Mine is Devil House by John Darnielle. Wowwww.
Really, not possible to have a single favorite. Maybe favorites by genre?
Fiction: Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_of_the_Wind
Science Fiction: Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper (bonus! public domain!)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Fuzzy
Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137
Fantasy: Lord of the Rings
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings
Horror:
Books of Blood by Clive Barker
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Blood
Of particular note are the stories “The Yattering and Jack” and “The Body Politic”.
Western:
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(series)
Romance:
Griffin and Sabine series by Nick Bantock
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_and_Sabine
Also - Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlander_(book_series)
Travel:
Into the Heart of Borneo by Redmond O’Hanlon
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/123474/into-the-heart-of-borneo-by-redmond-ohanlon/
Also - In Trouble Again by Redmond O’Hanlon
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/123475/in-trouble-again-by-redmond-ohanlon/
Religion:
Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism by Archbishop John Shelby Spong
Also - Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes by Archbishop John Shelby Spong
Mythology:
Tales series by Chronicle Books:
If you like Books of Blood, may I recommend North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud? Utterly terrifying stories.
Book: Dune
Audiobook: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (narrated by Jim Dale).
I thought it was Stephen Fry that narrated All of them!
Jim Dale was the original. He’s even in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of individually voiced characters in a single recording (Goblet of Fire). I am not sure why it was re-recorded with Stephen Fry. I love Fry but Dale’s version is, IMHO, far superior.
Collin’s Field Guide to Spiders of Britain & Nothern Europe.
Rarely read book, but Ender’s Game is probably my favorite
deleted by creator
Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein.
Really good sci-fi, and written by a former military officer who saw the hippy movement coming, with a “Mary Sue” stand in whose entire point is how an older person doesn’t have to understand progress, just simply let it happen instead of enforcing their own norms/morals on future generations.
The only depressing part is we’re still fighting for the same changes 60 years after the book was written. But the good news is it means the book is still relevant I guess.
I loved that book. I bought a paperback copy. The end was a bit off for me when he was chillin with JC though lol
The Count Of Monte Cristo
Seconded. Have read it 4 times now.
The Little Prince by Antoine St Exupery and Imagica by Clive Barker
This book is easily the best story about the paradigms of life and loss. Exceptional book. I recommend it to people who have lost someone.
Neil Stephenson - Cryptonomicon
Terry Pratchett - The Night Watch
Randal L. Schwartz - Learning PerlLoved Cryptonomicon. Have you read his Baroque Cycle? It deals with some similar themes and ancestors of the same families around the turning of the 18th century.
I tried, but I couldn’t quite get into it. I’ll give it another go once I finish Seveneves.
I also love the tech noir vibes from Snow Crash, by the way.
And Rise And Fall of the D.O.D.O. was hilarious
The Phantom Tollbooth
Love this book. My sister read it to me when I was young.
I dislike classical literature and these threads are usually littered with pretentious answers 😂
Give me a trashy thriller any day. The Breach by Patrick Lee is one of the best sci-fi thrillers I’ve ever read
People who only list classics are super sus. Makes me think they don’t actually read and they’re only saying those books because they were forced to read them in high school while the teacher spoonfed interpretations and analysis.
You would like Devil House. Not really trashy per se but a hell of a good story!
I’m sold!
Gideon the Ninth and the rest of the Locked Tomb series.
Lesbian necromancers IN SPAAAACE! But it’s not pulp, it’s an interesting look at sci-fi and magic.
Nona is my personal favorite so far but all of them are so good. Definitely one of my favorite series and I will be sad to see it end after alecto.
My Teacher Flunked the Planet, by Bruce Coville.
The final book in the My Teacher is an Alien series, it follows a group of 6th graders who are tasked to explore the best and worst of humanity in order to help defend our right to exist to an intergalactic council of aliens that fears us. It deals with some pretty heavy fucking themes that have stuck with me since I first read it at the age of 10.
“Forty thousand,” said Duncan. His eyes were closed, as if he were reading from a page inside his head.
“What?” asked Susan.
“Forty thousand,” he repeated. “That’s how many kids die every day from things that could be changed if we, all of us, the people of Earth, decided they should be.”
I took in a sharp breath; forty thousand people was more than twice the population of Kennituck Falls.
“Forty thousand a day,” continued Duncan relentlessly. “That’s a quarter of a million a week. Over a million a month. Nearly fifteen million a year. They die from not having vaccines that cost less than a dollar apiece. They die from dirty wells and lack of food. They die from the fact that people don’t care, at least, not enough to change it.”
Duncan sat frozen, as if in a trance. Tears leaked from beneath his lowered eyelids, cutting paths through the dust of the camp that still covered his cheeks. His voice was like the voice of God, listing our sins.
“Last year, fourteen million children died because we earthlings decided to spend our money elsewhere. It happened the year before, too. And we’re going to let it happen again this year.”
Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked right at me. “Peter, I learned a lot in the last few weeks. I read more than you can imagine.I have millions of facts in my head that I’m trying to put together. I don’t know what it all means, but I know the numbers. I know one day’s worth of the money our world spends on guns and bombs and soldiers could save fifty million children over the next ten years.”
As Duncan spoke I had a vision, a fantasy, that the people of Earth - not the leaders, not the governments, just the people - were suddenly able to speak with one voice. And they said, “Enough. We don’t want it to be this way anymore. Make it right!”
But we couldn’t speak with one voice. For some reason we were no better than mute in the face of a disaster we all wanted to pretend wasn’t happening.
I was sick with shame and anger. And I knew that I would never be the same after that night.
I had been witness to a crime.
Now I would have to testify to what I had seen. Because to keep silent would also be a crime.
Ok that sounds great.
Am I allowed to have a few? Because I can’t pick just one haha: Priory of the Orange Tree, Jane Eyre, Lord of the Rings series, A Song of Ice and Fire series (yes, even after the season that will not be named), Fingersmith, Rebecca, Redwall series. There’s more, but I feel like this is too many already 😅
I have Devil House in my to read pile! I’m going to put it at the top of the stack now
I had the priory of the orange tree for years but never read it as I wasn’t sure if it’d be my thing as I bought it on a whim. When I did eventually read it last year, it turned out to have everything I like in a book. Different mythology influences, lgbtq characters written well and characters I gave a shit about.
The more the merrier! Love book recommendations, thank you!
The Secret History, Donna Tartt.
But why do you like Devil House? I’m not familiar with it (& I’m probably not gonna look up a review over listening to your brief opinion here 🤷♂️)
Also The Secret History is fantastic!
It’s by John Darnielle who is the lead singer of the Mountain Goats, who I think is a bona fide genius, and it’s a horror story told in the style of metafiction. A bit difficult to describe, but actually all three of his novels are excellent. It has quite a twist to the story, it’s about a true crime writer investigating a double homicide during the Satanic panic and his moral crisis.
Neat! Weird! I love the MG too. - Maybe I will check it out, thanks !
