What is your fave book/author?

Was wondering, since we all like books, but LT don't have a feature that lets us showcase our faves, what is your fave book? Fave author?

Mine is Retief and the Warlords by Keith Laumer

followed very closly by Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa.

and finally The Hitchhicker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams

Those are mine, what about yours?

~~EK

I couldn't possibly narrow it to only one. I have memorized an amazing amount of Robert Heinlein and Douglas Adams. I have to agree with you on the Hitchhiker's 'trilogy'. I also adore Frank Herbert's "Dune" books.

Some individual titles in my personal lifetime sf Hall of Fame:
"The Girl who was Plugged In" by James Tiptree, Jr.
"Emergence" by David Palmer
"Beggars in Spain" by Nancy Kress -- terrible title, fantastic book.

One of my all-time favorite's was Frank Herbert. His Dune books were masterful but his other works were great also. The three book series of Destination; Void, The Jesus Incident and The Lazarus Effect, which he co-authored were an intergal part of my teen reading years. I still can quote some of the quotes he started his chapeters out with. They were great pearls of wisdom.

A contemporary favotite of mine is Kevin J. Anderson. His Saga of the Seven Suns series is great.

C. J. Cherryh and H. Beam Piper, as for picking a book? Impossible.

Robert Silverberg's Man in the Maze and his Majipoor Books

CJ Cherryh's Foreigner Books

Alistair Reynolds

I also thoroughly enjoyed Dean Koontz's Lightning and Micheal Crichton's Sphere.

Another C J Cherryh as favourite author. Stephen Donaldson and Alistair Reynolds fighting it out for second.

Favourite SF book - depends too much on how I'm feeling. Chasm City as the only standalone from those three authors might be.... some days.

The Day After Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein, for the book, but Iain M. Banks for the author.

Overall probably James Branch Cabel but for a current author I think I'll have to go with China Mieville

My favorite book changes on a daily basis, but right I'm feeling its Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

I don't have a favorite book, but my all time favorite author is C. J. Cherryh.

Not SF, but Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury is my favorite book of all time. I'm sure people will say it's terrible or they don't like it, but I do.

Hmm..it's really hard to pick just one book. Would it be the one that I keep rereading every year? Or the one that I sink into the most? Or would it be the book I would memorize like in Fahrenheit 451?

For question #1...there's at least 1 book I reread every year Maia by Richard Adams for the longest time. So much that it's going to lose its cover soon. I reread other books but none that I can say I do it almost religiously every year.

For question #2...books that I sink into the most? Probably the Dune series. I read those and all of a sudden I'm thinking of everything in terms of that universe.

For question #3...a book that I would take the time to memorize so that it would be around for others to enjoy? That question is so difficult. It begs me to think of whether I would pick a book that gives me the most pleasure or a book that I feel is worthy of being passed on. It's a tough choice. For pleasure, I would pick Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. For worthiness, I would pick When God was a Woman by Merlin Stone because someone has to keep the memory of a past that may have been or could have been alive.

okay I probably spent way too much time on that answer. hahahahaha

Apart from Dune, already mentioned, I'd go for

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

Tiger! Tiger! and The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

Neuromancer by William Gibson

And, sorry, but I don't seem to be able to make the 'touchstones' work!

author: Gene Wolfe I love having to work along with him to figure out what's going on, rather than having everything spelled out for me. Also LeGuin, Guy Kay

book" A Canticle for Leibowitz is a very old favorite. I really enjoyed Dan Simmons' Hyperion books. Amen to previous mentions of LHoD and Bester. For me, though, nothing beats Wolfe's Sun books.

From #1 "Was wondering, since we all like books, but LT don't have a feature that lets us showcase our faves"

In case you've missed it on site talk. You can now make authors your "favorite" (sic). On each author page is an add to favorites star.

Favorite book is Dune. Can't really narrow it down to one author, but now the favorite authors can be listed profilewise. ;)

Interesting that so many mention Dune as their favourite. I must be in the minority because I don't much like it. I have never been a fan of political sci-fi or space opera.

For the same reason, I am a big fan of Asimov except for Foundation et al. I like my sci-fi hard!

as far as science fiction goes...The Stars My Destination or Tiger! Tiger! if you prefer. That books is indescribable yet if anything, a tragedy.
For fantasy...I think I'd either go with the Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler or Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. Also--Viriconium by M. John Harrison and City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer.

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman (warning: the two sequels were dreadful, as in downright embarassing)

In Conquest Born - C.S. Friedman (the sequel was readable, but it wasn't much better than mediocre, unfortunately)

Childhood's End - Arthur Clarke

The Ophiuchi Hotline -John Varley

Dhalgren - Samuel Delany (if this is even truly SF?)

Favorite book of all time, sci-fi category: Forerunner Foray by Andre Norton

Favorite author of all time, sci fi category: uh-oh. Um. Ermmm. I give, I can't pick just one.

My favorite SF authors:
Douglas Adams, Jim Aikin, Greg Bear, David Brin, John Brunner, Emma Bull, Orson Scott Card (although I have to hold my nose when I say his name now-a-days), Jo Clayton, John Crowley, Ellen Datlow, Samuel R. Delany, Diane Duane, Alan Dean Foster, William Gibson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Parke Godwin, Nicola Griffith, Lee Killough, Donald Kingsbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tanith Lee,Stanislaw Lem, Anne McCaffrey, Vonda McIntyre, Judith Merril, C. L. Moore, Pat Murphy, Andre Norton, Mike Resnick, Joanna Russ, Pamela Sargent, Robert Sheckley, Sharon Shinn, Margaret St. Clair, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Sheri S. Tepper, James Tiptree Jr., Joan D. Vinge, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Kate Wilhelm, Roger Zelazny

#20 YAY! another The Stars My Destination fan. All sci-fi fans should read this amazing book.

It is very very hard to narrow it down... I'm one of those geeks that really enjoy the writings of Jon Courtenay Grimwood and Neal Stephenson: also Ursula K LeGuin, both for her fantasy and SF, and newly found C .J. Cherryh.
Each of those has written SF books that I'd consider "the best" - Pashazade, Effendi & Felaheen + Stamping Butterflies; Snowcrash + Cryptonomicon and Quicksilver, Confusion & The System of the World; Left Hand of Darkness + Dispossessed + ...; The Foreigner : a novel of first contact Universe books...

As books go Childhood's End is a real chiller, and I enjoyed Skinner & Cowl and a few others from Neal Asher even if I think he's more than a wee bit too gory.

*problem with touchstones, maybe I did one too many ;-)*

All time fav, eh? I'm sure that depends on one's mood at the moment. For me, right now, it would have to be "Ray Bradbury's" 'Martian Chronicles'. I remember that it evoked strong emotions in me at the time. But then there's "Isaac Asimov's" 'I, Robot' too...Both of these are really a compendium of short stories. Short stories can be very poignant; they get to the quick of it, well, quickly :) For a list of my 50 favorite SF books just check out my catalogue at SF Girl.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert, but I just bought Philip k Dick Four Novels of the 1960sand I am loving it. I am a big Philip K Dick fan.
Now that I am sitting here thinking, it's hard to pick a single favorite.

I'm generally more interested in reading the next book as opposed to rereading something, but Lord of Light is book I tend to look over every few years.

Lord of the ringsand other Tolkien's books.
Stephen King Marion Bradley Zimmer
& also Neil Gaiman

I love Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but I also have more favorites. Like Candle in the Darkness, East, and Aha!: The Most Interseting Book You'll Ever Read about Intelligence (Mysterious You) WHY IS THIS NOT SHOWING UP IN THE TOUCHSTONES??? ah well.

missmaddie -

Perhaps because "Interesting" is spelled wrong?

Re message 30, change "Interseting" to "Interesting". Actually, that might not make it show up, since there are two Martin Gardner books starting with Aha! in the LT list under author Martin Gardner and neither one has "interesting" in the title. I just listed my copy of Aha! Aha! Insight yesterday.

I'm slowly working my way through Orion's SF Masterworks series at the moment, and have come across some fantastic books so far....

The Forever War is one of my favourite of the books I've read in the series so far, along with Cities in Flight and Gateway. I didn't find that The Stars My Destination grabbed me as much as the others, but it was certainly a good book. I've just started reading Lord of Light.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, another fantastic book, albeit a little short (I read the whole thing on a train journey from Paris to London the other week) is I Am Legend.

My favorite book of all time is Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. My favorite science fiction book, however, is either Nightfall by Isaac Asimov or Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.

Favorite Science Fiction... this is tough! I deal more heavily in social science science fiction, so while I love books like Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land, they wouldn't be on my top list. (Hey, I'm a linguistics and education major, what do you expect?)

Here goes (in no particular order):

This is the Way the World Ends by James Morrow. Gut-wrenching, hilarious, post-apocalyptic

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. A marvelous exploration of gender and society, and a great answer to people to think science fiction is only about men in space suits.

Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson. A great combination of social science and natural science.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.. Post-apocalyptic monasticism. What could be better?

If I could include books more on the fantasy side of the spectrum, there would be even more Le Guin, but this list is a good start. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

A few near the top of my list that haven't been mentioned yet:

Connie Willis, Anything she's written, but especially Bellwether. No one tickles my irony bone quite like Connie Willis.

Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Military SF can be very very cool with really nifty characters!

Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Revolution on the moon and all sorts of really nifty ideas about society and how it forms and evolves and whatnot.

#33

You probably still have some excellent books to go in that range. I'm not going to single out a couple from it - as far as I am concerned you can almost be guaranteed that you aren't going to get a dud.

#21 - In Conquest Born - C.S. Friedman (the sequel was readable, but it wasn't much better than mediocre, unfortunately)

I'm glad to hear that others had the same experience regarding The Wilding. I've reread In Conquest born a number of times, and was very disappointed with the sequel.
Fortunately she has also written This Alien Shore, and The Madness Season which are worth rereading too.

#37

The only thing, so far, that I've noticed is the plethora of Philip K Dick books, and the distinct lack of Isaac Asimov. I suspect that the omission of Isaac Asimov is because Orion didn't have the rights to publish his books...

It's a shame - it was reading various collections of Asimov short stories that interested me in SF to start with (along with, I believe, a couple of Robert Heinlein)

There are some great books listed in this thread.

My 'favourite' book always depends on my mood and the genre under discussion but I think John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar and Sheep Look Up are among my high ranked favourites.

Hey there:
Obviously some great books above. For myself my favorites would be:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven
and Childhood's end by Arthur C. Clarke

There are many others, but these probably had the most significant affect on me.

it's quite difficult to pick any one book out...

Dune by Frank Herbert - and all other books in the Duneverse
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and E. E. 'Doc' Smith

Usually, my favs are what I'm reading now. ;) It's always hard for me to name favorites, but I love Michael Marshall Smith. Spares, which is the first one I read by him is probably my favorite. And I'm fond of David Brin's Uplift series, especially Startide Rising.

I also adored Joan D. Vinge's Cat trilogy, Psion, Catspaw, and Dreamfall.

Others I consider favs:
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Replay by Ken Grimwood
Mockingbird by Walter Tevis
Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Armor by John Steakley
Clay's Ark by Octavia E. Butler
Raising the Stones by Sheri Tepper
Neuromancer by William Gibson

I could keep going, but I'll stop there. And I still need to add all of those and more into LT.

Here's a little twist...

My favorites have evolved:

1980: book-A Princess of Mars author-Edgar Rice Burroughs
1984: book-The Moon is a Harsh Mistress author-Larry Niven
1990: book-Protector author-Robert Heinlein
1995: book-The Number of the Beast author- Greg Benford
2000: book-Exile's Gate author - Gene Wolfe
2007: book-Dune author-C. J. Cherryh

Lots of honorable mentions too, but..

Light by M. John Harrison is my favorite SF book of the last 5 years. There's something about the way the disparate storylines come together - the ending gives me chills everytime... plus I just love Seria Mau Genlicher and the White Cat.

I think wyrdchao makes an excellent point about how that Fave book choice evolves over time.
Authors wax and wane in predence more slowly. China Mieville is my current favorite, but Iain M. Banks, William Gibson and CJ Cherryh have each been on the top of the list at one point or another.

I'm going through this list and adding many books to my "looking for in used book stores" list.

Thanks y'all

#39

I don't think Asimov had all that many great books in him - probably just The Gods Themselves. The others ranged from good to not so good. Although special mention must be made of the original Foundation books but you would need all three of them.

I also think you are right that it probably costs too much to get the rights for an Asimov book as well. If you look at the range Day Of The Triffids was (and still is) published by Penguin but that appears in the list.

Today's all-time favorite sci-fi book is "Steel Beach." Let's see it's 8:50, so I might have thought of a new favorite by 9:15.

All-time favorite author is a little more stable--Philip Dick.

My favorite book has been The Hobbit. I read that six or seven times as a kid and my understanding of it grew as I did. I've probably read books that I enjoyed more since then, but Bilbo will always have a special place. (Funny, I didn't care much for The Lord of the Rings...)

My favorite author would be John Steinbeck.

Since this is the Sci Fi board and neither of those is SF, I guess I would say favorite book was 2001: A Space Odyssey which was my first introduction to hard SF.

Favorite SF author would be a tie between Arthur C. Clarke and good ol' Isaac Asimov.

I'd say my favorite book is either Dune or The Gate to Women's Country. Favorite author is difficult, but I like Sheri S. Tepper, Greg Bear, and Ursula K. Le Guin a lot.