Favorite books

Talk about your favorite books in this thread. From old time classics to latest releases.

I have a lot of favourites..some classics like The Hobbit..and some more modern novels like Stardust and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I'm also a huge fan of the newer (and still active) saga "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin. it's simply amazing, and very enthralling if you ask me (though a bit dark and gritty..great for those who may like a more realistic feeling fantasy).

One of my all time favorites is Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees..which is a very unique, pre-tolkien fairy-tale of sorts. It's similar in style to Neil Gaiman's Stardust, though certainly unique and different in it's own right. It's a very magical, almost poetic book -- beautifully written. One that I wish I had read as a kid! I wrote a review on it, which is posted here on Librarything, if interested. I definitely suggest it to those who really love the fantasy genre..especially fans of older works..for instance stuff written by Tolkien, Lord Dunsany, William Morris..etc. Also of course, I think Neil Gaiman fans would quite enjoy it.

So yeah..first post in this thread..woo..!

Thanks for the invite by the way.

One of my favorites is the black jewels trilogy (daughter of the blood, heir to the shadows queen of the darkness) by anne bishop.

Another favorite are the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

house corrino the machine crusade house atreides and all other Brian herbert books are among my favorites. Of course dune also an excellent book

I would say my current favorites are
Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint
The Absolute Sandman, by Neil Gaiman
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Bone Series, by Jeff Smith
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin

My Favs are The Chronicles of Narnia, A Magic Kingdom For Sale...Sold!, Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr.

I enjoyed the Eragon series as well.

My favorites are probably....
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Dogsbody, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, volume one, Fire and Hemlock, and Howl's Moving Castle, all by Diana Wynne Jones... you can tell she's one of my favorite authors....
Lirael, by Garth Nix
The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner
Plus a bunch of Tamora Pierce books that I've been reading forever and have kind of become favorites by default.

As you can see, I usually like my fantasy to be pretty light, airy, and enjoyable and thus keep to the YA genre a lot of the time (this could be a side-effect of being a YA myself). I've never really been able to stomach the huge fantasy trilogies and series marketed to adults and while every once in awhile I find myself enjoying that type of thing it's not what I head for in the bookstore unless it's something that's been specifically recommended to me.

Anybody else kind of like this?

Has anyone heard of the Vampire's Assistant?

#9, I've heard of it, because I've browsed past the Cirque du Freak books in the library. Haven't had a chance to read it though. The movie looks all right.

Fantasy based favourites:

lord of the rings
curse of the mistwraith
harry dresden
thomas covenant
magician (but not the sequels in this case)
born to exile
A lot of Pratchett's work, but not all, and I can never choose which 1 would be favourite.
kingmaker
the dark is rising

Which is a huge mix of light humour, YA charm and some serious wordcrafted complex storytelling.

Just depends on what I feel like that day

11Lord of the Rings? Never seen it:)

#5

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin is on my TBR list. I don't know much about it, but do know it's fairly popular. Given my tastes, think I'd like it? I love Neil Gaiman..Tolkien..Patricia Mckillip, George RR Martin..etc.

#13, I too love Gaiman and Tolkien, so I think you would probably enjoy A Wizard of Earthsea, too.

I have not read either of the other two authors you mentioned. What books of theirs would you recommend?

Hmm..well, I've heard from numerous people that Cygnet by Patricia McKillip (which is a duo-logy) is really good. I've yet to read it..but I'm guessing it's true. Secondly, The Book of Atrix Wolfe is in my opinion, very enjoyable, unique, and amazingly written. It quickly became one of my favorites..and I really love the style in which it's written (it's very dream-like). I wrote a review on it which you can see from my profile.

As for George R.R. Martin..I fell in love with his saga "A Song of Ice and Fire" after picking up the first novel in it, "A Game of Thrones." It's a lot darker and far more gritty than say..Gaiman, but completely enthralling. I was totally drawn into all of the books..and I'm eagerly awaiting for the upcoming one..which is taking forever to be finished..A Dance with Dragons

Hope that helps.

Thank you. It might be nice to bite into something gritty, so I will definitely check those out. :)

I should warn you - Martin is brutal to his characters. I don't know if you're a "buy before you try"-girl, but if you are I'd strongly suggest not getting the whole series at once.

Cygnet is really, really pretty, but McKillip's writing style is... unique. I've been reliable informed by several friends who like her work that it isn't the best book to start your McKillip adventure with. The style of those two books is a little atypical, even for her prose. It's very heady and dreamy, almost... impressionistic, maybe. Very, very, very gorgeous, though. ^-^

Uhm... I suppose I ought to list some of my favourites too... ^-^

- Twilight of Avalon is probably a given by now. ^-~

I loved anything Paul Biegel and Thea Beckman when I grew up, but both are Dutch authors and the former's not as good as I remember. (I blame English children's lit. It's of a far higher standard.)

- The Lord of Rushie River I've loved since the very first time I've read it.
- The Last Unicorn

Anything by Roger Zelazny or L. E. Modesitt, Jr. is a favorite, but The Lord of the Rings was one of my first loves. I really like Stephen Brust, too.

(Aargh! I can't get L.E.Modesitt Jr. to show up as a link. http://www.librarything.com/author/jrlemodesitt is the URL for him.)

The funny thing is that I don't consider myself a fantasy fan but I have read a bunch that I genuinely enjoy. I never read Tolkein when I was young but was inspired by the movie. I came out of the theater and went straight to a book store, bought the trilogy and powered straight through it. Once or twice a year I'll have a marathon and watch all three movies (extended versions) back to back. More recently I love Isabel Allende's series that starts with A City of Beasts and the Jonathon Stroud series (Bartimaeus) starting with The Amulet of Samarkand. I used to read Piers Anthony but stopped after I bought a book and realized I had already read it but it had a different title. (I stopped reading Stephen King for the same reason.) Everyone knows Orson Scott Card's Ender series, but his Alvin Maker series is fabulous. I guess when I think about it, I really am a fantasy fan ;-)

As a teenager I think the first fantasy books I sought out for myself (as opposed to reading them in school) were Piers Anthony's Xanth books. At that time he had only written around 7 or so of what would become an immense series of books. I still remember seeing the cover of A Spell for Chameleon at Waldenbooks and just having to have the book. I had a lot of fun reading those books throughout high school.

My more contemporary favorite fantasy stories are the Nightrunner and Tamir Trilogy books by Lynn Flewelling and Wen Spencer's Tinker and Wolf Who Rules.

I also enjoy urban fantasy, but am not sure if we're talking "urban" in this group.

My all time favorite book, fantasy or otherwise, is Little, Big by John Crowley.

Too many to choose any one favorite, but at the present time I am really liking the Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare.

There are so many :) I will always have a soft spot for David Eddings' Belgariad series as its one that got me started on the genre. Rereading them almost feels like meeting up with old friends again.

Lord of Light and the the Pliocene Exile Saga are my favorites. I read them all over and over again and always find more to surprise me. And Marc Remillard is, IMO, the best bad guy ever created.

24: majkia - I have never heard of the Pliocene Exile Saga.

The first book is The Many Coloured Land

#21.. I have Little, Big at the near top of my huge TBR list. I recently purchased it..but I've been wanting to get it for awhile. Looks great.

..I've heard it's similar to Lud-in-the-Mist which is one of my all time favorite books. A lot of people I've talked to who loved Lud-In-The-Mist also loved Little, Big..so if you haven't read it yet..you may want to check it out :)

#23 David Eddings Belgariad series one of my favorite fantasy authors
#22 just finished the Mortal instruments series and enjoyed those

#27 Lud-in-the-Mist is on my TBR.

I hope you'll enjoy it, Littlegeek!

Unfortunately, I find littlegeek to be a reliable guide. Another one for the TBR list . . .

26: majkia - i will check it out

31: jennieg - unfortunately? i would think being reliable is a good thing

>32 spoiledfornothing: The unfortunate aspect is that she keeps enlarging my TBR list.

I know that problem!

In addition to many of those identified above, Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore have become favorites, as have Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

Sorry, jennieg, NOT!!! ;-)

eta: hey, which of my recommendations have you liked?

Same with Shanra (#30). I'm always watching her library..she has the best recommendations (in my opinion) :D. Though of course..it makes my TBR grow and grow.

I need no assistance growing my TBR pile. Yesterday I added Heat Wave by Richard Castle. It qualifies as fantasy, right? After all, it's a mystery written by an imaginary character in a mystery show on TV...

>35 littlegeek: Well, littlegeek, I confess I just keep writing them down. My TBR list (not the actual pile) is well over 200 books and I just keep working my way down it. I figure I'll probably hit my LT recommendations in 18 months or so.

#38 Aha! so you don't even know if you will like the same books as me yet. Then again, someone whose taste is opposite can be a good bellweather, too.

Well we have 17 books in common in our libraries. You like things that interest me. Good enough.

Now I'm curious! Time to browse through littlegeek's collection :)

#36 You just wait until I lead you wrong sometime... ^-~

Warning: my library is representative only. I have way more books and have read lots more.

Dear littlegeek, excuse me I took a peek into your library and noticed Perdido St. Station. have you read Iron Council or Unlundun yet?

I loved The Mortal Instrument Series by Cassandra Clare but my favorite would have to be The Odd Thomas Series by Dean Koontz.

I'm currently reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. If you haven't read this book yet, read it!

Percy Jackson, Tolkien and Lewis both good.

If you like Machine Crusade, you should also read The Butlerian Jihad and The Battle of Corrin - the three of them form a great trilogy! :)

The Sword of Truth, Terry Goodkind
Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
Twilight, Stephenine Meyer
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

All amazing!! :D

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, but I also like The Redwall series, The Chronicles of Narnia series, and The InkHeart trilogy.

I enjoyed most of it, but HATED the ending!