# What's your all time favorite book?



## KodaPop (Jan 2, 2020)

Just recently in the past year, I've been getting way more into reading for enjoyment. I've noticed, with family and friends, the topic of books and what our favorites are rarely, if ever, comes up. So I thought to ask the forums what your favorite books are.

I love seeing what other people have read, and possibly checking those out myself.

I'll start:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​Just over a year ago, my roommate recommended me the book House of Leaves. He told me to not scan the book at all, or flip through the pages, just start reading on page one. I won't go into spoiler territory here, but oh boy this book was the wildest fictional rides I have ever took on in my life. The subtle dread and despair on each page was captivating, and got me dreaming of the house on Ash Tree Lane. I felt like another character in the story by the end of the read, and have never gotten that feeling before. Years down the road, I'll still be talking to my friends about this lonely house in the southeastern Virginia countryside, waiting to be entered again.

The book is definitely not for everyone though. If you are into experimental horror, this would be a strong recommend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​So I bounce the question back at you, what's your all time favorite book? It can be a series, fiction or non-fiction, or even a textbook. Did it impact you in any meaningful way, or was it just a fun read to pass the time?


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## LeFay (Jan 2, 2020)

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is my all time favorite and the movie did it no justice. The writing is witty, fantastical endlessly amusing.

Guardians of Ga'hoole is anthor really great book series that had a bad movie. It's a fairly long book series where the main characters are owls and goes into some fairly dark topics the would likely get me banned for mentioning them but a couple tamer ones are brainwashing, primal warfare and childhood abandonment. Very deep book series for what it is.


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## KodaPop (Jan 2, 2020)

LeFay said:


> Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is my all time favorite and the movie did it no justice. The writing is witty, fantastical endlessly amusing.


This has been on my reading list for awhile now, I've only heard great things about it and will probably start reading it this Summer.


LeFay said:


> Guardians of Ga'hoole is anthor really great book series that had a bad movie. It's a fairly long book series where the main characters are owls and goes into some fairly dark topics the would likely get me banned for mentioning them but a couple tamer ones are brainwashing, primal warfare and childhood abandonment. Very deep book series for what it is.


I've heard of the series before and seems pretty interesting. I'll put that on my list as well. I enjoy reading about darker topics a lot, gets me to feel things I otherwise wouldn't feel.


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## MauEvigEternalCat (Jan 22, 2020)

To be honest, the Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, and The Black Gryphon. I tend to lean toward fantasy and sometimes science fiction types, that is when I can make my ADHD cooperate so I can actually sit down to read. lol


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## Zayev_Ezroni (Jan 22, 2020)

My all time favorite book series is the Gotrek and Felix collection, though the Gaunt's Ghost series is a very close second.


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Jan 22, 2020)

A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. It's a humorous look at the history OF natural history and related fields.


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## grrfret (Jan 24, 2020)

Marley and Me - Not many books have had the ability to make my cry with laughter and sadness at the same time. Other notable mentions for excellent books are Five Hundred Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.


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## AdenineWolf (Jan 28, 2020)

The Cthulhu Mythos, one of the best books I've read so far, haven't read it all yet as it contains so much but holy cow, this masterpiece is surely a classic! If you're into Lovecraftian books and lore, i HIGHLY suggest you pick it up! It'll surely keep you interested for days!


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## Arishipshape (Jan 29, 2020)

Hmmm. What an excellent question.

If I'm judging based purely on the ending and how awesome it felt after reading, then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Valley of Fear", a Sherlock Holmes novel, takes first prize. It has the best ending of any piece of fiction of all time in my most humble opinion (though the main body of book is almost a drag). The spoiler puts Rosebud to shame! I literally can't say any more about the book for fear of spoiling the ending!

On the other hand, if I'm judging for an enjoyable main body of book, William Goldman's The Princess Bride has almost a lackluster ending but every second leading up to it is absolutely priceless and hilarious. Nearly every snarky sentence, be it dialogue, monologue, or narration is just bursting with sarcasm, subversion, and general wittiness.

If I'm judging based on which book packs the most wisdom and utility for life, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning almost literally gives you the meaning of life on a silver platter. I would highly, highly recommend it to anyone who suffers and/or finds life meaningless, though it's not exactly an enjoyable read.

Some honorable mentions include Howard Pyle's Robin Hood, Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes (I count the entire collection as a book), and Ian Doescher's "William Shakespeare's Star Wars" trilogy.


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## Ashwolves5 (Jan 29, 2020)

I'm kinda tied between "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien and "Interview with a Vampire" by Anne Rice. Also basically everything both those authors have wrote heh.


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## hara-surya (Feb 19, 2020)

_The Onion Girl_ by Charles de Lint.

It's an ugly story about the adult survivor of child sex abuse and the sister she left behind. There's also something about the Dreamlands, First Peoples shapeshifters and other magical stuff. It and its sequel _Widdershins_ - which has a subplot about the spirits of buffalo gathering an army to kill everyone in North American except First Peoples - are two of the best books I ever read. But, I had a Norman Rockwell childhood and I found them hard to read because of the intense subject matter.

I wouldn't recommend it as the first book to read by the author, for that I'd suggest _Someplace to be Flying_ or _Memory and Dream_, or one of his short story collections.


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## WitherSDL (Feb 29, 2020)

I don't have a favorite book because  I tend to favor books that tell a small part of a bigger story.  My favorite series is Battletech which tells stories that take place over a couple hundred years in the Inner Sphere (part of our  galaxy).  There's political intrigue, war, and anything else you can imagine.  The series has more than a hundred novels contributing to the story.

A more manageable series is Gaunt's Ghosts by Dan Abnett... tells the story of normal humans in the Warhammer 40k universe.  If you're not already a fan of 40k though there may be many questions.


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## Simo (Feb 29, 2020)

Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson: this book paves the way for 20th century American literature like none other, giving us intimate yet raw views in the strange, interior world's of the inhabitants of an otherwise 'normal' small town in Ohio. If American literature is best viewed for its probity of the psychological landscape of the individual, Anderson, despite his almost accidental, telling-a-story-by-the-fireside style, is its greatest pioneer. From Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Jean Stafford, John Cheever, and even later, to Joyce Carol Oates and Raymond Carver, Anderson redefines what it's possible to discuss in fiction, while opening the gateway to a vast expanse of topics, just below the surface, that had been otherwise hidden.

Had Stephen Crane lived to a later age, he might have arrived at a similar point as Anderson, who seems to have arrived at the point he did almost accidentally, and with a body of work, that, aside from his masterpiece, is unremarkable.


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## Canopus the Dreamer (Mar 3, 2020)

My favourite series of books are the accursed kings (Les Rois Maudits) by Maurice Druon. These are the books that inspired George R R Martin to write A Song of Ice and Fire.

The Books tell the story of the French Kings of the Capet Dynasty and the build up to the Hundred Years War. Just to be clear its a historical drama.

I love the way the author described character without a lot of detail. For example Robert of Artois is described as being huge, looking powerful and wearing red boots.


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## UwUCarlaUwU (Mar 26, 2020)

warrior cats, DUH

XD


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## FrostHeart (Mar 27, 2020)

The Kane Chronicles
Percy Jackson
Any other Rick Riordan book


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## AppleButt (Mar 27, 2020)

I don’t read a lot but my favorite so far is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.


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## Borophagus Metropolis (Apr 2, 2020)

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
_by Haruki Murakami
_
The world that this author creates in this book is totally insane, but his writing completely sucks you in. I didn't want it to end.


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## Raever (Apr 2, 2020)

Moribito: Gaurdian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi. The story was so unique to me and I'd first read it as a child. I can always read it to it's conclusion and still find little secrets and meanings between the pages. It's such a good story. ♡



Borophagus Monoclinous said:


> Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
> _by Haruki Murakami
> _
> The world that this author creates in this book is totally insane, but his writing completely sucks you in. I didn't want it to end.



I'll have to check that out for sure. The title alone sounds highly interesting.


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## Borophagus Metropolis (Apr 2, 2020)

Raever said:


> I'll have to check that out for sure. The title alone sounds highly interesting.



Murakami has more popular books, but Hard-Boiled Wonderland did something for me. I have also somehow associated it with a Fleet Foxes song. My brain is screwy.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Kafka on the Shore are also excellent.


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## Canopus the Dreamer (Apr 3, 2020)

Another interesting book I read was case studies about mental illnesses.

I can't remember what the book was called, but it had a picture of a hat on the cover and the words  'ce n'est pas ma femme' (this is not my wife).

The cover was reference to one of the case studies where one person sees a hat when he looks at his wife.

I remember thinking how frightening it was to think that you could be detached from reality and not know about it.


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## Van the cheesen one (Apr 3, 2020)

Oh! I have the same "problem"! Most people I know either don't read books in general, or have such different tastes in genres that the conversation dies down quickly.
Some of my favorite books in the last few years have probably been (I try not to spoiler things ><):

"Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood - Haunting read about suppression and autonomy of the female body set in a dystopian future (can recommend if you like books like 1984)
Frank Herbert's "Dune" and "Dune Messiah" -  quite famous sci-fi series, set in a far off future, deal with power and what power can do to a person, as well as the struggle against pre-determinism.
Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series - If you've seen the movie, it's nothing like that. It's good IF you like King's writing. It's the first book ever that had me sitting in a parking lot after work, finishing it, because I couldn't wait till I was home. Love it to bits.
"Do androids dream of electric sheep" by P.K. Dick - I just love Bladerunner, what can I say


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## owoLillian (Apr 6, 2020)

I usually like to read old literature, such as Huckleberry Finn and Animal Farm. It’s a little unusual for people my age to be into classic writing or history in general, but I think it’s very fascinating! I almost cried reading 1984


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## Deleted member 132067 (Apr 7, 2020)

I read "Skulduggery Pleasant" when I was around 14. I loved it! At least then, I thought Derek Landy was a master of sarcasm, his main character was very funny to me.


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## Hipsteralbatros (Apr 9, 2020)

I don't do a whole lot of reading and the little that I do read is usually manga, but I do really like The Art of Racing in the Rain. Usually anything with some sort of fantasy/fiction element is game for me.

I've been trying to get back into reading again since I found some gems in my late Grandmother's old book stash.


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## Deathless (Apr 13, 2020)

Now, I really hate reading, but the best book I've ever read was a biography of a musical genius, and one of my personal heroes, Neal Morse. His whole life story is in his book, 'Testimony' and he also has autobooks (which are really helpful to me) and it feels comforting to have him read his whole life story to me. 






 When I saw him live back in February last year, I got my copy signed by him. I'm really not religious, but I still love the fact he even signed it for me, it really means the world to me and it's one of my most prized possessions (blocked out my name for personal reasons lol)!


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## grrfret (Apr 19, 2020)

I forgot to mention Watchers by Dean Koontz. One of my favourite books of his.


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## MosquitoBeest (Apr 19, 2020)

I think I have to say _Timeline_ by Michael Crichton. I read it at a time when I had been in such a reading slump and as soon as I started that book I was hooked to every page. So good, so good.


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## grrfret (Apr 20, 2020)

MosquitoBeest said:


> I think I have to say _Timeline_ by Michael Crichton. I read it at a time when I had been in such a reading slump and as soon as I started that book I was hooked to every page. So good, so good.


Ooh, I forgot about Timeline. Excellent book and I also couldn't stop reading once I started. "Quantum Foam makes me roam". Congo and Sphere, also by Michael Crichton, are also really good.


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## MosquitoBeest (Apr 20, 2020)

grrfret said:


> Ooh, I forgot about Timeline. Excellent book and I also couldn't stop reading once I started. "Quantum Foam makes me roam". Congo and Sphere, also by Michael Crichton, are also really good.


I have read those too! Actually, the only ones I still have left to read are State of Fear, The Great Train Robbery, and Eaters of the Dead.


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## BrightEyedDeviants (May 15, 2020)

I love japanese literature and specially the Ero Guro Nansensu genre. My favourite author is Tanizaki Junichiro, and I recomend all his works, but my favourite is his essay _In Praise of Shadows_ (only a true genius can speak both about toilets and Kabuki with just a few pages between them without making you go full WTF?). 

My favourite book ever is _The Grave of the Fireflies _by Nosaka Akiyuki. The film is great and all, but if you want to experience some deep sorrow, then read the book. To me, the feeling the movie provides is nowhere closer to what the book can make you feel.

And recently I've read _No longer Human_ by Dazai Osamu. If you like comics, then read Ito Junji's adptation. To me, both should be read together as companion pieces, for the book covers what the manga is lacking and vice versa.


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## Eli_the_Wolf23 (May 15, 2020)

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr.Suess


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## JuniperW (May 27, 2020)

Mine is House of Chains by Steven Erikson. It's one of the only books that has ever made me cry, to be honest. There was something so moving about one of the final scenes (that I'm not going to spoil) that instantly landed it as my favourite book.
Jurassic Park is a close second.


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## Skittles (May 27, 2020)

JuniperW said:


> Mine is House of Chains by Steven Erikson. It's one of the only books that has ever made me cry, to be honest. There was something so moving about one of the final scenes (that I'm not going to spoil) that instantly landed it as my favourite book.
> Jurassic Park is a close second.


Omg!! I know the exact scene!!! It was a brutal book! I need to read the rest.


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## DingRawD (May 27, 2020)

Darren Shan's Lord Loss


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## Pinkporro (May 27, 2020)

Oh mhy this is such a hard question i love so manny books !! I think my all time favorite would be the host ^,..,^


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## OberonIV (May 29, 2020)

Despite being in college I think the last time I read a book that wasn't manga start to finish was in highschool. That aside, I really liked A Separate Peace. The gay subtext was through the roof and I was repressed lmao


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## The-Courier (May 31, 2020)

Probably _Contact Harvest _by Joseph Staten.


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## Deleted member 115426 (Jun 2, 2020)

I haven't read many books so I'll just say Dante's Inferno. Still need to read the rest of the Divine Comedy.


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## Stray Cat Terry (Jun 2, 2020)

Troisème Humanité series, by Bernard Werber.

It simply explains the humanity so well with some exaggerations and fictional setups. (which I believe some of them are rather undiscovered than fictional)

If more people read this and can review their sins, world could be a better place perhaps. But that's impossible.

Plus, one of the main concept 'Human have been, and will be, although in a whole different shape' fits my moral. I have been using this concept on my fictional universe which initially was planned for a videogame. This fact alone made me get so intrigued in his novel series.

Show yourself this series and make the rest of your life more considerate, I highly recommend. Not that I'm saying you are bad or anything, no offense at all. But I'm sure it will 'upgrade' your brain in a couple of ways.

And what's funny, is that the COVID stuff right now is simply a real life counterpart of disasters from his novels. I love how it's turning, and I believe the present humanity shall experience something big that we'll change. Not that I'm saying I like the tragedies, I mean the change itself. And the flow is starting to fit my fictional universe, which had humanity deprived since 2020. (I made this setup in 2014)


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## WXYZ (Jun 2, 2020)

owoLillian said:


> I almost cried reading 1984


That's one of the few books that stuck with me. Read it in elementary school, and it still echoes around my head on occasions.
As for my favorite, I don't have much, even if I was an avid reader for a time. If webcomics can be considered a book, though, I'd say _Homestuck._


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## Guifrog (Jun 2, 2020)

I really like _A República dos Bichos_ (Animal Republic) by Paulo Caldas and burst into laughter with _Furiously Happy_ by Jenny Lawson


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## Frank Gulotta (Jun 2, 2020)

Lord of the Barnyard by Tristan Egolf
Also loved Hoffmann's the Devil's elixirs, not too sure which one I prefer


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## Sarachaga (Jun 4, 2020)

Mine is _Les Misérables_ by Victor Hugo . I find it really griping as a story. Pretty much an epic rollercoaster ride.
If I had to pick another one, I'd say _A scanner darkly _by K. Dick.


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## hara-surya (Jun 6, 2020)

I was thinking about starting a thread about books you reread often, but this will do.

I've found I reread William Gibson's Sprawl and Bridge Trilogies every election year. If you know the subject matter of those books, you'll understand why, but we're practically living in the back-story to a 1980s or -90s cyberpunk novel. (Ignoring how many are set in the past or present these days.)

Also, I've read "The Hunt For Red October" more times than any other novel and it's been a totally different book every time. When I was 10yo (in 1989, right as the movie came out) it was a neat adult-level book my parents let me read, at 16yo it was a cool book about submarines, at 35 it was a compelling, if dated, spy novel.

Ditto, the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" which is funny when you're 10yo, deep when you're 16yo and the freaking truth when you're 37yo.


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## zvander (Jun 6, 2020)

The Velveteen Rabbit. 
It's no marvel of modern fiction, but I'd listen to that damn thing on tape constantly growing up. Had my own velvet bunny stuffed animal for a long time because of it.


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## hara-surya (Jun 6, 2020)

owoLillian said:


> I almost cried reading 1984



Read _Brave New World_ by Aldous Huxley. If _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ got you thinking about how messed up modern politics are, _Brave New World_ will horrify you with how things really are. (People happily live in a repressive totalitarianism where the State controls even your biology from birth, because of gross consumerism and psychoactive drugs.)


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## hardman13 (Jun 23, 2020)

I think on of my favourites ever is Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman (Golden Compass in America). It's so interesting, and the story is bloody fantastic.


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## milimigu (Jun 30, 2020)

I have no absolute favorite BOOK, but my favorite author is definitely Tamora Pierce! I love all the books she's written, pretty much. They're all medieval fantasy books, some about lady knights, and some about more domestic magic. they're super well written and the found family trope abounds, and I LOVE that trope SO MUCHHH :00



hardman13 said:


> I think on of my favourites ever is Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman (Golden Compass in America). It's so interesting, and the story is bloody fantastic.


That is a great book!! I really like his idea for daemons, too, I think it's super creative and I honestly wish he'd explored the concept more. Plus, bears. With armor.


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## aomagrat (Jun 30, 2020)

It is hard to say what my favorite book is.  I am an avid reader, and if I like a book I will keep it.  I have hundreds of books lining the walls of my home.  And I have read most of them more than once.  Here are a few that I have read multiple times. 

"The Dixie Association" by Donald Hayes
A story about a misfit minor league baseball team in the deep south.  The book examines racism, sexism, and religious intolerance as the team plays out the season.   It is hilarious at times, sad at times, and always entertaining. 

"Shoot an Arrow to Stop the Wind" by Colin Stuart
Set in the 1920's in Montana, a teenage mixed race boy goes to the reservation to meet his Blackfoot grandmother (who still lives in a teepee) and connects with his Blackfoot heritage.  A coming of age story set in the not quite civilized frontier. 

"Walks Far Woman" by Colin Stuart
A young Blackfoot man returning home from WWII asks for his Great Grandmother's blessing to marry a white woman.  In a story told in flashbacks, the old woman tells her story to the young white woman, starting from when she was 18, widowed, and saved by a white trapper, adopted by a Sioux family, fought through the Indian Wars, including Little Bighorn, and much more,  eventually welcoming the young woman into her family and revealing a family secret that ties both families together.   If this book doesn't touch your heart, you don't have one.

"Wild Pony Island" by Stephen Meader
This is a children's book that I read in the 1960's.
The protagonist's life so paralleled my own that it remains one of my favorites.


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## Sir Thaikard (Jun 30, 2020)

JPod by Douglas Coupland is fantastic. It might be a personal thing but I generally don't like Canadian writers so this was a nice change of pace.


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## Gnarl (Jul 3, 2020)

well, i liked Shielah of Earth, but i think, maybe Teesha of the ninth realm.  Don't look for any deep meaning though, it was just a fun fantasy a person does not have to work at enjoying.


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## Kuroserama (Jul 13, 2020)

DingRawD said:


> Darren Shan's Lord Loss



Ugh I have yet to read _The Demonata_ series but I really loved _Cirque du Freak_. That series will stick with me forever.


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## Zehlua (Oct 14, 2020)

My Fathers Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

30 Covert Manipulation Tactics by Adelyn Birch


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## Raever (Oct 14, 2020)

Moribito by Nahoko Uehashi.
I can read that ten times over before getting bored.


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## Eli_the_Wolf23 (Oct 14, 2020)

Oof that's a difficult one to decide.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Because it was the best one to read and it is the best one in the series.


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## RyuokoWolf (Oct 14, 2020)

I absolutely adore Fallen Kingdoms and the series by Morgan Rhodes


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## pascalthepommie (Oct 15, 2020)

KodaPop said:


> Just over a year ago, my roommate recommended me the book House of Leaves. He told me to not scan the book at all, or flip through the pages, just start reading on page one. I won't go into spoiler territory here, but oh boy this book was the wildest fictional rides I have ever took on in my life. The subtle dread and despair on each page was captivating, and got me dreaming of the house on Ash Tree Lane. I felt like another character in the story by the end of the read, and have never gotten that feeling before. Years down the road, I'll still be talking to my friends about this lonely house in the southeastern Virginia countryside, waiting to be entered again.



House of Leaves is such an amazing book. It's definitely one of my tops reads. I've always described it more as an experience than an actual book haha.
I would recommend reading _The Call _by _Peadar 0 Guilin_
It's a young adult novel but it has some intense scenes and it's one of the few horror based young adult novels that actually out performs works I've read for older audiences. I haven't read the second book yet but the first was killer.


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## Toby_Morpheus (Oct 15, 2020)

I got to read the first few parts of Transmetropolitan on my free kindle subscription, a graphic novel series about a writer who returns to the city from hermitage to repay an old debt and gets into crazy adventures reporting on social issues and political corruption.
It's good stuff and I wanna get the whole set.


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## Attaman (Nov 13, 2020)

I really need to dig up (or, considering where it's been stored the last few years, probably replace and reacquire) my copy of _Hyperion_ by Dan Simmons at some point. There's a great deal of books I'm fond of (Fiction and Non-Fiction, modern and generations / centuries old), but the first _Hyperion_ book is just... It ages well. Particularly with the hindsight / context of having read _Fall of Hyperion_ afterwards.


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## TemetNosce88 (Nov 13, 2020)

_House __of Leaves_, as mentioned above, is a great book. I've only read it the one time, so I'm not sure it's a favorite per se.

That would be a tie between two John Steinbeck novels for me, _East of Eden_ and _Cannery Row_. _East of Eden_ is fantastic for its sweeping scope across generations and the fantastic way it tackles its themes of good and evil and original sin. _Cannery Row_ is fantastic for almost the opposite reasons, it's a close-in look of a small community where nothing dramatic happens but it's such a rich and beautiful world.


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## Mr-Rose-Lizard (Dec 19, 2020)

"Man's Best Friend: the National Geographic Book of Dogs"


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## Tacoshark (Dec 19, 2020)

Tricky, tricky. Right now I would say favorite fiction is Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Splendid story and extraordinarily well written


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## Punk_M0nitor (Dec 25, 2020)

Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters. I need to find somewhere to find a copy of it. I picked it up at a library and immediately fell in love with it. Steampunk and dystopia novels have a special place in my heart

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi is a very close second and I _really_ need to buy a copy of Tool (the side novel focusing on one of my favorite characters)


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## the sleepiest kitty (Jan 3, 2021)

My favorite books are:
"Earnest" by Kristin von Kreisler
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee


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## grrfret (Jan 3, 2021)

An absolute favourite of mine is "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" by Claire North.


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## .Antho (Jan 29, 2021)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance. A wonderful read on the metaphysics of quality.


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## pthhpth (Feb 11, 2021)

poison by chris wooding. i know it's cliche to say this, but it's kind of an obscure gem. i got it at a scholastic book fair when i was in sixth grade, i was drawn in by the dark edgy cover. but the story is really good, kinda gives me tim burton movie vibes. would recommend if you like dark fantasy fairy tale stuff for young teens lol


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## reptile logic (Feb 16, 2021)

I have read hundreds of books. Try as I might, I cannot come up with a favorite book or even a favorite author. At this point in my life, I can't even narrow it down to a short list.


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## Hogo (Feb 16, 2021)

Borophagus Monoclinous said:


> Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
> _by Haruki Murakami
> _
> The world that this author creates in this book is totally insane, but his writing completely sucks you in. I didn't want it to end.



I'm flabbergasted that I ran into a favorite of mine before I posted it because I didn't expect Murakami nevertheless one of his overlooked novels. The end of the world portion specifically is up in my top 5. 

I feel like I have to answer this threads question by favorite for each type of book.

Favorite Poem Book: The Conference of the Birds by Attar of Nishapur

Favorite Short Story Collection: Collected Fictions by Jorges Borges

Favorite Play: King Lear by Shakespeare

Favorite Non-fiction Book: The Mind's I - multiple authors

Favorite Children's Book: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moors

Favorite Novel is a 5-way tie:

-Blindness by Jose Saramago
-Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
-Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
-The Last Report at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich
-The Fixed Stars: Thirty-seven Emblems for the Perilous Season by Brian
 Conn

Captain Bluebear is maybe my favorite of all of these but it feels kinda embarrassing since it's a children's book.


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## Miles Marsalis (Feb 17, 2021)

This is a hard call, but Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig is my tentative favorite. My granddad gave it to me when I got accepted to high school and it definitely left a lasting impression on me. It's one of those are books that really prepares you for personal and professional life with the gems it drops and exemplifies the philosophical novel genre. I think it's especially relevant during this pandemic.


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## Punji (Feb 17, 2021)

I'm very bad at picking favourites and even worse with names, so here are my probable two top novels.

The first is a historical fiction following a disgraced German war hero tasked with abducting or assassinating Churchill. It opens and ends with a journalist investigating an old English church, and most of the characters on all sides of all the conflicts die.

It's an absolutely fantastic and exciting story. The author does a quite good job not vilifying anyone and the characters are never depicted as evil or morally wrong. Unfortunately this does come at the cost of a very cliche piece near he beginning but it's not really a significant aspect of the story. If ever I knew the name I'd buy a copy and read it again.

Fallen Angles is another sort of historical fiction following a young and intelligent black man with a bad knee being drafted into the Vietnam war, trying to survive and get his medical profile cleared so he can be brought back home alive. The story follows him through the various parts of his life at this time, ranging from meeting his fellow soldiers at the airport to how they all would put on a play of the only film they had to watch on their down time, having seen it so many times they could all play the roles and recite the lines. He sees combat, men are killed, he suffers regrets, injuries, sends letters to his mother and little brother. It's an absolutely fantastic story as well that depicts the life of an young innocent man wrongfully sent to war and what his life had become. Brilliant!

A bonus third would probably be The Warded Man, a first in a series of three novels. It follows a boy called Arlen through his childhood and eventual adulthood in a medieval-esk world where practically-immortal elemental demons rise from the earth every night, nigh untouchable with often animal-like intelligence. The only safety and refuge for the people are wards, which magically reflect and block the demons as long as they're clear and maintained, and the dawn's light which burns every demon to death if they are caught in it.

Arlen loses his mother very early on because of the demons, and out of disgust for the people's cowardice and hatred of them he runs away from home and eventually seeks out an Islamic nation known for fighting the demons out of honour.

I didn't love the second two books but they were decent. In terms of enjoyability I'd place this one up there as well.


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## Xitheon (Feb 17, 2021)

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

The suspense and sense of foreboding is wicked genius. I can't say too much without ruining the plot, but it will keep you hooked and unable to put it down.

I wish I could erase it from my memory so I could read it again without knowing how events transpire. It's amazing and the payoff is spectacular.


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## Yakamaru (Feb 17, 2021)

Foundation by Isaac Asimov.


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## Yastreb (Feb 18, 2021)

reptile logic said:


> I have read hundreds of books. Try as I might, I cannot come up with a favorite book or even a favorite author. At this point in my life, I can't even narrow it down to a short list.


Same thing here. I could maybe list my top 10 or 20 but it would be impossible to put them in any order or find a single favourite. Here are some examples anyway. You can see I like sci-fi.

"The War of the Worlds" and "The First Men in the Moon" by H. G. Wells
"Warlord of the Air" by Michael Moorcock
"Rendezvous with Rama" and "The Fountains of Paradise" by Arthur C. Clarke
"After the Flood" by P. C. Jersild
"Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne
"His Dark Materials" (a trilogy) by Philip Pullman


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## Doppeldoggo (Feb 20, 2021)

yo i read warrior cats


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## Paws the Opinicus (Mar 9, 2021)

Oddly enough, I'd have to say an Earth Science textbook from 1960.... read it to -death- probably 120 times when I was a kid, learned sooo much scientific geology-ish stuff... that I frankly never remembered long enough to make a career of back in the day.


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## Jaredthefox92 (Mar 9, 2021)

Dune, it's a clusterfuck to read but it has enough sci-fi and political intrigue to keep me interested. I love books about conflict, hence why I love war stories and Star Wars.


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## ben909 (Mar 9, 2021)

I have  ot seen it in 16 years, but there was one book i read a lot in elementary school that had a lot of diagrams of how things worked in it explined by labels as well as mammoths in the edges of the pages


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## Lucyfur (Mar 9, 2021)

Lord of the Rings. It is a classic and set the stage for fantasy books of the modern era to follow.


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## neonchimera (Apr 6, 2021)

Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World.


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## Deleted member 134556 (Apr 6, 2021)

Hard to pick a favorite, but as far as books that I loved unconditionally and brought me entertainment, it would be 'Dragonology'


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## Cassy Lizard Boyo (Apr 9, 2021)

That is a bit of a tough one...

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski will probably fit that slot for me. While it's not my favorite book of the series it's the one that got me invested in the Witcher universe as a whole.


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## Netanye Dakabi (Apr 13, 2021)

as you know, my opinions change daily...


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## GarbageRaider117 (Jun 29, 2021)

The Book of Deacon series by Joseph Lallo is really good IMO.

The series is a high fantasy where two alliances of various nations (the Kingdom of Tressor and the Northern Alliance) have been pitted against eachother for over a century in what's known as the Perpetual War. In the Northern Alliance, a woman is an outcast traveling from city to city to avoid the hostility that's thrown her way whenever people find out that she has the audacity to not hate everyone from Tressor intrinsically and focus her entire life on the war effort. In her travels, during one of the Northern Alliance's notorious blizzards, she's drawn into an ancient prophecy of five warriors chosen by the gods to end an endless strife and protect the world from annihilation.

I was initially drawn to the series by the cover of Book 0: Rise of the Red Shadow because I was starting to debate with myself as to whether I consider myself a furry (debate still in progress, but I digress) and the cover of the book had a character from a species known as malthropes, which are anthro foxes that are almost extinct (and no, they don't fit furry stereotypes for foxes).

In the book itself, I like the way it portrays a struggle that seems to be a losing fight pitted against "never say die" characters alongside an approach to heroes that aren't of some special lineage or high birth in a setting focused on the affairs of nobility and the like. There's an element of the blood of a covenant being thicker than the water of the womb that I enjoy seeing in stories. That's all piled onto great world building that paints a really solid picture of what's going on which pulled me in for literal hours at a time on my first read through.

Definitely liked the series as a whole. Looking back, even though I started with the prequel book (see above as to why I took note of Book 0), I think the best reading order for the series would be Book 1, 2, 0, 3, 4, 5, Spinoffs, 6.

Unfortunately, the only book I have left in the series is a shorter spinoff, so now I have to find a new series until Lallo decides he's gonna write another book. However, if an orphan with a death bounty on his entire species can endure and grow to be the greatest assassin ever known, then I can handle a bit of waiting for the sweet text based nectar of the continuation of this series a little longer.

TL;DR: Book of Deacon, Joseph Lallo, definitely a fan, is v good. Also has anthros.


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## Draakc from State Farm (Jun 30, 2021)

Oh, Great Question! 

I would say one of the books by my favorite author Pseudonymous Bosch, but if I had to pick one, I'd say... Maybe, bad magic although his writing really declined in quality after that 
If you haven't read Pseudonymous Bosch you're really missing out!


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## vikingbeast69 (Jun 30, 2021)

Loved Michael Moorcock’s “Elric” and “Corum” series as a teen. Beautiful fantasy prose with operatic levels of drama. My love for those books is tied with Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House.” It’s the kind of book I can reread endlessly. Poetic in its portrayal of anxiety and alienation.


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## bobfily (Aug 9, 2021)

I do not like to pay for new literature, but some books force me to buy the first copies. I remember that such a book was about the adventures of Dee - the vampire hunter. I prefer to read the research papers or I order paid searches on literary topics. Such sites https://paperell.com/pay-for-research-papers help to find unique texts that do not make it to the tops of literary magazines. A unique story or not a well-known book is a treasure for literary hunters. A popular book is a burger that everyone wants to buy, but hunters are interested in little-known books.


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## O.D.D. (Aug 10, 2021)

The Way Things Work by David Macaulay.  Fantastic book for kids that explains a lot of stuff without being a crashing bore, and isn't also a crashing bore for the adult reading with them.

E: As fiction goes, anything by Harlan Ellison and a few things by Philip K. Dick.


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## Savarin_Divin (Dec 2, 2021)

I have a few in no real order, 
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison (also recommend the game it fills out the world a bit even more from the book)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


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## Stray Cat Terry (Dec 2, 2021)

In my case, literatures, and especially--Le Petit Prince.

Like, the same book comes by a whole different atmosphere compared to when I used to read it as a child.. It's so deep!

This one is an honorable mention because it's few of those I recall reading decades ago, and it's turning out to be different now.


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## ansfert (Jan 4, 2022)

Cloud Atlas. David Mitchell just has a way of making every single character seem so human and relatable, even those with whom the reader shares absolutely nothing in common. The number one feeling I have when reading his books is real empathy, which is just a nice feeling to have.

His writing is also delightful to read and his plots are fast-moving and interesting. Can't say enough about that guy.


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## Matt the Terrier (Jan 4, 2022)

I'm a bit torn at the moment. My problem is that I can't narrow it down to just one at the moment, but I could list a couple:

-"Black Sheep Squadron"/"Baa Baa Black Sheep": an auto-biography about Colonel Gregory Boyington, who was in the Marine Corps during World War 2 and led an infamous squadron of pilots known as "The Black Sheep Squadron" during their fight over the Pacific Ocean.

-"Death in the Air": A prequel to the Sherlock Holmes books. Sherlock Holmes is running around the streets of London as a young boy in the mid or late 19th Century, solving a murder mystery.

-Books 1 through 15 of the Beastars manga, though if I'm honest, _I really like Books 1 through 11 mainly for Louis' story arc. _As far as the characters go, I love Louis' character and story arc the most. "Beast Complex" is also pretty good.


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## Rimna (Jan 7, 2022)

As cheesy as it is - "The Alchemist"


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## Miles Marsalis (Jan 7, 2022)

Rimna said:


> As cheesy as it is - "The Alchemist"


By Paulo Coelho?


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## ScaratheWolf (Jan 7, 2022)

Princess by Carolyn Lane (it was a childhood book so don't judge me)


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## Rimna (Jan 7, 2022)

Miles Marsalis said:


> By Paulo Coelho?


That's the one


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## KetSooey (Feb 3, 2022)

It's very hard to pick, but one of my personal favorites is Of Mice and Men. I love the character chemistry of Carl and Lennie.


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## Riotact (Feb 16, 2022)

'If On a Winters Night a Traveller' by Italo Calvino
The Penguin Dorothy Parker
The Little Prince by Antoine de St Exupery


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