lavendersilk]

There's numerous mentions of American Psycho and To Kill a Mockingbird which are both on my shelves waiting to be read, so I should probably read them next.

Do it.

There's also a couple of Pride and Prejudice mentions - as non British readers, do you see it as the comedy she intended it to be or as a lovely romantic tale?

A sardonic look at a classist society with a twist at the end. I won't spoil it for you... wait, have you read it?

 

[SherlockianMan]

Top 5 Books

Ken Follett - Pillars of the Earth. I’m going to include the remaining World Without End and Column of Fire as a three for one here.

Jimmy Buffett - Where is Joe Merchant.

Erik Larson - Devil in the White City

Joseph Boyden - The Orenda

Sinclair Lewis - It Can’t Happen Here.

Devil in the White City would have been in my Top 10, for sure.

 

[JimDee676]

I can't really stop at five ... but here are some that come to mind very quickly. But there are so many others:

To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Home Before Morning, Lynda Van Devanter
Leaders, by Richard Nixon
Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell, by Jason Riley
Dispatches, Michael Herr
The Pearl: A Journal of Facetive & Voluptuous Reading
Once An Eagle, Anton Myrer

 

[SherlockianMan]

I mixed fiction and nonfiction.

I have many more than five favorites, so I just picked the ones I return to most often. I didn't overthink.

Fair. I should have gone more specific. Down yhe line, maybe we can retouch on this subject with genres.

 

[SalaciousMonkey22]

Hmmmm, books

1) Fellowship of the Rings - Tolkein
2) Slaughterhouse Five - Vonnegut
3) Se questo è un uomo (If this is a man) - Primo Levi
4) Team of Rivals - Goodwin
5) Catch 22 - Heller

That list is subject to change at any moment

Oh Shit! How did I forget Slaughterhouse V!

Oh yeah, wine. Nvm.

But for fucking sure.

 

[UnquietDreams]

Today....
Maybe...

Rendezvous With Rama - Arthur C. Clarke.
The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin.
Perfume: Story of A Murderer - Patrick Suskind
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
The Book Of Ultimate Truths - Robert Rankin

I have tried to finish Infinite Jest four times and have not yes succeeded.

 

[UnquietDreams]

It takes a person with far bigger cajones then me to just say here is my definitive top 5 and it's not going to change tomorrow.

I'm too fickle.

My number one, War for the Oaks, is consistent. Not the greatest book I have ever read, but my favorite. The others can rotate in and out, with at least one Zelazny book in the five.

 

[UnquietDreams]

Fair. I should have gone more specific. Down yhe line, maybe we can retouch on this subject with genres.

You first, and quite successful, venture. I think you will have opportunity to revisit with refinements.

I stuck with fiction to make it easier on myself. And I slipped a sixth one in anyway.

 

[Photog1rl]

It takes a person with far bigger cajones then me to just say here is my definitive top 5 and it's not going to change tomorrow.

I'm too fickle.

I did not choose the top five definitive books. I chose five that shaped me as a reader, developed passions and that I am grateful to have read and re-read and re-read. The list of top five and top five most influential will change but for the sake of the list on Lit these worked.

A sardonic look at a classist society with a twist at the end. I won't spoil it for you... wait, have you read it?

 

[crazychemgirl]

Top 5 Books? … oh … thank a toughie.

1. Phantom by Susan Kay
2. The Eye of the Dragon by Stephen King
3. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
4. Fear Street by R.L. Stein
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin

 

[Wriggle]

I have tried to finish Infinite Jest four times and have not yes succeeded.

It took me 8 months and it is one book I want to re-read.
Only 6% of people who start it finish.

 

[UnquietDreams]

It took me 8 months and it is one book I want to re-read.
Only 6% of people who start it finish.

I have Ulysses in my top 5. I have read both The Sound and the Fury and Absolom Absolom!. But that one just keeps kicking my ass.

 

[Wriggle]

I have Ulysses in my top 5. I have read both The Sound and the Fury and Absolom Absolom!. But that one just keeps kicking my ass.

I may tackle Ulysses one day.

The problem with Infinite Jest is the number footnotes and vocabulary of 20000+ unique words that I knew probably 2000 of and single sentences that go on for multiple pages.

 

[UnquietDreams]

I may tackle Ulysses one day.

The problem with Infinite Jest is the number footnotes and vocabulary of 20000+ unique words that I knew probably 2000 of and single sentences that go on for multiple pages.

I found the key to Ulysses is read the chapter from The Odyssey, then the corresponding chapter from Joyce. Makes it more accessible. Not exactly accessible, but a bit more so.

 

[LadyLascivious1]

I’m going with one of my favorite definitions of the Top 5: books that were absolutely fun and delighted me so much that I have read them multiple times.

1. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
2. Truly Devious - Maureen Johnson
3. Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
4. Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
5. Let’s a Pretend This Never Happened - Jenny Lawson

 

[barefootgirl69]

Top 5 Books.

Just 5? Do you know how many books I've read in my lifetime? Me, neither!

So, at the time of this post, I will put the ones I go back to and read again, and again.

1. Chesapeake by James Michener. I was 12 when I found this in my school library, after reading all of the Little House series.

2. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. This copy was given to me by a former librarian when I was 14.

3. The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers. I love this book!

4. Envy by Sandra Brown. Another favorite that I recommend.

5. The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon. I read this on my phone a several years ago when a Litster suggested it to me. A year or so ago, I bought a used copy of it. I'd love to get the second book, but it's out of my price range!

 

[Mav Unlimited]

Top 5 Books.

Just 5? Do you know how many books I've read in my lifetime? Me, neither!

So, at the time of this post, I will put the ones I go back to and read again, and again.

1. Chesapeake by James Michener. I was 12 when I found this in my school library, after reading all of the Little House series.

2. Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. This copy was given to me by a former librarian when I was 14.

3. The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers. I love this book!

4. Envy by Sandra Brown. Another favorite that I recommend.

5. The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon. I read this on my phone a several years ago when a Litster suggested it to me. A year or so ago, I bought a used copy of it. I'd love to get the second book, but it's out of my price range!

You read 5 books every week. You should have a monthly or yearly list.

 

[barefootgirl69]

I'm on my 5th one this week. Are you stalking me? *looks for hidden cameras*

 

[XShadynzX]

1:Sarum -Edward Rutherfurd
2Pillars of the Earth-Ken Follett
3:The Martian --Andy Weir
4: Any book by Andy McDermott ( I them -and have read them all)
5: Any book by Judy Nunn

 

[Mav Unlimited]

I'm on my 5th one this week. Are you stalking me? *looks for hidden cameras*

I'm lucky if I can get 5 pages done in a week sometimes.

Stalking? Who? Me? Um...Yes.

 

[RosewoodTulip]

Oh ok let's think.
I used to be a voracious reader but my brain can't deal with concentrating as much these days so there won't be anything recent on my list.

1 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
2 Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
3 IT - Stephen King
4 Tess Of The d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
5 The BFG - Roald Dahl

 

[ReallyRandyReader]

Top 5 fiction books

American Tabloid by James Ellroy
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre

 

[MindYaBitness]

5 top books is so hard because there are so many I love. Ok. Not necessarily in order of amount of love:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Giver by Louis Lowry

Oh ok let's think.
I used to be a voracious reader but my brain can't deal with concentrating as much these days so there won't be anything recent on my list.

1 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
2 Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
3 IT - Stephen King
4 Tess Of The d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
5 The BFG - Roald Dahl

Ok, you both put Jane Eyre on your list. For the love, please explain why you love this book. I think it's the only book I prefer in film form. The book is so tedious!

 

[Amanda330]

Ok, you both put Jane Eyre on your list. For the love, please explain why you love this book. I think it's the only book I prefer in film form. The book is so tedious!

I think mine is nostalgic, mostly. The book can definitely be tedious... But I do love that there's more detail about her life. It also awoke my feminist mind for the first time. I was young when I read it so developmentally I think it affected me more. I also fell in love with the story while I read it aloud to my younger sisters and now it's something we all share. I love the movie too though.

 

[RosewoodTulip]

Ok, you both put Jane Eyre on your list. For the love, please explain why you love this book. I think it's the only book I prefer in film form. The book is so tedious!

Well I just relate a lot to Jane. She's seen as ordinary and unassuming. Grew up feeling alone and is just trying to make the best of things. Rochester is a dick but he sees her for more than her simple and quiet appearance. And, by the end of the book, she is empowered and he is humbled and they make a good match on her terms.