Best/Worst book you read in 2005

[singlemalt]

So what's the best/worst book you read in 2005?

The best one that comes to mind is The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger. This guy is a hell of a writer. Interesting story, good characterization.

For some reason I read a bunch that were disappointing. I read A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Wow was that a fucking chore to get through. There is no way high schools should make kids read that.

So there you go. On to better stuff in '06.

[firsty]

i didnt read much in 2005

best book: "man without a country" by vonnegut
worst book: "man without a country" by vonnegut

i only read one book in 2005

i hope this helps.

actually, i reread "big sur", which is fucking awesome, chump. and i read some of "american dream" by mailer. i also read some chapbooks, which were ok. i listened to the radio some.

[Marksman45]

Best book: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

worst book is gonna take some thinking. Generally speaking, I don't read bad books. So I don't know. I might think of one later.

[firsty]

Best book: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

worst book is gonna take some thinking. Generally speaking, I don't read bad books. So I don't know. I might think of one later.

i have to call you out on this, yo. you're being asked what the worst book you read was. that means that unless all the books you read were equally good, there was one that was the worst. or think of it like "least best".

did you start any that you decided you wouldnt finish because they sucked? generally, it's hard to be 100% on picking up books that are great. unless you're a god or something. are you a god? if you're a god, would it be possible for you to give me back all the time i've spent reading parts of bad books? i could really use some extra time for christmas shopping.

[Marksman45]

well, I read *a lot* of books in 2005.
Let me try to remember

all of the current Harry Potter series;
up to book 8 of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events";
the graphic novel "Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons;
"American Gods," "Stardust," and "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, as well as his graphic novel "The Books of Magic";
"I, Robot" and "The Winds of Change" by Isaac Asimov;
graphic novel "Alec: How to Be an Artist" by Eddie Campbell;
graphic novels "Seed of Destruction" and "Wake the Devil" from Mike Mignola's Hellboy series;
all six volumes of Frank Miller's "Sin City" graphic novels;
"The Once and Future King" by TH White;
"From the Dust Returned" by Ray Bradbury;
"A Separate Reality" and "The Active Side of Infinity" by Carlos Castaneda;
"Weetzie Bat," "Witch Baby," "Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys," "Missing Angel Juan," "Baby Be-Bop," "Violet & Claire," and "I Was a Teenage Fairy" by Francesca Lia Block;
"House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski

There's some others, too, but I can't remember what they were

And I would say that I'm a demigod. Either that or I'm a narcissist.

[firsty]

kickass. this is good. i can help you with your list:

worst books you read in 2005:

all of the harry potter series
"house of leaves"

i think it's possible for you to be 1/2 god and the other half narcissist, and this is probably the case. or, the half of you that is a god is also a narcissist, and the other half likes reading mass produced childrens books. either way, i dont see getting any of my time back from this year, which makes me sad.

i believe that all homosexuality is actually some form of narcissism. i'm not saying that in any bad way, just a segue or something. i wonder if it's true. not everything i believe is true, even tho it's necessarily correct.

[Marksman45]

I've read bad children's books before. The Harry Potter series aren't bad. They're up there with Roald Dahl and L. Frank Baum.
I do, however, like to read good children's books. Such as "A Series of Unfortunate Events," Baum's Oz books, CS Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman, and Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" series.

And I loved "House of Leaves." So I can hardly vote either of these as the worst books I read in 2005

I *finished* WSB's "The Soft Machine" in 2005, after starting it in 2003. It wasn't very good. Apparently Burroughs himself has attested to this fact.

[microbe]

I've read a few good books in the last year including "Being Dead" by Jim Crace http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 51-6574049 and "Scepticism Inc" by Bo Fowler http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 51-6574049 which are both very good reads. I am currently reading "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037550 ... e&n=283155 which I suspect will be the best but will I finish it before Sunday?!

Worst read "The Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039331 ... e&n=283155 although reading the reviews at that link I seem to be alone in my view.

[bohonato]

I liked A Tale of Two Cities, though its definitly not for everyone. But then, I liked Moby Dick as well.

Best: Armies of the Night

Worst: The Little Red Book (Quotes from Mao Tse-Tung) - The translation was horrible.

The Blind Watchmaker was Douglas Adams favourite book.

[Marksman45]

Douglas Adams, that reminds me, I also read "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul," as well as "The Meaning of Liff: a Dictionary of Things There Aren't Words for Yet, but There Ought to Be," that he wrote with another guy, whose name I can't currently remember. They were all excellent as well, but "American Gods" is still the best book I read this year

[Artguy]

Lotsa Dharma reading this year by many authors and all of it enlightening....

[judih]

autobiographies

Phil Lesh - Searching for the Sound (grateful dead great stuff - language is the message)

Miles Davis' Auto (yeah)

worst books? didn't read the worst books. Got to page one and just didn't read em.

[tinkerjack]

The only book I finished last year was the Divinci Code. So I would have to say it was the best book and the worst book I read. Took four hours to read. It was wonderful. I have no idea how many books I was reading in 2005. Sixteen or Twenty maybe? I may have finished a few but I have not read them front to back. The Book of conversations by with the Dali Lama by an american psychiatrist probably may most cherished new book started in 2005. Probably the books I have been reading the longest (about thirty years) are The KJV Bible and The Phenomenology of Internal Time Consciousness.

And of course I reguarly keep up my internet subscription to Mega Dodo Publication's HHGG

[V-Agent]

Best: Claire De Lune - Pierre La Mure
Absolutely sublime...

Worst: The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Pure pulp.

[mousey1]

Two books that I really enjoyed and found eye-wateringly funny in spots were, Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut (when the dog charged him I literally peed my pants) and The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (especially enjoyed his description of the much ballyhooed Turkish baths, hilarious!)

I started and neglected to finish 100s of books this past year, so I guess they were my worst semi-reads. If I am not captured from the start I will rarely finish, I may be missing out, but I'll never know.