Bookworm's Library

[WhoGuru]

Welcome to the Bookworm's Library.

What are your favorite books? Favorite series of books?

A single novel perhaps?

Which authors do you follow fervently?

This is a place for all my fellow bookworms and bibliophiles to share our love of all things literature.

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No spamming. No flaming. No trolling.

Intelligent discussions only here please.

All violators will have their library cards revoked.

*For Relic - Real world books not in game.

[Relic]

Whoops. I stupidly thought this was TES books. My favourite series is 'The Wardstone Chronicles' by Joseph Delaney. They're kinda a dark fantasy. I have a habit of reading each volume in a matter of days.

[WhoGuru]

I'll start off shall I?

My favorite series of books are the Pern Novels by Anne McCaffrey. My mother gave me a copy of the Dragonriders of Pern when I was 11 and I remember thinking 'wow, it's huge! I'll never read it'. I didn't touch it for a few months, then picked it up and read the entire thing, all three books, in two days. I still have that copy, tattered and battered as it is. A hard cover gone to soft cover with age. LOL

I'm also a fan of the Shanarra novels by Terry Brooks. I just suck those things up every time he releases one. The latest series with the Jerle Shanarra and the Ilse Witch were just amazing!

[greenwarden]

My favorite books: a lot of vintage humor, and a lot of poetry. So be warned.

"The Most of SJ Perelman"- yes, an anthology, as he was a columnist for the New Yorker and various entertainment/general interest mags throughout the 1940's-1960's.

all books by Charles Portis that I've managed to track down- "Norwood", "Dog of the South", "Gringos".

"The Locust Has No King" by Dawn Powell.

"The Oxford Anthology of Humorous Prose"- I can open it to any page, and find something new to laugh at.

Other favorite books: Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene", Welsh myth cycle "The Mabinogion", "Mapp and Lucia" by EF Benson, "The Bloody Chamber", by Angela Carter.

Favorite poets: Howard Nemerov, Emily Dickinson, John Ashbery, Li Po, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Charles Simic, and Conrad Aiken. For now.

[WhoGuru]

Ooo and now I have new books to look up!

Hmm, how about guilty pleasures books? I adore the Eve Dallas crime novels by J.D. Robb. LOL Can't stand a bloody other thing that woman writes but Eve Dalllas is my favorite kick-butt futuristic cop.

Also the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. Well okay,..the series up until the last few books. Laurell K. Hamilton has GOT to get her head out of the pron section.

Favorite Poets: Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare.

[Glaedr]

anything fantasy related... w/ giant fire-breathing lizards in it...

[greenwarden]

Oooh, guilty pleasures... lemme think. I read this really bad sci-fi series years ago, called the "Deathstalker" series, that was just so abominably bad- just a trope-crammed, cliche ridden gorefest. But I ate them up that summer, big time.

On the lighter side of things ( NOT the guilty side), I do enjoy some Terry Pratchett books, but I admit, not all. They wear out their welcome for me pretty quickly, unless Nanny and Granny are involved. Then I could read them all day, every day for a hundred years.

Another author I like: MFK Fisher. Don't know how I managed to forget her.

[grond]

I almost made a list, then I thought better of it.

Oh Pern! I remember trying to read it, and giving up! If the movie's coming out soon, I'll do it for sure. That's how I came to find my favorite fantasy story.

Gather round kids and I'll tell you a story...

When I was a lad back in '79 I was given a choice of novels from which to pick to read over the summer before starting high school. I picked The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. It was a fun read.

Toward the bottom of the last page there was a line: If you enjoyed The Hobbit and would like to read more about their adventures, they continue in The Lord of the Rings. I went to the book store and got three great big books. I started reading the first one, The Fellowship of the Ring, but became terribly bored, so I put it down.

That fall came the news that a movie was due out at Christmas. The Lord of the Rings. So I picked up the Fellowship and forced myself, dictionary in hand, to finish them all before the movie was released.

Well by the time we reached Rivendell I was hooked. By the time the movie came out I'd finished it, so I knew what a failure it was ( although it succeeded in many places where Jackson's films failed, but that's the realm of a different thread... ). From 79 to 98 I read the Lord of the Rings once a year, and in 98 I read it three times in a row.

Tolkien's descriptions of water are the main reason I went back to Middle Earth every year. Great scott, those descriptions are so vivid, they make real waterfalls seem bland!

My location, Henneth Annun, is there; in Ithilien, if you must know . That's where I reside. I've taken the name of the battering ram that brought down the Gates of the White City, and which also was the name of another weapon of old.

Presently I don't have a copy - I like the one volume 1100 page copy. That's the way the Professor wanted it. It's not a trilogy - it's one book, split into six, and each of those is split in two. I've read each copy until they would break in half, and then replace it. So far, I guess I've gone through six copies. That's in twenty years.

[WhoGuru]

Oh I adore the Lord of the Rings novels! And we will not discuss here the unspeakable things Jackson did to them in the films. We'll save that for a different thread.

[grond]

Yes let's do...

But LOTR is NOT my favorite book. That would be the one which begins with a beet, and ends with the devil. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. Holy cats. It's about perfume and immortality. Never in my life had I encountered a writer who broke the rules so adeptly and still held me, and his metaphors - I've read where sometimes he would spend an entire day trying to find the perfect one. He mostly succeeded.

And I lifted the name of Grond's Tavern Tales horse from it. Mik.

[WhoGuru]

I'll have to look that one up!!

More favorite authors! Robert Heinlein. How can you not love Heinlein? He wrote the most wonderful, vivid tales. I still re-read them ad nauseum.

and another fave - Roger Zelazny. He wrote one of the most brilliant fantasy series I've ever read, the Amber novels. I highly recommend looking them up if you have the chance. They are captivating and such a unique view of the world!

Another book by Zelazny that I read whenever I need a good laugh is "Bring me the head of Prince Charming". Seriously. It's hysterical.

[grond]

I'll have to look that one up!!

More favorite authors! Robert Heinlein. How can you not love Heinlein? He wrote the most wonderful, vivid tales. I still re-read them ad nauseum.

and another fave - Roger Zelazny. He wrote one of the most brilliant fantasy series I've ever read, the Amber novels. I highly recommend looking them up if you have the chance. They are captivating and such a unique view of the world!

Another book by Zelazny that I read whenever I need a good laugh is "Bring me the head of Prince Charming". Seriously. It's hysterical.

Look it up you must, Red! You'll love the heroine - she's Priscilla, the genius waitress!

O Heinlein! Ever read his Job? Do it!

Amber! It's been so long since I read them I can do it all over again for the first time!

[Yevic]

Favorite book is Angels and Demons

[WhoGuru]

Look it up you must, Red! You'll love the heroine - she's Priscilla, the genius waitress!

O Heinlein! Ever read his Job? Do it!

Amber! It's been so long since I read them I can do it all over again for the first time!

I have read Job! Fantastic book!! As every Heinlein is!

I think I go through the Amber novels once a year. They just don't get old dammit, they're so good and I love Corwin. Has to be one of the best anti-heros ever!

Edit: I've read Angels and Demons Yevic! Wonderful book!!

[Glaedr]

The Dragons of Pern my Ann McAffe and the Eldest series. i should pic up the Pern series again. such a good series.

oh, and i also read a book called "Glass Dragons". quite an odd book. main character falls in love w/ a vampire chick and "does it" w/ a woman twice his age so he wouldnt get eaten by dragons cuz he heard that they eat virgins.

yes, quite a weird book...

[The_Laughing_Man]

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Only the first one. Other ones just became stupid.

[WhoGuru]

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. Only the first one. Other ones just became stupid.

42 and don't forget your towel.

[grond]

Hitchhikers guides stupid?! Well, yeah, but that makes them all hilarious.

How about The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson? Talk about an anti-hero. The wonders of those novels are sandwiched between narrative that is at least as boring as Tolkien. But zowie!

And how about David Eddings series The Belgariad? He died this past June. There are other series besides, but that's the only one I've read.

[The_Laughing_Man]

Hitchhikers guides stupid?! Well, yeah, but that makes them all hilarious.

How about The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson? Talk about an anti-hero. The wonders of those novels are sandwiched between narrative that is at least as boring as Tolkien. But zowie!

And how about David Eddings series The Belgariad? He died this past June. There are other series besides, but that's the only one I've read.

I did not like the ones after the first. They seemed forced.

[WhoGuru]

OMG the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are EPIC!! Thomas is one of the most painful anti-heros to read along with. I always felt sorry for him and wanted to slap him silly at the same time! ;lmao:

[grond]

A precise description of him!

One more then it's off to work: Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin. The protag is an ex-assassin retelling his life. He hates coffee! It's so good.

[WhoGuru]

A precise description of him!

One more then it's off to work: Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin. The protag is an ex-assassin retelling his life. He hates coffee! It's so good.

Oh now that sounds right up my alley!! Love the sound of it!

[Relic]

Well, this thread has kicked off rather nicely!

Like Greenwarden, I enjoy a good Terry Pratchett book, except the thing for me is Death, AND HOW HE SPEAKS WITHOUT SPEECH MARKS AND ALL IN CAPITALS. (except the proceeding letters are smaller instead like some font that's name I canny remember! ).

[Critterman]

Anyone like sci-fi books?

I read 2001: A Space Odyssey and am almost finished with 2010, both are great books.

Heard of a lot of good books here, I'll have to search the library soon . Speaking of libraries, never work at one, unless you have an obsession with the alphabet. The most boring thing in my life (I have to volunteer for some school thing).

[greenwarden]

A precise description of him!

One more then it's off to work: Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin. The protag is an ex-assassin retelling his life. He hates coffee! It's so good.

I've never read any of Helprin's fiction, but I've enjoyed what I've read of his stuff in the Atlantic Monthly and the National Review- I guess I'll have to check him out!