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Topic: Favorite book?

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tsm7

I didn't read anything from English class...

tsm7

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Intrepid

My favorite book is The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald. The book is about a boy named Tom who is highly intelligent, and uses his brain to think of ways to swindle all of the other kids in town out of all of their money and possessions by making bets with impossible odds, and making games like the Wheel of Fortune (he succeeds nearly every time). The setting is the fictional town of Adenville, Utah, in the 1890's, and in addition to the various things he does to take everyone's money, he also solves train robberies and gets into all kinds of mischief.

Some things he does that are interesting:
-Rigs a game of tug of war that he bet on by planting stakes in the ground the previous night, earning him about $10 (to put that into perspective, 10 cents is a kid's weekly allowance in those times).
-Has to spade the family garden, and is normally paid 50 cents for it. Instead, he puts a dollar in a tin can and buries it in the garden, and has people dig for it as buried treasure. He then secretly pays the winner 25 cents to get the dollar back, as he told that person ahead of time where to dig for it. So at the end of the day, he got 50 cents from his parents for spading the garden, 75 cents from the money switch with the winner, and didn't have to do any work. (Tom Sawyer should take notes).
-Secretly has entire town's kids steal alcohol from their parents to plant in the room of a schoolteacher they want fired (the schoolboard won't allow teachers to drink).
-Sets up a Wheel of Fortune where he charges 5 cents a spin, and has 10 people play, earning him 50 cents. He rewards the winner with the cash value of a display prize, which is worth less than 50 cents. He eventually runs everyone dry by secretly making a profit on each spin.
-Horse races with another kid and wins, as the other kid's horse tires easily. Tom then proceeds to trade horses and race again, and wins a second time.

There are so many other things he does, and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes stories about clever people, or about life 100 years ago, or anyone who likes economics. Technically, it is labled as a children's book, but it is meant for all ages, and the writing style of the author is something I like a lot. It is an 8 book series, but 1, and 4-7 are the best in my opinion. I read it as a kid, and it has a quality about it that makes me still like it today.

tl;dr It's a great book. You should give it a chance.

Edited on by Intrepid

MeWario

The New Deadwardians, Saga, Y: The Last Man, Daredevil. That there is my current top 4, and don't tell me they're not books!

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MeWario

@Intrepid: Thanks for sharing! That sounds pretty cool, I might have to cheek it out!

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TsunamiSensei

Groose_Lord wrote:

I predict @SenseiPikPik will come and say Lord of the Rings

WRONG! I say The Hobbit.

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TwilightV

Can't say I have a favorite book unless graphic novels count, in which case, One Piece.

At the moment i'm looking for the Dragonlance series.

Edit: Agreed about preferring The Hobbit to LOTR, though both are good.

Edited on by TwilightV

TwilightV

dumedum

Catcher in the Rye by far. Next to my bed even.

In the Fantasy/SCI-FI area definitely the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and some Terry Pratchett books.

Aforementioned "To Kill A Mockingbird" and 1984 are very very good, too.

Edited on by dumedum

"Dubs Goes to Washington: The Video Game".

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Jani-Koblaney

The Bible.
My favorite non-religious book is probably Huckleberry Finn..

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Banker-Style

Kama Sutra.

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HawkeyeWii

Pet Semetary
Stephen King is the best!

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MikeDanger

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is my favorite book of all time, If there's ever a book made for men it has to be Fight Club. I even have two copies(paperback and hardcover)

Currently i'm reading Metro 2033 which is a rather interesting post apocalyptic read.

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Captain_Balko

HawkeyeWii wrote:

Pet Semetary
Stephen King is the best!

Pet Semetary was fantastic, although his books of novellas and short stories are perhaps my favourite Stephen King books (I like them even better than his novels).

As for favourite book of all time, though... I think I might have to go with the Great Gatsby. I still call people "old sport" (much to the confusion of those who haven't read the book) for fun.

Captain_Balko

bezerker99

Captain_Balko wrote:

HawkeyeWii wrote:

Pet Semetary
Stephen King is the best!

Pet Semetary was fantastic, although his books of novellas and short stories are perhaps my favourite Stephen King books (I like them even better than his novels).

As for favourite book of all time, though... I think I might have to go with the Great Gatsby. I still call people "old sport" (much to the confusion of those who haven't read the book) for fun.

I loved Pet Semetary as well. The movie was also well done, I thought.

I wasn't much on the whole "Oz the Gweat and Tewwible" stuff in the novel, but it was still a great, scary read!

AccessibleDaydream

Definitely The Hunger Games series.

AccessibleDaydream

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Drobotic

Catching Fire.I felt like it was better than the other two books in the series.Also,it made me realize how cruel the Capitol was.Second favorite is The Giver.

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Captain_Balko

Drobotic wrote:

Catching Fire.I felt like it was better than the other two books in the series. Also,it made me realize how cruel the Capitol was.Second favorite is The Giver.

Completely agree. It was nothing short of epic. Hunger Games was a nice introduction to the series, and then Catching Fire simply blew me away, ESPECIALLY with the ending. Then I found Mockingjay to be sort of meh. (SPOILER ALERT, don't read further unless you read Mockingjay) It was like, "Well, we aren't in the Hunger Games, but the city is SORT OF LIKE the Hunger Games for some reason that is barely justified..." I quite liked the parts with Snow, though.

But yeah. Catching Fire > Hunger Games > Mockingjay

Edited on by Captain_Balko

Captain_Balko

the_shpydar

Captain_Balko wrote:

But yeah. Catching Fire > Hunger Games > Mockingjay

I'd agree with that assessment. I can't wait to see how the Catching Fire movie turns out.

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MikeDanger

Anyone read The Stand by Stephen King? Boy oh boy.... I should have done a little research before buying this huge book online.

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