SFReader.com : Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Book Reviews & more      SFWatcher.com : Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Review



  Home | Log In | Register | Calendar | Search | Help
   
SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Books You Should Read > Top ten books  Forum Quick Jump
 
New Topic Post Reply Printable Version
35 posts in this thread.
Viewing Page :  1  2 
[ << Previous Thread | Next Thread >> | Show Newest Post First ]

Kuroboshii
Shogun



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 542
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 1:40 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
A simple yet difficult question. . .what are your ten favorite books? Which set would you take to a desert island, assuming you got The Complete Guide to Island Survival and Raft Building as a freebie?

Mine are (roughly):

1. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
2. THE KING OF ATTOLIA by Meghan Whalen Turner
3. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4. THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by Scott Lynch
5. SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD by Orson Scott Card
6. DRAGON AVENGER by E. E. Knight (honorary to the series as a whole)
7. MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE by Brandon Sanderson
8. THE LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel
9. THE BLACK CAULDRON by Lloyd Alexander (honorary to the series as a whole)
10. DECLARE by Tim Powers

If I thought a manga series counted as a book, I'd add in Fullmetal Alchemist ;).

Sean T. M. Stiennon (AKA Kuroboshii)

Check out my author page at www.sfreader.com/authors/seanstiennon

Back to Top
 

PaulMc
Adept



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 989
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 1:50 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Kuroboshii said...
A simple yet difficult question. . .what are your ten favorite books?

1.) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
2.) The Odyssey by Homer
3.) Beowulf
4.) The Black Company by Glen Cook
5.) Darkness Weaves by Karl Edward Wagner
6.) Solomon Kane stories by Robert E. Howard
7.) Conan stories by Robert E. Howard
8.) Old Nathan by David Drake
9.) Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
10.) Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

That's this week. I you ask me next week, three or four choices will probably be different.

-- Paul McNamee

My Writings

Back to Top
 

Dark Agnes
Lady Barbarian



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Mar 2008
Total Posts : 20
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 2:37 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Heart of Darkness, by Joesph Conrad
Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Kull: Exile of Atlantis, by Robert E. Howard
Captain Blood, by Raphael Sabatini
Swordwoman, by Robert E. Howard
Emma, by Jane Austin
 
Like PaulMc, if you ask this question next week I know that there would be some changes.
 
 
Back to Top
 

Lyn
Adopt



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Sep 2007
Total Posts : 1278
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 4:05 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Hmm...no particular order...
Anne McCaffrey's first Pern trilogy
Stephen Donaldson's first Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Frank Herbert's Dune
Terry Brooks first Shannara trilogy
Hobbit & Lord of the Rings
Chronicles of Narnia
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
and others, depending on different things... lol

Lyn from Residential Aliens
Purchase ResAliens Anthology

Back to Top
 

Jordan Lapp
ppaL nadroJ



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2526
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 4:21 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Holy cow, Agnes, you need to update your library. Some awfully good books have been published since 1900.

Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
Back to Top
 

Jordan Lapp
ppaL nadroJ



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Sep 2006
Total Posts : 2526
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 4:25 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Kuroboshii said...
A simple yet difficult question. . .what are your ten favorite books? Which set would you take to a desert island, assuming you got The Complete Guide to Island Survival and Raft Building as a freebie?

Mine are (roughly):

1. WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams
2. THE KING OF ATTOLIA by Meghan Whalen Turner
3. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4. THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by Scott Lynch
5. SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD by Orson Scott Card
6. DRAGON AVENGER by E. E. Knight (honorary to the series as a whole)
7. MISTBORN: THE FINAL EMPIRE by Brandon Sanderson
8. THE LIFE OF PI by Yann Martel
9. THE BLACK CAULDRON by Lloyd Alexander (honorary to the series as a whole)
10. DECLARE by Tim Powers

If I thought a manga series counted as a book, I'd add in Fullmetal Alchemist ;).

I'm totally with you on Watership Downs, and I just bought Lies (seems decent). But Speaker? You're the only guy I've ever seen who's picked No 2 over No 1. Why does Speaker appeal more than Ender?
 
The Black Cauldron is awesome. I would have picked Taran Wanderer out of the series.
 
Good picks overall!

Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
Back to Top
 

Kuroboshii
Shogun



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 542
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 7:56 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
ENDER'S GAME was great, but. . .SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD really touched me deeply in a way Game never did. Ender as Speaker struck me as a much deeper character than Ender as Xenocide. A good example would be the scene in SPEAKER when Ender first meets the family of seven(?) kids, and immediately grasps what's wrong with Grego. He's the only one of the siblings who is actually mourning their father, and Ender can see it immediately.

I also loved the well-researched, respectful presentation of Catholicism in a far-future setting. . .that's a rare jewel indeed cool.

The piggies were wicked cool, too.

Sean T. M. Stiennon (AKA Kuroboshii)

Check out my author page at www.sfreader.com/authors/seanstiennon

Back to Top
 

Lyn
Adopt



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Sep 2007
Total Posts : 1278
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 8:45 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Good observation on Speaker for the Dead, Sean. As to Agnes being stuck in the last century, I guess I never got passed the 70s. Maybe a tangential question is, what are your favorite books written this decade! :-)

Lyn from Residential Aliens
Purchase ResAliens Anthology

Back to Top
 

Michael
Estranged Earth



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 137
  		   Posted 3/18/2008 10:41 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmel
The Rune of Unmaking by Madeline Howard (although only the first two books are out right now)
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (especially The One Tree)
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
A Man of His Word by Dave Duncan
A Handful of Men by Dave Duncan
The Lord of the Rings of course...

Shucks, I can't think of anymore right now. I'll try to get back to you. :-)  

Tower of Light Fantasy http://toweroflightfantasy.myfastforum.org/

TOL Guidelines http://toweroflightfantasy.myfastforum.org/about16.html

Avatar Lore http://avatarlore.blogspot.com/

Back to Top
 

Nicholas
Adept



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 954
  		   Posted 3/21/2008 4:07 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Hmmm...I may sneak back in and edit this post, but these are off the top of my head:

  1. The Lord of the Rings Tolkien
  2. The Complete Tales and Poems of E.A. Poe
  3. Wow, slots three through ten would probably change on a weekly basis!

Agnes, Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite books too, but I've read it so many times already (and written two papers on it) that I probably wouldn't want to use one of my slots for it.

Which brings me to a twist: Sean presented this as the ten books you'd have with you on a desert island--which means some of my choices would probably be books I desparately want to read or have begun but not had time to finish. In which case, I would pack these (since this would be the perfect opportunity to absorb them):

  • Dune Frank Herbert
  • The Brothers Karamazov Dostoevsky
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel Susanna Clarke
  • The Life of Samuel Johnson Boswell
  • Don Quixote Cervantes
  • The Iliad Homer
  • Paradise Lost Milton
  • The Divine Comedy Dante
 
 

Back to Top
 

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2938
  		   Posted 3/21/2008 6:52 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Kuroboshii said...
A simple yet difficult question. . .what are your ten favorite books? Which set would you take to a desert island, assuming you got The Complete Guide to Island Survival and Raft Building as a freebie? (Thanks for the gimmees - I'd use those for fire-starting and toilet paper)
Pretty much in no particular order:
 
If I couldn't take all those extras, my 10 books would be the Malazan Books of the Fallen, hands down.

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
First Book Released: The Return of the Sword
Assistant Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
House von Darkmoor - where the real action is
von Darkmoor's thoughts - where it all began

~~~~~~~~~~
Eye of the Dragon Avatar courtesy of crystalwizard

Back to Top
 

Kuroboshii
Shogun



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 542
  		   Posted 3/22/2008 2:06 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Heh. I'd probably opt for a nice, big hardcover edition of War and Peace for sanitary usage ;).

I'm beginning to think I should try these Malazan books. . ..

Sean T. M. Stiennon (AKA Kuroboshii)

Check out my author page at www.sfreader.com/authors/seanstiennon

Back to Top
 

Dark Agnes
Lady Barbarian



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Mar 2008
Total Posts : 20
  		   Posted 3/22/2008 12:10 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Holy Frigga! A girl happens to like classical reading material and suddenly she gets jumped on! lol   Although I must admit that nothing on my list is written after the 1930's.

It just happens that I like to read books that keep me thinking about the characters and plots long after I've finished reading them. It also helps when the book has layers to it that reveil themselves as my outlook on the world changes. Also, I did admit that my list would change on a week by week bases.

 

 

Back to Top
 

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2938
  		   Posted 3/22/2008 2:16 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
yeah, Jordan! next week she'll be back to the 1800's!

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
First Book Released: The Return of the Sword
Assistant Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
House von Darkmoor - where the real action is
von Darkmoor's thoughts - where it all began

~~~~~~~~~~
Eye of the Dragon Avatar courtesy of crystalwizard

Back to Top
 

Dark Agnes
Lady Barbarian



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Mar 2008
Total Posts : 20
  		   Posted 3/22/2008 2:55 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Would it make all of you happy if I took along my copy of "The Encylopedia of Bizzare and Unusual Sexual Practicies"? 
Back to Top
 

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2938
  		   Posted 3/22/2008 3:11 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
No.  I'd be even more sad.  It's a desert isle, remember? devil devil

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
First Book Released: The Return of the Sword
Assistant Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
House von Darkmoor - where the real action is
von Darkmoor's thoughts - where it all began

~~~~~~~~~~
Eye of the Dragon Avatar courtesy of crystalwizard

Back to Top
 

Dark Agnes
Lady Barbarian



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Mar 2008
Total Posts : 20
  		   Posted 3/22/2008 3:30 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
von Darkmoor said...
No.  I'd be even more sad.  It's a desert isle, remember? devil devil

That's why camcorders were invented. scool
Back to Top
 

Edward Knight
Jack of all Trades and Master of None



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1038
  		   Posted 3/23/2008 1:11 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Maybe I can jump into this one without getting into too much trouble.  Other than my Bible:

1. The Hobbit (always my favorite)
2. The rest of the LotR books
2. The Shannarra series--Terry Brooks
4. Enders Game and the rest of the Ender books (Speaker is great but I really liked Ender's Shadow too)--OSC
5. Fahrenheit 451--Ray Bradbury
6. Battlefield Earth (liked Final Blackout too)--L. Ron Hubbard
7. The Seawolf--Jack London
8. Harry Potter (I think Goblet of Fire was my favorite in the series)--JKR
9. Rogue River--Louis Lamour
10. The Bellmaker or any of the other Redwall Books--Brian Jacques
 
If I could choose more:
 
11. The Once and Future King--White
12. Tarzan--Burroughs
13. Something from somebody else's list that I haven't read before :-)
 
 

Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing
Order our newest anthology, Unparalleled Journeys II, now at:
http://www.journeybookspublishing.com

Back to Top
 

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2938
  		   Posted 3/23/2008 1:40 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
I almost added the Tarzan series, too. And I'd take London along if I couldn't find my Dumas or Hawthorne books.

Actually, now that I think of it, having London's survival tales might be the best thing to have along after all . .. .

~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
First Book Released: The Return of the Sword
Assistant Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Magazine
~~~~~~~~~~
Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
House von Darkmoor - where the real action is
von Darkmoor's thoughts - where it all began

~~~~~~~~~~
Eye of the Dragon Avatar courtesy of crystalwizard

Back to Top
 

Edward Knight
Jack of all Trades and Master of None



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1038
  		   Posted 3/23/2008 9:44 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Hawthorne I can read. I've tried to sit down and read The Three Muskateers a few time and just can't get into Dumas.
Jack London is much easier to read than the other two, and Wolf Larson is one of favorite all time bad guys.

Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing
Order our newest anthology, Unparalleled Journeys II, now at:
http://www.journeybookspublishing.com

Back to Top
 

Kane
Neophyte



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 57
  		   Posted 3/26/2008 10:41 AM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

Like others here, if I were to put this list together next week it would contain changes.

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

The Republic, by Plato

Raise the Titanic, by Clive Cussler

The Poetic Edda, Carolyne Larrington translation

The Watchmen, by Alan Moore

Kull: Exile of Atlantis, by Robert E. Howard

Gladiator, by Phillip Wylie

Legend, by David Gemmell

Bloodstone, by Karl Edward Wagner

Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

 

 

 

"I vanquished Law once, I'll conquer yet again--
And force upon Mankind the Freedom he fears--
And dead gods I will again defy…"

Back to Top
 

Charles Gramlich
Acolyte



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Aug 2007
Total Posts : 267
  		   Posted 3/29/2008 1:10 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
This would change dramatically from week to week for me. But today's list might be:

1. The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen,
2. The Sowers of the Thunder collection, by Robert E. Howard.
3. The Sword of Night and Day, by David Gemmell
4. To Tame a Land, by Louis L'Amour
5. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
6. Ghost Story, by Peter Straub
7. The Best of C. L. Moore
8. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume one
9. The Night Winds collection by Karl Edward Wagner
10. The collected poems of Dylan Thomas

Can I keep going? I want more.

Charles Gramlich
 

Back to Top
 

Nicholas
Adept



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 954
  		   Posted 3/29/2008 2:45 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
  1. The Complete Shakespeare
  2. The Norton Anthology of English verse
  3. The Fantasy Hall of Fame
  4. The Lord of the Rings
  5. The Iliad
  6. The Oxford King James Bible
  7. The Complete Tales & Poems of E.A. Poe
  8. The Norton Anthology of English Literature
  9. The Life of Samuel Johnson by Boswell
  10. a G.K. Chesterton treasury
 
 

Back to Top
 

SJHigbee
Neophyte



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Mar 2008
Total Posts : 96
  		   Posted 3/29/2008 4:54 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
- Anything by Terry Pratchett, but particularly "Small Gods" in the Discworld series & I also love "A Hatful of Sky" because of the wonderful description of the South Downs near where I live...
- Robin Hobb - "The Soldier's Son" series, as well as the "Liveship Traders" if I could squeeze it in!
- Lois McMaster Bujold - "Borders of Infinity" - mainly because it includes the wonderful "Mountains of Mourning"
-J.K. Rowling - "Order of the Phoenix" - mainly cos they're a fun read - but also partly because my son appears as James Potter - albeit very briefly - in the H.P. movie...
- John Wyndham - either "The Chrysalids" or "Chocky", I can't make up my mind
- Jules Verne - "Around the World in 80 Days", I've always loved his stuff, but I particularly like the humour in this one.
- Sheri S. Tepper - "A Plague of Angels", or "Beauty"
- Julian May - The Galactic Milieu Series, all of them please. But if you FORCE me to choose, then I'll take "Intervention"
- C.J. Cherryh - "The Foreigner" series - and NO, I can't leave any of them behind. Just bind them into a very large single volume, pretty please with cherryhs on top... and if you could possible cram in "Rider at the Gate" and "Cloud's Rider" I'd be VERY grateful
-Jane Austen - "Northanger Abbey". I really like "Emma" better - except for the ending. The poor girl ends up with Mr Knightley, the smuggest git in the universe and you just know that he is going to turn into a worse version of her father.

www.sjhigbee.com

Back to Top
 

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)



Email Address Not AvailablePersonal Homepage Not AvailablePrivate Messaging Not AvailableAIM Not AvailableICQ Not AvailableY! Not AvailableMSN Not Available
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2938
  		   Posted 3/29/2008 11:24 PM (GMT -4)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.