What is your favourite book to read?

[3eland]

Hello all!

I am an avid reader, and because of that have limited my reading material since I have read almost everything I can think of in terms of what I like (Fantasy mostly, a little sci-fi) and thought "Hey, I wonder what books Btowners enjoy" so here it is. What is your all time favourite book or book series? (plus it'll help me in regards to finding more material )

Mine would be the Dragons of the Argonath series by Christopher Rowley, specifically the last book in the series "Dragon Ultimate"
A close second would be Michael Moorcock's Elric: Tales of the White Wolf, which is more a book of small stories written by many authors about Elric of Melnibone.

Thanks
~3eland

[aurak_merc]

In general, I like sci-fi, but fantasy comes in a close second. Oddly enough, I have started listening to Western audiobooks and find them to be ok. There was a big library sell off, so I picked up a dozen or so Louis Lamour audiobooks on cassete for $2 (my truck has a cassette player, so I listen while driving). As for series, I used to be really into the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, and the Dragonlance series (pre-4th age or whatever they called it).

Nowadays, I read mostly Warhammer and WH40k novels, a bit of Forgotten Realms, and some old pulpy stuff from the 80's and 90's (V series, X-files). I have found that I really don't like the more hardcore sci-fi, such as Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov. I know it is heresy, but I find it to be more of a chore to read their stuff, instead of an enjoyable escape.

[Imaginos]

I really enjoy the Jhereg series by Steven Brust. As for individual book, I really like The Kundalini Equation by Steven Barnes.

[3eland]

@aurak_merc
I've tried the audiobooks a few times but I haven't been able to get into listening to someone else read the book as I am the kind that gets buried into a book and then I'm gone. I feel like I am the main character, makes it hard for people to talk to me since I pretty much zone out of the real world ha ha. I haven't read many of the Warhammer 40k novels since I know not where to begin. I play Tyranids and Grey Knights and although I found an omnibus for the Grey Knights of 3 books written by Ben Counter I haven't dived into them yet as I have been told there is another book I should read first (which I honestly cannot find even after looking all through the black library) and they haven't exactly made a book for the Tyranids, mostly just space marine books about the battles fought against them. I enjoyed the Dragon Realm books, so much as to purchasing the legend of the Dragon Realm omnibus' they released a few years back.

@Imaginos
I have read most the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust and found the story pretty good, he definitely has a distinctive writing style, unfortunately I was only able to read up to Orca (book 7 I think) as i couldn't find Dragon (at the time) and then i kind of forgot about the series.

Thanks for sharing your favourite books, it's nice to see so many book enthusiasts!

[kturock]

The Dresden Files. Sharpes series. Monster Hunter International. Various GW books.

[THEFAN]

Mathew Brackenn , Foreign and Domestic series

[porkuslime]

Discworld series. Jack Fleming gangster vampire (P.n. Eldrod). Caiphas Cain.

[DoggNewTrix]

I am a huge fan of Ciaphas Cain. I'm really wrapped up in all things Black Library right now but am interested in diving into the "Human Chronicals"

[Rhaalidor]

Thieves' World, a series of anthologies of short stories edited by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey. I read the first trilogy: Thieves' World, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, and Shadows of Sanctuary in the mid 80's, and the second trilogy of books: Storm Season, The Face of Chaos, and Wings of Omen a couple of years later. Since then, I've read the other 6 books in the original series from the 80's and 8 of the 14 novels spawned from the anthologies. I have picked up most of the Chaosium/FASA RPG, and several of the RPG books by Green Ronin.
The original anthology was a series of stories about Sanctuary, a city in the Rankan Empire, with the stories of different "citizens" told by different fantasy authors. The whole thing has blown up into 30 or so books and 2 RPGs about Sanctuary and its inhabitants. Good read. Start at the beginning - Thieve's World.

[3eland]

Thanks all for the replies so far! Tons of names I've never even heard of.
I will definitely be checking out some of your guys' favourite books/series.

[reegsk]

I re-read Lord of the Rings every few years. I know a lot of people find it boring, but that book gets me. Also anything written by Dan Abnett. Seriously. "Pariah" blew my freaking mindhole.

[HarlequinZero]

Brandon Sanderson, the guy who took over The Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan died, started a series called The Stormlight Archive. There's only one book so far because finishing Jordan's books took over his schedule, but that one book, The Way of Kings, is excellent and I highly recommend it. Supposedly the second book will be out later this year.

Also, if you are into "serious literature" I can't recommend the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges enough. He was an Argentinian author who could pack more mind bending content into 10 pages than other authors could in 500 pages. Two of my favorite stories are Funes, His Memory and The Zahir.

[tordeck]

The Dresden Files.

Just finished 10 of them in the last two weeks. Very good choice.

LotR ranks amongst the top for me as well as they were my first introduction to the genre. I also love anything Dan Abbnet has written.

Looking forward to starting the the Wheel of Time series (just as soon as I figure out the order they were written) as I have heard good things about them.

[MEDEVL]

I'll add my voice to the pro Abnett crowd. He is my far my favorite sci-fi author. Pretty much every book I've read of his has been awesome. I especially liked the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies andjust heard about the new book in that series (yay!). I'm also a huge unashamed Harry Potter fan. There are some really good storylines running through those books and they are far better than the movies. I also liked the Game of Thrones books, though they get get rather tedious at times they were still worth the read.

[reegsk]

MEDEVL, you MUST read Pariah!!! Seriously, it's amazing. Plenty of twists and turns and more twists, most of which I didn't see coming. And he really is becoming a master at his craft. The way he describes the city most of Pariah is set in is so incredibly vivid you can get a sense of what it FEELS like to be there.

I will second Harry Potter as well. I actually hadn't read them until two years ago, when my wife and I agreed upon a book pact - I'd read Harry Potter if she read The Hobbit and LotR. Of course I finished the HP series in about two weeks as most of them were written for children and she, as a masters student who is not really a fan of medieval fantasy, trudged through LotR for the next six months. But I give her credit for plodding along.

I tried the Wheel of Time books and found the setting and writing style both very good, but one big feature about the plot line irked me so greatly that I had to bow out after about book five.

Add to my recommends many of the Horus Heresy books. In fact all of them minus any of the short story/novella collections (there are a few good ones in there, but most are just bad), Descent of Angels, Fallen Angels or Nemesis. I can't recommend for certain that you avoid Fear to Tread, but I've found that I hate 99% of whatever James Swallow touches, and I haven't been able to pick that book back up in about a month after reading the first hundred pages or so.

Helsreach by Dembski-Bowden was great. Gotrek and Felix are entertaining, if a bit tiring after the first several.

I'd highly recommend Fell Cargo by Dan Abnett. It's the first Black Library (and first Abnett) book I had ever read, and I found it highly entertaining.