Chixe

They Cage the Animals at Night by Jennings Michael Burch.

I read this book in 7th grade back when the author was traveling to speak about his story. I have an autographed copy of this in a permanent spot on my book shelf.

First off, a suggestion: get books on tapes (or CD). Unabridged, since we all know abridged books are the pits. This way you can go through your list faster.

That said, as for a book suggestion... I ain't got one, at least not one you can use, based on your question. I would suggest the autobiography of Richard Branson ("Losing My Virginity"), since I've read TONS of biographies and self-help books over the past 6 years, and that is by far one of the best. But you're looking for fiction, and that's something I haven't spent nearly enough time on.

get books on tapes

My NUMBER ONE book peeve.

I read not because I want to hear a story. I read because I become one with the book and I use my own emphasis to enhance the story as I read. I also feel that READING is a vital skill in this world as it not only improves your ability to function in society but it also makes you smarter. Listening to a celebrity read you a book just dumbs it down in my opinion.

Try Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. Or Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Or Cat's Cradle also by Vonnegut.

I hope this isn't cheating, but my favorite book is a trilogy called His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. They're written for young adults, but the ideas in it are so complex and layered (it's a futuristic novel dealing with multiple planes of reality, morality, love, sexuality, religion, the concept of death and after-life and atheism), it's great for adults, too and a basis for hours of conversation.

That list of topics I put in parenthesis should in no way make you think it's boring. It's a whimsical, brilliant piece of prose. I was sad to finish it and see the characters go.

RightOn: While I agree with you in a sense -- no one should make books on tapes SUBSTITUTES for actual books for the reasons you state -- if you're trying to read a large volume of books, popping a CD in your car and listening to a book while you drive (instead of some overplayed song of the week or some AM radio pundit) can get you into a good story. This is especially good when you're, say, stuck in traffic for an hour or if you, like me, drive 8+ hours on the weekends (Tampa/Ft. Lauderdale is about a 3.5 hour drive). I don't have XM and trying to catch radio stations on the fly is teh sux0rz, especially when you like talk radio or NPR. (And I do. Both of them.)

My car, to me, is a university on wheels in that I listen to more books (and lessons) in my car than anywhere else, and that's where I binge drink. I kid, I kid! Still, I'm always listening to something of worth in the car, since everywhere else I can usually pick up the actual book. A long with when I'm lifting weights at the gym, my car is also the place where I catch up on all my podcasts.

Finally, as for audiobooks dumbing the books down -- I'll strongly disagree with you on that one. If it's abridged, I see where you're coming from, but listening to, say, Don Quixote on CD, unabridged, will be just as meaningful and entertaining (perhaps even more so) than reading the book. Also, books on tapes allow me to go through bad books and learn what NOT to do when writing without subjecting me to actually having to read that stuff.

Finally, if we get to cheat (thanks for the license, dmm227!) I say Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" series. (It's something like 8 books total.) Otherwise I'll stick with the Branson book.

Siddhartha or Narcissus and Goldmund both by Hermann Hesse. I would put Gatsby up there, but you wanted lesser known gems.

Great suggestions, guys! I've actually already read Slaughterhouse Five and Siddhartha. Cat's Cradle and the His Dark Materials trilogy were already on my list. Now the others, are, too!

And if you like science fiction, you should try the whole Ender's Game series (there are 4 + a spin-off series). They're all fabulous.

This is really hard. The highest rated book in my LibraryThing library is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but that's definitely not the best book I've read. The second highest rated is Watership Down, which, though incredible, is also not my favourite. I'd rate Catch-22 up there too, but still not the best!

You also appear to be asking for lesser-known works, which I can't help with. Most of the books I read are pretty well-known.

One book I've read that I don't think you could call popular literature is Forget You Had a Daughter by Sandra Gregory. I'd rank that pretty highly. It's about a woman that spends time in a Bangkok prison (as a prisoner) for comitting a stupid crime. It's incredibly emotive, but never fails to leave me feeling warm when I finish it. I'd recommend it to anyone, if only to read about what it's like to be in a Bangkok prison.

After reading that, I ended up reading more books about prison life, Bangkok in particular, and discovered some real gems like You Got Nothing Coming.

I need to think about this more if you want a firm favourite though.

The Crow Road by Iain Banks - a lot of people are put off Banks by The Wasp Factory (which, whilst an amazing book is more than a little... odd). They should give him another go, because Crow Road is beautifully written, an amazing story, and just that little bit quirky as all good books should be.

Way too many.

"The Handmaid's Tale" and "A Hundred Years of Solitude" are must reads for me as well as "War and Peace" - which I've read twice and "In Cold Blood" which I've read twice as well.

Also "Love in the Time of Cholera" is worth owning, but I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I'm bad, I do not like Hemingway.

Yes, Harry Potter books.

Ah yes, In Cold Blood. I am actually re-reading that right now. Anyone who hasn't read that must do so at some point. (And then go read everything else Capote ever wrote.)

Good Omen by Neil Gaiman and Terry Goodkind. The funniest book on the apocolypse ever written. And British to boot.

If you want classics (and you know you've already eliminated my favorite book ever for being to popular), you've got Metamorphosis, by Kafka, and Metamorphosis by Ovid.

And of course, whatever I get published in the future. :p

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Actually, all of Huxley's books are amazing but this is my favorite.

Edit: Just remembered. "The Stranger" by Camus is also a must read.

Doors of Perception, if we're talking about Huxley.

Which leads you to Tom Wolfe and the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. And also Bonfire of the Vanities.

Queen of the damned - by Anne Rice ... or the whole "The Vampire Chronicles" series :)

Anything by the great German writer, Sebald, but particularly Austerlitz which is the finest 20th century novel I've read in the last decade.

"A Confederacy Of Dunces" (John Kennedy Toole)
"Wise Blood" (Flannery O'Connor)

"Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger and "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. These two continue to keep my attention every time I read them.

And carmodyarc, awesome taste in books. Two points coming your way!

For once I sat down and really thought about the answer I'm about to post here. I have a very eclectic reading taste which ranges from pulp fiction of the last century to contemporary horror fiction of - for some - the worst kind.

The best book I've ever read - and which I have re-read so many times that my first edition (!) is completely worn out, no matter what it's worth or not - is ....

James Joyce. Ulyssses. (1918-20, serialized, 1922 first complete edition).

Yes, it is not for everyone and it is damn hard to read when you are confronted with it the first time. But this book has grown on me ever since I got my hands on it and I find it endlessly fascinating.

Wikipedia:

"Ulysses chronicles the passage through Dublin by its main character, Leopold Bloom, during an ordinary day, June 16, 1904. The title alludes to the hero of Homer's Odyssey (Latinised into Ulysses), and there are many parallels, both implicit and explicit, between the two works (e.g., the correspondences between Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus). June 16 is now celebrated by Joyce's fans worldwide as Bloomsday.

Ulysses is a massive novel: 250,000 words in total from a vocabulary of 30,000 words, with most editions weighing in at between 644 and 1000 pages, and divided into 18 chapters, or 'episodes' as they are referred to in most scholarly circles. The book has been the subject of much controversy and scrutiny, ranging from early obscenity trials to protracted textual 'Joyce Wars'. Today the novel is regarded as a masterwork in Modernist writing, celebrated for its groundbreaking stream-of-consciousness technique, highly experimental prose—full of puns, parodies, allusions—as well as for its rich characterizations and broad humour."

Why do I find the book so fascinating? It's the language, Joyce's creation of a very new form of language, rhythm, grammar, punctuation, and whatnot to create perhaps the finest example of a stream-of-consciousness novel.

When I first read it decades ago, I was confused when the author threw me into another character's head (and I didn't notice because the change in tone was so subtle), but many readings later I still look out for those switches because they are "engineered" by language alone.

God, what a book.

Do NOT give this a try if you are looking for entertainment, a fast read or similar distractions. This is serious stuff that you have to work for. It needs your full attention, all the time, and it demands patience and stamina. It also demands inquisitiveness, a love for language altogether and the ability to find beauty in words consistently well-chosen and perfectly-placed in particular.

This novel comes as close to a painting on a vast canvas as I've ever read.

Good call Volkher.

I just remembered the Count of Monte Cristo - oft imitated (Alfred Bester, Jinyong, even Stephen Fry (that one is particularly worth reading)) but never bettered. After giving it some thought, I've decided that is my favourite novel. Ever. I'm terrible at explaining and reviewing things, so I'm not going to try and articulate my reasoning, just read it!

The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). It is primarily concerned with themes of justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness, and is told in the style of an adventure story.

Dumas got the idea for The Count of Monte Cristo from a true story, which he found in a memoir written by a man named Jacques Peuchet. Peuchet related the story of a shoemaker named Pierre Picaud, who was living in Paris in 1807. Picaud was engaged to marry a rich woman, but four jealous friends falsely accused him of being a spy for England. He was imprisoned for seven years. During his imprisonment a dying fellow prisoner bequeathed him a treasure hidden in Milan. When Picaud was released in 1814, he took possession of the treasure, returned under another name to Paris and spent ten years plotting his successful revenge against his former friends.

Tell me that doesn't sound fascinating. Go on, I dare you!

And don't just watch the movie because all the adaptations are shit.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

What a great list of books. Seriously, I'm inspired. All I want to do is run out to the bookstore and buy a ton of books. Maybe I'll visit Amazon a little later today...

@Cooper: I love A Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera! War and Peace is already on my list, though I've never had the time and energy to read it. Soon, though. And I'll have to check out those other ones.

@Lisa: Good Omen sounds awesome. Definitely on my list! As for the other two, well, they're already on my list! (I should send it to you so you can just add to it, actually.)

@rbilson: Brave New World is in my Top 5 favorites of all time. :)

@deus62: You've sold me. Onto the list it goes!

@Richard: I salute you. It's been a long time since I've read The Count of Monte Cristo, but I agree: it is absolutely amazing. Not my favorite book of all time, but definitely on a Top 20 list.

@Ozone42: I've been a fan of Rand since we read Anthem in 6th grade. The Fountainhead is on my list, as well as Atlas Shrugged.

Thanks for the great suggestions! As for my own recommendations to my fellow bibliophiles, may I submit: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, Their Eyes Wer Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Paradise Lost by John Milton, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Sophie's Choice by William Styron, The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt, and Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. All great books, all on my list to reread.

The Great Gatsby & A Moveable Feast are two of my favorites among classic literature.

Contemporary books would include: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, LAMB by Christopher Moore and The Long Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie.

Oh, and VALIS by Philip K. Dick is another great, but strange read.

My favourite fictional book of all time would be How to Be Canadian by Will Ferguson. That book is worth a good read if you are Canadian or are heading up here if the Republicans win the next election.

My favourite non-fictional book would be City Dharma by Arthur Jeon.

I would recommend "Neuromancer" by William Gibson. The Father of Cyberpunk and an amazing book.

Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities because it opened my eyes.
1984 & Brave New World because I really like dystopian fiction, though it begins to resemble nonfiction.

Anything by George RR Martin is great, and I am currently reading book 11 of Robert Jordans Wheel of Time series. I hope he gets to finish the last book (he has a terminal illness).

I also love the Harry Potter books, and like a bit of Robert Ludlum now and then.

Oh, and Robin Hobb is really good too!

This seems to be turning into a favorite author thing rather than favorite books, but I find it hard to pick favorites in this sort of thing so tend to group all of an authors works together.

Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver, one of my favorite short story collections along with any Hemingway collection and I also dig The Girl with the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender (I think). TGwtFS was a lot of fun to read and left me some interesting thoughts/memories about the stories.

Totally agree with the recommendation for His Dark Materials trilogy written by Phillp Pullman.

Also, Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

or

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I just finished The Road and also Blood Meridian, both by Cormac McCarthy and both works of genius. In fact many critics talk about McCarthy's Blood Meridian in the same breath as Melville's Moby Dick.

Dave Allen Pampelmoose

I was lucky enough to have amazing English teachers in high school, specifically my junior honors Lit teacher, who, like me, is from New Orleans. He got me into Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor, among other great Southern writers. The best recommendation he ever gave me was A Confederacy of Dunces, which is probably the most hilarious book I've ever read. As it turns out my mother's copy is of the original pressing, and I'm proud to have it.

Fight Club, the original Dune Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, Don Quixote

Oh, and definitely Ender's Game.

Also, for my two cents, I ONLY listen to books... I'm terrible at focusing on words on a page.

American Book of the Dead it will change your perception.

Anything by Heinlein, if you like Sci-FI, that is.

Anything by Ellis, if you can get past his hard edge, there is some amazing prose beneath.

Good Omens, as recommended by Lisa is actually written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett not Terry Goodkind

@joe: Ender's Game is great.
Brave New World was always one of my favorites, but Stranger in a Strange Land is probably my all time fave.
I do have a weakness for Vampire books, so Anne Rice was always a good choice.

Those Who Love, by Irving Stone
The Source, by James Michener
Possession, by A.S. Byatt

War and Peace is an excellent read, I agree.