The dictionary.

It has everything... literally!

That was turned into a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, wasn't it? Interesting movie. I'll have to check out the book, as I'm sure it's far more satisfying.

As for my favorite book, I can't limit it to one. I have many favorites.

I guess I would have to say I have favorite authors: Bill Bryson, Kurt Vonnegut, Steven Milhauser, John Fowles, Kazuo Ishiguro, Virginia Woolf, Douglas Adams, etc.

Every one one of these authors has nearly always achieved perfection in his or her novels. Each of the novels and works of non-fiction that I have read from these authors has changed my life. I'm not exaggerating.

I think I picked up The Unbeleiver once.
Isn't it about the anti-grail or something?

It looked interesting but I never got a chance to truly read it.

I'll take a look at folorn Hope =)
also at the Myth series.

But yes, I loved Space Troopers, I'm trying to read Stranger in a Strange land, but no luck so far. =)

Ewww! Lesson in SF Fan etiquette:

[rant]

SF = Science Fiction (or sometimes Speculative Fiction). It has some plausible advancement or alteration in society (often science related). Often uses a future or alternate history setting to comment on current society or trends. Just because it has space ships doesn't make it SF.

Sci-Fi = Pulp made for the masses. Sometimes campy, often good, but also often bad. Sometimes applied as a derogatory label in SF Circles. (In a visual medium such as movies and TV, this is often the label used to slam movies that put emphasis on special effects and skip the hassle of actually having a good story to tell.)

Fantasy = A story requiring a suspension of disbelief or based on a premise that is akin to magic, regardless of setting.

"Ender's Game" is SF.
"Starship Troopers" the book is SF.
"Starship Troopers" the movie is sci-fi (and a waste of film/electrons).
Star Trek TOS was science fiction.
Star Trek TAS was science fiction.
Enterprise is SF.
Star Wars is Fantasy.
Star Trek TNG/DS9/Voyager were sci-fi. Sometimes good, but definitely more interested in cashing in on the franchise than in telling good stories. Often stole entire plot lines from TOS.)
The TV series "Lost in Space" is sci-fi, but in a good, (now) nostalgic 50's-campy way.
"Plan 9 from Outer Space" is sci-fi.

[/rant]

I know nobody really cares, but every once in a while I must speak out. Even one soul saved is worth the downvotes.

I prefer to own, but hate buying retail. I practically haunt the couple of used book stores between here and work.

I also have had good luck with Amazon, but not Amazon itself. Click on the "New and Used" link if it is there. I have found excellent bargains - Most of the computer related "Hacker" series books (Usually $30-$50) for as little as $1.89. Most of the "associated sellers" are part of the $3.99 per book shipping agreement, so the $1.89 book actually cost me $5.88. Still a great value and the book was completely unmarked and new-looking.

"Incarnations of Immortality" was great.

If you liked the earlier Xanth books but got fried when he started talking about footballs being animated balls with feet, try the "Myth" and/or "Phule's Company" series (both by Robert Aspirin.)

Anybody here read "Ender's Shadow"? The same timeframe as "Ender's Game" but from Bean's point of view? It was an interesting idea and very well done. (I guess the "Shadow series continues and follows Bean, but I have only read the first one.)
Hey, don't be calling me names! I never did anything to you!

Me? Oh, where to begin.
I don't really keep favorites, per se, but here are some of the really great books I've read.
Science Fiction - Series: The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. The Wrinkle in Time series is close, though.
Science Fiction - book: The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K d**k.
Fantasy - Series: Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. The Incarnations of Immortality series comes in a close second to me, though.
Fantasy - Book: Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil f**king Gaiman.
Nonfiction - Book: Oh, so many. I've recently read Faith at War by Yaroslav Trofimov, and I fully recommend it to anyone. Mersh, you'd really like it, I think.

Runner-ups: These are great books/series, but unfortunately they lost out to some of the others on my lists.

Pretty much anything by Ayn Rand or J.D. Salinger.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Hamlet by Will Shakespeare.
The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde.
Tales of MU by Alexandra Erin.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Paradise Lost by John Milton.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
Dune series.
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.
Much of Robert Heinlein's novels.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dodstoevsky.
It by Stephen King.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
Oliver Twist by Charles d**kens.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the nighttime by Mark Haddon.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles d**kens.

...Those are just some of the ones I remember, and have read. There are doubtlessly many more that I've forgotten that fully deserve spots on the list, but... well, what can you do?

Didn't know the differences between SF, sci-fi, and science fiction.
Thanks for pointing it out. =)

and yes, I have read Ender's Shadow.
It's a great follow-up.
He's come up with a new Christmas one about...Christmas. lol

Read them all and loved them.

Read these, too. I've read all the Ender related books.


My apologies less wise one.

"The War on Christmas"? That was horrible. A total waste of time. Read it not.

Haha. I was going to list all of mine too, but I took the lazy way out. Great picks.

I had the pleasure of teaching Anthem a few years ago. I introduced the book by playing the first side of 2112 by Rush.

Thank you. My English teachers have always been at a loss as to my reading speed and voracity. Well, you can't blame them. I read a standard page in about 35 seconds with full comprehension, which is pretty far above average. I read roughly two or three thousand pages a week. EDIT: Well, at my prime I did. I don't have that much time any more.

Nice. Where do you teach, again?

Are you interested in joining an 8th grade English class in Minnesota? This English teacher would love to have a classroom full of voracious readers.

Got it for Xmas.
Read the back cover, never even cracked the binding on it.

"Space Tyrant" - Another good series. I want a saber-tooth tiger for a pet when I grow up, too.

I teach at a junior high in a suburb just north of Minneapolis, MN. When I did Anthem, I was teaching 11th grade.

Amazing. I used to read faster, but I find myself thinking more as I read which causes me to slow down significantly. I wish I would have been able to do that in college. I wouldn't have struggled to read the 60+ pages per day I had to be accountable for in a couple of my classes.

Sadly, I'm in the tenth grade, in British Columbia. The best thing to do is to get them addicted to books from a young age.