Which novel do you like best?

[Kurt]

Nothing cliche about it. It's a badass book.

It is. Eventhough it's been quite a while for me I still remember it very vividly. Talk about leaving an indelible mark.
I don't have a favorite novel as such. I rarely re-read books anymore. If I finish one it usually means that I liked it. The most recent one was 'The Questionnaire' (Der Fragebogen) by Ernst v. Salomon, an interesting read for historians mostly.

I do actually have a favorite novel 'Il barone rampante' by Calvino - it has everything How could I not remember this?

 

[juicytuna]

The Great Train Robbery - Michael Chriton.

Brilliantly written and a fascinating insight into Victorian London.

 

[Mummy]

Im sorry if i have to expand thread title from "novel" to "novels" but i can't really find a single novel i love the most, so im going with a list:

Sci-Fi must read

Ray bradbury

Fahrenheit 451

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451

Isaac Asimov

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_asimov

The Best of Isaac Asimov

• ISBN-10: 038505078X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385050784
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_best_of_isaac_asimov

I, Robot

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot

The Foundation Series

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Series

End of Eternity

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_Eternity

Pebble in the Sky

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_in_the_Sky

Frank Herbert

Dune saga

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Herbert

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Roadside Picnic

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Picnic

Sci-Fi good books

Isaac Asimov

Nemisis

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(Isaac_Asimov_novel)

The Caves of Steel
The Naked sun
The Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caves_of_Steel
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Sun
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Robots_of_Dawn
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots_and_Empire

Philip Dick

Time out of joint

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Out_of_Joint

Ray bradbury

The martian chronichles

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles

Cliffod D. Simak

The ring around the sun

• http://www.amazon.com/Ring-Around-Masters-Science-Fiction/dp/0881848522

Isaac Asimov

The stars, like dust

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars,_Like_Dust

L. Ron Hubbard (the Scientology nutcrack)

To the stars

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Stars_(novel)

Tom Godwin

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Godwin_(writer)

Ragnarok saga

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Godwin

Horror must read

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (he could be put in Sci-Fi too but i think he falls mostly in this category)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

anything of the Cthulhu Mythos, those novels can be find in collections, im gonna list them here:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_mountains_of_madness
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Out_Of_Space
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dunwich_Horror
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Horror_at_Red_Hook
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rats_in_the_Walls
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Over_Innsmouth (one of the novels that inspired the game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dreams_in_the_Witch_House
• Many many more i forgot

Stephen King

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King

Insomnia (i love it)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia_(novel)

The Talisman

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Talisman_(1984_novel)

The Dead Zone (i suggest also to watch the old movie)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(novel)

The Green Mile (watch the movie too)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Mile_(novel)

Salem's lot

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Salem's_Lot

Steve Harris

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Harris_(writer)

Adventureland

• http://www.netstoreusa.com/jubooks/074/0747233942.shtml

Horror good books

Stephen King

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation

Im gonna continue the list later :smile:

 

[BoardBonobo]

Battlefield Earth - L Ron Hubbard
Only Forward, Spares - Michael Marshall Smith
King Rat - China Meiville
Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula leGuinn

For me I think it is more a case of favourite Authors rather than particular works. I have over 3.5k books in my library (yes I have my own library!) which, sadly, I am disposing of due to lack of space and a growing family. Everything from first edition Darwin, Asimov and Edmund Cooper to 'That's not my monkey his nose is too rubbery...'

 

[KimB]

Here are some of mine that I have enjoyed:

1. Dune series. The first couple of books are quite good, but the series progressively gets more and more boring. Haven't bothered to read the books by Brian Herbert.

2. Harry Potter series. Unlike the Dune series, the Harry Potter books get better and better as the series moves forward. I rather think I enjoyed the last of the series the most.

3. Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit. Obviously.

4. His Dark Materials. A truly excellent fantasy trilogy.

5. Dragonlance novels by Hickman and Weis. There are some great adventures in there. Some better than others.

6. Drizzt Do'Urden novels by R.A. Salvatore. The ones chronicling his early days were the best, and I thought they rather tapered off more recently. I got bored and stopped reading with the first book in The Hunter's Blades trilogy.

7. 1984. An excellent classic work of sci-fi. Really gets under your skin. A must read. (It seems like the Bush administration has really picked up some good tips from this book...)

8. Some Michael Crichton books (e.g. Jurassic Park, The Sphere, Congo, Eaters of the Dead/Thirteenth Warrior, Disclosure, Timeline, Prey). He's just a nut when it comes to global warming and a few other things, but whatever.

I'm sure there's lots more that I've enjoyed over the years, but those are a few.

 

[Gerry]

Only Forward, Spares - Michael Marshall Smith
King Rat - China Meiville

I liked MMS earlier work. He seems to have moved on to crime thrillers now though, not really my cup of tea.

China Mieville is an acquired taste. Perdido St Station was good, and The Scar was excellent. He does have a tendency to write over-complicate his writing though - almost as if he's showing off. Iron Council (which I'm reading at the moment) is quite difficult to follow at times because of this.

 

[Mariner]

I agree about Mieville - I found reading Iron Council purgatory (I hate to leave books unfinished) but The Scar was excellent and Perdido Street Station wasn't too bad at all.

If you're feeling like a long and interesting read I'd recommend The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. Well written and very entertaining although overlong (3 books, each around 1,000 pages) but well worth a read. Possibly the most brilliantly conceived amalgam of plotlines and characters I've ever encountered - I'm still not quite sure how Stephenson managed to bring it all together so effectively!

 

[Gerry]

If you're feeling like a long and interesting read I'd recommend The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. Well written and very entertaining although overlong (3 books, each around 1,000 pages) but well worth a read. Possibly the most brilliantly conceived amalgam of plotlines and characters I've ever encountered - I'm still not quite sure how Stephenson managed to bring it all together so effectively!

Read 'em. Took me bloody ages! Found some of it slow going but well worth getting through it.

Reading through this thread again it seems I've not actually mentioned any authors or books. I'm sure I've mentioned him before but Neal Asher is probably my favourite current author - consistently excellent (except for Cowl, which I didn't really get at all).

 

[BoardBonobo]

I have to agree about the Iron Council, it was a little turgid. Perdido Street Station and King Rat are excellent stories though and the Scar was quite epic. MMs's new crime thrillers are good, the main characters share all the traits of previous characters like Stark.

 

[Pete]

(And here I was thinking China Mieville was an alternate spelling for James Clavell. I would've went with Taipan. )

One Hundred Years of Solitude still tops my list. A few already mentioned get close.

I just read The Invention of Curried Sausage: a little gem. I guess a bunch of other people caught its mention a little while ago in the NY Times, too, because all of a sudden it's back in stock everywhere.

Chal, it's been a while since I read Salvatore's Drizzt, but to put that up there in the top ten? I had much fonder memories of Eddings and Feist. And is Harry Potter that good? How's it compare to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel?

 

[KimB]

Chal, it's been a while since I read Salvatore's Drizzt, but to put that up there in the top ten? I had much fonder memories of Eddings and Feist. And is Harry Potter that good? How's it compare to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel?

Can't say, never read 'em. But by the time I got to the fourth Harry Potter book, I was extremely engrossed. And they just got better after that.

As for Drizzt, it's been a few years, but when I read those books (up until the more recent ones), I thought they were quite a lot of fun. But this is probably largely due to my love of the Dungeons and Dragons games (pen and paper and computer). I don't think I had as much fun reading them as I had with many of the others, but I still thoroughly enjoyed 'em.

And by the way, I'm not really ranking these books I've read in any particular order. I just say whether or not I enjoyed them, and these are a few that I remember off the top of my head as having enjoyed.

 

[BoardBonobo]

Chal, it's been a while since I read Salvatore's Drizzt, but to put that up there in the top ten? I had much fonder memories of Eddings and Feist. And is Harry Potter that good? How's it compare to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel?

Eddings (The Belgariad) and Feist (Magician, Silverthorn, Darkness at Sethanon) are all in a different class to Harry Potter (though I did enjoy them) and I rank Pullmans His Dark Materials trilogy above Rowlings efforts.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel was a weird book but ended up being a very good read. Also 'The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Blue Bear' is a ripping yarn!

 

[Pete]

Sorry, Chal, didn't mean to put you on the defensive or anything. I was just trying to check my memories against yours, in case you'd read those other books. I must have liked something about Drizzt, b/c I'm pretty sure I have another in that series.

Anyway, if we're talking fantasy, we'd all be remiss not to mention Terry Pratchett, who leads directly to Douglas Adams. Plus, Snow Crash! Man, I love SF/Fantasy, but I still hesitate to consider them 'novels.' A failure of my imagination, I guess. (I mean, how to consider The Aeneid or The Odyssey?)

 

[KimB]

Sorry, Chal, didn't mean to put you on the defensive or anything.

Nah, don't worry about it. Just clarifying that my list was not intended as a top ten list (or top eight, as it were).

Anyway, if we're talking fantasy, we'd all be remiss not to mention Terry Pratchett, who leads directly to Douglas Adams. Plus, Snow Crash! Man, I love SF/Fantasy, but I still hesitate to consider them 'novels.' A failure of my imagination, I guess. (I mean, how to consider The Aeneid or The Odyssey?)

True, I have read those authors, and they're quite enjoyable, with a caveat: Douglas Adams is another author whom I thought really tapered off with time. The Hitchiker's Guide series starts of superbly, and stays good for a couple of books, but by the time it gets to the end it's just flat-out boring. And annoying too.

With Terry Pratchett, I have to admit I've only read one of his books (Going Postal), but it was an excellent read. He's definitely an author I'm going to be reading more of when I get around to more reading...

 

[K.I.L.E.R]

I honestly need to start reading. Haven't read a novel for many years since I finished high school.

 

[epicstruggle]

anyone read the Ranger Apprentice series? I believe its by John Flanagan. Someone recommended it, but havent heard of this author before.

 

[Simon F]

Which novel do you like best? Personally, I like One Hundred Year of Solitude and Dreams of the Red Manshion.

Funny, this turned out to be quite a good thread despite originating from a" one visit only" poster

 

[Sonic]

I was really anticipating A Dance with Dragons to come out at the tail end of 2008 but I guess that isn't happening. That book can't come out soon enough.

Can anyone recommend good books similar to the writing style of George R. R. Martin? I really like his writing style with great plot, great character development, and constant moving of the story even if it is a bit cold at times.

 

[epicstruggle]

Can anyone recommend good books similar to the writing style of George R. R. Martin? I really like his writing style with great plot, great character development, and constant moving of the story even if it is a bit cold at times.

This might interest you, list of best SF/F books/stories for 2008:
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/11/best-science-fi.html

 

[Sonic]

Thanks epic. I'm going to read over this list tonight and pick out the ones that interest me. Winter is coming and I need me a good book to cozy up to next to the fireplace.

Also, any sci-fi books that an 8 year old boy would be interested in? My son doesn't like Harry Potter at all (I think I influenced him too much in that regard).