For the Literati among us...

[CJFusco]

What are your ten favorite novels (fiction or nonfiction)?

Mine, in no particular order:

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
1984 by George Orwell
LILA by Robert Persig
A MAN IN FULL by Tom Wolfe
THE HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (all six books) by Douglas Adams
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey
CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter S. Thompson
THE STAND by Steven King
THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien

Honorable Mentions: THE ILLUMINATUS! TRILOGY by Shea and Wilson, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTANENCE by Robert Pirsig, ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell, HIGH FIDELITY by Nick Hornby, THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Robert Harris, CAT'S CRADLE by Kurt Vonnegut, BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS by Kurt Vonnegut, COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier, GOODBYE, COLUMBUS by Philip Roth

Sorry. I have so many favorite books, it's hard to choose

I am reading Tom Wolfe's BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES right now, and It looks like it may join that list once I am finished.

[Z-man]

Favorite novels on mine:

The Dragon King Trilogy (Steven Lawhead)
The Song of Albion Trilogy (Lawhead)
The Singer, the Song, and the Finale Trilogy (Calvin Miller)
This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness (Frank Peretti)
The Oath (Peretti)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Left Behind Series (Jenkins and Lahale)
(Note: most of the above are Christian novels)

Favorite other books:
Speed Secrets: Professional Race Driving Techniques (Ross Bentley)
Secrets of Solo Racing (Henry Watts)
Porsche Buyers Guide (Dean Batchelor)
Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook (Vic Elford)
Bob Bondurant on High Performance Driving (Bob Bondurant, Jake Blakemore)

Favorite book of all time:
The Bible. (Sorry if that sounds cheezy!)

-Zoltan.

[tabs52]

1. The Warren Commission Report
2. The 3 Musketeers... all 4 novels Dumas
3. Big Sleep, Lady in the Lake, Farewell my Lovely, The Long Goodbye, The High Window and the Little Sister.....Raymond Chandler
4. Flashman.... and the whole series of novels George MacDonald Fraser
5. The Fools in Town are on Our Side......and really any novel by Ross Thomas
6. Tom Sawyer... Mark Twain
7. Red Harvest....Dashell Hammett
8. Seven Days in May.... Knebel & Bailey
9. Robinson Cruso... Defoe
10. Godfather....Mario Puzo

Others are Bonfires of the Vanities, Footfall...Pournell and Nivens, Casino... Phelgi, Odessa File/ Day of the Jackal Fredrick Foresyt, Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk......It just hard to remember everything I've read..... and can say I liked.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

in no particular order


Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Siddartha - Herman Hesse
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Delta Of Venus - Anais Nin
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
The Teachings Of Don Juan - Carlos Castaneda
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
1984 - George Orwell
Lucifer's Hammer - Pournell and Nivens
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs
Great Expectations - Dickens


I tend to read a lot of books....

[tabs52]

Teachings of Don Juan by Castenada ain't fiction.

Also I have to add my favorite fiction allthough it is based on DEAD on historical fact and that is............. I Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves.


Non Fiction Favorites


First and the Last- Adolf Galland
Panzer Leader- Heinz Guderain
Lost Victories- Eric von Manstein
Inside the Third Reich- Albert Speer
Luftwaffe War Diaries - Cajus Becker
Foxes of the Desert - Paul Carrell
Invasion They are Coming- Ditto
Hitler Moves East- Ditto
Scorched Earth - Ditto
Adolf Hitler - John Toland
Last 100 Days - Ditto
1918 - Ditto
Rising Sun - Ditto
Strong Men Armed - Robert Leckie
US Navy In WW2- SE Smith
US Marine Corp in WW2 - Ditto
Horrido - Trevor & Constable
Samuari - Saki
Japanese Destroyer Capt.- Hara
Enemy at the Gates - Craig
Guadacanal Diary - Tregesas sp
Barbarossa - Alan Clark
Day Of Infamy - Walter Lord
Night to Remember - Ditto
Midway - Ditto
Last Battle - Ryan
They Fought for the Sky- Reynolds
Gettysburg Campaign - Coddington (Definative book)
Campaigns of Napoleon- Chandler Ditto
Best and the Brightest - Halbersham
The Fifties - Ditto
The Reckoning - Ditto
Leyte Gulf - Hoyt
Landscape Turned Red - Sears Ditto
The 12 Caesars - Suetonius Ditto
Revolt in the Desert - Lawerence
Conspiracy- Summers
Salvo - ?
Reno Court Of Inquiry - Nichols ed
Arch. Perspectives Battle Little Big Horn - Scott & Fox Ditto
Lakota Noon - Michno Ditto
The Great Game - Hopkirk Ditto
Guns of August - Tuchman
Black Thursday - Caiedin sp
Discovery & Conguest of Mexico - Castillio
Gunfighters - Rosa


These are the memorable ones, I excluded things that dragged on like.....The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Shier and the self agrandizing... Caesars War Commentaries by Julius Caesar.

I also included only the best book I've found on the subject to date.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by tabs52
Teachings of Don Juan by Castenada ain't fiction.

You're right, NOT fiction.

However, I thought this list was for fiction and non-fiction?


God knows I need to go on another journey soon.....

[tabs52]

Whether U realize it or not U are on one..........

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by tabs52
Whether U realize it or not U are on one..........

True. very true.

However, travelling can do wonders for self-enlightenment...

I really need to grab my backpack and start wandering soon.

[CJFusco]

The word "novel" doesn't necessarily mean a work of fiction. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE isn't ficiton, and neither is FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS or PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN or THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST, but they are undeniably novels.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by CJFusco
The word "novel" doesn't necessarily mean a work of fiction. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE isn't ficiton, and neither is FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS or PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN or THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST, but they are undeniably novels.

It's actually pretty scary to think that Fear and Loathing is a true story....

[tabs52]

Yes thats true........but within the frame work of historical events certain liberties have been taken, such as characterization, dialog, and interpetation of those events. The novel I Claudius by Robert Graves is the perfect example of laying out historical events yet to get a verbatim Augustas Caesar dialog after 2000 years. Hardly likely.

Another example of the Historical novel are the George McDonald Fraser's Flashman series. Flashman is an entirely fictional character placed in Historical circumstances talking and interacting with real people from history.

[CJFusco]

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS isn't a work of fiction, but that doesn't mean there's no fiction in there. Hunter is notorious for making up "real" events as he goes along, a habit that has gotten him into trouble with numerous people attempting to sue him for slander and libel.

Hunter himself has said that he doesn't remember what was made up in FEAR AND LOATHING and what actually happened.

Many of the "new Journalists" use this technique of manipulating truth in order to get a point across, simplify a story, or exaggerate an occurrance. For example, Tom Wolfe, who has mastered the art of being a fly on the wall, wrote THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST. In this book, one assumes that Wolfe gathered his information firsthand... this isn't always the case. For example, Wolfe was not present at the huge party that Ken Kesey threw for the Hell's Angels. All events in that section of the book were told to Wolfe by none other than our Dr. Thompson, who was still hanging out with the angels even after finishing his HELL'S ANGELS book. They eventually almost killed him, but that's the story of Hunter's life.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Originally posted by CJFusco
FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS isn't a work of fiction, but that doesn't mean there's no fiction in there. Hunter is notorious for making up "real" events as he goes along, a habit that has gotten him into trouble with numerous people attempting to sue him for slander and libel.

Hunter himself has said that he doesn't remember what was made up in FEAR AND LOATHING and what actually happened.

Many of the "new Journalists" use this technique of manipulating truth in order to get a point across, simplify a story, or exaggerate an occurrance. For example, Tom Wolfe, who has mastered the art of being a fly on the wall, wrote THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID ACID TEST. In this book, one assumes that Wolfe gathered his information firsthand... this isn't always the case. For example, Wolfe was not present at the huge party that Ken Kesey threw for the Hell's Angels. All events in that section of the book were told to Wolfe by none other than our Dr. Thompson, who was still hanging out with the angels even after finishing his HELL'S ANGELS book. They eventually almost killed him, but that's the story of Hunter's life.

LOL, my friend has an autographed copy of Hell's Angels. It has a bullethole through it. On the inside it has a stamp that says, "This book was personally shot by Hunter S. Thompson"

[CJFusco]

There's a lot of that going around lately.