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Favorite Books


Utah IB Student

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Someone else created a "least favorite book" topic, but not only do I love two of the books people listed as their least favorite, this "least favorite" approach seems to pessimistic to me. I absolutely love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Emma because the characters in both are so well-developed, and the plots of both are interesting. I really enjoyed reading Shelley's Frankenstein. What books do you like? Why?

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I love Emma and Pride and Prejudice too - I actually like Emma more, personally. I also love Atonement by Ian McEwan, and Harry Potter was the series that inspired my love of reading initially. And I adore Sherlock Holmes - so much so that I wrote my EE on it. Despite its questionable literary values (and indeed, questionable factual accuracy), I will admit to enjoying The Da Vinci Code quite a lot as well.

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I wouldn't say this is my favourite book, but I really enjoyed reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book really makes you think about your life and how you chose to lead it. I highly recommend it to anyone that likes reading!

I didn't like it at all. It's a great concept and idea really, but it was executed so poorly!

I don't have any set-in-stone-favorites. Reading a book and liking it depends a lot on my mood which makes me quite biased when it comes to rating them too. However, that said, I have absolutely loved the following:

The book thief by Marcus Zusak

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

The God of small things by Arundhati Roy

Duma Key by Stephen King

Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami

Death is a lonely business by Ray Bradbury

among others

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I also love Jane Austen! I'm the one who posted the "least favourite books" thread because I thought it'd be interesting to see how people explained what they didn't like in books. It requires more thought, I think, than explaining why you like a book.

Anyway, back on topic. I love so many books. So many. Of course I love the Jeeves and Wooster stories by PG Wodehouse and pretty much everything written by Oscar Wilde, but more recently I've come to love Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Reader- Bernhard Schlink

Siddharta - Hermann Hesse

The History Boys- Alan Bennett (Brilliant book, especially when you're about to graduate from High School)

The Physicists- Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The Perfume - Patrick Süskind

A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams

The God of Small Things- Arundhati Roy

These are just a few, because there are too many good books in the world...

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I wouldn't say this is my favourite book, but I really enjoyed reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. The book really makes you think about your life and how you chose to lead it. I highly recommend it to anyone that likes reading!

I was going to say "The Remains of the Day," also by Kazuo.

Besides The Remains, I enjoyed 1984 and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. And Harry Potter :D

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My favourites:

The Magus by John Fowles - no. 1

Any book ever written by Robin Hobb.... literally, I've read and re-read all these books like an addiction every summer holiday since I found them. Especially the Tawney Man trilogy (& the Farseer one) but also the Liveship Traders and the Soldier Son series.

The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey (prior to her son starting to write them)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (agreed with everybody else who suggested it - absolutely fantastically written!)

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Attwood

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Perfume by Patrick Suskind (another chronic re-reader! Although I'm always disturbed each time so re-read it less than some other books xP)

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

I should read Never Let me Go, I really enjoyed the Remains of the Day but never really read anything else from Kazuo Ishiguro. I enjoyed Jeeves & Wooster as well, it made me chuckle, although I wouldn't stick it in my top list of books. For books that make you chuckle, I always have to rate The Bible According to Spike Milligan top :P Weird also that some of the books on this list for other people are actually on my least favourite list, ahah! Some period drama-ites on here it seems.

Anyway, a quote from the incredible confusion that is the Magus...

Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, and he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the prince believed his father.

But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace and came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.

"Are those real islands?" asked the young prince.
"Of course they are real islands," said the man in evening dress.
"And those strange and troubling creatures?"
"They are all genuine and authentic princesses."
"Then God must also exist!" cried the young prince.
"I am God," replied the man in evening dress, with a bow.

The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.

"So, you are back," said his father, the king.
"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.
The king was unmoved.
"Neither real islands, real princesses nor a real God exist."
"I saw them!"
"Tell me how God was dressed."
"God was in full evening dress."
"Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?"
The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.
"That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived."

At this, the prince returned to the next land and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress.

"My father, the king, has told me who you are," said the prince indignantly. "You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician."
The man on the shore smiled.
"It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom, there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them."

The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eye.
"Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?"
The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.
"Yes, my son, I'm only a magician."
"Then the man on the other shore was God."
"The man on the other shore was another magician."
"I must know the truth, the truth beyond magic."
"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.
The prince was full of sadness. He said "I will kill myself."
The king by magic caused Death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.
"Very well," he said, "I can bear it".
"You see, my son," said the king, "you, too, now begin to be a magician."

Literally cannot explain how much the Magus changed my life. It messes with your mind in the most perfect way.

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My favourites:

The Magus by John Fowles - no. 1

Any book ever written by Robin Hobb.... literally, I've read and re-read all these books like an addiction every summer holiday since I found them. Especially the Tawney Man trilogy (& the Farseer one) but also the Liveship Traders and the Soldier Son series.

The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey (prior to her son starting to write them)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (agreed with everybody else who suggested it - absolutely fantastically written!)

Oryx & Crake by Margaret Attwood

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Perfume by Patrick Suskind (another chronic re-reader! Although I'm always disturbed each time so re-read it less than some other books xP)

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

I should read Never Let me Go, I really enjoyed the Remains of the Day but never really read anything else from Kazuo Ishiguro. I enjoyed Jeeves & Wooster as well, it made me chuckle, although I wouldn't stick it in my top list of books. For books that make you chuckle, I always have to rate The Bible According to Spike Milligan top :P Weird also that some of the books on this list for other people are actually on my least favourite list, ahah! Some period drama-ites on here it seems.

Anyway, a quote from the incredible confusion that is the Magus...

Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, and he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the prince believed his father.

But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace and came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.

"Are those real islands?" asked the young prince.

"Of course they are real islands," said the man in evening dress.

"And those strange and troubling creatures?"

"They are all genuine and authentic princesses."

"Then God must also exist!" cried the young prince.

"I am God," replied the man in evening dress, with a bow.

The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.

"So, you are back," said his father, the king.

"I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God," said the prince reproachfully.

The king was unmoved.

"Neither real islands, real princesses nor a real God exist."

"I saw them!"

"Tell me how God was dressed."

"God was in full evening dress."

"Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?"

The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.

"That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived."

At this, the prince returned to the next land and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress.

"My father, the king, has told me who you are," said the prince indignantly. "You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician."

The man on the shore smiled.

"It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom, there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them."

The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eye.

"Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?"

The king smiled and rolled back his sleeves.

"Yes, my son, I'm only a magician."

"Then the man on the other shore was God."

"The man on the other shore was another magician."

"I must know the truth, the truth beyond magic."

"There is no truth beyond magic," said the king.

The prince was full of sadness. He said "I will kill myself."

The king by magic caused Death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.

"Very well," he said, "I can bear it".

"You see, my son," said the king, "you, too, now begin to be a magician."

Literally cannot explain how much the Magus changed my life. It messes with your mind in the most perfect way

Have you read the name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss? If not get into it man... I think you'd like it.

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My reading started with my parent's library (study--- does this place in a home exist anymore?? Who has a "study" in their home? It's replaced by the entertainment centers ) so this a reflection of what I started with ...

Literary non-fiction

Cosmos, Carl Sagan

Eight Little Piggies, Gould

Neandertal Enigma, Shreeve

Forbidden Experiment,

Blue Latitudes, Horwitz

Taking Wing, Pat Shipman

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson

Life on Earth, Attenborough

Fiction

Lord of the Flies, Golding

Handmaid's Tale, Atwood

Empire of the Rising Sun,

Remains of the Day, Ishiguro

Waterland, Swift

Swallows and Amazons, Ransome

Edited by Blackcurrant
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Mornings in Jenin by Susan AbuAlhawa. The novel is outstanding as it shows the lives of three different generations of a family living in Palestine, as well as the story of a Palestinian immigrant to America and how she tries to connect to her roots. The novel is just amazing!

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  • 9 months later...

So many favourites :D From what I can think of:

 

Harry Potter (all of them!)

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque

Greek/Roman mythology series by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus)

Edited by IbTrojan
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harry potter(series): JK Rowling

Percy Jackson(Series): Rick Riordan

Power of Five(Series): Anthony Horowitz

Department 19 (series): Will Hill

Horrible Science (Series): Nick Arnold

Jurassic Park: Michael Crichton

Carrie: Stephen King

Lorien Legacies (Series): Pittacus Lore

White Fang: Jack London

Edited by King112
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