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| Posted By : Kuroboshii - 3/18/2008 12:40 PM | 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 |
| Posted By : PaulMc - 3/18/2008 12:50 PM | 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 |
| Posted By : Dark Agnes - 3/18/2008 1:37 PM | | 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.
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| Posted By : Lyn - 3/18/2008 3:05 PM | 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 |
| Posted By : Jordan Lapp - 3/18/2008 3:21 PM | Holy cow, Agnes, you need to update your library. Some awfully good books have been published since 1900.
Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
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| Posted By : Jordan Lapp - 3/18/2008 3:25 PM |
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
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| Posted By : Kuroboshii - 3/18/2008 6:56 PM | 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  .
The piggies were wicked cool, too.
Sean T. M. Stiennon (AKA Kuroboshii)
Check out my author page at www.sfreader.com/authors/seanstiennon |
| Posted By : Lyn - 3/18/2008 7:45 PM | 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 |
| Posted By : Nicholas - 3/21/2008 3:07 PM | Hmmm...I may sneak back in and edit this post, but these are off the top of my head:
- The Lord of the Rings Tolkien
- The Complete Tales and Poems of E.A. Poe
- 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
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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 3/21/2008 5:52 PM |
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)
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| Posted By : Kuroboshii - 3/22/2008 1:06 AM | 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 |
| Posted By : Dark Agnes - 3/22/2008 11:10 AM | Holy Frigga! A girl happens to like classical reading material and suddenly she gets jumped on!  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.
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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 3/22/2008 1:16 PM | yeah, Jordan! next week she'll be back to the 1800's!
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Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
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| Posted By : Dark Agnes - 3/22/2008 1:55 PM | | Would it make all of you happy if I took along my copy of "The Encylopedia of Bizzare and Unusual Sexual Practicies"? |
| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 3/22/2008 2:11 PM | No. I'd be even more sad. It's a desert isle, remember? 
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
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| Posted By : Dark Agnes - 3/22/2008 2:30 PM |
von Darkmoor said...No. I'd be even more sad. It's a desert isle, remember?
That's why camcorders were invented.  |
| Posted By : Edward Knight - 3/23/2008 12:11 AM | 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
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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 3/23/2008 12:40 AM | 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)
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| Posted By : Edward Knight - 3/23/2008 8:44 AM | 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
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| Posted By : Kane - 3/26/2008 9:41 AM | 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…" |
| Posted By : Charles Gramlich - 3/29/2008 12:10 PM | 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
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| Posted By : Nicholas - 3/29/2008 1:45 PM |
- The Complete Shakespeare
- The Norton Anthology of English verse
- The Fantasy Hall of Fame
- The Lord of the Rings
- The Iliad
- The Oxford King James Bible
- The Complete Tales & Poems of E.A. Poe
- The Norton Anthology of English Literature
- The Life of Samuel Johnson by Boswell
- a G.K. Chesterton treasury
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| Posted By : SJHigbee - 3/29/2008 3:54 PM | - 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 |
| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 3/29/2008 10:24 PM |
Charles Gramlich said...
5. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Alright, I guess I'm gonna have to add this to the TBR shelves. If somebody goes and includes it on their list of 10 recommended books to read on a lonely isle, guess it can't be too bad after all.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
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| Posted By : Charles Gramlich - 3/30/2008 11:44 AM | Von Darkmoor, you have to just tell yourself that you don't mind the fact that he doesn't use quotation marks for dialogue. Once you get used to that everything else is OK. I really thought it was an excellent book.
Charles Gramlich
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| Posted By : Gustavo - 3/31/2008 12:41 PM | The Hitchhiker's guide omnibus
Foundation
Any Discworld book with Vimes in it
Vanity Fair
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures 1 (the omnibus)
Magician by Raymond Feist
The Eye of the World
The Elfstones of Shannara
Time Enough for Love
Visit my livejournal! http://bondo-ba.livejournal.com/
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| Posted By : Edward Knight - 3/31/2008 9:04 PM | I love the Foundation series. I hadn't thought of those books. This 10 book limit on an island thing would never work for me. Guess I'd better start swimming.
Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing
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| Posted By : Nik - 3/31/2008 9:46 PM | von Darkmoor said...Charles Gramlich said...
5. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Alright, I guess I'm gonna have to add this to the TBR shelves. If somebody goes and includes it on their list of 10 recommended books to read on a lonely isle, guess it can't be too bad after all.
I reads it recently. Gotta get past the overuse of incomplete sentences and lack of quotation marks and apostrophes. (I still don't get it--I know he's trying to make a point, like the world is incomplete or something, but it's annoying at first). After that, it's a quick read, and well done.
Nicholas Ian Hawkins
Forthcoming
"Knowledge and Dust," in Magic & Mechanica, from Ricasso Press, Spring 2008
Published
"What Heroes Leave Behind," in Return of the Sword, Flashing Swords Press, March 2008
"The Weald Maiden's Will," in Every Day Fiction, March 5, 2008
"Relativity," in FLASHSHOT, September 28, 2007
Visit my website, Trampler of Beautiful Phrases, at nihawkins.wordpress.com |
| Posted By : Nathan Jerpe - 4/3/2008 2:26 PM | | Some of these are from my entries in the Top 100 thread, which you should *definitely* consider endorsing :)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
Mason & Dixon - Pynchon
Siddhartha - Hesse
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Twain
The Once and Future King - White
Slaughterhouse Five - Vonnegut
The Mysterious Island - Verne
A Wizard of Earthsea - LeGuin
The Book of the New Sun - Wolfe
The Hobbit - Tolkien
These are my ten favorite, definitely NOT the ten I would take to a desert island though.
http://roguelikefiction.com |
| Posted By : Nicholas - 4/3/2008 5:07 PM | | Some good ones on there, Nathan. And how could I have let Wolfe slip my mind?!
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| Posted By : Nathan Jerpe - 4/3/2008 6:56 PM |
Nicholas said...Some good ones on there, Nathan. And how could I have let Wolfe slip my mind?!
Wolfe is my most recent inductee, actually. I have our very own Bill Wardwriter to thank for that!
http://roguelikefiction.com |
| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 4/3/2008 11:10 PM |
Nathan Jerpe said...
These are my ten favorite, definitely NOT the ten I would take to a desert island though. OK - I'll bite. Why not?
~~~~~~~~~~
Jason M. Waltz
Managing Editor, Flashing Swords Press (site soon to come)
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| Posted By : Camille Alexa - 4/4/2008 4:36 AM |
Not necessarily in order (and, as with many, my list is subject to change without notice):
A Billion Days of Earth (Doris Piserchia -- my current #1 for sure)
Earthchild (Doris Piserchia)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller, Jr)
I Capture the Castle (Dodi Smith)
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. I: The Pox Party (M. T. Anderson -- one of the most powerful books I've ever read -- don't for a second believe it's "just" a YA book)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
We Have Always Lived In the Castle (Shirley Jackson)
A Fine and Private Place (Peter S. Beagle)
Superluminal (Vonda McIntyre)
Bridge of Birds (Barry Hughart)
Doomsday Book (Connie Willis)
Deadwood (Pete Dexter -- WARNING --not like the series. I fell in love with this book in the '80s when I first read it. Amazing.)
---OOPs. More than ten. Sorry. I stop now.
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| Posted By : Nathan Jerpe - 4/4/2008 8:41 AM |
von Darkmoor said...
Nathan Jerpe said...
These are my ten favorite, definitely NOT the ten I would take to a desert island though. OK - I'll bite. Why not?
Hehe...as somebody mentioned upthread I believe: if I were on a desert island I would be sure to bring along a few books I hadn't read. Plus I'd lean more towards quantity, since these would be the only ten books I'd ever read again. Books like The Complete Works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible and so forth.
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| Posted By : bleacheddecay - 9/19/2008 11:52 AM | I agree about not wanting to read the same books all the time. There are very, very few I would read over and over. One I can think of is, In the Moon of the Red Ponies by James Lee Burke.
My top ten in no particular order:
In the Moon of the Red Ponies by James Lee Burke
Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey
The Keep by F. Paul Wilson
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Kushiel’s Dart by Jaqueline Carey
You Suck by Christopher Moore
I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis
Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
bleacheddecay |
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