Favourite books?

**Froge** · 07-28-2012, 05:48 AM

Thought there'd already be a topic on this, but Search function didn't reveal anything.

Anyways who here likes to read? And if so, what are a couple of your favourite books? Perhaps list your top three, and explain why? Is there a particular genre this forum likes as well?

**Bridge** · 07-28-2012, 10:58 AM

Moby-Dick; Very long-winded and often boring book but it is so rewarding if you stick to it. The tension really builds up and creates a quite foreboding atmosphere and Herman Melville is an amazing writer who can really make mundane things seem interesting. The incessant references to obscure historical characters and esoteric use of the English language can be quite frustrating, and the book sometimes loses focus because half of it is an encyclopedia of cetology, which actually is all imperative to understanding the plot because when they finally encounter Moby-Dick references to whaling techniques and whale anatomy are abundant. Technically I should hate it but for some reason I really love it.

**Prelauncher** · 07-28-2012, 05:48 PM

Shantaram, the book is almost bigger than a brick but it is really exciting and interesting.
Metro 2033, quite depressing but it is a great book.
Anything written by Terry Pratchet and the books written by Nick Perumov, loads of great readingmaterial

**Xanatos** · 07-28-2012, 06:20 PM

It's hard for me to pick a single title... but from recent memory I'd say Alamut (Vladimir Bartol) and Dracula (Bram Stoker). Although I do have fond memories of the Deltora Quest series (Emily Rodda) as a child.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx** · 07-29-2012, 11:12 AM

The whole Discworld series by Terry Pratchett - I've read almost all of the 39(?) books and once I'm finished reading them all in german, I'll buy them again in english to find all the jokes that got lost in the translation.

An honorable mention also goes to The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Extremely creative fantasy, not just another copy of middle earth if you know what I mean Wink

**Kreekakon** · 07-29-2012, 11:17 AM

I'm not a massive book person, and I haven't read all that much, so nobody kill me when I say my favorite books are the Harry Potter books.

(07-28-2012, 08:40 AM)Robosprog Wrote: whilst I enjoyed Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit they just weren't as good imo.

I actually tried reading through Lord of the Rings: Return of The King once. It absolutely bored the hell out of me that I couldn't go on after one-thirds.

**Prelauncher** · 07-29-2012, 04:08 PM

(07-29-2012, 11:17 AM)Kreekakon Wrote: I'm not a massive book person, and I haven't read all that much, so nobody kill me when I say my favorite books are the Harry Potter books.
(07-28-2012, 08:40 AM)Robosprog Wrote: whilst I enjoyed Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit they just weren't as good imo.
I actually tried reading through Lord of the Rings: Return of The King once. It absolutely bored the hell out of me that I couldn't go on after one-thirds.

Lord of the Rings are quite a heavy read, but once you get into them they are quite enjoyable. But why did you start with the third and last one. They've cut away a lot of stuff in the movies so one must read the books from the start.

**Kreekakon** · 07-29-2012, 04:44 PM

(07-29-2012, 04:08 PM)Prelauncher Wrote: Lord of the Rings are quite a heavy read, but once you get into them they are quite enjoyable. But why did you start with the third and last one. They've cut away a lot of stuff in the movies so one must read the books from the start.

I borrowed it from the library, and the other ones weren't available at the moment. Maybe I'll try again some other day Smile

**Deep One** · 07-29-2012, 04:49 PM

Metro 2033, Lord of the Rings trilogy + H.P Lovecraft's books, especially Call of Cthulhu, Whisperer in the darkness, Dreams in the witch house and Shadow over innsmouth.

**Joseph Curwen** · 07-29-2012, 07:04 PM

(07-29-2012, 04:49 PM)Deep One Wrote: The Whisperer in darkness, [...]

Seconded. Let me add "At the mountains of madness", "The dream Quest for unknown Kadath", The Shadow out of Time

Further (in no particular order): Flatland (Abbott), A Series of Unfortunate Events (Snicket), Lord of the Flies (Golding), New Atlantis (Bacon), The Hollow Needle/ Further Adventures of Arsene Lupin (Leblanc), The strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson)

In German: Anna Karenina (Tolstoi), Die Verwandlung (Kafka), Die Känguru-Chroniken (Kling), Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher (Moers, I believe an English translation exists)

If you are literate in German, read "Die Känguruh-Chroniken" by Marc-Uwe Kling, its the funniest book I read in the last years.