Inspired by the What Are You Reading? thread, what are your favourite books of all time? I'm not necessarily talking about great works of literature. I'm talking about your favourites. What were the books that inspired you, regardless of your age? Here are mine, in no particular order: A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. Began my love affair with time travel. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I actually prefer the French version as the book's language is so poetic and loses something in the translation. The Green Futures of Tycho by William Sleator. Another great time travel novel I read over and over as a preteen. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Need I say more? The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. One of the greatest novels ever written IMHO. I first read this book when I was about ten and I didn't understand a lot of it at the time. But it was so magical and wonderful that it inspired my love of reading and I've reread it almost every year since. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Began my cynicism toward the human race. Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth by Jerome Beatty Jr. These were a series books about a boy who lives on the moon. When I was in grade school these books inspired my love of space. The books are currently out of print and I kick myself for having gotten rid of them ages ago. The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson. If you've never met Repairman Jack, you don't know what you're missing. Easily the coolest and flat-out badass protaganist to hit the bookshelves in decades.
I think you and I may have similar taste. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (I have not read it in French, as I do not speak French, but I have read it in German). Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Anything written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., but most definitely Player Piano. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Ready, Okay! by Adam Cadre. I swear I wasn't copying you. The Little Prince and The Phantom Tollbooth are both listed on my FB as my favorite books, with Catch-22. I have been reading and re-reading as much Kurt Vonnegut as I can lately.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Of course Also, RAH titles including particularly Glory Road, Stranger, TMISAM, and Starship Troopers I've read Lucifer's Hammer a dozen times. just off the top of my head...
Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers by Harry Harrison. Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. The Stand by Stephen King. The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.
Cats Cradle The Stand (re-reading right now) Lightning (Koontz time travel) World War Z (a new favorite) Red Storm Rising (started my Clancy collection) 2001
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson (all three books and you could chuck Cryptonomicon in there as well) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
Time Enough For Love : RAH The Lord of the Rings : JRR Tolkien The Mote In Gods Eye : Niven/Pournelle Night Chills : Dean Koontz Little Fuzzy : H Beam Piper (started my on reading sci fi)
It's obvious that people who enjoy these books have refined taste, are quite intelligent and also very good-looking!
I was forced to read Stranger in a Strange Land as part of my high school curriculum. I realize it's considered a classic work of science fiction but, to be honest, I found it a bit tedious. However, I loved Starship Troopers, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.
As a child, The Hobbit, the Chronicles of Prydain, and the Tripods series. Now I'd go with: The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Starship Troopers by Heinlein. Dune by Frank Herbert The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson Hyperion by Dan Simmons. The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison The Belgariad by David Eddings I'm reading through the Daniel Boorstin trilogy on the history of discovery and thought now, and have to say they are absolutely incredible. Some of them are just mind candy, and some I have a level of emotional attachment to based on the people in my life I shared them with. The Best novels I've ever read would be a different list.
I'm just a sucker for the sort of characters he writes. I would definitely be willing to say it's behind the other titles on that list. While I'm on about that - there are quite a few of his short stories that I'd rank with the better of the novels too
2001: A Space Odyssey and A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clark Dune by Frank Herbert Ringworld by Larry Niven Gateway by Frederick Pohl Red Storm Rising and The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession by Charles Adams Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner Probe by Margaret Wander Bonanno
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank And then there were None (Ten Little Indians) Agatha Christie Days of Infamy and End of the Beginning by Harry Turtledove
I am addicted to reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War for some reason...I own 4 or 5 different translations of it and have read each of them at least a dozen times, and yet I still have this inexplicable desire to keep reading it. I've also read through both English translations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but the Moss Roberts version is by far the better version. Those are the only books I've read that I've liked enough to read multiple times, so I suppose that would qualify them as my all-time favorites
Watership Down - Richard Adams Dune, God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter Thompson Naked Lunch - William Burroughs Swan Song - Robert R. McCammon Parliament Of Whores - P. J. O'Rourke A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess The Songs Of Distant Earth - Arthur C. Clarke
Fiction: The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Without Remorse by Clancy. Nonfiction: Tank Sergeant by Ralph Zumbro (I've read that book numerous times) Chickenhawk by Robert Mason Castles of Steel by Robert Massie
Which one was Night Chills? This may sound like sacrelige (sp?), but I'd like to see a new movie version of 2001, one that sticks closer to the book. The reason only 2001 (& not 2010,61, or 3001)makes my list is that Clarke retconned the 2001 plot in 2010 to match the movie.
Sticking with fiction, I suppose. There's lots of non-fiction I could include too. Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell His Masters Voice, Stanislaw Lem Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh Contact, Carl Sagan Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick Threads like this make me wonder why I don't read more. So much stuff left to get through...
Farewell Elric, I was a thousand times more evil than thou, and it leapt into the sky making a mockery of the cosmic balance and filling the universe with its unholy joy. I really haven't enjoyed the end of a series as much as that. Anyway, that series (The Elric Saga) is great and all, but probably not my favorite. Instead: Fiction: Starship Troopers Heinlein Chronicles of Amber Zelazny The Chocolate War Cormier Valis/The Divine Invasion/The Transmogration of Timothy Archer trilogy by Philip K. Dick Still Life with Woodpecker Tom Robbins (a great lovestory + bandit) Sword of the Spirits - Trilogy by Christopher Day of the Triffids - Wyndham The Sandman, series by Gaiman Non-fiction: Germs, Guns, and Steel Diamond Six Easy Pieces Feynman A Brief History of Time Hawking The World is Flat Friedman
Am I the only person in the world to think this was 'mildly interesting at best'. I read it before the film came out and think its one of the rare occasions where a film was better than the book.
In no certain order: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress: Heinlein Starship Troopers: Heinlein Red Storm Rising: Clancy The Hunt for Red October: Clancy Without Remorse: Clancy The Fountainhead: Rand Flight of the Intruder: Coonts Run Silent, Run Deep: Beach Thunder Below!: Fluckey Nimitz: Potter The Fighting Sailor: Ryan