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The Greatest Book Ever Written

Yossarian

Steve Hodge
Given the interest expressed elsewhere, I think this is a runner.

In order to make it as fair a reflection of the board's opinions as possible, I suggest that we have a Group Stage, comprised of various genres, the winners of each group progressing to the knock out stages.

My initial thoughts on the Groups:

Biography
Autobiography
Science Fiction
Classical Literature
General Fiction
Horror
Crime
Non Fiction

Please post your suggestions for additional Group Categories, no real need to limit the number of groups.

Your book nominations are also welcome! Please state the Group Category to place them in if not obvious.

I'll kick off with Catch 22 (Joseph Heller), Consider Phlebas (Iain M Banks), Helliconia (Brian Aldiss), A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
Illuminatus! (Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson)
 
A few of mine:

Catch 22
1984
Crime and punishment
A million little pieces
Pickwick papers
Tess of the D'urbervilles
Tuesdays with morrie
Dracula
Beneath the underdog
Pimp - iceberg slim

Will add more later....
 
Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets. - David Simon (Non-Fiction)

Any Lee Child and/or Dennis Lehane book.
 
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a few as they came to me

a christmas carol
Treasure Island
Jurassic Park
Anything by Stephen King
Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series
David Downings Station series
The GHod Delusion
 
The Green Mile by Stephen King. Not sure what category it would fit in though, it could be classed as either Science Fiction, General Fiction or Horror to be honest.
 
Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh (General fiction)
Killing for Company - Brian Masters (Biography/Crime/Non Fiction)
Iacocca: An Autobiography - Lee Iacocca (Autobiography)
South: The Story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 Expedition - Ernest Shackleton (Non Fiction)
 
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The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Long Way Round (travel) - Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman
The Warlord Trilogy by Bernard Cornwell
A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
 
Frankenstein. Written by an 18 YO girl in Regency England and the first example of the science fiction genre, despite being gothic horror.
 
Many thanks for the above!

Please indicate the Group (genre) you feel is most suitable for your nominations.

Authors would be useful also!:)
 
Biography - Hitler by Ian Kershaw
Autobiography - Ecce Homo by Nietzsche
Classical Literature - The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (Best overall book)
 
Any chance we can get a little precis of these books? From a totally selfish POV I'm looking for some inspiration with some new books and when I look in shops all I see is identikit crime thrillers (no offence to jack reacher fans, I just fancy something a bit different to that formulaic thing)

Lots of books listed here that I've never heard of, which is really exciting, but you're not giving anything away to the uninitiated...


I'll do the same for my list when I get a moment


Oh, and to the person who posted Frankenstein....I was going to add it to my list, and give that exact same description. Writing something so deep and sinister at that age is just remarkable. What possibly helped inspire her was her alleged orgies/drug fuelled shenanigans with her husband and Byron.....or maybe she didn't even write it!
 
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