1FF Top 100 Books

[Son of Cod]

Hold up, someone else voted for it?!! I love this book, I nominated it first time around and it still hasn't lost any of it's appeal. Like MM has alluded to, all the superheroes in this book have really crappy powers but it's not really about the superpowers, it's more about love. A humorous and well written book. Love it! I'd also recommended his other books too.

I voted for it after reading your review of it in the first Top 100 thread on TFF. Will get round to writing a little bit about it later this week, when I get some more time.

 

[Ginola14]

Glad you enjoyed it, SoC!

 

[mistermagic]

#28 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling - 28 points, 2 lists

The last of the Harry Potter series in a chonological order (book #7) and some reviews it got! Almost perfect 5-star on goodreads. The majority of the fans were satisfied by the series' finale that Rowling gave them and most of them were quite disappointed to have finished the whole set as it was good while it lasted. The only critic I could find was that Rowling was at a loss for the finale and looked up the internet for what kind of ending the fans would have, dug deeper and ultimately came up with a nigh on impossible story to believe. Then again none of this is real so what the hell.

 

[mistermagic]

WHY IS THIS THREAD SO FUCKING DEAD????????????

 

[BCFC Jordan]

I'm watching with interest from a distance.

 

[lordofthepies]

I've got nothing to say about Harry Potter.

 

[Cardsfan]

WHY IS THIS THREAD SO FUCKING DEAD????????????

Because I'm not running it

 

[Oaf]

WHY IS THIS THREAD SO FUCKING DEAD????????????

Don't take the lack of comments for lack of interest! I'm still checking this out every time it's updated.

 

[Son of Cod]

WHY IS THIS THREAD SO FUCKING DEAD????????????

Probably because the people who voted for the likes of Harry Potter and Catch 22 can't be arsed to write anything about them. On a personal note, I'm barely midweek posting at the moment. Off to NZ tomorrow, but back next week so will get more involved again after that.

 

[IanH]

Probably because the people who voted for the likes of Harry Potter and Catch 22 can't be arsed to write anything about them. On a personal note, I'm barely midweek posting at the moment. Off to NZ tomorrow, but back next week so will get more involved again after that.

#humblebrag.

I probably voted for Catch-22, and I damn well shouldn't feel bad about doing so.

I feel the main problem with this book is that many people start it but then give up on it. These are the same type of people who feel obliged to write shit book reviews saying they tried (possibly several times) to read it but never got past halfway, and hence have nothing to actually review. More people read these reviews, and buoyed by the certainty that they always finish what they start, they grab for the nearest copy and entrench themselves for the first half and then decide they can't continue, and instead go and write a review for the next hapless wanderer to be pseudo-inspired. Basically if you read a review before you start, you won't get past halfway, but if you don't read a review how will you ever start? You see, it really is a catch-22.

I, however, read it when I was a young'un and didn't even know the meaning of Catch-22 and I sure as hell hadn't read a review. Of course, having read all of the book, I no longer feel the need to write a review.

 

[IanH]

I also think it's worth mentioning that Heller coined the phrase Catch-22 with this book. So people who review it saying he goes a bit overboard kind of miss the point.

 

[mistermagic]

Reviews are interesting though. You got both sides of the tale and not just some happy-clappy brigade saying that said book is the best thing written ever.

Furthermore, it always surprises me how a book gets superb reviews from newspaper literacy "experts". Filthy business? Unfortunately I think it is.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Furthermore, it always surprises me how a book gets superb reviews from newspaper literacy "experts". Filthy business? Unfortunately I think it is.

#bookergate

 

[IanH]

I was only referring to reviews about Catch-22 there, not in general.

 

[Son of Cod]

#humblebrag.

I probably voted for Catch-22, and I damn well shouldn't feel bad about doing so.

I feel the main problem with this book is that many people start it but then give up on it. These are the same type of people who feel obliged to write shit book reviews saying they tried (possibly several times) to read it but never got past halfway, and hence have nothing to actually review. More people read these reviews, and buoyed by the certainty that they always finish what they start, they grab for the nearest copy and entrench themselves for the first half and then decide they can't continue, and instead go and write a review for the next hapless wanderer to be pseudo-inspired. Basically if you read a review before you start, you won't get past halfway, but if you don't read a review how will you ever start? You see, it really is a catch-22.

I, however, read it when I was a young'un and didn't even know the meaning of Catch-22 and I sure as hell hadn't read a review. Of course, having read all of the book, I no longer feel the need to write a review.

Haha definitely nothing humble about that brag!
I never really look at reviews of novels personally, but I am indeed guilty of looking at the 1star reviews of non-fiction on Amazon. I find that pretty useful though, because you can look up the reviewer and loosely gauge if you've a mutual understanding or not.

 

[mistermagic]

#27 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - 29 pts, 3 lists

Taking place in Afghanistan, this story is about friendship between Amir, son of a wealthy merchant, and Hassan, son of the servant of said wealthy merchant. Circumstances and events arise in the country and depict an interesting image of pre-Soviet invasion Afghanistan and how those two boys who are differentiated by castes try and keep being friends despite all that is going on in Kabul.

 

[mistermagic]

#26 - Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby - 30 pts, 2 lists

I'm sad to say that I read this far too long ago to have any recollection of this book. Looking back it has great reviews and is probably the book that comes closest to explaining why we are obssesed by 22 grown men chasing a ball, why we accept to pay good money to watch something we could watch on tv and why we are ready to go to the other side of the country/continent/world to watch a game.
Nor do I think I'll read it again. I've had my football literature phase and was more impressed by the works of Messrs Lichtenberger and Ball. I quite like reading Jonathan Wilson and Henry Winter these days but that's just to kill time.
Still a strong finish for a football book.

 

[Veggie Legs]

I voted for The Kite Runner, read it a few years ago and it made a strong impression on me. I thought it was a great depiction of what it was like to grow up in Afghanistan (or in a similarly turbulent time anywhere) (not that I have any real experience to compare with). It's pretty hard-hitting in parts, but I found it a compelling story.

 

[RavenBish]

I read Fever Pitch a few years ago, didn't get the fuss.

 

[mistermagic]

#25 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy - 30 pts, 4 lists (2012: 46)

Yet another love/hate book. It deals with a man's sojourn with his son after an apocalypse hit where the two characters lived. They are going south where it is said to be less gray and less dark. We don't know where this is supposed to happen and there is no plot. It is a relatively short work by McCarthy and uses a poetic prose. It also doesn't use quotation marks during a conversation which a lot of people had problems with.

 

[Ginola14]

I really enjoyed this book. Not read a lot of McCarthy's work but if it's anything like this, I should read more.

 

[lordofthepies]

MM really doesn't try and hide it when he hates a book, does he? I don't think I voted for The Road, but I do love it.

 

[SUTSS]

I quite liked The Road but don't think it made my list.

 

[Ginola14]

I quite liked The Road but don't think it made my list.

Same here....not sure if it made my list or not!!

 

[Veggie Legs]

I liked The Road a lot more than Blood Meridian, which I read recently, but not enough for it make my list.

 

[mistermagic]

MM really doesn't try and hide it when he hates a book, does he? I don't think I voted for The Road, but I do love it.

I'm yet to read it.

Probably won't now...

 

[mistermagic]

#24 - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - 32 pts, 2 lists (2012: 73)

This is an interesting one.
What constitutes a classic I do not know. Or have forgotten. And if I looked it up I probably disagreed with the definition knowing me. But this book's plot looks intriguing enough. Humbert Humbert is a word man who has fallen in love with his landlady's 12-year old girl, Lolita. The first twist is that Humbert decides to marry his landlady just to be close to Lolita. I did not look the book up further as it looks to be twisted, deviant and a work of art that paedo would be proud of. Some even went as far as saying that Nabokov must have been a paedophile to write Humbert's sexual wishes with such dexterity and precision.

 

[RavenBish]

Who voted for that?

 

[Ginola14]

Dirty old men...

 

[SUTSS]

It's certainly a novel that covers a taboo subject but it doesn't glorify it. Humbert Humbert is a dishonest monster who is made to pay at the end and Lolita is definitely the victim. By seeing the world from Humbert's eye it takes a rather unique perspective on it all, it is Humbert trying to justify his perversion which I'm sure he only does if you share his perversion. The prose and dark humour throughout also marks it out as a great work of literature.