Favorite Book?
 

What is your favorite book of all time, in any category?

I'd have to say my favorite is Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, and I highly recommend everyone check it out.

What have you got to say?

Either Cain by James Byron Huggins or Phantoms by Dean Koontz

Ender's Game was ok.

Hmmmm...This is not necessarily my favorite...but it is a good one and it was the first thing that popped into my head when i read it. The outsiders. It is an awesome book, and an awesome movie.

Katelyn

I'm a geek, so I'll have to say:

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computer Exceed Human Intelligence
by Ray Kurzweil

Its a pretty interesting read on the history of modern computing, and then the author's vision of what will happen in the future.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Definitely. I love that book. The other books in the series ( Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide and Children of the Mind) are all OK - But Ender's Game is by far the best :D

- Katie

Lord of the Rings is always brought up in these kinds of threads... so i'm gonna be the first!

LotR - Tolkien
Timeline, Airframe, Lost World, Sphere - Crichton
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams


and finally, a series of books by a guy named Terry Pratchett... i think they were recommended to me by ash (the meeping one). really a funny bunch of books

/me drops his $0.02 in the bucket on his way out

George
S.P.A.M.
Team 180

Ender's Game is very very good. my BF got me Speaker for the Dead for my b-day, and had both books signed :)

Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation is probably one of the best collection of stories ive ever read....excellent book. Its a collection of stories from world war II veterans.

My favorite fictional book is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller....it starts slow and its really come a long way.

I don't really have a favorite book, so I'll pick one I started reading recently that I liked. It is Star Trek: I'm Working on That A Trek From Science Fiction To Science Fact by William Shatner and Chip Walter. It is an interesting book talking about how certain things from Star Trek could be made in real life. Examples: Warp Drive, Time Travle, Transporter. :)

My fav book(s in this case) is the Song of The Lioness series by Tamora Pierce.

My favorites change all the time, and just like music, I could never pick an absolute favorite. One of my favorites lately has been American Gods by Neil Gaiman. The book I've read the most has got to be Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams (it's a Watership Downs style but from the view point of cats and I've read it over ten times). And my favorite non-fiction is Geeks by Jon Katz

MissInformation

<==========>
"I made a lot of changes" doesn't mean "I fixed it". - Mark T. Shirey

Hmm.. my favourite?.. I think it's a toss up probably between The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Uther by Jack Whyte. They're both based on Arthurian(sp?) legend and they're both really well written. Actually the whole Mists of Avalon trilogy is great, but The Mists of Avalon itself is still my fave from that. Either way, they're all great books and if you have any interest in the subject, check em out. You'll be amazed at the spin Marion Bradley puts on the legend.

*hugz to all as alwayz*
Ann-Marie -team 783

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. There are 4 books, but there are more to come. Very well written novels, with my favorite being the last one: Wizard and Glass.

Weee.
 

The Neverending Story - Michael Ende

(It is neverending. I've yet to finish it, and I've tried twice. Somehow, though, I still love it.)

It was made into a classic movie in 1984. The movie ends very early on in the novel. II somewhat follows a theme in the novel, and III is a bastardization of a classic.

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

This was made into a movie by Disney in 1983. It's not great, but not terribly, either. The book is better, of course.

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

This was the inspirating for Jan de Bont's 'The Haunting' (1999) as well as 'House on Haunted Hill' (1958) and it's remake (1999).

1984 - George Orwell

I'm fairly certain this was made into a movie, but I've never seen it.

I'm gonna have to go with Who moved my Cheese By Spencer Johnson M.D

It's a very good book only takes about 30 min to read but really good.

This is also another one of my favorite series... I would have a hard time choosing between Dark Tower series and Ender's Game!

Chris: Do you know when the next book in the series is due out?

- Katie

I'm with Fluck, Catch-22 is the best book by far I have read.

Apparently he's finished it, just hasn't been published yet. In the blurb he wrote about Sisters of Eluria in the collection of stories "Everythings Eventual", he wrote "And by the way, for you Tower junkies, DT 5 is now finished, all nine hundred pages of it. It's called Wolves of the Calla". Oh yeah, and if you havent read Sisters of Eluria that also has Roland in it.

Yeah, he's had it mostly done for a while ... then he got in that car accident, which pushed the release date back by about a year. Now they keep pushing it back :rolleyes: Hmmm...

/me runs to Barnes and Noble to pick up Sisters of Eluria.

- Katie

Oh yeah, Sisters of Eluria is just a short story in Everythings Eventual. Its not a novel(unfortunately) but it is pretty entertaining. It doesnt have much to do with the plot of the other books, however. And Everythings Eventual is a great collection of stories.

Hmm...
 

I'd have to say The Shining by Stephen King and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

An Eclectic Mix
 

Atlas Shrugged by: Ayn Rand
I kinda buy into her philopsophy (or at least parts of it) and it was a fun read, especially during the build season last year.

The Prince by: Machiavelli
Just something interesting I enjoyed... Another book that was interesting during build season when advisors start bickering...

I also enjoy Star Wars Sci-Fi... yeah... I'm a SW junkie...

Quite the strange list...

~JVN

Favorite Books
 

The Lord of the Rings series is one of my favorite book series.

I also like the Harry Potter series! Rowling is a genius, and you'd be crazy if you didn't read these books.

Animal Farm by Orwell, good book.

Lets see there's Dr.Seuss ( All Books ), The Giver, A few of Stephen Kings books, R.L. Stines books were pretty decent when I was in like the 7th. Grade, and Never Ending Story. There a few other good ones but its been a while I last picked up a book.

wow... i can't believe i forgot this one...

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

what an amazing book... that book really changed the way i looked at the world. i seriously recommend you pick it up...

George
S.P.A.M.
Team 180

Let's see... my favorite authors...
There's Clancy, Crichton, Clive Cussler...then come the fantasy authors:
Tolkein, David Eddings' Belgariad, Piers Anthony's Xanth, Mode, and Adept series, Anne McCaffrey's Pern Series, Barbara Hambly, Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series, Brian Jacques' Redwall, Terry Brooks' Shannara series....and the list continues

Oh, yeah, and the Star Trek and Star Wars books

I read a blurb of information on that book a few months ago, and became very interested in it, but I haven't picked it up, yet...

I think I will do so.

Hmm.. my favorite book. It all depends on what I'm into. I have four differnt robot books as of now. I just got a book that seems to be very good from what I have read about it. It's How to Build a Time Machine. I also like War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells but its not really a book.

Yeah, I know the movie sucked
 

Best Book Ever has got to be Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. I mean the best part is the book just keeps going and the story never gets boring. Trust me though if you haven't seen the movie DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES watch it. (Remembers South Park with screening of The Special Edition of Raiders of the Lost Ark) It sucked so badly. It was like they didn't even read the book.

So dissapointing. /me goes and throws up

Re: Re: Favorite Book?
 

What about Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hedgemon and the newest one, Shadow Puppets?????????????? I loved Bean's point of view in Ender's Shadow.

Orson Scott Card lives about 4 hours from me...his publications are wonderful.

This is a horrible question, I work in a bookstore for gods sake!!!

Maichael Marshall Smith is also an awesome author. He also goes by Michael Marshall for his newest book The Straw Men. These are darn good books!

And HERE HERE for Harry Potter!!!!!!


EDIT I have forgotten about two of the greatest authors of all times: William Gibson and Philip K. Dick. These two men are responsible for ever cyber-punk/thriller you will ever read or see in a movie theater. Anyone who ever saw Jonny Neumonic, Blade Runner, Minority Report, or The Matrix enjoyed a good movie because of these two men!!

Another Edit: I also forgot Chuck Palahniuk, the author of such fine novels as Fight Club, Choke, Survivor, and Invisible Monsters. These are also wonderful books

Re: Re: Re: Favorite Book?
 

Shhh!! I haven't read any of those yet! ;) I'm just finishing Xenocide and will soon be starting Children of the Mind.:D

- Katie

Re: Re: Re: Favorite Book?
 

I loved Ender's Shadow, too. It was so great to hear the story from Bean's perspective...

I haven't finished Shadow of the Hegemon, but probably will pick it up again, eventually (I stopped reading it, halfway through, about two years ago, if I recall correctly).

And yes, Harry Potter owns...

My absolute favorites change from time to time, but generally to even make it to my list of GOOD books I have to be able to read it at least three times. That means it has to have enough depth that I pick up new things each time I read it.

Ender's Game definitely passes that test, though I haven't re-read it in a while.

Lord of the Rings of course, in fact anything by Tolkien. Well maybe not the Silmarillion, but that was never intended for publication. He wrote a short story called Leaf by Niggle that is one of my favorites.

Clancy's Ryan books are good, and prescient in a general sort of way. They are generally about 5 years ahead of what's happening.

For mysteries there's Dorothy Sayers. I just finished re-reading one of her's. I'd like to find her translation of Dante too, though I suspect it's out of print.

Gulag Archapelago is a rather dreary read, but very important. Especially the first few chapters where Solzenitzn (sorry Alex I don't have a reference handy to get the spelling right) describes how the KGB operated to subdue the populace. The scary part is that I see some of those tactics being used today.

I don't think CS Lewis wrote a bad book in his life, though some of the later ones get too deep for me. I'll just have to wait to get older. Most of you are between the ages for the Narnia books, but ought to be able to handle The Space Trilogy and some of his more theological stuff. The Screwtape Letters is a must read. His Experiment in Criticism changed the way I think about books, it's kind of scholarly, but after all he was writing to scholars in that one. (actually Experiment was one of my English-major wife's textbooks)

I don't think CS Lewis wrote a bad book in his life, though some of the later ones get too deep for me. I'll just have to wait to get older. Most of you are between the ages for the Narnia books, but ought to be able to handle The Space Trilogy and some of his more theological stuff. The Screwtape Letters is a must read. His Experiment in Criticism changed the way I think about books, it's kind of scholarly, but after all he was writing to scholars in that one. (actually Experiment was one of my English-major wife's textbooks)

Catcher In the Rye. I think that Mr. Salinger has perfectly encapsulated the tradgedy that is american youth in his masterpiece, which I've read 5 times.

Totally agreed there....

BEST FREINDS WITH THE TECHNOTHRILLER
 

"Time Travel In Einsteins Universe" By J. Richard Gott. OUtstanding book which includes theorums and theorys made by astrophysists including himself and his team at Princeton. I think Definitly shows up any Hawkings Novel published.

ALSO i m a HUGE fan of the techno thriller and have read and enjoyed many of them. Out of all my favorites is the series written by Patrick Robinson. His technothrillers rival all others. Events are deeply intwined with technical problems, war and battle strategies and realistic politics with nations as they r today.

i'm offering this book up as one of my favorites with much confidance that 'm prolly the only one on these boards who has read it...

A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole

this novel is funny, disgusting, intelligent, and mad all at the same time... i guess technically it's a comedy, but that barely scratches the surface

the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, is has been described as "slob extraordinary, a mad Oliver Hardy, a fat Don Quixote, a perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one."

any of you who chat with me regularly know how twisted i can be. well, this book was the source of that in me, i believe.

George
S.P.A.M.
Team 180

I've got quite a few that I like. Most have already been said, so I won't explain any reasoning.

Star Wars (especially the X-wing series and all of Timothy Zahn's books), Lord of the Rings, Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, and the Hitchhiker's Trilogy.

oh man, you are missing out! there are six books to the series!!!

I even have the official Comic version of Hitchhikers Guide!

Yeah, but Adams still called it a trilogy:D

I don't know if Young Zaphod Plays it Safe counts as a book.... it's only about 10 pages. Anyways, I have read all the books, but they are still called a trilogy as a joke. It's the "Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchiker's Trilogy"

Book
 

There's an amazing series of books by Isaac Asimov, starting with one called Foundation, with a total of 5 books in the series (+ some prequels).

The books are rarely mentioned, for some reason... But this series is a must-read, esp. for sci-fi fans.

Re: Book
 

Definately agreed, and it's one of the few series where all seven books are good (5 regular +2 prequel). The ideas about predicting/manipulating the future mathematically are mind-boggling, yet not too far-fetched. Another one that hasn't been mentioned yet is Frank Herbert's Dune. The first book and the last two are absolutely amazing (the ones in the middle are mediocre at best). I also like LotR, Ender, Clancy, and Bradbury's short story collections.

We recently got the BBC dramatization on DVD... I haven't seen that since I was a wee child...

I am absolutely amazed at anyone who can watch the whole thing and stay awake...god it drones on....

And, I had forgotted the humor of the six book trilogy...

My comic is the actual comic adaptation of the Hitchhiker's Guide. You can see it here .

Re: Re: Book
 

I'd definitely agree. I loved the first one, the second and third were okay, but the fourth (God-Emperor of Dune) was just bizarre. I stopped there. I did like the three prequels written by his son, though. They were very good stories, and well written. They were also more like the original Dune.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Call me a geek if you want but my favorite are the Harry Potter books. I think 3rds the best.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

My favorite book so far is Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot".

Re: Favorite Book?
 

I read a lot, so here are several: The Untold Story of the Third World War (pretty thick, but still good), Hannibal, The Star Wars books by Timothy Zahn, the Bathroom Readers...I'll try to think of more.

Current most liked
 

The best book I've read recently is STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadevers by Mary Roach. It was a very interesting book on what has happened to cadavers in the far past with some of the social implications for what they did and why, along with lots of diffrent things they use them to test for now, and some things they don't.


Wetzel

Re: Favorite Book?
 

I've been reading [u]Brave New World[/i] by Aldous Huxley. It's an excellent book. It's quite deep. It was recommended to me by my favorite English major :)

Re: Favorite Book?
 

I read that sophomore year. Good book.

I've read a lot of good books. I think the one that sticks with me most, though, is Lance Armstrong's "It's Not About The Bike". Without a doubt the most inspirational book I have ever read.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

No one mentioned Neal Stephenson yet? I'm surprised.

My favorite book is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. It's dense at some parts, but overall extremely enjoyable and very well written.
Snow Crash, by the same author, is quite good as well.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

I'd probably have to say The Griffin and Sabine trilogy (well, now it's two sets of trilogies) by Nick Bantock. It's easy reading, but very deep. Not to mention the amazing art (also provided by Bantock)

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Chicken Soup and The Other Side Of Darkness.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

The best book I've read lately is The City of Truth by James Morrow. It takes place in a city where people have been brutally conditioned to always tell the truth, no matter what. It's about a man whose son gets bitten by a rabbit while at Camp Ditch the Kids, and contracts a fatal disease from the bite. The main character decides he must how learn to lie if, as he believes, only falsehoods can give his son enough hope to effect a cure.

It's a very well written book, with lots of humor (such as a signs in elevators that read: THIS ELEVATOR MAINTAINED BY PEOPLE WHO HATE THEIR JOBS. RIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK., and a car called Ford Sufficient) but it also has a lot of sadness too. One thing it really made me think about is that as much as I love honesty, I wouldn't want to live in a world with no choice.

Heidi

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Well i would be lax if i didnt give The Hitchhikers Guide a mention. But it is extremely hard to pick a hands down favorite. I deeply enjoyed Your Brain Is God By Timothy leary. Nothing In This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How things Are By Bob Frissel was also a good read. In a more Fantasy oriented view, I enjoy almost anything written by R.A. Salvatore.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

My favorite book is Who Moved My Cheese?. It is a good book about change.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

eh, I don't have any particular favorite.

Shadowmancer by G.P Taylor is good.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

and the list continues...

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Memoirs of a Geisha and Girl, Interrupted.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, best read ever, 12 books! I also like the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix,'twas a little bit easy, but good none the less, and last but not least, His Dark Materials Series By Philip Pullman.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Hawthorn produces many thick but good reads. Personal favorite at the moment would have to be "of Mice and Men" and "a Farewell to Arms" Two simple yet thought invoking books.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Umm, I don't really have a favorite, but;
On The Beach, The Art of Deception, and...The Langoliers are all books that I have enjoyed.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Take 3 cups of everything Cody C said, mix with 4 1/2 cups Lord Of the Rings, 2 cups Silmarillion, bake for 30 minutes with oven on Eragon, by Christipher Paolini, and sprinkle with a dash of A Wrinkle in Time. Let stand for 2 minutes, and your list of awesome books is ready to serve.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

BRIAN, the thread didn't ask for EVERY BOOK YOU'VE EVER READ lol. :)

Re: Favorite Book?
 

They are all very good. I forgot Moonheart though.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

It'd probably have to be Harry Potter and GoF. i <3 Magic!!!!
\m/ ROCK ON!!!! \m/ lol :D

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Right now I can't put down Code Name Ginger by Steve Kemper. It is a book on how the Segway came to be. It is interesting so far, and it really gives some insights into Dean's personality. I recommend it.

Another book I enjoyed was Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman. This autobiography is about an inspiring physicist that that taught at Cal Tech.

Strangely, I don't really like biographies, but when it's about someone inspirational, I can't put it down.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Favorite books, well, this thread does seem to be quite my cup of tea.

Non-fiction:
Give me a break, written by John Stossel. It gives an interesting and very much contrasting view on the modern media and it's reporting.

Fiction:
The Winter King, written by Brenard Cornwell. This book revisits King Aurthur and his men in a more interesting manner. I read the book in 8th grade, but this is one that you probably don't want any young children reading.

And because I wouldn't be able to sleep at night without the ultimate nerd book on my desk, I have to mention the best-est book ever. The Hitchhikers Trilogy.

I guess we might as well continue this thread seeing as how it's grown, but there is another, much older, thread that covers this topic,found here.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

(bringing up an semi-old thread)

Summer is for hunkering down with a good book. My brother, who has a phd in literature and composition, gives me great books to read. Krakatoa was suprisingly good. If you like history, geology, biology, culture development, and the emergence of modern communication, you will like this book.

Also, my family is reading the 6th Harry Potter book, and we are enjoying it. Our copy currently has 3 bookmarks in it, since three of us are all at different points of the story.

AB

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Books? Did someone say books? Those beautiful bound scaps of paper? The most recent books I've read are Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That, by Lisa Glatt, Flying in Place, by Susan Palwick, and I'm half-way through with the latest Harry Potter book, I expect I'll finish it tonight. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini will be going to IRI with me.

Heidi

Re: Favorite Book?
 

The Latest Book I read is: Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. Definetly he is my favorite author, though DaVinci Code, Angels and Deamons, and Digital Fortress are similar, the thriller aspect to it really keeps one intrested constantly. But I also really liked Deception Point, which was unlike any of the others. Well anyway I like NonFiction as the list below me describes....

Some of the Other Books I've read recently:
-America the Book: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction By Jon Stewart and the Daily Show Team
-John Adams by David McCullough
-Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius by Bob Iannini
-Nothing's Sacred by Lewis Black
-Its Not About the Bike, Its My Journey Back to Life by Lance Armstrong
-100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken is #37) by Bernard Goldberg

And the next book I'll read:
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman

Re: Favorite Book?
 

The (Inaccurately Named) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy by Douglas Adams, and the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

This is quite possibly the most inspirational book ever.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Maybe it is just because I'm not enough of a geek to understand that book but I thought it was one of the worst books I have ever read. I couldn't go on to finish it.

When I was younger (Middle School I think) I read a book called Don't Look Behind You. It was about the witness protection program and it was really good. Apparently some other people though it was good too because they went on to make a movie out of it.

For books they make you read in school, Catcher in the Rye and Rebecca weren't bad. I didn't like The Great Gatsby at all.

And of course the book Code Name Ginger was really good (how can anyone disagree?), but I didn't get too far in it (I don't spend much time reading books anymore). I just never really finished reading it. I really liked the part about where Dean Kamen flew across the country to install (or was it fix?) some lighting equipment for a show and he worked for so long and hard that he fell asleep under the stage. He woke up when the show was starting and found the lights to be working perfectly. :)

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Besides reading text that has been required for classes [and that hasn't happened in almost 4 years], I'd have to say one of my favorite books is John Hersey's "Hiroshima" . I almost never, ok never read books for pure entertainment purposes but for some reason this book caught my attention and once I started I couldn't stop. I ended up reading it two or three times. It's quite possibly the graphic and disturbing details that kept me from putting it down, but this also means it really not meant for a younger audience or anyone with a really weak stomach. Other than Hiroshima, I can't really think of any other book I truly enjoyed.

I'm more of a magazine guy...and even then I only read about 1/2 the articles. :ahh:

Re: Favorite Book?
 

anything by Terry Pratchet

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Anything by Tolkien or C.S. Lewis, LOTR especially! :D

Re: Favorite Book?
 

I don't read many books, but I'd have to say my favorite is Super System 2 by Doyle Brunson. There's just so much information in that book it's hard to get it all into your head.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

East of Eden by John Steinbeck!

Re: Favorite Book?
 

Nuklear Age by Brian Clevinger, but the Ender series is really close. I've already gone through Ender's Game, Speaker For The Dead, and Xenocide, so I guess Children Of The Mind would be next.

Re: Favorite Book?
 

In Popular Literature class we are reading No Easy Answers. Its a book combined of short stories about teenage life. Its pretty good book for teenagers.

-Court-

Re: Favorite Book?
 

There is a tie of three here.

All-time favorite : Dr. Seuss's ABC's

High School favorites:
Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
and
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Re: Favorite Book?
 

i cant believe no one has mentioned Robert Jordan - the wheel of time series, best series EVER