Do you have a book you love?

[gturner]

On Strategy - A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War

On Killing - The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

A Better War - the Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam.

Boyd, the Figher Pilot who Changed the Art of War

Watership Down - the reason I have a bunch of bunnies in bed with me.

A Fire Upon the Deep - a fun book from Vernor Vinge.

There's another children's book called "Flap" that I read in second grade that really made a sci-fi impression on me, but I've had no luck finding it.

 

[gturner]

Oops. Forgot one.

Fleet Tactics - Theory and Practice

I mention this one because I love it, first off, and it gives you mind expanding insights about how to form strategy and tactics in any situation, such as space combat with some given panoply of weapons and maneuver capabilities. It doesn't address that arena directly, but gives you the mental groundwork to enter it.

 

[Shaw]

Eye in the Sky by Philip K. Dick

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

The Lord of the Rings. My favorite book.

I heard (from somewhere) that a film was made based on this one. Do you think they succeed with the translation from book to film?

Yes and no. They did use a lot of dialogue from the book into the movies but they rearranged some things. For example, in the movie, The Return of the King, they show the Andruil being reforged. In the books, it happened in The Fellowship and Aragorn carried Andruil throughout the whole series.

 

[RJDiogenes]

There are a ton of books that I love beyond their contents, because they take me back to a certain time and place. The primary one is Rendezvous With Rama, which is not only my favorite book but takes me back to 1973, reading it while sitting on the bulkhead next to the back porch on a Summer day, next to the honeysuckle vine, drinking Iced Tea. I still have those same issues of Galaxy magazine that I was reading then.

Other books that have strong nostalgic value, for various reasons, are A Wrinkle In Time, The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame, Ringworld, Robots Of Dawn and Friday. And there are many more.

Also, there are tons of comics that transport me back to my younger days almost as effectively as a Time Machine.

 

[mimic]

For me it's The Princess Bride by William Goldman. As soon as I finished it the first time I wanted to read it again. Incidentally, I saw the movie first.

 

[Kommander]

Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard

 

[Rii]

Day of the Cheetah by Dale Brown. It's pure military techno-wank set amidst a prosaic Cold War defection scenario, but it made quite an impression on my young mind, kindling an interest in military aviation which continues to this day. Years later I discovered the real-world experimental aircraft which served as inspiration for the novel: the F-15S/MTD for Cheetah, and the X-29 for Dreamstar.

 

[MetalPants]

1984 by George Orwell. I read it at least once a year.

 

[TheBrew]

I tend to read Starship Troopers once a year. Not really sure why, but I find it a very entertaining book.

 

[Shaytan]

The Valois trilogy (La Reine Margot, La Dame de Monsoreau, Les Quarante-cinq) by Alexandre Dumas. Especially La Dame de Monsoreau, it's maybe the best Dumas.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

The Stand by Stephen King.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Dune is the book I love the most. I read it at least once every year and sometime twice. I own so many copies of it, I have lost count. Every time they release a new version of it, I buy it. I first read it when I was 14, it was given to me by my uncle. I'm now 42, so I have been reading it every year for 28 years. What is great, I get something new out of it every time I read it.

 

[T'Baio]

My favourite Koontz book is Whispers. But it's strange, because everyone keeps saying this...I realize that Koontz books, including Whispers, are complete and utter shit. Yet I love Whispers. *shrug*

My favourite is hard to pin down to one;

The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Fletch by Gregory McDonald

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ omg. I thought i was the only one in the world who read the Fletch books! They're great!!!

 

[pigletsgiblets]

The Stand by Stephen King

 

[Kira's Mom]

Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier. My favorite novel of all time.

 

[KimMH]

The Lord of the Rings. My favorite book.

I read the trilogy at least once a year - always something new. The appendices are as engrossing as the books! A lot of the movie narratives are lifted from them.

 

[AstroSmurf]

The Stand by Stephen King.

I have never been a fan of King. To be honest, I find most of his books to be formulaic and about as terrorizing as a soft-spoken kindergarten teacher. But for some reason or other, I find "The Stand" to be completely riveting... and it scares the crap out of me. Excellent book.

 

[indranee]

I like this thread! I have a lot of books that aren't considered "good".

Thinner by Stephen King is one such guilty pleasure.