What are your favourite books?
My are
Harry Potter books and most of the John Grisham books.

I don't and won't get Harry Potter! :mad:

Ahhh, John Grisham, I like him. :)

But my favorite are Lois McMaster Bujold's adventures of Miles Vorkosigan books. It's SF.

Anyway, lately I've read some books from James Redfield (I would say they're fantasy but...), and I strongly wish you read them:
The Celestine Prophecy
The Tenth Insight
The Secret of Shambala

I'm beginning to lose count about how many posts about favourite books there have been. It would probably be a better idea to take a look before posting, although I'll admit I've screwed up before too. Anyway that's just my opinion which you can all agree to or not, it doesn't really matter.

So back to the topic. My favouritest (Is that even a word?) books ever have to be David Eddings' Belgaried and Mallorean. I've read that series so many times I've had to buy a number of books again as they've started falling apart. For any tips on some more books have a look further down the board. There is a post down there about books to read.

Silmarillion!!!!!

My favourite fantasy books are: (besides Tolkien eh Headbanger ;) ) Katherine Kerr's Devery Saga. She has developed a world that is almost as believable as the master himself. Her system of magic is really impressive, regardless where she borrowed it from.

The Wheel of Time

And the saga about Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

[Mollusken check this out: http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/faq.html#doubles BTA]

[This message has been edited by Blackthorne TA (edited May 14, 2001).]

A book by a norwegian writer called Ingvar Ambjørnsen, brothers in blood (brødre i blodet) Really great book about a pretty nevrotic guy.
If this is available wherever you guys come from, read it.... :D

Tolkien for the greatest epic ever written, Robert Jordan for the most complex. It is hard for me to pick between these two authors.

So many good books...
Anyway, I like:
J.R.R. Tolkein - I'm reading LotR just now and it's amazing
Tom Clancy - Rainbow 6 was brilliant. If only they'd make a movie out of that...
Pretty much all of the Star Wars books
John Grisham
R.A. Salvatore's stuff (Except Vector Prime in the Star Wars series. HOW COULD HE KILL OFF CHEWBACCA??? :()
And that's about it

"December" by Phil Rickman. Kinda creepy.

I'm currently reading a collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers. Methinks that stuff is weird...

I love everything by Tolkien, Stephen King and Lovecraft.

Happy 100th post to me :D ... I didn't think I'd make it. Too bored some times.

currently the discworld series and as a tribute to adams i've been reading all his books over and over and over

Pr0n books

Neuromancer and the Planescape novel at the moment. Trying to get that horrible hunk of crap called "The Hobbit" out of my mind. Must have been aimed at the 2-9 year old crowd.

The Hobbit was made for both kids and adults. It's an essential backgrounder for anyone who wants to read the trilogy, and can be a "kid's bedtime story" if read alone. IF...the word is important here...IF...you read the Hobbit ONLY. But, once you start reading the trilogy, then everything that happens in the Hobbit (esp. the part about Bilbo finding the one ring) makes sense.

If you have indeed read the trilogy and found it as unimpressive as your description of the Hobbit, then I believe you are under what I describe as the "vicious-entropic-jadedness" syndrome that is now prevailing in the fantasy genre. The reason why readers of Jordan or say Anthony's books find Tolkiens work "simplistic" is very simple--he was a pioneer--the Wright Brothers certainly didn't have cool stuff like autothrottle and GPS to help fly their airplanes.

In short, modern-era fantasy-genre writers, especially the "mediocre" ones, try so hard at making so complex plots, because they believe people are tired of the "usual Trolls and Goblins stuff" and demand for more complexity in their works...but the general effect is, newcomers to the fantasy genre lose the magic of rediscovering classics such as those written by Tolkien and CS Lewis, because they feel if a plot is simplistic, it's a bad plot or a "for-a-child" kind of story.

Just my 2 cents.

-RODION

P.S. I read Tolkien, Lewis, Anthony, Clancy, Michener (ahh the detail), etc.

Oh and for the people that say Tolkien is too simplistic: Read the Silmarillion! And then talk again.

I know where you are coming from Rodenk, and I have nothing but respect for Tolkien and all his writings, but "The Hobbit" is so devoid of plot and progression, I don't understand why it's not part of the LotR series.

I have no problem with setting the stage for books to come, but at least make it interesting for the reader and uninsulting to their intelligence. Not everyone who reads "The Hobbit" are doing so in preparation for LotR.

[This message has been edited by Sintek (edited May 21, 2001).]

Hmmm, time for an attempt at an analogy.

Which do you prefer? BG2 or IWD? Or better yet, do you prefer computer-based AD&D or Pen-Paper AD&D? The reason I'm asking is this.

My brother hates to play Pen-and-Paper AD&D because he says there is no underlying "plot" or cohesiveness when we play it because the DM seems to be just intent on providing adventures and more adventures without some definite goal, unlike when he plays BG2, he sez. Which is true--P&P AD&Ders like that about AD&D--the absence of a "true" storyline and you play mainly just to "go-adventuring-around".

For me, the Hobbit is like Pen and Paper AD&D and TLoTRs Trilogy is like computer-based AD&D like BG2. Can you see where I'm getting at here? Just like the difference between BG2 and IWD...the latter seems to lack the "grand, epic" storyline of BG2 (just like the Hobbit lacks the grand, cohesive plot of TLoTR Trilogy)...

...my thoughts. :)

-RODION

Raised on Tolkien. and if you think it is simple then y're f***** inthe head. A lot is said without someting happening every 20 seconds. It is an epic. I also like Terry Goodkind. His stuff is good to and it pulls you along, but it is more like a movie or Tv show. Lots of dialogue. plenty of description, but you can get almost all you need from the dialague, after reading them before, that is almost all i read.

Tolkien onthe other hand you can go pages without dialague, this makes it dry for some. I could never bring myself to read more that parts of the silmarillion, because it is very dry history. This happens, followed by this, followed by this. and it goes on for hundreds of pages. good for reference tothe storys but not as everyday reading.

Edited fer The FAQ

[This message has been edited by Mendanbar (edited May 23, 2001).]

the important thing to remmember about the hobbit is that it started this way...tokien wrote "there was a hobbit who lived in a hole" on a scrap of paper and thought "where the hell did that come from".
hehe and thats straigh from his mouth
he was a linguist, and already been working up an imaginary language that became elvish, and was really his prime reason for writing the books originally.
C.S. lewis, a VERY good friend of his, enguraged him to keep writing, and I think it's very clear that the writing gets better as you move through the books. for the first work of an un-trained writer, the hobbit is exellent.
One of the best things about reading LOTR is the feeling of sharing the suprise with the author, he only had the most general outline, and some things you just feel as if you and he are with them..."How the hell are we going to get this damn ring into the fire" ...beacuse it took him a long time to figure out how to do it without some cheesy Deus ex machina.
I know alot of people find it "hard to wade through" I guess some people just read REALLY slow.
But from haflings to orcs to ents to our conception of elves, all of this is due to tolkien. it really is the first epic legend of our time, the first since the aurthurian legends where fully developed, or the Prose Edas. Every "sword and sorcery" "fantasy" book since has been so heavily influenced by it most are pale imitations. Of course the plots seem overly familiar if you've read TSR books or Brooks or Eddings, because LOTR is where all of those plots where ripped off from.

you can never go around Tolkien for almost all fantasybooks are based on what Tolkien created. Tolkien made not only a story but a world, with how the world was created, with culture, languages and much more. No-one made a fantasy-story with so much background-information as Tolkien did.

My favorite book would have to be The Wayfarer Redemption by Sarah Douglass

~Essence~

I realize that this is a fantasy world sort of thread, but has anyone read any Clive Cussler? Dirk Pitt is my secret hero, and whenever I feel like some light escapism I pick up some Cussler. Most of the books are quite similar, but entertaining none-the-less.

Extremist - I have read The Celestine Prophecy. Interesting read.

[This message has been edited by Lord Moeken (edited May 31, 2001).]

Now, what are you waiting for? Get "The Tenth Insight" in the first bookshop!

um let me see... so many to choose from

Of course my very very favorite is the dragonlance chronicles, next would be the sword of shannanara(sp?)series. And i also like marion zimmer bradley for her sword and sorceress short stories.

The dune series, up to god emperor.
David Brins uplift saga.
Orson Scott Cards enders game series.
LOTR
Anything by Kurt Vonnegot, Richard Braughtigan, or Tim Robbins.
All quiet on the western front. (hemmingway isn't fit to suck Remarque's ummm you get the point)
One flew over the cuckoos nest
early steinbeck, prior to Grapes of Wrath.
The complete works of W.B. Yeats, still trying to memorize "a terrible beauty is born" :) I promise I won't bore you all by typing it.

that list is not in order.


[This message has been edited by jester1137 (edited June 01, 2001).]

I've read nearly every book mentioned in this series. And its really difficult to pick out one or two. Add to the list JV Jones, Terry Pratchet, Barbara Hambly (her earlier stuff mostly), Tad Williams, and too many more to mention. I also like most of the older Forgotten Realms trilogies (what is it with fantasy books and trilogies? huh?).

Also, Clive Barker's Weaveworld is one of my favorite books. It's kind of a mix of fantasy and horror, wonders and monstrosities both. Finally, for pure horror, I really like Douglas Clegg, who is new, but pretty scary. Hes got a new book called "Naomi", which I haven't started yet.
Should be frightening...

Anything that involves Raistlin. Think I'm falling in love.... :)

Anyway, woohoo for my first post.

Lord Balduran - I loved Weaveworld! That was very different and very creative. (Gotta get that mirrored coat)

On the "dark fantasy" note - I have to recommend Steven King's "Dark Tower" series. The Gunslinger is a great character. This is a classic tale with some very creative twists, not the same ol' story

(Example of the typical story:
small town boy is really a powerful mage but doesn't know it. Read along and watch him get a magic sword, a pretty girl friend and learn to shoot firebolts out of his arse!)

Favorite Book : Neuromancer

The only book I've been able to read countless times and get a new understanding each time I do.

I have several all-time favs:

The Riftwar series by Feist
Shannara series by Brooks
Amber series by Zelazny
Homecoming series by OSCard

Though I do like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, Cresham, and others.

Although a big fan of LotR, and the Wheel of Time (up to book 3, the plot just seemed to keep meandering off into oblivion after that), I'd have to say the best read I've had to date would be Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Miserables. Also up there are the works of Chuck Palahiuk, ie Fight Club and Survivor.
I'm currently, however, working on Niel Stephenson's Snow Crash, and it's aiming for the near top of my list.


[This message has been edited by Alex (edited July 18, 2001).]

Dune, I just love this story

I'm trying to read LoTR(again). I think if I get past The Fellowship, I'll be homefree. I'm reserving judgement until I finish completely(though the fact this is my 4th attempt to read through should be something of an indicator for my current opinion).

My favorite books/serie are...
Series: Toss-up between the Wheel of Time and the Death Gate Cycle.
Short stories: Lovecraft, baby.
Individual books is tough...but Steven Brust's novel of the Beginning and the Revolt of the Angels To Reign in Hell is at the top of the list now(not a preachy book, completely redefines the story of Heaven and the Fall of certain angels).

Anything by Raymond E. Feist, best author I know. And Michael Moorcock for the really odd stuff.

I don't like Tolkien either. So flame me :p

Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising was the best book that i had ever read, and i am in the middle of Rainbow Six right now. He's got to be one of the best writers ever.(IMHO)

They should make a movie out of Red Storm Rising... Or maybe not, the pyro technics might cost to much.(yet another reason to love that book, they blow all kinds of sh*t up :D)

[This message has been edited by jack-of-all-trades (edited July 20, 2001).]