What is it.

Well, the only book I've every read twice was "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Hemingway so maybe that's a contender.

Johnathon Livingston Seagull, hands down.

Well, that explains it.

Without Remorse by Tom Clancy. I’ve read it 4 or 5 times.

The only book that I've read several times over, and always enjoy, is The Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien.

Catch-22

Being an amateur historian, Red River settlement, by Alexander Ross, a Canadian classic.

I would have to agree lol

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. 4-5 times

Lonesome Dove

👍👍

The condensed version of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (the unabridged version is seven large volumes) was well worth reading, since it's really eye opening with regard to how representative republics come to be ruled over by unchecked cabals from behind the scenes while retaining the outward appearances (for the sake of the people being ruled) of representative republicanism.

Even the emperors were almost always just the front man for the true ruling cabal, who remained behind the scenes as far as the general public was concerned.

Augustus was likely one of the very few examples of a true emperor of Rome, along with the occasional general who took the throne by force from time to time, due to the loyalty of his officer corps and armies.

👍👍👍

Did you follow it up with Love Story?

I could never name just one. Several of the best have been mentioned. I read mostly non fiction, military history but throw in a novel now and then.
Tom Clancy was good when he was alive and writing his own novels. Interesting that there are still books coming out under his name but he has been dead for years.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller / On The Road by Jack Kerouac / Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger

The best I've read in a long time:

The River Of Doubt / Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

by Candice Millard

ONCE AN EAGLE--ANTON MYRER

'Islands in the Stream'
~ Hemingway

His last novel. Wasn't finished when he died, but was close. His wife and friend put it together after his death.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Tough question. Lately it is the Master and Commander series of 20 books by Patrick O'Brian.

This is very difficult for me to answer. I read a great deal (mostly non-fiction) and would have a hard time singling out a favorite. If I did, it would probably change each time that I was asked.

(It will be interesting to see how many responses name the "obligatory favorite".)

This, and yes, it is newer, I didn't always need large print.

Last of the Breed by Louis Lamour

I could never narrow it to just one, but a couple of my favorites are Horatio Hornblower by C.S. Forrester and The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat.

"TEXAS" by James A. Michener.

Agree with Morewood. I'm just starting my fifth or sixth run-through of the O'Brian series.

Currently on my second circumnavigation, Rock.

cheers!

War Through the Ages by Montross

Old Yeller

[quote=Morewood]Tough question. Lately it is the Master and Commander series of 20 books by Patrick O'Brian.[/quot
Several leading critics have said the series are a true classic of English fiction. I agree, but who am I?

New American Standard Bible

Title: My Health Is Better In November

Author: Havilah Babcock

old time <1947> stories of hunting and fishing in the south

Ian Toll trilogy about WW II

My first choice .. "To Tame a Land" - Louis L'Amour. Caught me at an impressionable time, I guess. Last time I checked I'd read it 42 times. I like his Kilkenny novels .. in fact, I don't think he wrote anything that I didn't enjoy.

Other contenders:

The Postman - David Brin - this was the basis for the movie with Kevin Costner. They took a lot of poetic license with the adaptation. The book was set on my home turf. The rock quarry was at the top of the ridge behind our house. Where he swam the river .. 2 miles downstream. I drove Hwy 42 along the South Fork of the Coquille nearly 100 times. The computing center on the Oregon State University campus .. I spent countless hours in there doing programming for both CS and math classes. Etc. The dam, Tom Petty's character .. I couldn't find those in the book at all.

Most any Sci Fi by CJ Cherryh .. started with the Morgaine trilogy. The Chanur saga. She is hard to read .. very complex character development.

Most anything by Poul Anderson. It's "pulp sci-fi" with Bond-like characters in space.

Rogue River Feud - Zane Gray. The book starts like this: “It was a river at its birth and it glided away through the Oregon forest, with hurrying momentum, as if eager to begin the long leap down through the Siskiyous. The giant firs shaded it; the deer drank from it; the little black-backed trout rose greedily to floating flies. And in sunlit glades, where the woods lightened, the wild lilac bloomed in its marvelous profusion of color, white and purple and pink, scenting the warm drowsy air with sweet fragrance.” That exact section of river is where I go to fly fish in the summer. It is .. correct.

Which version do you read Richard?

The KIng James or the NIV?

To Kill a Mockingbird, One of my favorites.
The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn another.

Some I read many years ago Flowers in the attic, Petals on the Wind, If there be Thorns. V.C Andrews
I believe maybe some followed but I didn't read them if there were.

Animal Farm

NO way to emotional a story!

I read this instead

I saw the movie when it first came out. When it was over and they turned on the lights -
I was so MAD - because of the tears flowing from my eyes. But I wasn't alone. (1959)

"Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose

"Northwest Passage" by Kenneth Roberts

Others have been read but these 2 have been read 5+ times each.

The Frontiersmen.
Allan Eckert

Have to agree here though The Sun Also Rises is close.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. 4-5 times

Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

To date, the greatest single piece of American Literature in The Western Canon.

In the top ten of mine.

It's hard to nail down a "best," but one of the most memorable was Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan. I think it's the greatest literary practical jokes ever devised.

One that stayed with me and made me think

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Something of value- Robert Ruark

"Tailspin"
by John Armbruster
New book this year. True story of a 18 year old Wisconsin man Gene Moran, who was a tailgunner in a B-17, survived a several mile fall to earth in the severed tail of the plane, and his survival as a POW. Also details the efforts of the author who is a school teacher and amateur writer, to get Moran to reluctantly tell his story.


"Undaunted Courage"
by Ambrose
which vividly describes the Lewis and Clark expedition is probably my favorite. Paints a vivid picture of the American West wilderness.

"Neptunes Inferno"
by Hornfischer
details the naval battles around Guadalcanal.

The Bible

Mig Pilot
Ol' Mose

Shogun by James Clavell

KJV?
Or New International Version?

“I have spoken of the rich years when the rainfall was plentiful. But there were dry years too, and they put a terror on the valley. The water came in a thirty-year cycle. There would be five or six wet and wonderful years when there might be nineteen to twenty-five inches of rain, and the land would shout with grass. Then would come six or seven pretty good years of twelve to sixteen inches of rain. And then the dry years would come, and sometimes there would be only seven or eight inches of rain. The land dried up and the grasses headed out miserably a few inches high and great bare scabby places appeared in the valley. The live oaks got a crusty look and the sage-brush was gray. The land cracked and the springs dried up and the cattle listlessly nibbled dry twigs. Then the farmers and the ranchers would be filled with disgust for the Salinas Valley. The cows would grow thin and sometimes starve to death. People would have to haul water in barrels to their farms just for drinking. Some families would sell out for nearly nothing and move away. And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”

― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Shoot I don't know. The Book of Camping and Woodcraft By Kephart is somewhere in there and a couple by Teddy Roosevelt are too.

The education of Little Tree - Forest Carter

God’s Word

[quote=Otter]"Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose

Nothing Like it in the World
Building of the Transcontinental Railroad
Is another good on by Ambrose

Atlas Shrugged
or perhaps
The Gulag Archipelago

Gun Gack III.

Actually, I have been a voracious reader all my life and there is no way in hell I could ever identify one book as the best book I have ever read.

Just about anything written by Allen Eckert.

Robert Ruark Something of Value

Undaunted Courage
The Last of the Great Brown Bear Men…. The story of Pinnell and Talifson
Alaska’s Wolfman
Walking Home & Blue Bear
Empire of the Summer Moon
Two into the Far North

All books I’ve read multiple times and plan to read many more times.

Huckleberry Finn

As a kid I was your huckleberry...floated the Truckee on rafts we built, smoked a pipe Tommy and I found, snuck in and fished in the Reno fish hatchery at night, grabbed ducks and stuffed them into burlap bags at Idlewild Park and took them home, some as pets when we clipped wings and some as lunches. Huck was our inspiration, and Tommy was my best friend.

Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter

Amazon has it and the sequel as:

Josey Wales: Two Westerns

Can't say I have a favorite, or best. Too many, too subjective, many genre. Loved the Honor Harrington series of SciFi. I've read most, if not all of L'amores books several times, each. Good, easy, entertaining light reading.

I do know the two I never got through - "The Shining" scared me so bad I put it down and never finished it. Way to go Steven! I did finish the one about the haunted car, Cristine?. Not my favorite author!

The Lord of the Rings series I've started several times, and never could finish . Boring. Watched the movies tho.

The book I have bought most often- maybe 6-8 times, is "Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold.

"Loaned" them out, none have ever come back. I've read that one several more times than I've bought them. I'm out again....

In my top 5 for sure!

Master and Margarita Bulgakov
Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevskiy
In search of Lost time proust
Great Gatsby FS Fitzgerald
Speak Memory. Nabakov
second world war Churchill
Of Mice and men/East of Eden Steinbeck
The Right Stuff. Wolfe

I've read it at least twice, and watched the movie half a dozen times.

Without question "The Call of the Wild" for the simple fact that it was the first book I ever read and it sparked my lifelong love for reading!

As an adult "The Hill" by Leonard B Scott

The Stand, and Shawshank Redemption - Stephen King. Las, check these two out, may change your perspective on Steve

Without Remorse - Clancy

No favourite book exactly, but these are my favourite Authors;

Eric Van Lustbader
Tom Clancy
David Baldacci

& where my love of reading started;

Wilbur Smith

Where The Red Fern Grows

There is no "one best book"

Notable Mentions;

The Painted House, John Grisham

Executive Orders, Tom Clancy

Lord Of The Rings
&
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Call Of The Wild, Jack London

Before The Fall, Noah Hawley

The Illiad, Homer

So many great passages in this book

"There's more beauty in the truth even if it is dreadful beauty. The storytellers at the city gate twist life so that it looks sweet to the lazy and the stupid and the weak, and this only strengthens their infirmities and teaches nothing, cures nothing, nor does it let the heart soar"

Mahabharata is a real page turner

Choirboys/Black Marble/Glitterdome by Waumbaugh. Dark humor at its finest!

African Game Trails.

Two, actually: "The Big E" (story about the USS Enterprise in WWII) and "When Pride Still Mattered" (life of Vince Lombardi)

Call of the wild. I guess I read it more than any other book.

Most useful book though was Left of bang.

Archie and Veronica.

I too could not name just a few... read all the time and my list of favorites is ever changing.

I said he wasn't 't my favorite (and yes, I've read those) author, not that he wasn't good. Anyone that can scare me into not finishing the book is a damned good writer!

"Favorite author" and "best book" are entirely subjective to the reader. Like .....opinions!

My wife and I were living in a bush village in the 70's, when we got a call late one night (about 2 a.m IIRC) from her sister in Montana. She was scared..... reading "The Shining" under the covers with a flashlight, and her kitty clutched in her arms.....

smith is a great story teller. Read all of books

The Revenent. Much better than the movie.

Unintended Consequences by John Ross. The Hunting Shack by Gunnard Landers was good too. Somebody should make movies of both.

Spotshooter;
Good afternoon sir, I hope the day in eastern Kansas is giving you decent weather and you're well.

That's a tough one for me as I read a fair bit and as others have said, it sorta changes with time.

"Meditations on Hunting" by Jose Ortega y Gasset is likely the one I drag out to re-read every couple years. It makes me think.

If I'm being honest, I find the Bible tough reading on a lot of levels, but since others have asked, I prefer New American Standard with notes. I didn't mind Peterson's "The Message" version for flowing nicely as you read it.

"Lonesome Dove" is a pretty good story for sure and I've read it 3 times now which admittedly is likely more than any other fiction I've read. Nothing wrong with fiction, it's all my better half reads, but somehow I just don't that much for the past 20 years.

Canadian author Farley Mowat who did a few fun books like "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" also authored "And No Birds Sang" which is a pretty good soundbite of the Canadian Army through Sicily and the Italian campaign in 1943. He was a leftist snob as a person later on in life so there is that too.

As a history student I'd say that "Blood and Daring - How Canada fought the American Civil War and forged a Nation" by John Boyko and "Bear Child - the life and times of Jerry Potts" by Rodger Touchie should be required reading for all Canadians....

I'll stop now, but thanks much for making me think a wee bit this afternoon.

Best to you all.

Dwayne

Much of this thread has restored some of my faith in its/our members.

It is amazing how many of the books mentioned I have read. I have also now created a list of those in this thread I haven't read but will.

My favorite novel of all time is The Count of Monte Cristo. My second place novel is The Big Sky (go figure).

My favorite non-fiction is tough to narrow down; however, pretty much anything written by Thomas Sowell would be at or near the top. I'm guessing on any given day my answers may differ.

What, Dwayne? - "Never Cry Wolf" isn't a classic???

At some point, and for reasons I don't know, old Farley was declared persona non gratis (is that the term?) in the US, and denied entry.

Hard to pick one:

Top Three

Something of Value
Alaskan Yukon Trophies Won and Lost
All Quiet on the Western Front (Re-Reading it right now)

The Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Tom Clancy book that Jack Ryan becomes President.
Undaunted Courage
The works of Jack London.

"... book(s) ..."

Anything by Peter Hathaway Capstick, Gene Hill or Lewis Grizzard.

Death in the long grass. By Peter Hathaway Capstick

Ron

Shogun - Clavell

The Source - Michener

One author I have not seen mentioned so far.
Leon Uris..
Best page turners ever
dave

las;
Afternoon sir, I hope you're well.

Honestly "Never Cry Wolf" led me to question the veracity of "And No Birds Sang" but checking with other work on the subject I think - think - it's a fairly accurate portrayal or at least his version of it.

"The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" is likely half BS too, but it's a pleasant diversion to read. I couldn't get through "Never Cry Wolf" even when I was younger.

I want to say he became such a screaming leftist/possible communist that he was denied entry into the US for a time. That's a guess on my part of course.

Dwayne

The Bible. (Years ago I would have said that out of obligation, but I really mean it now. The Bible is amazing!)

Another favorite: This Present Darkness

Centennial or Chesapeake.Both were great.

big fan of Robert Roark. The Old Man and The Boy is a favorite.

Ding Ding

SHIBUMI by Trevanian.

A bit weird but = A confederacy of Dunces, this and The Grape of Wrath are the only Pulitzer books I've read.

I have not started this yet = All the Light We Cannot See

The one book that I reread every 3-4 years is Dwight Eisenhower's Crusade in Europe (1948). Part management book, part history, what an amazing 4 years.
Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides (I grew up with the son of the Doctor on this Ranger mission)
Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose
John M Browning by John Browning (another one I read every 3 or 4 years)

The Old Man and the Boy, by Robert Ruark.

I second the River of Doubt. . . . . just an excellent read

The History of the English Speaking language. Winston Churchill


Rio7

Of the Tom Clancy books, I like "Red Storm Rising".

The trilogy on Winston Churchill by William Manchester

"If You Survive" by George Wilson. A line officer's diary of training and combat serving with the 4th ID in WWII.

You have good taste.

Another gentleman of culture and good taste.

1984, the only history book written in advance.

The Agony And The Ecstasy,,

Seabisquit

Lonesome Dove

Fountainhead

Something Of Value

The Story Of O

ect,,,ect,,,,

Penthouse forums were my favorite in middle school/high school. Never really finished reading any of them 100%

My buddy borrowed book 1 and lost it....

Where can I get a copy?

Of Mice And Men John Stinebeck

A Land Remembered. The book pretty much follows what I was told by my Grandfather and Uncle.

The only "book" I have spent many hundreds of hours with and never gleaned all that is there (and never will)...the Bible.

Oh Geez, like Western Movies, And Country Songs, I got dozens of favorite books too!
But there are a few books, which have had a Big impact on me for better or worse!
Jack OConners “Rifles And Shotguns”, turned me into a gunnut, and I’ve been suffering with it ever since! I left that damn thing laying around, and Ben found it too! He’s as bad as I am on guns, and I’m figuring that hand loading ain’t far off!
Dad bought me “The Golden Book Of The Civil War” at the Gettysburg Cyclorama bookshop, I think I was 8. I sparked my interest in American History, and I’ve been a History nerd ever since!
Dave my older brother had a 17 book collection, I forget the name, all about American History, each book covered a certain era, from the French & Indian War to the Apollo Missions in the early ‘70s!
I devoured them as a kid!
These three are the Chief causes of what I have become!
I’m not complaining, as a matter of fact, I’m saving copies of all of them for my grandkids!
7mm

Common Sense

"The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure is."

There are some good ones listed. Not sure of the best but as others have mentioned there are ones I've read a few times. The Ring Trilogy. Dune.

Other's that I've read just once, Moby Dick, The Sun Also Rises, The Godfather, Stranger in a Strange Land, among others.

Probably the one that had the most influence on me was My Side of the Mountain when I was young. Must have read that a dozen times. Frightful.

I just looked on amazonca and they seemed to have an original copy, around 50 bucks.
I see there are different versions, but the original is the only one I would get. I have borrowed it from the library a number of times.

To know Alexander Ross is itself interesting....he was a North West Company man, led at least two Snake River expeditions, and in his youth he was bad azz. He wrote the book nearing the end of his life.

THIS FOR THE WIN !

I found it. Didn't think to try the Canadian Amazon. Thanks for the tip.

This one. Horn of the hunter as well

Worth reading more than once...^^^^

Another good one

I have been fortunate to read many outdoor writers and will subject Jack O’Conner, Ruark, Capstick, Frederick Courtney Selous and others for your consideration. Many have allowed me to hunt exotic foreign countries vicariously through their writings. MTG

I agree with many of these.
Lonesome Dove sit a standard for the tale of the West
I read Grapes of Wrath when Covid started. Had an impact on me.
One not mentioned yet, One Flew Over The Coo Coo Nest. Reads from a perspective the movie couldn’t create.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy
Blood Meridian, The Road, Child of God and everything else by Cormac McCarthy

Fountainhead…

Stafford’s book is great, reading it when I was 12 started my lifelong WWII history. I’ve still got a copy of Big E

As a child….Who Walks the Attic. As a 6th grader, Where the Red Fern Grows. In my teens, it was a short story about a rattle snake and I’ve never been able to find it since. As an adult, I’m mostly interested in westerns later in life, since 2005, so I’ve read The Rider of Lost Creek the most and The Haunted Mesa, I have the Louis L’amour collection that belonged to Mom and Dad.

From about the third grade forward, while in school, I consumed about 300 volumes annually.

One I remember most vividly from 3'rd or 4'th grade was Heinlein's "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel".

That piece set me on a lifetime pursuit of meaningful science fiction. Many do not recognize the import of science fiction. If it is any good, it is ultimately a study in Sociology.

In the author's mind, what can human society achieve? Or, on the other hand, to what depths of depravity can man sink? George Orwell's "Animal Farm" from 1945, and "1984" from 1949 have proven to be amazingly prescient.

Heinlein wrote a lot of childish fiction in the forties, fifties and early sixties. But his later, (and sometimes earlier) adult works are masterpieces including:
Methuselah's Children (1941)
Time Enough for Love (1973)
The Number of the Beast (1980)
Friday (1982)
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985)
To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987).

For pure engrossing, take me away to another world: It has to be JRR Tolkein, followed closely by Frank Herbert. Dune is superlative, with five sequels nearly as entertaining.

As a kid, Where the Red Fern Grows, no doubt. As an adult, I could think of several, many already listed on here, but I will add one not mentioned, Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D'Este. He also has books on Eisenhower and Churchill which are worth the time.

Good Friends,Good Guns, Good Whiskey by Skeeter Skelton (plus his other books) and any Louis LaAmour western.

This is like asking who the greatest rock guitarist of all time is.

The books I’ve read the most include:

Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow and That Distant Land

Roger Scruton’s The Soul of the World

I really liked Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer, Russell Kirk’s bio of Edmund Burke, and CS Lewis’ Till We Have Faces, all of which I’ve read lately.

One book that isn’t “the greatest” by any measure but that I think everyone should read is RR Reno’s Return of the Strong gods. He does an excellent job of explaining post War consensus between members of the Uniparty and how it’s gotten us where we are. Very interesting.

The Old Man and The Sea, i like that one.

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides

No heroes by Danny Coulson

Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell

Anything by Louis L'Amour, Vince Flynn and Teddy Roosevelt

Yukon Trophies won and lost

Will James

Stephen Hunter

Mark Greaney

Brad Thor

Brad Taylor

Charles Sheldon

Elmer Keith an autobiography

Too many to pick one though Ghost Soldiers is probably it.

"Shogun" by far...

Phil

In Clear and Present Danger, The Battle of Ninja Hill is pretty good writing.

Sun also Rises and Movable Feast for Hemingway

Honourable Schoolboy, Le Carre. Searing evocative writing

Non Fiction, Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson

Kevin MacDonald’s Culture of Critique.

Exodus by Leon Uris, several by James Michener, The Bear by William Faulkner, Grapes of Wrath.

I've always liked the Bible - a part at a time. (Too short an attention span for that intense read, I guess)

No mention of The Three Musketeers or Moby Dick?
I also have (at least) most of L'Amour's books.

There are many I'd read again.

Too many....

Authors I like, in no special order.

I have read all, of Hemingway in my early years and liked him But Ruark is a superior author , story teller, fiction and non fiction.


Steinbeck, Ambrose, Jack London, Mowatt, even though he went off at the end of his life. Robert W. Service, John Ross "Unintended Consequences",I believe he started another book before his death.

The " Bounty Trilogy" by Hall & Nordoff (?) " All Quiet on the Western Front", "War of the Roses" Viking Books, The 2 volume book about the UP " Superior Heartland" by Fred Rydholm, All books about bird hunting ,

especially Grouse, I devoured Zane Grey when a teen, Arctic exploration, Plenty more . Can't stand Tolkien.

Too many, but I have read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King 3 times.

A surprise was The Berkut
The Berkut is a 1987 secret history novel by Joseph Heywood in which Adolf Hitler survives World War II. It is set in the period immediately after the fall of The Third Reich. This book pits a German colonel and a Russian soldier from a secret organization against each other.

Do you live in a Homeowners Association? lol

1. The Bible
2. Horn of the Hunter- Robert Ruark

Louis L'amour's "To Tame a Land"

Wow, way too many to list them all.

Death in the Long Grass was one that opened my eyes to African hunting and led to some trips that will be among the highlights of my life.

Where the Red Fern Grows, The North Runner and The Call of the Wild were favorites when I was young and cemented the fact that I will always have at least 2 dogs in the house.

Read all of L'Amour's books and enjoyed them. He was a fellow North Dakotan.

Michener wrote some incredible books and I enjoyed all that I have read so far.

Tolkien, Ambrose, Eckert and many others were fantastic.

Besides The Old Man and the Boy, I never was impressed with Ruark. I found Steinbeck's take on the world depressing.

One of my favorites as well. A few others: The Fragrance of Grass by Guy de la Valdene, Coming Into the Country by John McPhee (actually, anything by McPhee is interesting), The Big Short by Michael Lewis and Big December Canvasbacks by Worth Mathewson. I'm not much on fiction.

The Bible is the most important book I've read. I also recommend The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek.

Charles Goodnight, Cowman and Plainsman, just ordered my 3rd copy cause I borrowed the 1st two out and never got them back, won’t do that again

Gods and generals

After reading this thread, it once again astounds me how many foks who profess to be big fans of Jack O'Connor apparently can't spell his last name correctly....

Me too, Jon.

Where The Red Fern Grows.

280shooter,

Now that's funny!

lonesome dove
do androids dream of electric sheep (novella)
repent, harlequin, said the ticktock man (harlan ellison short story)
the girl with the dragon tattoo
day of the jackal
the black flower (civil war)
the killer angels (civil war)
man-eaters of tsavo

Ever read the Jefferson Bible? I am going to order a copy.

The Jim Corbett books on hunting man eaters. The Brits have a writing style that’s easy to read and Corbett’s descriptions put you right there in India tracking a Tiger or leopard. Kenneth Andersons books on maneaters in southern India aswell

By far, the most important book I've ever read.

Hard to say, but I haven't read fiction in decades and it used to read mostly fiction. I like biographies and history these days.

Favorite quote is "Ask not for who the bell tolls. It tolls for thee."

"Unintended Consequences" by John Ross

Read most of the Hemingway books at least twice.

Folks keep mentioning Louis L'Amour. I don't get it.

I have read every book written by L'Amour and by Zane Grey. While they both had a wonderful talent for painting scenery with the written word. That need was supplanted by celluloid.

L'Amour's "The Californios" being a notable exception. I found it riveting and remember it well almost fifty years after reading.

We had a 1952 set of World Book encyclopedias that were pretty much my only books from 5-10yo so I just looked at pics and eventually read what was in them. For that reason, my writing “style” if you can call it that is technical which is fine considering my job.

I read “Rifles for Watie” by Harold Keith and “Where the Red Fern Grows” in 5th grade. I probably read R4W ten times in a 2yr window after that first time. I loved that book…still do. Can’t wait to introduce it to my kids.
“Where the red fern grows” devastated me and made me aware of the incredible power of literature on a readers emotions…especially as a boy with a beloved dog.

I’ve read lots of classics and great books over the years, but none affected me like those two.

Yep - this would have been my vote.
Rex

Most enjoyable; All the Russel Annabel books. Just absolutely stokes the adventure gene in anyone loving the outdoors and hunting. My highest recommendation.

Most thought provoking; Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984. Visionary work and so relevant today.

Most helpful on self-hunt in Alaska; Dennis Confer's Hunt Alaska Now. Every point made in the book proved prophetic twenty years ago.

Most inspiring; Alfred Lansing's Endurance on Shackleton and crew. A lesson on perseverance.

I am a reader, there have been many.
The most influential, Brave New World by A Huxley
It s playing out in 2023, secularism, soma( a state required mood enhancing drug) State required conformity.
Just look around today and yes, It is happening and there is nothing brave about it. It should of been called " Sad New World", imo

Excellent books to add to the rereading list!

Gun Gack series by Mule Deer!

We can not leave " Working" by Studs Terkel off the list.

I don't care who you are, or what you do. That book will make you appreciate your position in life, and the sacrifices made by many of our immigrant ancestors.

Not to mention the impact it had on the USDA, FDA, and food safety laws in America.

The Illiad was a fantastic read!

Was he a Creedmore fan?🤣🤣

No, why? 40 acres in the mountains

This:

I have a pretty eclectic reading list from sci fi to westerns and most in between..

Probably the most influential book I've read in my life was The Gulag Archipelago. Solhzhenitzyn was a master in describing the pain and humility prisoners in the Russian prison camps felt and the cruelty the guards used in controlling the prisoners....

Wilbur Smith is excellent also but I can't pick out one book of his I prefer over another..

Dune was a good read- both times I read it...

Sometimes it is the setting you read in that makes you remember a book. I had all of Louis Lamour's books (at the time) in paperback when I was in the Army. They were a quick read and I could take them wherever I was at the time a kill some time while the usual Army "hurry up and wait" cycles were repeating themselves... He did a fair amount of travel in areas I have been and still hunt to this day and I can recognize the landmarks he describes in his books, which makes them interesting to me. He was no Hemingway, but he could hold my interest as long as needed when I was in places I would have preferred not to be...

No one has mentioned Patrick McManus? For some laugh out loud relief he is hard to beat....

Also, I reread sections of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran- especially his chapter about children...

Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. A true story about two teenage brothers from a large family who restored an original Piper J3 Cub and flew it from NY to Califirnia with a wet compass, charts and a watch. No radio and no GPS. Incredible story and the only book I've ever read that I stopped reading before I got to the end because I didn't want the story to end. Picked it up about a year later and reread it from beginning to end. I've bought several copies for friends.

Guaranteed to please.

Frank

The Travels of Jamie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey
Dangerous River by R.M. Patterson
Far Pastures by R.M. Patterson
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
I read every Louis L'Amour book I could find , when I was a kid, and loved them. I read "Dangerous River" the first time when I was twelve years old and have read it at least a dozen times since then. All of these are books I will re-read every ten years or so. GD

Lots of good books. Don't know that I can choose a favorite. I think the book with the best ending is Tom Clancy's "Debt of Honor".

If it's the one I think you mean...Will James married my Great Aunt, Alice Conrad in 1920. He did all the artwork and narration, she penned it in the language he used. But the booze got him, she got the divorce in '36 and he only lived 6 more years. A lot of kids were raised on "Smokey" the book, and even more colts were named 'Smokey".

Stranger in a strange land

Behold a Pale Horse, William Cooper

Lots of great reads over the years

I wouldn’t say “best” but damn good (to me) are:

1. The Making of the Atomic Bomb
2. Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb
3. Lone Star
4. Comanches: The History of a People
5. Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico
6. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
7. Into Thin Air
8. The Climb

Thats the same Will James, read all of his books in Junior High. All in the days riding was my favorite.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I can only imagine.

Several Favorites....not sure which would be 'Best'

The Razor's Edge
A Tale of Two Cities
Atlas Shrugged
Uncle Silas
All Creatures Great and Small

I put All Quiet on the Western Front in same category as The Forgotten soldier but FS was more brutal, AQOTWF- maybe more ....felt.

Believe it or not - Dracula. Outstanding writing.

I Claudius

War and Peace.....might be the best.

I read "The Dangerous River".Awesome.I canoed the Nahanni when I was 19.

The great Gatsby
jim Corbett books
Months Of The Sun

I’ve been a big reader all of my life , Where the Red Fern grows was probably my first favorite and no telling how many times I’ve read it. Dogs have been part of me all my life. Anything by the outdoor writer greats , I have book cases full , including hundreds of pounds of Outdoor magazines from the mid sixties on up. Call of the Wild , White Fang , To build a fire by J. London . I grew up reading all of L’ Amours , Zane’s etc. I read everything I could get my hands on about American Indians from the Shawnee’s to Great Plains and southwest. Of Mice and Men is powerful and one more dog book from my youth called Beautiful Joe, I’ve read that many times but I don’t think I could now. Look it up if it’s still available . The Lord of the Rings trilogy is also a fave

I have been pondering this question several days now and like a favorite song there is no way to pick one.
I have enjoyed so many good novels Steinbeck would rate high on my list.

This . Having said that, in no particular order:

1. The Old Man and the Boy. Robert Ruark. Collection but awesome
2. The Professionals
3. Bunch of Louis Lamour
4. Horn of the Hunter, Ruark.
5. Jennie Willow, Gaddis. Could only read once
6. Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows
7. Couple books by a Canadian Barry Broudfoot , dealing with the Great Depression and WWII. Different approach but hit home about a bunch of family’s experiences

Sure I missed others as good....

I've read hundreds of books all of my life. As a kid flashlight under the covers in so I wouldn't get caught being up to late. Result to many favorites to mention.

Yep, anyone that can pick only one favorite isn't very well read.

I will add,
Clan of the Cave Bear( Auel sp?)
Alaska ( Mitchener)
Campfires in the Canadian Rockies( Hornady)
The latter was written in 1905 or so about a location that I hunt now, the trailhead is 20 minutes from my door. I use it as reference and often carry it with me .
I am a Bible reader, and have numerous from Catholic to Cowboy. Read scripture most everyday

Lots of classics listed, but my favorite new book I’ve read is the Mulligan by Jorgenson. Made me feel better about some of the decisions I’ve made in my life. Definitely worth checking out.

What fun to read through all these wonderful remembrances and recall so many of them. Thanks to all.

The Hardy Boys books

also Nancy Drew

Man this is a rough one I went through some Louie Lamar.... Patrick McManus... and those fur fish& game old old books they used to publish... don't read much anymore I use Audible I have them read to me that way I don't have to hold a book that I'm going to drop in my face Vince Foster's books is what I've been going through lately

Reading is like breathing for me. It is necessary for life. I am usually reading 3-5 books at a time, oftentimes more. Asking me which is my favorite is akin to asking which is my favorite breath - my next one!

Robert Ruark,
The Old Man and The Boy
The Old Man’s Boy Grows Older.

Death in the Long Grass by Peter Capstick. It inspired me to make 2 safaris to Africa, with my son.

A great one--The Last Lion. I only have read the third volume (1940-65) more than once, but it is sooo informative, vivid, and well-written. Of course, the subject matter (Churchill) couldn't be better too.

I can't name just one. I have read these more than others.

"The Book of Five Rings" Miyamoto Musashi

"The Jungle" Upton Sinclair,

"1984" George Orwell,

All of Douglas Jones books, Elmer Kelton is another favorite. Empire of the Summer Moon,

Best book depends. Madam Bovary is considered the perfect novel by some experts. It's great. Joseph Conrad for sure; Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Hemingway and Steinbeck are so accessible it's easy to under rate them. Same with LeCarre as for expressing the human struggle within an engaging tale. Riddle of the Sands started a whole genre, is superb. Anthem by Ayn Rand and The Revolution Was, a small tract by Garet Garrett, explains how communist totalitarians took over America through FDR, but nobody noticed. Endurance by Alfred Lansing is brilliant telling of the most heroic true story imaginable, Shakleton's failed expedition to the South Pole. Then there's Dostoyevsky, but I couldn't wade through it.

mercy, i forgot the old man and the sea ...
a river runs through it
to kill a mockingbird
the martian chronicles
fahrenheit 451
1984
animal farm
dreiser's An American Tragedy
dune
brave new world
where the crawdads ing



and THE book: The Bible

The HOLY BIBLE. - Sherwood

Amen Sherwood.

I think Momma and I have read each of Piers Anthony's 23 books in the Xanth series.

Can not really be considered serious literature, but it is good entertainment. Puns galore, usually several giggles per page.

A map of the "Magic Land of Xanth" looks suspiciously like Florida.

J F Coopers The Leatherstocking tales was a early favorite.
Always loved to read. My mom the school teacher made sure of that.
When I moved after the disastrous evil #2 episode I donated 12 boxes of books to good will.
Just didn't have room for them at the next place.

Nice list. The Comanches and Into Thin Air are excellent.

Best overall: "The Stand" --- Stephen King.
Scariest overall (make a grown a$$ man, get all weirded out): "IT" --- Stephen King.

"They Fought Alone: A True Story of A Modern American Hero". I've read it maybe a half dozen times - a page turner the likes of which Hollywood could never make up. A tale of "bucking the system", perseverance, ingenuity, and downright bravery after refusing to surrender to the Japanese in the Philippines, 1942-1944. A stirring example of humans overcoming diversity in the face of true oppression - perhaps applicable here today or in the future.....

The way you put it, that's appropriate today more than ever.

After a conversation with Jean Auel, she is a nut case to me. Clan of the Cave Bear

"Plainsong" by Kent Haruf

And I'm not a fan of either Los Angeles, or it's police department, but about all of the "Harry Bosch" novels by Michael Connelly are good reads.

"Eleven Days" Donald Harstad

"Tunnel In The Sky", Heinlein

"The Windward Road" Archie Carr

Already been mentioned, but Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, and it isn’t even close for me…

Blood Meridian

Journal of a Trapper: Nine Years in the Rocky Mountains, 1834-1843 by Osborne Russell

'Dune' by Frank Herbert is one of my fav's.

With the Old Breed - E.B. Sledge
Crazy Horse and Custer, Citizen Soldiers, Undaunted, etc - Stephen Abrose
Panther in the Sky - A. Thom
Fire Hunter - J. Kjelgaard

Good night moon.

west of the hundredth meridian by wallace stegner

The Last Honest Politician, by Joe Biden. Edited by Mike Obama.

How Green Was My Valley
The Three Days
The Long Knife

....are among my favorites.

When did you take up smoking crack? I had thought much more of you lol

Horrible!

UNDAUNTED COURAGE is a great book

I think its a great book, top 5 for me.

I was going to post it here

also saw someone mention Confederacy of Dunces.

Another favorite of mine.

Blood & Honor by Reinhold Kerstan. Has a sword on the front cover. It is about a kid that grew up in Germany around 1930. He got drafted into the war. He saw and experienced the propaganda of the 3rd Reich. You can get it on Amazon for about $7.00.

Read Mercy, by David Baldacci over the weekend.

While not the best book ever, it was an exceptionally fast paced, well written novel.

So much so, that done, in less than 2 days.

Blood Meridian has to be the best book ever written. Can’t believe it took ten pages to be mentioned.

Reading A Confederacy of Dunces now actually, it’s excellent

I’ve always been a reader, since I was a kid. Mom @ Dad read constantly, and we didn’t have cable.
I read a bunch of Louis LaMore Westerns, and I got older I started reading American History, particularly Civil War, with Gettysburg leading the way.
Since then, I’ve also gotten sorta infatuated with The Alamo and The Little BigHorn Battles.
I’ve read so many excellent books, that I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite.
I love Bruce Catton’s “Army of the Potomac” trilogy, “Mister Lincoln’s Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness At ”Appomattox”.
I have said before that “Bruce Catton set the bar, but Shelby Foote raised it!
Shelby’s Trilogy of the War Between The States, a work that was supposed to be 250,000 words to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the war. But it became his passion, and ended up over 1.5 million words! The work of a lifetime!
I guess I’ve read it probably 6 times, and just started into it again.
So if I had to pick one, that’d be it.
7mm

Some other favorites:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
For Whom the Bell tolls
The Sun Also Rises
Forrest Gump (unlike and ridiculously better than the movie)
Slaughterhouse Five
Catcher in the Rye
Heart of Darkness

Authors I love, hard to go wrong with:
Hemingway
McCarthy
Salinger
Vonnegut
Checkhov
Kate Chopin
Ray Bradbury
Chuck Klosterman
Hunter S. Thompson

Lots of good ones above, one I did not see was "From Here to Eternity". Book is better than the movie.

Just about always the case.

confederacy is great read.

Mostly nonfiction for me. I really liked “The Millionaire Next Door”, and learned a lot from it. “Stories of the Old Duck Hunters” would be my favorite outdoor book, but it’s collection of short stories. My wife and daughters are the real readers in the family.

Lots of my favorites already mentioned, but I'll add one more.

anything by Gene Hill

G23

A few of my favorites

Anthem by Ayn Rand

A Tale of Two Cities

Last of the Mohicans

Lost Horizon

Green Hills of Africa

African Rifles And Cartridges by John Taylor is an all time favorite of mine.

The best book I ever read was about 1000 pages long. Cannot remember the name of it, but it was about the drug war. It was like 3 separate books running at the same time, and in the end, they were all tied together. Non-fiction.

Love Peter Hathaway Capstick's Books. All of them.

Don't typically read this kind of stuff, but The Art of Racing in the Rain was outstanding. Much better than the movie, as was A Dog's Purpose.

Just finished Black Ops-The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior by retired CIA Officer Ric Prado. It was good. Worth the read.

Lord, I’ve read most everything listed. I’m an avid reader and had excellent teachers and school experiences. I’m where I am because of a good public school education. I grew up in Greenville, MS known as having more authors than any other town its size in the US. It was not uncommon to see Shelby Foote in the grocery store ( his family’s plantation was south of Greenville or William Faulkner’s literary agent. The Keatings did photo and stories for National Geographic. The Percy’s were a literary family of authors. Mississippi has always been renowned for its authors and creative musicians. Hell, some of us read, and some can actually write! I love short stories, and southern writers. I also like to read of hunting and fishing. The power of the written word is powerful. My son just requested that I mail my Robert Roark books and Nash Buckingham books to him. I liked Will James especially his pen and ink drawings. Authors I like are many: Carmack McCarthy, Rick Bragg, Gene Hill, Hemingway, Faulkner, Welty, Jack London and on and on.

So am I but I prefer Horn Of The Hunter

The Bible is another favorite but I prefer KJV

Wow, this tickled the gray matter....Mom and her mother were librarians and we did not have TV until I was a senior in high school.

There is no best one, only many excellent fiction and non-fiction works, some which have been mentioned previously in this thread. Here are a few others that stick in my mind:

Coming Into the Country, Pine Barrens, The Founding Fish, Rising From the Plains, The Control of Nature, and many others by John McPhee
Something of Value and others by Robert Ruark
1421: The Year China Discovered the World, Gavin Menzies. Much criticized but an interesting perspective on Chinese exploration.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Charles C. Mann
The Look of the Old West, William Foster-Harris
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and others by John Le Carre
Animal Tracks and Hunter Signs, Ernest Thompson Seton.
The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
Honor Bound and many others, W. E. B. Griffin
Paddle to the Sea and others, Holling C. Holling
Longitude, Dava Sobel

The Road

Green Hills of Africa is one I’ve read many, many times.

Frontersman By Alan Eckert

Don’t be a hater bro.


No Country for Old Men, The Frontiersman, and That Dark and Bloody River are also favorites. Honestly the last two I enjoy more than McCarthy. I just really like McCarthy’s writing style and attention to detail.

I find lately that I read to be entertained, rather than to be educated. Maybe I work so hard that I need to give my brain a break. I read anything by Dick Francis, Craig Johnson, Louis Lamour, David Baldacci, John Sanford, Gene Hill, Sigurd Olson, Nash Buckingham,Gordon Macquarrie, or William Kent Krueger.

Dean

Shōgun by James Clavell.

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis.
Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg.
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Who Goes There by John W. Campbell

Last of the breed, by Louis LaMoure(SP?)

Virgil B.

The Lord of the Rings books by Tolkien. Have read all 3 books over 30 time starting in 5th grade.

Lonesome Dove

America- What Went Wrong.

By Charles 'Chuck' Colsen President Nixon cabinet member & Jack Eckerd Drugstore founder.

30 plus years ago it explained the plan to tax and spend the USA into oblivion, in order to create a country of ''little kings'' -> politicians and they overlords/globalist.

Can't remember the exact name of No. 2 book, yellow cover, Pork Barrel Projects, how gov't doles out 10's, even 100's of millions of dollars that ?somehow? a big percentage makes its way back into the pockets of gov't employees.

Think I saw With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge mentioned a time or two, it is a book every American should read. I will make my daughters read it in a few years

If you’ve been to war yourself perhaps you don’t need to, but everyone else should

The Bible/simple rules/hope/humility.
"The Jungle"/Upton Sinclair, a good look at humanity.
Many by Garrison Keillor, a humorous look at everyday life in the Midwest.

The" Gulag Archipelago", a great insight to what is to come, for all those "Woke" window lickers!
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author.

In the middle of 'Atlas Shrugged' right now...
So timely it's not even funny!
Ayn Rand was a visionary

The Bible kjv

The Old Man And The Sea

So many good ones but Atlas Shrugged stands alone for me.

God’s Smuggler
By Brother Andrew

Lonesome Dove

Not really. She spoke of the history she had lived through.

Inevitably, history repeats itself.

Atlas Shrugged should be required reading for citizenship/voting privileges (sorta kidding) along with Animal Farm and 1984.

Read it while driving around Zimbabwe in 2000, when they were kicking farmers off their land. Read a section, look around and see it happening.

That said, I think she got paid by the word.

You and I would get along swimmingly. Especially when you mentioned Cormac. Then there are the non-fictions...

Ambrose
Churchill
Foote
Meacham




This might be the best thread in a while Gents. Appreciate you all.

I tend to like non-fiction But have read many of those listed here.

The bible has become a favorite since I became a christen.

Some not mentioned are;

All of the journals about Lewis & Clarke.

Alaska wolfman, Anything about the westward movement and settlement of the west.

Moby Dick

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Debbie does Dallas

Mody Dick by Herman Melville.

As Ron Sawnson from Parks and Recreation said, "It's just a book about a man that hates an animal."



I'm actually re-reading it right now. Love it.

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell.

Can't pick one. The Old Man and The Sea. Travels with Charley in Search of America. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Reading is for chicks

Well yeah, if all you got at the Piggly Wiggly is romance novels.

I called Melville’s Moby dick in page 3.

Sticking to it for best ever single piece of American literature, to date.

I one has mentioned Machiavelli’s The Prince, for world lit.

I might throw Dante’s Divine Comedy into the mix, but I have learned much from, and continue to learn more, upon every re-reading of The Prince. Get after it about once every 5 years.

Cormac Macarthy is writer like we had not been blessed with for a …. Century. Give or take.

The Bible
Horn of the Hunter
The Old Man & The Boy

History of the English Speaking People by Churchill the xenophobe. (typical of the times)

anything by Bill Bryson

Last of the Breed by Louis LaMore

Virgil B.

Lonesome Dove comes to mind.

Im half embarrassed to admit, I only read about one or two books a year. If I had to nail it down to the best, it would have to be "Atlas Shrugged", and "The Crossing" by Cormac McCarthy coming in a close second.

Nearly anything by James Lee Burke. I just like his writing style.

Jim