Forums » Smalltalk » Favorite book (fiction)?

Oh man, I was putting off answering this topic because there are just way too many to mention.

The first book that truly changed my life was Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea. I used to have these horrible nightmares when I was a kid. I was convinced I would die in my sleep and literally go to hell. I can't reconstruct that sense of visceral terror right now, but it was so bad I couldn't sleep. When I discovered the power of words, of naming the things I fear, it was like being handed a magic sword. It made the demons go away. And honestly, it still helps me today. But then again, I hate it when people say my name, so there is that trade-off.

The one I always go back to when I need to remember what I love about writing is Tanith Lee's Night's Master. I can never get enough of the language, the gorgeousness, the air of luxurious and slightly wicked wonder. For me, reading Tanith Lee's works as a teen was like being given a map to my own desires. Before her, I thought all good fantasy books were supposed to be about men doing "important" things, like saving the world and describing sword moves in excruciating detail. (YA pretty much didn't exist back then.)

The book which revolutionized how I think about characters was Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers. Hoo boy, this was hard to read. But it taught me a very important thing about the characters we write: we write them. No matter how much we try to take away our own personal prejudices, something of us still shines through. Genet's image of the writer trapped in his prison cell, cupping his own farts and smelling them... ugh, that was foul! But it strikes me as an important thing to remember. It's why we should read a variety of different authors, and not totally trust any kind of media when they try to teach us any sweeping generalizations about human nature. Sure, the author may be a great thinker and they may have revolutionized the thought of their time, but in the end, that writer's just one person, with a personal, lived experience of a hundred years max. (I mean, sorry Shakespeare, not all women scorned have a fury greater than hell. Some just get super sad and binge on ice cream, you know?)

And this is really sad, because I keep forgetting the title. There's this one series I value because it made me realize just how strange it is that fantasy is so fixated on monarchies and the One, True King. In contrast, this one's a fantasy where in the end, a kind of democracy saves the day. The one thing that saves the kingdom is when everyone's voice is heard: Minion A who somebody sacrificed in book 1, Random Chick B who got killed in a generic battle, etc.. It was a pretty cool twist ending. But I can't remember what it's called. Though I guess it's good, because I just spoiled the ending, didn't I?

Anyway, I've rambled on enough. There's so much more, though! I didn't even include the ones I just love because I adore the characters!

Hey Skrifa...

I was trying to read this for free (the C.S. Lewis one) and I found this, which says it's the second one in the trilogy which is called Perelandra or something like that. My question is...is this the right thing? Which one of the space trilogy is the best, if you have to pick one, the first one? I know, I know, I should probably just buy it. :p But free...

Perelandra

Gone , love those books! Better then any book in this world

I wanna buy the book of Cats

But I first need to read all the 15 books I buyed this year

Wicked is my fav new book , the difference between the musical is kinda big

Also endgame is fun , but I need to read the first book again otherwise I won’t understand the second book

Also miss peregrine is nice , but I prefer other books more

Artemis Fowl will forever be my favorite book (series).
Eoin Colfer is honestly my main inspiration as an author. The way he brings you into his world, the way he crafts it, the humor, the drama, the characters...
It's such a good book. When I finished the series I literally cried. I own every single Artemis Fowl book.

The series is amazing. I highly recommend you read it before they start releasing teasers for the movie that's coming (2020 I think?). It was shelved for a while but now Disney picked it up in association with another group, so it's actually gonna be a thing. I'm not 100% pleased with the casting or what it's looking like so far, but Colfer signed off on it, so I guess it won't be too hideous.

Either way, the books are AMAZING. I love them.
They are Young Adult fiction, so it's not like you're going to get The Forgotten Realms level of novel. But Artemis Fowl is still a highly enjoyable book, no matter your age.

Perelandra is the second, yes. Personally, I found the second and third a little grueling to get through, for the main reason being that it kinda began to repeat itself. But yes! You did find one of the books!

The first one is definitely the best, by far. The beginning chapter you have to push through a bit, it's really confusing, but once he's out to space - there's no words for it. It's as if you're sharing the same wonder as the character...

I'm sure you can find the entire space trilogy free somewhere online...I used a site once (can't remember the name for the life of me!) to read Children of Hurin when I couldn't get my hands on it. I'll try to find it for you and see if it's on there!

Don't worry, I'll find it. And ok..you convinced me, will find the first one...it's CS Lewis, I know it HAS to be good if I get through the tedious parts.

If you're a fan of magic and mysteries I recommend

Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

The short description is the book is about a wizard detective looking to a case involving "dark magic."
I find the book enjoyable and currently reading the rest of the series.

This is the Dresden Files, right?! 10/10 amazing combination of modern setting and magic. I've only read the first book but I LOVED it!!

Either girl with the dragon tattoo series or everything by Robison Wells

Variant and feedback mainly

Blackout, dead zone and going dark

All of those

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It's extremely long-winded but once I got into it I couldn't put it down (for longer than a few minutes which I had to do occasionally to catch my breath!) It got me really emotional. Every single character death hit me so hard... and that's a lot of them.

(Of the musical I've only seen the movie version from a few years ago. It was nowhere close to the novel.)

I love the book and I also love the musical , I watched the orginal dutch one and the new dutch version , and the movie of course , indeed it’s different but I like it too

Man oh man, it's been ages since I read that...I loved the entire series, even the way Brandon Sanderson capped it off after Roibet Jordan died. In my honest opinion, I believe Sanderson really did the series justice with the notes Jordan left behind.
Oh man, you hit two series that I absolutely love--the Shadow books about Bean and the other children from the Academy, and the Mercyverse! Plus, the Mercedes Thompson books are set in my own state, which was kind of an exciting bonusa for me!
Man, I loved the Space Trilogy too! Can't say enough good things about it!
Definitely agreed, an amazing balance of worldbuilding and action, perfect for a series targeted at Young Adults!

Now, for myself, when I was younger I enjoyed the Boxcar Children, a family of four orphaned siblings living out of an abandoned Boxcar in the first book, until they get adopted--they solve mysteries much like The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, and slowly grow up over the course of over a dozen books. (I'm not so much a fan of the ghost-written stuff that came after, that lacked much real continuity with the original books.)

Another series I enjoyed, the series that got me into Sci-fi and fantasy, was The Animorphs. Like the Boxcar Children, it's a series targeted at younger children--but the author is not afraid to cover more mature themes like death, loss, even PTSD, in a fairly realistic manner. It is, after all, about a small group of human kids--and one alien youth--fighting a guerilla war against a secret invasion of another, parasitic alien race, so naturally there's a lot of fighting and other trauma-inducing events. They do have the advantage of being granted the power to shapeshift into any animal (or other being) they can directly touch, hence the term 'Animorphs.' K. A. Applegate's other books interested me as well, though this series was the one that truly broke the ground for me on enjoying nonrealistic worlds and stories.

Anything by Mercedes Lackey I consider good, too--but especially her novels of Valdemar and its Heralds, humans of unassailable good intentions, chosen by white horse-like beings called Companions, who take up both the law and the sword, as needed, to defend their beloved kingdom from threats both external and within. And the novels set beyond Valdemar's borders in the same world are also fantastic, bringing life to many and diverse cultures even half a world a way from the nation the original novels were set in.

Lastly, anything by Brandon Sanderson. Not only did he do an amazing job capping off Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, he is an amazing worldbuilder in his own right--but I think his best series has to be the Mistborn trilogy. The first novel is set in a world that has to all appearances, fallen to the Dark Lord a thousand years ago, instead of being saved by the prophesied hero--and it is still ruled by that Lord. It follows the efforts of a rag-tag team of thieves and scoundrels to bring him down and return the world to what it once was, what they believe it could be again. Not to mention, a fantastic and pretty understandable set of powers that the author has thought out and explained rather well, imo--those with them can swallow trace amounts of certain metals, and 'burn' them (kind of like digesting but at will instead of automatic) to fuel things like inflaming or dampening emotions, pushing and pulling on metals, enhancing the body or senses, and even hiding or seeking other people using their powers.

There are many many other books I have read that I enjoyed, but this post is already long and I don't wanna end up writing a whole novel here. I'll try and remember to share more of them later.

I haven’t read in awhile but The Maze runner books have always been a favorite of mine. Another one of those cases where the books are 10x better than the movie