Which are you favourite books or writers? Mine are (in random order): -Use of weapons by Iain M Banks (my favourite author) -All R. Heinlein bibliography -The Lord of the Rings (obvoiusly) -Luis Sepulveda -Cuoco d'astronave (Spaceship's cook) by Massimo Mongai (only in italian) -some works of Asimov -Douglas Adams and his Galactic guide

And then only Use of Weapons? Where's Player or Phlebas_? Where's The Bridge? Where's Inversions? Ha? :-) In no particular order: The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Michael Swanwick Millagro Beanfield War, John Nicholls Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry Metropolitan & City on Fire, Walter Jon Williams Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R. R. Martin Last Call, Tim Powers Terry Pratchett, en general Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson Michael Dibdin, the Italian mysteries with Aurelio Zen Iain Banks, several books Mainly SF&F, as you can see, but it's in the front rows of my shelves.

Current favourite author: usually whoever I'm reading at the time but probably Gore Vidal. Or Michael Connelly. Or Nabokov. Or Ian Rankin. Or Will Self. Or Mikhail Bulgakov. Or W.G. Sebald. Or...you see how it goes? Favourite author of all time: Italo Calvino. Unquestionably. Favourite books: a houseful. Anything by Calvino, obviously, but especially the Castle of Crossed Destines and Cosmicomics; the Hitchhiker's Guide series; I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan (major recommendation: everyone must read this book); 1984; Heart of Darkness; Jane Eyre; Robert Frost's poetry; Mrs. Dalloway; The Big Sleep; Keats' poetry; Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle; and a bunch more stuff that slips my mind at the moment.

Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand The Hobbit and The Trilogy of the Rings Dark Rivers of the Heart-Dean Koontz The Gift of Fear-Gavin DeBecker Rush Home Road-Lori Lansens Great Expectations-Charles Dickens Just a few of my favorites.

As the proud owner of 2,317 books (yes, I do make databases of everything, it's the only way I stay organized..;)I'd be hard-pressed to narrow it down to favorite books. Anything by (bring out yer dead!) Heinlein Gordon Dickson Asimov Addams (Douglas, though I like Charles too..;) Churchill (yes, that one) Twain, Kipling, yada yada and the living Turtledove Stirling Asprin (Myth series) The 'Killer B's' (Brin, et all, Foundations'... Clarke, AC Pournelle, Pohl (is Pohl still around?) Heck, the categories alone. That's just a small sampling, History, Military History, Sci-fi (ya think?..;), some classic literature, some mythology (read Lord of the Rings about 5 times since...er...the 70's..;), technical history Connections, which was also a series on PBS, travel stuff The Iron Rooster?..guy writes a lot of travel books, can't remember the name, but a lot of fun.. ok, I'll stop now, I could go on for a coupla pages..;)

What is "books"...? :)

erlik..... yaaaaaa all Banks bibliography is G R E A T ! ! Italo Calvino is also great and...ROCHR ...books are the reall essence of life....

Hyperion is also a great quadrilogy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm vreading it now and ...jesus... what a great one...

LOL, just kidding! :) Ive actually read a few. I love Stephen King, Douglas Adams + a few unknown scifi writers. Especially Kings "Pet Sematary" made me wonder what the hell i had under my bed... Just dont have the patience, or time, to read lately...

The Cronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever - Stephan Donaldson. LOTR/ Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien Time Enough For love - Robert Heinlein Some Clive Cussler All Sven Hassell To name just a few.....

I'm fond of Alan Dean Foster, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Barbara Hambly, Sue Grafton, Ellis Peters, P. G. Wodehouse, Isaac Asimov, Robert Lyn Asprin, David Brin, Gordon R. Dickson, J.K. Rowling and I'm sure there are others I left out. I tend to prefer lighter reading, especially with humor in it. I don't know that I have a 'favorites' list, it often depends on what mood I'm in. Lin

1. Ray Bradbury- any of the fantasy/sf books. I haven't read any of his mystery books. 2. Lewis Carroll- and not just for the "Alice" books - "Sylvie and Bruno" is also a favorite. 3. Stephen King until he started writing the same huge book over and over- I guess that was around "Tommyknockers". 4. Robert Heinlein -anything, even the "juvenile" books like "Have Spaceship, Will Travel" 5. Frank Herbert- but only the original "Dune". The sequels read like some kind of dry history book. I've read many of the other writers mentioned by others above, but these have been my all-time favorites.

fav book: Mt. Analogue by Robert Damaul (AOP) Authors: William Gibson, Asimov, Jean M. Auel, Susan Kitchens ::))), kesely.

Where do I start? Most anything that's Sci-Fi or Fantasy. Some of my favorites are Roger Zelanzy for his Amber series Terry Brooks for Shanara Anne McCaffrey for Pern series Robert Jordan for Wheel of Time Phillip Jose Farmer for World of Tiers JRR Tolkien for Lord of the Rings Mary Stewart for her Crystal Cave series Battletech novels D&D novels lost my Riftwar series so I can't remember the author and a ton of others

I make it a point to NEVER read fiction. I do read anything I can find related to Geology, Electronics, Astronomy, Religion, Lost Mines,Photography, History, 3D Modeling and Animation, Paranormal Activities, Homemade Jet Engines, Lapidary, and Aviation.

you want me to choose? so difficult... here you go, in no particular order: A. A. Attanasio, The Dragon and the Unicorn (and sequels) Charles de Lint, Dreams Underfoot F. Scott Fitzgerald Douglas Adams Terry Pratchett the MYST books, especially the first one Weis and Hickman's Deathgate Cycle I could probably go on and one, but I'll stop there

Favorite books eh? My most treasured book is The Holy Bible. Other reading I enjoy are as follows. Stephen King Edgar Allen Poe J.R.R. Tolkein Ray Bradbury

One more book that I think is priceless for comody is Steve Martins Cruel Shoes... 8-)

yes i forgot to mention dave murray. He is hilarious!

Pakled, you mean Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express? Paul Theroux. Great books. Much more interesting than his novels. I think we've already established we're fans of SF here, but this is still surprising. :-) BTW, Groingrinder, ever read Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel? History of technology. Really good and interesting.

In no particular order... The Darwin Awards series HTML Goodies - Sure comes in handy, and explains most things well in regards to making web pages. Real World Bryce Four by Susan Kitchens - just got it recently and it looks quite useful. Brain Droppings by George Carlin Jane's Fighting Aircraft of WWII Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson Hitchhiker's series Ringworld series Graphic Science & Design - methods and instruction on drafting, a freebie from my H.S. as they were switching to CAD during my senior year ('94.) Various stories and books by Artur C. Clark I Robot series by Isaac Asimov Various stories and books by Ray Bradbury And I like all books with information I find useful and interesting, as I can learn stuff from them. (Kept various textbooks, etc.)

Lets see, Edgar Rice Burroughs - Pellucidar and John Carter of Mars L. Sprague DeCamp - all Robert Heinlein - all Frank Herbert - all Micheal Moorcock -all Dean R. Koontz - all Edgar Allen Poe - all H.P Lovecraft - all Micheal Crichton - all Robert Silverburg -Downward towards Earth J.R.R. Tolkein - all Ray Bradbury -some Auther C. Clarke -some Roger Zelanzy - Amber series Anne McCaffrey - Pern series Phillip Jose Farmer - all Mary Stewart -Authurian series Douglas Preston,Lincoln Child -The Relic and The Reliquary(two super creepy books, especially The Reliquary) Ann Marston - Rune Blade Triology Some of the my very favorites...8)

Oh, and my all time favorite Shakespeare....

Books? I have such a difficult time cuz they don't come with a mouse. Tolkein- LOTR King- The Stand Richard Bach (all) Alvin Toffler-Powershift Tons of stuff from "Landmark Edu." Seminars manuals,manuals,manuals. Now I know how to build everything, and they were right. They just keep coming!!

Hmm... I don't read too much, university life turned me off reading in a big way. But favourites are... 1. Pretty much anything by David Gemmel (but favourite of those would be his Jon Shannow series) 2. Aliens Colonial Marines Technical Manual 3. Anything by Shaun Hutson (horror writer)

Wow - what a well read group! Hard to choose but here goes: Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge Gust Front - John Ringo Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson Infinity Machine - Sean McMullin Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - Patrick Henry - Moses Coit Tyler Churchhill - Roy Jenkins Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon - The Green Mile - Stephen King Watchers -Dean Kontz - Anything by C.S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Sheffield, David Brin, Jack Chalker, or David Webber.

I didn't know 'The Green Mile' was by Stephen King, is that the same as the film with Tom Hanks?

Yes it is. Wasn't that the book that came out in sequels? You had to wait to find out what happened in the next part, I think he was still writing it as it went along. Arleen

All these sci-fi freaks! Haha. I pretty much read non-fiction these days: true crime (my fav), medical, biographies. George Carlin has two books out that I love: Brain Droppings, and Napalm & Silly Putty. LOL...great books to laugh out loud with. In my fiction days, used to love King. The Stand, Pet Semetary, Christine, The Dark Tower, The Bachman Books, Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Misery, The Dead Zone. Haven't been able to read much of Koontz, save for Watchers, which is an awesome book. I like Grisham, although his books start to blend together after awhile. Others fiction authors I sometimes read are Michael Crichton, David Morrell, Robert McCammon, Elmore Leonard, Clive Cussler.

Whoa, that's a question. Let's begin. Fav book of all time: One Hundred Years of Solitude by GG Marquez Plus: Stephen King (almost everything, fav is "The Stand") William Gibson (everything! He rocks!!!) James Joyce (Ulysses and Finnegan's over the others) James G Ballard (everything!) Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide (all five of them) Poppy Z Brite (everything!) William Borroughs (not Edgar Rice) Nick Hornby Edgar Allan Poe (just everything) Jules Verne Philip Dick Joe R Lansdale... anyone knows him? Plus... three guys I didn't know but I appreciated after translating their books into Italian: Preston&Child (Relic, Thunderhead, Mount Dragon), Jeffery Deaver (Bone Collector, Devil's Teardrop), Jonathan Coe (The House of Sleep is wonderful!). And Zadie Smith. She's really tops. I have almost other 1,000 names an titles... :) Stefano

i dont really read that much, i only read fantasy books... execept for the LOrd of the rings... my favorites are the chronicles of NArnia (yeah i know, kids stuff)by CS Lewis and The Death Gate Cycle by Margarete Weiss and Tracy Hickman

Well, considering I have a small library myself, it's surprising how hard it is for me to actually give titles...it's easier to give just authors. However, here goes... Anne McCaffrey's Pern series has to be my all time favorite, with the Dragonrider trilogy being the top. Mercedes Lackey's Vandamar series (with assorted other writers) Terry Pratchet's Discworld series Just about anything SciFi with emphasis on the old masters. Dean Koontz Tom Clancey some Robin Cook Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetto books most mystery books. The occasional generic novel, very occasionally the romance novel (mostly because my best friend is a romance writer). When people ask me why I have so many books, I have to tell them the same thing. "Books are my friends." That's they way they feel...curling up with a good book is as satisfying as spending an evening with a good friend.

Everything by Walter Mosley, Poe for the classics, and the Sunday comics. That's my short list.

My taste in books is pretty universal just like my taste in music, I like a little bit of everything, and heres my favourite selection in no particular order. J.R.R. Tolkien - all James Joyce - The artist as a young man, Ulyses, Silvia Plath - all, James Herbert - most all, Stephen King - most all espescially The Stand and It, Agatha Christie - most all, Virginia Wolfe - To the lighthouse, Orlando (which is brill) Michael Marshal Smith - all, he writes futuristic horror/thriller, type stories. Lots of reference books: geology, astronomy, photography, art and art history, 3d modelling/graphics, computing, physics, maths, antique furniture/clothing and a host of cook books and how to build your own house and everything in it. Catlin

I'm another reader with "universal tastes".

I use to read a fair amount of Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, but now-a-days its mostly manuals and how to books oriented toward Computer Graphics. Go figure. :)

Now and then I do manage to squeeze in books about history and the sciences. It wasn't too long ago that I enjoyed Richard P. Feynman's physics books. (I have a weakness for quantum mechanics.) Reading about cultures and religions/mythology is something else I enjoy.

Being a bit of a fine carpenter/woodworker, I also study an occasional book on furtinure making/wood working , past and present.

Let's see... With regard to fiction, some of the authors I've enjoyed include...
-- C.J. Cherryh (early works)
-- Glen Cook (the humerous and yet serious Garrett detective novels set in an odd-ball, gritty fantasy world)
-- Joan D. Vinge
-- Robert A. Heinlein
-- Larry Niven
-- Julian May
-- Anne McCaffery
-- Frank Herbert (early works)
-- Steven Brust

Oh, your right Zhann. Can't leave out Shakespeare. :)

Difficult to choose from all the books in the house but I guess fav authors are:- Tolkien, Patricia Kenneally,Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Mariion Zimmer Bradley, Stephen Donaldson, Terry Brookes, Katherine Kerr, Christopher Stasheff, Stephen Lawhead and Tad Williams. Plus mustn't forget Phillip Larkin for poetry and then there are all sorts of reference books on celtic, arthurian,native american and historical subjects.

Doublecrash, what by Joe Lansdale? I've got Mucho Mojo and have read Two Bear Mambo. Liked both. There are also western horror comics of his which I heard were very good.

My favourite book is Waiting for Godot from Samuel Beckett (actually it's a play, but I read the book). Some other favourite writers are Tom Clancy and Jules Verne. I also like sci-fi books, but haven't had much time to read any lately.

There's just to many good books out there, Authors- Tolkien, Larry Niven, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Ray Bradbury, Terry Brooks, Michael Moorcock, Heinlein. As you can see mainly fantasy/sci fi, add in a few military fiction books and the odd ghost story and that's me done... Sad as it is though, my current night time reading is advanced action script for flash MX, a good book and it gets me sleepy very quickly :-)

I don't remember the names of authors very well, I've never read a book just because of the author. So I can't tell you who my favorite author is. But what I can tell, is my favorite book

"Knight of the Black Rose"

Saddly like I said, I can't tell you the authors name... (don't have the book anymore, lost while moving, currently blaming my brother for it.)

This is amazing! We all like the same artists and the same books........so, what about films, or did we do that already? (I mean the same artists and books keep popping up) Oh Hell you know what I mean - stops digging a hole)

Did our films already. Many of us liked The Matrix, LOTR, StarWars, Alien etc.

Thanks Ray! I guess I missed it, or I forgot...brain doesn't function too well all the time.

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TJohn: Many thanks! I missed this one...brain fog I suppose! LOL :-(

my SF favorites Iain M Banks Jack Vance Philip K Dick Isaac Asimov John Brunner Brian Aldiss my classic favorites Thomas Hardy Edgar A Poe Charles Dickens

Try James Lowder as the author of Knight of the Black Rose

I have favorite authirs, just not sure about favorite books... C.S. Lewis (he was a theologian, professor, and an Episcapalian Minister) Asimov Ian Irving Milton Dante These are only a few, but I'm sure you can see that I like a wide variety of things from classics to sci-fi.

Currently reading D. Brin - The Kiln People, T. Pratchett - Soul Music and I. Rankin - Knots and Crosses. I am also a big I. Banks fan (with or without the M.!) As to favourites, way too many others to list, have several thousand in my library.

@Erlik: Mucho Mojo and The Two Bear Mambo are among my favourites of Lansdale. I translated the Two Bear Mambo in Italian and it was really a challenge! That guys writes almost only slang... Texan, mostly :) Plus, the Drive-In series is astounding. In fact, everything he writes is damn good. Stefano

My reading is as eclectic as my music (re: earlier post) In no particular order: Piers Anthony; the Xanth series and the one about the guy who accidently kills Death... forget the title... Douglas Adams; first three Hitchhiker books ("So long and Thanks for all the Fish" was a bit of a wash) Tom Clancy; "Red Storm Rising", "Executive Orders", "The Dragon and the Bear" Douglas Hofstadter; "Godel, Escher & Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" James Burke; "The Day the Universe Changed" and "Connections" Lawrence Block; all, just entertaining mysteries John Muir; "The Mountains of California" R.H.Dana; "Two Years Before the Mast" Betty Edwards; "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and "Drawing on the Artist Within" (Had the great pleasure of hearing her speak at Cal State L.A. back in '82) Ernest Hemmingway; "Tortilla Flat" and "Cannery Row" David Berlinski; "A Tour of the Calculus William Zinsser; "Writing to Learn" and "On Writing Well" I have a library of around 1100 books, uncatagoried. A good 200 are cook books, though, so that doesn't really count. I buy and keep hardbacks. I also drive my minimilist wife nuts...