What are the writers reading?

[Altissimus]

Pick one of your all-time top-three books and drop it in this thread. Add a genre and (optionally) max 25 words on why you liked it.


I'll start.



Genre: fantasy, modern era setting
What I liked: great depictions of Prague, heart-wrenching romance without being sappy.

 

[lovecraft68]

The Exorcist-Horror....if you don't know why, don't try reading it.

 

[onehitwanda]

Fat Charlie went back to his hotel room, the colour of underwater, where his lime sat, like a small green Buddha, on the countertop.

"You're no help," he told the lime.

This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could.

― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Crime and Punishment

The philosophical dilemmas, the colorful characters, the weird atmosphere, the psychology of the characters... you name it. It is also one of very few Dostoevsky's books that end on a positive note.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Greg Bear - Blood Music
Sci-if/kinda horror

 

[Devinter]

David S. Rudolf - True Crime.
Written by the lawyer from "The Staircase" documentary on Netflix.

 

[AchtungNight]

Stephen King’s Needful Things. On my mind because I have recently defeated a hoarder who was giving me frustration.

 

[EroticCupcake]

The Lies of Locke Lamora.

It has one of my favorite moments in a fantasy novel. Someone quick, let's reminisce.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Shelly, Stoker, Carson McCullers.. SciFi, Horror, and Literary.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Mervyn Peake's The Gormenghast Trilogy.

The best imagined world and characters I've ever read.

I read it again every seven or eight years, and it always remains fresh.

Peake was also a superb artist: a war artist during WW2, he was one of the first artists into Belsen (his drawings will haunt you forever), he illustrated the two Alice books, and has some lovely, delicate drawings of his wife and children.

Tragically, he went into premature senility in his early forties, which places another layer over his novel - the third book was written as his mind was failing.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Nonfiction. Laura Hillenbrand can really tell a story. It’s about a lot more than a horse. People at the time were desperate for good news, and Seabiscuit was an ultimate underdog that came from nowhere to win. And to top it off, the tale includes a comeback from disaster. Brilliant.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

The Lies of Locke Lamora.

It has one of my favorite moments in a fantasy novel. Someone quick, let's reminisce.

Oh I completely forgot about that book and now I'm flooded with such great memories of it! That book was enchanting. Such great world building, and the characters were so wonderful

 

[NoTalentHack]

Oh I completely forgot about that book and now I'm flooded with such great memories of it! That book was enchanting. Such great world building, and the characters were so wonderful

The audiobook of it is great. Wonderful narrator choice.

 

[EroticCupcake]

Oh I completely forgot about that book and now I'm flooded with such great memories of it! That book was enchanting. Such great world building, and the characters were so wonderful

I'm not going to derail the thread, but I feel like 80% of all fantasy / super power novels and movies should try to replicate the "I don't have to win, I just have to survive until my friend arrives." The payoff and setup of that alone was incredible, and felt like the book spent hours of love building to that moment.

 

[yowser]

One of the most amazing collections of short stories ever. And since we (most of us, save the novelist types) are involved in the creation of short fiction, there's much to savor and learn from.

A line from 'Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius':

'Mirrors and copulation are abominable, since they both multiply the numbers of men.'

 

[KachinaDoll]

I don't tend to read fiction, except on here. So my favourite book (judging by the fact that I've read it at least half-a-dozen times):

 

[luv2custrip]

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold.

The true stories of the lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper. This book focuses on these women’s sad lives, not on their deaths. Only one of the five was a working prostitute; one other had been accused of such.

 

[MillieDynamite]

They lived in the wrong part of town was the defining event for their murders. The dregs of society are the least likely to be missed. However, the gruesomeness' of their murders made the after life super stars.

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold.

The true stories of the lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper. This book focuses on these women’s sad lives, not on their deaths. Only one of the five was a working prostitute; one other had been accused of such.

 

[luv2custrip]

They lived in the wrong part of town was the defining event for their murders. The dregs of society are the least likely to be missed. However, the gruesomeness' of their murders made the after life super stars.

They were nearly all down on their luck alcoholics. The killer probably followed them out of a local bar, knowing they’d be sleeping it off in an alley.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Top three books? That's BRUTAL! Okay then. In no particular order:

Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman: Good Omens
I like almost every Pratchett book, but this one absolutely takes the cake for being a timeless classic. I've read it to my lady love once a year for the past twenty and every time we pick it up, we find some clever reference applicable to the current times. Very few books manage to be cozy and topical at the same time.

Ian Watson: Space Marine (the original, unedited 1993 version please)
Along with the Second Edition ruleset, this was my gateway drug to Warhammer 40.000. Watson's take on the setting is bleak, grimdark and at time utterly psychotic. Despite spanning a galaxy-wide empire, with space travel and battles on a number of planets, the story is super-claustrophobic, revolving around three unlikely "brothers" from the same hive city who end up becoming the God-Emperor's chosen, superhuman warriors. Gruesome, gritty and oftentimes grotesque, it's a fucking good time even if you are not a fan of the miniature war game. The story is just that great.

Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister: White Line Fever
Lemmy was my hero, which is kinda strange because my main instrument are the drums, not the bass. But the man was a titan amingst the already pretty impressive pantheon of Heavy Metal, a no-fucks-giving legend, on the road for most of his life. "We Are Motörhead and we play Rock'n'Roll!" That's he said at the beginning of each gig and it took reading the book to discover the man behind the legend, the dry wit and the hours of cool little music history moments he was a part of. "The Dirt" by Mötley Crüe might be the spicier read, with all the sex and drugs (mostly drugs, but ...eh), but I find Lemmy's bio to be the better book.

I'm pretty sure I've broken some thread rule or three already, so here's a few other things I have on my nightstand: The first eight "Invincible" comic books by Robert Kirkman (a very gritty take on superheroes), the "Titan" trilogy by James Dixon detailing the mid-'90s crisis of WWF/E and my tablet holding the last three or so half-finished drafts I've been working on, for some late-night proof reading.

 

[sister jenny]

I don't tend to read fiction, except on here. So my favourite book (judging by the fact that I've read it at least half-a-dozen times):

View attachment 2280323

Love it!

 

[sister jenny]

 

[RainyDayPen]

It's really hard to only pick 3.

The ones that come to mind:

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

I found the characters and world engaging and I love the end of the world...

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Okay as it turns out I super like the end of the world. And urban fantasy. And British humour.

Room - Emma Donoghue

It was one of those books I literally could not put down. Creative storytelling.

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

My favorite short novel of all time, of any genre. It is just so efficient in terms of character development and world-building (in an off-kilter 20th century America), and loaded with tension.

 

[Altissimus]

I'm really glad I started this thread. I'm also really concerned how long it's going to take me to get through all this lot, and really surprised how few I've heard of.

Thanks for the responses so far.

Gonna cheat and throw in my #4 of my top-3: David Weber's Honor Harrington series (a Sci-Fi version of C.S. Forester's Hornblower series). Female protagonist, excellent military writing, great sci-fi world building.