You like books? I like books!

[taoofbalance]

Howdy all.

Was talking with some friends and i'm just curious. Out of all the books you've read, what is your favorite, and why?

I don't so much care what book or book series is your favorite as much as I care about why.

Thanks!

[Twily]

The Legend of Drizzt books are one of my favorites.

I've always liked darkness, night time, etc which is what got me into the first book. In addition to that, I like it when the characters in the book are genuine and sincere. I didn't see a lot of things I'd see as "foolish" or done just for the sole sake of coming home a hero and/or adding drama to the story. I saw it mostly as a group of friends looking out for each other, and fighting each others battles together as one. Now when that group of friends is a collection of high ranking people and/or outcasts, they tend to fight for pretty "big picture" things rather than just everyday problems, but it didn't feel like the story was being forced or fluffed up simply for more drama.

[DM_Ironfist]

Any of the Cluture books by Ian M. Banks. - Probably Excession.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

Probably something by Hemingway or Steinbeck.

...but the Redwall series by Brian Jacques holds a special place in my heart. As does Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams.

[The Man of the Moon]

The Patrick Rothfuss Saga (The Name of the Wind...) is something that fascinated me and that made me include his world of fantasy among those awesome others as the Middle Earth of JRR Tolkien and Earthsea of Ursula K. Le Guin.

Before Rothfuss and in the fantasy theme, I returned to read The Anubis Gates, written by Tim Powers... A book that if you didn't read, you should! Sublime!

Why I like it?
Is the best I ever read mixing in a perfect balance the themes of esoterism, fantasy, history, science, poetry and romantical-gothic ambient... Read it and you won't regret it.

I cannot name a book as the best one... Too many are really awesome.
But from what I can remember... there are some titles that really cativated me:

The Hobbit...
The Gates of Anubis...
The Aleph, of Borges...
The Golem, of Gustav Meyrink...
War and Peace, of Lev Tolstoi...
The Club Dante, of Arturo Pérez Reverte...
The many SciFi Chronicles of Isaac Asimov...

Bah... the list could continue yet... more and more...

Edited:

I am currently reading Moby D*ck; or, The Whale by Melville. If you like the ocean or sailing in general its a phenomenal book.

The saga of Aubrey–Maturin series written by Patrick O'Brien (Master and Commander movie is the adaptation of his first book of the same title)...

For the Sea lovers. From the 21 titles I couldn't stop reading them and as soon I swallowed one, sailed for the next one! Brilliant!

The Lord of the Rings... I mentioned The Hobbit, and erally was that book who lured me into the marvelous world of Arda created by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien... Will never leave my bookshelves!

The Biblia? I like how the Silmarillion seems in some way (many ways) as the Biblia looks...
The truth Biblia had several censorship after the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) where Jesus Christ went from a enlighted human to turn into a God... Several bias there that any phililogist may happen to detect (some friends perhaps pointed about), but never the less, still a very interesting reading.

Fritz Leiber... oh... I didn't mentioned him, but he is another God among the Star Authors!

Frank Herbert! Dune is a master opus!

Did anyone erad to Stanislaw Lem? He is another genious, and his SciFi and Fantasy Books are just hilarious in a fantastic balance between epic drama and comedy.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. wooooooooooooottttt... Loved it so much, and award mention to the movie: Blade Runner! A jewel!

Really, a life is something so short to erad everything one may want to read!

...

Oh...

the Sherlock Holmes Saga by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! I loved it so much in my younger times...

[Rattus_norvegicus99]

Childhood favorite series was the Chronicles of Narnia and ... even as old as I am, I love reading them to my kids. Still a favorite.

[AEJDR]

well.... my number one, Tolkien, dont count anymore, but over twentytimes i did lord of the rings. Recently i discovered The Seven Realms Series written by Cinda Williams Chima. easy reading but fun...
An other view on the dwarfs, i got a few month ago with a german writer Markus Heitz. He wrote four books about dwarfs, the first three i liked, the forth, wasnt realy my favorite, but others liked it..
And just started again in Terry Goodkinds serie....
and last but not least, in my jonger years, the Frits Leiber books.

[Anime Sword Fighter]

^ read Lord of the Rings 17 times in Middle School 7th and 8th grade, at least, as much that I counted

To enter into those standard highschool reading books: 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka are all neat.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, a book about WWI was also good.

[What_Evil_Lurks]

The bible: (Grew up Catholic, lost the faith but not the want to understand it.)
-Revelations- The language, the insanity of it, the imagery. There has never been anything written to match the feeling of reading this book. It is not western in feeling yet has defined western culture. I can't even grasp what mindset you'd have to be in to write this.
-The book of Job- The best book in the bible. Job's bits are out of control real and poetic, strong, yet full of vulnerability. The story is compelling and reads well once you understand how to read the bible. The feeling of reading it I've never had from another book.

Crappy chapter books:
-Tolkien of course. Without those books I'd never have picked up another.
-TSR Forgotten Realms starting with Avatar Trilogy and ending with the Erivis Cale books (Under WotC I belive). These books I don't have to think when reading. They make me remember how much I love telling stories in fantasy.
-Warhammer 40k books. The writing is not all that great but they are epic in language, scope, and subject matter.

I read alot of political philosophy, social theory, gender and race studies, and others of that ilk because I think that is what I have to do to try and understand where the hell I fit into the world. Its boring but I like the knowledge it gives. I like feeling better equipped for a tough world and these books scratch that itch.
I am all over the place with this stuff but come back to bell hooks and Zizek often.

[taoofbalance]

From reading the posts here, as well as just asking friends and co-workers I think I see Tolkien mentioned the most out of any single author. I can't say I am surprised, given most of my friends share the same interest in the setting that I do. But it is still nice to see such a common bond, and how greatly his image has shaped what the fantasy setting is today, or at the very least, popularized it.

As for myself, I couldn't put down the Dresden Files. I read all the books in about a 6 month span, including the short stories. The characters are what really drive me in that series, I can relate to them really well. Also, I like his take on magic as well as the supernatural. Overall, I enjoy the whole thing.

Also, I'm a pretty big Drizzt fan. I actually read the Dark Elf Trilogy before I read anything by Tolkien. Though, the Drizzt series has lost a lot of appeal to me over the years, it's still something I keep up on when a new book comes out if for no better reason than I love me some combat scenes. Also, I <3 Artemis Entreri.

[DreamOfCream]

I am currently reading Moby D*ck; or, The Whale by Melville. If you like the ocean or sailing in general its a phenomenal book.

Read Catcher in the Rye again. The first person narration feels so real in that book.

EDIT: had to alter the title of Melville's book because D*ck was being changed to "Shark" by some wacky forum censorship. I suppose I should also recommend 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury while on the topic of censorship.

[Marsi]

I haven't read enough books in general to name a favourite, but I like pre-LOTR fantasy/historical fiction, because all the genre has going for it is good prose, good characters, and good worldbuilding--and most fantasy these days, in my opinion, has none of these.

re-reading LOTR right now actually, so comfy.

[taoofbalance]

Marsi, if you're all about that world building I suggest The Wheel of Time series. It's a pretty long series, and similiar to Tolkien in a lot of ways. It's truly on an Epic Scale. I am only on book 7 myself and I believe there are 13 or 14, with the last couple being finished by Brandon Sanderson.

Speaking of... a lot of Sandersons books are excellent. I've only read a couple of them, but they all get pretty great reviews from what I can tell.

[Lord_Phoenyx]

I am a huge fan of Wheel of Time... I got to meet Robert Jordan more than once at signings before he passed. Brandon Sanderson's work is amazing as well, including his completion of Wheel of Time... and he's an awesome guy as well. I've met him numerous times at signings, to the point where he recognizes me! There really is nothing like being recognized by someone quite that famous. Multiple NY Times bestsellers, etc.

[IndifferentPerson]

I like swords.