Favorite Books

[Admin]

Despite running a classic literature site, my favorite book isn't so classic.

My favorite is actually a series of books, The DragonLance Saga by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There are actually nearly 60 books I think, but the main storyline is what I'm talking about and spans maybe 16 books. When you get to the end of it it's just amazing.

Lord of the Rings is good too, I like DragonLance better though.

The Wheel of Time is entertaining - however I wouldn't call it good writing. Robert Jordan often seems very unoriginal in how he sets up the various cultures, because he simply borrows and blends from real cultures. When I'm reading it I think "Okay so these people are the Victorian Japanese, those people are the Rennaisance Turks.." and so on.

Non-fantasy books I've liked include The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gulliver's Travels...

Books I've hated.

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
The Lord of the Flies

[MortalFool]

I don't really have a favorite book, I love to read so much, but my favorite author is Mercedes Lackey. I also like Douuglas Adam's Hitchhiker books. (I've only read the first two, but I've ordered the others--They're on their way)

[weirdoe]

The trouble with 'Crime and Punishment' is probably its translation. It's not like I speak Russian - but one of my friends says there's no really satisfying english Dostojewsij-translation at all. So take some Russian and enjoy...

I liked 'The Dragonbone Chair' (Tad Williams) and its sequels better than 'The Lord of the Rings', though I admid that Williams is another Tolkien apprentice really.

One of MY favorite books is 'Time's Arrow' by Martin Amis. It's a story told by a soul that's living a person's life in reverse.
Thus he's growing younger from the beginning (his death), works in reverse, eats in reverse, turns good deeds into bad deeds because he does them in reverse and vice versa. It's hilarious at times, though there's a serious idea about it, too (the only way of considering holocaust something good), plus a good deal of this 'the cause is the effect is the cause' philosophy (Derrida and that).

Well. Just read it.

And I hated 'The Lord of the Flies', too.

[prospicio]

My favorite book is Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. It did not make for a quick read, nor was it an action-packed thriller, but I was extremely impressed with both the author's ideas and eloquence as well as his willingness to "practice what he preached."

[Lucian M. Silvian]

Here are some very good books. Unfortunately I cannot find these books translated into Enlish.

Here they are:
Pharaoh by Boleslow Prus, and Les Roi Maudits by Maurice Druon.
I would like to know if they are published in English.

[russb]

On 2002-01-22 13:15, Admin wrote:

The Wheel of Time is entertaining - however I wouldn't call it good writing. Robert Jordan often seems very unoriginal in how he sets up the various cultures, because he simply borrows and blends from real cultures. When I'm reading it I think "Okay so these people are the Victorian Japanese, those people are the Rennaisance Turks.." and so on.

Non-fantasy books I've liked include The Great Gatsby, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gulliver's Travels...

Books I've hated.

Crime and Punishment
The Scarlet Letter
The Lord of the Flies

i completely agree WRT The Wheel of Time Soap Opera

i did enjoy reading The Scarlet Letter though, and would add The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) to a list of my favorites

[bluto]

1984 by George Orwell. The Brothers Karamozov by Dostoevsky. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Fight Club by Chuck Palahuniuk (I think thats how his name is spelled). Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. The Stand by Stephen King. Crash by Ballard. Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter. Garth Ennis-he writes comics but 99% of his work I've found is excellent.

[northorbitranger]

Hi Chris,

I would love to know what it is that you hated about Crime and Punishment. It is one of my all-time favorite books, and I can't imagine anyone disliking it. But then, a friend of mine recently described Moby Dick as boring, so maybe I have an unusual tolerance for all things tedious.

Cheers,
North

[Admin]

Well, the insane ramblings of Raskonikov, which you are not sure if they are real or imagined, didn't do it for me. Basically I couldn't stand the rambling, that book would ramble for pages.

[Black Flag]

On the contrary, Raskolnikov's ramblings are what I liked, especially after he receives the letter from his mother (which she actually thought would cheer him).
It's the stupid, drunken clerk that he meets whom I don't care for.
(Not to sound too unagreeable).

[BWG]

I read so much there is no way I could name a "favorite" book. Some of my current reads that I really enjoyed are:

Jacob Have I Loved - Katherine Paterson
House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus III
Out of the Night that Covers Me - Pat Devoto
Ethan Fromme - Edith Wharton

Hated:

The Scarlet Letter
Wuthering Heights

Loved:

Jane Eyre

[Athena]

Their Eyes Were Watching God
-Zora Neale Hurston

Uncle Tom's Cabin
-Harriet Beecher Stowe

East of Eden
-John Steinbeck

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
-Ken Kesey



Black Elk Speaks
-John Neihardt

Charlotte's Web
-E.B. White

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
-A.Wolf as told to John Scieszka

_________________
. . .and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. . .

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Athena on 2002-03-27 19:02 ]</font>

[Siddhartha]

I also loved the Dragonlance saga I've read many of the books. My personal favorite from them was probably Dragons of summer flame (mostly because of the return of Raistlin).

other favorites:

Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Even Cowgirls get the blues - Tom Robbins
Anything by Chuck Palahniuk (author of fight club)

I also hated Scarlet letter

[happypidgeon]

Ooooooooo...... definately Beowulf. Can't explain it, just love it . I'm also a fan of almost anything by Bradbury, he's so poetic and I'm a sucker for it!

~Kris

[fionnmaccuhal]

I too hated the Scarlet Letter, and loved the Weis and Hickman Dragonlance, long ago. They have a lot of other great stuff, including the Death Gate Cycle, which I personally enjoyed even more than Dragonlance, and they are currently working on the Starshield series, which is nice.

As for a favorite, it's just too hard to choose. Some mentioned here stand out, including the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and I think I'd add the Illuminatus! Trilogy into the running.