Favorite books.

[asmodeus]

to state the obvious:

Tolkien- The Lord of the Rings

the Silmarillon is a bit boring though, clearly needed some more work.

I'm surprised this hasnt come up earlier...

catch-22 is great
1984, George Orwell
The Animal Farm, George Orwell

 

[Keganator]

*Catcher in the Rye, by D. J. Salinger.
* 1984 is in there somewhere.
* Anything by Terry Pratchet, but I'll go with "The Last Hero" as one of my favorites, since it's a beautifully illustrated book with a story that is both humerous and overall excellent.
* Many of the short stories and novels by Robert A. Heinlein are excellent.
* All of Lary Niven's work, especially the novel Ringworld, is excellent.

 

[Olethros]

I'll try not to repeat anything already listed here:

• Porno by Irvine Welsh. This might be the single funniest book I've read. Ever. (And I own very nearly everything Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams have had published.) Of course, you might want to start with its prequel:
• Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. If you liked the movie, you'll probably love the novel. And if you didn't like the movie, I probably don't like you.
• Ecstasy by - you might have guessed - Irvine Welsh. Three love stories for a chemical world. I particularly liked the bit with the sheep.
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman. If I could find the words to accurately describe how cool this book is, I'd probably be a writer too.
• History of bestiality by Jens Bjørneboe. You don't have to wear a beret and sit in coffebars discussing the finer points of post-neoredeconstructionalism for hours on end to read this, but... Nah, who am I kidding, you do. (And no, it's not that kind of bestiality.)

 

[Logan6]

Robert Heinlien, Larry Niven, Isaac Asimov.

Ringworld series.

All the Man-Kzin Wars.

Larry Nivens short stories.

Joe Haldeman - The Forever War.

Julian May - The Many Colored Land, The Golden Torc, The Non-Born King, The Adversary.

The Galactic Encounters Series

Tour of the Universe

Diary of a Space Person.

 

[Pipe_Dream]

The Great Brain (entire series), John D. Fitzgerald
Fateful Triangle, Chomsky
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley

 

[MP_Lord_Kee]

Well, I just dug out one old thread where I listed some books I have enjoyed in the past....

- Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. A classical samurai novel based on Miyamoto Musashi life.

- Anything by William Gibson. My fav. are Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Count Zero.

- Anything by Tolkien. If you haven't read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, do so. It is worth the time. I seriously recommend reading The Hobbit prior to LOTR.

- Anything by David & Leigh Eddings. Some hate them but I have always enjoyed the works by Eddings. I especially love the detail of the fantasy world they write about, the wastness of the stories and they are able to tell the story in a convincing manner. I guess one major appeal to me is the fact that I hate it when a good story ends, Eddings sometimes seems to be going on forever

- Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. Absolutely fabulous stuff. Hillarious. I seldom laugh out loud when reading sometimes but Pratchett has made me do so on several occations.

- Biggles books by Captain W.E Johns. My favourite as kid. Got over 100 of them. Still enjoyable to read when taking a dump or before bedtime. About Bigglesworth, a british pilot in all kind of situtations where airplanes are involved. (WWI, WWII, treasure hunting, busting criminals etc etc).

- Anything by Douglas Adams. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is fantastic. As well as his other works.

- Rose of the Prophet trilogy by Margaret Weis. Arabic themed (Djinn etc) trilogy that I really enjoyed. Also the Darksword trilogy is worth checking out but it is no where as good as the Rose of the Prophet trilogy IMHO. Apparently Weis has written a lot of Dragonlance and such books, never touched them myself..

- Anything by Arthur C. Clarke. 2001 and the following in the series are great. Also other books by him are read worthy.

- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. The novel Bladerunner was based upon. There is also a Bladerunner 2 novel by someone I don't remember (I can check if requested) that continued on the story from the movie. Not classic but interesting enough.

- Anything by Isaac Asimov. Foundation trilogy is brilliant. So is his other works.

- Shogun by James Clavell. I was perhaps 10 when I read it the first time. There was this TV series of it as well..wonder if I can leech it from the net somewhere...About this english adventurer in feudal Japan.

- Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. Absolutedly hillarious book about Jesus. One of the funniest books I have read in a long time.

//Kee

 

[[C22]-Mort]

That would be the SEVEN books of the Foundation trilogy...would it?

 

[das_ben]

Fyodor Dostoyevski - Notes from the underground. His masterpiece, at least in my opinion.
Fyodor Dostoyevski - Crime and punishment. Most well known novel of his and for a reason.
Jeffrey Eugenides - The virgin suicides. Short but compelling.
Isaac Asimov - I, Robot. Very well known even before the movie, I dig logics.
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker Trilogy. Funniest books produced on Earth yet.
Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451. One of the best anti-utopian novels.
William Gibson - Neuromancer. The sci-fi classic.
Emile Zola - Germinal. Boring at times [as most Zola novels], best French naturalism novel as a whole.
Elizabeth Wurtzel - Prozac Nation. Not to the taste of everyone, but I found it both shocking and captivating.
Most short stories by Fyodor Dostoyevski, Franz Kafka, H.G. Lovecraft and E. A. Poe.

 

[Burger]

Contest, Ice Station, Temple, Area 7, Scarecrow from Sydney (Australia) author Matthew Reilly.

 

[MP_Lord_Kee]

That would be the SEVEN books of the Foundation trilogy...would it?

Frankly, I don't have a clue, been _ages_ since I last read em. I have been concidering buying the whole lot one day. Just never have time to endulge in reading anymore...other than work/studying related.

Well, a couple of his work that I haven't read apparently...

http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/asimov_catalogue.html

//K

 

[TheWhaleShark]

I will also try not to repeat too much; I already agree with the vast majority of everything that's been mentioned, so I'll throw in my own takes.

-Everything William Gibson. The man is much more accomplished than just Neuromancer. I'm particularly enjoying Pattern Recognition and Idoru.

-Everything Hunter S. Thompson. I'm actually surprised he wasn't already mentioned (unless I missed it). Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is his most widely-known work, but all of his stuff is just amazing.

-Kerouac and Ginsberg. Two of the most widely known authors of the beat generation. Even if you're not big on the generation, the works are thought-provoking at the least. Worth a read.

-H.P. Lovecraft was already mentioned, but he bears repeating. THE master of horror. Stephen King ain't got ****.

-Tao Teh Ching by Lao Tzu. Read it. Or don't. It's all the same.

 

[unixman]

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies -- by Jared Diamond
Hyperspace -- by Michio Kaku

 

[Kibbles-N-Bits]

Not in any particular order:

The Age of Extremes : A History of the World, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm
Neromancer by William Gibson
The Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden

 

[(SDS)benmcl]

Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll

Very good. I remember him being interviewed on Prisioners of Gravity.

 

[Cap'n Beeb]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Necroscope series (Thirteen total books of awesome.) by Brian Lumley
I can't recall the titles, but I find the Clive Cussler novels are pretty good reads.

 

[GenoOfTheCrayon]

I just wanted to ressurect this thread with something I just needed to get out.

Battle Royal is an awesome book.

 

[anaemic]

favorite - thhgttg

but that said i throughly reccomend reading some tolstoy, anna karenina, and the cossacks are both fine examples and especially good if the idea of starting war and peace makes you cry like a little girl