For me, it's Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Such a delightful book! Also, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I'm not big on the rest of the books in the series, but man, Ender's Game is a really enjoyable ride!
Of course HHGTTG has already been mentioned so I'll just add "me too" to that before adding my other two:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and its sequel Lila.
I've read both of those several times and always get completely sucked into the stories.
I can always read Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. A lot of people may think it's long and boring, including a few former teachers of mine, but I just love it.
One of my favorites to re-reach was The Catcher in the Rye.
Its one of those books where i read it in grade school as an angsty teenager and then again at 30. And my perspective and take on the book was so wildly different it was pretty fascinating
World War Z by Max Brooks. Each chapter is told by a different person making it very hard to become bored of the book and is very entertaining even when you've already read the book.
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell. A modernized version of Dante's Inferno, it's a little dated since it was written in the 70's, I don't know how they made a trip through hell entertaining but they accomplished the task.
Sitting there on the heather, on our planetary grain, I shrank from the abysses that opened up on every side, and in the future. The silent darkness, the featureless unknown, were more dread than all the terrors that imagination had mustered. Peering, the mind could see nothing sure, nothing in all human experience to be grasped as certain, except uncertainty itself; nothing but obscurity gendered by a thick haze of theories. Man's science was a mere mist of numbers; his philosophy but a fog of words. His very perception of this rocky grain and all its wonders was but a shifting and a lying apparition. Even oneself, that seeming-central fact, was a mere phantom, so deceptive, that the most honest of men must question his own honesty, so insubstantial that he must even doubt his very existence.”
Neverwhere is the only work of Gaiman's that I've had the privilege to read and I loved it! Great author. I'll have to give the others you mentioned a try.
Pretty much anything by David Gemmell. I've read most of his books at least once, but many I've read a half-dozen times or more.
I just finished re-reading the Rigante series (Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon, Ravenheart, Stormrider) for at least the 10th time last week, which (in my opinion) is probably his best series. I'm going through the Drenai series now (Legend, King Beyond the Gate, started Waylander today), then plan on re-reading the Troy series once again.
Join the Discussion
For me, it's Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Such a delightful book! Also, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I'm not big on the rest of the books in the series, but man, Ender's Game is a really enjoyable ride!
Man I love that book so much. Pratchett was a genius, Gaiman is still one, and this book was a miracle.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy of course. In fact, I'm re-reading it now.
Classic. "This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays."
Only the eyes still said that whatever it was the Universe thought it was doing to him, he would still like it please to stop.
Stieg Larsson Trilogy.
The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder. A great mix of technological and human themes.
Of course HHGTTG has already been mentioned so I'll just add "me too" to that before adding my other two: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and its sequel Lila.
I've read both of those several times and always get completely sucked into the stories.
I can always read Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. A lot of people may think it's long and boring, including a few former teachers of mine, but I just love it.
One of my favorites to re-reach was The Catcher in the Rye.
Its one of those books where i read it in grade school as an angsty teenager and then again at 30. And my perspective and take on the book was so wildly different it was pretty fascinating
World War Z by Max Brooks. Each chapter is told by a different person making it very hard to become bored of the book and is very entertaining even when you've already read the book.
most discworlds. Particularly Night Watch.
Also Magician/Sethanon/Silverthorn by Raymond E Feist. Fuck I love those first three books.
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell. A modernized version of Dante's Inferno, it's a little dated since it was written in the 70's, I don't know how they made a trip through hell entertaining but they accomplished the task.
Anything by Patricia Briggs and Tamora Pierce. Along with books by Jacqueline Carey. I can always reread Harry Potter too.
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
The Regulators by Richard Bachman...which I immediately follow up with Desperation by Stephen King
Neverwhere, Stardust, Anansy Boys or The ocean at the end of the lane, all by Neil Gaiman for me.
I just finished The Graveyard Book. It's amazing if you haven't read it!
It is awesome as well! I just didn't want to quote his entire collection and get called on it :P
Neverwhere is the only work of Gaiman's that I've had the privilege to read and I loved it! Great author. I'll have to give the others you mentioned a try.
If you loved Neverwhere, Gaiman's work is pretty much all like that. Magical, mysterious, genius. Have fun :)
Great to hear! Thanks :)
Pretty much anything by David Gemmell. I've read most of his books at least once, but many I've read a half-dozen times or more.
I just finished re-reading the Rigante series (Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon, Ravenheart, Stormrider) for at least the 10th time last week, which (in my opinion) is probably his best series. I'm going through the Drenai series now (Legend, King Beyond the Gate, started Waylander today), then plan on re-reading the Troy series once again.
The Otterbury Incident by C Day Lewis and The Kon Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl.