What is your favourite book?
How dare you make me choose . . . Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, the ultimate edition (technically one book right?)
The Stinky Cheese man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
The one I think about most often is Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. Specifically the Priest’s tale and the Scholar’s tale.
Damn, I’ve heard great things about that book and I’ve had it on my shelf for a decade but every time i try to read it i get distracted about a third of the way and drop it. I’ll have to sit down seriously to try it some day.
The first book has an overarching story, but it is the tales that the pilgrims tell each other that really stand out. They are basically like little novellas within the main narrative and can almost be taken as stand-alone. The two tales I mentioned (Priest and Scholar) were the two that really stood out to me, but they are all interesting. I re-read those two tales specifically every few years.
The overall universe that Simmons depicts in the story is also amazing. The second book (Fall of Hyperion) focuses more on the overall narrative but shows how the tales have some commonality. The key plot device behind the Priest’s tale also sets up the narrative for the sequel books (Endymion and Rise of Endymion).
Cannery Row by Steinbeck
Steinbeck’s style is incredibly immersive. It has the perfect balance of illustrative/poetic/flowery descriptions and cerebral/analytical language. I love the characters and their antics, and how relatably they’re written. I can identify with their feelings and motives even though I’m the furthest thing from a bunch of 1930’s Californians.
My mom bought it for me to take on my high school band trip to San Francisco (which involved a long flight and some long bus rides). I think I remember more about the book than I do the trip :)
Tao Te Ching Specifically the DC Lau translation https://terebess.hu/english/tao/lau.html
I love the poetry focused version by Ursula K. Le Guin:
I wanted a Book of the Way accessible to a present-day, unwise, unpowerful, and perhaps unmale reader, not seeking esoteric secrets, but listening for a voice that speaks to the soul. I would like that reader to see why people have loved the book for twenty-five hundred years.
Ooh! I’m gonna put that on my list. I have an old Prentice Hall one from 1963.
