We have a ton of books in the house so it's hard to choose favorites. There's a ton of sci-fi, a lot of spy mystery types, also many on Japan and a lot of classics. I do enjoy Pride & Prejudice as a book to re-read but usually I just buy new mysteries when I want casual reading. There are a lot of series that keep churning out new ones each year (Spenser for hire etc).

My boyfriend listens to a ton of audio books, we get MP3 downloads that work really well.

The latest series I've been reading is by Laura Joh Rowland about a feudal Japan police officer solving crimes

Anything by Wilbur Smith! You just lose yourself from the first page to the last. Plus he deals a lot with history and archaeology which I love.

Also Patricia Cronwell, John Kellerman and Kathy Reichs are favourites of mine. I love mystery and suspense!

The Power of One was GREAT! My book club loved it. I am reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay right now. Involved, but really good and also a Pulitzer prize winner. An old longtime favorite of mine is Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury - just love that book. Also The last Unicorn, by Peter Beagle - I read it first when I was young and still read it from time to time. Thge last two are probably among my all time favorites...

1. House of Sand and Fog (Andre Dubus); it's kinda long and verrrry detailed, but it's such a powerful story.

2. White Oleander (Janet Fitch); very well written chick lit, but one of my fav books of all time

3. Callgirl (Jeanette Angell); fascinating (naughty-ish) subject matter, + she's a great writer and injects tons of humor

4. The Black Jewels Trilogy (fantasy, Anne Bishop).

Brian Jacques: The redwall series and his other books (flying dutchman and a few others, all good. You will laugh and cry, but mostly laugh. And he's so many out in the Redwall series you'll be laughing for ages.

Richard Adams: The Watership Down, Tales from the Watership Down, plague dogs and others. He is an excelleant writer. He pulls you into the story and keeps you there till the end.

Jane Austen, she was a funny funny lady and lived way before her time. She's a bit hard at first with the differance in speach, but the humor is the same It's a true shame her books couldn't be done justice in the movies, however my kid makes me give her 'blow-by-blows' of the 'behind the scenes action' when we watch them.

JK Rowling just RULES! I don't know why people want to ban her books, other than having something against good reading.

Christopher Paolini: Eragon, The Eldest and the third book is being writen, I hope.. grr! I hate waiting!!! Eragon is going to be released in the movies this x-mas, can't wait!

David Clement-Davies: FireBringer, The Alchemist of Barbal, The Telling Pool and The Sight. Outstanding books that put some of our beliefs in a new light.

C.S. Lewis: Chronicals of Narnia. These books just prove 'short' doesn't mean bad. I love them for that short reality break they give me and that beautiful world I get to visit.

Jean Auel: She'll teach you so much with out you ever realising you are being taught. Only problem is she takes AGES to write 'the next book.' But she writes so well you will sit grumbling waiting. Nothing else you can do short of sitting on her lawn with a picket sign saying 'write woman, write'

Jack London, Mark Twain, the Bronte sisters, Jules Vernon I could go on and on and on and on, my head is simply swimming with books that need to be read again and again. Never discount a 'classic' it has earned that term for a very good reason. I hope you get bite by the book bug and learn to enjoy the insight you get from living for a short time atleast, in someone else's imagination.

i cant remember who its by but "the house of the scorpion" and Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer oh ya the left behind serise

It's mostly Christian primary schools who think it's heresy, witchcraft, the devil, stuff like that, despite the fact that it's clearly about good vs evil. It's just an example of how bigoted and selectively discriminatory some people are.

I agree... As she says, she's been added to a long list of great authors so I guess getting band by a few nutters could be seen as a good thing!

Has 'Mary Poppins' been banned ~ she must be a white witch?

Perhaps we should have a thread on banned books.

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