your favourite book/ book series and why

He was shielded. And inexperienced...he had no control over the Power.

 

Hi All,

Series of books that I've read in the last 40 odd years - too many to list all... but a few in no particular order...

Biggles... Loads of them
The Saint... Nearly all
Chronicles of Gor... Lots of them
Dune...
Lensman...
The Executioner - Too many - mispent youth
Spellsinger - Alan Dean Foster
Modesty Blaize
Hobbit + Lord of the Rings + The Silmarillion
Witch World - Andre Norton
Chronicles of Pern

And OF COURSE, SAD BUT TRUE...
- THE DESTROYER - Probably all the Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir ones...

Interesting books get reread again and again - I recently reread one of my all time favorite yarns - The Valley of Creation by Edmond Hamilton

All the best.

Robert.

 

i third stephen king's The Dark Tower series

 

tolkiens works (too good to be called books) and the gotrek and felix series of warhammer fantacy by william king

 

Dark Tower series, by Stephen King.

ABSOLUTELY INCOMPARABLE

 

I'll go with the Dark Tower series, although the way he wrote himself into song of Susannah sucked for me.

Lord of the Rings also has my vote.

The Dune series is good - for the first three books. After that it falls apart a bit.

two others I've not seen here:

The Flashman Papers by George MacDonald Fraser - hilarious.

The Aubrey / Maturin Novels by Patrick O'Brian - absolutely fantastic.

 

I love Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.

 

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin. Brilliant so far and still in the works.

 

A Song of Ice and Fire by: George R.R. Martin-Gritty with great storyline and action

the Drizzt Series by R.A. Salvatore-Amazing fight scenes, Halfling's Gem best!

Dark Tower Series by Stephen King-Amazing Plot, Great Characters

 

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean Dominique Baupy - true story of a 44 year old french man who has a stroke and when he comes out of the coma he can only move his left eyelid. He dictated this book in that manner - they would call out the leeters and he would blink at the correct one. Read it - you wont be sorry.

 

Oh there's so many

Fiest's Magician Series is good, as is Tad Williams Memory Sorrow and Thorn, and his new series on the future internet (can't remember its name)

 

Terry Pratchett for me. Some people are put off by the idea that fantasy/comedy might be far too silly, but Pratchett's insights into human nature are quite extraordinary. If I was in charge he would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

What is it about martial artists and fantasy? Most (not all, but most) books on this list are fantasy (with a smattering of sci fi)?

 

Steven Eriksons Malazan Book Of the Fallen Series.

its not finished yet only half way 5 books out of 10 released so far but with only these 5 books I can state truthfully (in my mind at least) that it is the greatest work of Epic story telling ever. Tolkien, terry goodkind, George R.R and a host of others are no match for Eriksons scope and ability to control the ebb and flow of an eceptionally detailed world filled with many differing characters, plots within plots, myths and legends of its own that determine future events, a ability to tell when a character is done and a willingness to create a complex, slowly building tale in each and every book. Finalised by an ability to keep thread of dozens of minor threads and story arcs within the same book, not just the series but in a single book with dozens of differing major characters each with a different personality that seems constant through the books, characters dont change without reason.

an example, in one of his books 'Deadhouse Gates' there are no less than 6 major story arcs each interacting with one another and blending in to create a tapestry worthy of any Fantasy readers attention. He also breaks the mould of most modern fantasy which seems very stagnant and similar in its premise.

I urge you to read his books without delay.

1. Gardens of the Moon
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Memories of Ice
4. House of Chains(the weakest in the series so far but only because two of the characters are some of the least likable in the series not due to a loss of ability, he still has all the technical mastery and abilities as before)
5. Midnight Tides

heres the prologue for book 6 which is the only one I have found online as of yet.:
http://www.malazanempire.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315

 

Mark Z. Danielewski's 'House of Leaves' is my favourite book ever - I love it so much I wrote my university dissertation on it. It's does something that had never been done with the horror genre before (or never done competantly, anyway) and may have influenced the Blair Witch Project if the stories about the internet release are true. It's also one of the three books that convinced me to stop writing horror because I knew I'd never do anything that good. Other than that, I'll read anything by Caitlin Kiernan, Richard Morgan or Chuck Palahniuk. I'm currently working my way through the 'Bourne' series by Robert Ludlum and am enjoying them a lot - I got all three books in one huge doorstop volume

 

The book that changed my life was called The White Book.

I also love The Count of Monté Cristo and The Imajica!

 

Forgot to add these two: Discworld by Terry Pratchett, and Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.

 

By far:
Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
World of Tiers - Jose Philip Farmer

 

I have read LOTR, I have read Harry Potter (ALll of them) I have read Terry Pratchetts Discworld Series and Robert Jordans Wheel Of Time, but nothing compares to Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth series, all of you go get his first book! I will list the series so far! Excellent books! In a 100 years time they will be a movie liek LOTR and be a lot better!

Wizards First Rule
Stone of Tears
Blood of the Fold
Temple of the Wind
Soul of the Fire
Faith of the Fallen
Pillars of Creation
Naked Empire
Chainfire

Trust me go out rent or buy Wizards First Rule by terry goodkind awesome books check out the website also, they have a massive forum, www.terrygoodkind.com

 

the gormenghast trilogy by mervyn peake because the prose is so dense! :bang: *tries to decipher 1st page of 'titus groan'*

 

The Nicholas Linnear series by Eric Van Lustbader. Very kool martial arts novels, and great insights into Japanese culture. I'm only up to the fourth book but so far they have all ruled.
The series is as follows:

The Ninja
The Miko
White Ninja
The Kaisho
Floating City
Second Skin

On Lustbader's website it say's that "The Ninja" has a director attached to it for the movie adaption, but they are just awaiting a script writer. Can't wait!