Books, Books, and more Books

[canadabear]

Seeing as I can't find it anywhere else, and I know it is going to be said evetnually by someone, what is your favorite book
or at least what are some booky you like or are current reading etc.
i don't really have an all-time fav book, but i am a big reader for my age
ummm, im reading discworld books right now, and have a pile of tom clancy, isaac asimov, and whoever wrote the wheel of time series book piled up in my room, fresh from the library. Post away

[KefkaTaran]

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers. Check it out, y'all.

[canadabear]

never heard of it, whats it about?

[E-DuB]

The Great Gatsby, and LOTR Trilogy

[Gramcrackered]

My quote should make clear my favorite author.
That aside, I also enjoy Stephen King and R.A. Salvatore's older works; I say older, because King's gotten too soft lately and Salvatore has dragged the Drizzit series for too damn long.
And, before I get blasted, I LIKE Drizzit. All things need to end at some point though.

[Tark]

Terry Brooks' Shannara saga, anything by tolkien, and Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy (the games suck ass tho)

[Chrono_Traveller]

One of my favorite series - The Ender Trilogy, esp. Ender's Game (Ender's shadow wasn't bad either)

As for what I'm reading now, I've been thinking about starting the newest WoT book, but I'm not sure whether I'm ready to go through the torture of reading it yet. The last one drove me crazy and left me very disappointed.

[Dark Shooter]

I don't read many recent books with a few exceptions. I mostly read old science fiction; Heinlein, Asimov and Herbert are my favorites.

Right now, though, I'm going through Arrian's Campaigns of Alexander, and I've got a book mark in Isaac Deutscher's The Prophet Armed that I've been meaning to get back to for a year now. Mostly historical works right now, you may notice. Concequence of having to read so many of them for classes.

[UseR_of_Shadows]

Too many books for me to choose from I say my two favorite series is

1. Anne McCaffrey's Pern series (posibly my fav. book out of it is The White Dragon)

2. Dragon Lance books. (No desernable fav. book out of this series tough but my fav. char. is Tasslehoff)

[Nifty03]

Dark Shooter is right, Heinlein, Asimov and Herbert are great. I'll add Niven, Brin (everything up to "Earth" anyway), Drake and Vinge.

On the fantasy side The Dragonbone Chair trilogy by Tad Williams is a favorite.

[Meister]

My kind of topic here.

Discworld is always good; check out "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Gaiman's "Neverwhere" is great, too.

Stephen King's short stories, especially the earlier ones, are possibly some of the best ever written. This guy is so underrated...

I also like the "Death Gate Cycle"... Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, I think, but I'm not sure about the names. A great Fantasy series about four worlds, each based on one of the four elements, and their connection.

If you're into negative utopias... utopiae... you know... read the following:

Anthony Burgess: "A Clockwork Orange" (damn fine movie too)
George Orwell: 1984
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
Aldous Huxley: Brave New World

Furthermore, I'm fond of Charles Bukowksi short stories.

And of Fight Club. Chuck Pa... Palah... yeah, so, Fight Club is an awesome book. And movie.

And yes, I would call all of these "my favourite books". I read a lot.

[JohnCourage]

i suggest the Tao of Physics for anyone looking for a nice simple way to understand both eastern religions and advanced physics theory. it has the bonus quility of doing the physics without math.

for a book that gives you as much as you can take try Alice in Wonderland. (go annotated and unabriged if you can find it. it will help guild you to Carroll's genius) and if you read for poetic grace, try The Last Unicorn. trust me on the last one, it is great

[The Werewolf Lord]

Most books are great! I love books, all kind.

I don't wanna start writing about my favourite books... it'll take toooooooo long.

But my favourite author is Tolkien!!! Lord of the Rings is great story, but what I like the most is how it's written. I can't describe how much I love it! He didn't just write a book, he created a world!!!

I think PJ did a good job with the movies, but there are some parts I don't like.... I one of those ppl that would like to have a 9 hours long movie, with more details. Not just 3 hours... too short for such a work!!!

[Deathosaurus Wrecks]

Ubik, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Game Players of Titan are all fantastic books by Philip K. Dick. not for the faint of heart, or willpower.

Steve Perry's Matador series is an awsome read, provided you can find it. Start with The 97th Step and The Man Who Never Missed.

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars is a hell of an undertaking. each book is big within its own right, and the whole series will take you probably two months to finish (minimum)

For non-science fiction, I've been getting into Denis Lehane's crime novels. currently reading Gone, Baby, Gone.

[Hamelin]

My favorite series of all time is 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Phillip Pullman (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). It rolls science fiction and fantasy all into one, with a healthy dose of the alternate reality theory.

I cried at the end of the last book.

[Joe Falco]

The Hitchhiker series by Douglas Adams and The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

My two favorite series. :D

[Hamelin]

Well, of course everyone has at least heard of the Hitchhiker's series... but have you read any of his other stuff? How about the Dink Gently trilogy? Or Last Chance to See? Or those two mock dictionarys he made (The Meaning of Liff, and The Deeper Meaning of Liff)

Nothing he wrote is bad.

[Joe Falco]

I never said he did write anything bad... o.o

But to answer your questions, no, I haven't. I have heard of them but I've never read them.

[Hamelin]

Well, then go and do so! What are you waiting for? ^^

Oh, and if anyone has the chance to pick it up, read The Silver Chalice, I'm reading it right now and it's quite good.

[Lethosos]

Hrm... too many to list for myself.

But, I did finish several recently. I managed to pick up the hardback Krondor: Tear of the Gods (by Feist, still a favorite of mine) at an amazingly cheap price. And I picked up the first of the new Forgotten Realms Drow series, which is quite good since it sheds a lot of light into the society of the Drow beyond the Houses. Going even further, I just finished Manta's Gift by Timothy Zahn--amazingly good book, IMO. Hrmm... what else? Oh yeah. For an interesting Far-East flavored story, there's Paper Mage. And I've also pulled through Twilight of the Mind, the last of the Alpha Centauri series. Believe me, the ending of that one is well worth the read.

At the moment I still have left to read is The Last Gaurdian, which is Medivh's story from WarCraft3. The other two are good reading, too--all three explain piviotal events on Azeroth.

[iBrow]

I also like older sci-fi. Philip K. Dick is very good. The new stuff nevers seams original or unnerving, which are the two things I look for most in good sci-fi. New stuff is the same old fomulas, with endless unnecesary sequals.

[canadabear]

wow. a lot of the stuff mentioned i have already read. ive had a fever all day long and a lot of extra time.

first, its more then an ender trilogy, and i read them all. some of the books in the middle of the series sort of jump around like, 500 yrs in the future, and my impression of them was that they are not that great. all the other stuff is quality material.

the philip pullman series with the subtle knife and stuff was great. read that 2.

something i didnt see mentioned was the garth nix or something lirael series. great books. any news on books past abhorsen?

hitchhiker series, i give like, 5 thumbs up. its right up my alley. comedic science fiction.

like i mentioned earlier, terry pratchet is right up there with the hitchhiker series. i see lots of similarities between the two of them. i am right in the middle of the light fantastic.

never read anything by tom clancy. yet. i have the hunt for red october sitting in my room, waiting to be read.

same thing with the wheel of time. never read it, hoping to soon.

one last mention before i get tired of typing. never really heard of a lot of stuff mentioned. but Tolkien is good. i dunno bout a 9 hour movie, maybe if u tied me to a chair and gave me a diaper, but it would also be ok if they release a short version and a long version in stages. i think that would be quite a moneymaker. anyway what do i know.

(man, i typed like a whole page!)

[Neverwhere]

Neverwhere by Neil Gammon

Fugging cool. Also a movie.

[Rhianwen]

Squee! [huggles all the happy, happy books in the world...and then screams in pain as her hand touches the Literary Theory ones]

Uh...anyway...I have quite a list of favourites, too, so I'll just list a few.

Anything Terry Pratchett. Yaay for insane silliness!
Anything Jane Austen. Yaay for double weddings!
Anything Dickens. Yaay for...well, Dickens!
Anythind David Eddings. Yaay for Polgara!
Anything Piers Anthony. Yaay for pun after pun after pun!
Anything Margaret Laurence. Yaay for...Margaret Laurence!
Anything L. Frank Baum. Yaay for very, very Communist texts disguised as childrens' books!
Anything Timothy Findley. Yaay for weird, slightly pretentious Canadian authors!

And above all, my favourite author ever...

Anything Lucy Maud Montgomery. Yaay for sweet, wholesome, totally un-pretentious Canadian authors!

Well, that's all I've got off the top of my head. Oh, wait, one more:

After having seen the movie of Clan of the Cave Bear, I have a whole new appreciation for the book, which managed to avoid being as bad (still not great, but at least not as bad as the movie). Heck, this movie would have made any book good. It would have made a pile of elephant droppings look good. And smell sweet as a field of daisies. ^_^

Uh...anyway, I know this is book-chat. I was just doing my duty as a decent upstanding citizen, and warning anyone who may have been planning on seeing Clan of the Cave Bear (why you would, I have no idea), away from it.

Oh, and I recently finished John Dryden's play, Marriage a la Mode, and Aphra Behn's play, The Lucky Chance, which I would recommend to anyone. Along with Behn's The Rover. Wonderful plays, all three of them.

[Neverwhere]

oooh, I just thought of one... Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. He is a great author, and that book inspired the great movie 'The 13th Warrior'

[Lethosos]

Ever since I got Insomniac, I've always seen King as being a step or two down the basement stairs too far for some of our liking. Give me a political/action thriller any time, like Rainbow Six or Cryptonomicon. Hell, I'll even read Dharma Bums. He wierds me out.

Let's punch out somewhere else, instead. Try Mercedes Lackley sometime--she does the Valdemaar series as well as the SIERRAted Edge books. Lately some of the later SE ones are better than the previous, although all of it pretty good reading.

Ooo! And see if you can't get Ian Fleming. He did all of the orignal Bond spy thrillers. Only Casino Royale wasn't made into a movie--and I can agree, as it doesn't have enough material to make it movie-worthy. Still a good read.

[Bezo]

I love Michael Crichton. And I just finished Clancy's Rainbow Six for the second time. Damn, I love that ending. :D

[Viper Daimao]

right now ive been reading Harry Turtledove. He does a lot of alternate history books. im toward the end of a series of what ww1 and the aftermath would be like if the south had won the civil war.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

My personal favorite books are David Feintuch's first four Hope books. I *LOVE* the writing style, and the story is really moving. The later 3 books are good as well, but don't quite capture the feel of the first four (but the Children of Hope book does come close).

But word of caution, stay away from The Still & The King. Trust me, the stories aren't worthwhile, and can be a bit disturbing at times.

After Feintuch, I like Orson Scott Card's Bean series. Personally, I didn't like Ender's game, not because the story was bad, but Orson's writing style was a bit rough back then. I liked Speaker for the Dead, but after that the books just got a bit too weird for me.

The Pern books are always great reads as well.

Of course, my all time favorite book is Extreme Paranoia: Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Shot. First of all, it'll only really make sense to fans of the old time RPG, Paranoia. Second of all, its an out of print title that's really hard to find.

And while I've only listened to the audiobook versions of 'em, the Harry Potter books aren't that bad. While the movies kiddiefy the series, they aren't aimed as much at kids as you'd think. Especially as you get into the later books.

Sky Warrior Bob
- Also, here's a good bookfinding resource: http://www.bookfinder.com , always good for finding Out of Print titles.

[Lycanthrope]

As I said on the introduction thread, LOTR trillogy, anything by Pratchett (in particular Good Omens), Dying Earth by Jack Vance. I'd add to that now the His Dark Materials trillogy by Phillip Pullman, though I wouldn't recomend it for anyone devout to the Judeochristian faith, seeing as they have a tendancy to burn these particular books (that kind of goes for Good Omens as well). :D

Other good reads for me included A Mote in Gods Eye by Larry Nivin, and the Uplift Saga by David Brin, even though hard-core sci-fi is not my favorite of the Geek Genres. Also, Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury, is an incredible, beautifully written work. Anything by Bradbury is good.
Umm... Sometimes when I'm in the mood for something light, I go for Pierse Anthony Xanth serriese, and On a Pale Horse, by the same, was brilliant. I know I'm missing something important, but can't think of it now.

[Deckmaster]

Hmmm...

Tolkien

King (even his recent stuff, which I think is actually getting better. He's not getting soft, he's shifting gears from Dark Fantasy to High Fantasy).

Pratchett

Douglas Adams

H.G. Welles

Ray Bradbury

J.K. Rowling

Notice I never listed a single book. Oh, well.

[GatoFiero]

Tolkien
Pratchett
Adams
Card
Brooks
Those are the ones off the top of my head when i think of great authors.

[God]

WoT were my favorite. Isn't there a new one coming out in December?

Just keep in mind... Lews Therin >>>> j00

[Phob0s]

Uh, hi. I came here by random chance, and found you guys talking about all of my favorite books.. how odd...

[Caska]

I'm about 3/4 through Winter's Heart of WoT... Once I finish it and Crossroads of Twilight, I will probably finish the Aurian series (last book.) From there... I dunno. Maybe pick up Dragonlance again.

Tasslehoff > All

[AerodynamicHair]

Alright, here we go again:

Jon Stewart, Naked Pictures of Famous People- a great book of short comedic stories and essays. It isn't what you see on the daily show, its pretty dark comedy, but also hilarious.

Scott Adams, God's Debris- A self-proclaimed "Thought experiment" that makes you question how everything works, and how adam's description could be wrong when it all seems to make sense. Very quick read, but you'll think about it for a long time. Not a dilbert book, though those books are hilarious and worth a look as well.

d.b. Weiss, Lucky Wander Boy- A brilliantly dark story of a man, blundering through his life, when he finds an arcade emulator online, and becomes obsessed with video game mythology. In this book you can find links to pac-man and communism, Donkey Kong and society's self destruction, and the meaning of "cartridgeration." The story follows Adam Pennyman as he searches for the greatest mystery of all time, a game called "Lucky Wander Boy" which supposedly has the power to display your dreams after it has been beaten. Very dark, very strange, a great book. Sorry for the long description.

Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead- I love this book simply for the view of reality it presents, so I'll recommend it even though you'll probably read it (or have read it) in high school. You might want to breeze through hamlet first, or you might miss a little.

Rand and Robyn Miller, David Wingrove, MYST series- alright, yeah, its based on the video game, but what is presented in the book is a beautifully described fantasy world, with a great storyline and great characters. A definite pickup for any of the fans of the game, or even people who didn't like the game but like fantasy in general.

Besides that, I like the Hitchhiker series and whatnot, but all that has been listed.

Oh, and if you want to list or look at other stuff like books, music, movies, games and whatnot, check out www.listenlist.org. its where I found out about Lucky Wander Boy. Sorry for the plug, enjoy the rest of your thread.

[Outbounder]

My all-time favorite book is Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward. It's a great book. In it the villains are heroes and the heroes are the villains. The the whole things is about the balance of good and evil. In this world the heroes have won the climatic battle, and are now in the process of make the entire world 'good.' So it's up to the few remaining villains to bring evil back into the world before it is destroyed by its own goodness. Other favorites of mine include: The Belgariad and Mallorean by David Eddings, The Riftwar Saga and Serpent War Saga by Raymond Feist, The X-Wing books, Battlefield Earth, and Helm which I can't remember the author of.

[reality_deviant]

Eve Forward...why does that name look familiar? Did she ever write for any cartoon shows? Anyway, my favorite book of all time is Bedlam's Bard, by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon. The best piece of urban fantasy I've found. Elves, witches, motorcycles, decaying urban sprawls, ren faires, a reluctant hero, a cruel villain, fun inner monologues, and the most cinematic final battle I've ever read. The sequels are nice, but they just don't compare. Second most cinematic prize goes to On a Pale Horse, by Piers Anthony. There's just too much to like about it. My third fave is Azure Bonds, in the Forgotten Realms series of novels, by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb. I'm a little partial to this book because the main character reminds me of one of my best-loved D&D chars of all time. It's truly one of the best written in the series.

[EchoFlame]

most stuff by :
frank herbert
Philip K dick
Terry Pratchet
Neil GAiman
William gibson

as for individual books:
Lord of the Flies
Farenheit 451
A brave new world
Animal Farm
The House at Pooh Corner
The day of the triffids

theres probably more but i cant think of any right now
Im a real sucker for most stuff post-Apocalyptic

[pochercoaster]

I can't really decide on one book or author, but I recently read Frankenstein and am currently reading Dracula. If you haven't read them yet, go read them NOW! They're both well-written and scary (well, not in the mainstream horror-movie way, but in a more pyschological, suspense way.)