What's Your Favourite Book?

[Sir_Squab]

Have to say, I'm a tad disapointed in this thread - half the responses seem to involve Harry Potter or the Inheritance trilogy - I was hoping to see a wider variety. Not to say that other books aren't mentioned but...idk *mumble mumble*

Well Harry Potter, at least, is pretty hard to beat :lol:

 

That's the thing. I really don't think it's hard to beat. Good books and all, but I've read plenty of books I like just as much, if not more. Frankly, I think the reason it's so successful is (like Twilight - come to think of it, surprised that hasn't been mentioned yet) is because it's a story that a lot of people like and can really associate with; they're also both "fantasy" books set in the real world. Incidentally, I like my fantasy set in a fantasy world.

[tripsis]

I guess it just all comes down to opinion :) I have been reading A LOT my entire life and Harry Potter still probably comes in second for me. There are other books that I love but none except for His Dark Materials quite match up or aren't good enough for me to want to read them over and over again.

 

Also, I quite like my books set in the real world, I think. I guess it makes me spend more time thinking that it could be real, and I like that feeling.

[Skeptical]

I enjoyed Harry Potter, but I have to say that even Rowling at her best never approached the skill of Tolkien at creating not just a story but a genre. I only got a few chapters into one of the Pullman books before I quit.

 

And to one of the above posters: you are complaining about the presence of a popular fantasy book on a forum about a popular fantasy MMORPG.

[Nom]

I had to try really hard not to start spouting irreverent hate for the Inheritance books in my first post. It makes me sad to see them on so many people's lists.

 

Harry Potter is hard to beat because it's so imaginative and culturally relevant. It helps that the books are passably written as well, so there's less reason to criticize that aspect. I mean, they're far from stellar, but it gets the job done. Unlike some others. . .

 

Also, I have to give a shout-out to the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Fantastic books that no one seems to have read.

[Sir_Squab]

I enjoyed Harry Potter, but I have to say that even Rowling at her best never approached the skill of Tolkien at creating not just a story but a genre. I only got a few chapters into one of the Pullman books before I quit.

 

And to one of the above posters: you are complaining about the presence of a popular fantasy book on a forum about a popular fantasy MMORPG.

 

Oh! Snap!

 

But seriously, as hypocritical as this may sound coming from someone who plays a semi-mainstream game... I don't like the concept of "mainstream" very much. It's just... things like Harry Potter, a very mainstream book... part of its popularity, like so many other things, is its popularity. Once something good becomes popular enough, the popularity causes an increasing number of people to check it out and (surprise surprise) they like it (frankly, if something is mainstream and popular, it has to have something going for it ;-) )

 

However, at a certain point people start looking, reading (in the case of books) and liking (in this case) the book, simply because it is "in" or popular.

 

Not to diss HP or anything, still a good set of books, it just seems....unoriginal to me if that makes any sense :wall:

[Kimberly]

Have to say, I'm a tad disapointed in this thread - half the responses seem to involve Harry Potter or the Inheritance trilogy - I was hoping to see a wider variety. Not to say that other books aren't mentioned but...idk *mumble mumble*

Well Harry Potter, at least, is pretty hard to beat :lol:

 

Harry Potter is pretty easy to match and, when you get out of the Young Adult realm of fiction, surpass. I would rank a series like A Song of Fire and Ice, which is almost as long and very intricate, far above it in terms of quality. But sometimes, books are just good for good ol' fashioned enjoyment. In that, you could argue that almost any fiction novel achieves.

 

I FORGOT A SERIES:

 

 

A very dark Young Adult book, but highly entertaining and very interesting main character. Quick read.

[Tesset]

Also, I have to give a shout-out to the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Fantastic books that no one seems to have read.

Oh, god, that's the one about the apprentice who summons the demon to strong for him, right? Man, total nostalgia flash there, I'ma have to get those again.

 

As for my favorite: It's been to long since I read a really good book. I pretty much stopped reading new books after I quit reading the Wheel of Time series, so I've got a lot of nostalgia going on this. For books that I've read since High School, I'd say Nation by Terry Pratchet. It was different from the rest of his stuff, but I enjoyed it a lot. Diskworld kinda got old, especially when I read them out of order. :3

 

Pre-High school, I'd probably have said Harry Potter #2. Though, I'm fairly certain there's something hiding in the back of my brain that topped that, but I forgot it. Ergh.

[Alg]

If you're a Crichton fan, you have to read Pirate Latitudes. (An assistant found the manuscript saved on his computer, and his publisher -- HarperCollins -- published it posthumously.)

I read this and thought it was a bit incomplete. If he didn't die he probably would have polished it a lot.

Otherwise, very awesome :thumbup:

Not sure what a favorite would be. LOTR Trilogy is awesome, Inheritance may be up there if Paolini makes the 4th amazing.

 

Probably a tie between the LOTR trilogy and Crichton's Great Train Robbery.

[Sir_Squab]

Also, I have to give a shout-out to the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Fantastic books that no one seems to have read.

Oh, god, that's the one about the apprentice who summons the demon to strong for him, right? Man, total nostalgia flash there, I'ma have to get those again.

 

As for my favorite: It's been to long since I read a really good book. I pretty much stopped reading new books after I quit reading the Wheel of Time series, so I've got a lot of nostalgia going on this. For books that I've read since High School, I'd say Nation by Terry Pratchet. It was different from the rest of his stuff, but I enjoyed it a lot. Diskworld kinda got old, especially when I read them out of order. :3

 

Pre-High school, I'd probably have said Harry Potter #2. Though, I'm fairly certain there's something hiding in the back of my brain that topped that, but I forgot it. Ergh.

 

For reasons that, looking back on it, appear to have been chance, I started the discworld with book 1. Because of.... who I am, I guess, I have made a distinct point is acquiring and reading them in the order they were published.

[Corvus]

Overall I would have to say that my favorite books are E.E. Knight's Age of Fire series (planned to be 6 books with the final one coming out next year.)

Other than that I like the Wheel of Time series, the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy(but not #4), Discworld, the Bartimaeus Trilogy, and Ender's Game.

[tripsis]

If you're a Crichton fan, you have to read Pirate Latitudes. (An assistant found the manuscript saved on his computer, and his publisher -- HarperCollins -- published it posthumously.)

 

Michael Crichton.

Pirates.

Enough said.

I have that book and I didn't really get into it. I can't remember how far I got, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 through but it never fully captured my interest and I just had little desire to stick with it :(

[Alg]

If you're a Crichton fan, you have to read Pirate Latitudes. (An assistant found the manuscript saved on his computer, and his publisher -- HarperCollins -- published it posthumously.)

 

Michael Crichton.

Pirates.

Enough said.

I have that book and I didn't really get into it. I can't remember how far I got, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 through but it never fully captured my interest and I just had little desire to stick with it :(

It gets better.

[Serpent Eye]

If you're a Crichton fan, you have to read Pirate Latitudes. (An assistant found the manuscript saved on his computer, and his publisher -- HarperCollins -- published it posthumously.)

 

Michael Crichton.

Pirates.

Enough said.

I have that book and I didn't really get into it. I can't remember how far I got, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 through but it never fully captured my interest and I just had little desire to stick with it :(

It certainly isn't my favorite Crichton book (that would be Jurassic Park, followed by The Lost World) but it is definitely really high up there. I love his other books -- Congo, Disclosure, Eaters of the Dead, etc. -- very much... but when I read Pirate Latitudes, it instantly surpassed them all.

 

I do have to say that it didn't "feel" like a Crichton novel, really in the sense that he wasn't talking about computers, gene technology, etc., but his story telling was excellent as always.

 

You should give it another go at some point. :P It gets good once the gunpowder is brought into play. :twisted:

[Hawks]

Completely forgot about Bartameus. Love those, can't spell the name though. Also I liked the Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, awesome victorian-ish books with modern syntax.

[saml]

 

Twilight Saga TBH.. love it :)

[Harakiri]

Also, I have to give a shout-out to the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Fantastic books that no one seems to have read.

 

I have read them and used to own all of them. I very much enjoyed them, very good. And a prequel is coming out called The Ring Of Solomon:

http://www.amazon.com/Bartimaeus-Ring-Solomon-Jonathan-Stroud/dp/1423123727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287696261&sr=8-1

Very good series.

 

Since everybody appears to enjoy childrens novels, I guess I'll be an odd one out.

 

OVERALL

Dresden Files-I obsess over these books. They are everything I love wrapped into a complete series. And it's a very good series, after twelve books it has not gotten old, there has not been a bad book. I love these.

 

SCI-FI

Dune: Dune is amazing. I won't say the whole series does, because I think the Brian Herbert books pretty much raped his father's work. Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune were excellent novels that transcended anything I had ever read. It was harder, more complex than anything I had read. And then I read God Emperor of Dune and it was the previous three times 100. It wasn't bad particularly, but anyone who has read it knows what I'm talking about. You can't stop reading it, despite the fact every time you read one page you get a massive migraine. Heretics and Chapterhouse are excellent as well. God Emperor is the only tarnish in Frank Herbert's series, though that's debatable.

 

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.

 

HORROR

The Shining: Stephen King books are all good in their own respects, and I know there are more horror authors than King, but I personally think Dean Koontz is wussy stuff. The Shining is genuinely scary for a variety of reasons. The movie does the book justice, but taking the book for itself, you are still genuinely afraid. The ending sticks with you, despite the fact it is the basic ending for every King novel. You ask what happened to the main character, did he do what he did because he was crazy, or because he was actually possessed by a ghost?

 

THRILLER/SPIES

The Faithful Spy: John Wells is my personal favorite spy at the moment in literature. This start of the series has us following him as a spy in the Taliban. He's been a spy for the past eight years, and he finally leaves when he's found out. He comes back to a wife who has a new boy toy, and finding that nobody really cares about him. He becomes a bit washed up, but new terror plots within America make him go after a terrorist with the bombs to destroy America's major cities. He destroys part of Los Angeles, and the book culminates in his final attack on New York. Subsequent books are all right, but the endings are complete let downs, the book just kind of ends with no huge fight at the end or something. The first has a great, drawn out ending. But the others just kind of taper off quickly. A good series though.

 

COMEDY

Beat The Reaper: This book follows a doctor with a dark past that is coming back to haunt him. He battles the mob and an old frienemy. One of my favorite parts is when he puts a syringe of fecal matter into one of the bad guys blood streams. The ending is hilarious, though it is not something I can really explain on this forum. Just go read this book and find out what I'm talking about.

 

There are some of my picks.

[Dupin]

HORROR

The Shining: Stephen King books are all good in their own respects, and I know there are more horror authors than King, but I personally think Dean Koontz is wussy stuff. The Shining is genuinely scary for a variety of reasons. The movie does the book justice, but taking the book for itself, you are still genuinely afraid. The ending sticks with you, despite the fact it is the basic ending for every King novel. You ask what happened to the main character, did he do what he did because he was crazy, or because he was actually possessed by a ghost?

:thumbup:

 

I honestly can't choose one book to call my favorite. Your mention of Dresden reminds me of Slaughterhouse Five, which I thought was brilliant, but I wouldn't call it my favorite. 1st To Die was probably my favorite thriller, The Shining my favorite horror, and all of the Sherlock Holmes stories my favorite mysteries, but if I have to pick one book as my overall favorite, it's my collection of Poe's works. It was the first thing I read when I got back into reading after that space between children's and adults' books, and his stories have stuck with me over the years. I actually haven't finished it yet :oops: It's massive, and I like to just read one story at a time before getting into a new novel.

[Gandalf14141]

I've read all of Nancy Farmer's books, I really like them. They're not hard to read, but out of all her books, I like "The House of the Scorpion" the best.

[Sir_Squab]

 

Twilight Saga TBH.. love it :)

 

Lol, surprised it took so long for someone to mention that o.O

 

And Ratchet573, have you read any of the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher? Though from what you said about most fantasy, dunno if you'd like it o.O

 

Dune books are also very good, but quite complex.

[Tacos]

 

 

 

Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus (even though Lost Hero just came out like a week ago).

 

I love Greek Mythology, and the mix with modern culture is AWESOME. If anyone liked Harry Potter, they definitely have to read these books.

 

Son of Neptune Fall 2011, ftw

[Skeptical]

The Bartimaeus Trilogy was quite enjoyable.

 

He wrote another book, and it wasn't bad either, although not nearly as good as old Barty.

[tripsis]

Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus (even though Lost Hero just came out like a week ago).

 

I love Greek Mythology, and the mix with modern culture is AWESOME. If anyone liked Harry Potter, they definitely have to read these books.

 

Son of Neptune Fall 2011, ftw

I love those books <3: I just finished The Lost Hero yesterday - LOVED it. It's going to be a long year, waiting for that second one to come out :P

[Harakiri]

 

And Ratchet573, have you read any of the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher? Though from what you said about most fantasy, dunno if you'd like it o.O

 

I attempted to read through the first one, but what you say is right, I didn't like it. It wasn't bad, it just bored me. I much prefer The Dresden Files. I want to reread them all so bad at the moment because I went to Chicago about a week ago and annoyed the hell out of my dad by pointing out every place where Dresden has fought someone, or stuff like that. We went to the Field Museum and I pointed out the end of Dead Beat. We were at Union Station and I pointed out the fight between Dresden and the big billy goat gruff in Small Favor.

As you can tell, I'm a big fan :grin:

[Sir_Squab]

 

And Ratchet573, have you read any of the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher? Though from what you said about most fantasy, dunno if you'd like it o.O

 

I attempted to read through the first one, but what you say is right, I didn't like it. It wasn't bad, it just bored me. I much prefer The Dresden Files. I want to reread them all so bad at the moment because I went to Chicago about a week ago and annoyed the hell out of my dad by pointing out every place where Dresden has fought someone, or stuff like that. We went to the Field Museum and I pointed out the end of Dead Beat. We were at Union Station and I pointed out the fight between Dresden and the big billy goat gruff in Small Favor.

As you can tell, I'm a big fan :grin:

 

Hah, nice. I want to try reading The Dresden Files someday, but as I mentioned earlier, I usually prefer MY fantasy in a fantasy world.... to each their own :)

 

And that sounds like it must've been a fun weekend for you =D

[Harakiri]

 

And Ratchet573, have you read any of the Codex Alera books by Jim Butcher? Though from what you said about most fantasy, dunno if you'd like it o.O

 

I attempted to read through the first one, but what you say is right, I didn't like it. It wasn't bad, it just bored me. I much prefer The Dresden Files. I want to reread them all so bad at the moment because I went to Chicago about a week ago and annoyed the hell out of my dad by pointing out every place where Dresden has fought someone, or stuff like that. We went to the Field Museum and I pointed out the end of Dead Beat. We were at Union Station and I pointed out the fight between Dresden and the big billy goat gruff in Small Favor.

As you can tell, I'm a big fan :grin:

 

Hah, nice. I want to try reading The Dresden Files someday, but as I mentioned earlier, I usually prefer MY fantasy in a fantasy world.... to each their own :)

 

And that sounds like it must've been a fun weekend for you =D

 

You should try them. It's hard to describe the genre as just fantasy though because it has a lot of horror elements in it too. I just think the pace is great, I need lots of action and in between needs to be exciting. And Dresden is written in first person and I can safely say that Dresden is good company. It's the only book series that made me cry. You grow very attached to Dresden, he becomes a real person very soon into the series and it feels like you are walking beside him.

 

It was an all right weekend. I hate big cities and crowds. So Chicago is on my "never going back" list. I much prefer smaller cities or towns. Chicago is too crowded, has a lot of creepy people all over. Not my kind of place.