Since I don't read much, I couldn't tell you what my favorite novel is. But I liked "Jaws" based on what I saw in the movie (which I'm sure is much different from the book). What are your favorites and explain why? :)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-Douglas Adams

this is a long list but i'll limit myself to

A Prayer for Owen Meany-John Irving

It's Non-Fiction, but it's still a novel?

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius-Dave Eggers.

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle.

The classic, "Nine Princes In Amber", by the late, great Roger Zelazny.

(I am actually working on making this a screenplay, with the big difference being I will actually be true to the book!)

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein.

Freedom isn't free.  But it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the alternative on earth.  First flight to Luna, I'm on it.

Oy vey, a whole list of books I loved...

A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp-John Irving.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter-Carson McCullers.
One Hundred Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
The Tales of the City Omnibus-Armistead Maupin.
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, The Age of Innocence-Edith Wharton.
The Adventures of Augie March-Saul Bellow.
The Death of Ivan Ilych-Leo Tolstoy.
A Confederacy of Dunces-John Kennedy Toole.
The Swimming Pool Library-Alan Hollinghurst.
The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath.

Not in any particular order, and not complete

How Green Was My Valley-Richard Llewellyn
Lavengro-George Borrow
Foundation Trilogy-Isaac Asimov
Farenheit 451-Ray Bradbury
The Stories of Eva Luna-Isabel Allende
Hawaii-James Mitchner
On the Road-Jack Kerouac
DuneFrank Herbert
The Hobbit-JRR Tolkein
The Golden Key-George MacDonald

Oy vey, a whole list of books I loved...

A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp-John Irving.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter-Carson McCullers.
One Hundred Years of Solitude-Gabriel Garcia Marquez.




dude. you must be kidding. i clickedd on the thread so i could add my other favorites,The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Love in the time of Cholera!
good taste abounds!

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein.

Freedom isn't free.  But it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the alternative on earth.  First flight to Luna, I'm on it.


  Robert Heinlein, a popular, controversial science fiction author, or so the covers of his books tell me.  I’ve read two of his titles Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.  Not a vast amount of experience with the author I'll grant.  The problem for me is the sanctimonious tone, and how awfully preachy these two books were...

  Starship Troopers:

  A portrait of the virtues of a fascist society that believes in corporal punishment, and in which only military veterans are true citizens. (it is not, as the movie would lead you to believe, about people killing bugs in space, although they do that too...)

  Stranger in a Strange Land

    About a human being who grew up in a strange alien culture who has been returned to earth.  This device is used to show off the short failings of our own cultures, and tends to embody the idea that anything is better than what we are doing.  It also contains some psychology, and philosophy that L. Ron Hubbard stole to make his "Dianetics" (my sister's realm...)

  These books are on opposite sides of the spectrum.  Does either one accurately reflect the personal beliefs of Heinlein himself, or was that his thing; Writing, with a straight face, about other possible ideologies that he himself would not state he subscribed to..?

  go ;)...

Spike Milligan. The six-book trilogy that begins with "Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall".

Other Fiction/Novels I enjoy are as follows:

The Canterbury Tales- Geoffrey Chaucer
The Sheikh Of Baghdad- Adnan alKaissey (A good friend of mine, BTW)
Dune- Frank Herbert
The Black Mountain- Rex Stout (I enjoy the Nero Wolfe series, but this one was classic!)
The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkien (I first read this book at age 6- and understood it.)
Macbeth- Shakespeare
The Crown Jewels/House Of Shards- Walter Jon Williams (2 books- same author)
anything by the late Roger Zelazny
Murder In the Cathedral- T.S. Eliot (my favorite poet- see "Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats")
Le Morte d'Arthur- Sir Thomas Mallory

Spike Milligan. The six-book trilogy that begins with "Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall".
With apologies, the forementioned book are not really fiction, they are autobiographies. Any they are my favouite books.

With apologies, the forementioned book are not really fiction, they are autobiographies. Any they are my favouite books.


I love this set of books, I think a lot of what's in them is embellishment which I'd say is sort of fiction.
Considering they're some of my favorites, I figure they're fiction as well.

A year in the Merde is a favorite of mine.. again, like the aforementioned Milligan books, it's partially fiction but partially true.

I'm a huge fan of Jeffrey Archer with 'As the crow flies' and 'Honor amongst thieves' being a couple of my favorites.

I've never been a big fan of classic literature. Many has been the time when I've attempted to read Pride & Prejudice, War & Peace or A tale of two cities, but I just can't relate to any of it and thus put the book back on the shelf to gather dust.

I suppose I am and always will be a fan of 'pulp fiction'.

Hmmm
Lord of the Rings(All three books)-J.R.R,Tolkien
The Hobbit-J.R.R,Tolkien
The Dragonlance series-Margaret Wies&Tracy Hickman
The time of the twins-Margaret Wies&Tracy Hickman

The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
I still got that paperback of The Catcher in the Rye sitting on my shelf, picked up very cheaply from a Charity Shop.

I still got that paperback of The Catcher in the Rye sitting on my shelf, picked up very cheaply from a Charity Shop.


I had a strange feeling of emptiness when I finished reading this book - unsettling for some reason

I had a strange feeling of emptiness when I finished reading this book - unsettling for some reason
When I read it a years back I found it incomplete, certain scenes would end sudddenly. I must re-read it.

I had a strange feeling of emptiness when I finished reading this book - unsettling for some reason


I feel that same feeling whenever I see a book made by Rush Limbaugh.

I've never been a big fan of classic literature. Many has been the time when I've attempted to read Pride & Prejudice, War & Peace or A tale of two cities, but I just can't relate to any of it and thus put the book back on the shelf to gather dust.



The thought of you trying to read any of these makes me chuckle!

When I read it a years back I found it incomplete, certain scenes would end sudddenly. I must re-read it.


I think Salinger wrote it this way to illustrate Holden Caulfields messed up head and his increasing mentally ill psyche.

I think Salinger wrote it this way to illustrate Holden Caulfields messed up head and his increasing mentally ill psyche.


Salinger himself has a messed up head.  ::)  Some say it is the "great American novel" but I don't think so.  I think that the critics who say that are guys who went to Prep School and were all f*cked up and could relate to it. 

Salinger himself has a messed up head.   ::)   Some say it is the "great American novel" but I don't think so.  I think that the critics who say that are guys who went to Prep School and were all f*cked up and could relate to it. 


Yeah he's supposed to be a reclusive character isn't he? I'm sure there was a documentary on telly once about how film producers have desperately tried to get interviews with him - trying to get permission to make the story into a film?
He won't entertain them whatsoever.

Well....I liked

Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)
On the Road (Kerouac)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
It, The Stand, and Cujo (Stephen King)

Well....I liked

Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck)
On the Road (Kerouac)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
It, The Stand, and Cujo (Stephen King)



Grapes Of Wrath...the book was better than the film. I didn't fall asleep reading the book!
Stephen King- I prefer "through the Eyes Of the Dragon".

If you are into Stephen King, you may enjoy a couple of older authors, which served as inspirations for Stephen:

August Derleth
H.P. Lovecraft
Robert Bloch

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory- Roald Dahl
A Confederacy Of Dunces- John Kennedy Toole
Bastard Out Of Carolina- Dorothy Allison

These are 3 that stand out in my  mind.. I can't just choose 1.