NationStates Jolt Archive

Well?

Jane Eyre, The English Patient, or, if I'm feeling nostalgic, The Amber Spyglass.

The Bible... or The HitchHiker's Guide

I'm gonna have to go with Da Vinci code, or Angels and Demons...

Angels and Demons was better, until Da Vinci Code's ending blew my mind... that was friggin fantastic.

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Well?

So what's yours?

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Odd. I hate that one.

Odd. I hate that one.

I know a lot of people do. Something about the confused political message, or something. I just have a soft spot for time travel and character backstory (seeing younger versions of Vimes, Vetinarri and Reg Shoe in particular), and I love the "Truth, Freedom, Justice and A HArd Boiled Egg" part.

I'll probably have a different favourite in a few minutes. Maybe Reaper Man, or Hogfather. Or Good Omens. Or maybe a different author entirely...:( Look what you've done to me!

I'll have to go with 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card. I read it four times the first week I owned it.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

It's a toss-up of all three Lord of the Rings books. I loved Return of the King, but it wouldn't be the same without the kind of epic and suspenseful build up that Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers gave it.

I know a lot of people do. Something about the confused political message, or something. I just have a soft spot for time travel and character backstory (seeing younger versions of Vimes, Vetinarri and Reg Shoe in particular), and I love the "Truth, Freedom, Justice and A HArd Boiled Egg" part.

I'll probably have a different favourite in a few minutes. Maybe Reaper Man, or Hogfather. Or Good Omens. Or maybe a different author entirely...:( Look what you've done to me!

I like the Discworld series in general, but I don't remember what Night Watch was about. Maybe I never read it. My personal favorite from that series has always been Interesting Times. Walrusses "wiff teef ike iff" . . . classic.

The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (first book is A Game of Thrones)

and Why I am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell, even though it's a collection of essays instead of an actual book.

Last time I tried to read someone informed me the book was upside down..:p

Actually I like the Bible, or pretty much anything to do with it...I also love to re-read Lies and the Lying Liars that tell them..I <3 that book so much.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

I've never read that one, but I did like To Have and Have Not and, to a lesser extent, The Old Man and the Sea and Fiesta. Other favorite books of mine include Heart of Darkness and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

I like the Discworld series in general, but I don't remember what Night Watch was about. Maybe I never read it. My personal favorite from that series has always been Interesting Times. Walrusses "wiff teef ike iff" . . . classic.

How did I forget that one!

Bah. I change my mind, I can't pick just one, so I'll cast a vote for the Discworld series in general.

How did I forget that one!

Bah. I change my mind, I can't pick just one, so I'll cast a vote for the Discworld series in general.
Night Watch is the best Discworld book.

Last time I tried to read someone informed me the book was upside down..:p

Actually I like the Bible, or pretty much anything to do with it...I also love to re-read Lies and the Lying Liars that tell them..I <3 that book so much.

You're so asking for trouble. I think I read part of Lying Liers, but I don't remember anything from it. The Bible, on the other hand, I remember well. Truly the King of the Non-Fiction books.

The Bible notwithstanding, currently its a toss-up between Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks and Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. I'm working my way through The Once and Future King by T.H. White right now, though, and am loving it.

Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I'm quite fond of the Murakami.

Dragonlance Chronicles...

I have three fav series:
Alex Rider Adventures by Anthony Horowitz
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Ceres: Celestial Legend by Yu Watase (a manga series)

Inquisition War by Ian Watson (OK so it's actually a trilogy but the Black Library rereleased it all in one book with a couple of linking stories which improved it a bit).

It's between that and The Colour of Magic. It's like one great big DnD game that book is.

Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Odd. I hate that one.

I liked it, though its not my favourite book- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. but its funny

Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I'm quite fond of the Murakami.

have you read his new one?

my favortie book is...

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell

have you read his new one?


Kafka? Yeah...good but not such a strong finish.

Night Watch is the best Discworld book.
Dunno about that, although it is one of my favourites. I'm not entirely sure why, it just seems to fit really well with all the other Ankh-Morpork set books. On that subject, what did anyone think of 'Going Postal'?

And my favourite book? The 'Mars' Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson. An absolute masterpiece.

I'm gonna have to go with Da Vinci code, or Angels and Demons...

Angels and Demons was better, until Da Vinci Code's ending blew my mind... that was friggin fantastic.

It's the same story...




My favorite book is probably The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas' characters have such a great depth and complexity in this one. I get something new out of it every time I read it - at least once a year.

A tough question, and I do not have an answer. I like the Emperor-series by Iggulden though. It's amazing all the things Caesar accomplished...

(speaking of Caesar...)
de bello gallico book 5

I'm gonna have to go with Da Vinci code, or Angels and Demons...

Angels and Demons was better, until Da Vinci Code's ending blew my mind... that was friggin fantastic.

God no. He's a terrible write. He's incredibly formulaic and his stuff is written for the lowest common denominator. Come off it.

Best book for me is probably Metal Fatigue by Sean Williams. I can't get enough of post-apoc writing.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dumas' characters have such a great depth and complexity in this one. I get something new out of it every time I read it - at least once a year.

Very good book that.


(In fact Bester, the writer of the book I mentioned, owes a lot to Dumas and the Count of Monte Cristo in writing The Stars My Destination)

If I had to choose just one: The Web of Life, by Fritjof Capra

Qur'an and anything by Hemmingway.

Also, I really appreciate Rush Limbaugh's "I Told You So" because it was the perfect size to stop my desk from wobbling.

Some of my favourites are The Origin of species by, who else, Mr. Darwin, Enders Game (and the books that followed) by Orson Scott Card, 1984 and Animal Farm (probably my favourite) by George Orwell, the Illyad and the Odyssy by Homer, America a Citizens Guide to Democracy by Jon stuart (and various members of the Daily Show) and The War on Christmas (Its so got dang moronic and terrible that its hillarious) by John Gibson. I'll probably remember some more in a second, but for now, I'll list some of my least favourites. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (I hated the main character with a passion), every book by Dr. Phil and every art book that believes everyone on Earth can go from drawing a few circles to drawing a walnut with realistic shading in one page.

The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm - Nancy Farmer//lovely book on becoming adults

Discworld Series - Terry Pratchett//The one with Rincewind or Carrot

Spenser Series - Robert B. Parker//Lotta hidden humor

Shannara Series - Terry Brooks//Not the trilogy, the ENTIRE series

Drizz't Novels - R.A. Salvatore//I just like Drizz't, ggkthnx

I like Charles Stross's Accelerando. It's packed with interesting ideas.

America the Book
hilariously funny and has stupid stuff in it
"The Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses hold great power in elections. This makes perfect sense considering their size."

The Rhetoric of Aristotle

Over all, Catch-22 - Joseph Heller; I've got the sequel sitting three feet away from me but can come up with the will to read it as Closing Time isn't as funny and its written in (*gasp*) chronological order (the horror).
Early Drizzt stuff (The first two trilogies) is the best light read I've come across (for when you neither want to think too hard or risk laughing like a 'tard in the airport).
And, Lovecraft is the best for horror.

It's very hard to say what my favorite is.

A couple would be Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Hideaway by Dean Koontz.

Over all, Catch-22 - Joseph Heller;
That is probably the book that meant the most to me. I never read Closing Time. But Catch-22 sticks with me.

Perhaps also Metamorphosis by Kafka. I think that was the first book I re-read immediately after finishing.

In the Country of Last Things and Book of Illusions both by Paul Auster also affected me, really stuck.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaiman is probably the funniest book I've read.

Peace on Earth by Stanislaw Lem also sticks with me.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, probably the greatest single impact would have to be Waiting for Godot by Samual Beckett. Granted, it's a play but I read it instead of seeing it. And it was after reading that that I became interested in playwrighting, with my first play being a slacker adaptation. (sort of arogant, but hey...) Since that literally changed the direction of my life that'd probably have to be the most important thing I've read.

Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

That book kicked my ass the first time I read it!

...and the second time.

...and the third time.

...you get the picture.

calvin and hobbes the complete collection:D

A friend of mine wrote an awsome sci-fi story called The Getaway Special (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312877773/102-4671537-6036163?v=glance&n=283155), this has become my favorite novel just through its sheer imagination and tinge of humor.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I read it when I was about 10. I thought it was incredibly clever then and I think it's the most witty and funny book in the world.

For Australian authors: 48 Shades of Brown by Nick Earls.

Wait, I have another all-time favorite book;

Power vs. Force - David R. Hawkins

Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

That book kicked my ass the first time I read it!

...and the second time.

...and the third time.

...you get the picture.
That'd be one I'd agree with. Specifically a few sections-
And that, I think, was the handle - -that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting - -on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - -the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled that 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously... All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel.
These are from the adaptation because that was the easiest to fetch, but they where parts of the book that stood out, as well as the part that didn't make the movie, finding The American Dream roller rink where the heroin dealers hung out. It was moments like these that stood out in the book for me.

"This is the Way the World Ends"

by James Morrow.

They were better than they knew.

They never figured out what they were doing here.

Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

others
Der Steppenwolf by Hesse
Anything by Eco
Devil's Valley by Brink
Really like the America trilogy by Roth (haven't read the latest yet, Going to read it during Christmas)

I like Vonnegut, Irving, Dostojevski, Garcia Marques. Sartre has written some interesting plays

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

And the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

100 Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez is truly one of the most beautifully poetic writer ever....read it because it will open your eyes it helps show how history is cyclical because people or dumb.

America- Jon Stewart makes me laugh....read it if you want to pee yourself laughing.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Lucifer Principle / Howard Bloom
The DaVinci Code / Dan Brown
Sahara / Clive Cussler
Les Miserables / Victor Hugo
Lorna Doone / Don't remember the author

I have so many favorites its hard to begin....My all-time goodies, though, are Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card), Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity (both C.S. Lewis), Hard Times (Dickens), but I think that the best book ever written is the Bible because, from a sheer literary standpoint, it covers almost all of the genres known to people.

Il Principe - Niccolò Machiavelli

One Day in the Life of Ivan Densiovich by Alexandr Solzhenitsn

Classic literature is classic for a reason: it's good. I just liked how it ended, as far as being able to convey the sense of absolute bitterness.