Whats your favourite book and why?

[Whateverist]

All fine books and much enjoyed.  The only Stephen King I've read is the one about the nut job lady that rescues and then keeps some unfortunate author confined to her house by repeatedly injuring him as he begins to heal.  It was like a car wreck, impossible to turn away from.  His writing is riveting but entirely wasted on junk themes.

I'm going to have to disagree. Dismissing anything that isn't intellectual as junk isn't fair, in my opinion. He writes horror, which is my favorite genre (if underrepresented in my list). Its only goal is to entertain, frighten and disgust, which isn't junk. It's emotive, which has its own value in literature. Some of us don't read only to find significant underlying meaning or anything of the sort. Sometimes, we read to escape, which "junk themes" offer perfectly. The wonderful thing about King is that he is able to write about these supernatural or horrifying events using wholly believable characters. In fact, when it comes to character development and realism, he's in my top five. If you've ever been to New England, you know how well he captures the mindset of folks here. He may not be Bradbury, Vonnegut or Wells, but he's not popular for no reason.

This just reminded me that I forgot to mention why these are my favorites.

Oh I read plenty of junk.  I've read most of Anne Rice's vampire stuff.  Totally engrossing even if occasionally gross as well.    I mentioned reading a ton of Gerry Durrell which is nothing but entertaining junk.  Martin and Tolkien and Asimov and Le Guin are all mostly diverting, though also sometimes sublime.  I've got nothing against it, but stuff that moves me or enlightens me or makes me think I'm getting a deep look into the human condition is going to register as 'better' - to me, though not necessarily what will float everyone's boat of course.