I was going off topic so often I thought maybe we could take this to it's own thread.
I love to read, though finding the time makes it an erratic hobby.  I have lots of favorite
authors, and lots of favorite books and would like to know what other peoples likes and
dislikes. Off the top of my head I like How Green Was My Valley, the Red Tent, Long
Days Journey Into Night, Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, anything by Capote,
Eugene O'Neill, Oscar Wilde.  Lots more.  :)

I love historical fiction and a few fantasy books. I also love biographies and (of all things) reference books on different subjects. Some of my favorite books:

Memoirs of a Geisha -Arthur Golden
The Mists of Avalon and The Firebrand -Marion Zimmer Bradley
Gone With the Wind -Margaret Mitchell
The Autobiography of Henry VIII and The Memoirs of Cleopatra -Margaret George
The Joy Luck Club -Amy Tan
The Lovely Bones -Alice Sebold (just read this book and man, I could NOT put it down)
The Handmaid's Tale -Margaret Atwood
Twisted Tales From Shakespeare -Richard Armour (if you have ever read Shakespeare, I DEMAND that you track down this book and read it! It is hysterical!)

I also enjoy reading books on the paranormal. :)

I like to read old children's comics and annuals (seriously . . .  :-[)

English literature and reference books are great too (I don't have to concentrate too much on a particular thing for too long).

I love mysteries (V.C. Andrews is one of my favorites), horror tales (I looove Anne Rice's novels - my fave is The Witching Hour), poetry (Sylvia Plath is an example), and so many other works.

Tanya

i love science fiction and horror. my favourite author is hp lovecraft and other writers in the cthulhu mythos like ramsey campbell, karl edward wagner and robert bloch. clive barker is good and the vampire chronicles of anne rice are good reads. i also have developed a love for shoft stories, many of the stories i read of the authors i listed write short fiction.

I rarely have time for books so I go for newspapers to read.



Howard

I wish I had more time to read....Im stuck reading textbooks and books for my Lit class (not exactly stuff I prefer to read)...but these are the catorgories of books I like:

Humor books:  This includes obvious humor like the works of Dave Barry and George Carlin, but also something like Catch-22

Books with a meaning based around symbolism and such..kinda like a good movie...in fact, these make great movies....an example, 1984, or Huckleberry Finn, or even the Awakening (which btw, Im "adapting" into a screen play..well, not really, its not the Awakening per se, but it is based on an idea from it..thats the only similarity)

  90% of the books in my collection are history books - 90% of those focusing on ancient Rome.  Some Barnes&Noble, contemporary works but mainly ancient sources, university presses, studies and conference publishings.  I rarely read fiction.

  My favorites are the works of Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews
                                                                    Against Apion
                                                                    Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades
                                                                    The History of the Jewish War, my favorite.

  History is most fascinating...

When it comes to reading material, for the past few years I've spent the most money on computer related books, film books, and books relating to history -- Biblical, Greek, Roman, World War I and II, and stuff like that.

Every year I probably spend hundreds of dollars on books dealing with computers. I'm like a kid in a candy store when I'm in front of a good selection of computer books (hint: Barnes&Noble or Amazon.com).

I also love to take time and read all the popular "political" books when I'm in my local book stores: O'Reilly, Moore, Coulter, Bruce, Goldberg, Franken, Elder, Friedman, Hitchens and the rest of "the gang". They all hang out in the same section.

As for favorite books, some of mine for the last 25 years are...
Tolstoy's "War and Peace" & "Anna Karenina".
Dostoevsky's "Brothers Karamazov".
St.-Exupery's "Wind, Sand and Stars" & "Le Petit Prince".
Hemingway's  "The Old Man and the Sea".
Voltaire's "Candide".
Balzac's "Lost Illusions".
Hesse's "Siddhartha".
Payne's "The History of Islam".
Gonzalez's "The History of Christianity".

:)

I love any type of crime and forensic type books - Kathy Reichs and Jeffrey Deaver especially, but there are many "copy cat" authors that I come across and enjoy them too.

Also love a good old fashioned high powered action adventure like anything by Clive Cussler and Matthew Reilly.

Australian wise I love Colleen McCullough and have every book she has every written.

I also love book adaptations of movies and have an overly large collection of them.

Also collect Bio's and autobios of any of my favourite actors, singers, directors etc.

I am currently in book 3 of a 12 book series by William Stuart Long about the history of Australia.  Am finding it quite fascinating.  Its 95% fact and 5% fiction in that it follows the life of a female convict who isnt a real life person (she is based on a composite of 5 or 6 real life female convicts at the time) - but all the other characters in the book and events etc are real. First book beins with the First Fleets voyage and the construction of Sydney.

I love any type of crime and forensic type books - Kathy Reichs and Jeffrey Deaver especially, but there are many "copy cat" authors that I come across and enjoy them too.



Me too! I also love reading about the mob and organized crime. I don't know why it fascinates me so, but it does. Nothing beats a good mystery either. Actually, I'll read just about anything except science fiction.

I have been reading a lot more lately.  In the last couple of weeks I have read:

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Piccoult (I don't think I've cried so much in ages)
Zigzag Street - Nick Earls
Our Father Who Art In A Tree - Judy Pascoe
Girls Night In - Volume II
Bridget Jones' - The Edge Of Reason - Helen Fielding
Mr. Golightly's Holiday - Sally Vickers
The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler

I love any type of crime and forensic type books - Kathy Reichs and Jeffrey Deaver especially, but there are many "copy cat" authors that I come across and enjoy them too.



Have you ever done "In Cold Blood" By Truman Capote.  His was the first real psychological look
into the heart of murderers, and a brilliant book.  99% of the true crimes books don't even come near
it, and none match it.  Highly recommend it.

Have you ever done "In Cold Blood" By Truman Capote.  His was the first real psychological look
into the heart of murderers, and a brilliant book.  99% of the true crimes books don't even come near
it, and none match it.  Highly recommend it.


  This one I have read...In Cold Blood is a chilling read...

I read the comix where they a soldiers, and the guy always sleep, called Basserne on danish

(now i got 1 post of day)

I do have a lot of non-fiction about mythology, religions, history, biographies, etc. In terms of fiction, well, there are a varety of stuff that I read. I'm STILL in the middle of reading LOTR (yeah, I am a very slow reader-but I am on the last book). I did try to read Hitchhiker's Guide but couldn't really "get into" it. I will try again when I am done with LOTR. I have read some of the "classics", Gone With the Wind, A Christmas Carol (and other Dickens' books), The Sun Also Rises, etc.

I also like romance-not the Harliquin romances which I think really sucks. I love Jude Deveraux and have ALMOST all of her books. I also like children's books (in terms of novels-not so much picture books) and I have a collection of fairy tales from around the world. I absolutely LOVE the Harry Potter books. So, my interests are basically all over the place. But, I don't get into mysteries or crime stories.




Cat

Have you ever done "In Cold Blood" By Truman Capote.  His was the first real psychological look
into the heart of murderers, and a brilliant book.  99% of the true crimes books don't even come near
it, and none match it.  Highly recommend it.


You are the second person to recommend that one to me !  My friend who works for the FBI is doing a thesis on the psychological thought process of serial killers and she loves that book.

Its on my list of ones to look out for whenever I am in a second hand book store.

i love science fiction and horror. my favourite author is hp lovecraft and other writers in the cthulhu mythos like ramsey campbell, karl edward wagner and robert bloch. clive barker is good and the vampire chronicles of anne rice are good reads. i also have developed a love for shoft stories, many of the stories i read of the authors i listed write short fiction.


If you are ever in the Providence area you would love this:

quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=139

Getting Closer to the Master
The H.P. Lovecraft Commemorative Service
Some measure of Lovecraft's continuing popularity may be gauged by the fact that enthusiasts of his work gather at his grave each year around the anniversary of his death. See the sidebar below for a detailed look at this event by one of its organizers, Carl Johnson of the H.P. Lovecraft Commemorative Activities Committee.

Providence Preservation Society Walking Tours
The Society occasionally conducts walking tours of Lovecraftian Providence, generally around Lovecraft's birthday (August 20) and Halloween (October 31). Contact Theresa Woodmansee at 401-831-8586 for more information.

Mock not the crows of Swan Point, for they are the guardians of those souls which here linger...
-- Excerpted from the "eulogy" of the H.P. Lovecraft Commemorative Service.

As a tribute to the unique talent and literary contributions of H.P. Lovecraft, a commemorative service open to free public attendance is conducted annually at this outstanding author's final resting place in Swan Point Cemetery. This service, since the first one held in 1987 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft's passing, has become something of a Providence tradition.

As part of the standard procedure at this affair, a "eulogy" encapsulating the author's life is read, as well as a recitation of a poem by Providence resident Brett Rutherford, appropriately entitled, "At Lovecraft's Grave." Attendees are also invited to participate by contributing their own readings of Mr. Lovecraft's prose or poetry, as well as their personal reflections on the man himself. Some come attired in vintage or Gothic style clothing, and the grave of H.P.L. is strewn with flowers and other tokens, such as copies of his stories or figurines of the monstrous creatures depicted in his works. Another common feature is a dramatic reading by an actor in character as "the Old Gent of Providence," an appellation that Lovecraft sometimes used when signing his letters.

It has been noted that something out of the ordinary always seems to occur at these graveside tributes to H.P.L., often involving a sudden and dramatic change in weather conditions. To cite an example from the March 15, 1998, service, unanticipated snow flurries fell for the precise span of a dirge, sung by an attractive young woman clad in a black cape and hood. The sunshine then just as suddenly reappeared. At the following year's service, crows that had ominously gathered in the surrounding trees, seemingly to observe the assemblage, began loudly cawing as the lady's singing commenced. Also, inexplicable, vaporous distortions appear on some of the photographs taken during that service. At the service conducted on April 2, 2000, surprisingly forceful wind gusts seemed cued to the readings of Lovecraft's horror!

Maybe Mr. Lovecraft was in his own way letting us know of his bemusement at all the commotion concerning him, by augmenting the proceedings. But that is mere speculation, and of a decidedly "unscientific" nature.

^^^cool...just one more thing to add to my to do list whenever i become an instant millionaire *runs off to buy lotto tickets*