# Favorite book to recommend



## Violanthe (Oct 3, 2006)

What book do you recommend to other people most often? Why? What makes it so widely recommendable?


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## Starbrow (Oct 29, 2006)

Well, besides LOTR, I often recommend books by Ursula K. Leguin, my second favorite author. I like the Earthsea books, especially for younger readers, and The Left Hand of Darkness. Leguin is a popular, well-respected writer, so I know its not just me who likes her. Her science fiction writings tend to focus on the relationships among people of different cultures and the intrapersonal journeys people make in their lives. It's a different take on science fiction than what you usually find in that genre.


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## Violanthe (Oct 31, 2006)

I like her adult stuff better. I had trouble with Wizard of Earthsea. It was a little predictable.


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## HLGStrider (Jan 18, 2007)

_The Little Prince_ I think. It's the world's most beautiful book.

Then generally I like to recommend Gail Carson Levine and Kate DiCamillo as "authors" because all there stuff seems to be pretty stellar.

And I normally will go on and on about Dosteovsky and Solzinitsyn and such too.


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## Lindir (Jan 19, 2007)

Probably any book by Neil Gaiman. Everything by him is a sheer pleasure to read. 
I also tend to recommend James Joyce, mostly because many people think he's too difficult to read. He isn't.


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## Persephone (Feb 27, 2007)

Oohh! Neil Gaiman's graphic Novels about the Endless are the best!! The Sandman graphic Novels are quite pricey here, but worth the investment. His Books of Magic series is also a good collection, and some debate that JK based her Harry Potter from Neil's work --- for one thing both their characters actually look alike.

Book Recs... let's see... erm:

ENDER'S GAME - It's sci-fi but it's the best one I've read and collected so far. The Bean stories - Ender's Shadow - are also good.

I think of all the fictitious characters I've come to know, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is one of those who I'd remember for a long time. I would recommend those.

Also, Neil Gaiman and Terri Pratchets GOOD OMENS -- very good laugh!


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## Mike (Feb 27, 2007)

Dr. Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak.

Then I recommend Don Quixote, by Miguel Cervantes.

Then I recommend Conan, by Robert E. Howard.

In that exact order, usually.


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## Maeglin (Feb 28, 2007)

The Three Musketeers series, by Dumas, as well as Count of Monte Cristo by him. 

Anything Dickens. 

The Brothers Karamazov. 

Thats just a few.


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## Majimaune (Mar 8, 2007)

Pretty much anything by C.S. Lewis. I just really like his stuff.

Earthsea stuff are good as well.


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## Rhiannon (Mar 24, 2007)

It depends on who wants to know--I try to tailor my recommendations to the person asking, because it always breaks my heart when I recommend something I love and they just don't feel the same way about it. 

But if I can, I always like to biblievangelize people to the ways of anything by Neil Gaiman, Robin McKinley, Terry Pratchett, and Tolkien (of course). The first three, at least, are very accessible (I think), and everyone should at least _try_ Tolkien. Most people have heard of CS Lewis, but if they haven't read _Til We Have Faces_ I like to nudge them that way. 

Depending on who wants recommendations I'm also likely to bring up (in no particular order):
_Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ by Suzanna Clarke
_The Forgotten Beasts of Eld_ by Patricia McKillip
The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander (beginning with _The Book of Three_)
The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper (officially beginning with _Over Sea, Under Stone_, but feel free to skip it and start with _The Dark is Rising_)
_The Deed of Paksenarrion_ by Elizabeth Moon (also published in three volumes beginning with _Sheepfarmer's Daughter_)
_Dandelion Wine_, _The Martian Chronicles,_ and _From Dust Returned_ by Ray Bradbury
_Howl's Moving Castle_ by Diana Wynne Jones
_Pride and Prejudice, Emma_, and _Persuasion_ by Jane Austen
_Snow White and Rose Red_ and The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede (beginning with _Dealing with Dragons_)
_Sabriel_ by Garth Nix (and its sequels, but _Sabriel_ is my favorite)
The Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marrillier (beginning with _Daughter of the Forest_)
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
_Bridge to Terabithia _and _Jacob Have I Loved_ by Katherine Paterson
_Watchmen_ by Alan Moore
_Batman: Year One_ by Frank Miller
_The Gunslinger_ by Stephen King (and its sequels, although I haven't read them all myself yet)

EDIT: I can't believe I left off The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny--no longer in print as individual volumes, but you can find them in an omnibus as _The Great Book of Amber_, I believe.


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## Wolfshead (Apr 1, 2007)

I find myself recommending David Gemmell to people - either _Legend_ or _The Sword In The Storm_. His books are pretty formulaic, but great fun. A real shame he died last year.

Also the Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell. Once again, formulaic, but good fun.


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