# Favorite book



## kay hall

Right now my favorite series is "The Hunger Games". I have the final book to read called "Mockingjay" and I can't wait to read it. I'm really excited to see this book become a movie.


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## SAPorcher

I have never read _The Hunger Games_ but I think my favorite is _The Alchemist_ by Paulo Coelho. It's so simply written but it makes you think.


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## Jinxi

I have sat for about 10 minutes trying to think about my favourite book, one that stood up above all others, and to be honest I can't think of one. I have read numerous books that I really enjoyed. Life of Pi, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Vernon God Little, anything by Patricia Cornwell, etc all fall under this category


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## Heavy Thorn

Admittedly, I haven't read much in recent years, but the two novels that stand out are Cormac McCarthy's _The Road_ and Bernhard Schlink's _The Reader_.  Not sure if I could really choose between the two.  <grin>


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## Trides

Night, by Elie Wiesel.
I'm joking, of course. Er... perhaps The Arabian Nights, although there are many versions. Perhaps.


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## caelum

I just started the first Hunger Games, and am diggin it so far.  About twenty pages in.  As for a favourite, I also don't think I could pick a single one, but for a few faves: Dune, All Quiet on the Western Front, 3rd Harry Potter, Wuthering Heights.  Random Stephen King novels.


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## The Blue Pencil

Little Women.
The characters in that book hit so close to home, their feelings are so real. The entire book is crafted so perfectly.


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## J>K

I would have to say the wheel of time series. Don't think I could narrow it down any further than that though. Just the most engrossing books I have ever read.


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## Custard

caelum said:


> I just started the first Hunger Games, and am diggin it so far.  About twenty pages in.  As for a favourite, I also don't think I could pick a single one, but for a few faves: Dune, All Quiet on the Western Front, 3rd Harry Potter, Wuthering Heights.  Random Stephen King novels.


The 3rd Harry Potter book was the first novel I ever read (I was about 12 or 13), I can still recall how much I loved it. I read it at least 15 or 16 times until my dad started bringing me other books. I also remember the Island of Blue Dolphins by Scot 'O Del, that also captured my imagination.


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## Nick

My most enjoyed read was a Richard Layman book I read a while back, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was called. Normally it's not the kind of style I liked, but it kept me hooked. I'd love to get back into the kind of reading that I enjoy doing for the pace, action and thrill of reading it, so this new favourite may change.


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## J.B-West

My most enjoyable book to date would have to be the King of Plagues by Jonathan Maberry, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading it in the back of work. Cannot wait for his next book.


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## Minsc

Midnight's Mask- Paul S. Kemp


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## Jen

I'm not ashamed to say I am a victim of the classics, when I think of a favourite novel, well it's quite difficult!
If I had to choose a sort of "Top 5 list" - (not in order of preference, yes I'm incredibly indecisive)
1. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (My dad read this to me when I was very young, it's his favourite novel and I have read it many times).
2. Sweet Thursday - John Steinbeck
3. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
(I am a lover of all of his novels but these two are very special to me)
4. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (I adore all platforms of Plath's writing; her poetry, short stories and of course her only novel, she is a source of inspiration and her words are beautiful)
5. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (I told you I was a lover of the classics, I adore all six of Austen's novels - but MP is a masterpiece in my opinion).

Currently I'm reading Son's and Lovers by D.H Lawrence and it's just impossible to put down - brilliant read!


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## Julien

Novels:

In the Country of Last Things - Paul Auster. (English)

Du coté de chez Swan (Swan's Way) - Marcel Proust (French)

Drama:

Mcbeth 

and any tragedy by Jean racine (that'd be for the French)

All those books have the universal message I would like to convey in my writings.


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## theusedfire5

This may sound extremely odd to most, but I must say that every book I have ever read has been my favorite book. Not by how it was written, but because each book I read gave me something different to experience emotionally and to add intellectually.


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## Diablodude

I've always love Nineteen Eighty-Four, and that's been my favorite book for a few years now. Before that, House of the Scorpion was my favorite, and still ranks high.

I've just finished A Game of Thrones, which was absolutely fantastic. So I'd say as of right now those three are my top.


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## Winston

Diablodude said:


> I've always love Nineteen Eighty-Four, and that's been my favorite book for a few years now.


Indeed.

I would add the Douglas Adams HG2G series.  All were good, but the first two were superb.  If you're pressed for time and want to revisit them, you can find the original BBC broadcasts archived on The Web.  Brittish Humor:  Some get it, others get it much later.

I also loved Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano".  Look around, we're there.  And Joseph Heller's "Catch 22."


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## Bruce Wayne

It was not the best reviewed book, but I enjoyed The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Also The Godfather by Mario Puzo


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## scarletlight

I'm undecided about Dan Brown as an author. Alot of people seem to love the stuff but..I don't know if I like it or not personally.
Im reading the Hunger games right now like the original post was. I love it, has to be one of the best things I have read.
Game of thornes I keep hearing is a good one but I havn't yet read it.

So yeah have to go with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


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## Lavender

I was introduced to Of Mice and Men at secondary school and it's been a favourite book of mine ever since. I've read 1984 but I preferred Animal Farm.


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## Bilston Blue

I'm undecided. A toss up between Faulks' _Birdsong, _and one I especially enjoyed at the start of this year, Sarah Blake's _The Postmistress. 
_


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## wayfarer

I haven't read The Hunger Game, but that book is being made into a book and is actually being filmed nearby where I live.

My favorite book, or rather books, of all time is still The Lord of the Rings.


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## Dropkick

Well, that actually depends. If we are talking *Book *it would be _Fevre Dream _by George R.R. Martin but the *series* _A Song of Ice and Fire _by the same author is better in my opinion. Though I wouldn't say so for the individual books, because I know that alone the books would lose some of the splendor that comes from turning from a novel into an epic. And that comes with multiple books.


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## johnthegrungekid

It's hard to decide on an all-time favorite, but right now I'm REALLY into this book, Moondogs. It's the debut novel from a guy named Alexander Yates, and it's _fucking amazing._ It's nonlinear, with 5 intersecting story-lines revolving around an American businessman being kidnapped in the Phillipines. At first, I was like "The fuck is this..? Did someone do a bunch of LSD one night and attempt to rewrite Harry Potter as Quentin Tarantino would..?" But I forced myself through the first few chapters, and I don't regret it at all. I expect gooooood things from this guy in the future, and I really REALLY recommend this book.


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## Aderyn

'Catch 22' ... you'll be laughing within the first 10 lines (what brilliance!).


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## Pamela Davis

If I am choosing a series it has to be The Lord of the Rings which I've re-read too many times to count. There are so many favorites it is hard to choose, but I'd say Welcome, Chaos by Kate Wilhelm is right up there as an all-time favorite. Even as I write that I want to take it back. I'd need to set up favorite lists per genre to do this topic justice.


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## procrastin8or

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman. Just amazing.


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## Argentum

The Hobbit. My favorite book of all times! A story to be told in front of the fire to your close friends and family. Hilarious and heartwarming and exciting and everything a good book needs! A brilliant overall classic! As a bonus, he pulls off the Author Intrusion pretty darn well without ruining the story and I always loved how it seemed like J.R.R Tolkien was telling the story.


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## toddm

Some of my all time favorites:

1) The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien (not much on the movies though)
2) David Copperfield, Dickens
3) Wuthering Heights, Bronte
4) Far from the Madding Crowd, Hardy


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## wanderkyd

Moby Dick. For whatever reason, when I first read it as a senior in high school it was like Herman Melville was in my head. The journey, the philosophical questions, the tragedy of obsession, it all just related to my life in the strangest ways. It will always have a special place in my heart. Second favorite it probably Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. Completely blew my mind when I read it in middle school, continues to blow my mind on every re-read.

I recently read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and it is quickly making it's way to the top of my most loved list. Such simple but chilling writing. He gives me faith that a socially awkward outcast can make a great investigative reporter.


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## Razzazzika

Trides said:


> Night, by Elie Wiesel.
> I'm joking, of course. Er... perhaps The Arabian Nights, although there are many versions. Perhaps.



Why are you joking? That was a really good book...

I can't narrow mine down to a favorite book... I've read a lot of really good books. It would have to be a fight between Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Frank Herbert's Dune


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## Bloggsworth

*The Black Cloud,* a science fiction novel written by astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle. I am amazed that it has never been made into a film.


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## MrMormon

The Phantom Tollbooth was my absolute favorite book in childhood until the Harry Potter series. It's about a kid discovering a fantasy world full of puns and based around logic and math themes.

The Singularity is Near is a one time read, but it lays out some very fascinating data and technologies arguing that in the next century, humans will create artificial intelligences smarter than us, which would lead to runaway technological advancement that would leave us as pets unless we join them with mind uploading and stuff.


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## sir_vile_minds

All of Simon Kernick's books (especially the ones featuring DSI Tina Boyd)
Victims by Shaun Hutson
The Three Billy Goats Gruff (I've owned it for around 20 years (same copy) and read it multiple times a year).


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## Pixie Lee

There are several that I've enjoyed but the one I always come back to is "Sunne In Splendour" by Sharon Kay Penman.  I love Historical novels and this one hits the spot with royal medieval England. The characters come alive and are so interesting.  I love all her novels but this is a favorite.


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## Bluesman

I have read lots of books and it,s hard to pin one down but i did love Tess Gerritson,s The Surgeon. It.s very gory and very violent but in terms of suspense it does,nt get much better for me. Also The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon) was a wonderful read.


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## gagoots

Infinite Jest.


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## Wegoma

It would probably be a tie between *The Hunger Games* and *Divergent. *They are both well-written and thought-provoking books. I tend to read them again and again.


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## Infested

hard to say - the ones that ignited my writing and being here are dragonlance(though the latest development is such a suckass).
though sci-fi gave me alot of ideas and alike. ender series, the positronic man...
but i choose the dragonlance series.


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## ASWright

My favorite would have to be Hells Horizon by Darren Shan, Paucar Wami is one of my favorite characters of all time. I also love the incan influence and its the high point of the city trilogy for me. However it faces some pretty stiff competition from The Stand and The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller


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## Sunny

The Hunger Games was fantastic. The last book disappointed me a little though. 
Delirium by Lauren Oliver is definitely at the top of my list. Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series are the best! Although, JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series are so darn good (when I'm in the mood for that type of naughty read!) O


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## Higurro

I love Tolkien's work but I can't chose between The Hobbit, LOTR and The Children of Hurin. I used to love Brian Jacques' Redwall series a few year ago and was so sorry when I read he'd died ealier this year that I immediately bought all the Redwall books I didn't already have. When I was a kid it was Roald Dahl, especially Danny the Champion of the World. I tend to go through periods of having different favorite books.


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## slythgeek

I'm going to be classic here and say _The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Even after three months of ripping it into shreds in high school English, I can still pick it up and enjoy it.

I'm a Harry Potter fan too.  Upon my latest re-reading, I decided book 4 is my favorite except the chapter "Veritaserum", which I pretty much deny.


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## anisha_astrologer

my favorite books are harry potter( love them all!), pride and prejudice, great expectations and oliver twist.


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## runonwords

_The Road _made me think about the world ending much more than I should. I'm constantly ready to fill my tub up with water. Haha

I happened to finish the book just as the movie was coming out on DVD so it was pretty awesome seeing the book visualized two days after setting it down!


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## JoeSmo

My favorite book is one that most likely allot of you have read at some point.  JURASSIC PARK.  And I say that in all caps because everything in the book was just stand out good.  It’s funny too because I saw the movie first and thought it was great.  But when I read the book I realized just how much more interactive and spellbinding it was!


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## slythgeek

No, no.  I agree!  It was my favorite book in eighth grade.  I probably read _Jurassic Park_ six or seven times.  I still think it's a great book.  The characters in the book are a thousand times more compelling than in the movie (and I'm saying this from having loved the movie).

Since then, I've read books I like better, but I still read parts of _Jurassic Park_ every once in a while and smile.


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## wildie1990

currently my favourite book 1984 by george orwell, its a really good read


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## Ol' Fartsy

As a few of you said it's hard to choose a favorite book. But I liked the Harry Potter books, Inheritance Cycle (need to read Book 4[Inheritance]), Twilight Saga.


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## GostPhareal

I read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern a few month back and I gotta say it is an amazing book.
But I do like better the long fantasy epic books, and I'd say the Lord of the Rings gets my vote for favorite.


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## Jinotega

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
All Quiet on the Western Front
Heart of Darkness


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## luckyscars

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Unusual choice, perhaps, especially since I'm not a huge sci-fi fan. I just think Captain Nemo is an amazing literary character.


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## Dramatism

Across the Universe

Though I thought it could've had a more complete ending.



Sunny said:


> Delirium by Lauren Oliver is definitely at the top of my list.


OMG, I just finished reading that!  I liked it a lot, but the super sad ending killed it for me.


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## Sunny

Dramatism said:


> OMG, I just finished reading that! I liked it a lot, but the super sad ending killed it for me.



My heart was racing non-stop at the end of that book. My hands were sweating, and I was so absorbed, I felt like I was in the book. I couldn't believe how it ended either. But, it definitely didn't kill it for me, it just makes me more excited to read the next one. I've been patiently waiting for March to get here! God, I can't wait!!!! I can't wait to see what they do to him... Oh God, they'd better not do the surgery on him... Bahhhhhhhh!


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## Dramatism

Sunny said:


> My heart was racing non-stop at the end of that book. My hands were sweating, and I was so absorbed, I felt like I was in the book. I couldn't believe how it ended either. But, it definitely didn't kill it for me, it just makes me more excited to read the next one. I've been patiently waiting for March to get here! God, I can't wait!!!! I can't wait to see what they do to him... Oh God, they'd better not do the surgery on him... Bahhhhhhhh!



What?  I thought he died!  It said that his last word was "run"...


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## Sunny

Dramatism said:


> What? I thought he died! It said that his last word was "run"...



Ha Ha. I thought he died at first too!!! But no. They just captured him. If you read it over again, you will see that he's not dead. ;0)


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## Dramatism

Sunny said:


> Ha Ha. I thought he died at first too!!! But no. They just captured him. If you read it over again, you will see that he's not dead. ;0)



Yay!  That changes _everything_.  I did remember reading they jumped on top of him, but I figured that was the end of his life...


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## Sunny

Dramatism said:


> Yay! That changes _everything_. I did remember reading they jumped on top of him, but I figured that was the end of his life...


We both did! Lol. Now maybe you'll be as excited to read _Pandemonium_ as me... I just checked and the release date was moved up to Feb 28!!!! Yussss!


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## philistine

James Hilton's 'Lost Horizon', D.H. Lawrence's' 'Sons and Lovers' and Jules Verne's 'Around The World in Eighty Days'. 

Those three instantly came to mind, so that's what I saw fit to put down. To be fair though, I enjoyed Verne's 'Journey' trilogy equally the same. They're all amazing.


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## Jon M

A toss up between _All The Pretty Horses_ and Carver's _Collected Stories_. But that's just because those are the ones I'm reading at the moment.


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## Daneril17

Mines is All Quiet on the western front


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## Lalaley

My favourite book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have heard people say that it is poor, or they weren't happy with the way the story panned out. Well, I was very happy with it. (was a bit gutted that she off'd Fred... ) I just knew that Rowling had it planned that way for a very long time, and that it was how it was always meant to be. 

But, I also love _Goblet of Fire, Half-Blood Prince _and Prisoner of Azkaban... and His Dark Materials... and the Obernewtyn Chronicles.


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## archeene

Harry potter books are great, but i'm either too pretentious or too hipster to ever call something so popular my favorite. Might have to go with dostoyevsky's "possessed". Nikolai stavrogin is one of the best characters ever written into existance imo. So conflicted that you never really figure out what hes about until 800 pages in.


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## Cesar

My favorites are:

Harry Potter Series (i consider them as a whole unit) - JK Rowling
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Angels & Demons - Dan Brown
The Mortal Instruments series - Cassandra Clare
The Hunger Games (first book) - Suzanne Collins
The Divine Comedy - Dante   (Inferno and Purgatory to be more specific)

I read the whole Hunger Games series, and it's very good, but the first book in particular is quite brilliant. Also the Arena in Catching Fire was extremely creative, really enjoyed that.


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## Kyle R

- "The World According to Garp" by John Irving

- "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen

- "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London

- All books by H.G. Wells

- All books by Ray Bradbury

- All books by Jennifer Egan

Gahh! Must I choose just one? Lol


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## Missy

Well... If Manga is included in this then I think my top 5 books would be:

1. Fruits Basket - Natsuki Takaya (manga)
2. Animal Farm - George Orwell / The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving 
3. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
4. The Girl of Fire And Thorns - Rae Carson
5. Cirque Du Freak - Darren Shan (the entire series)

Gosh that was hard, and there are still so many I would _like _to put up there. Thank you Cesar for saying Dante's Epic!! (I agree _Inferno_ and _Purgatory_ are the best written and to be even more specific I loved _Inferno_ the most).


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## Bossk

Flowers for Algernon was definitely my favorite book of all time. It made me sob pretty badly at the end though. Life is so unfair for some people.


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## Shorty Dawkins

Two books stand out in my mind: The Old Man and the Sea, by Hemingway, and Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game) by Hermann Hesse. One is short, the other is long. Both are magnificent.

Shorty Dawkins


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## Shorty Dawkins

Daneril17 said:


> Mines is All Quiet on the western front



That is a good choice, Daneril17. Have you read For Whom The Bell Tolls, by Hemingway?

Shorty Dawkins


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## Shorty Dawkins

slythgeek said:


> I'm going to be classic here and say _The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Even after three months of ripping it into shreds in high school English, I can still pick it up and enjoy it.



Ah, yes! The Great Gatsby. A good book. I loved it. I read around the time I was reading Catcher In The Rye and The Sun Also Rises; two more good ones.

Shorty Dawkins


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## elfwriter

I have to say _things fall apart _by Chinua Achebe is one of the best.


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## julieet1

Othello is my favorite literature.


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## Cameron22123

I've read _The achelmist by _Paulo Coelho. I must say it was quite amazing. There is also the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini. I must say I liked the Hunger games, but the movie didn't impress me. Obviously the Harry potter books. The Maze runner was great too.

Gosh, There so good. I wish I could erase ever reading them, and (re)reading them.


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## philistine

One of the greatest novels ever written.


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## Senserial

"The Lord of the Rings" - J. R. R.Tolkien
"Jane Eyre" - Charlotte Brontë. 
"Tuesdays with Mori" - Mitch Albom
"Thornbirds" - Colleen McCullough


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## OurJud

_The Woodwitch_ by Stephen Gregory, which I read about 8 years ago.

... that's up to now, of course, but I have so much more to read I can't imagine that will remain for ever.


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## Gyarachu

_The Hobbit _easily takes the number 1 spot for me. It is literally (puns!) the perfect epitome (yeah I know that's redundant) of the adventure story, and everyone should probably agree with me...







... but I suppose I concede that it is just my opinion...







...but my opinions are facts...


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## escorial

Cannery Row....the place,the people.....amazing.


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## Daevid

I'm thinking Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, or Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, or the Tao Te Ching.


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## KnightPlutonian

_The Dead_ by Charlie Higson. Most of the book is okay, a somewhat above average zombie apocalypse novel but it has the best weak character to badass character shift I've ever seen. I won't spoil it here but it's freaking great.


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## Dave Watson

Impossible to pick one, but if you held a gun to my head and demanded three favourites, I'd go for...

The Stand - Stephen King
Watchers - Dean Koontz
The Beach - Alex Garland

though point another gun at me tomorrow and I'd probably say something different.


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## Deleted member 56686

There are two that stand out for me

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (probably my favorite author)
the USA trilogy by John Dos Passos


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## kaufenpreis

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 
 Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austin 
 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne 
 Once - Morris Gleitzman


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## No Cat No Cradle

"Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut (I know, surprise surprise)
"Candide" by Voltaire
"Animal Farm" by George Orwell
"The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells
and my number one spot would have to go to "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller


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## Poet of Gore

probably still The Catcher in the Rye

I would also put Glamorama up there

and The Haunting of Hill House


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## Threak 17

I have two favorites I return to time and time again -- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes & The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway


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## chizuru

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I've gotten most of my friends to read it. It's not exactly popular with them, but for some reason I was instantly drawn to the novel. Maybe because of the cats and the interesting storyline.


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## Optiluiz

I think it's a tie between two wonderful books and maybe one honorable mention. I love them all, though I realize that one is far superior to the others.

The first one is The Stand, by Stephen King. I bought it back in 2010 and it basically swallowed me whole for a whole week. It's a an epic fantasy/horror story that I recommend to anyone even remotely interested in post-apocalyptic storytelling. Also, it inspired me to start forming my own epic story, which one day I'll publish and I hope it'll be at least half as good as King's awesome novel.

The second one is The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe, which I only read this past July Even so, I know I'll cherish it forever. If the world were actually ending, I'd save this book and keep it as humanity's new bible. That's how good it is (in my opinion, at least). The cryptic prose and amazing narrative make it impossible stop thinking about it, even after you've put the novel(s) down. It was actually split into a series of 4 smaller novels, similar to the Lord of the Rings, due to length, but in practice it is just one huge and wonderful book.

I guess I could mention the Hobbit as well, but I love that one more because of what was going on in my life at the time I read it than because of the book itself. Although it is pretty great too, and I'm also pretty excited for the last film adaptation


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## Burroughs

It's hard one to pick! I'd have to go with Jack Kerouac - The Subterraneans. I found the story both beautiful and heartbreaking.


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## HeightenedState

Right now, it has to be "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

It's a book about loving books. The language, the prose, the imagery... I can't put it into words. They're just beautiful.


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## Wannabe

Suttree - Cormac McCarthy 
The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr
A Walk on the Wild Side - Nelson Algren
Ask the Dust - John Fante


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## helmac321

I've read lots of things, lots of great books, but because I'm so picky, so stubbornly attached to the first books I fell in love with, I'm going to go with _Sabriel_ by Garth Nix as my ultimate favourite. Beautifully simple writing for a fantasy, with a wonderful concept of the 'anti-Necromancer', I just fell so much in love with the world it presented and the strong, stubborn female lead character. 

Other books that 'win' for me, are The Hungers Games, Looking For Alaska, The Windup Girl, and Cloud Atlas.


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## SociallyAwkward

My favourite book has to be without a shadow of a doubt World War Z. It's not a brilliant story and it isn't character driven but it just feels so human. For months after reading the book, I had nightmares and it scared me it really did. I still have an irrational fear of zombies to this day but that wasn't the scary thing about the book. The real horror of the book was humanity, our propensity to do bad and to make really stupid mistakes. It was scary because it felt so real, because it highlighted that we are our own worst enemy.


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## Pea

I love everything by Tolkien but I think The Fellowship takes the cake.


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## JamesR

_I am Legend_ by Richard Matheson. It is the sci-fi horror book that started it all; the grandfather of the zombie genre as we know it. Prior to Matheson's book, the undead genre was still dominated by supernaturalism, religion, and the occult. But Matheson's creatures were the first of their kind. They were undead vampires who were reanimated not by supernatural means but by natural means--a bacterial disease. This gave birth to zombies as we know them today. Even Romero--often falsely credited as the father of the zombie--was merely basing his script for _Night of the Living Dead_ off of Matheson's book. He admitted this himself several times. Besides its influence, I find the writing style genius. The way Matheson was able to not only portray a post-apocalyptic nightmare, as intriguing as it is frightening, he was also able introduce subtle humor and social commentary into the book. The way he satirizes White middle-America's fear of civil rights and minorities during the post WWII era with the main protagonist's fear of the undead is genius; the way he unapologetically bashes the previous supernatural Victorian concept of the undead through Neville's hatred of Bram Stoker's Dracula is hilarious. 

I read this book when I was 10 years old and was hooked ever since. I reread it countless times, studying Matheson's writing style in detail. I had nightmares for several years, spend hours contemplating horror, and was inspired to start writing.


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## KJay

There is a lot of love for The Hunger Games on here. I loved the first two books, but felt the last book let it down somewhat. 

The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon was a fantastic read. 

and The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is an absolute masterpiece!


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## MamaStrong

I downloaded The Hunger Games when I first got my kindle back in 2012. Have read it probably 300 times since then. No judging. 

My favorite book though, _Island of the Blue Dolphins._


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## Bruno Spatola

Probably Clive Barker's _The Hellbound Heart.
_
Other faves: 
_Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Hobbit
IT
The Hogfather
Kensuke's Kingdom _(first book I read)


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## J Anfinson

Tough question. It's hard to choose just one. So I got up and walked over to my bookshelf, and lo and behold after arguing with myself I decided I'll just pick this one.

_The Things They Carried_ - Tim O'Brien

That one resonated with me for many reasons.


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## erves

Without a doubt _Speak_ by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda's(main character) narrative is so real and raw.


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## InnerFlame00

I can't pick one. My faves change with time. Currently my favorite series is the Hunger Games. 

A book that really stands out to me is _Phantom_ by Susan Kay, she did a really good job of building a very complex character, and it was interesting to see a book written from a villain point of view and see how he becomes what he is.

I also really liked _Shadowfever_ by Karen Marie Moning, she gets really philosophical and crazy with her characters, they all feel very real to me. The whole fever series was interesting but that book trumped them all.

Anyone else like those two? I feel like I've got no one to be excited about them with lol.


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## Sforza

The Picture of Dorian Gray


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## Carlton

My favorite novel so far this year is the classic, *Things Fall Apart* by Chinua Achebe:




My all-time favorite novel is F. Scott Fitzgerald's, *The Great Gatsby*:



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