Favorite Book

I don't think I could pick just one. Been through several author 'kicks' such as: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Clive Barker, etc.

How about the first book that came in the mail after mom registered me with the Dr. Seuss Book Club?!
EDIT: removed link
ISBN-10: 0394844947

My favorite.

I've read a bit of literature; maybe something short and dense like Heart of Darkness or The Great Gatsby.

That or The Two Towers. Ents are cool.

Lizardcommando said: Catcher in the Rye

My assistant principal from high school was J.D. Salinger's nephew; he looks a lot like his uncle.

Lizardcommando said:
Catcher in the Rye

Would be my pick also. With The Great Gatsby being my second.

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy will always be my favorite series.

Bokononism.

I like my Sci-fi. So the usual suspects:


Neal Stephenson :
Cryptonomicon,
The Baroque Cycle
The Diamond Age

Iain Banks:
The Player of Games
Look to Windward
Consider Phlebas

Greg Bear:
The Forge of God.

Joe Haldeman:
The Forever War.

Orson Scott Card:
Ender's Game

Isaac Asimov:
The Caves of Steel (Though I am not a big fan of a lot of Asimov)

Also, I read the Bible.

Craigs said:

Metro 2033

Pretty good book. I'm really hoping they translate the next one, Metro 2034.

My housemate is Ukranian, and he loves this book. Unfortunately, his copy was in Russian, or I would read it. I have not been able to find an English version. Not that I have tried very hard, mind you.

I am huge fan of the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice...

Out of the entire series The Vampire Lestat is my favorite book to read.

Hard to pick one... but some of the best I've read have gotta be The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170899683l/76778.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/055327449X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

A clockwork orange
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/greatest-book-covers/40-1.jpg

I have to pick this because it's the book I have read more times than any other book. Haven't read it in years though...

Some of my other favorites:

Neuromancer
Of Water and the Spirit (by Malidoma Patrice Some)
The Harder they Come (Michael Thelwell)
The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (starts with Wizard's First Rule)

Clockwork Orange and Stephen King's Desperation.

I wouldn't have expected to see Dostoyevsky.

Props, Mr Shaikoten.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

I have read literally hundreds of books and find it hard to choose, but i can pick a few quality-reads from the top of my head:

Joseph Heller: Catch 22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22

Brett Easton Ellis: American Psycho http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho

J.R.R Tolkiens: The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien

Any book by H.P.Lovecraft http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

Kyka said:

My housemate is Ukranian, and he loves this book. Unfortunately, his copy was in Russian, or I would read it. I have not been able to find an English version. Not that I have tried very hard, mind you.

You will officially be my hero if you can get a brief synopsis of Metro 2034 from your housemate for me. I've been trying to figure out at the very least what it's about but neither Wikipedia nor Google have turned anything up for me.

Craigs said:

You will officially be my hero if you can get a brief synopsis of Metro 2034 from your housemate for me. I've been trying to figure out at the very least what it's about but neither Wikipedia nor Google have turned anything up for me.

I will see him tonight, will ask him then.

Incidentally, I heard they were making a Metro 2033 PC game. I haven't seen it anywhere. Is it a) released, and b) any good? The Trailers I saw looked pretty good.

as an english literature degree-holder, i find this very difficult.
so here's 5 of my favorites:

1. House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
2. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
3. Vurt - Jeff Noon
4. Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath - HP Lovecraft
5. American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis

Kyka said:

Metro 2033, the game..: I haven't seen it anywhere. Is it a) released, and b) any good? The Trailers I saw looked pretty good.

Kyka needs to lurk more thouroughly then it seems, as the game was released months ago for several platforms. Haven´t played it myself though.

While waiting for a translation of Metro 2033, another worthy Russian sci-fi read is availiable on the internet: "Roadside picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. http://www.cca.org/cm/picnic.pdf
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are ( somewhat ) based on this book.

It's been quite a while since I last read a real physical novel, but I guess...something by David Eddings maybe.

I don't really care about story-centric storytelling, which is much more prevalent than character-centric storytelling in the West. Thus my favourite thing to read is Kinoko Nasu's Tsukihime - which could be considered a computer game but is actually a "choose your own story"-novel.

If I can only pick one it's this. Props also to those who posted A Clockwork Orange and American Psycho. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby , The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk also rate highly with me.

Kyka said:

I wouldn't have expected to see Dostoyevsky.

Props, Mr Shaikoten.

I'm actually scratching my head as to why we don't have more 19th century books here, especially Victorian era. Where are all the Oscar Wilde fanboys? Jules Verne? Anyone? No Nietzsche lovers?

Danarchy said:

Either The Hobbit or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy".

And in 6 parts now I'm told, if you choose to count the most recent instalment by Eoin Colfer. Adams' Dirk Gently series and John Lloyd collaborations ain't half bad either.

But wait, what's this?

Shaikoten said:

I'm actually scratching my head as to why we don't have more 19th century books here, especially Victorian era. Where are all the Oscar Wilde fanboys? Jules Verne? Anyone? No Nietzsche lovers?

I like Joseph Conrad, does that count? Dostoevsky is a favorite of mine as well, although I'm not religious so the endings don't do much for me. His characters are so much more realistically flawed than say Tolstoy - I read War and Peace and wanted to punch most of the characters, especially the women. Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and HG Wells are cool too. Melville is OK, although the prose can be a bit dry at times. Oh, and of course Mark Twain!

I now feel vastly uncultured seeing many of these books... The only book I read which I have enjoyed in the past 5 years was Masters of Doom. Every other book I have read in that time was forced upon me by the School's English Department, all of which have been boring and frustrating to read, especially when you have to go back and analyse every single word in every single freaking combination.

Books are a lot more fun to read when you aren't forced to read them.

Yes to that ^

Even thoguh I must say I rather did enjoy Animal Farm which I did for a report in English. I don't know why, but the book scared the crap out of me at the end.

david_a said:

I like Joseph Conrad, does that count? Dostoevsky is a favorite of mine as well, although I'm not religious so the endings don't do much for me. His characters are so much more realistically flawed than say Tolstoy - I read War and Peace and wanted to punch most of the characters, especially the women. Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and HG Wells are cool too. Melville is OK, although the prose can be a bit dry at times. Oh, and of course Mark Twain!

Mark Twain in particular is important to me, because I grew up in Connecticut, and in my youth attended a lot of Tom Sawyer lookalike contests and other fun things during celebrations for Mr. Twain in Hartford, CT. Samuel Clemens' house is in Hartford, and I end up going there several times a year for work. His best work is as a satirist. A lot of people don't realize that he was like a turn-of-the-century Stephen Colbert.