There's been a favorite movies thread, so here's one for books. (I run low on reading material at the most annoying times, so I'll watch this thread for recommendations.)
What are your all-time favorites? Those books that you read until they're about to fall apart from all the reading, the ones you pick up whenever you feel depressed or bored. I tend to have trouble picking a few, as I've found so many good ones, but here's some for starters.
~ The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix. He had some fairly interesting and new ideas about how to run several proper magic systems.
~ A lot of Terry Pratchett books, especially the ones about Death or the Ankh-Morpork crew.
~ The Young Wizards set by Diane Duane. She writes a tight and consistent magic system, and they're getting better and more complex as they go.
~ Anything and everything by Dave Duncan. It makes me cranky whenever I stop to think that he hasn't written anything new in years.
I know that some of these are in the young adult system because the mature content is light or absent, but the writing itself is quite good.
More later when I think of them and have the inclination to type out a longer list.

Alice in Wonderland

Well, given my PhD, it's pretty obvious that I'd say Neuromancer by William Gibson.

I usually read Hogfather around this time of year too, to get me in the mood for Christmas.

It depends what mood I'm in.
A great fallback for anytime, though, would definatley be The Perks of Being a Wallflower
To get me thinking and occupy alot of time probably The Dice Man.
If I need to feel sentimental and get myself to stop pittying myself I'd say The Five People you Meet in Heaven. It all depends, really....

Where's Wally. That cheeky chappy fools me every time.

It changes depending on my mood but the ones that crop up most of the time are:

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak - What a ledgend.

A Little Lower Than The Angels by Geraldine McCaughren - Just a fun, gentle read, but quite a young book.

Mr Vertigo - Adult book about a boy who learns to fly but developes vertigo.

There's also a book which name and author has escaped me because the front cover didn't have any writing on it, I'll go find it now and edit this post when I do...

Gah! Where to start! Well, there's;

Alice In Wonderland
Through The Looking Glass
Sophie's World
To Kill a Mocking Bird
The Lovely Bones
Nibbs In Clover
The Solitaire Mystery
Hitch Hikers Guide (all 5 books)

i will listr all the books that i have read mor ethan once as this seems a pretty good indicator.

Tolkein - Lord of the rings (i know i started a thread on the evils of tolkein but its still not a bad read)
Tolkein - Hobbit
James Herbert - Dune
Neil Gaiman - american gods
Douglas Adams - Hitchhiikers series
Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently series
Benjamin Hoff - The Tao of Pooh
Gaiman And Pratchett - Good Omens
Ian M Banks - Use of weapons
Anne Rice - The Vampire Lestat
Stephen King - The Stand
Stephen King - Geralds Game
Terry Brooks - The Shannara Series
Terry Brooks - Magic kingdom series

Theres more but i can't think of them at the moment

Bah I have such a large book collection. erm heres a few

The Tao of Pooh (a cute little book about Taoism explained with Winnie the Pooh)

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (Probably the best book I've ever read for none physicist types to understand the theories of many things ranging from quantum physics to how the universe was created)

Molecular Biology in Medicine by Timothy Cox (a Fabulous book about medical microbiology, Immunology and clinical diagnostic techniques. Am I a dork for loving one of my text books?)

Other mentionables:
1984
The Reader
Barchester Towers
Sophies Choice

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Very, very thought-provoking.

these.
and these

but not these. While I'd be tempted to put Interview with the Vampire on this list, I thought the series went downhill with every book from there, while the Magic Kingdom series was a terrible letdown compared with his Shannara or The Word and the Void stuff.

Tad William's Otherland quadrilogy is fantastic. He merges classic literature and mythology with artificial intelligence and virtual reality. 'tis great. Or, if thats too long for you, you could try his stand-alone novel The War of the Flowers.

Terry Pratchett - The Discworld Series (all 30 or so books)
Pratchett and Gaiman - Good Omens

Patrick O'Brian - The Aubrey/Maturin Series

Douglas Adams - H2G2

That's probably about it for books I read a lot. I have read the first four Harry Potter book many times, but I don't really read them any more, I only read the sixth book twice, and I read every book I read twice, same with films.

The Hobbit - Tolkien
Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
About A Boy - Nick Hornby
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
Doom: Knee Deep In The Dead - Daffyd Ab Hugh & Brad Linaweaver
Doom: Hell On Earth - Daffyd Ab Hugh & Brad Linaweaver
^ There are four books in the Doom series, but the first two are the ones I've read and reread. They are also rather awfuly written, yet I love them anyway.
The Naughtiest Girl In School - Enid Blyton
^ I hate almost all of Enid Blyton's books, no matter who she was aiming them at. But for some reason I love this book, even though it is also quite obviously aimed at girls. Oh well.

There are probably, nay certainly, more - but most of my books are still packed away in boxes in the spare room. I forget what I've got.

OK FAvourite books. Hmm this could be along one

The Harper HAll series- Anne McCAffrey
His Dark MAterials- Phillip Pullman
All the Brain Froud faerie books
Tithe- Holly Black
The Handmaids Tale- Margeret Atwood
We- Yvgeny Zamyatin
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
CHildren of Men- PD James
Xanth series- Piers Anthony
Fray- Joss Whedon
Jane Eyre- Bronte (can't remember which off the top of my head!)
The Great Gatsby- F.Scott Fitzgerald (I think!)
Selcetions from The CAnterbury Tales
A Midsummer nights dream
MAcbeth etc etc
I read so very fast that I have to repeatedly read books. I can read a standard sized paperback in just over an hour. Must have more.....

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix have taken a good bit of reading damage.
Breakfast at Tiffanys - Truman Capote. I love it all.
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath. I'm reading this at the moment. For the 18th time.
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf. I love reading this on a train for some reason.

These would be a few of my favourite books. I'm stopping the list at that because if I add any more I'll start to think I'm being unfair to all the books I'm missing out. My books are my babies.


Fal xXx

Elsewhere

mortal engines

the big smile robbery*

* call me childish if you wish, it just cracks me up

RAPTOR RED! I <3 that book

Terry Pratchet - any
Douglas Addams - also
Sean Stewart - again any but favorites probably Night Watch and Resurection Man.
Neil Gaiman
Spider Robinson - but oddly I don't much like Mindkiller or the race riot one set in New York. Any of his Callahan's books are usually well worth a rereading.

I'm with Hobbes in that most/all my book collection is in boxes. Can add more to the list another time I suppose.

LOST SOULS - Poppy Z Brite.
The best vampire novel ever... Bar none.
I've read and re-read this one over and over, and recomend it to anyone with
any interest in the spooky side of life... It just makes me wish I had friends like
Ghost and Steve.

VON BEK - Michael Moorcock.
Faustian pacts, duels to the death, paralllel universes... What's not to like?

THE PRINCESS BRIDE - William Goldman.
More duels, the cliffs of insanity, the dread pirate Roberts... Yay!

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman.
How much do I wanna live in london below? Hehe!

ALTERED CARBON - Richard Morgan.
Not really a fan of sci-fi, but this is cool. Brilliant characters, fantastic ideas
and dark, cynical humour.

I'll stop waffling, and go be Ninja librarian boy someplace else! X

there seems to be a lot of love for Neil Gaiman here

London below would be the kind of existence i have yearned for for a long time. Standing on your own with only your own skill to depend on. and no BLOODY TAXES.

*shuffles off mumbling about Bloody Taxes*

SHUT IT RAT-SPEAKER!

I, the Marquis Von Matt hath spoken!

Nyuk nyuk!

SPAM!

*laughs*

I'd love to be a velvet though!

SPAM

Wow! mostly everyone has already said what I would say...

Alice in Wonderland
Flatland
Hitchhiker's guide series
Many others that have already been said... those are the main ones though

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend.

Some of my favorites are:

Dreams Underfoot, by Charles DeLint (A book of short stories)
The Onion Girl, by Charles DeLint
Spirits in the Wires, by Charles DeLint
The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown
(C. DeLint's one of my favorite authors... )

On my "To-Read" List (on recommendation from friends):

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (No, I haven't read it...)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (v_v)
A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey




-Cerin
=^^= ~~

Little Sheperd of Kingdom Come- John Fox Jr.
Heart of the Hills- Fox Jr.
Trail of the Lonesome Pine-Fox Jr.
Hitler's Pope
The Closing of the American Mind- Allan Bloom
John Paul II
Guide to Tolkiens's World
Savage Inequalities- Kozol
Wuthering Heights- Bronte

There are probably a few others I'm missing.

The only one of your favorites I've seen is The Da Vinci Code. I'll have to look up the others sometime. Definitely read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Lord of the Rings. I've never heard of the last one.

Ah! I read some Charles Delint a few years ago. I got into his "children's" stuff (don't remember many titles, sorry, but it did have a redhead girl with a harp in it) and then checked out The Onion Girl when it came out, but I was a little young for it. I remember reading a passage--what was it?-something along the lines of "My penis can do tricks"--and panicking. I slammed the book shut and sat there blushing for about an hour and a half, and then shamefully returned it to the library. I didn't venture too quickly into the adult section after that!

My favorite books are melodic and interesting. I like Neil Gaiman a lot--someone lent me Coraline when I was in middle school and I fell in love with it. The love grew from there. Smoke and Mirrors and Sandman: Endless Nights are probably my two favorites by him (though I've still haven't got much of a head for erotica (Ha! Pun!) and the sex story in Smoke and Mirrors makes me a little embarassed)

I am into stories that fill me with wanderlust right now, so On the Road, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Rum Diaries (by Kerouac, Robert Pirsig, and Hunter Thompson, respectively) are some favorites. I like pretty much anything by Mr. Thompson, actually. Quotes of his fade and peel on my walls.

Other top-notch stories include: Lost by Gergory Maguire, which I bought from a sweet sexy man in the Las Vegas airport Border's (if anyone lives there, please say hi to him from me) and thoroughly enjoyed. It's about Jack the Ripper. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was a better book than movie and best read in classic dry-rotted, bent-over paperback form. Fight Club and Haunted by Chuck Pahlahniuk, though one short story called "Guts" (from Haunted had me wretched, retching on the floor. I think that's about it.

If you liked Coraline, you should read Clive Barker's Abarat. Children get all the best horror stories, its not fair.

We Can Get Them For You Wholesale was my favourite story in Smoke and Mirrors. More, even. Its just my favourite story full stop.

Yes! I remember that very quote! Quite funny. :-p

Yay! Someone else who likes Charles De LInt!

Other works of his that I'd recommend:

SOMEPLACE TO BE FLYING, TRADER and MULENGRO...

I read one of his when I was younger, and it featured a biker type character and entities trying to take over a kinda hostel... Anyone know which book I'm remembering?

I must say that my bound collection of the five Hitchhiker's Guide books is absolutely a fav. I've read it... well... many many times.

Songs Of The Lioness Quartet : Tamora Pierce

The Immortals Quartet : Tamora Pierce

Protector of the Small Quartet : Tamora Pierce

Trickster's Choice : Tamora Pierce

Trickster's Queen : Tamora Pierce

The Circle of Magic : Tamora Pierce

The Circle Opens : Tamora Pierce

The Will of the Empress : Tamora Pierce
(I like Tamora Pierce's books)

Princess diaries : Meg Cabot

All American Girl (and sequal, Ready or Not?) : Meg Cabot

The Confessions of Georgia Nicholson : Louise Rennison
(These have me laughing every time I read them)

Flanimals and More Flanimals : Ricky Gervais
(Xmas presents from the last two years.)

Harry Potter : (Do I need to add it?) J.K.Rowling

Angels Unlimited : Annie Dalton
(Probably aimed at younger people, I still love these books, they're nice, light relief.)

The Da Vinci Code : Dan Brown
(Very impressive tale, couldn't put down, had to take in everything)

The Godfather : Marco Puzo
(Murder, brutality. I can't imagine why a 13 year-old girl would love this, but I do, it's so gripping.)

Hmm, I don't think there are any more. I'm about to start the Abhorsen trilogy, hope that I might be able to add them onto my list after seeing them appear on so many other peoples.