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[ClassyPenguin]

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy.

A book that took him thirty years to write and contains many instances based on his life. It is the tale of Suttree, a man who abandoned his family to live a simple life in a houseboat on the Mississippi River. What I really like about the book is its slow pace and that McCarthy style. You meet misfits and rouges and it is both comedic and sad in the way the characters unfold. For example, one of the early characters you meet is this guy who was caught having sex with a farmer's watermelons. Like most of his books there is hardly any redemption or payoff, stuff just happens without reason like they do in real life.

If you're going to read it, be patient. It took me three months to finish the book. McCarthy's style is dense and hard to get through but I think it serves a purpose, a sort of metaphor to the more futile and slow portions of our lives.

Suttree himself is a lost creature who can find no real hook into this world. He roams about "like a dog" at large. He can touch another human being for a moment, drink beer with a friend, fish, make love, but he has to move on, jump downriver, or hide in the dead, nightmare city. The book comes at us like a horrifying flood. The language licks, batters, wounds--a poetic, troubled rush of debris. It is personal and tough, without that boring neatness and desire for resolution that you can get in any well-made novel. Cormac McCarthy has little mercy to spare, for his characters or himself. His text is broken, beautiful and ugly in spots. Mr. McCarthy won't soothe us with a quiet song. "Suttree" is like a good, long scream in the ear.

 

[Bowflex]

Had an huge impact on me. I read it every year.

my man.

 

[Switch Back 9]

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when eventually when they actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

This is one of the best responses I have ever seen on GAF....haven't read the book myself but I applaud your passionate hatred.

 

[RustyO]

Way too many to list, but to narrow it down a bit:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Magical realism at its finest with the tale of seven genrations of the Buendía family and the town of Macondo.

This is the book that I read, and re-read religously (along with Chaos by James Gleick, which, if the topic was books, not novels would be here.)

And, if you happen to be getting a birthday present from me, there is a good chance you're getting a copy of this.


The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Lets look at Pand's comment:

It's almost impossible to pick just one, but if I had to, this would be it. It is similarly impossible to give a satisfactory description of the plot; it satirizes the absurd bureaucratic culture of 1930s Russian society while telling the story of Pontius Pilate's reluctance to prosecute Jesus of Nazareth in parallel.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to read the book going by that description, but it's masterfully done. I don't think I've ever been blown away by a novel similarly before, and I can only hope I'll experience something like it again.

I think that pretty much summarise's my take on it as well. An amazing piece of litreature, that is quite hard to describe, yet is mind blowing.


Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

If you are shown this:

And asked if it frightens you, and you think, "Why should any one be frightened by a hat?" then you should read this, right now if you want.

If on the other hand, you are appropiately frightened, then you already understand...


Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Realistically, anything by Murakami is pretty much awesome. "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", "Kafka on the Shore", "Norweign Wood", "Dance, Dance, Dance", "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"... if for whatever reason, you've never read any, I highly recommend that you do. I've probably got more books by Murakami on my shelf then anyone else alongside Eco...


The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Ahhh... I'll have to come back to this later...

 

[matt360]

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when eventually when they actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

It has a motherfuckin Ultraman vs. Mecha Godzilla fight for fuck's sake. No shame here. I liked it and I'm sticking by it. Like I said, it's no literary masterpiece, but I enjoyed it all the same. I've never read Snow Crash nor have I ever played an MMO, but reading that book almost felt like playing a game to me. I'm also a child of the 80s, so the constant references to the era were welcome.

 

[Trent Strong]

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when eventually when they actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

God damn.

 

[Lafiel]

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith - So good, I do a planned re-read for it every year. I've probably read it around 3 times.. and I'm planning on reading it for a forth time in 2014.

Why is it my favorite novel you ask? well it's mainly because of it's incredible characterization, it's down-right honest portrayal of childhood, the poignant but optimistic tone of the novel despite the overall bleakness of the events portrayed (something that really resonates with my worldview at times) the slice-of-life pace of the storytelling etc etc. And best of all, it's themes about the power of education is something that will probably resonate with me for the rest of my life; especially considering the fact I'm studying to become a primary school teacher. (in part due to the influence the book had over me in my first read.. that's how GOOD it is people!).

 

[FloatOn]

an honorable mention goes out to The Catcher in the Rye for me as well. I did my best Holden Caulfield impersonation as a teenager.

aka literary teen angst is best teen angst.

 

[Monroeski]

::edit::
Meh, nevermind, I've trashed it enough in the past.

 

[Cabaratier]

Of Human Bondage- Somerset Maugham

 

[Wanace]

David Copperfield by Dickens is my favorite novel of all time. The scope of the book and how everything ties together is just fucking amazing. It's a huge time investment but totally worth it.

 

[Ovid]

And a far, far better movie than a book. One of the rare, no, RARE examples of such...

I disagree. The book was funny and engaging...the movie wasn't.

 

[Arcteryx]

Alamut or Snowcrash. Both are equally fresh upon re-readings and the quotables...

The Jungle is a close second, but it doesn't have the same impact on re-readings.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the best book I've ever read.

Beautifully written, wonderfully realized. The prose is magical as is the scope and pacing of the story. That's to say nothing of the themes (brotherhood, war, escapism, love, family, comic books) that Chabon masterfully explores.

A perfect read.

This.

Extremely moving novel. Also, funny sometimes.

 

[Haly]

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when they eventually actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

Let's not forget the best friend who turns out to be a

Spoiler

black gay female playing as a guy in the game.

I think they could've fit in two more "minorities" and made her half hispanic and disabled as well.

And the two Japanese "brothers" who can't go one sentence without mentioning honor. At least they never said "Nakama".

 

[Hulud]

Probably God Emperor of Dune but it has been years since I read it.

 

[the_painted_bird]

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy.

A book that took him thirty years to write and contains many instances based on his life. It is the tale of Suttree, a man who abandoned his family to live a simple life in a houseboat on the Mississippi River. What I really like about the book is its slow pace and that McCarthy style. You meet misfits and rouges and it is both comedic and sad in the way the characters unfold. For example, one of the early characters you meet is this guy who was caught having sex with a farmer's watermelons. Like most of his books there is hardly any redemption or payoff, stuff just happens without reason like they do in real life.

If you're going to read it, be patient. It took me three months to finish the book. McCarthy's style is dense and hard to get through but I think it serves a purpose, a sort of metaphor to the more futile and slow portions of our lives.

I would love to read Suttree... But yeah, his prose is soo dense. I'm already limping through Blood Meridian.

 

[matt360]

an honorable mention goes out to The Catcher in the Rye for me as well. I did my best Holden Caulfield impersonation as a teenager.

aka literary teen angst is best teen angst.

Ahhh, yeah, I don't know why I forgot to mention that one. I haven't read it since high school (about 14 years ago now) so I don't really remember it all that well, but I remember loving it at the time.

 

[genjiZERO]

I have several, but off the top of my head:

Lord of the Rings

LotR combines almost everything I love: linguistics, history, geography, arcane references to mythology and religion, it's filled within inside jokes between Tolkien and himself, and it unapologetically requires you to do the background necessary to understand the work. But best of all it is the most painfully English thing I have ever experienced. Dare I say Tolkien was more English than Sir Churchill.

Kafka on the Shore

It combines everything else I love - Japanese flavoured Buddhism, Shintoism, Existentialism, and a Japanese sensitivity to one's surroundings and subdued emotions. As Tolkien taps perfectly into the essence of English culture, Murakami taps perfectly into the psyche of Japanese spirituality.

 

[mambadragon]

I don't know if it's my favorite, but Infinite Jest is certainly the most awe inspiring book I've ever read. It's crazy thinking how it was the work of just one man, and reading it makes you realize what a genius David Foster Wallace was. And I don't mean genius in the sense of how people describe their favorite artists (be it authors, musicians, directors, etc), but genius in the sense that DFW's IQ might have been like 180.

 

[Baggatoast]

You guys know what's up. Murakami is definitely my favorite modern author.

My vote has to go to

The whole novel carries an incredibly haunting theme and the paradox of the Satan character blows my mind with every read.

 

[Loxley]

It's a three-way split between:

All three grabbed my attention like few other books have been able to do, love them all to death. The Long Ships was only a recent discovery too, first read it in early 2012.

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when they eventually actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

 

[Weiss]

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when they eventually actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

...I liked it...

 

[kittens]

Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler. Amazing sci-fi from a progressive black female feminist. It's hard for me to read other sci-fi, now. The typical sci-fi writer's politics and way of writing women and people of color (or not writing them, as is often the case) is just too terrible for me to put up with.

Second fave is probably Dune.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when they eventually actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

The main character is a kid. And it's more a play on Willy Wonka than some MMO Dystopian future.

It's a fun quick read, that a lot people enjoyed. No reason to act like a dick about it.

 

[Woorloog]

Frank Herbert's Dune.

The book that got me to truly reading. I read it first when i was... i don't know, 10-12. Afterwards, i've read a lot. A lot. Thanks to this piece.
Such an imaginative, captivating world, with political intrigue and interesting philosophy, religion and other things. And science, even though it is science fiction space opera, it still has some hard science.
Love it, won't ever stop loving it. Read it once a year, year after year after year.

 

[Mumei]

Peter S Beagle's The Last Unicorn

Why? I love his prose. The anachronisms, the alliteration and how the writing will almost fall into song at times. The self aware play on fairy tales. The melancholy. Molly Grue's first devastating vision of the unicorn. Haggard's desperate desire to find some small piece of happiness.

Have you read any of his other works? The Last Unicorn is definitely the best for my money, but I think he really shines in his short story collections, especially Sleight of Hand.

These are both awesome choices. I guess I really am a sucker for the ability to convey a yearning sense of nostalgic loss, as opposed to mere shallow "sadness," in the form of prose.

That is a perfect way of describing it. <3

I find these topics so difficult. I have a lot of favorite novels. So I'll name a few:

The Count of Monte Cristo

And specifically the Robin Buss translation. Accept no substitutes. I first read this in 2005 and for years it was my favorite novel, bar none. I started reading a lot more in the last few years, and now it is still one of my favorite novels but it has a lot more competition than it did. And the main reason it is one of my favorite novels is Edmond Dantés, but the supporting cast, and the web of plots is also wonderful.

Norwegian Wood

I had trouble deciding on a Murakami novel; Sputnik Sweetheart, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World are also up there for me. But I think Norwegian Wood's sense of bittersweet nostalgia puts it on top for me. As with most Murakami, I don't really remember much of the characters (besides, well, Midori) or story (besides a few scenes)... it is mostly how it makes me feel.

The Book of the New Sun

Gene Wolfe's magnum opus! This is technically a tetralogy, but it is so well-integrated that I can't imagine considering it anything less than a cohesive whole. It has a dense, labyrinthine plot, fantastical characters, a far future science fiction setting disguised as a medieval fantasy land, and just about everything is explained in the coda, The Urth of the New Sun. Fair warning, though: The prose can be a bit dense and Severian is a total dick for most of it.

Kokoro

I read this just once, in ninth grade for a book report. I was taking Japanese at the time and wanted to read something that was, well, Japanese. It centers around the friendship of a young man and an older man identified only as "Sensei." I really don't remember much about the story - but I remember that ninth grade was one of my depression low points, and one of the reasons I picked it up was the description on the back - "Soseki brilliantly describes the different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness."

If on a winter's night a traveler

This is a bit of a difficult novel to describe, but the gist of it is that the novel alternates between the experience of the protagonist - "You" (not you; "You" is the second-person narration conceit of the novel that can take some time to get used to, especially since the entire first chapter seems perfectly designed to make any book lover say, "You are describing me.) - and the short stories within that cover all sorts of genres and styles, all while bleeding into the main plot. I tried reading this first around 2007, and I ended up dropping it after I stopped reading it for a few weeks. I think it is a novel that depends upon a sustained reading; when you drop it after a few weeks and pick it up again, the spell seems to sort of disappear.

Pale Fire

Pale Fire is Nabokov's poem-cum-novel about Charles Kinbote, John Shade, Zembla, Gradus, King Charles the Blessed, the possibility of life after death, and literary analysis as an excuse for telling your own story. I love the labyrinth quality that allows you read it in any fashion you like, the way Kinbote spins stories out of the slightest queues, the multilayered quality, the unreliability of the narrator, the allusions, and the prose. And the stories are great, too.

Lolita

I am a glutton for Nabokov. And I've posted this before, but the way that Nabokov manages to make H.H. so superficially appealing - he's literate, engaging, witty, multilingual, and so forth - to the extent that it actually obfuscates how monstrous he is is one of my favorite parts of the novel. There's something almost hypnotic about the prose.

The Road

Cormac McCarthy's novel about a father and his son traveling through a post-apocalyptic wasteland is absolutely haunting.

The Left Hand of Darkness

I think this might be my favorite novel by Le Guin. It is a great piece of speculative fiction (and feminist fiction, now that I think about it), and her approach to speculative fiction - delineated in her essay that precedes the novel proper in my edition of the book - is everything I think science fiction really should be as a genre.

Bah. I'm tired now. I also like The Little Prince, A Wizard of Earthsea, Vorkosigan Saga (series), Musashi, Don Quixote, The Last Unicorn, Invitation to a Beheading, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Song of Solomon, The Once and Future King, The Crystal Caves, Love in the Time of Cholera, Decameron... I'm sure I could think of other things if I tried or read this topic more closely.

 

[Pkaz01]

Favorite novel is The Road, especially this quote

Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it

Favorite series is A song of ice and fire.

 

[omgkitty]

Norwegian Wood

I had trouble deciding on a Murakami novel; Sputnik Sweetheart, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World are also up there for me. But I think Norwegian Wood's sense of bittersweet nostalgia puts it on top for me. As with most Murakami, I don't really remember much of the characters (besides, well, Midori) or story (besides a few scenes)... it is mostly how it makes me feel.

That is exactly how I feel. Whenever I think back on his books, it always makes me feel bad that I can't remember all the plot points and details, but I always remember how it made me feel, and that's what keeps me coming back.

 

[fuzzyreactor]

Lolita

I am a glutton for Nabokov. And I've posted this before, but the way that Nabokov manages to make H.H. so superficially appealing - he's literate, engaging, witty, multilingual, and so forth - to the extent that it actually obfuscates how monstrous he is is one of my favorite parts of the novel. There's something almost hypnotic about the prose.

Pretty accurate description. I always feel like a weirdo when I list this as one of my favorite books given the subject matter, but there is something so poetic and impeccable about the prose style that I find it near impossible to not be flattered by it. It's the best written book Iv'e ever read.

 

[Verdre]

Have you read any of his other works? The Last Unicorn is definitely the best for my money, but I think he really shines in his short story collections, especially Sleight of Hand.

Yeah, I own most everything he's written, except his nonfiction book. My favorite of his novels, besides The Last Unicorn, is probably The Folk of the Air. Sleight of Hand was definitely good and it was nice to see Schmendrick again, but I think my favorite of his collections is We Never Talk About My Brother.

 

[scotcheggz]

People will give me a lot of shit but I don't care... Maybe it's not even a novel but it got me into reading.


The Beach - Alex Garland

It's really good, I've only read it once but I remember it being excellent, I still own it and shoud give it another go.

For me, recently I'd say "the thousand autumns of Jacob de zoet" or 'number9 dream" both by David Mitchell. All time, that's hard to say. "A farewell to arms" maybe?

 

[Celegus]

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, easily. I love anything with a creative and well explained world. Which is what makes Brandon Sanderson the perfect author for me... every one of his books takes place in a new fantastical setting, and there are strict rules on how each one works. I like imagination, but I still like order, and he has both in equal quantities.

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

I'll give you one guess, as to my favorite novel.

 

[Mr.Swag]

Probably Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I was in an absolutely unshakable good mood for a solid two days after finishing it.

Did you find it similar to Harry Potter?
Maybe it's Cus I grew up on Harry Potter, but while reading Neverwhere, I felt like I was in Harry's England.

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

Jane Eyre?

That's #3. =P

 

[ponpo]

Hard Boiled and Wind-up Bird are the best Murakami novels. Kafka on the Shore is not as good and I don't know why it's so popular. I even like Norwegian Wood more but that's a different kind of novel.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince

Lovable characters, new and old
Incredible locales
Atmosphere
Tension
Twists and turns
Hits me in the feels
Easy to read (yes, it can be a good thing)
Doesn't slow down at any point


I can't really explain what makes it such a good book. It is majestic though

 

[maomaoIYP]

Norwegian Wood

I had trouble deciding on a Murakami novel; Sputnik Sweetheart, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World are also up there for me. But I think Norwegian Wood's sense of bittersweet nostalgia puts it on top for me. As with most Murakami, I don't really remember much of the characters (besides, well, Midori) or story (besides a few scenes)... it is mostly how it makes me feel.

Unfortunately if you've never read his work, Norwegian Wood is definitely not the one to start with. I started off with NW and I loved it, but the only other two books of his I've read which are close enough in subject matter are Sputnik Sweetheart and South of the Border, West of the Sun (which I feel portrays the sense of longing and desire better than NW). I went through Wind Up Bird slightly disappointed because *massive plot spoiler*

Spoiler

the protagonist never manages to reunite with his wife, and the whole book was more about weird shit happening to the protagonist.

Similarly for Hard Boiled Wonderland the emotional aspects of the story were never flesh out to a point where it was on-par with NW.

 

[ThisWreckage]

I'm sorry, we have to discuss this.

Ready Player One is, without a doubt, the single worst piece of dog shit book I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Put aside the fact that it's amateurishly written in every sense and you have a boring derivation of a tired sci-fi plot. The whole "super immersive MMO in a dystopian future" thing was done a thousand times before, most notably by Snow Crash (which is actually a good novel, btw.)

Then we get to the characters. Holy shit the characters are bad. The main character is an unlikable fat slob of a man with no social skills whatsoever. He falls in love with a girl he "meets" in the game - despite not knowing a single thing about her - and then when they eventually actually do start talking, she bails on him in a digital dance club. He responds in the most pathetic, bitch made way ever by crying. In a dance club. In a video game.

You should feel ashamed that you enjoyed it.

He shouldn't feel ashamed for liking that novel if it is truly his favorite. I don't understand why you felt the need to berate someone because your opinion differed. I'm positive your taste isn't a shining beacon of all that is refined.

My favorite novel is very likely The Picture of Dorian Gray.

 

[Herne]

Cheesy but awesome cover art from Michael Whelan. Dragon Prince is probably still the most important book for me. It was instrumental in helping me grow when I was but a deeply awkward and stumbling teenager - when my world became too harsh, I would retreat into this book and the rest of the trilogy (The Star Scroll and Sunrunner's Fire) as well as it's follow-up trilogy, the Dragon Star series (Stronghold, The Dragon Token and Skybowl). The amazing characters, the fleshed-out world, the immensely inventive magical system of travelling down beams of light and communicating with others, tasting, smelling and hearing colours... endlessly fascinating. And then to make it even more complex, the finding of the Star Scroll and the rediscovery of the hidden enemy marking an all-out war between the faradh'im and diarmadh'im (sunrunners and stone burners, respectively), bringing with it the dangers of rediscovered knowledge.

And then the sequel, with the invasion of the Vellant'im and the break down of the order of the princedoms, the theological implications of Andry's actions at Goddess Keep and his introduction of the concept of "sin", opposed to not only the secular powers of the High Prince, but the exact same powers he employs, this complex situation as a result that arose of marrying a sunrunner to a prince, combining the secular and the magical (as much as that word is looked down upon in that world). All this at a time when they should be helping each other to fight the invaders.

I can't help but love the world and it's endlessly fascinating characters. I have Michael Whelan to thank for introducing me to the books as it was the beautiful cover art that drew me to them in the first place...

 

[jaxword]

So many good answers. Especially Douglas Adams. We are a worse off world without him.



As for right now?

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.

Both covers shown here.

The reason why?

It's a book about the rebirth of religion in an area that already practices religion.

It is a book that is both good for atheists, christians, and every other denomination, because all of the characters are more than just archetypes, they are genuine people who all believe what they are doing is right, even if they are wrong. They're not villains because they believe in things, they are villains because they oppose people who call them villains.

It's a brilliant book. I recommend it to everyone. It'll make you think regardless of your beliefs--a rare feat.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Ready Player One is kinda terrible by most standards.

I enjoyed the hell out of it, though. Sometimes it's nice to be pandered to.

I played that D&D module, for one!

 

[Haly]

I enjoyed the hell out of it, though. Sometimes it's nice to be pandered to.

I did too! Despite its problems the fanservice was sublime, I just wish more people recognized its flaws even if they enjoyed the book.

 

[Canuck76]

IT By Stephen King

Best novel i've read so far. I haven't read a ton of heavy literature but that's probably the most personal "impact" a book has had, where i forget I'm holding up a book and my mind is playing the book "movie" in my head. Parts of the book i could almost notice myself holding my breath.

When i finished it i was legit sad too. Philosophically it's not complicated but it does illustrate fear really well and confronting it.

Lord of the flies less so emotionally but reading that book really got me thinking.

 

[Zona]

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. Both covers shown here.

American Paperback cover

 

[Haly]

Small Gods is good but Night Watch is the best Discworld novel.

 

[jaxword]

Small Gods is good but Night Watch is the best Discworld novel.

Night Watch is definitely up there, but Small Gods is far better for a first time reader to the series. Night Watch is NOT new reader friendly, it needs Discworld continuity to be fully enjoyed.

 

[Sobriquet]

House of Leaves, I guess.

 

[BannedEpisode]

The Catcher in The Rye (General)

Its cliche to claim this one but there is a reason why it is so popular. It speaks to youth, especially young men, with very little lost in generational shifts. Most of you have read it so its not worth going into it, if you love it you know why I do.

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Sphere (Sci-Fi)

It has been a long time since I've read this one but it was the only time I've read a book and came away feeling like I'd been partially mindfucked. The entire time you are reading the novel you are wondering if what you are being told is real (to the character) or a hallucination. Really a fun read.

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In The Shadow of Man (Auto-Biography)

Jane Goodall's retelling of her first couple years studying chimpanzees in Africa. It is incredibly interesting and holds a lot of quality first person zoological accounts. It is one of the reasons I decided to study biology.