I am on a quest for a few good books. I’ve taken to going to Halfprice books lately and buying 5 or 6 at a time and being sorely disappointed in more than half. What I want to know is: What are your favorite books? Any genre, any size, preferably in english, preferably fiction.
I love Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Fiction, satire, english, very funny. I’m actually on my second copy. I need to buy a hardcover version used. Thanks for reminding me!
I was fond of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota - The Great Fire”, which came out last year.
The author has made 3 or 4 new adventures, that are 100% dead on for Doyle fans.
stolichnaya:
I’m actually working my way up the Discworld series. I’m currently on Masquerade. I love all of these, but Mort has to be my fav so far.
Some of my favorite books:
“A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” by Betty Smith
“Lightening” by Dean Koontz
“Watchers” by Dean Koontz
“A Place Called Freedom” by Ken Follett
“Pillars Of The Earth” by Ken Follett
“I Know This Much Is True” by Wally Lamb
“She’s Come Undone” by Wally Lamb
“Where The Heart Is” by Billie Letts
“The Green Mile” by Stephen King
“The House Of Sand And Fog” by Andre Dubus III
“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
“White Oleander” by Janet Fitch
“Plum Island” by Nelson DeMille
The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
The Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton
Anything by A. Manette Ansay, Anita Shreve, Alice Hoffman and Maeve Binchy
A few of my favorites –
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
Anything by Agatha Christie, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Lawrence Sanders or John Saul is probably a good read.
Here are some more:
1984 by George Orwell
Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon (might be out of print)
Songs From Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
Grapefruit by Yoko Ono (avant garde poetry, not for everyone)
Vespers by Jeff Rovin
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Bridge Of Birds - Barry HUghart
Straight - Dick Francis
Pern books - Anee McCaffrey
Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches - Marvin Harris
Devils Waltz - Jonathon Kellerman
Moonheart - Charles de Lint
I read these on average once a year.
To continue with the Dean Koontz suggestions, my favorite was Intensity. It was the most suspenseful book I have ever read. In a completely different category, anything by Brian Jacques is good if you like fantasy/animals.
Stranger in a Strange Land–Heinlein
Brave New World–Huxley
Just an Ordinary Day–Shirley Jackson
The Magus by John Fowles. The less you know about the plot when you read it the better. This is a book where you will be forced to re-evaluate the entire plot at half-a-dozen places - the author is playing a cat-and-mouse game with the reader, and every time you think you’ve figured out what is happening, guess what, you’ve got another thing coming. The plot starts with a young man who goes to Greece to become a teacher on a remote island, where he gets caught up in what may be magic, hallucinations or a supremely intricate conspiracy.
The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern is another book that is incredibly entertaining and touching. It’s a kind of mock-autobiography by a 18th century idler. He starts the biography at his birth and actually ends it a couple of years before his birth - we never actually get to know anything about his life (let alone of his opinions) but a lot of theories about noses, the king of Bohemia and his Seven Castles, naughty stories about French nuns, and tons of other wonderfully bizarre stuff. It also has one of the most wonderful characters I can recall in a book, Tristram’s uncle Toby (who would merit a thread of his own).
The author is Anne McCaffrey… didn’t want someone not finding what they were looking for! These books aren’t bad – fantasy fiction with plenty o’ dragons for riding.
aegypt – The Magus has been recommended to me before, but I was never curious enough to discover anything about it. Now you say that’s a good thing! I may just read it someday. 
solly… double letters shrug y’all got the right last name and the series name cant be to hard to go from there
I continue my mission to extol the virtues of Haruki Murakami, a cult literary figure in Japan, and in my home.
Read everything, but start with A Wild Sheep Chase.
At the risk of making people think I do nothing more than read this book or watch this movie…
The Princess Bride - William Goldman (although believe it or not, I have seen some libraries list it under Morgenstern)
Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold (I’ve recommended her elsewhere, although her works are often hard to find – several are actually novellas and appear multiple times in different anthologies.) Look for a book called Shards of Honor (or ‘Cordelia’s Honor’ if you happen across an anthology) with a sequel Barrayar. I’d describe it as character-driven science fiction (I think she won a Hugo for The Vor Game).
The Crystal Singer series (Crystal Singer, Killashandra and Crystal Line) by Anne McCaffrey (if you prefer sci-fi rather than a more fantasy tone.)
Melanie Rawn, Mercedes Lackey and Jennifer Roberson all put out good reads, too, all in the fantasy line. Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea series is good, too.
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Let me know what you’ve found there before that you’ve liked, and I’ll see if I can dig up something else. And don’t be shy – don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ll read almost anything and like most of it.
BTW, I’m taking this list with ME next time to Half-Price Books!
Listen to Kinsey; she has great taste in books. I second the following from her list:
I also recommend:
These Granite Islands by Sarah Stonich. New, incredible author. Brilliant prose, great command of language.
Anything by Alice Hoffman, but Local Girls is one of my favorites.
Ethan Canin is going to be famous soon, I promise, if he isn’t already. Carry Me Across the Water, For Kings And Planets, and Emporer of the Air are all masterpieces (the third is a compilation of short stories.)
Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaajte. As far from “The English Patient” as you can get, this book has one of THE most beautiful, touching, mesmerizing scenes I’ve ever read. I have never cried as I did at the ending of this novel (and I cry a lot!).
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
Mama Day and Bailey’s Cafe by Gloria Naylor.
Spending by Mary Gordon.
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle is one of best, most involved childrens’ books I’ve ever read.
Memnoch the Devil is my favorite Anne Rice.
The Gardens of Kyoto by Kate Walbert - another new, incredibly talented author.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is rather heavy and intense, but an excellent read.
Finally, anything by John Irving is wonderful, but I highly recommend The Cider House Rules, the World According to Garp, and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Happy reading!
I prefer The Collector by Fowles.
The Magus was made into a movie starring Michael Caine.
Peter Sellers was asked once if he could live his life again what would he change? He replied “I wouldn’t see the Magus.”