Books

oriecat · Oct 19, 2003

Books books books... packing my books, I realized I have too many books, except that it's not possible to have too many books...

What are your favorite books?

I have the first 6 books of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, and I thought that I just loved it (even tho the last couple books aren't as good as the first one, as always seems to happen in series') but that was until I read George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. OMG I love these books like nothing ever before. Knowing how enthralled I get with them, I reread them specifically to keep my mind off of things a couple months ago when my bf moved out and I needed serious diversion.

My most beloved books are my retrospectives of Monet and Keith Haring. They have the honored positions under the coffee table.

I also love my collection of vegetarian cookbooks, even tho I never use them. But isn't that the beauty of having lots of books?

Tell me about your books.

carlita · Oct 19, 2003

my favorite book is the alienist by caleb carr. fantastic read.

totally my kind of story.

the most recent book i read (okay so i didn't actually read it, but i listened to it on CDs on a 24 hour car ride from PA to TX) was the lovely bones by alice sebold. also very interesting.

i have a habit of starting books and not finishing them so i have to start reading them from the beginning again so i don't get confused. and i read INCREDIBLY slow so that really brings me down. i've read the first four books in the alex cross series by james patterson (along came a spider, kiss the girls, jack and jill, and cat and mouse) but i've been trying for the past 3 years to finish reading the fifth one which is called pop goes the weasal. and there are two more after that in the series as well. i hate that i've fallen behind. :? i also started reading farenheit 451 a while ago but never finished it.

i've got some photography books about alternative stuff and whatnot. those come in handy now and then.

i also have some strange stuff. well, strange to most people, but just interesting to me. there's one called death scenes: a homicide detective's scrapbook which is full of pictures of dead people from crime scenes and whatnot. i also have another book that i tend to read at places like the airport where i want to discourage people from bothering me. :wink:

it's called the A to Z encyclopedia of serial killers. totally kisk ass book! then there's still at large: a casebook of 20th century serial killers. it's full of cases about serial killers that have never been caught. tons and tons of them. kind of scary!

currently i'm trying to read candide by voltaire. haven't cracked it open yet though.

Geronimo · Oct 19, 2003

I have way to many books. I need to donate or go to a used book store for them. My favorite series is W.E.B. Griffen books. All three of them.

But i read all sorts of book. Ranging from The General Theory of Relativity by Einstein, The history of english speaking people by Churchhill to poety, and the classics i.i War and Peace, Crime and Punishment. Comic books sneak into my rotation from time to time.

I usually have 4 books that I read at a time.

terri · Oct 19, 2003

I love all my books.... glad I read as much as I did when I did, since it's getting so hard to find time lately.... :?

A glance at the bookcase to my right reveals: science fiction....Parker's Wine Buying Guide...box set of The Hobbit & LOTR....Edgar All Poe...bunch of wine rags the hubby decided to keep all jammed in there....some Larry McMurtry, Ayn Rand, Chaim Potok, Madeline L'Engle... and oh, look - there's my damn copy of Bulfinch's Mythology, hooray! Thought I'd lost it... and How to Recognize Horse Health Problems, though I no longer have a horse.... And Women In Love, thought that was long gone.... and next to the wine rags is some old Time-Warner box set of artist biographies, van Gogh, Rembrandt...some more.

wowie zowie, that was fun! :heart: My big old bookcase....there's another one in the other room, but I'll spare you. I know I have some plays in that one, Shakespeare sets and fiction and Vonnegut. And yes, many cookbooks in the kitchen, faves are the Italian cooking and Joy of Cooking.

More upstairs in closets, too, come to think of it....and like Carli, some photography books, alternative process books.... a ton!! I wouldn't want to have to pack them all, either, Orie!!!

MDowdey · Oct 19, 2003

Robert Jordan's WHEEL OF TIME series, A brief History of Time, and The cat in the hat.

boom!

md

wolfepakt · Oct 20, 2003

Well, 1st and formost would be the Bible,

as for pleasure reading, if it has two covers and words, i'll try it.

The Left Behind series by LaHaye and Jenkins is great.
Anything by Frank Peretti. (more Christian fiction) especially the darkness series (does two books count as a series?) and The Oath

Read the first 8 or 9 in Jordan's WOT series and then it got boring.....too many twists, he started making mistakes and confusing even himself.

Read alot of Koontz, liked some especially Intensity

Anne Rice's Vampire series was good, but Memnoch was too wierd and I haven't read her since.

Non-fiction I like books on science. Especially on both sides of the creation evolution debate. My favorite author on that one is Hugh Ross, but I have read books by Darwin, Michael Behe, Richard Dawkins and more.

I could go on and on..............(oh I already have

)

manda · Oct 20, 2003

to kill a mockingbird..the power of one...patriot games..the client..lord of the flies..angelas ashes..high fidelity...lotr...pride and prejudice/emma/mansfield park...looking for alibrandi(i read it LONG before it was on the HSC list hehe)..ah this list will go on forever, i cant answer that one.

i adore shakespeare and have all his collected works, plus most of my favourite plays in various individual copies, and the sonnets in various copies(one which was bought for me at Stratford Upon Avon which I adore)...
oscar wilde was a genius and i have a large collection of his work
james joyce..im still reading Ulysses and i shall never finish it im sure

im a lover of poetry so i have books and books of poetry..yeats, nietzsche, dylan thomas, sylvia plath, maya angelou, my list goes on adn on.

have a big play collection..the crucible i could read over and over, streetcar, glass menagerie just to name a couple.

books on music, photography, creativity and writing(Sark is the best!), art (Mindy sent me a very cool Keith Haring book), sport, travel!

captain-spanky · Oct 20, 2003

...any of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett.
I've you've got a good imagination the discworld is one of the most amazing places to visit....

(Reaper Man is my fave.. followed by Mort)

Not Neve · Oct 21, 2003

I only treat myself to buying books when I need a book for the plane. Otherwise, I check them out from the library and then occasionally buy it after I know I like it. Anyway, a few of my favorites are Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. I used to read much more when I took the bus to work.

drlynn · Oct 22, 2003

The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett (probably the funniest sci-fi/fantasy satire series of all time), and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.

Also, Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit series (maybe my all-time favorite) and the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

Let's see, Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson (maybe the best book on the photographic triangle I've ever read), various coin collecting works, particularly on Morgan Dollars, Popular Photography and Imaging, the Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman, any Robert Ludlum spy novel, and the Bernie Rhodenbarr series from Lawrence Block.

I could go on, but I'll stop now. :lol:

edit: Spanky, Guards, Guards is probably my favorite Discworld novel. I still can't think about the guards standing on the roof trying to make that shot exactly a million to one without laughing till I cry!

ksmattfish · Oct 23, 2003

My favorite book of all time is "The Reefs of Earth" by R.A. Lafferty; first read it when I was 12 or 13. I've read it many time since.

My second favorite book of all time is "Grendel" by John Gardener. Also read for the first time at about the same time. It is the Beowulf legend told from the monster's point of view.

Of course, before bed, and at mealtimes, I always read a few passages from "The Camera", "The Negative", and "The Print".

Tyjax · Oct 23, 2003

Oh my, someone didnt go and start a book thread did they... har. Well, here goes.

My personal library consists of 3500 volumes at last count. All of which I have read. I will not enumerate. I will list the books I am currently reading.

4 Loves. C.S. Lewis. <-- Read this if you want to understand human realtions.

The Print, The Camera, The Colour Time LIfe <-- Not A. Adams works.

The World of Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse. <--for the 50th time. Any Wodehouse any time.

The Bonesetters Daughter, Amy Tan <--- In touch with feminine side.

A Greek Intermediate Primer <--- Must... keep.... skills...

The Illyiad, hmmm cant remember author. <-- 17th time. Slower this time.

Scientific American Current issue. <- not a book but you try to understand this issue. STRING THERORY! PLLLLLPh!

Ok I will stop.
You get the idea. Reading is what I do most and have loved since I was 4. Sigh, its time for another visit to the HalfPrice book store.

J

havoc · Oct 23, 2003

I love the Harry Potter series

I also loved the Ann Rice Vampire cronicles, (Wolfpak i understand why you didn't like Memnoch) But i loved it, really is one of her best works.
The rest of the series deals with other vampires lives mostly, Lestat plays a role in most of them, but he is not the focus of the later stories. Pick one of them up, i think you might like a couple of them.
Pick up The Vampire Armand, its a really good book, Blood and Gold is also a great book, dealing with the life of Marius, if you remember he was the one guarding the Queen of the vampires.
Stay away from the newest one though, its all sexual and stuff, not really her best.

crystalview · Oct 23, 2003

I like to read John Sandford, James Patterson, and Wally Lamb, of whom has written two of my favorite books, "I Know This Much Is True" and "She's Come Undone."