Favourite books

[Xionith]

1. LOTR

2. I cant really think of any although Jormundgand (sp?) about the Thrawn Trilogy its actually readable. :)

[loveme4whoiam]

Massive respect to Switch with the Horrible History books, they got me through my GCSE history course :lol:

 

Aren't we all a load of sad acts, having consitently (sp i know, so sue me) had LOTR at number 1 and Hobbit at number 2. I am a massive reader (I HAVE NO LIFE) but ive never read the Hobbit. I started LOTR after seeing the first film (glory follower <_< ) and got up Tom Bombadil (sp?) and started to go all Alice in Wonderland, which is BTW the most screwed up book ever written. You could only write a book like that when high on opium or whatever the hell he was smoking/sniffing/infecting/whatever (i have been told that pouring substances in the ear can be most pleasant ;) )

 

Right, readers rant over, i should probably put my three down.

 

1. All the Sharpe novels. I want to be this man. Cooler than Jack Bauer (sp) (not by much tho), with a bigger sword than He-Man, and pulls more women than James Bond. The guy we all want to be (or have sex with if we are of the femine persuasion).

 

2. 1984. The book that accuratly (damn it, sp. For someone who reads loads my spelling sucks) tells the story of what Communist society wanted to be. I have based my A-Level History paper on the teachings of this book.

 

3. All the Dirk Pitt books. The guy with the worst name in history and the most annoying personality EVER will conquer your page-turning hand.

 

I have hundreds of books i love, and you have no idea how hard it was to squeeze them down to three.

 

BTW, after the ROTK comes out i will religiously read the LOTR, even if it kills me. But not the Hobbit. Well, maybe afterwards...

[Malchik]

i have been told that pouring substances in the ear can be most pleasant

 

I'd ask Hamlet's dad about that.

 

I mean he's dead of course but that doesn't stop him escaping from the tormenting and sulphurous fumes for the odd chin-wag.

[LALALA]

I recomend reading Seven years in Tibet.It is great.You should check the movie too.

[Emry]

Oh what fools these mortals be! There is so much more than fantasy! (Although this is my favorite genre to read :D )

 

1) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (favorites are Henry V, Macbeth, Midsummer's Night Dream and many of the sonnets)

 

2) LOTR

 

3) David Weber's Honor Harrington series (think Horatio Hornblower is space...)

 

3) Anne Bishop's Black Moon trilogy (This one was neat because Saetan, the High Lord of Hell, is the good guy; this one is just a fun read.... )

 

 

I look forward to checking out some of the other books mentioned in these posts.

 

 

So many books, so little time.

[Zmid]

The order of my favs really depend on what mood I'm in, so I won't bother with numbers:

 

Any book written by Shaun Hutson (IMO, they are all equally excellent - think gritty realism with massive amounts of violence and, in some, a dollop of fantasy thrown in for good measure.)

 

LOTR series (I'm currently reading it for the first time in about 10 years)

 

The Dark Half by Stephen King

[OddGuy]

in no particular order:

 

His Dark Materials trilogy--by Philip Pullman

Wheel of Time series--by Robert Jordan

And, of course, Lord of the Rings trilogy-- by J.R.R. Tolkien

[Sekhmet]

I have trouble ranking my favourite books. But, If some must be said, I think these three should do:

 

1. "The Dispossessed", by Ursula K. Le Guin. Great vision of a possible anarchist society. Realistic (as it can be), tryies to analise its troubles rather than hyping its virtues. And well written -- there is actual story, rather than just the "let me show you my marvelous world" so typical in these fields.

A quote from the book:

"But any rule is tyranny. The duty of the individual is to accept no rule, to be the initiator of his own acts, to be responsible. Only if he does so will the society live, and change, and adapt, and survive. We are not subjects of a State founded upon law, but members of a society formed upon revolution. Revolution is our obligation : our hope of evolution. The Revolution is in the individual spirit, or it is nowhere. It is for all, or it is nothing. If it is seen as having any end, it will never truly begin. We can't stop here. We must go on. We must take the risks."

 

2. "Forgotten King Gudú" (unsure about the title, since I read it in spanish: "Olvidado Rey Gudú"), by Ana María Matute. Great, great epic-fantastic novel, way (but really way more) better than 99.9% of the fantasy literature (to call it something) out there.

 

3. "A hundred years of loneliness" ("Cien años de soledad", in spanish) by Gabriel García Marquez. Great "magical realism", greatly written, superb story. Marquez is a genius. The story of a family since its settlement in the middle of nowhere to the day when the last member of the lineage dies. But what makes it overly wonderful is not what it tells, but the way that is done.

 

4. "Merlin and family" ("Merlín e família", in galizan) by Álvaro Cunqueiro. More magical realism, featuring Merlin the sage (yep, that Merlin) retired to the mountains of Galiza with Queen Geneve, after the death of Arthur, where he lives serving as a very special apothecary. It is a collection of short stories, all centered around the mage, told by a young boy serving in his house. I *do* love the one where Merlin comes out one morning and, with a few drops of water, dyes the world in blue.

 

I could go on: "VALIS" and "Radio Free Albemut" by P.K. %&$!, of course "1984" by Orwell and "Brave New World" by Huxley, "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury (the characters memorized entire books, remember?), "My family and other animals" by Gerald Durrell, "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco... But I should stop now, or go on talking forever.

 

Sekhmet.

 

P.S. to loveme4whoiam: 1984 is not what the communist socity wanted to become, but what Orwell thought it was. I will not make judgements on your history paper without having read it, but if that is the conclussion you got, your teacher must be pretty ignorant to grant you that A. As mentioned above, you should read "The Dispossessed", by U.K. Le Guin. That *is* what we communists would like to see. But then I am out of topic. Once more. Sigh.