Yet another Favorite Book thread.

The title is pretty much self-explanatory. Post your favorite book(s) and why it's/they're your favorite(s).

Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
I loved this book. It is a healthy mix of strategy, philosophy, and history. The characters are incredible from the great strategist Sima Yi to the self-sacrificing warrior Dian Wei.

The best part of this book is that it is all true, although there are a few things here and there that are exaggerated.

Battle Royale.
A future where the country of Japan is kept in order by its government by horrible events in which a class of ninth graders is randomly chosen to participate in a bloody game where they must kill one another for their lives.

It is an amazing book in my opinion. The characters are incredibly believable, the plot is rather good, and it has been made into numerous adaptations.

The character who is a cold killer who mercilessly kills as many of the children as he can, I always forget his name, was incredibly freaky in the fact that he was just as young as the others.

The manga and movie adaptations of the novel were superb, although the movie sequel "Battle Royale 2" didn't exactly live up to the original.

Eragon, Eldest, Empire.
This series of books are my favorite fantasy novels. The plot and characters are great, and it goes into such detail that you can easily imagine yourself in the place of the main character(s).

I can't wait for the third one, which is likely to be titled Empire. The ending of the second one was a completely unexpected shocker to some people, a terrible cliche to others. I thought it was a pretty good book besides the cliche ending of the second installment.

Beyond the Summerland- This book is great if you can ignore the religious drivel. It's got a wonderful plot, action, romance. Etc.... It's just great.

Kitty and the Midnight Hour- You just can't beat this book! It rocks! Werewolves, vampires, and talk radio.

Dune- And anything related to it! This is the ultimate in Sci-fi aweseomeness, and contrubited a lot to my BA character Oreit.

EDIT:

I have another more to add here!

Dragonsbane- this is a great book, completely bashed fairy tales in favor of realism.

I don't read much, for multiple reasons, but there are books I deeply enjoy.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Restaurant at the end of the Universe
Life, the Universe, and Everything

All three of the Hitchhiker's trilogy, are excellent, hilarious, British-humor, extremely intellegent, philosophical sci-fi must-reads. Amazing books that I can't express my love for aptly. Definately my favorite books. All by Douglas Adams.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

The Dirk Gently books, also by Douglas Adams, are nearly equally as excellent as the Hitchhikers books. Again, must-reads.

The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass

All wonderful reads. Excellent fantasy adventures, extraordinarily imaginative and pretty deep in the philosophical sense. Very good fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman. (Can't wait to see what they do with the movie versions).

Wayside School

Not that I'd read these books ever again, but they are hilarious children's books that can be enjoyed by small children and adults alike. They introduced me to humor books and each story is memorable and smart. I still love 'em.

There are more I love, but these are the first that came to mind. There are few books I plan to get my hands on if I can, but I never seem to get around to reading much.

Series of Unfortunate Events series -- I just really like the detail and suspense!

Coraline -- Mild in creepyness, good suspense = good book

Thief Lord -- My favorite of all books

Hitchhiker's trilogy, Harry Potter series, Ender's Game/Shadow, I am the Cheese, Good Omens, The Hobbit... I don't know. I read comics way more often than I read novels. I guess if I had to choose an all-time favorite book, it'd be Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card is a great writer... usually. Speaker for the Dead was terrible, but Ultimate Iron Man was good.

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan, in the Wheel of Time series. I love the series overall, and this is the fourth one. It's very fast-paced and intriguing right from the first page. I wish the later books in the series were also this way.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien, naturally. Classic high fantasy, and very rich. I need to read all of them again, actually. It's been too long.

The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern. It's as funny as the movie, and at parts funnier, though the guy who abridges it tends to break up the narrative with his own biography. If you skip that, though, it's a wonderful book.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. It's interesting and quite different at times from the show and movie. It's not overly long, and it's great to go back and read after you've seen the movie first. Almost like watching deleted scenes.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I loved this book. I read it abridged first, and then read the unabridged. I really prefer the latter. This sounds cheesy, but it really does "capture my imagination" in that I'm immersed in the setting, and it's one of those that makes you want to learn French and Italian. Well, maybe that's just me.

Anything by Ted Dekker. People call him a Christian writer, but really, he's a Christian who writes, and there's a difference. None of it feels preachy to me. He writes fantasy, thrillers, suspense, Sci-fi. He's a genius.

The list goes on and on - I'm never without a book or six.

The Harry Potter Septology. A phrase coined by a hints book I read, the Septology being 7 books, if you couldn't figure that out. Even though the 7th book isn't out yet, this will be one of my favorites. The way Rowling is able to foreshadow subtly in the books is amazing. If I had to pick my favorite book, it would be Prisoner of Azkaban, no clue why.

I don't read as much as would like...

My Side of the Mountain- Dunno why. I just read it once and for some reason loved it.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - by J.R.R. Tolkien
Fantastic books, loads of detail, suspense and action.

The Harry Potter Books- by J.K. Rowling
Really makes you think that there is a world of magic concealed behind Platform nine and three-quarters. There's so much detail and suspense in these books, I don't think I've ever met anyone who hasn't loved these books.


The Wee Free Men - By Terry Pratchett
Easily one of the funniest books I've ever read (and that's really high praise from me - I read loads), loads of humour, adventure and a bit of scariness inside. Wicked book.

White Fang- by Jack London
This is such a beautiful book. I was gobsmacked at the way London made you feel like you were White Fang, truly outstanding. It was like he was a wolf-dog hybrid himself. A truly extraordinary story.

The His Dark Materials Trilogy- by Philip Pullman
What can I say, I just loved this series of books.

The Da Vinci Code- by Dan Brown
Wow. The only word I can think of to describe this book. There were so so many twists and turns in the story, I really couldn't figure out what was coming next. I loved this book and I can't wait to see how the movie turns out.

And last but not least....
The Count of Monte Christo- by Alexandre Dumas
This took me a while to get through, because we've got a really old copy with tiny print, but when I finally did finish it, I was gutted. I didn't want it to end! I loved it! It was just a fantastic story! I really recommend it.

One cannot find a better piece of literature than Sallinger's Catcher in the Rye. The imagry, the foul mouthed protagonist... wonderful. A classic upon publishing.

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
My absolute favourite book. Ever.
I adore the twisted, unrequited love between Cathy and the wild Heathcliff - I absolutly adore Magical realism, and the whole obsession with seeing Cathy's ghost near the end of Heathcliff's life was sweet, and the way he died with a smile, after comminting suicide was really daunting!


Pygmalion - George Bernerd Shaw
Who can't love 'My Fair Lady'?
It's a beautiful, unconventional romance between dirty commoner girl and nasty, wealth Proffesor, and how she, in the end, becomes so elevated in status that she eventually looses her purpose in life.
A great comedy to read, and is equalled only in comedic genius by the movie/musical itself!

1984: The negative utopia. Orwell creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing. From the first sentence to the last four words, you will be hooked. The book is simply amazing. I recommend it for everyone, even those who are into romance novels, as this has a little bit of romance. Just read it.

Originally Posted by Comrade

1984: The negative utopia.

That's interesting that you should mention that concept; I discovered utopia's antonym several weeks ago: dystopia. It's interesting to note how precisely its definition describes the state of the novel's setting, at least, as far as I remember from my own perusal.

Anyhow...

Deerskin has just now entered into the ranks of my favourite novels. It's a marvelous retelling of a fairy tale of the same name, most engrossing, and above all, beautifully written.

Secret Sacrament is another wonderful work of fantasy, regarding a kind of fall from riches to rags through enlightenment, a recognition of corruption, and sacrifice. It's interesting to note it contains a "destiny" that is not fulfilled in the conventional sense.

Daughter of the Forest is another retelling of a fairy tale, and a retelling of one of my favourite fairy tales, no less! It's a rendition wherein the seven brothers of a princess are transformed into swans by their stepmother, and the sister must weave seven nettle shirts for them. The heroine's suffering and dedication is imparted with breathtaking clarity to the reader.

The fact The Perilious Gard is also a retelling of something should not shock you by now. I seem to have an affinity for such works. The Perilous Gard retells the legend of Tam Lin in brilliant detail, and the ending is awe-inspiring...

The Oaken Throne: Since reading this, I can no longer doubt the power of a powerful ending. One tends to exaggerate the story and the general brilliance of its author afterwards. I may be guilty of this, but hardly mind: The Oaken Throne is truly a good story. The characters are engaging, the plot gripping, the ending ineffable. I sound syrupy, don't I? Really, the ending was brilliant...

The House of Mirth: Another brilliant piece of literature. It concerns the circumstances of a young woman who lives off the wealth of "friends" in the setting of Old New York. Despite her ingenuity, she is dragged to misery. It's a moving work, and one I really recommend.

Warriors Series One: Books 1-6
Warriors Series Two: All that are currently available
Harry Potter series
And that's all. These are the books that I read, over a over again.

Originally Posted by Comrade

1984: The negative utopia. Orwell creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing. From the first sentence to the last four words, you will be hooked. The book is simply amazing. I recommend it for everyone, even those who are into romance novels, as this has a little bit of romance. Just read it.

Ah! Good ol' George Orwell!
I can't say I read much of 1984, but I loved his contempory book, also based on similar topics; Animal Farm.
I thought the idea of talking pigs was funny, but the irony and sheer poignancy is incredably striking - coupled with the manifestation of Communism, acted via Napolean as a parody of Stalin, the books' tragic and unconventional ending made it a fantastic read, though maybe a little on the short side.

1984
That book scared the living **** out of me. I couldn't stop reading it. The way that Orw