Those were good books of his! I also liked Phantoms , it had a “night of the living dead” feel to it.
Generation X by Douglas Coupland.
Yeah, those three, plus The Bad Place and the one about the space ship (what was that one called?) are about the only ones of his that I liked.
rjk , thanks – I found the Bramah book at the Amazon marketplace for a reasonable price. The Mitchell book looks good too. Still pondering that one.
my favorite book? wow, that’s a tough call.
I think I would have to go with The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. Something about that book just inspires me everytime I read it.
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Predjudice
Persuasion
Mansfield Park
Sense a theme? 
Also - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - just that. I loved it.
The Lions of AlRassan - Guy Gavriel Kay (okay, absolutely anything by Guy Gavriel Kay)
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
and, of course
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I read it for the first time when I was 11, and I landed my husband by quoting the entire prologue from memory. He got down on his knees and asked me to marry him. We had just met.
well that is really haaard. for me, top two are tied:
lord of the rings (entire trilogy mind you, it is all one book no matter what harper collins says) by jrr tolkien and the grapes of wrath by john steinbeck. two amaaazing stories. highly highly recommend them. well well worth the lengths.
for lighter reads, absolutely the hitchhikers trilogy by douglas adams (5 books in all), the harry potter books by jk rowling (don’t diss they are quality and NOT childrens books, dont believe the new york times).
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Candide - Voltaire
I totally forgot about the bad place, I should get some lashes for that…In any event, what space ship one? Strangers? I read Strangers such a long time ago, I can’t remember if that’s what you are referring to or not.
In my earlier years I was a Koontz fan, I had to have read a good majority of his books. These days though I’ve branched out from just the strictly “horror” categories, although Watchers is still, IMO, a great book. Something about a dog… The only bad thing about that book is 4 horrible movies have been made about it!
Reading this thread has made me realise what a very personal thing a favourite book is, and I wonder how good a way it is of compiling a list to read yourself. From the lists above, I have read several and my personal opinion was that they were at best uninteresting, at worst quite dire; for example: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Catcher in the Rye, A Prayer For Owen Meany (although I do love most of John Irving’s books, to be fair). Then again, some of my favourites have already featured: The Poisonwood Bible, The Hitchhiker’s Guide series, To Kill a Mockingbird. So, if I add a few of my own favourites, it with the proviso that I am a quiet, introverted sort of a lass, who generally leans towards things like lush description and internal monologue rather than action. If that might be your bag, baby, try:
The Love Department by Carol Shields
Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee
Even Cowgirls Get The Blues by Tom Robbins
On the other hand, I can’t forget the science fiction novels of Iain M. Banks, which are so intelligent I return to them again and again, particularly:
**Excession,
Feersum Enjinn** and
Look To Windward.
That’s it, Strangers. Thanks.
I only like a few of Koontz’s books; Strangers, Watchers (that’s the dog one), *Lightning, The Bad Place, * and Phantoms.
I just LOVE Lightning. That’s one of my favorite books. Definitely on my Top Ten list.
I knew Watchers had been made into a really bad movie with a kid in the lead role instead of a man, and Phantoms was made into a really bad movie fairly recently with (I think) Ben Affleck. A couple others have been made into low-budget TV-movies. Intensity had Billy Zane in it.
I don’t know why his books turn out to be such dud movies.
I don’t care for most of his other books.
Not in order:
Jane Eyre
Pride and Prejudice
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
The Straight Dope (the first one was the best one, imho)
Moby-Dick
Lolita
Guards! Guards!
Beloved
(can I count The Norton Shakespeare as one book?)
Ulysses
Personally I think “Watchers” is his best work (as you can tell).
Lightning is also up there, WWII Nazi time-traveling scientists-pretty good IMO.
Ah, you are thinking of Corey Haim . Yes that movie utterly blew, but as sad as it is to say, it was a lot better than the three that followed…How is that possible?? A lot of Koontz’s books have been turned into movies actually: Servants of the Autumn Twilight, Watcher, Phantoms, Whispers, and the one about the mountain climber in the building…
The problem I have with Koontz is it seems he writes just to write. A lot of his books feel like they have similar characters/plots and some are just such a struggle to get through. The last one I read (I think) was strange highways, a collection of short stories, which had at least one good story in it. I can’t remember it off hand, but the main character was a dimension jumping bear (I think) who was attempting to catch a killer.
Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter
*Ask the Dust *- John Fante
My favourite Robbins books are Skinny Legs And All and Jitterbug Perfume.
Other favorites:
Dune, Frank Herbert
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Grendel, John Gardner
1984, George Orwell
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Watchmen, Alan Moore
Snowcrash, Neal Stephenson
Wicked, Gregory Maguire
- The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks - very dark, uterly engrossing.
- Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner - classic sf, written in the 60s, set in the turn of the centuary. Huge sprawling plotlines and a wonderfuly detailed future vision. One of two books that I wish everyone would read.
- The Seventh Samurai by Helen DeWitt. The other bok I want everyone to read.
- Rain by Kirsty Gunn
Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind and Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams.
Armor and Vampire$ by John Steakley.
The Island in the Sea of Time trilogy by SM Stirling