Which book would you force someone to read?

[Tressa]

Just added BC to my TBR list. I loved Clark's Darkness Demands. Thanks!

[Suzanne]

Boy's Life by Robert Mccammon. just how much force can i use??!!

[Amanda]

mwhahaha I'll be evil and choose Santa Steps Out by Robert Devereaux that should do some damage, lol, but I loved it.

[Suzanne]

great title!

[Elizabeth]

I would force someone to read "Dust" by Charles Pelligrino. While in bed. Beneath the blankets and sheets. That book made me itch. :)

Years ago someone forced me to read gross passes from "American Psycho", wanting to see my reaction. One was the Habitrail scene. I borrowed the book from him, and read it in two days. :) He said he had shown that scene to several women he knew, and I was the only one not grossed out. He should have known better. I love horror (although that book isn't horror in my mind)! The book was a fun read for me.

[Scott]

My gun-to-the-head book would be Peter Straub's Ghost Story. I firmly believe nobody tells a story as beautifully as Straub, while simultaneously managing to chill your soul.

[Bunny]

Tressa wrote: "Mystic River..."
omg Tressa. That book BROKE MY HEART. Look, tears just thinking about it. The movie was ok too, but the book.... *sigh* Its mighty fine writing when a book affects (effects?) you long after you've put the pages away. Man, I may have to put this on my RE-read list...

[Bunny]

Im going to have to whip out my nerd card and say anything by Tolkien. I know, Im sorry. LOL....

I read some of the papers he presented when he was in college and I was left in awe of the clarity of that mans imagination...

I was really kind of sad to pick up the "re-releases" of the LOTR trilogy to find it had been edited to match the movie. Whole bits taken out and other bits in the wrong spots. Made me sad. *thumbs down to the effect Hollywood has on print*

[Lori]

I would force people to read Lolita. It's my favorite book forever and for always. But so many people are scared off by the subject matter and it's not the easiest read either.

[Bandit]

Lori wrote: "I would force people to read Lolita. It's my favorite book forever and for always. But so many people are scared off by the subject matter and it's not the easiest read either."

I'm so glad someone feels the same way I do about Lolita

[Tressa]

Bunny, Mystic River sucked me in from page one. What great characterization. And Lehane kept the mystery going till the end, or at least this dummy didn't figure it out until it was revealed. Did you like the movie? Penn chews up the scenery, but this scene is great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BhoAl...

The passages in Mystic River where it's explained how Jimmy raised his young daughter after her mother's death are so heartbreaking but perfect.

But not as great as this scene from Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1--uEF...

"Subsisting on Twinkies and ass-whuppings." I watch this scene every few months so I can cheer Ed Harris and have a good cry.

[Bunny]

Tressa wrote: "Bunny, Mystic River sucked me in from page one. What great characterization. And Lehane kept the mystery going till the end, or at least this dummy didn't figure it out until it was revealed. Did y..."

I thought the Mystic River movie was ok. I mean I have watched it more than once so that is to say I did NOT think it SUCKED. BUT... knowing how movies and books differ, I picked up the book AFTER I had watched the movie. I found the book to be so much better. I only "teared up" in the movie, no drippage. The book made me "CRY". There is a big diff. LOL!!!

oh, I hated Gone Baby Gone. I think it was one of the movies that got entirely too much hype and I didnt like it before we even walked in the theater, kwim? haha. Man Im fickle. haha!!!

[Tressa]

I actually didn't like the Mystic River movie at all; I just think that scene conveys the love Jimmy has for his daughter and the anguish he feels when he learns that she's dead. Marcia Gay Harden really made me hate the movie; she is a horrible actress, IMO.

I don't think GBG got too much hype, and although I don't like how Angie was shoved to the background or the fact that they changed a character's color so Morgan Freeman could be in it--I hate when they do that--it's a pretty good movie with a difficult ending. I think the ending of the movie, although the same as in the book, really hits home just what a mistake was made.

[Rusty]

Although I HAAAAAATE the ending of GBG, what I hate more is the fact that I don't know if I could force myself to make a different choice in Affleck's place.

[Bandit]

I liked GBG, it's the kind of movie you can have a real discussion about, though personally I disagreed with the choice made at the end.My significant other agreed with it, though.

[Tressa]

I thought Patrick did the WRONG thing, although in his position not knowing the future I would have done the same thing. The trampy mother was in anguish when her daughter was missing, but me thinks she's just an attention whore. So much is said in that last scene that we can predict that girl's future just by watching it.

[Kristy]

Everyone should read it. Pretty powerful.

[Moon]

I would make a friendly suggestion that someone should read Tolkien's The Silmarillion.

[sonny (no longer in use)]

120 days of sodom

[Jon Recluse]

[jb]

Jon and Tressa have convinced me to read Lonesome Dove. It was on my list to read this year, but school has taken over. I'm hoping in December during break I can start that book.

[Char]

Tressa and Jon got me to read it. I loved it. Really, really loved it.

[Char]

Boy's Life by Robert McCammon.

[Sarah Nicole]

Fahrenheit 451 because in the book, books are banned and burned. So I would want people who don't read to read it like my boyfriend to see how easy it would be for the government to take away are books/freedom and how with a blink of an eye it could be gone so we should read books while we still can :)

[Squire]

anuier wrote: "120 days of sodom"

That's an interesting choice. I never finished that book as it started out as a narrative and then just became a list of depraved sexual acts. It was as if the Marquis lost interest and just wanted to list as many shocking acts as he could. Since he stopped carring about the story, why should I care enough to finish it? I did watch the movie Salo, though.

My choice would be Uncle Tom's Cabin. Not only because of it's place in American history and it's effect on our national conscience, but also because it's a book that is often maligned without having been read. It's also a towering achievment in terms of narrative and characterization.

I remember an episode of 21 Jump Street in which Captain Fuller (Steven Williams) gave Officer Hanson (Johnny Depp--back when he was actually acting rather than playing himself) a copy of Moby Dick and told him that if he could read that book and discuss it intelligently, he was ready to move into real world. I might vote for that one.

[Scott]

120 Days of Sodom would be a pain in the ass.

I might go for Green Eggs and Ham...I would hate to inspire reading by force.

[Kate]

Charlene wrote: "Boy's Life by Robert McCammon."

YES. :D

[Tressa]

jennbunny wrote: "Jon and Tressa have convinced me to read Lonesome Dove. It was on my list to read this year, but school has taken over. I'm hoping in December during break I can start that book."

Yes, do!

[Jenn]

I would say the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[Justin]

Adrian- oh god! I feel as though I was forced as a teen to sit in a theater and watch all 3..talk about boring! lol.

I'd force people to read classic horror novels like Dracula and Frankenstein, like come on now their classics!

[Justin]

Adrian- oh god! I feel as though I was forced as a teen to sit in a theater and watch all 3..talk about boring! lol.

I'd force people to read classic horror novels like Dracula and Frankenstein, like come on now their classics!

[Marc-Antoine]

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

[Jenn]

Justin wrote: "Adrian- oh god! I feel as though I was forced as a teen to sit in a theater and watch all 3..talk about boring! lol.

I'd force people to read classic horror novels like Dracula and Frankenstein, l..."

Well Lord of the Rings is a classic in its own right, they're just not the oldest books out there. And I just burst out laughing because you sound exactly like a family member of mine who hates LoTR and would pretty much rather be beaten than sit through the movies.

[Justin]

Oh man, you have no idea. I enjoyed some of it but I sat there and sat there and kept seeing Elijah Wood woosing out and it made me cringe. Dragged out scenes and ahh reading it must be painful.

[Mehmet]

Dune by Frank Herbert, because it has a special place in my heart in my book reading life. While every one was going crazy on Lord of the rings, it was the Dune series i was enjoying :-)

[Jacky]

Justin wrote: "Oh man, you have no idea. I enjoyed some of it but I sat there and sat there and kept seeing Elijah Wood woosing out and it made me cringe. Dragged out scenes and ahh reading it must be painful."

Extremely painful!

[[deleted user]]

I love LOTR and the movies but even my patience was tested in the last movie. Way too long. And probably didn't help that I needed the restroom. Bad.

And I hate Elijah Wood - don't know why, I just do.

[TJ]

The Stand. And it might take them a while...

[Alondra]

Boy's Life. Incredible, poignant and just amazing writing.

[Alondra]

Justin wrote: "Oh man, you have no idea. I enjoyed some of it but I sat there and sat there and kept seeing Elijah Wood woosing out and it made me cringe. Dragged out scenes and ahh reading it must be painful."

Samwise was the hero in that movie and the books, but he had to play 2nd fiddle to fumbling Frodo... gggrrrr...

[Jenn]

Mehmet wrote: "Dune by Frank Herbert, because it has a special place in my heart in my book reading life. While every one was going crazy on Lord of the rings, it was the Dune series i was enjoying :-)"

I am so late to the party with LoTR. While the rest of the world was going nuts over the books/movies I was into the Inheritance Cycle and ignored all of it. Luckily the new Hobbit movie is making all of my rambling relevant again.

[Mehmet]

Adrian its nice to see i was not the only one :-) Another book i may force people to read is Count of Monto cristo just to see the look of dispair at the length to the look of joy as they start to have fun. That book is pure swash buckling adventure :-)

[[deleted user]]

I love the Count of Monte Cristo. One of the funnest books I have ever read. Really. Even if you think you don't like classics. Highly recommended.
Have you read the Three Musketeers? I meant to but haven't gotten around to it.

[David]

I liked The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. If you liked the Count, you'll like Three Musketeers too. I started the second book in the D'artagnan series, but didn't finish because the book started falling apart. I'll have to get back to it as an e-book.

TJ-- which version of The Stand would you force them to read?

I suppose I would force someone to read Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany because it's my favorite book and it took me a hundred pages to get into it the first time I read it. Now that I think about it, horror fans might be more inclined to like it than Science Fiction fans. A lot of horrific things happen in the book, it's a lot about loss of identity and social structure.

The first time I watched the first LOTR movie, I was multi-tasking and decided once something in the plot grabbed me, I'd stop what I was doing and just watch. The next thing I knew, the credits were rolling and 3 hours had passed. Nothing had grabbed me enough in that time to stop what I was doing. It took being bedridden to do the whole trilogy in a marathon. It got me to read the books, but I never did finish the third one. Previously, I'd tried to start the first book 10 or 20 times over about 25 years. I just can't stand Tolkien's writing style. It took knowing the plot and a lot of push for me to read them. Once, a friend of mine made a comment on how wonderful LOTR is (this was way before the movies came out) and I told her I'd tried many times and could never read them. She knew I'd read just about everything like LOTR and she admitted she'd never read them herself. It makes me wonder how many people "love" LOTR, but never read it and just feel like they "should" like it in conversation because everyone else has read it and loved it. I don't think I would ever force someone to read it. I still haven't been able to manage to read The Hobbit.

[[deleted user]]

I love Lotr but I like The Hobbit more. And I totally understand why Tolkien isn't for everyone. And honestly I like the characters, the world, and the history of the Lotr books more than the books themselves... If that makes sense. The Hobbit though I can read over and over. One of my favorite books.

[Mehmet]

I have The Three Musketeers but not read it yet. Its on my too read pile. Yeah i also loved Count of Monto Cristo. Thats why its a good book to recommend as its a story that influenced so many others. A classic and a fun read.

[Holly]

Do unto others.......

I would never force anybody else to read anything because I wouldn't want to be forced to read anything myself.

[[deleted user]]

I'm the same way. I know I know I hate to be forced to do anything. Even read. Its a control issue. And when I do recommend books I consider the age and likes of the person. Movies are another thing. I do have 'Have to see movies'.

[Sound]

I would force my friends to read Stephen King's Misery.

[Mollydee]

wow, I am looking at stacks of books here. Going over all the books I read as a child. I know this is broad, but it would be ANY book by Neil Gaiman. (Yes here I go again!) Loved his comics, loved "The Graveyard Book" and "Neverwhere". He can weave a wonderland a million times better than the one Alice was in. He is a one of kind writer and is a truly gifted story teller. If you ask me to choose between the above, I may say "Neverwhere" because it had a little more action.