The Best Books Ever

[Satan's Onion]

Hey, has anyone else mentioned the Great Brain? 'Cos I really liked those books when I was tiny. They were a little teeny tiny bit like the Little House on the Prairie books, in that they're kind of about what life was like Way Back When; only instead of long, tedious descriptions of how meat was smoked and preserved for the winter and the illustrations in the Bible the kids were allowed to look at once a week or something, the main character was doing astonishing and often hilarious things (which generally ended up with him making tons of cash off his brothers and/or schoolfellows).

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

when I was tiny

I'm now imagining you as one of the Littles.

Originally Posted by BraveFencer Shinryuu

I had Encyclopedia Brown books, I just don't recall actually reading them. Probably was too busy rereading Maniac Magee.

I can't disrespect that.

[Azisien]

Well let's see, my childhood book reading consists of the following contest, Goosebumps vs. The Hobbit. I think we all know who wins!

Though other books I loved as a kid were The Giver and Tuck Everlasting.

[CelesJessa]

I have to throw my chip in for Animorphs too. That series was awesome. I still haven't read every single book, which makes me sad.

I remember liking the Fudge books (Tails of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, etc), Artemis Fowl, Shiloh, Bruce Coville's books, and some of the other ones mentioned here. Wayside School books were like crack.

The American Girls series was pretty popular too. I read a couple books from each girl's collection(from set before they started introducing new ones), and then read all of the other ones for Felicity (I even have one of those Felicity American Girl dolls. Cost waaay too much)

I also read the Sweet Valley High books a lot.

I own a lot of Boxcar Children and The Baby Sitters Club books(in my pile of old books), but I really don't remember reading them a lot.

[Mashirosen]

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

Hey, has anyone else mentioned the Great Brain?

!!!! A few days ago I was trying to remember the name of those books and couldn't, for the life of me. Thank you so goddamn much. Wasn't the Brain or one of his brothers always getting nosebleeds? Because I remember learning the right way to treat them from those books -- have the sufferer tilt their head forward, not backward, and put a cold, wet cloth on the back of their neck. This crazy half-backward pioneer doctorin' works every time.

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

long, tedious descriptions of how meat was smoked and preserved for the winter

But dude, those are the best parts of the Little House books! Playing with pig's bladders! Making maple candy in the snow! Homemade bullets! Maybe it's different if you were raised in the sticks like I was, by people not all that far removed from that kind of lifestyle, but man. I always loved Kirsten's books in the American Girl series best for the same reason, and Caddie Woodlawn too.

Originally Posted by Invisible Queen

Being Swedish, I grew up enjoying the works of Astrid Lindgren. I doubt you could get any better.

But as much as I loved those books, I can't disagree with this. Part of me would really love to see the Pippi books given gorgeous new reprints in the US, but the other part of me is afraid they'd try to tart her up in the image of some marketing flack's creepy idea of what little girls these days like.

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark yet. Oh, Stephen Gammell, you gleeful architect of thousands of elementary school nightmares.

[Fenris]

Garfield at Large* by Jim Davis.

I suppose I can support the Animorphs series, until you get to the end of it, where K.A. Applegate just decided to take a shit in everything we hold close and dear to our hearts.

*I'm joking, although when I was like 7 or 8 I was an avid Garfield fan.

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by Mashirosen

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark yet. Oh, Stephen Gammell, you gleeful architect of thousands of elementary school nightmares.

Those books were awesome, if only for the extremely freaky, nightmare inducing illustrations of Stephen Gammell contained within them. I mean, really, wow. My older sister hated the books solely based on those images. She originally got the first one, but I inherited it, and I got the other two in the series later. But they're so fucking cool. I mean, just look at one of them!



I have no idea what the story originally paired with that image was about, and really, I don't care.

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Mashirosen

But dude, those are the best parts of the Little House books! Playing with pig's bladders! Making maple candy in the snow! Homemade bullets!

I still remember going up to my mom and demanding to know who they were trying to kid that people used cowshit for fuel.

[Kerensky287]

Originally Posted by FenrisWolf

I suppose I can support the Animorphs series, until you get to the end of it, where K.A. Applegate just decided to take a shit in everything we hold close and dear to our hearts.

I agree entirely. It kinda seemed like she just got bored of the series.

...Though I do remember that I was always the first kid in my school to get them, and when the last one came out, I brought it to school and spoiled it for everyone because I was a jerkass with a heart of gold. The heart of gold part was because I didn't want them to be as heartbroken as I was.


I'm gonna throw my support out for the Great Brain books, too.


Other than that... well, I didn't read a whole lot other than Animorphs when I was younger. Though I did have like 3 Battletech books that I read over and over. I remember one... Ghost of Winter, I think it was called... some guy finds a mountain full of giant robots after his home planet gets occupied by an evil authoritarian regime and he (for a good while) single-handedly fights them using terror tactics and his mountain of robots. Damn that was fun to read.

EDIT: Oh damn, Redwall! I forgot all about those ones! They had a certain, umm, range of quality... but the good ones were the best out there.

[Mirai Gen]

I own a lot of Boxcar Children and The Baby Sitters Club books(in my pile of old books), but I really don't remember reading them a lot.

I never got into the Babysitters Club or anything else that practically screamed "GIRLS ONLY" to me, but I do remember reading Boxcar Children. It was like some hobo-siblings version of Scooby Do, but without a dog that could talk and no blatant stoner parallels.