Favorite Writers / Books ?

[GRH]

I like books of all stripes. I used to read a lot of Star Wars books...Don't really do this anymore. I have a decent swathe of classic literature...Stuff like the complete works of Shakespeare, Milton, Poe, Tolkien, etc.

What I read the most are nonfiction books. I just don't have a lot of time for flights of fancy when there is so much REAL knowledge to be read. I have a lot of plant/nature books, finance books, books on drugs, and spirituality. I probably spend most of my time in spirituality books. I like a lot of Eastern religion books (Tao te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, etc.), but I'm really a fan of Brennan Manning (author of the Ragamuffin Gospel).

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GRH

I like books of all stripes. I used to read a lot of Star Wars books...Don't really do this anymore. I have a decent swathe of classic literature...Stuff like the complete works of Shakespeare, Milton, Poe, Tolkien, etc.

What I read the most are nonfiction books. I just don't have a lot of time for flights of fancy when there is so much REAL knowledge to be read. I have a lot of plant/nature books, finance books, books on drugs, and spirituality. I probably spend most of my time in spirituality books. I like a lot of Eastern religion books (Tao te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, etc.), but I'm really a fan of Brennan Manning (author of the Ragamuffin Gospel).

You might be a good person for my inquiry. There is much I would learn of science and history, etc. Yet I have no love for textbooks. Dry old things they tend to be. I would rather welcome something scholarly that isn't so marvelously boring. Have you any idea of books like that? I know about Carl Sagan's books but that's about it.

[GRH]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

You might be a good person for my inquiry. There is much I would learn of science and history, etc. Yet I have no love for textbooks. Dry old things they tend to be. I would rather welcome something scholarly that isn't so marvelously boring. Have you any idea of books like that? I know about Carl Sagan's books but that's about it.

Whoa, that's two REALLY broad fields that I don't have a terrible amount of experience with. As for science, I have some books on astro physics. A really accessible read is anything by Stephen Hawking. Of course, he talks about astronomy, the origin of the universe, things like that. As for natural history/science, a quintessential read would be Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." I have a lot of old National Geographic books that cover some interesting topics. Regarding history, this is a topic I don't do much reading on. Autobiographies and biographies are perhaps one of the less dry methods of getting a feel for a certain time period.

[smc]

I am a voracious reader. I read a lot of classics, and to the degree possible I always read in the original languages if they are ones I know. I love to read poetry, especially German poetry of the Romantic and Late Romantic periods and American poetry of the twentieth century. On the rare occasions when I "allow" myself to read something purely for fun, it is usually a novel suggested by a friend or colleague. Right now, I am reading the Harry Potter books ... a summer reading "project" that just feels right, since I missed out on the Pottermania that swept through people younger than me. I'm in the middle of the second book, and enjoying it immensely.

[SluttyShemaleAnna]

Wahh, why's it gotta be my favourite one? Can I give a top 5 in no particular order? Ok, and restricting to fiction only I'll do non-fic later

Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Phillip K Dick (can this count as 1/3 of a book as it's not a novel?)
The Wasp Factory - Ian Banks
Strata - Terry Pratchett
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Wahhh, Can it be a top 10?

ok, i'll just add A Scanner Darkly and be done...

Ok actually, I will pick a favourite; Mother Night, a totaly brilliant book, written as the autobiography of a nazi who wasn't a nazi, but also was a nazi. The book stands on it's truely brilliant creation on a confused and bizarre, but ultimately believable and relate-able character in an even more confused and bizarre world.

Ultimately I like scifi novels the best, I've never been one for classics or character/narrative driven books, I like concept driven books best, and sci fi delivers on that (by that I mean proper scifi though, not some space opera drivel, Dune fans, i'm ripping on you here...) , not that I don't like good narrative driven books, I just like it better when a book is less a story, and more a trojan horse for some unnatural thought process.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by SluttyShemaleAnna

Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

An excellent novel. I actually didn't mind reading it when it was chosen as the book everyone in the class had to read way back in Public School.

I also enjoyed the novel 'Shane' when it was chosen for us to read.

[transjen]

I thought the Xanth series was by Piers Anthony not Norton
Anywho the Spellsinger series is a good series but i only have the first two
Another series i love is the Elric series
I also like the first three Dragonlance novels
Jerseygirl Jen

[Enoch Root]

The Baroque Trilogy by Neal Stephenson. It'll keep you occupied for about a month at least, assuming you read 100 pages a day.

The Diamond Age is fantastic as well.

And if you want to view mankind at its most violent I doubt you couldn't do better than "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by transjen

I thought the Xanth series was by Piers Anthony not Norton
Anywho the Spellsinger series is a good series but i only have the first two
Another series i love is the Elric series
I also like the first three Dragonlance novels
Jerseygirl Jen

That is the second error that I have made now. You are indeed correct, Jennifer. It was Witch World that I was think of earlier.

I have over 30 various Dragonlance novels, as well as numerous Ravenloft ones. I like the Ravenloft ones as they have a darker tone to them.

[transjen]

I love the Witch world books
and my fav Ravenloft novel is Knight of the blackrose

[Melissa Pink]

Originally Posted by SluttyShemaleAnna

Wahh, why's it gotta be my favourite one? Can I give a top 5 in no particular order? Ok, and restricting to fiction only I'll do non-fic later

Mother Night - Kurt Vonnegut
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Phillip K Dick (can this count as 1/3 of a book as it's not a novel?)
The Wasp Factory - Ian Banks
Strata - Terry Pratchett
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Wahhh, Can it be a top 10?

ok, i'll just add A Scanner Darkly and be done...

Ok actually, I will pick a favourite; Mother Night, a totaly brilliant book, written as the autobiography of a nazi who wasn't a nazi, but also was a nazi. The book stands on it's truely brilliant creation on a confused and bizarre, but ultimately believable and relate-able character in an even more confused and bizarre world.

Ultimately I like scifi novels the best, I've never been one for classics or character/narrative driven books, I like concept driven books best, and sci fi delivers on that (by that I mean proper scifi though, not some space opera drivel, Dune fans, i'm ripping on you here...) , not that I don't like good narrative driven books, I just like it better when a book is less a story, and more a trojan horse for some unnatural thought process.

Phillip K. Dick and Kurt Vonnegut are two of my favorite writers. I like most of their work but "The Man in the High Castle" and "Mother Night" are two of my favorites. I like the social commentary of both men and the World War Two themes of both novels are especially relevant in today's turbulent world.

I read "Myra Breckinridge" by Gore Vidal years ago and really related to her.

My other favorite writer is Charles Bukowski. Anyone that has ever felt like an outsider in the "mainstream" world, been poor, drank too much, had gratuitous sex and worked a series of shit jobs can relate to Bukowski's life as illustrated eloquently in his prose and poems set mostly in Los Angeles in the 40's and 50's.

[jdawg]

I usually only read non-fiction so most books would be considered boring. My favorite book was Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. I cant believe I let somebody have it! Great book.

[luvasiants]

Hello...

La sombra del viento (The shadow of the wind) - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Slaughterhouse-five - kurt Vonnegut
Portnoy's complaint - Philip Roth
Divina Commedia "Inferno" (Divine Comedy "Hell") - Dante Alighieri
Il etait minuit cinq a Bhopal (Five past midnight in Bhopal) - Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro

Regards.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by smc

I am a voracious reader. I read a lot of classics, and to the degree possible I always read in the original languages if they are ones I know. I love to read poetry, especially German poetry of the Romantic and Late Romantic periods and American poetry of the twentieth century. On the rare occasions when I "allow" myself to read something purely for fun, it is usually a novel suggested by a friend or colleague. Right now, I am reading the Harry Potter books ... a summer reading "project" that just feels right, since I missed out on the Pottermania that swept through people younger than me. I'm in the middle of the second book, and enjoying it immensely.

I believe you will be quite satisfied when you are finished the series. It starts out light-hearted and the tone becomes darker each book starting with The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Also, you will see how her writing actually improves as the series goes along.

I read Deathly Hallows in 2 days! I will probably read the series again sometime in the future.