Fav. Book/Play/Poem/Novel/Novellete etc.

[qpidsangel]

Just wondering what everyone's favorite book/play/poem/novel/novellete etc. was or author. Mine would probably have to be The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Great Gatsby, or The Spoon River Anthology

[Eric, son of Chuck]

Gah, too general a question! ) Hmm, ok, let's see.

For plays, Tartuff is quite a silly thing, though that might just be because my friend was perfect as lead.

For novel, right now, that'd be Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury, and almost anything by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett.

Poem, that'd be Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost. The last stanza is in my signature.

Shakespeare Henry V, and the Tempest.

[Dr Radium]

Books - is a toss up between David Malouf's "an Imaginary Life", Gene Wolfe's "Books of the New Sun", Tim Power's Fisher King trilogy ("Last Call", "Expiration Date" & "Earthquake Weather"), the "Culture" SF novels of Iain Banks or anything by William S Burroughs. I have a slightly embarassing love for cyberpunk/hard SF in the Gibson/Sterling/Steaphenson/Egan/Reynolds/Bear mode :oops: & don't mind a good fantasy novel (the last good one read was Stephen Erikson's "DeadHouse Gates") but I really hate :evil: bad and/or lazy ones (& there are so many of the buggers!).

Plays - call me a traditionalist but I love Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Sex, violence, prophecy, madness & blood - you just can't go wrong with a combination like that...I'm also fond of the "Government Inspector" by Nikolai Gogol - definitely one of the funniest plays ever written (don't judge it by the awful movie starring Danny Kaye)

Poetry - I'm not real big on poetry (too much of the bad stuff forced on me at an early age?) but I love the rythyms of Dylan Thomas' "Under Milkwood" & the odd bit of classical Chinese & Japanese poetry.

Comics - before you crucify me I should loudly state: COMICS CAN BE SERIOUS WORKS OF LITERATURE. Really. Ok so it's not oftedn that they are, but when the disparate elements of art & writing come together you can get something very special happening. Alan Moore's work since the mid-eighties (particularly "Watchmen", "From Hell", "Snakes & Ladders" and "Promethea") has really pushed the artform towards legitimacy as has the work of Art Spiegleman ("Maus") & Will Eisner ("An Immigrant's Tale") and others too numerous to mention. Sure there's lots of crap out there but it really is worth taking a look at this most underated of mediums. Try pretty much anything from the creators mentioned above (especially Moore's excellent "Promethea" or "Snakes & Ladders") or try reading Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" for a serious examination of how the damn things work.

And now no one will ever take me seriously again...

[TKDfighter]

Novel: The Eighth Day by Thorton Wilder

Novellete: The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad

Poem: Epitaph for an Army of Mercenaries by A E Hausman

Play: Hamlet

[Zooey]

My favorite:

Book: Either The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler or Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger.

Play: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams.

Poem: It's kind obvious, but I have yet to come across a poem that I have loved more than Poe's The Raven.

Novellette: Don't really have one, unless Franny and Zooey counts (it's two short stories).

[plea4peace]

People are probably going to laugh at me, but my favorite book is Alice in Wonderland. Animal Farm is one of my favorites too.

[Ninjai]

favorite books:
black hawk down- by mark bawden
It doesn't take a Hero- Autobiography of H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Daddy- i forget who wrote this
Animal Farm- George Orwell (of course :D)
Endless Night- Agatha Christie
Death Comes as End- Agatha Christie

and many more! i can't decide on just two.
anyway
poem: annabel lee, robert frost's stoppng by the woods on a snowy evening- as well, da little boy, skaters on ghost lake, etc etc..

play: les miserables/miss saigon.. but those aremusicals. eh well.
feck.

[apstudent]

I read a book in 8th grade that has just stuck with me forever. I have read it multiple times and alway enjoy reading it. The title is Fallen Angels. It is a Vietnam Story. lol

[Sam Gamgee]

My Favorite book is definitely The Lord of the Rings

My Favorite author is Charles Dickens - I love everything he wrote, but especially Little Dorrit.

Poetry - TS Elliott's Practical Cats

Plays - SHAKESPEARE - I think my favorite Shakespeare is Twelfth Night, but there is no particular reason - probably because I went to see it once for my birthday, so it is attatched with happy memories

[Vronaqueen]

fav author: william shakespeare or jasper fforde (for the moment)

book: ingenious pain by andrew miller

poet: john donne

Poem: she walks in beauty by lord byron

play: no exit by sartre

[Blackadder]

Here's a list of my favorites:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Lamb by Christopher Moore.

Othello by Wm. Shakespeare.

Bridget Jones' Diary and The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding.

The Stand by Stephen King. (Because it scared the bejesus out of
me.)

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Mostly, I just like books that can either totally pull me into them or because they make laugh really hard or think about something in a different way.

[Apathetic]

Author - George Orwell

Book - Pride and Prejudice(Jane Austen), 1984(George Orwell), Gangster(Lorenzo Carcaterra(or something))

Poet - Wilfred Owen

Poem - Disabled

Play - Not really into them

[redrum]

it's too hard to remember all my favorites right on the spot like this... here's what stands out

books:
1984 by orwell
a fine balance by rohinton mistry
the lord of the rings - tolkien

Plays:
no exit by jeal-paul sartre
waiting for godot by samuel beckett
othello - shakespeare

poetry:
michael ondaatje's work is quite good, IMO
mine (lol)
stuff by yeats and blake and poe

[alatar]

i love any and everything by tolkien
i am in the middle of the screwtape letters by lewis and its has easily surpassed many books i have read
poe is perhaps my favorite poet, followed closely by the likes of frost and dickinson..i also like oliver wendell holmes
as for short stories..asimov is by far my favorite
as a side note..verne and wells aren't bad either

[Phoenix_Tears]

My favourite book(really used out). i have many favourites it would be cruel to ask me to pick but one. so here goes

!.Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone(1)
2.Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets(2)
3.Harry Potter and the prisoner of azkaban(3)
4.Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire(4)
5.Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix(5)
6.The Hangmans Curse(frank peretti)
7.Nightmare academy(frank peretti)
8.Mirror of destiny(andre norton)
9.Cirque du freak(1)-Darren Shan
10.Cirque du freak(2)-Darren shan(vampires assistant)
11.Cirque du freak(3)-Tunnels of blood
12.Cirque du freak(4)-Vampires assistant and (5) trial of death
13.Csi- cold burn
14.True confessions of charlotte doyle
15.alice in wonerland-lewis carroll

and etc etc etc. r.l.stine..lol

[Munro]

Top 5 Books
1.Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
2.The Lord of the Rings Part 2: The Two Towers – JRR Tolkien
3.A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
4.The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
5.Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

My favourite poet is John Keats.
My favourite play is Hamlet.

[ajoe]

I have too many favorites maybe I don't have one after all.

I'm usually most eager to read whatever Steinbeck and London wrote, though. Likewise, I'd run away as soon as I see the name Henry James. (I'm sorry, I tried and tried to read him, but he's too darn hard and so not understandable.)

I know they're not literary stuff, but I love Shel Silverstein's poems, although I was somewhat disappointed after finding out he used to write for Playboy magazine.

[faith]

Book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (JK Rowling), but also love Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)

Play: have never READ a play actually, but have seen a couple, but no famous ones (expect MacBeth when I was 10 something and fell asleep) well, acutually I like musicals more than ordinary plays, so am unable to mention any play I would have liked conciderable much

Poem: dont have one, never read poems, cos cant concentrate on them (expect on school poemanalyze test). but must admit I liked a poem by Tove Jansson (creator of Moomin) that I was forced to read at school. dont remember the name of the poem, but it was funny.

Novellette: havent read too many of them either. the only ones Ive read outside school are shorstories by LM Montgomery. I really loved those, but am unable to name one

[Lolita]

Fave books:

Maggie O'Farrell//After You'd Gone. I'm constantly on about this woman and her novel, but people need to share the joy! It made me feel so many emotions.

Also...
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials. Mostly Northern Lights (Golden Compass) and The Subtle Knife. I became totally obsessed with those books, the characters, the the idea of parallel universes. I never got into the third in the series though, which is a shame.

My favourite poem is by Yeats - He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

[simon]

This is a question that has too many footnotes and arrows and buts and yets connected to it. I fear that no coherent answer can be made on my part since I am unable to delclare a favorite. Everything is readable, but up on the top ten somewhere would be 100 yrs of solitude.

[Kiwi Shelf]

I find this question really hard...

A list of books, no particular order:
1. She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
2. House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende, anything by her, except "The Infinite Plan." That book disappointed me
3. Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck
4. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle, actually anything by her :)
5. Anne of Green Gables series - LMM
6. Lord of the Rings trilogy - Tolkien
7. All Families are Psychotic - Coupland

And it goes on...

Poetry, I like Emily Dickenson and I once happened upon a great poet but can not retrack her down...

Plays, I read "Trifles" in first year university, I liked that play. Author slipped mind...

Novella, I think that is actually what Of Mice and Men is classified as

Comics, okay, so I am a little strange and read comics. I never use to, but expanding horizons have brought me new respect for them that it would appear only one other person on here gets... So, I will just leave this as this....

[verybaddmom]

favorite book: The Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
play: Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare
i dont know about novelette, but my fave short story is The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gillman.
poem: the Sun Rising, by John Donne
author: Margaret Atwood

of course there are many many more, but the top of the list, top of my mind are those.

[Bakiryu]

Book: Enders Game by Orson Scott Card and Thief of Time by T. Pratchett
Play: The phamtom of the Opera
Novelette: Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Poem: Israfael by Poe
Author: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett