GMG's 99 Most Entertaining Books Ever Written!

[drogulus]

     
    THE END OF THE ROAD - John Barth
    THE SIRENS OF TITAN -  Kurt Vonnegut
    CATCH-22 - Joseph Heller

   

[MN Dave]

LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - Thomas Harris
PET SEMATARY - Stephen King
THE CYBERIAD - Stanislaw Lem
THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN - Steven Erikson
THE ROYAL FAMILY - William Vollmann
MRS. CALDWELL SPEAKS TO HER SON - Camilo Cela
THE EVERLASTING STORY OF NORY - Nicholson Baker
THANK YOU, JEEVES - PG Wodehouse
WATER MUSIC - TC Boyle
LEXICON OF MUSICAL INVECTIVE - Nicolas Slonimsky
YEAR IN PROVENCE - Peter Mayle
CASTLE RACKRENT - Maria Edgeworth
THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO - Anne Radcliffe
THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR BRANESTAWM - Norman Hunter
THE DA VINCI CODE - Dan Brown
THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG - Andre Dubus III
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - Alexandre Dumas
THE END OF THE ROAD - John Barth
THE SIRENS OF TITAN -  Kurt Vonnegut
CATCH-22 - Joseph Heller
HANTARAM - Gregory David Roberts
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE - Haruki Murakami
THE POWER OF THE DOG - Don Winslow
(24)

*Please pick three, folks. Use the above format [title in caps, space dash space, author's name] Thanks!

[MN Dave]

Could have listed some graphic novels too. 

[Elgarian]

ENTER PSMITH - P.G. Wodehouse
COLLECTED LETTERS (3 vols) - C.S. Lewis
THE RUPERT BEAR ANNUAL (any year will do)

[bwv 1080]

One more. 

Peter F Hamilton - Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained (one story in 2 novels)

[Gurn Blanston]

Still-Life with Woodpecker - Tom Robbins

Or for that matter, nearly any of his early books, like Even Cowgirls get the Blues. Robbins is a friggin' lunatic, an American Treasure of the Modern Age. 



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Now playing:
Ensemble Cristofori \ Arthur Schoonderwoerd - Op 37 Concerto #3 in c for Pianoforte 1st mvmt - Allegro con brio

[Brian]

Could have listed some graphic novels too. 

Just for you, then, I'll throw one in... sort of:

PASTORALIA - George Saunders
THE LOST CONTINENT - Bill Bryson
THE COMPLETE CALVIN & HOBBES - Bill Watterson

[MN Dave]

LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - Thomas Harris
PET SEMATARY - Stephen King
THE CYBERIAD - Stanislaw Lem
THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN - Steven Erikson
THE ROYAL FAMILY - William Vollmann
MRS. CALDWELL SPEAKS TO HER SON - Camilo Cela
THE EVERLASTING STORY OF NORY - Nicholson Baker
THANK YOU, JEEVES - PG Wodehouse
WATER MUSIC - TC Boyle
LEXICON OF MUSICAL INVECTIVE - Nicolas Slonimsky
YEAR IN PROVENCE - Peter Mayle
CASTLE RACKRENT - Maria Edgeworth
THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO - Anne Radcliffe
THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR BRANESTAWM - Norman Hunter
THE DA VINCI CODE - Dan Brown
THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG - Andre Dubus III
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - Alexandre Dumas
THE END OF THE ROAD - John Barth
THE SIRENS OF TITAN -  Kurt Vonnegut
CATCH-22 - Joseph Heller
HANTARAM - Gregory David Roberts
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE - Haruki Murakami
THE POWER OF THE DOG - Don Winslow
ENTER PSMITH - P.G. Wodehouse
COLLECTED LETTERS (3 vols) - C.S. Lewis
THE RUPERT BEAR ANNUAL (any year will do)
PANDORA'S STAR/JUDAS UNCHAINED - Peter F Hamilton
STILL-LIFE WITH WOODPECKER - Tom Robbins
PASTORALIA - George Saunders
THE LOST CONTINENT - Bill Bryson
THE COMPLETE CALVIN & HOBBES - Bill Watterson
(32)


*Please pick three, folks. Use the above format [title in caps, space dash space, author's name] Thanks!

[Benji]

Well i'm going to take entertaining to mean couldn't put down until it was finished, and since i'm picking only 3 of the very many this applies to i'm picking one from each of the 3 decades of my life to date. So, with that said, and in order:

THE CALL OF THE WILD - Jack London
THE HUMAN APE - Desmond Morris
THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy

[MN Dave]

LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - Thomas Harris
PET SEMATARY - Stephen King
THE CYBERIAD - Stanislaw Lem
THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN - Steven Erikson
THE ROYAL FAMILY - William Vollmann
MRS. CALDWELL SPEAKS TO HER SON - Camilo Cela
THE EVERLASTING STORY OF NORY - Nicholson Baker
THANK YOU, JEEVES - PG Wodehouse
WATER MUSIC - TC Boyle
LEXICON OF MUSICAL INVECTIVE - Nicolas Slonimsky
YEAR IN PROVENCE - Peter Mayle
CASTLE RACKRENT - Maria Edgeworth
THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO - Anne Radcliffe
THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR BRANESTAWM - Norman Hunter
THE DA VINCI CODE - Dan Brown
THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG - Andre Dubus III
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - Alexandre Dumas
THE END OF THE ROAD - John Barth
THE SIRENS OF TITAN -  Kurt Vonnegut
CATCH-22 - Joseph Heller
HANTARAM - Gregory David Roberts
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE - Haruki Murakami
THE POWER OF THE DOG - Don Winslow
ENTER PSMITH - P.G. Wodehouse
COLLECTED LETTERS (3 vols) - C.S. Lewis
THE RUPERT BEAR ANNUAL (any year will do)
PANDORA'S STAR/JUDAS UNCHAINED - Peter F Hamilton
STILL-LIFE WITH WOODPECKER - Tom Robbins
PASTORALIA - George Saunders
THE LOST CONTINENT - Bill Bryson
THE COMPLETE CALVIN & HOBBES - Bill Watterson
THE CALL OF THE WILD - Jack London
THE HUMAN APE - Desmond Morris
THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
(35)


*Please pick three, folks. Use the above format [title in caps, space dash space, author's name] Thanks!

[CD]

Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged
Ann Coulter - Godless
Tim Lahaye - Left Behind

...oh sorry, I thought the title was GMG's 99 Most Embarrassing Books Ever Written.

[MN Dave]

Lots of people like Ayn Rand. I've never read.

[Philoctetes]

Lots of people like Ayn Rand. I've never read.

You've not missed.

[Todd]

VERNON GOD LITTLE - DBC Pierre
THE GREAT GAME - Peter Hopkirk
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GREAT POWERS - Paul Kennedy

[Bogey]

THE CIVIL WAR: A NARRATIVE VOL. 1-3- Shelby Foote
BASEBALL AMERICA- Donald Honig
LORD OF THE RINGS- JRR Tolkien

[mc ukrneal]

Here is my second choice:

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Doug Adams

[Brian]

Lots of people like Ayn Rand. I've never read.

I've read The Fountainhead. It was essentially an action novel plot surrounding Ayn Rand's barely concealed sexual fantasies. The "philosophy," such as it was, is to distract you from the latter.

[Sergeant Rock]

PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG - Lester Bangs
THE HORSE IS DEAD - Robert Kane
LOLITA - Vladimir Nabokov


Lester Bangs was the greatest rock critic: his writings are the stuff of legends

Lolita is the Great American Novel (at least Joyce Carol Oates and I think so): Humphrey Humphrey is a monster, of course, but a very entertaining monster and Nabokov's prose is dazzling.

The Horse Is Dead may just be the funniest book every written: a tasteless Portnoy's Complaint.



Jacket blurb: "Mr. Robert Kane regrets to announce The Horse Is Dead. It is not difficult to undestand why he regrets it, since it is by all odds the bluntest, nastiest, most vulgar, most vicious, most sado-masochistic work of fiction to come along in some time."

You can pick up a used paperback copy for 200 bucks at Amazon. Luckily, I bought mine in 1969 for 75 cents new.


Sarge

[karlhenning]

Lots of people like Ayn Rand.

But is she entertaining?

[MN Dave]

LONESOME DOVE - Larry McMurtry
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - Thomas Harris
PET SEMATARY - Stephen King
THE CYBERIAD - Stanislaw Lem
THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN - Steven Erikson
THE ROYAL FAMILY - William Vollmann
MRS. CALDWELL SPEAKS TO HER SON - Camilo Cela
THE EVERLASTING STORY OF NORY - Nicholson Baker
THANK YOU, JEEVES - PG Wodehouse
WATER MUSIC - TC Boyle
LEXICON OF MUSICAL INVECTIVE - Nicolas Slonimsky
YEAR IN PROVENCE - Peter Mayle
CASTLE RACKRENT - Maria Edgeworth
THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO - Anne Radcliffe
THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR BRANESTAWM - Norman Hunter
THE DA VINCI CODE - Dan Brown
THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG - Andre Dubus III
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO - Alexandre Dumas
THE END OF THE ROAD - John Barth
THE SIRENS OF TITAN -  Kurt Vonnegut
CATCH-22 - Joseph Heller
HANTARAM - Gregory David Roberts
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE - Haruki Murakami
THE POWER OF THE DOG - Don Winslow
ENTER PSMITH - P.G. Wodehouse
COLLECTED LETTERS (3 vols) - C.S. Lewis
THE RUPERT BEAR ANNUAL (any year will do)
PANDORA'S STAR/JUDAS UNCHAINED - Peter F Hamilton
STILL-LIFE WITH WOODPECKER - Tom Robbins
PASTORALIA - George Saunders
THE LOST CONTINENT - Bill Bryson
THE COMPLETE CALVIN & HOBBES - Bill Watterson
THE CALL OF THE WILD - Jack London
THE HUMAN APE - Desmond Morris
THE ROAD - Cormac McCarthy
VERNON GOD LITTLE - DBC Pierre
THE GREAT GAME - Peter Hopkirk
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GREAT POWERS - Paul Kennedy
THE CIVIL WAR: A NARRATIVE VOL. 1-3- Shelby Foote
BASEBALL AMERICA- Donald Honig
LORD OF THE RINGS- JRR Tolkien
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Doug Adams
PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG - Lester Bangs
THE HORSE IS DEAD - Robert Kane
LOLITA - Vladimir Nabokov
(45)

*Please pick three, folks. Use the above format [title in caps, space dash space, author's name] Thanks!