BigFooty Top Book list - voting commenced!

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GoTigers2015 said:
Yes very close to where i live. There is a sign in the main street banning Kindles.
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This article pleased me greatly.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/waterstones-claims-kindle-has-disappeared-2015-1
Paper books are fighting back against e-books — at least according to the UK’s biggest book retailer, Waterstones, which claims that sales of Amazon’s Kindle have all but ”disappeared,” while print sales are climbing.

According to the Financial Times, Waterstones says that sales of printed books grew by 5% in the last month of 2014. The bookstore has been selling Kindles since 2012, when it teamed up with Amazon to cater to a changing market.

The massive e-book market has clearly eaten into sales of traditional paper books over the years. In The US, for example, there’s been a 50% decrease in the number of independent bookstores over the past two decades, Forbes reports.

But Waterstones’ claim might indicate a wider trend as London bookstore Foyles also enjoyed strong sales of physical books at Christmas, according to The Telegraph.

So are e-book sales really slowing?

Douglas McCabe of Enders Analysis thinks so. He told the FT: ”The rapid growth of ebook sales has quite dramatically slowed and there is some evidence it has gone into reverse.

Slate also picked up on the trend in 2013 and pulled out some reasons for the decline of e-book sales that were first pinpointed in a blog by Nicholas Carr:

His suggestions include the possibility that we’ve run out of readers willing to make the jump from print to e-reading; that readers are no longer purchasing e-books simply for novelty’s sake; and that the e-book format may be proving conducive only to limited kinds of reading, such as travel reading.

The data seems to support the theory that e-books are becoming less popular. The Kindle has flatlined since in burst onto the scene in 2007. Forbes — which believes around 30 million Kindles are currently in use — reported that sales peaked at 13 million back in 2011, fell to 9.7 million in 2012, and have since plateaued. Barnes & Noble’s e-reader Nook has fared far worse, losing the company an estimated $US70 million a year.

In the US, in first eight months of 2013, e-book sales were worth $US800 million, down 5% year-on-year, the Association of American Publishers said.

Information company Nielsen says British consumers spent £2.2 billion on print in 2013, compared with just £300 million on e-books. Publishing Technology said in July 2013 that e-book sales were slowing significantly in both the UK and US.

At Waterstones, physical books sales have benefited from a multi-million dollar refurbishment plan at its 290 stores. A 2011 acquisition also led the chain to focus on turning its shops into “local bookstores.” The company expects to break even in 2015, and has plans to open around a dozen new stores, according to the FT.

The book retailer’s founder, Tim Waterstone, has spoken in the past about why he thinks physical books will live on. Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival last year, he said that while e-books have developed a share in the market, printed works would remain popular for decades.

“But every indication — certainly from America — shows the share is already in decline. The indications are that it will do exactly the same in the UK”, Waterstone reportedly told the audience at the event.
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These are the ones I will read again and again. There are some series in here and I have included comic strip books such as Calvin and Hobbes if they meet the popularity criterion with me and have been read more than once.


1. Lord of The Rings - JRR Tolkien. Read this probably close to 100 times since I got it when I was 15. Apart from the story the fact that I was able to put pronunciations to the names was what made it so endearing to me.
2. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien. Until I got LOTR this was the book I read most. Still can read it now, although some of the prose does make it clear it is a childs book. Was bought for me at the time of decimalization which is why it has both 22/6 and $2.25 written in pencil on he first page.
3.The Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov. One of his robot books but this one was also a mystery in the mould of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer.
4. The Sicilian - Mario Puzo. Sort of fictional as it has Michael Corleone from "The Godfather" in it. However, the main subject, Salvatore Giuliano, did exist. Puzo changed his name in the book to Guiliano.
5. Riotous Assembly - Tom Sharpe. The law of riotous assembly was one of the laws used in the days of apartheid in South Africa. Tom Sharpe wrote a number of satirical novels, this one and "Indecent Exposure" had to do with the South African police.
6. Flashman and the Temple of Light - George MacDonald Fraser. How the biggest cad in the English army brought the Koh-I-Noor diamond to England.
7. M.A.S.H. - Richard Hooker. The exploits of "Trapper" John McIntyre and Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the Korean War. Unlike in the television series, Frank Burns was not a major character and was only in the book for one chapter.
8. All Creatures Great and Small - James Herriot. The life of a country vet.
9. Right Ho, Jeeves - PG Wodehouse. A man and his butler. Loved this book and others in the series for the crisp, sardonic wit of Jeeves.
10. Power Without Glory - Frank Hardy. The rise of John Wren from an illegal Carringbush tote to one of the most powerful men in Victoria and his alienation from his family. Hardy was tried for criminal libel but was acquitted, enough of the book was fiction.
11. Harry Potter - JK Rowling. Do I really have to put a description in here?
12. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy - Douglas Adams. The first two books were superb, the third OK, and the fourth appeared to be written solely for the joke of having a four-book trilogy.
13. Yes, Minister - Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. Very insightful into how difficult it can be to make a decision in government.
14. McAuslan in the Rough - George MacDonald Fraser. Semi-autobiographical story about the worlds' filthiest soldier.
15. This Time Next Week - Leslie Thomas. Leslie Thomas' early life in a Barnardo's home after he was orphaned at the age of 12.
16. How to be Topp - Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle. About Nigel Molesworth, a student at the fictional school St. Custards. Written by former schoolmaster Willans and illustrated by Searle, whose illustrations you would have seen if you have ever seen an old St Trinians movie. A lot of the spelling in this book(and the other three that go with it) is intentionally incorrect. This book was one of a set of 4 including "Down with Skool!", "Whizz for Atomms" and "Back in the Jug Agane."
17. Footrot Flats - Murray Ball. A series of comic strip books about a NZ farmer and his sheepdog(and others)
18. Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson. Again a set of comic strip books, this time about a young boy, his toy tiger and his active imagination.
19. Hollywood Hulk Hogan - Terry Bollea. Autobiography. The wrestling entertainment industry is really as weird as it looks like on TV.
20. The Sleep of Life - Richard Gordon. This is about the onset of anaesthesia and is more about surgeons like Robert Liston, who operated without anaesthetics.
 
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1. The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart
2. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
3. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
4. Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
5. A Scanner Darkly - P.K. Dick
6. Enigma - Robert Harris
7. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
8. Riotous Assembly - Tom Sharpe
9. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey
10. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
 
Picked up some good ideas for future reading so far...

My list:

1. The Acid House – Irvine Welsh
2. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
3. Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
4. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Christopher Moore
5. Last Exit to Brooklyn – Hubert Selby Jr.
6. The Choirboys – Joseph Wambaugh
7. Neuromancer – William Gibson
8. IT – Stephen King
9. Welcome to the Monkey House – Kurt Vonnegut
10. American Gods – Neil Gaiman
11. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John Le Carre
12. Hell’s Angels – Hunter S. Thompson
13. Animal Farm - George Orwell
14. King Rat – James Clavell
15. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
16. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
17. Pronto – Elmore Leonard
18. The Killer Angels – Michael Shaara
19. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
20. The Illustrated Man – Ray Bradbury
 
RolandF1 said:
You look lost. Conspiracies are up a little bit further and to your right.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for Fit for Life...
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I'm sorry, but I've had the misfortune of sampling some of your work, and whilst I'd not normally criticize artistic work based on subject matter, on this occasion, your short story was loaded with gratuitous profanity and pornography references and scenes....it also didn't make the least bit of sense and was far more disturbing than inadvertently funny.
 
Teriyakicat said:
??? I thought this was a voting thread for top 20 books I'd read....
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Not sure i could make a list, but i rarely read fiction so it would have to be non fiction. ..

1...introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. ..Rand.
2...Objectivism the philosophy of Ayn Rand.
3...maybe Sane Society by Fromm
 
POGMA said:
Not sure i could make a list, but i rarely read fiction so it would have to be non fiction. ..

1...introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. ..Rand.
2...Objectivism the philosophy of Ayn Rand.
3...maybe Sane Society by Fromm
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That's a good start- just need 17 more :) (I haven't read any of those 3- the words will probably be too long for my little brain to comprehend :()
 

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GoTigers2015 said:
1981
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Yep- that's about right.
GoTigers2015 said:
I am old school too. But I do prefer technical books as e books.
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I can manage airy-fairy books on my iPad but prefer paper to hang onto ;) but there is NO way I can read anything technical on my computer or a kindle/ipad. I just can't remember what I've read unless I've got it on paper in front of me.
 
Teriyakicat said:
Yep- that's about right.

I can manage airy-fairy books on my iPad but prefer paper to hang onto ;) but there is NO way I can read anything technical on my computer or a kindle/ipad. I just can't remember what I've read unless I've got it on paper in front of me.
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Dual screens on a desktop PC help, especially if you like to learn programming languages.
 
fodzilla said:
I'm not as well read as I should be, so there are a couple of personal favourites in there that I mightn't necessarily consider legitimately great.

1. Heller - Catch-22
2. Greene - The Quiet American
3. Camus - The Plague
4. Hemingway - For Whom The Bell Tolls
5. Eco - The Name of the Rose
6. Dick - The Man in the High Castle
7. Thompson - Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
8. Kafka - The Trial
9. Kerouac - On the Road
10. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
11. Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
12. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye
13. Bukowski - Post Office
14. Jaynes - The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
15. Golding - Lord of the Flies
16. Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
17. Conrad - Heart of Darkness
18. O'Toole - Confederacy of Dunces
19. Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
20. Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo

If non-fiction is out, scratch Campaign Trail and The Origin and sub in Gibson's Neuromancer and Blissett's Q at the end.
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Having revisited the thread and pondered some more, I probably would've squeezed Macbeth, The Prince and Homage to Catalonia in there somewhere, something from Borges if I could pick one, and if a collected works qualifies then definitely Montaigne.

Thoroughly enjoying Wolf Hall at the moment too.

Dinsdale said:
I see a lot of people have this in their lists:
A Song of Ice and Fire series - George R. Martin

Does no-one think it plods on too much, doesn't have enough of the White walkers, and definitely not enough dragons!? Maybe one of the few TV shows that is better than the books it is based on...
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First book is a genuine classic. All downhill from there though.
 
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1. Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time
2. Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls
3. Cormac McCarthy - All the Pretty Horses
4. Robert Caro - The Years of Lyndon Johnson
5. Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
6. Leo Tolstoy - War and Peace
7. Thomas Mann - Death in Venice
8. Herman Melville - Moby Dick
9. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
10. James Joyce - The Dubliners
11. Italo Calvino - If on a winter's night a traveler
12. Albert Camus - The Stranger
13. Edith Wharton - The House of Mirth
14. F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
15. Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow
16. Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
17. Denis Johnson - Train Dreams
18. Raymond Carver - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
19. Norman Mailer - The Executioner's Song
20. Anthony Powell - A Dance to the Music of Time
 
1. Lord of the Rings-Tolkien
2. On the Road-Jack Kerouac
3. Anna Karenina-Tolstoy
4. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-Douglas Adams
5. 1984-Orwell
6. Down and Out in Paris and London-Orwell
7. Enders Game-Orson Scott Card
8. Brave New World-Huxley
9. Lolita-Vladimir Nabokov
10. Neuromancer-William Gibson
11. Song of Ice and Fire-George Martin
12. V for Vendetta-Alan Moore
13. The War of the Worlds-H.G. Wells
14. Foundation-Isaac Asimov
15. The Hobbit-Tolkien
16. The Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger
17. Adolf Hitler, My Part in his Downfall-Spike Milligan
18. Fear and Loathing in LasVegas-Hunter S. Thompson
19. One Hundred Years of Solitude-Garcia Marquez
20. The Alchemist-Paulo Coehlo
 
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