Which are your favourite books?
 

Well, folks, this thread was just waiting to be opened. I'm sure there are a lot of us who love to read - I surely do! Why don't we share our experiences?

My favourites so far are the Stanislaw Lem sci-fi novels. I bought three anthologies that contained some of his most famous works, including, but not limited to:

Eden
Return from the Stars
Solaris
The Invincible
Peace on Earth

These were the ones I recalled now, but mostly because it's impossible to name his best - his entire bibliography worths a read, really, well if you enjoy long novels with philosophical monologues.

I used to read some fantasy too, limited to Terry Pratchett, and Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. But not DragonLance - rather the fairly unknown Death Gate Cycle.

Back in the old days I've gone through the 2000s kids mandatory read Harry Potter saga and even the Narnia books. Well, I haven't opened them ever since, but dude, did it worth it to purchase them all.

Then there was The Accursed Kings by Maurice Druon, quite awesome retelling of the history of medieval french royalty from the era of Philip IV (1307 A.D.).

I'd love to mention my favourite Hungarian novels as well, but some of them were not translated into English sadly - quite a loss I tell you. But P. Howard is an exception, and an exceptional writer as well! He wrote numerous great 'pulp fiction' novels, mostly about the French Foreign Legion of the early 20th century - one could say it's the Indiana Jones era, sans archeology, nazis, and ancient tombs. Well recommended.

But I rather wouldn't bore you with my stuff - what are YOURS?

I'm not much of a reader, and certainly not much fan of fiction/fantasy the way I used to be. Some, but not all books have stood out though:
Slaughterhouse 5
Unknown Soldier
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
(yeah I did read Tolkien a LOT some 20-25 years ago but those books are not on the list as I don't read that stuff anymore)

But the books I enjoy the most now are books like
Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos
The Code Book
and one by Nils Mustelin, English title "Life In the Universe?". Books that invite to a bit of thinking can't hurt.

Very, very definitely The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The Laundry Files by Charles Stross comes close second, as do WH40k novels by Sandy Mitchell (both in Ciaphas Cain and Dark Heresy series).

Oh yeah, now you remind me, back at college my roommate had a few Gaunt's Ghosts novels by Dan Abnett, they were pretty awesome, but I didn't get to read them completely.

Dean Koontz's

- A ghoul's dinner
- Egykor
- Battle Royal
- Protected Men (by Robert Merle)
- Winner Takes all (Hawk&Fisher)
- Mona Lisa Overdrive

Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite authors (of No Country For Old Men fame, or the Road) though one of his lesser known novels has easily taken its place as my favorite;


Cormac McCarthy's "Suttree."

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is also unreal.

Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" has always been a favorite to. Thats all I can think of right now.

I'm a big fantasy fan - I don't think I've read non-fantasy stuff in ages.

A Song of Ice and Fire series by GRR Martin are one of my favourite books. Just wish he would finish them (for those of you not familiar with these books, HBO series A Game of Thrones is based on them).

Pretty much anything written by Guy Gavriel Kay, with Tigana being my favourite.

Malazan Books of Fallen series by Steven Erikson.

I really liked early works of Raymond E. Feist (Magician Trilogy, Krondor series), but than got a bit over his books when I've read the later ones.

I'm currently reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (although finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan died) and I like the books.

I've read different Forgotten Realms books (mostly written by RA Salvatore) and many Warhammer books by different authors, and I generally find them of inconsistent quality.

And of course, the all time favourite The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.

Thanks for the repiles, guys, keep them coming! :)