What is your favorite book?

[Bloxwess]

Can't go wrong with The Hobbit, which has been my favorite book since I first read it as a kid. Honestly I enjoyed the Hobbit more than the LOTR trilogy.

 

Some other good ones are War of the Worlds, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Space Teams books, and any of the Dragonlance books. I also found City of Ember to be quite interesting, and it's one of the only books I had to read for school that I actually enjoyed. I could go on all day listing good books that I've read, but these are just some of the ones off the top of my head.

 

I used to read all the time but in the last few years I haven't really read anything for pleasure. Back when I read all the time I mostly read science fiction and fantasy novels, and I would carry around a book with me wherever I went so I could squeeze in some reading whenever I could. Reading this thread actually has me itching to read a good novel, so thank yall for reigniting the reading spark inside of me.

[Thomased22]

On 9/20/2023 at 1:41 PM, Bloxwess said:

Can't go wrong with The Hobbit, which has been my favorite book since I first read it as a kid. Honestly I enjoyed the Hobbit more than the LOTR trilogy.

Holy shit are you my clone?

Love the Hobbit, I really love the first LOTR book but I've never actually managed to finish the second one.

 

Nice PFP too lmao.

[QuaketallicA]

On 9/15/2023 at 3:21 PM, BUYXRAYS said:

What is your favorite book of all time? It could be ANY book.

For me, I think it would be 1984 by George Orwell or It by Stephen King

 

I'm currently reading 1984, for the first time, among other things. I read Orwell's Animal Farm when I was in school, but never 1984.

It has the unique privilege of being simultaneously revolting, to witness a degradation of society to the extreme lengths that it showcases, and somehow uplifting, by offering hope for our own society by showing just how much things could be worse, therefore teaching us to not take for granted the freedoms we do still enjoy. It is at once didactic and oddly comforting.

[QuaketallicA]

On 9/16/2023 at 12:52 PM, Mr Masker said:

1984 basically got me into reading books, outside of school stuff.

 

I always just assumed books weren't for me, because I didn't care about/disliked most things my schools forced me to read. But books like 1984 just really gripped me in a way those books didn't, and while I still don't read that often, they really did change my perception of books as well as text heavy games and other media.

 

I get ya. I always appreciated good books when they were assigned in school, perhaps I had better fortune in the selection of literature than you did, although the quality of selection did decline in high school. Shakespeare is always a blast to look forward to. 

 

But if you're already reading all the time in school, why would you do it outside of school when you don't have to?

 

I too have actually just recently fallen in love with reading all over again, and it sure helps that now I get to choose all the books that I want to read. Actually, it began by a fascination with Richard Dawkins. I'd always known him for his work promoting atheism (I too am an atheist), but it occurred to me I had never really delved into his actual work as an evolutionary biologist, for which he is a heavy-weight in his own discipline.

 

I purchased and started reading his The Selfish Gene and follow-up The Extended Phenotype, and that set me on a course of getting a whole collection of new books. Dawkins is a captivating author, and he stimulates the intellect in a way I have missed since I finished college. The material is meant to be readable by any layman, sans academic jargon, yet doesn't compromise the scientific rigor of the concepts.

[DoomGuy999]

Da Vinci Code was exciting though the ending was stupid.

[Coopersville]

I haven't read it, but I want to say 1001 Nights. 

[MrFlibble]

Since childhood I've enjoyed tales about Nasreddin Hodja. There's plenty of good and sometimes wacky humour, but also something very calming about them I guess. Nice to pick the book (I have two different editions) and read from it randomly once in a while.

[Chesspionage]

This is like being asked to name your favourite child...  I can't pick just one, but my top three (which constantly vie for the top spot) are:

 

• Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (John le Carré)
• Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)

[Scrabbs]

Spoiler

No Country for Old Men or Sirens of Titan

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by Scrabbs

[cracky-bracky]

I dont read books but i read an entire "get fuzzy" comic book once and i liked it :P

Also read homicidal jungle cat once last year that was also cool (it's calvin and hobbes)

Edited September 25, 2023 by cracky-bracky

[Alfiq]

Roadside Picnic is without a doubt my favorite, especially the part around halfway through where Valentine and Noonan just sit down and talk about philosophy and stuff. A close second is Metro 2033, the story and lore in the book far surpasses the game

[Murdoch]

16 minutes ago, cassandraaaa888 said:

Arthur Conan-Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes"

 

Love Sherlock Holmes. For all his faux pas like the Cottingly Fairies, Conan-Doyle was still clearly one of the most intelligent people of his time. Holmes is a master in class in how to try and think as objectively as possible, and his work pre-empted very real advances in crime fighting by decades.

[Stupid Bunny]

Hot take God Emperor of Dune is a more fully realized and philosophically compelling book than Dune and arguably the core book of the would-have-been seven-book arc (though hot takes aside Dune was definitely a lot more fun to read)

 

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a fantastically written history.  Ditto King Leopold's Ghost.

[BeachThunder]

Do PDFs count as books? Because for me, it's gotta be All Tomorrows. It's bizarre, unsettling, and incredibly creative.

[Lila Feuer]

I need to read more but Jurassic Park is a phenomenal read and mandatory if you enjoyed the movie.

 

Alan Dean Foster's Alien trilogy novels which I went through last year are based on the director's cut for each film and also use a lot of cut ideas as well as new scenes and are also fantastic if again you like the movies.

[HeatedChocolate]

I've cycled few a handful in the past few years, and my tastes shift every so slightly every time I read them again. Current roster is as follows:
 

• Roadside Picnic
• Metro 2033
• Lord of the Rings (And Hobbit/Silmarillion I suppose)
• The King in Yellow
• 2010: Second Odyssey

Personally I'm leaning towards Roadside Picnic at the moment, proposes a few interesting ideas about alien life without actually describing what they were like at all. That and it inspired one of my favorite game series.

[smeghammer]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:54 PM, OniriA said:

listening to middle aged or old British men narrating audio books in my ear while going to sleep.

 

Try Sir Derek Jacobi reading RoverRandom  by JRR Tolkien, Genious!

[smeghammer]

double post. sorry

Edited October 24, 2023 by smeghammer

[LoatharMDPhD]

"Song's Of The Doomed" -HST

[ChopBlock223]

Virtual Light

[DoomGater]

How comes nobody mentioned the Kama Sutra?

[OniriA]

On 10/25/2023 at 12:15 AM, smeghammer said:

On 9/17/2023 at 12:54 AM, OniriA said:

listening to middle aged or old British men narrating audio books in my ear while going to sleep.

 

 

On 10/25/2023 at 12:15 AM, smeghammer said:

Try Sir Derek Jacobi reading RoverRandom  by JRR Tolkien, Genious!

 

Noted.

 

Thanks! Love me some Tolkien stuff ❤️