Just wondering what sort of books everyone likes, what you're reading at the moment, whether you have a favourite?

I tend to like sf or thrillers or fantasy.

At the moment I am reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (very good, but I found it difficult to get into).

I have a lot of favourites, but I always return to Voyage by Stephen Baxter (about an alternative history where JFK survived the assassination attempt and the space programme grew to this, the first manned flight to Mars) and the Night's Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God).

OK Steve are you sure we aren't really identical twins?

My taste in books is pretty much the same but I lean more towards the fantasy (Robin Hobb, David Gemell etc)

I'm going for a tat this weekend :lol:

I'm a horror/thriller reader who strays into Sci-Fi/fantasy occasionally

My favourite author is Dean R Koontz.

I've just started reading a Philip K Dick 5 novel omnibus which includes Do Androids... - I started this last night - Deckard's married!! :o

I also occasionally read comedies or popular science books - did A History of Time a little while ago then a couple of books on evolution. I also read Lance' Armstrong's autobiography which is marvellous.

I've read a few Dean Koontz books. I think Lightning was my favourite of the ones I read. :)

I tend to love books that involve a lot of drama and angst, I thrive on adrenaline ridden plots. Spy thrillers are the current favourite but the last book I read was some trashy novel called Freeze My Margarita cos I was bored and it was cheap from the works!

I don't often deviate from the SF/Fantasy genre. At the moment, I'm halfway through reading War of The Flowers by Tad Williams, whose books I've read all of so far.

Other fave authors are Robin Hobb, George R R Martin, Raymond E Feist, Robert Jordan, Stephen Donaldson, and the Forgotten Realms & DragonLance books. My all-time fave book is Dragonlance Chronicles by Margeret Weis & Tracy Hickman. :)

Also, I still read most of Stephen King's books when he has new ones out. Very occasionally I'll read contemporary fiction (or whatever its called) like "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime", which was very good, and Eats Shoots and Leaves, which some of the newbie members of the beeb board could do with reading. :lol:

Then lately I've been going to the library to revisit Agatha Christie's of which I read the vast majority of when I was younger. And also borrowing the occasional Buffy/Angel book - although they are rarely satisfying.

He went through a little spell about 15 years ago when he did Watchers, Midnight, Lightning and The Bad Place which was just awe inspiring imo.

Lately I can see a bit too much deja vu creeping in here and there but he can still combine great story telling with a depth of emotion that reminds me a lot of Buffy.

Oh yeah, and I love James Patterson's books -very fast paced & action packed. My dad got me into them and now I occasionally buy them myself.

Talking of fast paced and action packed, I've just finished a book called Area 7 by Matthew Reilly. It's just one huge action sequence. Totally ludicrous and a bit irritating Saturday matinee kind of stuff but it passed the time on the tube.

My favourite authors are Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Laurell K Hamilton, Kathy Reichs and John Connolly.

I'm addicted to reading and have hundreds of books, most of them in hardback cos I can't wait for them to come out in paperback ;)

My favourite SK books are his "Dark Tower' series, the last book of which is due out in september - I'm anticipating and dreading this book in equal measures :D

I LOVE anything DK and LKH, even going so far as to buy books from America as soon as they are released :D

At the moment I'm reading a couple of books in the Sci Fi genre, a bit of a break from my usual Horror/Crime/Thriller faves.

The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton and Ilium by Dan Simmons, both recommended to me by friends. I'm really enjoying them, though it was hard to get into them at first but well worth persevering with :thumbsup:

I read mostly horror fiction, I like Stephen King's earlier stuff, James Herbert, and Dean R Koontz occasionally, but mainly Brian Lumley.

I do enjoy some of the the more tradiitional horror such as Lovecraft, the Cthulu myths.

For sci fi you can't beat Phillip K Dick, or GJ Ballard. I've read some of Neil Gaimans books, I haven't got many though. I don't get chance to read so much now.

I'm thinking of buying the kids the Harry Potter series, but I'm not sure if that's for me :lol:

I'm only up to Wizard & Glass cos the other 2 aren't out in paperback yet. I borrowed these from the library over the course of 10 years or whatever it was, so I glad he's started to get a move on with the rest of it. When they were rereleased, I bought the first 4 in a sale, but I'm not gonna re-read them til I have the remaining 3 in my possession. :)

So are Wolves of the calla & song for susannah good?

I can't believe I forgot Terry Pratchett! :stoopid: I've got all of his books (that are in paperback), and eagerly await new Discworld books.

Robert Rankin & Tom Holt are also good, but strangely I haven't got /any/ of their books cos I've always borrowed em from the library.

Oh, yeah, and the Harry Potters & His Dark Materials trilogy are very good too. :)

Oh, I forgot James Herbert and Neil Gaimans, and Clive Barker!!

I love Neverwhere, it's a pleasure to read!

I also love 'The Princess Bride', the book that the film is 'allegedly' based on. Great fun, and LOL funny in parts :D

Hmmm, I also read Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, James Patterson.....the list goes on and on.

And the Harry Potter books are great Lisa ;)

Frelling amazing!!!!

Oh, and Bruce Campbells autobiography, If chins could kill, is a bloody good read as well!

I love books!!

I've read that one - excellent imo but then I'm a big fan of his - I'm going to re-read the Hyperion series soon - I also love his horror novels

Before this I had only ever read his horror novels. They are some of my faves, ones that I will read over and over again :D In fact it was me lending these books to my friend that got him into DS so I guess I only have myself to blame!

BTW - have you read Hollow man? Did you find it as weird as me?

TP books are unmissable

I tried reading Robert Rankin but just didn't find him at all funny.

I'm reading The Amber Spyglass at the moment, nearly finished, but because I mostly read at night and gettting really tired lately I keep falling asleep.

I read it years ago but can't remember that much about what happens apart from the general gist of it tryiing to explain how the mind works with mathematics :)

I may re-read that now that you've mentioned it.

:o

Admittedly, some of his I found weird, like "The garden of unearthly delights" (although I've only read it once when I was school age), but I'd highly recommend "The hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse" - that is absolutely hilarious. :lol: :lol:

Maybe I just picked the wrong book or something, might give him another go at somen point :)

I forgot about His Dark Materials - they're wonderful books :thumbsup:

Nobody's mentioned Lord Of The Rings yet :o :lol:

I've read Lord of The Rings, a long time ago now, not really in a hurry to read it again, it's not bad, there's just a lot to get through ;)

I forgot Clive Barker too and Ray Bradbury :)

I tend to read LotR every couple of years. I start with The Hobbit (of course), go through LotR, and end with The Silmirillion. Fantastic stuff :D

And Robert Rankin? Hilarious :thumbsup: I sometimes find him funnier than TP!! And he is so much more quotable!! It must be a tradition, or an old charter, or something ;) I think he has a new one out soon, maybe even now. I must go to Borders on the way home ;)

And yes, His Dark Materials are pretty good. I read them a few years ago so I think it may be time for a re-read :P

Yep, you do that! :)

I took it as read (pun intended ;)) that that one was included. Its not one of my absolute faves, but I do like it and I read it when I was at school and again just before the first film came out.

I like the hobbit a lot too, but strangely enough have never read the silmarillion.

The witches of chiswick, I think, is the newest one I've seen of his.

I love his style of writing too. its hard to explain what its like, but there's something so I dunno, casual about it. Colloquial, almost. :)

And he has an obsession with sprouts. ;)

I must admit for the most part I only read STAR TREK or DR WHO novels nowadays although I also read bibliographys normally of Footballers but occassionally of actors/actressess I like. (Tend to get a lot of them as Christmas/Birthday presents!!)

I also have read both James Herbert and Terry Pratchett but it is a long time since I read them and if there is a film I fancy seeing if I can I tend to read the book first (Underworld and Van Helsing are two recent examples)

I think it stems back to doing English Language/Literature at college, after reading all sorts of things for 3 years I tend not to read anything too heavy now!!

The last book I finished was The Da Vinci Code. At the moment I'm making my way through PKD's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. After that I've got the Blade Runner 2-4 novels to get through, and yes, I too have Baxter's Voyage to start as well. I've had it for a goof few years now, still haven't gotten around to reading it though :rolleyes:

Then there's Stephen King's Dark Tower novels ;)

I also love Greg Bear's work. Eon was a superb novel, the sequals slightly less so IMO. The Forge of God was awesome as well, and it's sequal, Anvil of Stars is one of the best novels I've read.

Same here, LOTR was just such an obvious one ;)

If you liked Apollo 13 and/or From The Earth To The Moon you may love that book :D

I know, I probably will, it's just finding the time to read the damned thing :)

I'm still only about halfway through Baxter's Manifold series. :rolleyes:

I read THE HOBBIT in one night years ago and I read the complete LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy shortly afterwards!

I've had the first Shadowrun book in my bag for weeks intending to re-read it, haven't got round to it yet.

I used to read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy but I'm more of history book person atm, the last book I finished was Warwick. The Kingmaker.

I'm a big Stephen King fan and have read all his books with the exeption of the Dark Tower series which I've never touched. My favourites are The Stand, Gerald's Game, Firestarter and The Long Walk(as Richard Bachman). I also like trashy modern fiction.

The long walk is a fantastic story - in fact I was just thinking about re-reading that the other day :P

There was a new one (forget the name) reviewed in SFX this month :D It is apparently part of the Brentford 'Trilogy' and is a prequel (?) to The Witches of Chiswick. Sounds interesting to say the least ;)

Yeah I've read that, I seem to prefer Stephen King when he writes as Richard Bachman, it's refreshing not to be in Maine ;) :lol:

Thinner was good too, I can't remember which alias that was written under though :unsure: