It's strange...last year I'd have said with no hesitation that it was Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian but ever since I read her 'Just Henry', I've not enjoyed her work so much, it just lacked life. So now I'll say 'Jane Eyre' is my favourite as that has always stayed on my shelf and I've had to replace and store away my old favourite copy (I handled it too much).
Definitely Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand! It's a masterpiece. And when I was younger I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Violet was my favorite character. And Harry Potter is excellent. The Twilight Saga is a little . . . bad. The first book was great -- at the beginning, at least -- but soon it was just boring romance. And I think Bella ended up with the wrong guy . . . but I'll stop here because I can debate for hours about that. Wicked
For me it has to be L'etranger by Camus. It had me on my first reading and opened me up to so much more great thinkers like Sartre. Along with that I would have to say the beauty of the language in The Picture of Dorian Gray gets me everytime as well.
The Picture of Dorian Gray. I'm rereading it right now. In non-fiction? Either The Prince or Casanova's Story of my Life.
Like most everyone else here, picking one or three favorites is a nearly impossible task and that's just keeping with fiction only As a kid I really loved The Giver - Lois Lowry and The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. The Giver has a subtle darkness that is enticing, with just enough description to keep you going but enough ambiguity to make Jonas' world your own. I haven't read the rest of the trilogy, but apparently they don't have much to do with each other. I think Coelho also did a great job writing The Alchemist, a cute fable-style tale about an Andalusian shepherd searching for treasure. Then I became a big fan of Dean Koontz, though my favorite, by far, was Lightening. I loved the time-travel rescuing and wish he had developed the story even further. Which is one of the reasons I mostly stopped reading Koontz; most of his stories became very repetitive, and the ones that really stood out were too short. He re-earned by respect with The Taking, though. I started reading it because it was on my friend's desk at work, and casually took it home to read overnight because I couldn't put it down long enough to not get caught by the boss. And of course, with Koontz generally comes King (or vice versa). I remember watching Tommyknockers on TV a few times before I actually picked up the book. The book blew me away; even today I re-read bits at random times, especially the ending. It's true that most books are generally better than movies, but there are so many more layers to the story that just aren't in the movie. Somewhere in all that I read Evening Class by Maeve Binchy, which was, obviously, much outside my normal realm. But I liked how each person's background was uniquely their own, yet they all wound up in the same place. For that I gve the book special kudos. My most recent addition to the favorites is Wicked. I think it was superbly written as it's own story but kept the scenery familar. Mcguire made OZ a real place, with real people, even if some weren't people at all. Then there are the true classics: Othello - when I like to get my Old English on Harry Potter - because everyone wants to visit Hogwarts at least once; just admit it The Hobbit - though I second that LOTR was way too long and rambling to read; one of the few I'd rather the movie than the book And my most often quoted series ever: Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "Yellow," he thought.
Beowulf - Hands down favorite since I was 12. I've read it dozens of times. The Stand by Stephen King - who knew the flu could be so scary? I just loved the idea of the division amongst the living good and the living evil led by the walking dude and mother abigail. I've returned to visit it so many times. Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia is my new favorite however. I've read it about twelve times in the last three years and while it's a little rough and is by no means perfect, it's just an incredible amount of fun! Full disclosure Larry is a friend of mine, known him for about five years and we play xbox together. But I stand by how much I enjoyed his book regardless of if he's a friend or not.
As childish as the book title by itself sounds, I would have to say Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. I was really put off from reading this book just by the title, and I remember talking about how ridiculous it sounds... and then I read it and found it absolutely fantastic. The whole series is hilarious, while managing to have a good plot and insert philosophy in some places into a children's book. It was just a fun read in general.
My favorite book is A Clockwork Orange. I know that sounds cliche because it's such a classic, but something about it makes me want to pick it up and read it again every time I pass my bookshelf. I'll admit, ACO is not the type of book one should read all the time--you might get some weird looks. But every time I read it (I do read books numerous times if I like them enough) I find myself more immersed in it, and I become a little droog lost in a dystopian future England. Don't ask me why I like that feeling, I just do.
Oh, I read Dear America when I was a lot younger. They were well written and very interesting. My favorite classic book is the Call of the Wild. From more modern writing I really enjoyed Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, The Lords of Discipline, by Pat Conroy, The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and the Catcher in the Rye (even though I thought Holden was a whiny brat sometimes).
Life of Pi and Call of the Wild are excellent choices, I like you already. haha But I abhor Holden. I can't stand him as a character.
Haha yeah, Holden basically made me want to slap him upside the head an awful lot and then jet him off to some third-world country to gain a little perspective....
Yep, for the whole damn book. That's pretty much the only reason I don't like the novel...albeit a large reason.
Eh, I like the book because of the style. In any case, I forgot to list The Outsiders as one of my favorite books. Actually it blows Catcher right out of the water.
It blows me away too--the way an educated writer can write in the mindframe of a somewhat naive, sex-obsessed, violence-loving teenager all while using Russian-based slang impresses me so Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas--I've been thinking of picking that up. I once read a book (Non fiction) that quoted it: "The circus-circus is where the whole hep world would be on a saturday night had the Nazis won the war" or something like that. Ever since I read that quote, I've been thinking "that sounds like a book I have to read". It just sounded so quirky, satirical.
I have several favourites.. Maximum Ride Series - James Patterson CHERUB Series - Robert Muchamore When the Wind Blows - James Patterson The Lake Hose - James Patterson Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien Darren Shan Saga - Darren Shan I think that's enough.
My newest one is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. A beautiful peace. My second favorite is Fever (same author) and Running out of Time by Margret Peterson Haddix.
