Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Favorite Books

So, what are your favorite books? I have a bunch on the bookshelf that are on the to-read list, but I always like to have a list of books that I may want to read. That way, if I'm in the mood for something in particular (humurous, sad, classic, thought-provoking) I have a list of books I can consider.

I pretty much hate the book I am currently reading, but due to a "deal" I made with someone I'm obligated to finish it. So, I'm looking forward to my next good book!

Anything from William Gibson, but especially All Tomorrow's Parties. Although that's the 3rd book in a trilogy (Virtual Light and Idoru come before it), they each pretty much stand alone.

I also really like the Giant's series from James P. Hogan:
Inherit The Stars
The Gentle Giants of Ganymede
Giants' Star
Entoverse
Mission to Minerva

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - one of my all time favourites.

I travel frequently so read quite a bit on planes and trains. This book just stands out (to me) as much better than your average 'best seller's list' read. I have read several of Follett's other books, but this one is his best.

I enjoyed the rather light and entertaining Harry Potter books.

I wouldn't consider this a favorite of mine, but a co-worker and I agreed to read a book the other recommended. This was back in early 1990's, I think. I made him read "The Stand" by Steven King (this was before the movie was made), which was definitely not on his reading list and he made me read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, which was definitely not a choice I would have made. I plan on buying Atlas Shrugged and reading it again this summer, because I don't remember a lot about it, but remember it was quite interesting.

My reading tastes aren't particularly challenging:

The Princess Bride and Control by William Goldman
I Was a Teen-Age Dwarf and Rally Round the Flag, Boys by Max Shulman
REAL Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book by Robert Hamburger
Mr. Bean's Diary by Robin Driscoll and Rowan Atkinson
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life by Grant Naylor
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell

I need to read more, so maybe I'll try some of the recommendations in this thread.

Oh yeah, Ender's Game was excellent. Haven't read the others you mention.

In addition to many great suggestions already done:

Ben Elton's "Dead Famous" or "Blind Faith" (anything from him, actually, but those two are kind of a must)

Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency" and its sequel "The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul".

Terry Pratchett's "Disc-World" series (it's only about 26 books).

Christian-Eric Falardeau' Collective works... Oops! Sorry about that one! I don't know how he got on my list...

From the French side, I am sure you can find excellent translations of Michel Tremblay or of Milan Kundera.

Thanks everyone. I am a pretty big reader, but I'm not sure I have read any of the books mentioned so far. So, I'm getting a lots of good ideas! I'll be interested an anybody else's recommendations.

It's funny, because the way CatBrat ended up reading Atlas Shrugged is the way I ended up reading the book I really don't like (mentioned in my initial post). In my case, there were two books each person must read. I got Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (although I understand why others would like it, I am not a big fan) and the Sound and the Fury (which I expect to like quite a bit. He got Tom Jones and Slaughterhouse 5.

The most recent good I finished was Ringworld by Larry Niven. I kept reading about it everywhere as a 'geek classic' and just recently picked it up. Quite good, I thought. Refreshing sci-fi. I'm going to check out his other books very soon.

Other than that, a few good semi-recent reads spring to mind . . .

The Art of Travel by Alain de botton. I'm working on The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work right now. I like his insights on the world and the people in it.

Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World by Tom Zoellner. It's a little repetitive at times, but it's a good book. A good 'beach read' kind of book.

I read several of Malcolm Gladwell's books late last year, Blink, Outliers, and The Tipping Point. I enjoyed all of them.

A good book for a group of music aficionados like us is This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin. All about how our minds react to music. Fascinating book.

Over the past several years I've been reading through the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. This is the 20+ book series from which the movie Master and Commander was created. I'm 5 books into the series. If you liked the movie, you'd probably like the books. It's good, but a little slow at times.

Of course, if we're talking favorites, a couple of mine would be either A Brave New World by Huxley or Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury.

I usually mention those in my list of favorites, but it's been so long since I've read either. I should dust off my copies... at some point. I still need to re-read the Wheel of Time series. It's hard to work up the nerve.