Literature

Lord of the Rings just about saved my life in high school. Possession by A.S. Byatt. Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, though I’ve yet to read the sequels. Atonement by Ian McEwan. Just about anything by Geoff Ryman, Ali Smith, José Saramago, or Sheri Holman.

Probably the one I re-read the most with fond memories is Hellspark by Janet Kagan.

A series I enjoy because I felt it captured the sheer horror of the xeno-menace the best was called The Vang series by Christopher Rowley, in particular book 2 always gives me the heebeejeebee's.

For more modern books, the Cradle series by Will Wight that just wrapped up has been a fun time for me and I re-read my favorite sections often.

The Gospel Singer by Harry Crews. It's a masterpiece of grit lit. If you're not one to shy away from themes like religious obsession, violence and racism, I can highly recommend it.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I had no idea writing, even fiction, could be so ridiculous and non-traditional. It really shaped my imagination from a young age.

The Void Trilogy from Peter F. Hamilton read the books and listened to the audio books several times already.

It's sci-fi and fantasy in one stunning epos.

I really didn't read much for a bunch of my life. Now that I'm out of school I'm finally trying to read a bunch of stuff. I recently did all the cosmere stuff so I guess for now I'd have to say stormlight, and war breaker. Just love those books a lot. I'm sure my opinions will change as I keep reading a bunch though

I'll use a few categories for my favorites.

For my most nostalgic book series, I'd choose the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques. It was one of the first series I got seriously into, and at one point I had all of them collected (I think they're in a box in my parents' house right now). Sure, they get formulaic and samey after a while, but they're comfy reads for me.

For my favorite recent read, I'd probably choose Bunny by Mona Awad. I'm a huge fan of the "weird book" genre and this book came up over and over as a suggestion so I picked it up. And oh boy is this book a wild ride. I enjoyed it, but I'd add a caution that I would proceed with caution if you are prone to psychosis, because at the end it made me feel like reality itself was unwinding.

One of my favorite authors of all time is Akaweke Emezi, and my favorite of their work is The Death of Vivek Oji. Reading it fully tore my heart apart, and then taped a few pieces back together.

it's three books, but i got Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias Triptych in a one-book volume (the volume is huge) for $20 and that's probably pound for pound the single best book purchase i've ever made. his writing may not be for you, but if it is he's kind of one of a kind as an author. i don't know anyone who writes quite like he does

I will throw down for Pride and Prejudice. It is 95% shade.

I'm probably gonna be an odd one out here with a cleaning book, but I really, really like K.C Davis's "How to Keep House While Drowning" book about cleaning your house while mentally unwell and not considering yourself a moral failure for the state your house is in.

I think it's the one that had the most amount of positive benefits to my life. It turns out having a positive influence in the form of a book that tries to encourage you take things one step at a time, a book that even admits it doesn't know everything either---well, it's more beneficial than my real life acquaintances and family who opted for the shame method.

1. Catcher in the rye. The best representation of grief and depression I have read.
2. Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy. Most brilliant and unique book(s) I've read.
3. Pride and prejudice. It's just fun.

Since I was a kid, I always loved the Star Wars expanded universe. My favorites of the whole thing are probably the Republic Commando series and the Thrawn Trilogy. Also love the Gotrek and Felix books, and ive been getting into the Dragonlance franchise

John Dies At the End series.

It is hilarious, dark, and gets a little nasty sometimes (not necessarily in a sexual way).

Jason Pargin used to be the cheif editor at Cracked, so that energy does pop in and out. What he is really great at is showing profound empathy despite the choas. He is not just a good writer, you can tell he is also a very good person.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is also awesome.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett - which is interesting for me, because most of what I read is SciFi - but it's such a fascinating, thought provoking, and entertaining read

Oh man. “All time” is hard because I’ve been through so many phases of my life. I count a favorite as any book I’ve bought, since I’m usually such a library person.

Tween/teen:

• The belgariad
• Harry Potter
• Anything by tamora Pierce (Alana, the circle)
• Enders game
• Name of the wind (still waiting for doors of stone, damn you Patrick)
• Wrinkle in time
• The giver

college:

• Hyperion
• Dune
• Mists of Avalon

Now:

• The housekeeper and the professor
• The house on the cerulean sea
• Stories of your life and others
• Shit Cassandra saw
• The last graduate series
• A Court of Thorns and Roses series (it’s a guilty pleasure and I’m ashamed to post it in the same thread as these classics but I’m addicted right now)

• The Count of Monte Cristo
• David Copperfield

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

It's cliche I suppose, but 1984 by Orwell. It's actually a fucking great read beyond it's thematic meaning. People are correct in saying A Brave New World was more prescient, but it's not as good a book in my opinion.

Joe Abercrombie's The First Law series, all six mainline books and even the side books are all fantastic.

It's manga, but Berserk by Kentaro Miura. IYKYK

I read Frankenstein in my highschool literature class way back, loved it then and love it now. Shelly was a pioneer.

The Wooden Sea (Crane's View, #3) by Jonathan Carroll

• I suggest jumping into this novel blind and do not ask questions, just go with the flow

Dragonriders of Pern Series by Anne McCaffrey

• Self explanatory

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance can be a difficult read at times, but is honestly incredible.

If you like having things to ponder and think on, it’s unforgettable

• Philip K Dick - Galactic Pot-Healer
• Jose Donoso - The Obscene Bird of Night
• Alfred Kubin - The Other Side
• Ursula K Le Guin - The Lathe of Heaven
• Stanislaw Lem - Memoirs Found in a Bathtub
• Boris & Arkady Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic
• H G Wells - When The Sleeper Wakes
• Stefan Wul - Oms en Serie
• Yevgeny Zamyatin - We
• Jerzy Zulawski - On The Silver Globe

I also really love all the Moomin & Oz books.

On mobile, too tired to write but... So many... But I honestly think Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is as close to the perfect book as I can imagine (for me!). Also, Kafka for me is like the Final Boss, once you go through him, everything else pales in comparison

I have a few favorites, but if I were stranded on a desert island, the one book I’d take with me would be Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The book is so layered, and the world is so unusual. It’s one of the few books I kept trying to put off finishing because I didn’t want it to end.

I loved the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Read it as a kid and every time I go back to reread my beat up copies it is a joy.

In no particular order:

The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud
Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong
Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu
The Red Night Trilogy of William S. Burroughs (Cities of the Red Night, The Place of Dead Roads, The Western Lands)
On the Road: The Original Scroll by Jack Kerouac
Book of Haikus by Jack Kerouac
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

Off the top of my head:

• Enigma Variations Andre Aciman
• Ulysses James Joyce
• The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• Catch-22 Joseph Heller
• The Giver Lois Lowry
• Kafka on the Shore Haruki Murakami
• A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson

My top 3, in order are:

1. The Lord of the Rings

2. Dune

3. The Count of Monte Cristo

The Percy Jackson series is probably my favorite, still even as an adult. It's my comfort book series.

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk
• The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsay Drager
• The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
• Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Far too many to list but some of my favourites are -

The Belgariad series by David Eddings
The Magician series by Raymond E Feist
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
Pretty much anything written by Dan Abnett, Terry Pratchett and R.A. Salvatore

The Dune series. Especially books 1 and 4 left such a deep impression on me. Hard to put into words. Haven't experienced something similar yet.

The Lies of Locke Lamora was so good I had to take a break from reading afterwards cause nothing could compare.