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October Poll:  

What is your favorite book and why? (And is there a book you hate?)

Definitely one of my all-time favorites is Catch-22 by John Keller. I'm about to re-read it again starting tomorrow!

I also liked (Consider that I am only just entering my Junior year in High School):

1. Slaughterhouse-Five (Really hilarious at times!)
2. Night (Gave me a deep, horrific insight into the Holocaust)
3. Grapes of Wrath (I found the sections that had no dialog particularly appealing)
4. Lisey's Story by Stephen King (One of my all-time favorite entertaining/extremely creepy books)
5. Sphere by Michael Crichton (Another good entertainment book, but this one was more sci-fi. Also my first "hard" book which I read when I was in 6th grade.)

The worst book that I've ever read was Men of Iron. I read it when I was into Medieval fiction and it was so dry that I think that I went into a depressive state for the two weeks after I read it. Not because it was depressing the Farewell to Arms sense, but it was just SO bad!


~Tilli.

I love books too much to have a single favorite...but there is one that stands out.

The Cather in the Rye by JD Salinger has a special place inside my heart. Here are my views on the book, and why it means so much:

The Cather in the Rye is seen by many as dirty, inappropriate, and raunchy. "Put that back and read a decent book" the librarians say. But underneath the cursing, drinking, and smoking there is a truly amazing story.

The main character, Holden Caulfield and I are in a very similar situation: he goes to a ritzy prep school where everything is fake, as so did I. There hasn't been a single description of a prep school that is as accurate as "Catcher". Everything in that book is true. I admire Mr. Salinger so much for giving everyone an accurate look inside the nation's best schools.

I found this book in the corner of the library, dusty and unused at a time when I was really depressed. School was horrible, everything seemed against me. I picked up the library's ancient copy of the book and got on the subway to New York City. This book showed me everything was ok, and that there were others out there with the same problems as I do. It was a comfort in my time of need.

I just recently read it again, and it was even better the second time. The first edition of the book's cover read:

"This unusual book may shock you, will make you laugh, and may break your heart----but you will never forget it"

Perfect description.




Some of my other favorites are:

Twilight, Eclipse, and New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Anna and the Duke by Katherine Smith

Anything by Meg Cabot, especially "Every Boy's got one"

Romeo and Juliet by Will Shakespeare

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alex Dumas

The Outsiders by SE Hinton


-Agnes

So where do I start? There's so many, you might thinking about breaking up the categories into genres and eras.

I think the books that stick with us are the ones we read at a young age. The very first book-without-pictures I read was Robin McKinnley's "The Hero and the Crown." It really affected me, and it showed me what a really good book can do.

After that, of course, is Tolkien's "The Hobbit."

I also love "The Gunslinger" by Stephen King. The original one, not that 'new and improved' mess he came up with later.

Then there that are the more obvious ones, Tolkien, LeGuin's Earthsea, etc. All the ones I've read five times or more.

But if you're talking best book of all time, any genre, regardless of reader's age, then I'd have to go with Orwell's "1984." It's stood and will continue to stand the test of time. I highly recommend the audio version as narrated by Frank Muller.

Another great book for adults: Stephen King's "It."

Also, "The Picture of Dorian Grey" by Oscar Wilde is great.

For books I hated: I would say any book that got to the top by coasting on a controversy, name value or though a big publicity drive rather than it's own merit. No end of those. Signed Bob DeFrank

Me Love Terry Brooks!

Like the name above entails, I love Terry Brooks' fantasy novels, preferably the Shannara series. They are really what first got me into the fantasy genre and I recommend them to anyone.


Hated books? Hmm. I'm very hard to find a hated book, as I love to read all types of genres, voices, and POVs. But I don't like the splatterpunk genre-type books, the ones that are all gore and no real plot. To me, a story just isn't a story without good, loveable memorable characters, and a well-paced plot. Too much action and I get lost. Too many slow points and I fall asleep. I like one that has good peaks and valleys, which keeps me on the edge of my seat.


I only aspire to write such books someday.

Signed spiritwolf

My favorite books change every time I read another one. It all depends on my mood, the genre and how much I fall in love with the characters. So let's see...

Currently I'm reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I have not gotten far. I like to read the Potters slowly. Fans that wait in line for hours to be the first to buy Harry and then stay up all night to read the tale in one sitting shock me. I want the magic to last. I love the whole story idea and the complexity of Rowling's plots. I'm surprised by the punctuation though in this latest work. Colons, semi colons and em dashes, oh my! I hope it was intentional and meant to speed the action scenes, but the darkly cynical side of me whispers that no editor would mess with Rowling's verbiage at this stage in her career.

The last print fantasy novel that sticks in my brain, still disturbing me at night and leaving me with images of vivid scenes and driven characters was Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. It's an older work now, but well worth the read for fantasy buffs. Sanderson uses POV with all the cruelty and mastery of Stephen King, showing you a bit then drawing your attention elsewhere to make you read on. I cared for every character in the tale, even the villain--or at least who I thought was the villain until the very end. Sanderson's world is fully realized, the history clear, the dilemma both interesting and mysterious. In this tale, Elantris, a city were mage/healers dwell has fallen into darkness. No one knows why their magic no longer works or why those people chosen by the magical force known as the Dor no longer go through a full transforamtion. Instead, when the Dor chooses an Elantrian, that person is cursed with a terrible disease akin to becoming a living dead. I recommend this book to any fantasy reader. I loved it, couldn't put it down. Tor (1995) ISBN: 0-765-31177-1 EAN: 978-0765-31177-1 You can check out the author at http://Brandon Sanderson.com and also on MySpace at: http://myspace.com/Brandon_Sanderson.

A hated book? Oh this is difficult. I have a love/hate relationship with The Chicago Manual of Style. But that's probably not what you're looking for. I can't think of any one book I hated. My mind has probably blocked it out to protect my muses from the corruption.

From Traci M.

Opinions? I've got lots of them!
It's difficult to talk about a single favorite book, because there are so many criteria on which to judge a book. Here are a few off the top of my head:

Best for nonstop page-ripping action - Almost anything by Dan Brown, especially DaVinci Code and Deception point, perhaps the most exciting book I've ever read. I often recommend that aspiring writers read the first chapter of Deception Point as a model for how to quickly create fascinating, sympathetic characters embroiled in an engaging conflict. I don't think I've ever read a book that grabbed me more thoroughly in the first chapter than Deception Point.

Best for creating a world / society and immersing the reader into it - Frank Herbert's (first!) Dune

Best for mind-bending sophisticated plotting - Asimov's Foundation Trilogy

Most coherently imaginative (meaning that the author has a wild, crazy imagination yet manages to make the plot hold water beginning to end) - Dan Simmons Hyperion

Astounding ability to take a completely improbable plot and still weave it into an incredible novel through sheer writing skill - Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye

The one that manages to do EVERYTHING right: plot, characters, setting, et cetera. i.e. my vote for the most nearly perfect story: Heinlein, The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathon Hoag. Note that I have not just read but studied this work many times in an attempt to learn techniques that will improve my own writing. It doens't get any more perfect than this one, IMO.

Hope this helps!

TimM

My favorite is the Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth, which is closely followed by Robert Asprin's Myth series. =D As far as what I don't like, well, if it is in english I will probably read it. Signed Jezz

I nearly gave up on fiction.  Lost in the bad writing of Dan Brown and the pathetic Jonathan Kellerman, the political agenda of Dan Silva—I thought the thriller genre had lost all true talent for the fun, but intelligent novel.  Then my beautiful and kind mother-in-law (who will read this) handed me Stephen Hunter.  I've read them all, starting with the incomparable "Hot Springs".  The new book, the 47^th Samurai is the quintessential Hunter, fast-paced, clean dialogue, no wasted words, no stupidity in general.  Signed K.G.

I love books.  I love so many of them.  There are characters who I feel true emotion for and every time I re-read their books, I laugh and cry all over again.  At the end of a great book, I almost always break into tears, but can’t stop smiling either.  My favorite reads of all times: Vorkisagen series by Lois Bujold…Miles is by far my most beloved character of all time. Handicapped on the planet that despises weaknesses, intelligent beyond measure, and ambitious as the stars…Miles cannot be beat.  I also reread Pride and Prejudice each year.  I find it more humorous each time and also find more wisdom in Austen’s classic.  Lord of the Rings has joined my yearly reading, and I love it more each time as well.  Connelly is my favorite mystery writer, but I’m partial to the brooding police procedurals (though Rankin is a little too dark for my tastes).  David Weber’s Honor Harrington series is one of my favs, but I stopped at “Ashes” because I believe poor David lost his way and morphed in Clancy ( I writer I hate).  But Echoes of Honor is the best escape novel I’ve ever read, and book 4 is brilliant.  I like books where I can love the characters (and they need to have a tad of a dark side to feel real- because isn’t that the truth?).

Books I disliked are about as many as I loved.  I dislike Dan Brown’s Angels and Devils, couldn’t read more than two chapters of DaVinci Code.  I found his characters about as deep as a puddle on my driveway.  I don’t much like James Patterson, but haven’t really explored his more famous work.  Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island was a bit let down after 600 pages of set up (all of it fake).  Oh, I could go on, but I won’t.  I’ll just write more reviews.—C.C. Moore