Author Topic: Most Enjoyed Books or Authors (Read 1581 times)

Mooneyes · « **on:** April 11, 2007, 03:04:51 pm »

I would be interested is hearing what other people read during there spare time. Like when Layo is being reset or crashed or somethng like that.

Seriously, I love to read! Next to horseback riding and Layo it is my favorite pastime. Sooo I'll start this off with three of some of the best books I've read in a long time.

#1 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever Series
By....Stephen R. Donaldson

#2 The Circle Trilogy (have to read them in order)
By....Ted Dekker

#3 Books with the Character Odd Thomas
By.....Dean Koontz

pinkpowerbait · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2007, 03:23:02 pm »

Im currently reading "Time of The Twins" (Dragonlance Ledgends, vol I).. its oh-so-good

Stephen_Zuckerman · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2007, 03:33:51 pm »

The Anita Blake series, by Laurell K. Hamilton. It starts off wonderfully, cruises and bruises through another good seven or eight books, and has been tapering off recently... But bloody wonderful, so start reading!

The Dark Tower series, by Stephen King. Gunslinger... The new, awesomer (yes, it's a word I just invented) Knight Errant. The best of Stephen King's work, and I do not exaggerate. It's literally his life's work, and the best of everything. Not his typical formula novels, but a truly captivating yarn indeed.

If those don't keep you occupied for a few months, wowee.

darkstorme · « **Reply #3 on:** April 11, 2007, 04:12:37 pm »

Terry Pratchett. Period.

Honora · « **Reply #4 on:** April 11, 2007, 04:20:44 pm »

Jonathan Kellerman and his wife Faye (love murder mysteries!), David Weber and David Drake (love military sci-fi!) and Dave Barry and James Lileks (love funny books!).

Oh, and Barbara Hambly.

Oh, and H.P. Lovecraft too. Great horror!

LordCove · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2007, 04:36:09 pm »

Most of the DragonLance stuff is pretty good....Raistlin's like the best DnD character I can think of.

If you like the heavy stuff, try Harry Turtledove - WorldWar ( imagine if aliens invaded in the middle of the 2nd World war )

But, if you want a bloody classic, "real" adventure story - King Solomon's mines ( read it dozens of times, adventure dont come much better than that )

J-ser · « **Reply #6 on:** April 11, 2007, 05:50:29 pm »

The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny. The first set of five is better than the second, but they are both amazing.

Or something new...
Infoquake, - David Louis Edelman
Sun of Suns - Karl Schroeder

MJZ · « **Reply #7 on:** April 11, 2007, 05:53:07 pm »

I can't really put number values on them...

Watership Down, by Richard Adams. First read it when I was about eight, and many times since then. Rabbits.

Fall on your knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald. It is one of the most crafted and sculpted works of poetry and prose I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's also not for the naive or feint of heart. More than the psychology, the characters, the skill of the writing or the pure and dark beauty of MacDonald's words, the construction of this book impresses me. I swear, every sentence ties in with things one hundred, two hundred, three hundred pages on - it's perfectly akin to a tapestry, the same strings being pulled from end to end, the pattern entirely variant at every point. It's nothing short of a work of art.

I'm going to leave it at those two, for the moment. I'm rather critical of books.

Edit: *smacks forehead*
The Eagle and the Raven, by Pauline Gedge. Historical fiction written by a historian - about the Roman conquests in Britannia. Being a big fan of the Roman Empire, and rather fond of the ancient Celts, must say I enjoyed both portrayals. One of those books that are incredibly long, but don't feel as such. (About 800pgs, I think).

ShiffDrgnhrt · « **Reply #8 on:** April 11, 2007, 05:53:13 pm »

Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, Tolkein, AND! of course, Tolkein.

LOTR rocks, sure its longwinded and slightly confusing but I <3 Tolkein. Period.

minerva · « **Reply #9 on:** April 11, 2007, 06:50:54 pm »

Terry Goodkind : Wizard's First Rule, the first and best book in the Sword of Truth series. From the same series, book four, Faith of the Fallen

Stephen King The Stand, It

Wilbur Smith Warlock, River God and Seventh Scroll. If you like egyptology and horses you'll love these three

Anita Diament The Red Tent. A very good book of biblical history written from a woman's point of view

Pseudonym · « **Reply #10 on:** April 11, 2007, 07:16:09 pm »

Favourite authors.

General fantasy, David Gemmell.
Fantasy with a grown-up twist, George R.R. Martin.
Historical Fiction, Conn Iggulden and Jack Whyte.
DnD, R.A. Salvatore.

Check out Polak's thread along similar lines;

http://www.layonara.com/just-fun/107806-great-fantasy-books.html

PS. David Gemmell. <-- I made it bold that time for emphasis.

Kindo · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2007, 07:25:45 pm »

Heh, I have not read many books in my lifetime. Quite a few when I was younger, but in more recent years it has been a rare phenomenon. I have, however, read the book Oryx and Crake by renowned author Margaret Atwood. It is both entertaining and disturbing, while dealing with many important issues of modern society. I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to anyone - as it was, originally, recommended to myself by MJZ.

Obviously, I read The Lord of the Rings as a youngster, and while not planning to read the trilogy again any time soon, I am thinking of reading the Silmarillion again instead. Other than that, I had a Harry Potter phase way back when, and finished up until the end of the fourth book, but the more recent entries have gone by somewhat unnoticed by me, and I have yet to re-ignite any spark for the series.

jrizz · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2007, 07:26:51 pm »

creatures of light and darkness - Roger Zelazny
All H.P. Lovecraft
anything Dan Simmons
Terry Pratchett all the way

Mooneyes · « **Reply #13 on:** April 11, 2007, 07:35:05 pm »

Thanks everyone for the responses so far. I've noted a couple and plan to check them out.

Here is another one that I enjoyed. This is the first for this author but I enjoyed his first two.

"Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo"
by....Obert Skye

ycleption · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2007, 08:13:23 pm »

So many to choose from...A FEWof my favorite books are:
White Teeth, by Zadie Smith
Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss
Haroun and the Sea of Stories, by Salmon Rushdie
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
(I could keep going for a long time....)

magnusarin · « **Reply #15 on:** April 11, 2007, 08:26:24 pm »

I agree on the Dark Tower. It's a damned masterpiece and Roland is one of the best characters around.

For historial fiction Jack Whyte is really good. I prefer Bernard Cornwell. If any of you have read the Warlord Chronicles by him you know what I mean.

Tolkien goes without saying.

The original Conan stories are amazing. Great comment on the barbarism of civilzation and the civilization of barbarism. He has a great comment about how people can be rude in a civilization because they don't have to worry about getting an axe in the face.

Iliad and Odyssey are good. I like the Aenead alot.

Alright, I need to stop. No one ask me about favorite movies. It'll be even worse.

AeonBlues · « **Reply #16 on:** April 11, 2007, 08:26:57 pm »

The funnest book I read recently Snow Crash by Niel Stephenson. His book Diamond age is also a good one for people that like online games.

Frank Herbert's Man of two worlds was a great book to read for gaining insight into the RP of a shifter. So was Zelazniy's Amber books for that matter. All of Frank Herbert's and his son Brian Herbert's Dune books are totally awesome. Most of my character's "Old wild elf sayings" is a mix of Fremen and Zen quotes that I liked a lot.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of my all time favorite fantasy novels.

One of the things I do during rare moments that I am not on Layo is volunteer for an organization called books to prisoners. I get a lot of requests for D&D book and related fantasy novels. While often can find a Forgotten realms or Dragonlance novel to send them, we never have roleplaying books to send

One guy tripped me out when he asked for books on how to become a better criminal, special forces training, hand to hand combat, medieval warfare, Nazis, how to score with women, magic tricks, and baking cakes. Umm, I felt I was sending books to the anti-christ. Though, I did find some books that I felt were "safe" and not promoting evil behavior.

AeonBlues

LynnJuniper · « **Reply #17 on:** April 11, 2007, 09:20:17 pm »

Terry Pratchett Is Awesome, lets see, the ones I've read:
Color of Magic, Light Fantastic, Mort, Reaper Man, Gaurds! Gaurds!, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords & Ladies, Feet of Clay Were all awesome!

Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series
Harry Potter of course, don't hurt me.
I have the Sword of Shannara sitting around somewhere, have to start reading that but I've heard good things...

Rowana · « **Reply #18 on:** April 11, 2007, 09:20:47 pm »

tongue and cheeky books- Serrated Edge series Mercades Lackey (modern day elves and fantasy)
Zanth books- Peirs Anthony
Myth Inc books- Robert Asprin

Serious Drama books- Valdamar books Mercades Lackey
Dune Series- Frank Herbert
Dorsai series- Gordon R. Dickson

Historical/legend rewrites- Elemental Masters series- Mercades Lackey (Fire Rose is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast for example.)
Mists of Avalon- Marion Zimmmer Bradely

(notice the repeat usage of Lackey promotion *nods a few times* )
~row

darkstorme · « **Reply #19 on:** April 11, 2007, 11:21:07 pm »

Quote from: Rowana

tongue and cheeky books- Serrated Edge series Mercades Lackey (modern day elves and fantasy)
Zanth books- Peirs Anthony
Myth Inc books- Robert Asprin

Serious Drama books- Valdamar books Mercades Lackey
Dune Series- Frank Herbert
Dorsai series- Gordon R. Dickson

Historical/legend rewrites- Elemental Masters series- Mercades Lackey (Fire Rose is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast for example.)
Mists of Avalon- Marion Zimmmer Bradely

(notice the repeat usage of Lackey promotion *nods a few times* )
~row

*chuckles* I'd forgotten about the Myth Inc. series. They're kids' books, but a lot of fun. Likewise, Asprin's other comedy/fantasy series, the alliterative "Dealing with Demons" series, is hilarious, if a bit light on pagecount.

Also, if anyone is into computer science + fantasy, I highly recommend Rick Cook's "Wizardry" series. Imagine a land where magic could be treated like a programming language (other than Neverwinter). It's a really neat series, though hard to find in-print. Very much a used-bookstore find.

Edit: Oh, also, Mercedes Lackey, and Piers Anthony. (Normally, I'm not a spelling nit-picker, but if it's people's names, I feel they deserve to have 'em spelled correctly. (Even Mr. Anthony, with his first-submission-is-to-Playboy series. )