What is your favorite book and author?
I have to pick only ONE?! Impossible.
PC Hodgell is one of my favorite "unknown" authors. Her Kencyrath series is absolutely hysterical
Favorite author is Edgar Allen Poe, favorite book is portrait of Dorian gray
God is Not Great: how religion poisons everything - Christopher HItchens.
@Adorkable I liked the God is Not Great better than the God Delusion. Hitchens is so snarky and funny in places, and has such a way with words. Get it as an audio book. It's one of the few cases where the audio book is a better experience than reading it yourself - Hitchens does the reading. I just love his voice!
It's on my phone and I listen to it in the car.
There are way too many, and it changes all the time.
Me too. I can never answer one of these without listing at least half a dozen.
If I had to choose just one, probably "The Persian Boy" by Mary Renault
Other Faviorites
Shogun by James Clavell
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear
As a great lighthearted fantasy series, I'd recommend Terry Pratchett's Disc world series. I took pains to read them in order, but I am told that is not needed. I think it does help to keep characters straight though and for thos eof us who are detail oriented, to read them in order (timeline order, not order written) improves the readign experience.
Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal. How Arabs, Jews and Christians coexixted for over 5 centuries in Spain.
Anything written by Robert A. Heinlein, and most of the John Scalzi books.
Also, indie author Misha Burnett's Catskinner novel series.
@Adorkable His most famous, popular work is Stranger in a Strange Land, which I'm currently rereading for the umpteenth time, and which is credited for the 1960s-70s free love era. I had a "Heinlein" attack a few days ago and have been reading one Heinlein book after another..Between Planets, Farmer in the Sky, Tunnel in the Sky, etc.
My favorite Jon Scalzi books are the Old Man's War series, but they're all good. I bought all those books again on Kindle after I moved to Thailand
I grew up on Heinlein"s juvenile stories; Have Space, Will Travel, Podkayne Of Mars, The Rolling Stones and others I can't recall the titles of. My favorite though is, "Space Orphans", which was a melding of 2 novelettes, it is the plot of "Generation Ships" that I like because of the study of people trapped in a society that falters.
@Adorkable Scalzi can write about some really odd characters, I love it. My favorite by him is "Red Shirts" and the "Old Man's War series" is top-notch.
I read a lot. About 4 years ago I read a book I cannot forget. The imagery. The story. DONT SLEEP THERE ARE SNAKES! it is a memoir written by a linguist. His wife's church paid him and his wife &2 children to go live deep in the Amazon Jungle. The linguist was hired to figure out the language of an indigenous Amazonian tribe, never before translated into any other language. Why would a church do that? So the (heathens) could get a Bible they could read. So their poor souls could be saved. (Those are my words, not the author's. He was scientific.) Well, the memoir about the isolated tribe, their culture, I found fascinating, and has stuck with me like few books have. Can you imagine a language with no words that compare? No such thing as bigger, smaller. Faster, slower, etc. No number bigger than 3. They rarely caught more than 3 fish at a time so it stopped there. The writer's wife and daughter narrowly escaped dying from malaria. The people lived in thatched huts. They would cut open a whole in their roof to look at the stars. Or close it back up again. Adults took turns at night being on the lookout for critters, especially poisonous snakes. The people knew nothing about any divinity. They were not interested, couldn't conceptualize one. They had their mores. If anyone broke any of their norms, that person was sent out of the village into the jungle, ostracized to fend for himself. Children saw everything adults did. See what I mean about vivid images?
After reading this, I have to find this book. Thank you!
Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal. How Arabs, Jews and Christians coexixted for over 5 centuries in Spain.
Classics: Thomas Hardy "Far from the Madding Crowd" and "the Mayor of Casterbridge" , "Howard's End" E.M. Forster, Jane Austin "Pride & Prejudice", - Also, "the Time Traveller's Wife" , "The Girl on the Train", "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norel", "Gone Girl", "The Golem and the Jinni", "Clan of the Cave Bear" and "The Mammoth Hunters" Jean Aul, "Born a Crime" Trevor Noah.
Terry Pratchett -everyhting he wrote.
Jim Butcher - everything he wrote
There is a goo six dozen books for you to try.
Favorite book: The Shining. Favorite author: Stephen King.
@mudhen I would disagree. He has written several true masterpieces. "The Stand" comes to mind, or "It",
This is an impossible question to answer. I have so many 'favorite' books. And authors. But if I had to choose only ONE author, it would be Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. I've been reading her books longer than anyone else. Nearly 30 years.
I'm surprised you know her, @Adorkable. Most people have never heard of CQY. I blame Anne Rice. LOL