What's Your Favourite Book?

[Shelby_Polo]

I feel silly saying I don't actually read that much, I wish I did.

 

But my all time favorite book series has to be Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia comes in at second. I'm also a sucker for Roald Dahl and C.S. Lewis quotes.

 

Has anyone read Life of Pi? Great book.

[Gandorf61]

I read Life of Pi, but for some reason I just couldn't really get into it. I read the whole book to see how the plot turned out though; the story was good just not my type of novel.

[Gugge]

I am suprised that noone mentioned Anne McCaffrey, she is one of my favourite authors. She is most known for her books about the Dragons of Pern, but she has written much more than that. If I am to pick a favourite book, erm well perhaps "Moreta, dragonlady of Pern" or perhaps "Damia". Well, there is a lot to choose from.

 

When it comes to crime novels, I suggest you check Roslund&Hellström out. It's 2 swedish writers but the novels are translated to english. I believe "3 seconds" is the one I like best, but all 5 novels they have written so far are great.

[Snowpelt]

Into the Shadow is one of my favorite books, I have other favorites but listing them all would take forever so I wont.

[grundledib]

My list of favourite books/ series is a little odd.

 

As a kid, my favourites were always Philip Pullman's books (pretty sure I owned every book he had written at one point, haven't bought or read any of his books in 2 or 3 years)

Nowadays, I still love the Bartimaeus Trilogy and the Inheritance series (even if it is basically Star Wars with dragons)

If you ask me now though, my favourite series is, by far, the Hyperion Cantos of Dan Simmons. A film is apparently being made of the first two books, but I really can't imagine it'll be any good. Be warned that the books are a lot better than the film ever could be, so don't you dare judge the books on the back of the film.

I'm a big fan of Arthur C Clarke as well, specifically the Rama series; David Fincher's been talking about making a film of Rendezvous With Rama for years. I can't imagine it'll ever happen, but that one would work a lot better than a Hyperion film ever could.

 

In terms of fantasy, I'm more into Mervyn Peake's books than Tolkien's. As far as I'm concerned, he invented modern fantasy a good 10 years before The Hobbit and LOTR were published. Look up the Gormenghast series.

I also love Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (and have endless respect for him as a person). I don't care if they aren't what you'd call 'literary genius', they're hilarious and satirical in a gentle way that only Pratchett can manage. Plus there are now 40 of them, I think. Not going to run out of Discworld books any time soon.

[Ryannator]

the sword of shannara by terry brooks

[phyuickyiu]

A Prayer for Owen Meany

So good and so sad :(

[blaah]

We read Owen Meany in AP Lit last year after the AP test since it's one of my teacher's favorite books. That was one book I actually read cover to cover after getting lazy in that class. Such interesting discussions on whether we liked Owen.

 

I mostly remember the voice I had in my head for when I read his all-caps dialogue. Makes my throat hurt thinking about it.

[meb]

FANTASY

The Malazan Book Of The FallenI might have said the Drizzt books before I read The Malazan Book of The Fallen. I hate fantasy. Let me rephrase that, I hate epic fantasy. I hate LoTR, Thomas Covenant, Shanara. It's mostly my hate for having all the various races like giants and dwarfs with their cultures and everything that need to be meticulously detailed, which bores me; and also my complete hate of the storyline of some random guy becoming the greatest fighter/man ever who defeats the undefeatable evil. Thankfully, Malazan is a book focusing on a bunch of army guys in a special part of the military and follows their adventures. People die, people fight, everyone is well thought out. I never got bored with it, it is just very good and a very realistic world.

I read the first 2 or 3 books and they just couldn't get me interested. I love the dark atmosphere it has but the story and the characters just don't do it for me. Although I am a fan of epic fantasy though :mrgreen: .

 

My personal favourite are the Hyperion cantos by Dan Simmons. I don't read much Science Fiction but these 4 books are still the best I have ever read. I just love the future he created.

[TrueBeaver]

I seem to have a significantly different taste than most people in this thread, in that I prefer nonfiction and don't really care for fantasy, science fiction, or classics. There's no way I can choose just one, but some of my favorite books are:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - prefer it to 1984 and I feel it's more relevant.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer - made the mistake of reading this during the school year; I slept through several classes because I was up all night reading it. Riveting book. For those of you who don't know, Krakauer was a hiker-turned-writer who was summiting Everest for an article in an outdoors magazine and [cabbage] hit the fan. Great read.

[wagon] Finish First by Tucker Max - absolutely hilarious. I read all 400+ pages in under 24 hours, which is unusual for me. It's about drunken debauchery.

Decision Points by George W. Bush - although I don't agree with everything he did as president it was really interesting to read how he defends his positions.

Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski - interesting book for anyone who likes soccer. It's written by two economists, one British and one French, who analyze the sport from an economic point of view to try to explain why certain teams win, why certain teams lose, why countries want to host World Cups, which nation has the biggest soccer fans, etc.

The Big Scrum by John J. Miller - It's about how Teddy Roosevelt saved football from being banned in its early days, but so much more. It gives a brief biography of the major players: chiefly Roosevelt and Walter Camp, but there are others, and a history of the game; why became so violent that dozens of young men were dying on the fields every year and thousands more were willing to take that risk. Good book but I put it a bit below the books above.

[The Observer]

Harry Potter is definitely up on the list for me. Brings memories of when I was younger. :P (My first actual book that I read back when I was in Grade 5)

[andufusthebronze]

How to Kill a Mockingbird

The Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan

The Great Gatsby

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossieni

[Crocefisso]

Sorry to break with the fantasy trend, but my favourite book is definitely 'Narrow Road to the Deep North' by Matsuo Basho.

 

I don't really have a favourite book when it comes to fiction.

[NZ_Dingo]

The Hunger Game series — Suzanne Collins.

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Primarily the final book. The series as a whole was gripping I couldn't put the books down until I had read them all. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

His Dark Materials — Phillip Pullman;

 

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I loved The Amber Spyglass most :D

I was in awe after I had first read that piece. The story was just... *speechless* <3: <3: <3: <3:

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"What do you see?"

"Corruption and envy and lust for power. Cruelty and coldness. A vicious probing curiosity. Pure, poisonous toxic malice. You have never from your earliest years shown a shred of compassion or sympathy or kindness without calculating how it would return to your advantage. You have tortured and killed without regret or hesitation; you have betrayed and intrigued and gloried in your treachery. You are a cess-pit of moral filth." — Metratron;

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Deja Dead — Kathy Reichs;

 

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Another book that I couldn't put down; the TV show (Bones) albeit amazing does not do it justice.

 

How To Kill A Mocking Bird — Harper Lee

 

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Although I hated it at first; I grew to love it. Really good example of human nature.

 

1984 — George Orwell;

 

War is peace.

Freedom is slavery.

Ignorance is strength.

How could any not love this dystopian master piece? The origin of big brother and pretty much sums out a lot of our fears <3:

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A Clockwork Orange — Anthony Burgess

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Welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well. To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this surprising visit?

 

Needless to say I'm a sucker for dystopian novels :P

:cool:

[unkn0wnwarrior]

The Imponderables series by David Feldman. They have taught me a lot, and are (mostly) interesting.

[Jonanananas]

The Hunger Game series — Suzanne Collins.

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Primarily the final book. The series as a whole was gripping I couldn't put the books down until I had read them all. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

Yes!! Finally someone who also thinks the final book is the best! I was reading a bit through comments on the trailer for the movie and everyone seemed to think the third one was horrible <_<

I think Suzanne Collins has done an incredible job with describing katniss' psyche, much better than I would have expected to find in a youth fantasy novel.

 

 

I'm generally a sucker for Fantasy, Wheel of Time and A song of Ice and fire being my favourites(although I found the last volume to be a bit lacking)

 

Terry Pratchett is always awesome, and I've been reading some Stephen King too lately.

 

 

Favourite book of all times would be The Gathering Storm in the wheel of time series(although that obviously only works if you read the previous ones ;)). The scene of Rand on Dragonmount was so incredibly touching and gripping....

 

 

 

When I have to be honest, I have to say I never really was able to understand the popularity of Harry Potter for Adults and older adolescents - sure, they're good books, and I liked them a lot when I read them as a child too - but then again, they'r simply childrens' books, and both story and language reflect that. Nothing against that of course, I just never was able to really understand why so many people like it ;)

[Tesset]

How to Kill a Mockingbird

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KevzcHUUKAY

[JeRambo]

If I remember correctly Favourite author is one of the possible questions for recovering an account. I just want to remind everyone of that..

 

That being said, I enjoy detective stories.. One I'm reading right now is called "Deception" by Randy Alcorn.

[Range_This11]

This is impossible for me, really. So many books have opened my mind to new ideas, a few are relics from my childhood, and others have entertained me beyond all belief. I'll make a list instead...here goes:

 

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (this book has the most beautiful and sad ending to a novel I have ever encountered in my life)

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss (of whom my sister is good friends with, I have a 1st edition copy of Name of the Wind that is personally signed :shades:)

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

La Nausee (Nausea) by Jean-Paul Sartre

The Great Shark Hunt a collection of Gonzo essays by Hunter S. Thompson (Especially "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved")

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown