Just about any book by the great Australian author, Bryce Courtenay, are good reads.

He was born in South Africa and The Power Of One (set in S. Africa) is probably his best known book....and a great read too

Lilith, yes... the "It" books are very heart-wrenching, especially to those of us who have a past of abuse. It was difficult to read at times, but also very uplifting in the end, to see what this poor child was able to overcome! I'm telling you -- when I read this, I started to think I was raised by The Cleavers! Definitely though... make sure you're in a good mindset before you choose these books.

I'm reading "The Rescue" by Sparks right now and can't put it down!! Very good read!

Right now
 

I am reading, in between playing here at Pixie's all day (lazy Sundays..... l love them), my most favorite author. Zora Neale Hurston. I have read a lot by her but am finally settling in to read, "Their Eyes Are Watching God." She wrote my very most favorite love line in a book ever,"I ud ruther all de womens in des wurl be dead, den fuh you to hab a toofache." Some like her dialect stories but some do not!I adore them!

J.R.R.Tolkien
Terry Brooks
Gary Gygax

Most fantasy writers

to satisfy my Alter ego

Oh man, where to start?!? I loved Nubian's picks (especially the Milton, the Irving, the Dostoyevsky, and the Confessions), and Boru's suggestion of Morgan Llewellyn, and like NY I'm a big fan of Ray Bradbury and of Roald Dahl (Who isn't? Both his kids' stuff and his more grown-up work is fabulous)... I've read and enjoyed Bryce Courtenay and Nicholas Sparks too, at various times... And Zora Neale Hurston! Of course! And Tolkein too...

But it should come to no surprise to those who have read my other threads that I have a certain passion for Canadian Literature (CanLit).* My all-time favourite author has to be Carol Shields --- I love all of her novels and plays (especially The Stone Diaries and Larry's Party) but her short stories and poems are absolutely exquisite, though they're much harder to find now. Then there is Alistair MacLeod (short story collections: Lost Salt Gift of Blood, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun; novel: No Great Mischief. Or Michael Ondaatje (novels: The English Patient or Anil's Ghost, or poems: The Cinnamon Peeler), Ann-Marie McDonald (novel: Fall On Your Knees), Anne Michaels (novel: Fugitive Pieces or poems: Skin Divers), Jane Urquhart (novel: The Stone Carvers), or --- of course --- Margaret Atwood (novels: Alias Grace and The Handmaid's Tale)... I think there's something magical about reading words that have come out of your own home landscape and your own specific culture, and that something is what always draws me back to my CanLit... That said, I read and love books from around the world whenever I get the chance.

On another note, for anyone who likes to write, I definitely recommend looking at Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg --- it's a constant source of inspiration for me, in both my academic and my creative writing.

--- sweetstuff,
unveiling yet another of her little obsessions

* What I'm including here are just my favourite titles, not all the works by each author... although my list is long and it might start to feel that way at times... :D But, LOL, if you think my list is long, you should see the list of books I want to read but haven't yet had time to indulge in!

Larry Niven "Protector" or the Ringworld series.

Anne McCaffrey, the Pern Series.

Daniel Defoe

Stephen Coonts

Not a voracious reader but...
 

I don't read as often as I'd like or know I should, but when I do sit down I like to partake of:

Edgar Allen Poe, any of the short stories

Richard Matheson, wonderful short stories, and my favorite vampire novel, "I Am Legend"

H.P. Lovecraft, any short stories

Douglass Adams, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy series, very funny stuff

The World According to Garp, John Irving

Phillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - the movie Blade Runner is based on this book. Really cool influention intellectual sci-fi

William Gibson, Neuromancer - the father of "cyber-punk" Matrix style sci-fi long before the matrix. Good sci-fi thriller. Check out also Virtual Light by Gibson.



Some of the classics:
Hamlet
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Phantom of the Opera - Alexander Dumas
A Christmas Carol - Dickens

I know, Christmas Carol is an odd addition to this list, but I've always liked it.

Fang
 

I read The Hitchhiker'sGuide series one long hot summer in Texas. I love Edgar Allen Poe as well, because I prefer short stories. I think it has to do with my attention span :D.

Hmm... My reading has always leanded toward sci-fi/fantasy, (although I still love the childrens book Goodnight Moon), some of my faves are:
Tolkiens' Lord of the Rings
Piers Anthony's Xanth series and Incarnations of Immortality series
Stephen King's Gunslinger series and several other King books
Isaac Asimov's Foundation series
Stephen R. Donaldson's Thoms Covenant series
Michael Chrichton's Sphere, Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park
John Grisham's Pelican Brief, The Firm, The Client
Anne Rice's The Mummy
Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers Guide Series

Just a few of the many books I've enjoyed... I'd also add that I hated most of the movies that were based on books listed above.

Lillith...
 

Love all Steven King books, but the last one I read was the best.

Insomnia...very long and sometimes drags a little bit, but as always with his books, has a great ending. Very imaginative!

Rockhard
 

I am going to pick that King book up. I have read most everythig else he wrote including his Bachman stuff. Good suggestion Thanks! If I get Insomnia I will think of you reading it as well!

Re: Lillith...
 

YES! Insomnia was great also... there's a LOT of tie in's to the Gunslinger series in that book (and others!)

If you like Sci-fi you have to read Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love" or "Stranger in a Strange Land." I also like Asimov Robot series and anything by Bradbury or McCaffrey. Sci-fi anyone?

Lots of great books
 

This thread is reminding me of past favorites now long forgotten. Time to revisit them I think, especially Aquaman's suggestion of Anne Rice's The Mummy. Excellent book and much easier to get into than the Vampire Chronicles (although Queen of the Damned is my fave from Anne)

And Sweetstuff....what an impressive list of Canadian works. May I add Farley Mowat to the list? Specifically Lost in the Barrens and Curse of the Viking Grave. I just saw Lost in the Barrens on Bingo and a Movie Saturday night and remembered enjoying it some 25 years or so ago.


BORU