What is your favourite book? A.K.A. what to read

[Thomassino]

Hello.

I created this thread to share our favourite books and to choose, what to read next.

Mine are:

From Arthur C. Clarke:

2001 and 2010 Space Odysseys

Childhood's end

Rendezvous with Rama

Fountains of Paradise-my favourite one

Ray Bradbury:

Farenheit 451

Stephen Baxter:

Titan

Andrzej Sapkowski:

All Witcher stuff

Feel free to move or delete this thread if there is a similar one (I haven't found one though)

Edited August 31, 2015 by Thomassino

[Yukon0009]

Andy Weir-The Martian

Douglas Adams- The Hitchiker's giude to the Galaxy

[Just Jim]

Top 3 of my list, in order:

Anything by H.P. Lovecraft

All the Dune books (including the new ones).... in chronological order.

The Necroscope series by Brian Lumley (warning... very hardcore horror, definitely not for the faint of heart)

[waterlubber]

In no particular order, The Martian, Jurassic Park (books were excellent), Eragon, and HHGTTG

[vixr]

The Eyes of the Dragon, S.King...or pretty much anything by Stephen King, although I read Communion by Whitley Strieber, which scared the crap outta me.

Last book read was World War Z by Max Brooks.

Edited August 31, 2015 by vixr

[RainDreamer]

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I just love the writing style, and it has been a strong influence on my own writing style.

A Requiem for Homo Sapiens by David Zindell - when people were reading Harry potter, I was reading this trilogy, and I think I enjoy it more.

[InterCity]

Dune by Frank Herbert

Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay

Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski - though the 7th book was... well... meh.

[Kozak]

Just about anything by Erin Hunter

[LN400]

Not much of a reader really but a couple of books I have read to shreds:

Lonely Heart Of the Cosmos - Dennis Overby

The Code Book - Simon Singh (would love to get my hands on his Fermat's Last Theorem as well)

HHGTTG

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Unknown Soldier - Väinö Linna

and a couple I haven't completely destroyed yet:

A Higher Call - Adam Makos/Larry Alexander

Life Among Billions of Stars, Civilizations in the Milky Way and Beyond? - Nils Mustelin

[Godot]

I agree with H.P. Lovecraft, as well as Douglas Adams.

Also:

Terry Pratchetts Discworld series

[Shpaget]

Foundation series is just amazing and when coupled with Robot and Empire stuff... so much fun and brain teasey. Should keep you occupied for a while.

Then there are the Stranger in a Strange Land and Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The short story Coventry is also good, although the ending is a bit weak.

Can't mention the two without the third, can I? Rendezvous with Rama.

Even though I'm not a fan of fantasy, I quite like the ASOIAF series (Go Arya, poke'em with the pointy end!).

[Flymetothemun]

Anything by Edgar Allan Poe (More like poetry, but still, it's writing)

Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (Still reading it, but It's really good)

1984 by Orwell

Anything by Dave Barry (Baby Boomer humorist; Wrote a humor column for the Miami Herald for a long time)

The Bible of Unspeakable Truths by Greg Gutfeld (Right-Libertarian Author; Incorporates a LOT of humor into his writing)

Petrolia by Brian Black (Details early Petroleum Industry history from where it all began in the Titusville-Oil City Region of Pennsylvania)

Quiet by Susan Cain

As you can see I'm not too keen on fiction.

[Jasper_f]

My most favourite book? That is a very tough question to answer. I would name several:

-Shogun by James Clavell absolutely stands at the top of my favourites list, although to be fair the entire Asian saga is fantastic. Would thoroughly recommend anyone to read the series.

-The Stand by Stephen King

-The Lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

-I am Legend by Richard Matheson

-Dracula by Bram Stoker

I guess I should read some scifi themed books. I’ll follow the thread and pick up some recommendations!

[Starwhip]

Hmm. I'd say that the Inheritance cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance) were probably my favorite books to date. The Ranger's Apprentice series was very good as well. I, Robot and others by Asimov are great reads. War of the Worlds, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and other classic sci-fi novels.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Starwhip

[lukethecoder64]

My favorites are:

1) The Martian - Andy Weir (Apollo 13 on mars)

2) Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl (Written by a physiologist who survived a concentration camp)

3) The Spirit of St. Louis - Charles Lindenburgh (His account of his flight from NY to pairs)

4) The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien (Need I say anything?)

I can't think of a 5th. Oh well.

Luke

[CelticCossack51]

I like the Mark of Athena and the other Percy Jackson books. The Kane Chronicles where good as well.

[TheSaint]

Anything by Neal Stephenson. (The Diamond Age, The Baroque Cycle, and Cryptonomicon stand out as the best, but they're all good.)

The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. (The Last Chronicles really didn't need to be written.)

The Gap Cycle also by Stephen R. Donaldson

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Ringworld, and its sequels, by Larry Niven

Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card. (The other related books are okay, but not as good.)

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more. I read a lot.

Edited September 2, 2015 by TheSaint

[Cydonian Monk]

That's an easy question for me: Neuromancer (William Gibson). "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

[Cirocco]

In no particular order:

The Martian, by Andy Weir (bought it last saturday. Finished it the day after); The Lord of the Rings trilogy, by Tolkien; and anything in the discworld series, by Terry Pratchett

[LtWhiskers]

The Martian is indeed a good read. Finished it myself recently. No Country for Old Men is great, as is starship troopers, Ender's game and Confederacy of Dunces.

[Xorth Tanovar]

The entire Known Space series by Larry Niven.

*ANYTHING* written by Harlan Ellison, all-time king of speculative fiction

"The Horus Heresy" series (various authors, all in the Warhammer 40k universe).

Titan series by John Varley

[Gaarst]

Only English written books I really liked (and remember) are Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) and Hamlet. I studied both in last year of high school, and realised afterwards that I really enjoyed them ^^ Beware though, they are a pain in the *** to read and fully understand for non native English speakers.

I don't read much on my own, so there are no other books I can remember right now ^^

[Superfluous J]

Of those already mentioned:

Rendezvous with Rama - A classic. If you can stomach the "people suck" vibe the other 3 books in the series are quite a ride. I'm man enough to admit I got quite emotional at the end of the last one.

The Hitchiker's giude to the Galaxy - A wholly remarkable book. The entire misnamed trilogy is great. Some of the best writing on the planet.

The Martian - Too new to justify putting in in "favorites" but man, that was a good book.

Jurassic Park - I agree that the first book was excellent. I remember that I read the 2nd book but don't remember much about it other than I liked it better than the movie.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld series - YES. In particular Guards Guards!

The Foundation series - It lost me a bit when Asimov tried to tie it in with the previous stuff, but still even through Foundation And Earth it was great. The one where Seldon and Olivaw spent the whole book walking around Trantor was a slog, though, and should be skipped IMO.

ASOIAF series - I'm reading Game of Thrones right now after seeing the show, and wow the show pales compared to it. Which is crazy considering how good the show is. One thing: I appreciate being able to put faces with the names because holy cow there are a lot of names in this book.

The Lord of the Rings - The whole trilogy, and the Hobbit before it, is great. I will admit I skip all the songs.

Ringworld - I could never get through Ringworld Throne but the first ... two? ... were great.

Ender's Game - This and Ender's Shadow make a great set of books. Never read the rest.

Wow you guys have good taste

Let me add a couple:

The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring, a great pair of books set in a unique star system.

Lucifer's Hammer - AKA Armageddon without the saving the world part (or any of the cheese)

Footfall - AKA Independence Day where we actually really get beaten down, and winning isn't as easy as infecting the mothership with a virus.

Hunger Games - I've only read the first book so far but look forward to the other 2. Going to try to get through them before the 4th movie comes out.

[FishInferno]

I just finished "Anthem" by Ayn Ryad, a short but good read. My English class is reading it but I thought it was good I went home and finished it ahead of the class:P