Your favorite books

Hi folks,

I just bought a Kindle and need some books to read. I was always reading a lot but since I own a Kindle I'm reading more than ever before. I generally like sci-fi and fantasy books but I'm open to everything. Just bought a gaming related book: Extra Lives by Tom Bissell. What are some of your favorite books?

Harry Potter! Series of ubforunate events!

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

The Spook's Apprentice, Hunger Games, Metro 2033, Games of Thrones, The Chronicles of Victor Pelham ( i'm plugging my own series, julesvernes/steampunk-esque in french, will be translated within this year in english ).

The Name Of The Wind + The Wise Mans Fear.

Most Charles Bukowskinovels.

Warhammer fantasy novels. I know they're kinda trashy but I love them so much. They're just such fun stories (especially the slayer novels).

Oh, and the Darren Shan vampire series. They're just so well written, even if they are aimed at kids.

  (i'm plugging my own series, julesvernes/steampunk-esque in french, will be translated within this year in english ).

an unoriginal choice, but The Hobbit has always been one of my favourites.

The Dark Tower, Mistborn, Slaughterhouse Five, Retribution Falls, Foundation, pretty much anything by Philip K Dick, The Name Of The Wind, I Am Legend.

I love The Great Gatsby, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (All five parts of the trilogy), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Pastoralia and Catch-22. I also keep meaning to read Asimov's novels, which sound like they would appeal to someone looking for sci-fi stuff.

Slaughterhouse Five and really anything else by Kurt Vonnegut

The Count of Monte Cristo is the best and most convoluted thing I have ever read. It would certainly get a few hours out of your Kindle.

The Name Of The Wind + The Wise Mans Fear.

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
The Stand - Stephen King
Song of Ice and Fire series
Battle Royale - Houshun Takami (sp?)
Anything by Vonnegut and Chuck Palahniuk

Blood Meridian.

Off the top of my head if you like some sci/fi Jurassic Park and World War Z are pretty damn good.

And as someone said above cant go wrong with the Hobbit.

Let me be generic: The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings as well, but I think I like reading The Hobbit a bit better.

the USA trilogy by John Dos Passos is far and away my favourite novel, i hate to categorise anything but that is my absolute favourite

another would be Burning Daylight by Jack London, recently read and would recommend;

Once & Future King by T H White / Sherlock Holmes stories by A C Doyle / Dudley Smith Trilogy by Ellroy / Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq

and if you get tired of narrative stuff, i've been reading emil cioran recently, he's pretty funny

if you enjoy science fiction things and a healthy dose of existential BS try possibility of an island

"Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline

"John dies at the end" by David Wong

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson

"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson

"Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" by Haruki Murakami

"Masters of Doom" by David Kushner

"Power Up" by Chris Kohler

...just to mention a few choices regarding Sci-Fi and books about video games.

The Tao of Pooh + The Te of Piglet.

Crime and Punishment. It had a profound effect on me, being that my senses for guilt and remorse...aren't what they used to be.

Battle Royale!

To get in something nobody else will recommend, "Mama Day" by Gloria Naylor is excellent. It is also completely out of your usual interests, but it is superb.

"Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn - Don't let the title fool you!

"Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick

Watership Down
Dragons Egg (it's hard core sci-fi, not fantasy, and the only dragon is the constellation Draco)
Ringworld
1984
We

Tropic of Cancer or Capricorn by Henry Miller

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Eisenhorn Series by Dan Abnett

Gaunt's Ghosts Series by Dan Abnett

Ciaphas Cain Series by Sandy Mitchell

Thunder and Steel by Dan Abnett

A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R. R. Martin

Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

Black Company Series by Glen Cook

The Night Lords Trilogy by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (Soul Hunter, Blood Reaver, Void Stalker)

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and now Brandon Sanderson).

And the upcoming Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous, featuring my story Der Teufel Sie Wissen (The Devil You Know) /shameless plug

Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. Starts off a bit slow, but gets better I think. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riodan. I like them better compared to the Harry Potter series, if youre into that kind of genre anyways. Mortlock and The Demon Collector by Jon Mayhew. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Also books by Christie Golden. Her take on the Warcraft lore is quite interesting, and also her Starcraft: The Dark Templar saga books. Again, you'd have to be a fan of Warcraft and Starcraft to appreciate these books I think.

If you like both Sci Fi and fantasy, then you might like Dune. It's written similarily to the Lord of the Rings, so if you're a fan of one, you probably like the other.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is amazing, and everyone should read it.

I have a soft spot for books by David Eddings, even though they might not be the highest quality writing out there. Though I haven't read his newest stuff... Seems it just gets worse and worse. Older is better with him I think.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons and The Terror by Dan Simmons are both favorites of mine that haven't been mentioned yet I think, also both Player of Games and Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks. Lies of Locke Lamora was a lot of fun. I've liked every Neal Stephenson book I've read so far, and one of the books I finished most recently was Blindsight by Peter Watts and it was cool.

I'm absolutely baffled nobody has said Farenheit 451 or A Clockwork Orange. I hate reading and enjoyed those books. I feel like that says something about them.

@pyromagnestir: I heard a lot of good things about Dan Simmons and bought the book Ilium. However, It never really clicked with me. His books seem to be too philosophical to me. But I might check your recommendations out.

Quantum Thief, a very cool scifi story from a new Finnish writer.

The Dune series by Frank Herbert. You can thank me later.

Read Franz Kafka.

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

1984 - George Orwell

Keep the Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell

The Belgariad series - David Eddings

Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre

Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder

I’m near the end of The Information by James Gleick. It will be one of the most satisfying book I will have read ever, weaving multiple disciplines together, many parts kind of blowing my mind. The writing is very good, with sentences flowing. Some of the chapters may be focus a bit more on science or math, and some concepts may be bit harder to grasp, but the writing is never the problem.

Another non-fiction book I love is The World WIthout Us by Alan Weisman. Suppose there were no humans on Earth, what would happen? The author takes us on a journey across disciplines again, and the best part, show us real-world examples of nature adapting.

Fatherland by Robert Harris

Currently, I'm reading The Scar and Wired for War, both of which are pretty long, but well outside my comfort zone.

As for my all-time favourite, that'd be The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Sadly, it's not available on the Kindle Store.

- The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

- 1984 by George Orwell

@chan05: I think both Hyperion and especially The Terror are more straightforward than Ilium, but Hyperion's followup Fall of Hyperion is a more philosophical book, so a word of warning there as Hyperion is really not a self contained story, it's very much the first part of a longer story. But I think they are all better than Ilium, and very much worth giving a shot.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre.

@HarlechQuinn said:

"John dies at the end" by David Wong

I keep seeing this recommended but I don't know why. Anyone care to elaborate on this book with spoilers? I'd go look it up on wiki but I don't want spoilers!

gravity's rainbow

dune

The Foundation. The original trilogy...

Just to confirm that I'm not entirely crazy. I can't be the only one who read the title as favourite "boobs" right? I hope not...