Thar Shaddin

I am desiring something new to read. And thought this might be one way to find it.

So...Welcome To What Is Your Favorite Novel, and Why?


Self-explanatory, I think. If you have the inclination, please tell us a bit about your very favorite book, and why you love it.

(If this provokes any interest, I will get to my own, eventually. But I must decide between four of them, first...)

NOTE: Let's keep it all friendly! Your opinion of the book you love --- not negative commentary or critique of somebody else's selection.

My favourite novel would have to be "Call of the Wild/White Fang". Besides my love of animals (particularly our canine friends), survival in the wild was portrayed very, very well. I found it to be raw, and almost primal; it was really very, very good. I also liked the fact that Buck had to fight to make himself "bad-ass" as some would call it, whereas White Fang was already "bad-ass". London is one of my favourite authors.

One of the best reads I've had these past few months was "The Night Angel" trilogy written by Brent Weeks. It's a bit confusing at first with the many characters and how the world is built but it is captivating. I loved Kylar and Durzo (still can't decide which one of the two I prefer) and the ideas behind the various reasons certain characters do certain things. Even side characters are well developed unlike in some other books. But I find it hard to explain why I love the books so much, I just do.

Another very good read was "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. Once again a very interesting and intriguing main character and his life story is fascinating me. He keeps getting himself in trouble and I just wanted to help him out because he has a thirst for knowledge and a love for books that I just want to see sated for him.

A quite moving book that I actually read within 2 days despite working full-time was "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". Loved it.

Second on Night Angel!!! I have about 90 pages left in the last book and I can't stop reading it.

I swore to myself that I would never love a series more than the Codex Alera, but I think that Night Angel takes the cake. Magic system is perfect, grey morality is neck-deep, characters plagued by emotional ties that are so realistic that every page makes me more and more jealous of Weeks.

The Power of One by Bryce Courtney is a vote from me I had to study it for my English course in... grade 11 or 12 and I read it about 5 or 6 times in that duration. I'm re-reading it, simply because even once you get past the main theme, there's so much more to it. You can study and see so many side arc, waving through each page, intertwining with the main that it's like a beautiful tapestry of morals, emotions and dreams. Only thing I have against it is how abruptly it ends, but to be fair, it was a very good ending, and there is a book that acts as a sequel (if I read the back right) so :3

For a standalone book, House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski.

It's a mind fuck in the best way possible. A story about a report about a story about a house bigger on the inside than the outside. One of the very few books that I had to take breaks (often long breaks) from because it sucked me in so thoroughly and creeped me the fuck out. Given what I like to write and read, it doesn't often happen. It spoke to me. Hit me on that level where imagination meets your daily world. I keep meaning to reread it, because it's also one of those books where you'll not take in everything at once. Hell, even the way they set the words on the page changes how you have to read it, and brings a level of immersion in that I've not seen since.

At one of the most frantic parts of the book there's only a couple lines per page, so you are flipping pages like a motherfucker to see what happens next.

At the most schizophrenic, complicated parts there's blocks of text inside the page, numerous, and you're trying to keep track of everything, figure out what order you're supposed to read in, figure out how it all ties in.

It's been maybe six or seven years since I read it, but I remember certain parts vividly. If it's your kind of book, it will crawl into your brain and stay there.

Otherwise my favorites tend to rotate, and in the end I pick favorite authors to cherish over any single novel. A friend of mine once bitterly complained to me that fantasy authors have lost the ability to say what they need to say in a single novel, instead spreading it out over multiple books -- then again he was someone who appreciated literature over story (and that's not taking money and publishers' desire to have sales guarunteed by multiple volumes into consideration). We argued about it, about the value of books and what the purpose of reading is, and what's worthwhile to spend your time and mind on. In that respect, though, I found Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson to be rewarding.

To the meat of the matter? FANTASY, with all of its twists and turns and multiple thick volumes? ENTERTAINMENT! we say, for the resonation of character and story!

China Mieville's Bas-Lag trilogy, starting with Perdido Street Station. You want to see me go fan girl over any man or woman, it would be Mieville. I love his mind. I've always liked weird fiction, and politics, and sprawling settings with creative takes on real world legends that go above and beyond where you expected them to go. The world of Bas-Lag is immense, complicated, and so fucking weird that I'd find myself sitting there, marveling at his brain and the words on the page. It was perfectly suited to my tastes. I've seen people say they don't get what the big deal is, and I've seen people say it deserves to be held aloft with the greats of the sci fi/fantasy genres. Then again, a lot of people say that about a lot of things, so I suppose it all comes down to what you like.

Seriously though, his characters and their relationships are complicated, if bad things can happen they will, and no stupid fairy-tale lah-de-dah endings, which I utterly despise. The consequences are real, the situations difficult, and the end of the books will probably make you think and question why. Which is, I think, what you should feel at the end of a book.

(but of the trilogy, the middle one, The Scar is my favorite. Because floating island of mishmashed boats is possibly one of the coolest things ever)





. . . and just tossing out the name of Michelle Sagara West. I'd go lesbian for that woman. ANY DAY, MICHELLE. (that's not creepy, is it?) Not only is she a fantabulous writer, but as a person she is altogether inspiring. So yeah.

Well -- this is already productive! Several I'd not heard of, and suspect I would like.

Keep'em coming, folks! (I'll probably end up with a distractingly long list. But, can live with that problem. So many books, so little time...)

Some of my usual recommendations:

Nightpeople by Anthony Eaton, or the whole Darklands trilogy. Works either way.

Ferren and the Angel by Richard Harland.

If you like more typical fantasy, then The Tide Lords series by Jennifer Fallon.

John Dies at the End by David Wong. Don't read the sequel. It's a big joke, literally.

Angel Blood by John Singleton if you like sad stories with interesting writing.

Tell No One by Harlan Coben is great. Guillaume Canet, also great, directed the film adaptation. It was awful.

Whenever I recommend books to people, I always feel like there's some really great ones I've read just stuck in the back of my mind that I really should be mentioning. But yeah, some of those books are harder to find than others -- the harder they are to find, the better they are, apparently.

Being the indecisive sort, I struggle at picking a favorite, but I am a huge fan of the discworld series of books, written by Terry Pratchett. It's a bit posh for some people's liking, but I enjoy the humour and the tongue in cheek fantasy settings in it, with a number of interesting main 'heroes' in his tales and dash of his own style with typical fantasy races and creatures.

The Dark Tower series. Because it's just that good. There's no way I can describe it.

Also, House of Leaves. Because it's a Horror book that made a 20 year old scared of the dark again.