Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Favorite book or book series of all time
bliss14
Member UncommonPosts: 595
If you could name one - ONE - book or book series of all time what would it be?
For me I will say the Codex Alera. Hard to name one and I want to post others but I will not. Tavi just struck a chord with me. Probably because I'm furyless 
Comments
Issac Asimov's "Foundation Series".
In my opinion no finer SF exists.
The Dragon Riders of Pern series by Anne Mccaffery. I also like the Dinosaur Planet series by her as well. Great story telling with characters you really cared about and felt you knew them. I would highly recommend if your a fan of a mix of fantasy and scifi.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
I really enjoyed Codex Alera as well.
My all time leader, for all the downsides it has, is the Wheel of Time. Hell, I grew up with the damn series for the most part. I got The Eye of the World when I was like 10, caught up with his writing somewhere around Path of Daggers, and ended up waiting for every book after that.
Not my favorite series of all time, but Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy is pretty sweet. Sanderson is a master at crafting magic systems.
Now with 57.3% more flames!
So difficult.
Series: loved Harry Potter, a Song of Ice and Fire.
Trilogies: Brent Weeks Night Angel series and Scott Lynchs Gentleman Bastards series. Those books make me want to role play an assasin.
Played: Ultima Online - DaoC - WoW -
LotR
still the classics 
btw, this thread reminded me:
We're all Geniuses. Most of us just don't know it.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
It's like Columbo except it's set in Russia during the 1800s.
The Riftwar Saga Trilogy by Raymond E Feist!
Although I have to say I'm loving Game of Thrones books too.
monstertruckracingarenas.com
Why did you remind me of Atlas Shrugged? I keep trying to forget about that book.
On the plus side, it's so hilarious to hear people randomly rattle off that book as their favorite, only for it to become painfully obvious they never read it. Even if you put aside all of the philosophy behind the book, it's so terribly-written that it's nearly unreadable. There are monologues in that book which are literally _dozens of pages long_. And they're not good and long. They're profoundly terrible and long. It's just one excruciating exercise in intellectual self-service. I participate regularly in writing workshops. Most of the people in there are voracious readers. Every so often, one of them tries to tackle Atlas Shrugged. Nobody makes it.
Me? Hrm. I've always been more of a short story fan. I'm trying to come up with something. I never got too deep into Asimov. I've read nearly all of his shorter works (I loved his short stories), but I passed on most of his novels. I think I always just considered them my dad's books. He was a huge Foundation fan, too. Doyle and Poe were always favorites of mine. I've read very close to all of their work, poetry included (I actually prefer Dupin to Holmes, though he featured in such an unfortunately small number of tales).
My favorite full-length books (not compilations) aren't really fiction. I fell in love with Walden. I first tackled that as a young teenager, and I didn't really appreciate it or fully absorb it. It's not the easiest thing to read. Certainly, the verbose (sometimes rambling) writing style of Thoreau and company flies in the face of the literary sensibilities of today. But by the time I was into my mid-twenties, I had read it a few times, and I think it really started to click with me. That probably remains my favorite book today.
But I do enjoy fiction. I loved Tolkien's work. And I do have a taste for science fiction, too. Ben Bova was my favorite there. I liked his mix of high science fiction and politics, though the Cold War-inspiration of some of his stuff leaves his work kinda dated today. Oh, and Douglas Adams. I guess when I look for a novel, I want something fun.
I've been in a dry spell lately, though. I used to read constantly, but I haven't picked one up in quite a while now. I just want something different, I guess. Not in the mood for "literature," and I'm kinda tired of the genre fiction I used to enjoy.
Started the Patrick Rothfuss book last night, "The Name of the Wind." Cannot put it down, except for intraweb time.
To the above poster: that is so funny I was thinking of "Walden" on my drive home from work today and how being outdoors really reengerizes me and that work came to mind.
Played: Ultima Online - DaoC - WoW -
Her writing is no worse than any other author published in the last century and her book is far more interesting than you say.
Ordinarily, I don't think that an author's life matters when reading their fiction but in this case it's required; once you understand her childhood, the book becomes not only interesting but important to read.
I agree with you that most people haven't bothered to read the book so it's widely misunderstood as an affirmation of being selfish and therefor it's beloved by the greedy and hated by the benevolent - it's actually about properly estimating people and honoring them.
Why do people rate the Foundation series so highly? I recently finished the original trilogy, yes they are great books, but I don't think they have aged very well. I think I read it more for the originality, I loved the idea behind it. The parts with the Mule were my favourite.
As to the question:
Game of Thrones, only because I have to pick one.
O_o o_O
On Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, they may not be worse than much of the stuff that fills the shelves these days.
I'd agree that with Hazelle that most ppl bashing Ayn Rand haven't read her books, I recently got into a debate with someone of that ilk that obviously hadn't read any Rand.
Foundation Trilogy? I read it it along time ago, but I find it hard to understand why I thought it was worth reading now - even though Asimov is excellent when he is popularising science.
My pick would be E. R. Eddison : The Zimiamvian Trilogy
I sometimes make spelling and grammar errors but I don't pretend it's because I'm using a phone
I don't really read series like I used to when I was younger. But with me also, Lord of the Rings was a cherished companion. As well as the Horatio Hornblower books by C.S. Forester.
Most Admired? - Edward Gibbon and 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'. That guy could really construct an elegant and beautiful sentence. And of note he was the major influence on Winston Churchill's prose style. But the long sentence, full of many subordinate clauses, now does seem out of place in the modern era.
You might want to look up the Honor Harrington books by David Weber for a series that is heavily influenced by the original HH. Tree cats rock!
Thanks for the suggestion. I read up on Honor Harrington on Wikipedia, and she does sound like an interesting character. And the science fiction aspect of following the career of a clever space ship commander might be fun too.
See, I didn't care for Mistborn but WoT is most likely my actual favorite series. When Martin's Ice and Fire came out and everyone flocked to it I stuck with Jordan. Had a few teamspeak arguments with a clannie in quake over it lol.
Rothfuss' storytelling is fantastic, imo. I've seen some people say they are sick of Denna and Kvothe's fascination for her but I kind of liked it.