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I have a lot of books that I like but I guess one of my favorites would have to be The Beyonders:  A World Without Heroes. It's a newer series and it's about a guy that falls through a portal in a hippo tank and gets transported to another land in which he must hunt a word that will destroy the tyrant king of that land.

Hmm. This will sound really teen girl like, but I LOVE the Pretty Little Liars series.

Interpretive?

Oh, you mean like World War Z by Max Brooks.

I've always liked the "Mistborn" Trilogy.  Has anyone here ever read those books?

East of Eden by John Stienbeck.

lol Go goosebumps!

I have a lot of books that I consider favorites, but The Necessary Grace to Fall by Gina Ochsner is definitely one of the best. It's just so beautiful.

Really guys, freaking Empire? Card's written so much amazing stuff and everybody's favorite is the videogame tie-in? Ender's Game not even worth a mention? Buncha philistines here, jeez. :P

Also Watership Down is and always will be the best book.

THE ABOVE POST NEVER HAPPENED

(okay so I guess I should have done more than skim the thread before posting...why oh why can't we get an edit button...)

Yaaay, someone else loves Hazel and Fiver too! :D

Seriously though, Watership Down is the most incredible book AND the most impossible to get other people to actually read. Just try describing the plot to someone who's never heard of it before..."Well you see the main character's little brother is a prophet who foresees an unknown threat to their town, it's serious enough that the two of them and several friends decide to flee, but the world they're in is a such a dangerous place. There is so much deep stuff about myth and society and religion going on but it's all in the background of this absolutely amazing adventure, you literally can't help but fall in love with these characters  and oh yes they're all talking rabbits wait wait where are you going come baaack... :(

Oh, and Cool, actually in the foreword (or afterword, somewhere in there anyway...) Card talks about being contacted to come up backstory for a game by its creators. I just checked the wiki though and it looks like it never got made:

"Empire is not an original Orson Scott Card project, but rather stems from the development of the Empire video game. The game was being developed by the brothers Donald and Geremy Mustard, founders of the Chair Entertainment Group development studio until it was canceled. Card was contacted by Donald Mustard and offered the chance to develop the game's storyline as well as a novel to set the series into action.^[11] The Xbox Live Arcade Game Shadow Complex was announced by Donald Mustard to be a tie-in to the second installment of Orson Scott Card's Empire Trilogy and is a prequel to the Empire novel that is developed by ChAIR"

The plot itself is good though...right up to a certain point. I just wish he'd come up with the idea and written it on his own so he didn't have to shoe in a goofy high-tech supervillain, kind of weakened the whole thing for me. :/

Yeah, I loved Empire but I never played the game. Whether the game was ever released or not I don't even know. I don't know about Ender's Game because I've never gotten around to reading it. I think I had a plan to read it at one point but never followed through...

And Cool... that isn't today's political climate. It's a satirization of what could be our political climate in the future.

WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH! I just read your whole post (I skimmed it before), but there is an Empire TRILOGY?!!!????!!? Why wasn't I informed?

My favourite books include the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix, the Saga of Seven Suns series by Kevin J. Anderson and The Messenger by Marcus Zusak (I read it a few years ago and really can't remember much about it but the storyline to it and the complete normalness of the character I really enjoyed). I also enjoyed Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom.

I don't really read much though. I'd like to read more, but I don't have the money to buy books (or, rather, I would prefer to buy music and music equipment), and the last time I checked the library there wasn't anything that looked remotely interesting in it. I really should get around to making a list of good books to try and seek out, though. From what I've heard The Hunger Games is good, but off the top of my head I can't remember anything else I wanted to get.

I also don't get to read as much as I'd like. But lately I have been reading the classics and other stuff that I do find at the library.  I've read some of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne of Robert Louis Stevenson. And most of Michael Crichton for a more modern author. Pirate Latitudes was fun to read. I'm currently on a Sea-faring kick because recently I started "Master and Commander" the first of 20 novels by Patrick O' Brian. I'm almost done with the first and I absolutely love it!

I Have a list of favorite books, the count has surpasses 100 I believe, but here are a few that I have not yet seen mentioned. Ender's game and, Watership down are 2 that have already been mentioned. I am an omnivorous reader, and make no claims that all of these are great literature. After the first two, the list is in no particular order

Lord of the Rings

The Sherlock Holmes short stories

The Wizard of Earthsea series

A Separate Peace

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Mark of the Horse Lord

The Westing Game

The Chosen (Chaim Potok)

The Screwtape Letters

Heart of Darkness

Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars books

You like The Westing Game? I now distrust you.

trust is hardly something I would expect to find readily extended. (In my case, its not at all deserved anyway)

I really like Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus."  Commonly referred to simply as "Doctor Faustus."  It's just an amazing play, through and through.

I'd recommend the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins or Under the Dome and Neeful Things by Stephen King

*Needful Things

I like Hunger Games too!

I recently finished reading The House of the Scorpion. It was amazing.

It's an amazing book that I think you'd really like. It's available on Kindle and maybe Nook. I haven't checked for Nook.

My favorite books are the Circle series by Ted Dekker its about this guy named Hunter and when ever he goes to sleep he is transported to another fantasy world and when he goes to sleep in that world he goes back to the modern day America, and he doesn't know which is real and both worlds are connected in some way.

You guys should read some Clark Ashton Smith stuff, he writes a lot of short stories but isn't that well known. He does mostly dark fantasy and that sort of thing with crazy ass monsters. He, H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert E. Howard were best friends and all wrote for weird tails which was a magazine that published most of there stories. Anyway ya'll should read him even if you don't like dark fantasy because he is a real good writer.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles books. (Start with The Warrior's Apprentice.)

Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Trilogy (Not actually complete yet, but seriously, a must read so far.)

Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed.

I think The Invisible Detective series is just amazing. I also like Agatha Christie's books like the Hercule Poirot series, Miss Marple series and the Tommy & Tuppence series. I also like The Hardy Boys too, basically I love all mystery books. 

So I just finished the third book in the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod.

Amazingly amazing. One of my favorites, honestly. :)

9.9999/10

Anyone read the"Earths Children" series, the first book in it is "Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean Auel

JUST YES! You should finish that series, it is AWESOME!

Maximum Ride just finished. You should read it.

The Dune series. The Horus Heresy series. 1984.The Decent.Relic.Do Androids Dream of Electric sheep.Demons Dont Dream.

My favorite fantasy series so far are Game of Thrones and Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawney Man trilogies but I think my absolute favorite book I've ever read of all time is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I've never read a book that was written quite so cleverly before. It's about a German girl living in Nazi Germany during World War 2, but it's written from the point of view of Death. The story line is great but it was the way it was written that kept me hooked.

I LOVE FARSEER SERIES! If my Kindle hadn't broken, I'd be reading it again right now, since I forgot like everyone's names... funnily enough, I still vaguely remember the third, though.

Yey! Someone else who's read them! The Fool's my favorite ^_^

I never got to the second part of the series :( I only read the first three, where ... MC does all that stuff. Like when he gets 

*spoiler*

Tortured by the rich guy, fakes his own death then recovers in the third one.

Nah, I mean The Fool's my favorite character.

*Spoiler*

Out of curiosity, you think The Fool was a guy or a girl? 'Cos everyone else seems to think he's a guy, but I really, really think he's a girl :)

Oh yeah, the toymaker guy!

He was awesome!

*spoiler*

I think 'he' was female, as he made what seemed a lot like advances on Main Character, haha.

Yey! A person who agrees with me! You should give the Tawney Man trilogy a read some time. Same characters but is set about 15 years later.

Yeah, that's what it was called! I got the little sample on my Kindle, and it broke. -_-

There's three in that one too, right? Doesn't he try to rescue the heir or something? 

Anyone read the"Earths Children" series, the first book in it is "Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean Auel

The main character is a girl!!!

OMG that like never ever happens, huh? /sarcasm

lol I was just springing off all the complaints that there are so few female lead charatcers.

That's the one. I think the three books are called Fool's Errand, Golden Fool and Fool's Fate

Yep, I need to re-read the first three though...

Amazon time.

I really loved Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins.  The way that man can turn a phrase is nothing short of pure magic.

the lock artist

Shutter Island

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

The series begins with Corwin, an amnesiac who finds himself hospitalized against his will. After discovering he was seriously injured in a car wreck, he goes about the business of recovering his memory, eventually learning that he is a scion of Amber.

There is a power struggle for the Throne of Amber, which serves as the center of all Order. In opposition are the forces of Chaos. Between the two poles of power, all the worlds that can be imagined exist, and can be reached by those who have power over Shadow. This is a ability attainable only by those bearing the royal blood of Amber.

(Got to agree with Morgan R) Lois McMaster Bujold's 'Miles Vorkosigan' series of books. I've got them all, and I think only about two of the books in the series were a bit 'meh', but loved all the rest! Most of them are stand-alone novels, but with ongoing character development that spans across the series.

Some more fav's:

I read the Hunger Games trilogy recently, and actually thought it was pretty good. Still haven't seen the movie.

Across the Nightingale Floor and series by  Lean Hearn. Got to love samurai / ninja / drama stories!

Any books by David Gemmell with Skilgannon or Waylander in them. (the books get better the further into the series' you get) Waylander is basically an assassin who goes and murders the King, causing the whole land to fall apart and get invaded. He then becomes the only person skilled enough to right his wrong, and save the land from destruction. Most of David Gemmell's books are set in the same world, but in different eras with different characters.

"Waylander", "Waylander II", "A Hero in the Shadows"

Skilgannon's books I think are: "White Wolf" and "The Swords of Night and Day" 

Favorite Series: Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini. (First book is Eragon). An intelligently written series; it truly engaged me in every sense: great action, romance, vocabulary (I'm a bit of a language nerd), and it wasn't afraid to ask big, philosophical questions. (For those who have finished the series: the question about what to do with the magicians? It's a little scary when you think how similar that is to modern technology anymore.)

Also great reads:

Comedy: The importance of being Earnest. My face hurt from laughing so hard.

Dystopia: Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. In my opinion, a far better (and disturbingly more accurate) dystopia than 1984.

Bonus points: A Clockwork Orange. Read the version with the 21st chapter still in it. (Why it was originally published in the USA without the last chapter is unknowable. Why the movie chose to base itself off of that incomplete version is even more confusing.) Love this book for the question that it asks by the end.

My all-time favorite book is The Five People You Meet in Heaven. The book is short, but is full of meaning and moral. Sometimes I wonder who are the five people that I'll meet in heaven.

Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot.

Then I won't be sure if I'm indeed in heaven or somewhere else. 

Many of the fantasy books mentioned here ( fablehaven beyonders Rick) I like but I have been trying to get into more mystery anyone read the young Sherlock Holmes?

I've read Sherlock Holmes, but "young" S.H.?

Yeah can't remember who wrote it but its about him solving crimes and living on the streets and just becoming the person he is as Sir Aurther Conan Doyle portrayed him as.

Harry Potter will always be my favorite book series, but I also like the Hunger Games trilogy. And The Chronicles of Narnia, my first ever fantasy book! And for the classics, anything by Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Special mention to the Divergent trilogy.

Try malazan book of the fallen by steven erikson (it's a series, you'll either love it or hate it) or the night angel trilogy, Brent Weeks, it would also be worth it to read ender's game and ender's shadow.

EDIT: I just tried to write down some series i love that haven't been mentioned, many great options on the list already.

I kind of like the Warriors series. Not really for the characters (which can get on my nerves) but for the concept. 

Liesl and Po!!!

I love:

the Divergent series

the Beautiful Creatures series

ALL Tamora Pierce's books

Harry Potter (of course)

the Artemis Fowl series

ALL Shel Silverstein's books

the Seventh Tower series

Ive read most so no mind blowing. In fact I have read over a thousand books.