Horror.com Forums - Talk about horror.

Horror.com Forums - Talk about horror. (https://www.horror.com/forum/index.php)
-   Books & Fiction Writing (https://www.horror.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=15)
-   -   your all time top 10 books (https://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58613)

leezuki 09-07-2011 11:59 AM

your all time top 10 books
 
out of interest i am curious to know peoples top 10 books.

1.his dark materials
2.hichikers guide to the galaxy
3.the girl next door
4.fluke
5.living dead girl
6.i am legend
7.of mice and men
8.off season
9.salems lot
10.the road

loads more i wanted to put on here, but i do love these books alot, and they are books i can read again. i am looking forward to seeing peoples choices on this thanks.

hammerfan 09-07-2011 12:35 PM

Do they have to be horror?

leezuki 09-07-2011 12:50 PM

any genre of book hammer
starting with your all time fave book.

hammerfan 09-07-2011 12:55 PM

Cool!

1. They Thirst
2. The Hobbit
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. The Harry Potter series (I won't cheat and list all of them separately)
5. The Mists of Avalon
6. The Mrs. Murphy murder mysteries
7. The Cat Who books
8. Mistress of the Art of Death

leezuki 09-07-2011 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammerfan (Post 903351)
Cool!

1. They Thirst
2. The Hobbit
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. The Harry Potter series (I won't cheat and list all of them separately)
5. The Mists of Avalon
6. The Mrs. Murphy murder mysteries
7. The Cat Who books
8. Mistress of the Art of Death



u still got 2 more to add, not heard of they thirst.

ChronoGrl 09-07-2011 01:05 PM

Off the top of my head...

1. The World According to Garp
2. Lolita
3. She's Come Undone
4. The Robber Bride
5. Oryx and Crake
6. The Handmaid's Tale
7. The Hunger Games Trilogy
8. The Harry Potter Series
9. The Martian Chronicles
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


(wow - I just listed three Margaret Atwood books in there - I just simply love her - FYI: If you haven't read Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale, you should - They are post-apocalyptic and fantastic)

I really need to read The Road - Actually, I've never read any of his books, and I've heard that he's such a great writer...

The Villain 09-07-2011 01:08 PM

1. IT
2. The Tommyknockers
3. Ghoul
4. The Traveling Vampire Show
5. Strange Magic
6. Red
7. Harry Potter Series
8. The Left Behind Series
9. Deathwatch
10. The Hunger Games (Not the series, just the first one)

leezuki 09-07-2011 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl (Post 903353)
Off the top of my head...

1. The World According to Garp
2. Lolita
3. She's Come Undone
4. The Robber Bride
5. Oryx and Crake
6. The Handmaid's Tale
7. The Hunger Games Trilogy
8. The Harry Potter Series
9. The Martian Chronicles
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


(wow - I just listed three Margaret Atwood books in there - I just simply love her - FYI: If you haven't read Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale, you should - They are post-apocalyptic and fantastic)

I really need to read The Road - Actually, I've never read any of his books, and I've heard that he's such a great writer...

i love that u named hitchikers guide, i have read that book so many times and still find things that i have missed lol

neverending 09-07-2011 04:25 PM

Too hard. Can't do it.

The Villain 09-07-2011 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903409)
Too hard. Can't do it.

I hear you on that. I'm not sure about a couple i put in there. Some feel more like favorites at the moment instead of all time.

hammerfan 09-07-2011 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leezuki (Post 903352)
u still got 2 more to add, not heard of they thirst.

If you can find it I highly recommend it, it's written by Robert McCammon.

9. The Martian Chronicles (thank you Chrono!!)
10. Salem's Lot (my intro to horror reading)

ChronoGrl 09-08-2011 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leezuki (Post 903355)
i love that u named hitchikers guide, i have read that book so many times and still find things that i have missed lol

It's one of those rare books that I can just read and read again - Absolutely love it.

ChronoGrl 09-08-2011 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903409)
Too hard. Can't do it.

Try it without thinking about it - Top 10 that come to your head in a stream-of-consciousness-spurt. I'm curious as to what you'd say, to be honest. I bet I'd get some good recommendations out of there. :D

hammerfan 09-08-2011 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl (Post 903525)
Try it without thinking about it - Top 10 that come to your head in a stream-of-consciousness-spurt. I'm curious as to what you'd say, to be honest. I bet I'd get some good recommendations out of there. :D

That's what I did, and that's how I forgot The Martian Chronicles until I saw your post!

leezuki 09-08-2011 12:06 PM

i just thought about if i could only take 10 books out my collection what would they be, i wanted to add so many more but they are the books i would read again.

neverending 09-08-2011 02:06 PM

The Biological Time Bomb - Gordon Rattray Taylor
The Roots of Consciousness - Geoffrey Mishlove
The Seth Material - Jane Roberts
All the Little Animals - Walker Hamilton
By the Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow (The Rediscovered Diaries of Opal Whitely) - Benjamin Hoff
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut
Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
The Illuminatus Trilogy - Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea
Any collection that contains most of H.P. Lovecraft's works.

ChronoGrl 09-08-2011 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903557)
The Biological Time Bomb - Gordon Rattray Taylor
The Roots of Consciousness - Geoffrey Mishlove
The Seth Material - Jane Roberts
All the Little Animals - Walker Hamilton
By the Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow (The Rediscovered Diaries of Opal Whitely) - Benjamin Hoff
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut
Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
The Illuminatus Trilogy - Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea
Any collection that contains most of H.P. Lovecraft's works.

I have only heard of two of those - Cool list; I'll have to look the others up - I bet I'll find quite a few to add to my queue.

neverending 09-08-2011 06:44 PM

I seriously recommend By the Singing Creek. I've bought numerous copies of the book to give to people. You can read Opal's diaries online, but I really recommend Benjamin Hoff's edition (he's the guy that wrote The Tao of Pooh & The Te of Piglet) as he writes a lengthy essay explaining who Opal was, a whole biography, etc. He really makes her come to life on the page, so that when you finally read her diaries, you get so much more from them.

Part of the attraction for me is that she was born and raised in a little town in Oregon, which I lived in for a few years. It makes me feel even closer to her.

The Biological time bomb is written by a scientist who took the state of science at the time it was written and projects when new developments in science might become reality, and what effects they might have on society. We're talking about the stuff from science fiction. It's a bit outdated now, but it's still an amazing read. Some things he couldn't predict are the ravages of poor economy and backwards steps taken because of idiot politicians.

Geoffrey Mishlove was the first person to ever be awarded a Doctorate in Parapsycology, and his tome The Roots of Consciousness is his attempt to fuse all kinds of bizarre phenomina and beliefs into one cohesive theory. The book is massive and fascinating.

TheWickerFan 09-09-2011 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903557)
The Biological Time Bomb - Gordon Rattray Taylor
The Roots of Consciousness - Geoffrey Mishlove
The Seth Material - Jane Roberts
All the Little Animals - Walker Hamilton
By the Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow (The Rediscovered Diaries of Opal Whitely) - Benjamin Hoff
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut
Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
The Illuminatus Trilogy - Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea
Any collection that contains most of H.P. Lovecraft's works.

I love this list! I really should convince my daughter to join and discuss books with you.

hammerfan 09-09-2011 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWickerFan (Post 903612)
I love this list! I really should convince my daughter to join and discuss books with you.

I've had a myriad of friends and family that I've tried to get to join. I always get the same response: "But, I'm not into horror." No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to convince them that we talk about way more than just horror films and books.

Good luck getting your daughter to join!

leezuki 09-09-2011 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903557)
The Biological Time Bomb - Gordon Rattray Taylor
The Roots of Consciousness - Geoffrey Mishlove
The Seth Material - Jane Roberts
All the Little Animals - Walker Hamilton
By the Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow (The Rediscovered Diaries of Opal Whitely) - Benjamin Hoff
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut
Another Roadside Attraction - Tom Robbins
The Illuminatus Trilogy - Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea
Any collection that contains most of H.P. Lovecraft's works.

i have not heard of most them books, i love lovecraft i wanted to add that to my list but i will def check out some of the books u meantioned.

Fearonsarms 09-26-2011 01:05 AM

I'm not going to include collections or non fiction/poetry. But off the top of my head.

1.Imajica-Clive Barker
2.The Wasp Factory-Iain Banks
3.At The Mountains Of Madness-HP Lovecraft
4.Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoevsky
5.Jitterbug Perfume-Tom Robbins
6.Weaveworld-Clive Barker
7.Insomnia-Stephen King
8.The Pit and The Pendulum-Edgar Allan Poe
9.The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath
10.The Fog-James Herbert

m_valdemar 09-29-2011 07:35 AM

Also sticking just to novels:

1. House of Leaves
2. Anna Karenina
3. Great Expectations
4. The Armageddon Rag
5. Northern Lights (His Dark Materials #1)
6. Ubik
7. The Princess Bride
8. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea
9. '93
10. I Am Legend

sfear 10-07-2011 05:50 PM

THE STAR KINGS by Edmond Hamilton
THE STAR KING by Jack Vance
TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO by Philip Jose Farmer
THE WINDS OF WAR by Herman Wouk
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
THE WORLD OF WASHINGTON IRVING by Van Wyck Brooks
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Arthur Conan Doyle
THE WORLD BEYOND THE HILL by Alexi and Cory Panshin
THE LOST WORLD BY Arthur Conan Doyle
TIME AND AGAIN by Clifford D. Simak

These aren't in definitive order but if this were a lucky 13 list I would have to add I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury, and SCIENCE FICTION BY GASLIGHT edited by Sam Moskowitz, this last bizarre enough to satisfy if not stun any lover of horror.

leezuki 10-08-2011 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfear (Post 906444)
THE STAR KINGS by Edmond Hamilton
THE STAR KING by Jack Vance
TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO by Philip Jose Farmer
THE WINDS OF WAR by Herman Wouk
WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
THE WORLD OF WASHINGTON IRVING by Van Wyck Brooks
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES by Arthur Conan Doyle
THE WORLD BEYOND THE HILL by Alexi and Cory Panshin
THE LOST WORLD BY Arthur Conan Doyle
TIME AND AGAIN by Clifford D. Simak

These aren't in definitive order but if this were a lucky 13 list I would have to add I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury, and SCIENCE FICTION BY GASLIGHT edited by Sam Moskowitz, this last bizarre enough to satisfy if not stun any lover of horror.

not heard of most them books, ill check them out cheers dude.

sfear 10-08-2011 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903596)
Geoffrey Mishlove was the first person to ever be awarded a Doctorate in Parapsycology, and his tome The Roots of Consciousness is his attempt to fuse all kinds of bizarre phenomina and beliefs into one cohesive theory. The book is massive and fascinating.

I'll keep an eye out for this one when I'm book hunting (which tends to be every weekend). Is parapsycology, at least as used in his theory, synonymous with the supernatural?

sfear 10-08-2011 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leezuki (Post 906557)
not heard of most them books, ill check them out cheers dude.

Hope you enjoy any you might come across. These are literally books I did not want to end.

Geddy 10-08-2011 05:22 PM

1. The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
2. The Wasp Factory, by Iain Banks
3. Crash, by JG Ballard
4. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Naked Lunch, by William S Burroughs
6. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
7. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
8. The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
9. Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

hueyisme 10-08-2011 05:28 PM

Ive probably got a hundred favorite books but heres ten of them.

The Lost World-Conan Doyle
Dracula-Bram Stoker
The Martian Chronicles-Ray Bradbury
Allan Quatermain-H. Rider Haggard
Collected Works of H.P. Lovecraft
Lord of the Rings
Christine-Steven King
Transition of Titus Crow-Brian Lumley
Two Years Before the Mast-Richard Henry Dana
House on the Borderland-William Hope Hodgson
Footsteps of Thunder-James F. David

neverending 10-08-2011 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfear (Post 906562)
I'll keep an eye out for this one when I'm book hunting (which tends to be every weekend). Is parapsycology, at least as used in his theory, synonymous with the supernatural?

I don't think I'd use the term synonymous.

You can find used copies on Amazon. I recently got another copy there.

Elvis_Christ 10-08-2011 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 903557)
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut ruled.

neverending 10-08-2011 11:14 PM

Yes, yes he did.

sfear 10-09-2011 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neverending (Post 906597)
I don't think I'd use the term synonymous.

You can find used copies on Amazon. I recently got another copy there.

Yeah, I checked 'em out, one as low as four cents! I'll check around town first, we've got several pretty good used bookstores.

"Synonymous" might not be a bad term. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines parapsychology as "a field of study concerned with the investigation of evidence for paranormal psychological phenomena" and paranormal as "not scientifically explainable: SUPERNATURAL." Of course, English is nothing if not a boxing ring canopied with various, often opposing, shades of meaning.

Doc Faustus 10-09-2011 01:33 PM

The study of something is not synonymous with the thing. If I read a cookbook, my stomach is not filled with food.

sfear 10-09-2011 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Faustus (Post 906720)
The study of something is not synonymous with the thing. If I read a cookbook, my stomach is not filled with food.

Of course not. If you read a cookbook you are reading about how to cook food. If you study the paranormal you are studying the supernatural. SHADES OF MEANING! Parapsychology can be synonymous with the supernatural by "having the same connotations, implications, or reference (to runners, Boston is synonymous with marathon)." Not the marathon itself.

leezuki 11-22-2011 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfear (Post 906563)
Hope you enjoy any you might come across. These are literally books I did not want to end.

finaly finnished star kings, thanx for mention that i loved it.

wizard of gore 11-23-2011 10:30 PM

so far...

Jack Ketchum - Off Season
Clive Barker - Books of blood (all of them)
H.P Lovecraft - best of
Edgar Allen Poe - Tales Of Terror
Clive Barker - Cold hart canyon
Richard Laymon - Endless Night
Anne Rule - The stranger beside me
Stephin King - The Dome
Clive Barker - Sacrament
Clive Barker - Hellbound hart

it always changes though the more ya read ,and the more ya forget about the books ya read

The Villain 11-24-2011 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizard of gore (Post 910513)
so far...

Jack Ketchum - Off Season
Clive Barker - Books of blood (all of them)
H.P Lovecraft - best of
Edgar Allen Poe - Tales Of Terror
Clive Barker - Cold hart canyon
Richard Laymon - Endless Night
Anne Rule - The stranger beside me
Stephin King - The Dome
Clive Barker - Sacrament
Clive Barker - Hellbound hart

it always changes though the more ya read ,and the more ya forget about the books ya read

Good to know Under The Dome is good. I still havent started it yet and now im gonna have 11/22/63 to read as well.

leezuki 11-24-2011 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Villain (Post 910531)
Good to know Under The Dome is good. I still havent started it yet and now im gonna have 11/22/63 to read as well.

i brought the book after u mentioned it villain, the size of the book is daunting lol but i am going to get stuck into soon.

The Villain 11-24-2011 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leezuki (Post 910543)
i brought the book after u mentioned it villain, the size of the book is daunting lol but i am going to get stuck into soon.

I got it last year for Christmas. Still havent started it yet. That thing is huge. I don't mind big books especially not his long ones but generally i like to carry books around with me places to read them. How the hell am i supposed to carry that with me? Never before have i thought so seriously about getting an ereader lol.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:06 AM.