...but what about the books?

[Elf Witch]

Did Fred Saberhagen write a Dracula/Holmes crossover, or is my memory faulty?

Yes he did it is called the The Holmes Dracula file. There are several Holmes/Dracula crossovers written by different authors.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

like so many others here, I've re-read LOTR...numerous times.

I reread the first 120 pages of Fellowship of the Ring about 6 times. Each time because I found I could not get into the book and would put it down. A year or two later I would try again. I first got the book in fifth grade after reading The Hobbit for school. Finally managed to read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy my freshman year of college.

I'm glad I finally read them, and I did enjoy them, but not enought to feel a burning desire to reread them.

I forgot about Narnia on my list of reread books and books that had a big impact upon me. The Chronicles of Narnia was solely responsible for sparking my love for reading back in the fourth grade. Prior to that I just hadn't found anything that interested me all that much, which had my parents very concerned since my older brother read a book every couple of days.

By the way, for younger kids, I would recommend the Dragon Slayers Academy series of books. My five year old daughter loves them and after we read the first few to her, they helped turn her into a voracious reader on her own (we figured out how well she could read when we finally figured out that she was reading ahead). Thank goodness for libraries or I would be broke keeping her in books.

 

[Richards]

Let's see, books that I have reread include:

- The entire "John Carter of Mars" series (although I usually skip over the craptastic final book that was ghostwritten by Edgar Rice Burroughs' son)

- The entire Sherlock Holmes series (I have a two-volume, oversized set that has all of the Holmes short stories and novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

- Dracula, by Bram Stoker

- The entire "Book of the New Sun" series by Gene Wolfe

- The entire "Dying Earth" series by Jack Vance

- The entire "Alastor" series by Jack Vance

- Dune, by Frank Herbert

- The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells

- Expendable, by James Alan Gardner

- A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

- The Mad Scientists Club (which I read over and over as a kid)

Johnathan

 

[danbuter]

The Wizard and the Warlord by Elizabeth H. Boyer - This book got me into fanasy
The Elfin Ship by James P. Blaylock - this book cemented my love of the genre
Wyvern by A.A. Attanasio - the best coming-of-age book any teen boy could read
The Deed of Paksennarion by Elizabeth Moon - I wish I could live up to her ideals
The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse - eye-opening for me

 

[Teflon Billy]

The books that shaped my life were the John Carter of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

When I was 8 or 9 (and all in a lather over Star Wars) my Grandpa bought the whole series in Paperback and, in one of his more cunning moments, started reading them in front of me.

I noticed the lurid and exciting covers (Four armed green guys swordfighting blue one-eyed monsters for example) and asked about them. I was promptly told that "these books aren't for you. Too much frightening and 'adult' stuff in them. Maybe you can borrow them when you are a teenager"

So I stole them from his den and read them in secret (the clever bastard)

Now, despite these things being classic "pulp" titles, they are categorically not a style I'd call "Easy-Readin'" as so much juvenile literature is today. Big words. Difficult sentence structure. Unusual vocabulary.

I was hooked.

 

[Vonlok The Bold]

A lot of the ones I would mention have been mentioned already. But I will add a few that I didn't see listed.

All the books in the Musketeer series - A great series. If you are only going to read one, then 3 Musketeers is the best, if you read all of them, then I think The Man in the Iron Mask is best.

Add to that a series that begins with Magurite de Valois or Queen Margot also by Dumas. The next book in the series entitled Chicot the Jester or La Dame de Monsoreu might be my favorite book of all times.

Fitzgerald was mentioned, but my favorite book by him is The Beautiful and Damned

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Carcia Marquez was also mentioned.

Vonnegut has a couple that I really love, including Breakfast of Champions, and Slaughter House Five.

I know it sounds cliche but On the Road by Jack Kerouac was an amazing read for me, and will always be one of my favorites.

Tortilla Flats - by John Steinbeck. I don't really love Steinbeck like some people, but this novel was simply amazing.

The Hobbit, and LotR.

A Song of Ice and Fire - G.R.R. Martin.

Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell

A Separate Peace - John Knowles

Don Quixote - One the best and funniest books I have read in my life. This books is amazing.

Anthony Burgess - A Dead Man in Deptford. Anyone who loves Elizabethan era theatre should read this well written historical fiction novel about the great playwrite Christopher Marlowe.

My Wicked Wicked Ways - Errol Flynn. This book is full of exaggerations but the parts the truth in the book is still more of a life than two average folks live. The parts about his life BEFORE he ever came to Hollywood are simply amazing and a great read whether folks are fans of his movies or not.

The White Company - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The author of Sherlock does a great job writing about knights and archers and the like as well.

 

[cuteasaurus]

Books that I really loved, enough to read again.

2. The original Foundation Trilogy by Asimov
5. The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

I totally agree...awesome books. I also love the Michael Crichton books. I read Jurassic Park so many times the book literally fell apart. Five patients (not so sci-fi, but I'm in med school, so I like it), Andromeda Strain, Sphere, etc.

 

[Tonguez]

When I was younger I read a lot of mythology (Greek/Roman, Slav, Polynesian) and the standards of Fantasy (Narnia chronicles, Earthsea Chronicles, the Hobbit etc etc) although I never much liked LotR.

of course Where the Wild Things Are may have been the first fantasy I ever read (as opposed to Mum telling us stories of the 3 billy goats gruff)

During my teens I got more into Howard and Burroughs (including John Carter) and am a definate Tarzan fan (still looking for a paper copy of Tarzan of the Apes if anyones got one (I've only read it online). my collection starts with The Return of Tarzan). I don't know if Graphic Novels (manga) count the Lone Wolf and Cub was a major influence during my late teens/early 20's. I also read a lot of fairytales during my 20's as part of my degree (Anthropolgy/Education focussing on Folklore/Mythology)

Of late I've become more interested in historic novels and historic recounts from the 17th, 18 and 19th Century especially relating to the colonial expansion of the British Empire. Another interesting read was the diaries of the Marquis de Sade.

of course Pratchett is still a favourite (and pretty much the only fantasy I continue to enjoy)

and is the main champion of a revised Marija Gimbutas kurgan theory of the origins of the Indo-Europeans.

I know its off topic but do you have more information on the 'kurgan' theory. All I can find on Google is wonky references to Giants, Highlander and super men

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

T. Coraghessan Boyle's Water Music
John Waters' Shock Value, especially Chapter 2, "Why I Love Violence"
Lynda Barry's Cruddy

I would like to read Watership Down but I just can't ever since I saw the following cartoon in the New Yorker magazine (25+ years ago):

Outside of a restaurant, with a sign in the window:

WATERSHIP DOWN
You've read the book!
You've seen the movie!
Now, eat the cast!