Let's discuss the original mass escapism

[DrunkOnEstus]

Books! Mass distribution of the written word, kind of like the Internet but on trees.

My favorites, I assume, echo some of the favorites of you fine folks based on avatars and badge formations and the like. Some of my favorites would be:

1984 (with a honorable mention to Animal Farm), by George Orwell

Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Virtually all of Edgar Allan Poe's work, despite being poems and short stories and I can't pick just one

Currently, I picked up a nice hardcover of the "Hitchhiker's Guide" books in a compilation, and despite having read them separately in high school I'm enjoying it (though Restaurant at the end of the Universe drags a bit).

I noticed that my favorites aren't very current (not that that's necessarily bad), and figured there might be some escapists enjoying more recent works or want to share their favorites.

 

[Esotera]

I love the Best New SF anthology, it's got a great mix of authors and at least half of the stories in there will be awesome.

At the minute I'm not reading much, as I've been reading some rather sizeable technical manuals as part of my training for work. Next on my list to read is Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.

 

[Guffe]

Lord of the Rings Books are great.
Hitch hikers guide, Monte Christo, Mogworld to name a few!

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I'm not a huge book reader, but I recently read John Dies at The End, by David Wong, and it is one of the best books I have read, and it comes in just behind the Hitchhiker's guide series in terms of strange comedy.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

I like reading old, weird and obscure books from the thrift store when I'm really bored or when I'm about to go to bed. Usually my friends will rescue me from spending my nights alone though.

Reading through Man of Two Worlds although its less obscure because it was written by the creator of Dune and his son but whatever.

[sub]Moo! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9iIgQN5uZE][/sub]

 

[DJjaffacake]

How can you think 1984 is better than Animal Farm? How?!

Naw, I kids. Seriously though, Animal Farm is better.

Other favourites?

A Song of Ice and Fire seems good so far (I'm about halfway through A Clash of Kings).

The Danilov Quintet is pretty awesome (historical Russian vampires ftw)

Inheritance had a touch of epicness

Spoiler: Inheritance spoiler

"Waise neiat!" So much win!

Gaunt's Ghosts was awesome until

Spoiler

Caff died

The Sharpe books are also awesome.

 

[Hoplon]

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

The Road by Cormick MaCarthy

The Culture Novels by Iain Banks.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Red and the Black by Stendhal

Omon Ra by Victor Pelevin

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

 

[Padwolf]

It's too hard to pick a favourite! Just finished reading The Godfather and it was fantastic, I was hooked on it! I didn't want it to end.

A Song of Fire and Ice is amazing so far.

Wuthering Heights is one of my favourites. I read it before I started studying it, I learned how clever the book really is and while it is depressing and can be hard to read, I think it's a great book.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James I highly recommend. It's only a short read, it is only about 100 pages or so. It's an odd one, but it is a great ghost story.

Has anyone read The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan? They are great books, very well written.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is on my list of favourites. I love Oscar Wilde's writing.

Many books by Stephen King are on my list of favourites, it's hard to mention just one. It was fantastic, The Shining was brilliant.

Regeneration by Pat Barker.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. This book moved me to tears while I was reading it on the train. It's a short book, but damn it's one of the best I have ever read.

The Harry Potter series I adore and love.

The Inheritance Cycle has some epic moments.

I could go on for ages. A lot of my favourites are quite old books, but I do love them.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Thank you to all for sharing, I now have a list to cross off when going to the library/epic book warehouse. I did somehow forget to mention Stephen King, the movie Misery doesn't do the book justice, I find King is better at weaving suspense then outright horror at times. Which leads my train of thought to Lovecraft. Great stuff.

How can you think 1984 is better than Animal Farm? How?!

It's been a few years for AF, but I just feel that it's somewhat blatant as far as the metaphor is concerned. I almost consider it to be the precursor, the descriptor of the backdoor shenanigans politically that led to the formation of INGSOC. If I had children, and they reached an age where I felt it was appropriate to teach them the importance of privacy, self reliance, and the role of government in their lives, and then hand them a book, I would use Animal Farm first. Hopefully, the public school system will still consider it worthy, as I know I had to read it at least twice in my education. They're both timeless in my eyes, until they're translated into newspeak in 2020 and the subtext has vanished *gulp*.

Side note: I have a tablet with a Kindle app, and I found some free books, but damn if it isn't the same experience at all. I like the tactile, tangible feel of the paper and all that. Could anyone say if a dedicated e-reader is superior enough to be a worthy trade-off?

 

[thelonewolf266]

Enders Game is a book I've read literally dozens of times and its still as amazing as it was the first time.The Sabriel trilogy is also extremely good though its fantasy(without the whole orcs and elves thing)so not for everyone.If you like crime thrillers I would recommend Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series its quite similar to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I would argue they are in fact better.
All of them are more action orientated books unlike the ones you listed but as I have read some of your favourites and enjoyed them I think a bit of diversity never hurt anyone.

 

[DJjaffacake]

How can you think 1984 is better than Animal Farm? How?!

It's been a few years for AF, but I just feel that it's somewhat blatant as far as the metaphor is concerned. I almost consider it to be the precursor, the descriptor of the backdoor shenanigans politically that led to the formation of INGSOC. If I had children, and they reached an age where I felt it was appropriate to teach them the importance of privacy, self reliance, and the role of government in their lives, and then hand them a book, I would use Animal Farm first. Hopefully, the public school system will still consider it worthy, as I know I had to read it at least twice in my education. They're both timeless in my eyes, until they're translated into newspeak in 2020 and the subtext has vanished *gulp*.

I always found 1984 to be more obvious with it's message, what with the whole, "The Party," "Big Brother," and especially "Thought Police." I also found Animal Farm had more of an impact than 1984, at least on me.

I guess you also have to take into account that 1984 is a thriller with a heavy political message, whereas the political message takes centre stage in Animal Farm, so which style of story you prefer is likely to affect you preference.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

All of them are more action orientated books unlike the ones you listed but as I have read some of your favourites and enjoyed them I think a bit of diversity never hurt anyone.

Certainly, that's why I created the thread. I looked at the shelf and realized it was somewhat...expected material for someone who is literate, and I was hoping to expand my horizons beyond that. Plus if I read anymore Star Wars extended universe fanfic books I may grow disdain for the franchise, which would be bad. More books on the list, double thanks!

I always found 1984 to be more obvious with it's message, what with the whole, "The Party," "Big Brother," and especially "Thought Police." I also found Animal Farm had more of an impact than 1984, at least on me.

I guess you also have to take into account that 1984 is a thriller with a heavy political message, whereas the political message takes centre stage in Animal Farm, so which style of story you prefer is likely to affect you preference.

Good point, Orwell could have been more poetic and subtle with the naming, I think at that point in his life though, he saw a very real threat rising and wanted to leave a very clear message for future generations that complacency could be their undoing, perhaps sooner than later. Either way, the man was a great author, that much I know for sure. The comparison may be better stated as a "similar topic/message, depends on mood at the time," as I look into it I realise that they both bring their own strengths. Animal Farm is also more concise, and requires less of a time investment to revisit.

 

[orangeban]

Oooh, favourites? Well, I always go to books I've read more recently, because I'm very bad at coming up with my favourites of ALL OF TIME AND SPACE.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, beautiful book, the examination of the killers is incredible, you can really feel for them.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy + 2 by Douglas Adams, which is one of my favourites of all time.

Let The Right One In and Little Star, both by John Lindqvist. Let The Right One In is one of my favourite movies, and I adore the book, mainly because I can identify with Oskar, particularly with having someone like Eli as a friend. Little Star is just terrifying, so chilling. His other books are damn good as well, though Harbour is kinda weird.

Ablutions by Patrick deWitt. Again, I read this very, very recently, so I'm biased by that, but it's a... different book. To invoke cliche, it's fascinating like a particularly grisly car crash., because that's effectively what you are reading, the human equivalent of a grisly car crash.

 

[TWRule]

Anything by Franz Kafka - especially The Trial.

The Fall, The Stranger, or The Plague (all works by Albert Camus)

I'm looking into to works by Dostoyevsky...

This doesn't include any of the philosophical treatises I've read, but I definitely have my favorites among those.