I cant say I have a favorite book...there are so many that I really like. I agree with you Andrew. Animal Farm was an excellent book. I also really like the Great Escape, The Harry Potter Series, and believe it or not, I enjoy non-fiction (of course it depends on the subject). When I was young (like in elementry school), I read the Little House on the Prarie books...I loved those to death. It is hard for me to find a book that I dont like.

My favorite book is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It's the quintessential handbook to living a great life and the depiction Mr. Dickens gave Ebenezer Scrooge is remarkable... but the fact that Mr. Scrooge has complete redemption at the end gives hope for us all.
Charles Dickens struggled with melancholia and managed to pen it in a month.

Writers... we're reclusive nut jobs.

Leopard22... I read the first Little House, but it's really geared toward the very young.

As for those who liked The Stand, did you read it prior or post his adding the extra 300 pages? I read it prior and loved it, but couldn't really dig it with the added stuff.

Funny you should mention A Christmas Carol. I've always been a fan of Dickens' books and especially that one. I really like the time period that all of his books take place in and I find his books to be filled with intellect.

There is a lot more to Charles Dickens' books than meets the eye at first glance.

I absolutely love George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, they're basically the only non-fantasy books that I'll read, not including novels that I have to read because of school, but of my beloved fantasy genre, probably something along the lines of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (although it sometimes bored me to death with the way every little thing in the scene was described) and a 3 in 1 trilogy book I'm reading now, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara's caught my attention, when I'm finished with it/them, I plan on looking into other books in the series.

I love to read so it is hard for me to pin point one favorite, when I rea such a wide variety. But if I were to have to pick just one, that I would always remember, it would have to be Animal Farm, well written book. I will never forget it. Charles Dickens is a great one also. Love the Christmas Carol.

I am currently waiting on the new Harry Potter, also a new book from the Sword of Truth series written by Terry Goodkind. I need to start reading more of my Stephen King, Tom Clancey, and John Grisham books.

I noticed that you are reading Terry Brooks books, Fantasy, have you read the ones that lead up to that series?

I only got it for my birthday last year, so no, but usually I get an Angus and Robinson voucher or two (the entire family knows I love both reading and gaming xP) so I'll probably see if I can find any of his books there.
There's a couple of books I want, I also wanted to see if I could find the first three Darren Shan books, considering I have 9/12, yet the three I'm missing just happen to be the first three. >__<
But yes, I do plan on getting the other books leading up to it, since there seems to be small references to things that I'm assuming are from earlier books in the one I'm reading now.

If you like Terry Brooks, I would try Terry Goodkind also. I loved his books more then Terry Brooks. Just a thought.

Mm. I've read hundreds of books, but I have two. The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's a perfect (in my opinion) blend of comedy and science fiction. Second is Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card and Douglas Adams truly are the best science fiction writers that ever existed.

I usually read fantasy, but lately I've been going through every piece of decent science fiction I can get my hands on.

Stephen Kings, IT and The Talisman. I think he is a master of story writing. (not of horror )..

Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais.