(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Here's something interesting for y'all to think about--there's sort of a "twenty favorite books" thing going around at JournalFen, and I'm having a really hard time with mine, mostly because I just boxed about 80% of my books up so I could have some breathing room. I've already had to separate children's/not-adult books out into a list of their own as it is--I either have too many or I can't think of enough by turns. Here's the problem:

Favorite does not equal best. I'm not talking about which books you think are, objectively, the best. I think Faulkner is one of the all-time great writers. That does not mean I ever want to read one of his books ever, ever again. My definition of "twenty favorite books" is "the books you keep picking up, time and time again, possibly flipping to three or four specific sections worn into the spine by the number of times you've read them." I think that says a hell of a lot more about a person than "top twenty books people agree to be fabulous and I can actually stand."

(In a pinch, you can substitute an author for a number of his books, and specify which ones you like best, so as not to take up too many numbers on your list.)

And then I'm having the problem of a lesser category, "Books I Read Once and Loved, But Haven't Read Since (Wow, I Should Really Go Pick That Up Again)." Because you really, really want to put that book you read once and loved on the list, but should it really knock off a book you read every time you're home sick?

(And what about plays? What about poetry?)

So I may end up compiling a master list of recommendations, as many as I can think of, and not hold it down to twenty. But if you think you can do twenty, I'd be interested to see the list--it might jog my memory. Feel free to leave a list in the comments or link to a journal entry of your own.


P.S. Any steampunk recommendations?

Comments

Steampunk

[hobbitomm.livejournal.com]

For a steampunk novel, you can do worse then 'The Difference Engine', written by William Gibson and *ahem* someone else.

Not steampunk, but deeply victorian in feel, enthralling, and good fun (I love its depiction of Engels) is 'Freedom and Necessity' by Steven Brust and Emma Bull. Tho' I appreciate that it's a love it or hate it book.

Re: Steampunk

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you for jogging my memory about Brust! (like our hostess, most of my books are in boxes, due to a recent move)

Someone Else = Bruce Sterling (though I don't share your opinion of the book).

Oh, and Cleo - Neil Gaiman. Get it, read it, love it.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Cleo-

Congrats on the book gig; as a former publishing industry minion, that ain't an easy thing to accomplish based on something as uncommon as clever writing. Bravo!

As far as "books, chunks of which keep getting re-read to the point they can get recited verbatim," my list probably looks nothing like yours: Stephenson's Snow Crash & Cryptonomicon, Gibson's Neuromancer and the follow-on books in that plot arc (Count Zero & Mona Lisa Overdrive), King's The Stand, Running Man, Rage & The Long Walk... oh, and COSMOS, but that's not really fiction, it's simply brilliant.

In the "read once, should read again (why haven't i?)" department is IT.

As far as steampunk, I can only make a couple of "stay the hell away froms" - most acutely, for The Difference Engine (Sterling & Gibson). I haven't decided to open Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" yet, because I'm afraid they're going to suck so much that they'll taint my enjoyment of his other work.

Howdy. There's some old fiction in my archives, but nothing I'd say warrants a publishing contract, but it'll cleanse the palate. *s*

[kyree.livejournal.com]

Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle" is excellent. And if you've read Cryptonomicon (which is my favourite book ever), there are all sorts of little connections that you feel smart for picking up on.

Other steampunk of note is work by Paul DiFilippo (specificially his Steampunk Trilogy, which is actually three sorta-short stories) and China Mieville, who has already been mentioned.

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

I must admit not knowing what Steampunk means but here a link to my list

http://www.livejournal.com/users/kijikun/319003.html

[fuchsoid.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it really counts as steampunk (or fits comfortably into any one category, really), but I can really recommend Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I do keep hearing Mieville's name come up--I'll have to look into that. :)

[zombiequeen.livejournal.com]

Here are mine:

1. The Black Tulip (Alexandre Dumas)
2. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
3. Bridge of Birds (Barry Hughart)
4. The Call of Cthulhu (H.P. Lovecraft)
5. Danse Macabre (Stephen King)
6. Dracula (Bram Soker)
7. Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine)
8. The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe)
9. Grass (Sherri Tepper)
10. The Haunted Hotel (Willkie Collins)
11. The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson)
12. Illusion (Paula Volsky)
13. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
14. The Monk (Matthew Lewis)
15. Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
16. The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux)
17. Silver Metal Lover (Tanith Lee)
18. On Stranger Tides (Tim Powers)
19. Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein)
20. The Witches (Roald Dahl)

[arayuldaiel.livejournal.com]

*GASP* Wow, someone else who knows what Ella Enchanted is :D

[ex-krazycat651.livejournal.com]

Ah, a post that could've been taken from my brain. There are some books that I read over and over, not because they are really all that good, but because they make laugh, or just happy. Like 'Lucy Sullivan is getting married' or the Bridget Jones books. Read those several times, too.

Does that mean I rate them over books that I've read only once and would never pick up again? Hell no. It's a bit like filmes. Some films are perfect to watch over and over, like 'Clueless'. Others are much better, but you don't want to see them again. Like perhaps 'The Godfather', which was amazing but not something I can imagine putting on on a Sunday when I just want to relax and enjoy myself.

[anna-sinistra.livejournal.com]

Er... only 20? Don't think I could do that.

[silverhill.livejournal.com]

This is driving me insane. I read all the time. I have three bookcases full of books. And now, suddenly, I can't remember what books I've read or own.

Books? Oh, yeah, they're those things I read all the freaking time. Now what the hell are they titled?

So here's twelve (because my brain is broken at the moment):

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
3. The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
4. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye
6. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
7. Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
9. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
10. Song in the Silence (and its two sequels) by Elizabeth Kerner
11. Bellwether by Connie Willis
12. Anne of the Island (and the whole Anne of Green Gables series) by L.M. Montgomery

[kraig.livejournal.com]

I keep a book log: title, author, date started, date completed, to help with just that. :)

I also started a little database to track books and their known whereabouts; at the time, I'd just finished my third move in as many years and I was getting tired of wonderering where book x was.

didn't make it to 20...but.

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

1 the magus by john fowles
2 the cider house rules by john irving
3 infinite jest by david foster wallce (i've worn out a copy in places)
4 a short history of everything by bill bryson
5 random acts of violence by jack womack
6 a clockwork orange by alex burgess
7 solaris by stanislaw lem
8 focault's pendulum by umberto eco
9 the name of the rose by umberto eco
10 good omens by terry pratchett and neil gaiman
11 the crying of lot 49 by thomas pynchon
12 true names by vernor vinge
13 cities of the red night by william s burroughs
14 classics (anthology) by berke breathed
15 angry candy by harlan ellison
16 soul music or reaper man by terry pratchett

the stand (king) and return of the king (tolkien) would have been on there a few years ago, but no longer.

Re: didn't make it to 20...but.

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

The Magus is amazing. It's definitely a process to read it, since it's long and just so full of stuff... i read it 2 or 3 years ago and I'm thinking about picking it up again.

[slammerkinbabe.livejournal.com]

Not really in any particular order, but I love this sort of thing so much:

1.) Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis
2.) Hood, Emma Donoghue (these are my top two and are tied)
3.) Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue
4.) Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
5.) we so seldom look on love, Barbara Gowdy
6.) Lucky in the Corner, Carol Anshaw
7.) Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
8.) All the Names, Jose Saramago
9.) Exposure, Kathryn Harrison
10.) Blue Heaven, Joe Keenan
11.) The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
12.) How All This Started, Pete Fromm
13.) Anything L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables, obviously, but The Blue Castle and A Tangled Web are seriously underread/underrated)
14.) Mystic River, Dennis Lehane
15.) You Are Not a Stranger Here, Adam Haslett
16.) The Whole Story and Other Stories, Ali Smith
17.) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
18.) Bridget Jones' Diary/The Edge of Reason, Helen Fielding (c'mon, you gotta have some cotton candy!)
19.) Harry Potter anything, though esp. The Prisoner of Azkaban
20.) The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis

(Like I said, that's in no particular order, except for the first two.)

[suitcasegnome.livejournal.com]

w00t! "Fingersmith" and Harry Potter.

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

I don't think I can even reach 20. The list is:

Warriors Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Memory Dance, by L. MM. B.
Brothers in Arms, by L. MM. B.
A Civil Campaign, by L. MM. B.

Harry Potters 1 through 5.

Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by D.A.

That's it. I have fond memories of the Narnia series, but haven't read them in years. The ones listed above, are the ones I come back to time and again, when I am in need of a lift. Interesting that I keep coming back to the same authors over and over.

Personally, I would separate out plays and poetry, as they are not novels. Yes, you do end up with a lot of different lists that way, but it can be difficult to pare it down to 20 otherwise.

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

Crap. Forgot:

Good Omens, by TP and NG (read it at least 6x's. How the hell could I forget? It's late. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)
Also, Colour of Magic by TP.

13 so far.

No doubt I will wake up in a cold sweat in a few hours, having remembered at least 12 more books I can't live without. nggh. stupid sieve of a brain.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I *cannot* believe I left Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) off my list on JF. *headdesk*

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

::hearts you:: So P.G. Wodehouse!

[denimjo.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, well, I don't know about "steampunk," but here are a list of my favorites.

1. Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling (5 so far).
2. Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede (4 books).
3. Unicorn Queen Series by various authors (6...can't find them anywhere anymore, but they are being reprinted, and will be in bookstores again beginning in November...yay!)
4. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts, by Douglas Adams (5 books).
5. The Bride Trilogy (Sherbrooke Bride, Hellion Bride, Heiress Bride) by Catherine Coulter, and ONLY those three. They are romance novels, but they're quite well-written, in my opinion.
6. Uncle John's Bathroom Readers (ANY book...countless editions). It's more of an information-type book, but they're all quite entertaining.

You may notice that all of my favorites are part of series'. I feel no shame for that. I just really like those books.

(I feel so unintellectual, compared to the books that everyone else here reads...*sniff*)

[arayuldaiel.livejournal.com]

The Enchanted Forest! AWESOME! *cough* Sorry, Mendenbar fangirl here :D

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Heh -- why is it you always forget everything you've ever read once you sit down and try to compile a list of your favorites? *sigh*

These are in no particular order. If I had to put them in any particular order, I think my head would explode.

1. Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights (yes, really)
2. Bram Stoker, Dracula
3. Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer
4. William Shakespeare, Othello
5. William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
6. The entire Anne of Green Gables series
7. Matthew Lewis, The Monk
8. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
9. Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones' Diary
10. Kelley Armstrong, Bitten
11. John Fowles, The Collector
12. Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs
13. Thomas Harris, Hannibal
14. Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting
15. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
16. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
17. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel
18. Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
19. James Hogg, Confessions of a Justified Sinner
20. Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

I've just got my list together, but I'm still going through the journalfen entries, to see if I've forgotten any. I've used a somewhat different criteria- that is, not my favourite books to read, per se, but the top 20 books that have had an effect on my life and way of thinking.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
3. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
4. The Search for Delicious, Natalie Babbitt
5. All Things Wise and Wonderful, James Herriot
6. The Crucible, Arthur Miller
7. Maurice, E.M. Forster
8. Silence, Shusako Endo
9. Double Yoke, Bucchi Emecheta
10. The Unicorn in The Garden, James Thurber
11. The Pearl, John Steinbeck
12. The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling
13. The October Country, Ray Bradbury
14. The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Koningsberg
15. Our Hearts Fell to the Ground: A Plains Indian View of How the West was Lost, Collin Falloway
16. The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis
17. Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behaviour, Judith Martin
19. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred D. Taylor
20. White Fang, Jack London

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I forgot this one. Scratch "The Pearl" and add in, "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden.

Books

[(Anonymous)]

Hmm...Seems to me that a book, like a machine, can fail in lots of different ways, from the purely mechanical (machine broken, author illiterate) to the user interface (can't find the controls, stylistically impenetrable) to the cultural (nobody wants one, subject uninteresting). I would say that Faulkner failed, because many people don't want to read his books. Of course a machine with one part broken might partially function. You can still learn things from Faulkner, including what not to do.

Fav books list
------------
1. Nearly anything by Elizabeth Peters. Mystery/romantic suspense for the most part. Many set in Victorian age or slightly later.

2. Mind-Call, Wilanne Belden (SF w/ a strong female protagonist. A group of gifted teens with ESP meet at a rich pervert's house after an earthquake and do mental battle with him. Very psychological. It's good, rilly!)

3. So You Want To Be a Wizard, Diane Duane. (and sequels)

4. The Stolen Lake, Joan Aiken. Another one w/ a strong female protagonist. Dido Twite lives in an alternate 19th century. She's trying to get back home to London, when her ship receives an urgent request from the queen of New Cumbria, in South America, demanding aid. The queen is Ginefra, and she needs some help getting back her husband Atahualpa (=King Arthur), who has been resting for the past millennium. She keeps alive by eating a white porridge made from ground bones of the female children of New Cumbria.

Re: Books

[(Anonymous)]

That was me, BTW. --Andy Perrin

Fantasy/Science Fiction

[swirlingchaos.livejournal.com]

these are all fantasy/sci-fi because that's what i read, are in no particular order, but are definitely "pick up over and over again" books.

1. Ender's Game (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812550706/qid=1092005861/sr=8-7/ref=pd_ka_7/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), by Orson Scott Card. Best Sci Fi Book EVER.

2. Seventh Son (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812533054/qid=1092005923/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6084305-8848046), by Orson Scott Card. This is a good alternate historical fiction series, set back when america was still young.

3. Aliens vs Predator:Prey (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553565559/qid=1092005971/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books), by Steve & Stephani Perry. Cheesy title, but its really exciting, and the varying points of view are quite interesting. A quick but fun read; really pulls you in.

4. Once A Hero, (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671878719/qid=1092006034/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books) by Elizabeth Moon. And the rest of the series too. Excellent female protagonist far-future sci fi.

5. Snowbrother (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671721194/ref=pd_sim_books_3/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books), by S.M. Stirling. and the rest of the Fifth Millenium Series, which is unfortunately out of print and quite rare. These are good enough that I was willing to (and did!) pay over $50 USD for the final used paperback book in the series, after a five year quest through used book sites and stores, and i considered it worth it.

6. Legend, (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345379063/qid=1092006312/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books) by David Gemmel, and anything else the man has touched. A master of depth within brevity, specializing in the best tragic battle scenes ever written, IMO

7. Eye of the World, (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312850093/qid=1092006943/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6084305-8848046) by Robert Jordan. The godfather of modern fantasy, this series is long, intricate, and sucks you in like little else will. If only the man would finish the bloody series (now at over 10 books at 700-1000 pages each) fantasy fans could die happy.

8. Magician: Apprentice & Magician: Master (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553564943/qid=1092007681/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/002-6084305-8848046), by Raymond E. Feist. The Riftwar series is excellent.

9. Assassin's Apprentice (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/055357339X/qid=1092007850/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/002-6084305-8848046), by Robin Hobb. Another great read

10. The Blue Sword (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441068804/qid=1092008264/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books) and The Hero And The Crown (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441328091/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books&st=*), by Robin McKinley. Awesome fantasy. I have had to buy second copies to replace the worn ones (and i take good care of my books)

11. Transformation (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451457951/qid=1092008830/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/002-6084305-8848046), by Carol Berg. A totally different storyline that keeps you enthralled. The whole series is excellent.

12. Kushiel's Dart (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0765342987/qid=1092009009/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6084305-8848046), by Jacqueline Carey. Sexy and politically intricate this is unique, devious, and ofttimes sensual read.

13. Heroes Die (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345421450/qid=1092009220/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6084305-8848046?v=glance&s=books), by Matthew Woodring Stover. filled with excellent fight scenes, this is a unique 2-part series that combines fantasy and science fiction is a way that has never been done before.

There's more, but i dont actually have my bookshelf handy, so thats all i can think of off the top of my head. Enjoy!

Re: Fantasy/Science Fiction

[etcet.livejournal.com]

thank you for reminding me about Ender [jeez, i get senile on weekends]; my only caveat being that the follow-on stories, with the possible exception of "ender's shadow," were, to me, awful, horrible, "give me those hours of my life back you bastard" experiences to read.

if i ever meet OSC in person, i'm going to give him a wedgie for making me dream in portuguese for a week after plowing through xenocide, et alia, in hopes they'd be as good as E'sG. *sigh*

A dozen

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Will post on why I picked these over in my own blog, rather than take up space here.

Anon., The Thousand Nights And One Night (the J.C. Mardrus/Powys Mathers translation).
Byron, collected works esp. Don Juan.
Phil Foglio, collected works esp. XXXenophile. No, seriously :-)
Neil Gaiman, collected works. Hard to pick one, but I'll go with Dream Hunters.
Mary Gentle, Grunts.
Joanot Martorell & Marti Joan de Galba, Tirant lo Blanc.
Andre Maurois, Byron.
Kim Newman, collected works esp. Life's Lottery.
Antoine de Saint-Exuperie, The Little Prince.
Oscar Wilde, collected works esp.The Fisherman and his Soul. Ballad of Reading Gaol is also good.

And a couple of non-fiction:

Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority.
Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

Re: A dozen

[discogravy.livejournal.com]

Byron, collected works esp. Don Juan.

the fact that he wrote it so that it's pronounced joo-an and not hwan irritates me more than I can possibly describe without descending into just seething obscenities.

and that's one of the reasons I got into Blake instead of Byron.

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

First half: fiction. Second half: non-fiction

1) We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
2) Still Life with Woodpecker, Tom Robbins
3) The World According to Garp, John Irving
4) Shield of Three Lions, Pamela Kaufman
5) She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb
6) The Anything Box, Zenna Henderson
7) This Perfect Day, Ira Levin. Anything by Ira Levin, really. He's like the perfect literary snack. Goes with any mood. He's munchable.
8) Swordpoint, Ellen Kushner
9) Half-Magic, Edward Eager.
10) Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis
11) The Pessimist's Guide to History, Stuart Flexner
12) Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody, Charles Panati
13) Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
14) Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
15) Anything in the Gies' Life in Medieval Times series.
16) An Underground Education, Richard Zacks
17) Nickeled and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
18) The Simpsons and Philosophy, (essays by multiple authors; can't remember the editors off the top of my head)
19) Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson, Judy Oppenheimer
20) Dead Men Do Tell Tales, William R. Maples Ph.D. and Michael Browning

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody, Charles Panati

I wish I could find my copy of that. It was a *wonderful* book.

[theonlykow.livejournal.com]

I don't have the time to list twenty but here's a few:

Cory Doctorow - Dow and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Max Barry - Jennifer Government
Ruth Ozeki - My Year of Meats
Megan Mcafferty - Sloppy First / Second Helpings
Banana Yoshimoto - Goodnight Tsugumi
(something) Kuriyama - Dammit, I just forgot the name of the book. Crap. Something. Well, everything by him, but his collection of short stories is the best.

[state-champion.livejournal.com]

Megan Mcafferty - Sloppy First / Second Helpings

Definitely would have to have those two on my top list.

[di0nne.livejournal.com]

Trying to watch a thunderstorm, do some work and drink some tea whilst writing this - so this may not be my definitive list!!

1. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
2. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
3. Awakenings - or anything by Oliver Sacks
4. The Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester
5. The Tales of the City series - Armistead Maupin
6. Dracula - Bram Stoker
7. A Passage to India - EM Forster
8. Orlando - Virginia Woolf
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
10. The Bell - Iris Murdoch
11. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
12. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
13. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
14. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
15. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
16. Charlotte's Web - EB White
17. Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
18. Swedish Folk Tales - John Bauer
19. Pippi Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren
20. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

Writing this makes me want to pick up most of these books again. Though it would prove difficult as I'm already trying to read 3 books at the moment! And I wonder why it takes me an age to finish anything...LOL!

Hope the writing is coming along well cleo, can't tell you how excited I am about you getting published.

[boroca.livejournal.com]

I'll get straight to the point
1) The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
2) The Wood Wife - Terri Windling
3) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
4) Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
5) The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory
6) The Queens Fool - Philippa Gregory
7) Music and Silence - Rose Tremain
8) Gateway to Women's Country - Sherri S Tepper
9) Cloudstreet - Tim Winton
10) Dirt Music - Tim Winton
11) I Heard the Owl Call my Name - Margaret Craven
12) Tomorrow When the War Began Series - John Marsden
13) The Eye of the World Series - Robert Jordan (if only he would hurry up and finish the series)
14) Thomas Covenant Chronicles - Stephen R Donaldson
15) Tigana - Raymond E Fiest
16) Books of the Keltiad - Patricia Kennealy-Morrison
17) The Wanderers Trilogy - Caiseal Mor
18) The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
19) Sevenwaters Trilogy - Juiet Marillier
20) Daughter of the Empire Trilogy - Raymond E Fiest and Janny Wurts

Some of these are just ones I vividly remember because of when I was reading them, others I have reread a thousand times...

[milque-smooth.livejournal.com]

It actually wasn't that hard to come up with a favorites list. But in keeping with the 'great novels' theme, I dumped a few and replaced them with books I believe will hold up more thru the test of time and are still high up on reading enjoyment. So here's my list:

1) The Lord of the Rings
2) The Dark Tower Series
3) The Stand
4) The Hobbit
5) Swan Song (Rbt. McCammon)
6) The Crucible
7) MacBeth
8) Romeo & Juliet
9) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
10) anything written by Phillip Dick
11) Plato's Republic
12) all the Greek and Roman mythologies
13) the first Batman comicbook
14) 1984
15) The Scarlett Letter
16) Dune
17) Alice in Wonderland
18) Bridget Jones Diary
19) the Harry Potter series
20) A Tale of Two Cities

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head -

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
The Anne of Green Gables Series - LM Montgomery
The Little House on the Prairie series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Harry Potter - JK Rowling
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
The White Hotel - D. H. Thomas
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
Christy - Catherine Marshall
Summer Sisters - Judy Blume
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitsgerald


Those really are books I will pick up and read anytime. And the so-called classics on my list are good enough and short enough to be really enjoyable - I feel like they're actually light reading. I can't read Jane Austen a lot - I have to be in the right mood. Same with Tolkein.

I, too, really like William Faulkner. However, I've read As I Lay Dying twice. I've read Sound and the Fury and Light in August once each. He also wrote my favorite short story - A Rose For Emily - which I've read at least 3 or 4 times.

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

... and She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

[http://users.livejournal.com/caeru_/]

Whee! Lists! *geeks out*
In no particular order, and I'm probably forgetting some:

1) The Harry Potter books - J.K. Rowling
2) Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
3) We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
4) The Narnia books - C.S. Lewis
5) The Sonnets - Shakespeare
6) Wraeththu - Storm Constantine
7) The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
8) Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
9) Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
10) The Secret History - Donna Tartt
11) Bridget Jones' Diary & The Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding
12) Outlander series - Diana Gabaldon
13) The Alexander Trilogy - Mary Renault
14) The Witching Hour - Anne Rice
15) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
16) The Portrait of Mr. W.H. - Oscar Wilde
17) Sarah - J.T. Leroy
18) Wormwood - Poppy Z. Brite
19) The Brothers Lionheart - Astrid Lindgren
20) Pretty much the whole Discworld series - Terry Pratchett