Whats your favourite book and why?

[The Grand Nudger]

Try The Colorado Kid, also by King, Whatevs.  He does some of his best work when he steps out of genre.  He wrote Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption, as well...after all.  

[Excited Penguin]

Try The Colorado Kid, also by King, Whatevs.  He does some of his best work when he steps out of genre.  He wrote Rita Heyworth and the Shawshank Redemption, as well...after all.  

All I know is, the movie adaptation is fucking gold.

[Silver]

As a huge fan of horror, I was never a fan of Stephen King. His books always seemed overrated to me.

[The Grand Nudger]

I'd love to see an adaptation of the former.  It's -claimed- that Haven was an adaptation...lol, but I can't for the life of me see how.

[The Grand Nudger]

As a huge fan of horror, I was never a fan of Stephen King.  His books always seemed overrated to me.

Hehehe, maybe, but the sheer volume of work he produces is herculean.  If you've ever taken the time to write anything that doesn't bore most everybody to tears, your metrics for a successful or decent or even -brilliant- novel are likely to take a steep plunge downward, and in that regard the man has uncanny ability.

[Autumnlicious]

- "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", by Milan Kundera. I listened to the audiobook... damn, when I got caught up in a thought the audio was already moving on! definitely work reading in text and taking a moment to think about what's been said before reading some more.

I recommend Milan Kundera's The Joke. Dense read but certainly shines a light on how absurd circumstances can have you painted as a traitor through no fault of your own.

[downbeatplumb]

Oof, choosing one is difficult. Those who follow my comments here know that I do not read a lot of fiction.

The book of fiction that I think about most often because of its philosophical angle is probably "Solaris" by Lem. The whole idea of humanity utterly failing to even find a way to think about the thoughts of, let alone understand the seemingly bizarre behavior of a superior intelligence, is very fascinating, add to that the setting, it's great.

Sounds like you may be interested in Strata by Terry Pratchett which at its core was about a powerful races understanding of the universe.

Not one of his best books, those are the disc world books but an interesting read.

[Shell B]

As a huge fan of horror, I was never a fan of Stephen King.  His books always seemed overrated to me.

I feel that way about John Saul and Dean Koontz. Obviously, not every writer is for everyone. For me, it has always been his characters that hooked me. Dolores Claiborne is a great example of a fully developed character of his, flawed, heroic, plain, tough and stubborn, if you need one. Another great one is the cop in "Needful Things" whose name escapes me. Anyway, it's not for everyone, but there is no debating that the man is a master, even if he can't entertain everyone. His book "On Writing" is a must-read for anyone looking to write a book nowadays. Some of the best advice I've ever read was in that book, not that I took it.

[Aegon]

Oh shit, how did I not say the A Song of Ice And Fire series? Maybe because it's been so long since I read a new addition to the series...   Really though, I love the ASOIAF books. I don't like fantasy, but the series has a way of feeling so real despite its fantasy setting.

[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.