ALL the books!!

[blindfireak40]

Hey guys, I was just thinking:

We have one of these threads for other forms of entertainment, but what about reading? One of Zaradozia's joke threads kinda got diverted to books a little, but I feel like it's a topic that deserves its own thread. So, what do you read? Favorite genres, series, authors, one-off novels or short stories? Why do you like the kinds of literature that you do?

For me, if I were to try and pin down my all-time favorite books/series, the short list would be:

Single Books
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand--Objectivist masterwork
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein--A little of everything in this
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (Signet Classic Translation)--a bit of a guilty pleasure, this; in spite of the nature of some of the stories, it DOES include most of Shakespeare's plays as they were ORIGINALLY written and told ;)

Series
Extended Middle-Earth Literature by Tolkien (yes, even the Silmarillion)--Incredibly deep storytelling and a vibrant world ALL made up by ONE MAN
Age of Discovery series by Michael A. Stackpole (The Secret Atlas, Cartomancy, The New World)--another vibrant world, and EXTREMELY entertaining fantasy-adventure hijinks
Earth's Children by Jean Auel (Clan of the Cave Bear etc.)--bit of a guilty pleasure my mom got me into hahaha

Shameful pleasures (Guilty is too kind)
Twilight :o--not well written, not particularly imaginative, but DAMN are they entertaining

So there you have my short list, including one that I really am a little ashamed of hahaha...please post your own up! I look forward to the discussion!! :)

[youngster]

I don't read much non fiction but I love the Harry Potter series. For non fiction my favorite are (mostly zoology stuffs):
The Element of Zoology by Charles Benedict Davenport (old but REALLY informative)
Forbidden Creatures by Peter Laufer (about the exotic pet trade)
The Amateur Naturalist's Handbook by Vinson Brown
A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians by Robert C Stebbins (Also old but my favorite field guide)

That's about it :)

[alessia55]

I read a lot, so here is a short list of books I've loved and read at least twice:

Food Revolution by John Robbins
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking
Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson
13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

but the one book I've read dozens of times over:
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

There's more but they're not coming to mind right now. I'll update as they come up!

[CK SandBoas]

Here are a few of my favorite book series

1) J.D. Robb's "In Death" Series (Naked in Death, Glory in Death, etc)

2) Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series (One for the money, Two for The Dough, etc)

3) Twilight- yes, i love The Twilight series,not ashamed to admit it, lol

4) Steve Alten's "Meg" series

5) M.C. Beaton's "Agatha Raisin" books

6) Agatha Christie's books

7) Rita Mae Browns "Cat" series

I could go on and on, since i truly love to pick up a book, and lose myself in the story, but i'll stop here, lol.

[youngster]

Oh yeah and 100 Heartbeats by Jeff Corwin

[snake man12]

I also like Ayn rand. Halo books. I like the hunger games,Tom clancy books:)

[stephanbakir]

Besides the usual books, the books I liked were
Incident at hawks hill
Xanth series (Yeh I know... I'm a dude... shh!)
The seventh tower series

[blindfireak40]

I read a lot, so here is a short list of books I've loved and read at least twice:

Food Revolution by John Robbins
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking
Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson
13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers

but the one book I've read dozens of times over:
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

There's more but they're not coming to mind right now. I'll update as they come up!

I ought to read that one..."Know thy Enemy" is the phrase, I believe :yes:

Allow me to explain. Hawking just strikes me as a bit of an embittered, extremely arrogant jerk; I'd like to see if he's actually worth all the hoopla he's given in the scientific community, or if he's really just playing catchup with Feynman and Einstein and the other true geniuses. My 2 cents.

[stephanbakir]

Blindfreak, add me on facebook. I've got some awesome hawkings photos for you :P

[millertime89]

I need to go through my bookshelf and pick out my favorites. But off the top of my head, Harry Potter, Tom Clancy (especially the Jack Ryan series), most Stephen King, Freakonomics, and I'm guilty of reading and enjoying Twilight despite the demographic its aimed at and the poor writting.
I need to look to remember what else I've got sitting on my shelf that I've read recently that I enjoyed.

[Lankyrob]

Anyhting from Raymond Feist, Stephen King, Tom Clancy. Clan of the Cave bear series, the Otherworld trilogy, most if not all Fantasy/Sci Fi and most if not all Military books.

[jarich]

I gotta represent my family here! ANYTHING by Douglas Preston or Preston/Child books, especially the Pendergast series.

Also, my personal favourites are Henry Miller, Dostoyevsky, Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, and Jim Corbett.

Has anyone ever read Jim Corbett? He was this absolutely amazing guy who lived in India back in the late 1800's to mid 1900's. He was most well known for hunting down the man eating tigers and jaguars for the Indian government. A really fantastic nature writer and conservationist; one of the tiger preserves in India is named after him. Some of the stories he wrote about man eating tigers are absolutely terrifying! There was one that ate over 500 people! Interesting part was that he said there was never a tiger or jaguar that hunted people that wasnt injured or suffering in some way. I guess that while we are easy prey, we must not taste very good! Seriously if you havent read one of his books, try to get a copy. I guarantee you wont be able to put it down.

[zamaya]

Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness
Harry Potter
Hater series by David Moody
Jurrasic Park

[alessia55]

Also I have to recommend In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois.

[blindfireak40]

Also I have to recommend In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois.

How is that one presented? Is it a pure, straight ethnography or does he add commentary as well?

[alessia55]

How is that one presented? Is it a pure, straight ethnography or does he add commentary as well?

Both. I've actually met the author and talked to him at length about it. It's very well presented and, many times, quite funny.

I also want to add to my list Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult.