Poirot,

Very good question.

I don't reach much fiction either and I don't have a single favourite book.

Some favourites are-

(1) 'On Liberty', by J S Mill (2) any well-written history book, particularly by J J Norwich or Donald Kagan (3) 'The Prince' by Machiavelli and (4) 'The Book of Heroic Failures' by Stephen Pile, it's non-fiction but very funny. LOL

Fiction - any Terry Pratchett novel, LOL and witty.

I'm, with you Lexi, I think I enjoyed the Potter books more than the kids.

Then there was a nothing book, The Cruiser, a tale of a mythical WW11 warship, a prize for some achievement in high school. It was responsible for starting a 15 year old kid living 300+ miles from the sea, thinking about joining the navy.

But best of all was Sir Francis Chichester's Along The Clipper Way. This was a result of Chichester's research for his single handed voyage, [the first] around the world.

It is a compilation of writings of hundreds who sailed the mighty clippers, & some smaller ships, in the days right up to WW11. It tells of the joys, the terrors, & the hardships they experienced, & the satisfaction they achieved.

It brought home to me reason for so many of our ills in todays world. So many lived such exciting dangerous, & hard lives, not just sailors but everyone in those days, every day was an adventure.

No one needed drugs, when they flooded their body with adrenaline, just living their normally dangerous existence.

Yep it's those 2 & some by the racing drivers in the 30s, I blame for where my life led me. We only get about 20 years to do most things that require top physical abilities, & they are the same years when most are building a career.

I know I'm financially poorer because I chose to chase those dreams, but I'd rather that, than be sitting in a gold plated rocking chair, thinking if only.

Reading R0bert's comment really brought back memories.
I remember reading Stranger in a Strange Land back in the Sixties, and I thought it the best thing ever. I really believed we were going to change the world.
Ah youth!!
But thanks for bringing it all back, R0bert. It's was a helluva time, back then wasn't it.
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

Glad everyone is enjoying the topic.
One of the things I like about OLO's literature threads is finding some commonality between my reading and that of other people.

Jayb,

From your selection I've read "Future Shock" and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". I got about the same distance into Ulysses, although I like Joyce's short stories and I've read "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". Good on you for having contributed to that book on the Vietnam experience.

Lexi,

"The Moon's A Balloon" is an absolute scream - one of my all time favourites.

o sung wu,

I too enjoyed "The Surgeon of Crowthorne", but even more I enjoyed Winchester's, "The Map that Changed the World".

csteele,

I think Tim Winton is an uncanny and masterful writer, however, his writing doesn't really do it for me - maybe I should have another go.

mac,

I read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series when my daughter was a teenager - so hilarious.

Robert,

I haven't read "Stranger in a Strange Land", but I reckon I'm going to do so in the future.

I love short stories particularly which I'll expand on later.

Here's another sublime title (IMO) - "A Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight".

The short list.
Fiction:
The Grapes Of Wrath-John Steinbeck.
Blood Meridian-Cormac Mc Carthy
Cloudstreet-Tim Winton
Do androids dream of electric sheep?- Phillip.K.Dick

Non fiction:
The Struggle for Europe-Chester Wilmot
The Gulag Archipelago-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Pandaemonium- Humphrey Jennings

“A person's favorite book isn't always a perfect indicator of his or her personality, but it never hurts to find out what it is, just in case.”

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/favorite-book-as-personality-test-the-catcher-in-the-rye-the-lord-of-the-flies-and-the-outs

Dear Poirot,

It took Breath to lock me into Winton. I had read Cloudstreet and his others earlier but went back to them after Breath blew my socks off. It was if the proverbial veil had been lifted from my eyes. I devoured them with much joy and enlightenment.

Dear J of M,

Pretty handy list of fictional works you have there. Blood Meridian was one hell of a visceral work. As indicated for me I would have Breath pipping Cloudstreet and Cannery Row doing the same to Grapes of Wrath. I would have to add Conrad's Lord Jim, but Phillip K Dick would stay.

Dear mac,

The Prince is like the Art of War, both quite strong books, but I would struggle to include them as a favourite. Why the attraction?