Favourite Books

[dvd_72]

The Farseer Trilogy. Throw in the Liveship and Tawny Man Trilogies too.

I also quite enjoyed the sword of truth Saga.

Might also want to give Shogun a try. I found that an interesting read.

 

[Shock and Awe]

I really love just about any Tom Clancy novel that has a decent amount of action in it since he actually bases it in reality and its incredibly entertaining to read. I also recently finished the Foundation Trilogy and it was also very good, a sci-fi with mystery undertones.

 

[trollnystan]

Snip

I would love to have the literary worlds infatuation with Pride and Prejudice explained to me. I know it's regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time but I read it and couldn't interpret it to be anything other than a prolonged and irritating argument between a whiny girl and a stuck-up twat.

Really? I enjoy the witty banter and the subtext. I read most of Jane Austen when I was a very young teen and P&P was one of my favourites because it was funny, while Mansfield Park was and still is one of my least favourite books of all time.

I suppose it's considered one of heralds of modern literature and that's why the infatuation. But really I couldn't tell you the why's, I'm not a lit scholar. I like what I like cos I like it =)

Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Mistborn trilogy - Brandon Sanderson
Elantris - Brandon Sanderson
Night Angel Trilogy - Brent Weeks
Trilogy of five - Douglas Adams
Ender series - Orson Scott Card
Bartimaeus series - Jonathan Stroud (The plot is not as important in here as the style and wit with which it is carried out)
Chaos Walking series - Patrick Ness
There are probably more but none that come to mind right now.

Thank you of reminding me of two other book series I loved. HOW could I have forgotten Hitch Hiker Guide?? =O *shame*

 

[Jon Shannow]

Shogun by James Clavell
A Song of Ice and Fire
and anything by David Gemmell especially Troy, Rigante, Shannow and Echoes of the Great Song

 

[R4ptur3]

Anywaything by Bernard Cornwell and Simon Scarrow, who do historical fiction novels. Don't really read much else.

 

[Panda Mania]

I like both those, although my favorite Fantasy series is (forgive me) the Inheritance Cycle. And I was overjoyed to hear that the finale is coming out in a few months

Wait, what? I thought Brisingr was the last in a trilogy... *wikipedia to the rescue!* Ohhh...lol. Too epic for just three books, I guess. I read up to Eldest, though I barely remember what happened in it...I should pick it up again.

And yes, like many have been saying, the Artemis Fowl books are particularly captivating. I find I can look past the juvenile spots and appreciate it for its riveting action and witty one-liners. The characters are rather likeable, too...

Other favorites:
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
(when I was younger) anything by by Kate Klise
the Harry Potter series, especially Half-Blood Prince
The Phantom Tollbooth--a whole world of puns and wordplay
The Zion Covenant and the Zion Chronicles, both series by Bodie & Brock Thoene--actually pretty good as far as Christian historical fiction goes, if you can get past the Zionist-bent...i read them, again, when i was younger, so i ended up learning a lot of history from them.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess--can't beat that lyrical Nadsat
Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In)--nabbed this after seeing the Swedish movie...never read anything like it. Weird, disturbing, but still intriguing.

To join the club, I also love Poe. I want to try Lovecraft.

I'm currently reading The Hunger Games. Does anyone know if it's anything special or not?

 

[CrashBang]

His Dark Materials will forever be my favourite series of books
I've also spent the last 18 months introducing myself to comic books (mostly DC) and my favourite series' are Identity Crisis, The Long Halloween, 52, Blackest Night, Watchmen and Kick-Ass
As a (now ex) drama/theatre student I've read a shit-load of plays and my favourites are Shakespeare's The Tempest, Othello, Macbeth and various others such as Translations, Singer, Closer (I wanna get my hands on the film, heard it's awesome) Yerma and The Theban Plays (King Oedipus etc)
Ooh and I also adore anything and everything by Dean Koontz (my favourites are Lightning, The Taking and Odd Thomas)

 

[Hosker]

My favourite is The Lord of the Rings. Other favourites would be A Song of Fire and Ice, and The Count of Monte Cristo. I have a soft spot for Harry Potter as well.

 

[Total LOLige]

Any Terry Pratchet book ever (Even the children's ones).

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, all 4 parts.

Same here but I thought there were five parts, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, Restaurant at the end of the universe, life the universe and everything, so long and thanks for all fish and mostly harmless

 

[spartan231490]

If wheel of time is that high on your list, I stongly suggest "Sword of Truth" series, by Terry goodkind. They have a similar flavor but I feel that SoT is significantly better.

I really liked the first books, and the last books were okay, but Naked Empire and The Pillars of Creation were imo so bad that I simply can't put the series as my favorite, as well as almost making me stop reading the series (though I'm very glad I got through them and got to read the ending-trilogy) but it's definitely second after Wheel of Time, though with a huge margin (The only book I didn't really like in the series was Crossroads of Twilight, and then only because it revolved around my least favorite characters, but it was still an enjoyable book). I do sincerely hope the next part of Sword of Truth will be good, and I'm definitely trying to stay hopeful about it.

I can see that, especially pillars, but when I reread it I really liked naked empire. And the ending trilogy was amazing, beyond belief. The way it tied things together was amazing. I just loved the whole ending trilogy, start to finish.

 

[DEAD34345]

Any Terry Pratchet book ever (Even the children's ones).

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, all 4 parts.

Same here but I thought there were five parts, Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, Restaurant at the end of the universe, life the universe and everything, so long and thanks for all fish and mostly harmless

Yeah, you're right, I was told about this earlier. It turns out I missed Mostly Harmless altogether for some bizarre reason, so now that I know about it I'm going to get that too. I still can't figure why I hadn't heard of that book, but for some reason I just never found out it existed until this thread.

 

[Padwolf]

I have quite a few:

Harry Potter series
The Darren Shan vampire saga
The Wheel of Time series
The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan
The Shining by Stephen King
Shutter Island and everything else by Dennis Lehane
The first three books in the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling
The Tales of Otori series by Lian Hearn
His Dark Materials and The Sally Lockhart Quartet by Philip Pullman
Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

I have loads more favourites

 

[zeldagirl]

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
A Passage to India - E.M. Forster
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
I Was Told There'd Be Cake - Sloane Crosley
Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Tess of the D'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Evelina - Frances Burney
Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safron Foer
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison


And I know there are more that I'm forgetting.

 

[Arsen]

Song of Ice and Fire
The Dark Tower series
Anything by H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith
The First Law Trilogy

Am I the only person that doesn't like Neil Gaiman's work... at all? The Sandman was just...horrible to me. And American Gods, don't even get me started. THAT'S considered a modern classic?

 

[kayisking]

You don't really hear about books on the Escapist (except Twilight hate, which is perfectly reasonable) so what are you faves?

I swear this is one of the most asked questions on the Escapist. :L

And I keep telling you, go and buy the Histories of Herodotus, read it, persevere with it, have your mind absolutely blown as all of modern Western Culture is explained from the very bare routes from which it has grown from. BUY IT NOW!

(It also has the true story of the 300, which is always a good read).

Do you mean those 300 Spartans?

The very same, and the story is told by a man who was alive at the time, making it the most accurate and reliable rendition.

I guess I will check that book out. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Strain42]

My favorite book ever that put the Strain in my user name is Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh, which I can NOT recommend enough.

If you can ever find it, I suggest reading it.

The 42 in my name should be pretty obvious lol

 

[Nickompoop]

I like both those, although my favorite Fantasy series is (forgive me) the Inheritance Cycle. And I was overjoyed to hear that the finale is coming out in a few months

HELL YEAH! My good sir, you are awesome.

My current favorite books are:
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
World War Z by Max Brooks
Little Brother by Cory Doctrow
1984 by George Orwell
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
John Dies at the End by David Wong (the only actually scary book I've read)

 

[XIII's Number XIV]

My top Top TOP favorite has to be this obscure WWII book called Milkweed. Read it a long time ago, still have fond memories of it. Have to go read it again someday. I really don't know why it is, but it just is...

Others include:

Da Vinci Code
Moby Dick
Of Mice and Men
Animal Farm
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (just the first one, I tried reading the second and was like "eh..."

 

[derob]

i don't feel comfortable referring to any book or author as my favorite, but i do however feel comfortable naming the few authors and works i find to be of great interest:

social studies
slavoj zizek (the sublime object of ideology, welcome to the desert of the real)
thorstein veblen (the leisure class)
b.f. skinner (beyond freedom and dignity)

fiction
anthony burgess (honey to the bears, kingdom of the wicked)
edgar allen poe (the black cat)
jean-paul sartre (les mouches [the flies])

 

[derob]

animal farm is pretty awesome, just like any politically allegorical story should be.