I'd say Olivier Twist by Dickens, Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare, or THe Three Musketeers by Dumas. I like the classics, if you couldn't tell. 8)

 

The single best book I've ever read comes to a toss-up between Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin and Ender's Game.
My favorite series are Sword of Truth - Terry Goodkind, and Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan. I'm busy re-reading those right now, but I recall them both being good in different ways.

 

I enjoyed Len Deighton's Blitzkrieg and Barbara Tuchman March of Folly.

 

Definitely the Sword of Truth series (Heck, it's where my signature came from) by Terry Goodkind. Last one of the series comes out in November.

Other favorites are: Ender's Game (Of course), and both of Jim Butcher's series (Codex Alera and Dresden Files).

 

Where to begin?

Well I suppose that I am going to have to say A Confederacy of Dunces is the best book that I've ever read, but it's close. Both Don Quixhote and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man are within striking distance as is Prometheus Unbound.

 

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. It's a truly amazing book.

 

Hmm, I couldn't have sworn I've seen a thread like this before.

No matter, here's a short list of my favs - one from each author.

Dune 1-3 by Frank Herbert
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
10 little niggers (And then there were None) by Agatha Christie
Venus by Ben Bova
Rama by Arthur Clarke
Robot 2 - The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
Mote in the Eye of God by Lary Niven

 

Err. . . IP, maybe that word doesn't translate, but I'm fairly certain the title of Christie's book was "10 Little Indians", not "Niggers".

 

The Gor Series /25 Novels/ - John Norman (Not mention some incredible cover art by Boris Vallejo for about the first 10 books or so.)

 

When she first wrote it in '39, it was published as "Ten Little Niggers", where 'nigger' was referring to porcelain figurines that the killer was removing with each kill (back then, the word didn't have the same meaning as today). It was latter politically corrected into "Ten Little Indians" and "And then there were None". But to me, it's the same sort of stupidity as turning "Philosopher's Stone" into "Sorcerer's Stone", so I'm calling it by its original name.

 

Well, color me not-so-surprised. I've read it, but to be honest it didn't really do much for me -- because, as with The Da Vinci Code, I figured out whodunnit fairly early on.

 

I had as well, but then she changed my mind with that twist... well, anyway. That's the book that left the strongest impression on me; There were others equally good, but this was the one that made me go "Whoa! Cool!".

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Harry Potter...

I have no favorite books, but rather authors:

Harry Harrison
George R.R Martin
Vlad Taltos Series by Steven Brust
Weis and Hickman's deathgate series
Thomas Harriss's Hannibal Lector series

I am a big sucker for speed reading and self-improvement books as well.

Oh and I have a favorite manga that I am reading as well, 'Death Note' I basically got into it when I accidently stumbled across the anime on you tube while searching for 'Naruto'

One more thing that I like, though not as much: Eragon

 

Quenta Silmarillion

The Count of Monte Cristo

 

One of the best books i have ever read has to be the series by R.A. Salvatore. A brilliant author that captures the readers attention.

 

Do porn comics count?

 

I have so many favourites its hard to pick my tops but I guess Wilkes His Life and Crimes by Winston Schoonover, The Last Legion by Chris Bunch, and just about anything from Lovecraft would be the best ive read.

 

Quenta Silmarillion

Just love reading and rereading this.

 

Favorite books...

Okay, here's a brief list of fave authors and fave works.

Nick Hornby -- Fever Pitch; High Fidelity; About a Boy.
JK Rowling -- For some series of books...
David Sedaris -- Holidays on Ice; Santaland Diaries.
Elmore Leonard -- Excellent crime writer.
Harry Turtledove -- Guns of the South; How Few Remain.
Andrew Vachss -- His Burke novels.
Eudora Welty -- Ponder Heart and Delta Wedding
Brad Watson -- Heaven of Mercury and Last Days of the Dog-Men
Chuck Klosterman -- Anything.
Richard Stark -- Anything.
Tom Clancy -- Early Jack Ryan novels and Red Storm Rising.
Neil Gaiman -- Anything
Stephen King -- Anything
Terry Pratchett -- Anything
Mark Twain -- Anything
Douglas Adams -- Hitchhiker's Series. Dirk Gently series wasn't that bad either.
Ed McBain -- The master of the police procedural.
Lois McMaster Bujold -- Anything.
Jhumpa Lahiri -- Only two books (one novel and one short story collection) but awesome.
Roddy Doyle -- I like his Barrytown books.
Dave Eggers -- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Rick Bass -- Excellent nature writer
Flann O'Brien -- At Swim-Two-Birds and Third Policeman are awesome.
Salman Rushdie -- Anything
Haruki Murakami -- Anything
Charles Schulz -- The Fantagraphics Peanuts collection is outstanding.
Will Eisner -- Anything.
Alan Moore -- Anything.
Frank Miller -- Anything.
Bill Bryson -- Anything.
Sharyn McCrumb -- Excellent mystery writer. My fave is Bimbos of the Death Sun about a murder mystery at a SF Convention
Carl Hiaasen -- Florida Mystery Humor books.
Bill Fitzhugh -- Another Mystery and Humor

 

I can't say it's my hands-down favourite, but 1984 by George Orwell is definately up there.